Customer Reviews

Kaplan MCAT Comprehensive Review (Book with CD-ROM for Windows & Macintosh)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't get me wrong, this book is good. It reviews the four major subject areas tested on the MCAT, and does it well. The information is there and pretty well organized. But for me the key to doing well (I scored in the mid 30's) was working through the past MCATs provided by the AAMC (not the exercises provided by Kaplan). My advice would be to read this book, but to leave yourself at least two weeks prior to the exam to just work through the past MCATs. I bought all the practice exams..., but they were worth EVERY PENNY.

I suggest you time yourself as if you were taking the actual exam, it helps A LOT. I thought the MCAT was a relatively long exam given the time alloted. Working through the practice exams helped me work on my time management skills, which helped me tremendously on the day of the exam. Also, the exams helped me understand the style of questioning on the MCAT. Although I never found the same question repeated on any of the exams, the type and format of the questions were similar.

CONCLUSION: Read this book, it is a good review book providing the needed backgound information. But I suggest you spend at least a couple of weeks working through the AAMC practice exams, under timed conditions, and reviewing their answer booklets.

I am a premed and will be starting med school in August 2001. This book was great for me for several reasons. First, it covers really all the science material on the test. This book essentially had everything I'd learned from a year of general chem, a year of organic, a year of physics, and countless biology courses. So the scientific review is great. But I think the best part about the book is the large section that really prepares you for the rigorous format of the MCAT. This book actually teaches you Kaplan's proven method of how to take the MCAT - from strategies on how to move through the questions, to how to write the essays... The book really prepared me for the test. I only had to take the MCAT once, but without this book I probably would have had to take it again ..., so this book more than paid for itself for me. Kaplan also knows the areas that the MCAT really likes to cover and lets you know - several of these tips paid off for me on the test. The book also has full length practice tests and half length tests on the CD that analyze your performance and time you and let you know where you're weak and how you can adjust yourself timewise. I would really recommend this book to anyone that needs to excel on the MCAT to get into med school....

I found this book to be very helpful in studying for the mcat. However, if you have not had basic chemistry, organic, biology, and physics as a foundation, you might find some of the concepts difficult to understand - this is supposed to supplement and direct your knowledge, not teach you everything you need to know for medical school. It told me which subjects were stressed more than others and I used the practice problems, as well as old exams from my college courses to brush up on my problem-solving skills which certainly helps give you extra time for concept and analytic/data interpretation problems. Hint: practice the essays and ask a teacher to critique them for you, because when crunch time comes you need to get the job done, writing DETAILED and COMPLETE essays that should be at least 1.5 pages. It is not enough just to read the writing section.

I can't compare this book to other MCAT Prep books, because I didn't use any other one to study for the MCAT. I didn't need to. I sat down with this book for 4-5 days a week from December to April studying for the April 2001 MCAT. I didn't have enough money to take [an expensive] course, so I just bought [an inexpensive] book and scored in the mid-30s. You don't need to waste all that money on a course. You just have to keep your ultimate goal in mind, (which I presume is) doing well on your MCAT to get into med school.
After completing all of the premed courses, except biochemistry, I studied with this book for the MCAT and it provided a good review for the science subjects. The verbal sections also provided good practice, but I also reviewed plenty with AAMC's MCAT tests.
Don't waste [a lot of money]. Just budget your time.

Covers the topics needed for the MCAT quite well. Occasional factual errors, but that's probably to be expected in any review book. The practice problems are much more difficult than the problems on the actual MCAT, so don't let them dishearten you. Do problems from the practice MCATs put out by AMCAS instead.

As a recent medical school graduate, I believe this book is the best there is for developing a sound fund of knowledge for the MCAT and for learning great tips/tricks on test taking that will last you for years to come.

Since I didn't have and extra $1000-$2000 lying around to take the Kaplan course, I decided to buy this book along with the workbook for more questions. The Review book is thorough enough to cover all the topics you need to know without being boring or over-detailed. The little boxes on the margin are really usefull as they help point out important details you absolutely have to know and are great for last minute review. The mnemonics are awesome and I have to admit that I used them from time to time during my first and second year of medical school. The test taking techiniques are what sets Kaplan apart from the rest and are invaluable for the MCAT as well as for medical school. Believe me, you will be using these techiniques for years so learn them well. The questions are pretty much just like the MCAT and the explanations are packed with useful information and great test taking techniques.

The CD is pretty usefull and has a few more questions as well. If you also get the workbook, you'll notice that a lot of the questions are repeated so be careful as you may score pretty high just because you may have memorized some of the answers.

My only complaint is the lack of questions/full length tests. I know this is not the purpose of the book but this is really under-emphasized in this book and even the workbook. I would strongly recomend you spend a couple of extra bucks and get as many full length tests with answers/explanations/grading scale that you can get your hands on.

Basicly, this is a fantastic review book the prepares you well to tackle tough MCAT style questions by building your fund of knowledge and showing you fantastic test taking techiniques. After reading this book, get a bunch of questions to practice them and fill in any gaps in your knowledge base.

I wish I had this book when I was still un undergrad. student. After taking a course with Princeton Review(totally waste of time) and before taking the real mcat, I bought this book for extra practice. This book was easy to read with lots of neat tips. Even the test questions were similar to those on my actual mcat, unlike the crap on the Princeton Review practice tests. Practice questions at P.R. were so out of whack b/c they they had to be different from other testing publishers(kaplan, colombia, arco, etc.m,)No, I dont work for Princeton Review but I highly recommend this book to anyone.

This Is a good book it's got all the information. I'm not going to be taking the MCAT for a Couple of years, but it also helps with the classes that I am taking now this book is well written and helpful.

This is a very good book. I enjoy reading it and they cover a lot of materials. Their writing style is easy to follow. I recommend this book to anyone who is interesting to study on their own.