Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I took the first administration of the new MCAT on April 17th, 2015. To prepare I read all 7 of the Kaplan books, supplemented with Khan Academy, and I felt very prepared for the exam. Yes, there were some concepts in the Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior section that I felt Kaplan did not cover. However to be honest, these concepts were also not explicitly mentioned on the AAMC outline. PROS: -They connect all the concepts and give tips, examples, mnemonics, and connections throughout all the books. There is quite a bit of reading to get through the books, but hey, the entire MCAT is testing your reading comprehension so you may as well get good at it. Connecting all these concepts really helped me see the bigger picture of what this test is about. -Emphasis on key topics that were tested on and repetition of these concepts again and again and again. -Simplified explanations (read below for Exam Kracker comparison): When you get a question wrong, it's nice to not only know the right answer but to also know why the answer you chose is wrong. Kaplan’s explanations help you identify your weaker areas and it also teaches you how to strategize. For a majority of the questions encountered on the MCAT, you’ll need to identify the "most correct" answer from other answers that are also correct. This is not only knowledge-driven but strategy-driven as well. If you don’t understand why you’re missing questions, then you won’t be able to improve your score. Kaplan has the best and most simplified explanations and I think this was the biggest contributor in my practice test score improvements. -Buying the books gives you access to an online portion of materials that includes 3 practice exams, and two "mini" passage tests per topic. These practice exams were EXTREMELY helpful. In my opinion, they were more accurate than the aamc practice exam to the real test. Comparison to Exam Krackers books: I took the old MCAT about a year prior to taking the new test and studied from Exam Krackers, using a bit of Princeton Review on the side. My biggest issue with EK books were that they did not connect the concepts in a manner that helped me understand or remember the material better. Most of my time studying was spent trying to decipher the explanations given for the practice passages. And when I say decipher, I mean that the explanations are so vague I would end up spending countless hours trying to learn the concepts at a "deeper conceptual level", when really my issue was that frankly I just sucked at eliminating wrong answers and making educated guesses. These are skills that improved tremendously when I used the Kaplan books for the new MCAT. I was able to borrow the new Exam Kracker books from a friend two weeks prior to taking the new MCAT as last minute practice after utilizing all of the Kaplan and Khan materials. I only did the passages in the Bio I (Biochem) and Psych books. Comparatively, the passages provided in the Bio I EK book were no better than those provided from Kaplan, and once again the explanations were vague. For the last four passages in the EK Pysch book, I felt the answers were extremely subjective and absolutely ridiculous. As well, the EK Psych book is less than half the size of the Kaplan equivalent (much less material and explanation). And of course the stupid mascot of EK- "salty the condescending kracker" is on every other page making pointless, condescending comments. Bottom line: Kaplan books rocked. I felt well prepared (in combination with Khan Academy) and I had access to 3 practice exams at less cost than other prep companies. Also, please note that the most critical review (thus far) of these books is an MCAT instructor paid to teach from Exam Krackers materials. I am a student. I have studied from both Exam Krackers and Kaplan and have taken both the old and new MCATs. Please ask if you have any questions about the prep material.