<p>I was hoping some of you would be able to recommend some good books that offer a lot of knowledge about medical school, MCATs, etc. for undergrads as they start to consider medicine. Basically the medical school version of all those undergraduate admission how-to books. Just looking to build my general knowledge and complement what this forum has taught me.</p>
<p>Additionally, I know a lot of test prep companies offer courses to prepare for the MCAT but what, if any, study guide books are used to study for the MCAT? For instance, Collegeboard publishes the blue book for the SAT and many people like to use PR and such; the MCAT equivalent would be?</p>
<p>^whatever you do, make sure do NOT study way ahead of the time. Some take few months right before test, some take only few weeks. Study way ahead is very much waste of your precious time. Spend your time wisely. There are other things in your life that are much more important for you personally as well as for Med. School application process. Spending time with your friends in NOT the last one. Enjoy them, you will not have time later.
Other than that, my own D. took Kaplan class for MCAT prep. Class included all material and on-line reviews also. They met once / week on Sundays, so it did not interfere with her regular classes. It has worked for her, she got decent score and starting at Med. School in one month. However, one of her friends decided to skip the class. He is one year behind, so D. has passed all her Kaplan material to him. I heard that examcrackers are better for Verbal section prep. than Kaplan. So here are your sources from what I know. Others might have different suggestions.</p>
<p>Take this with a grain of salt, as I haven’t taken the MCAT yet. But I have heard good things about the following method (of variants of it) from a couple friends who are older than me. It is far cheaper than prep courses.</p>
<p>mom2ck, there are different Kaplan schedules IIRC. Some compressed, some elongated. And yes, all of them would require substantial hours outside of the Kaplan class. How many? I’ll let a pro answer.</p>
<p>I went to the Kaplan site. It looks like 54 hours of classroom time. I’d think a student would want maybe 3 out of class to 1 in class (or 4 to 1 including practice tests).</p>
<p>i took a semester long course that met 3 days a week. i pretty much dedicated my weekends to reading their books and doing practice passages and problems. it def took up a lot of time</p>
<p>kaplan gives a decent amount of work outside of the course. I wouldn’t say its a lot, but I wouldn’t say its very little. </p>
<p>My course meets 2 times a week for 3 hours each week. Before every class we have preview hw which consists of reading 4-5 chapters in one of the kaplan books. This usually takes me anywhere from 4-5 hours, because I read each chapter twice. The reason that I read each chapter twice is that way if I missed any important details the first time around I can catch them the second time around. Then after each class we have a series of topical/subject tests which allow us to practice what we have learned. I usually spend 30-45 minutes on a topical test, and after each class we usually have 3-4 topical tests. We also have 3-4 subject tests after each class. A subject test can take anywhere from 30 mins-45 mins. I also go over my mcat flashcards a couple of times a week. (This helps me remember material I learned earlier in the units). kaplan provides students with 8-9? AAMC tests and 12 kaplan tests. I plan on doing those full length tests 1.5 months into my content review. </p>
<p>In the early going I probably spend 30 hours a week including class time, on the mcats. I don’t think its too bad over the summer…
^^^ This is IF you want to utilize everything that kaplan gives you.</p>
<p>BTW, the topical tests are much harder than the real thing, or so I have heard. After reading through various threads on sdn about topical tests, I found out that usually a 80 percent on those corresponds to a 12/13. The reason that 80 percent corresponds to a 12/13 is because most topical tests have very few easy questions, most are hard/medium difficulty. This is different from full length mcats which has more even distribution of easy/medium/hard questions than the topical tests.</p>
<p>I’d say the elongated one. My instructor (for my class, which met 2x/week for 3h for most of a semester) mentioned that he liked the elongated one better–and that from his informal observation, those kids tend to have a bigger increase in score (from diag to final). My friends who took the elongated one also had good things to report about it. My personal reservation with that one is that MCAT would be on my mind for a really long time, and my stress level (it’s a really stressful test!) would be elevated for a long time too. I chose to take the shorter class (that’s probably more intense?) because I preferred a shorter duration of high intensity stress and prep for the MCAT. My method worked decently well (scores ranged from 25-34 with steady upward trends, actual score 30).</p>
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<p>This is basically what I did, but I wouldn’t exactly say I “pretty much dedicated my weekends to…” more like, I dedicated an extra…say, 5h per week…to MCAT stuff (already in the classroom for 6h/week) and then did full length tests on the weekends. </p>
<p>I think the major benefit of a Kaplan class is the structure and material it provides. I wouldn’t have had the discipline to study for the test as methodically and thoroughly as Kaplan mandates–I would have been focusing on my classes and exams, not the MCAT. It was a great tool for me, in my opinion. I do not regret taking the class and would recommend it to anyone preparing for the MCAT! Worth every penny. (Thank goodness.)</p>
<p>Edited to add: It seems like colleges is, like he says, using all the Kaplan resources. I did not have the time, energy, or desire to fully utilize all those resources. Instead, I carefully picked and chose which ones to use, and I think it worked well. If you have the ability and desire to use everything they give you (/you pay for), then I think that’s a great idea–so long as other aspects of your life don’t suffer as a result (not trying to insinuate that some aspect of your life is suffering, colleges–just warning the others out there )</p>
<p>lol, its not that bad over the summer. I couldn’t imagine doing all the things kaplan gives me during the school year with a full course load, so hopefully I reach my target mcat score this summer and I don’t have to do a retake (praying for at least a 34). I doing research in a lab for about 20 hours a week and I am working in my uncle’s office (he is a neurologist) for about 5 hours a week. I usually spend 8 hours a day on research/mcat studying/working in a doctor’s office. The next 8 hours are my free time and I get 8 hours of sleep a day. It seems to be working, so far. </p>
<p>Go big or go home, right? =)</p>
<p>BTW, mom2collegekids, kaplan has an advanced mcat course for students who score a 27 or better on the kaplan diagnostic or on a previously taken mcat. I read some threads about it on sdn. I only scored a 26 on my diagnostic so I didn’t qualify for it (nor did I know about it, when I signed up for my kaplan course), but maybe your son/daughter might qualify for it. </p>
<p>Here is the link. It costs the same as a regular kaplan course. </p>
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