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Review and Test Preparation Guide for the Beginning Lat The Best Test Preparation and Review Course for the McA Gre Gmat Math Review Arco Academic Test Preparation Se
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Customer Reviews |
 Not a big Fan of Kaplan's style 2010-03-16 |
| By Phillip Stall (Milton, WI USA) |
For disclaimer, I've yet to take the MCAT proper, but have bought several practice MCAT exams from the AAMC website and score in the 12-13 range for Physical Sciences and consistently 13 on the Biological Sciences part, as well as 11-13 on Verbal(depending upon if there is an Art/Painting question to lower my score). I am also a 4.0 Student in Neurobiology, and have taken the Examkrackers and have found it to reinforce weaknesses and give sufficient negative feedback on difficult questions I had gotten wrong.
As it pertains to Kaplan, I'm not a big fan at all of their practice exams as they suffer from three features that are not reflective of actual MCAT exams made available by the AAMC:
1) Passage Pedantry: MCAT exams consistently (seem to) feature articles from Journals that have a breadth of information in them; with that said, what they won't ever do is focus on minute details of the articles like Kaplan's passages often do. While there are obviously questions that require the passages on the MCAT, there aren't passages that focus on say, a recreation of an ink jet printer's image, as this would not be testing specific physical sciences concepts. An actual MCAT would use an article about a 1987 Earthquake, and extrapolate and assess your knowledge of longitudinal waves, or transfer of energy in resonance, or Work.
2) Ambiguity in the questions or answer choices: oftentimes, Kaplan will be confusing in that it won't be made clear what it is assessing, or rather, will not give sufficient details to answer questions. For example, I had one question that was asking whether a biker who is going down a hill without pedaling had a kinetic energy that was greater than/less than/equal to their lost potential energy (due to resistance), without clearly stating where on the hill the rider was positioned when the -PE vs. KE was being assessed. Obviously, without friction and external forces, KE=PE.
MCAT would have asked the question in this way: Question X: A rider at the bottom of the hill would have _______ momentum and _________ energy. This would be sufficiently complex for most of the MCAT questions, as it would be assessing one's knowledge of conservation of energy and energy transfer from potential to kinetic, as well as conservation of momentum; I got the Kaplan question wrong not because I didn't understand the concepts, but because of ambiguity. I've taken 468 Physical Sciences questions on the MCAT and have gotten confused on what was being asked approximately 5 times, or 1% of the time. This was the first question on an online practice test for Kaplan.
3) I've yet to find an MCAT question that will be standalone and ask you to solve Cardiac Output or Total Lung Volume questions. I've found a couple on Kaplan pre-tests and find it frustrating. You should have a sufficient understanding of Lung Volume and changes due to inspiration, expiration, etc., but MCAT usually couples this with a passage.
4)I bought a 2004 Kaplan MCAT and it has the same typos and same practice questions as the 2009. I'm fairly certain the MCAT has changed and even progressed in its focus on concepts and problem-solving assessment, but this has not been reflected so much in the book itself. Moreover, the book had clear cut inaccuracies such as chief cells being the primary producing cells of intrinsic factor (FALSE: parietal cells)
I would say that it's strengths include many Clinical Correlates, helpful tips, biological detail that even Examkrackers is missing, as well as helpful tools for verbal reasoning and writing sample, so it excels in supplying study materials. With that said, Kaplan is not in my opinion accurate in assessment as its focus does not parallel the MCAT's focus per se. |
 Kaplan MCAT Premier Program 2010-03-08 |
| By Maryann P. Platt |
| Overall, great quality (for the price, as ould be expected from a Kaplan program). The detail on all the body systems and organic chem topics is great for me, as a non-science major taking the MCAT. It's an easy, anytime read, although some of their mnemonics are s little silly and childish. If it helps, I'm not going to knock it! |
 Kaplan MCAT 2010-03-02 |
| By Tim Sanderson |
Shipped on time and the book was in great shape.
Thanks
Tim |
| Good product 2009-12-26 |
| By Karen Owen (Marietta, GA) |
| The MCAT book was in very good shape. Shipping was fast and free!! Thank you Amazon! |
| Great Study Tool 2009-11-14 |
| By A. Marshall (USA) |
| The Kaplan MCAT Premier Program book is a wonderful study tool! You can use it to review all the concepts you may be rusty on from physics, chemistry and biology classes. Go Kaplan! |
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