Customer Reviews

Kaplan MCAT Comprehensive Review 2000 with CD-ROM (Mcat (Kaplan)(Book & CD-Rom))

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This book includes most of the study material you get when you take Kaplan's review course: Organic Chemistry, Biology, General Chemistry, Physics and Verbal Reasoning. I compared the 1998 Kaplan course materials with this book, and they were exactly tha same, word for word. The only difference is that if you pay the $1000 or so for the course, Kaplan tacks on some review questions at the end of the chapter. Save yourself the extra $960 and just use the book.

But if you really want to improve your knowledge of MCAT topics, you're going to have to look a lot further. I used this book to review, and took the MCAT in August. The practice questions and exam are at a level far below the real thing. The depth with which the material is covered is insufficient. The Bio section was particularly weak, in my opinion. Most of the questions I saw on the exam were on genetics, microbio (viruses and bacteria only) cell bio and molecular. The only thing I liked about it was that because it's superficial, I easily understood the areas in which I was weakest.

Fortunately, I realized a few months back that this book wasn't going to help much, so I bought other materials to supplement my study. Of those, I highly recommend the Flowers and Silver book, and your college notes and textbooks. The topics covered in the MCAT are the same classes required for medical school admission, so that ought to help. AAMC's practice problems and exams are quite good, but only the ones that give you a full solution. Knowing the right answer is useless if you don't understand *why* it's the right answer.

If you're preparing for the 2001 MCAT, my advice is this: START YOUR REVIEW AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE. Use this book only as a starting point. Give yourself plenty of time to cover it, because you'll need more time to go deeper into each subject. Take as many practice exams as you can get your hands on. *Don't* guess on practice exams. Guessing will help you get a higher score on the test, but if you guess a question right on a practice test, you won't know to go back and review the topic it covers. Take a review course if you can - preferably Princeton Review, or one taught at your university if that is available. I don't think the content of review courses is all that helpful, but their structure helps you get organized and you meet lots of like-minded people with whom you can study.

One more thing -- the "higher score guaranteed or your money back" claim is misleading. Kaplan will refund your money within 30 days or so, but anyone who is serious about doing well on the exam will start much earlier.

Good luck!

If you have to take the MCAT, then this book will help prepare you. It skimps on the Molecular Biology aspects, which was on the MCAT I took this spring. It covers Physics from Newton to Electricity and Magnetism. While taking Physics 2, I would turn to this book for explanations that were more helpful then my text book (especially on Optics!). It also has a lot of information on Physiology and tells you how to read Pedigree charts (not on my test, but others had them). The General Chemistry section was decent, but nothing to write home about. In my opinion, the Organic Chemistry section was weak. Since that was my weakest subject area, I wish it had a better explanation.

Also, more practice exams would have been helpful. THere weren't too many in this book. That is the best way to improve performance on the MCAT, practice tests, practice tests, and more practice tests.

If you are taking the MCAT, this is the best book to help you prepare.

I purchased this book about a month ago and am delighted with it. I have several other MCAT prep texts, and this one surpasses them all in terms of accuracy of material, clarity of presentation, and thoroughness of content review. The software that comes with it is also well written, and includes a set of computer based flash cards that are a very nice bonus. I did have a little bit of difficulty with the software based exam the first time I used it, but that was just a matter of familiarizing myself with its features--unfortunately you can't pause the timer while you acquaint yourself with its features. I ended up scratching my scores for the first quarter section and then restarting the timed exam.

If I could change anything about the book itself, it would be to include several full length practice MCATs, and not just one. Otherwise, I highly recommend this as a solid base for MCAT preparation.

It had been a while since I took the required classes for the MCAT, but this book is extremely thorough in its review. There are margin notes throughout the text that summarize key concepts and inform the reader of particular topics that are frequently on the MCAT. Each of the major sections (physical science, biological science etc.)are followed by a practice test along with an answer key that gives complete explanations. Overall, this book is well worth using in preparation for the MCAT.

I received my item before it was due and in good condition.

Thanks!

This book gives you a complete review of all the essential material needed to do well on the MCAT. The only problem with this book is that it needs more than one practice tests. Overall it's a great book! =0)

I bought the book yesturday, At first glance it seems to be a great book. It is over 1000 pages of true MCAT material. It comes with a CD that has sample tests on it. All and all, it seems like a good purchase.