Cracking the MCAT, 2010-2011 Edition (Graduate School Test Preparation)

Comment: seller listed product as brand new but the book has been used with several minor wear marks, something i would consider as like new, or good.

Comment: I figured that the other posters exaggerated the situation somewhat. And to a degree, they did. But there really are a ton of typos, misspellings, missing labels, incorrect names, etc. Sometimes they're obvious, sometimes they're not. Which is too bad, because the way the information is presented, it flows very well.

Would've been better were it not for the egregious mistakes.

Comment: I don't usually write reviews, especially for test-prep books. If you're studying for the MCAT, you will probably pick up this text.

But the sheer amount of mistakes in this book make it almost useless. The typos range from prefix (cm becomes km) to numbers (0.4 becomes 0.) but often times make the answers incorrect. It's VERY frustrating - and makes studying for a difficult test even harder.

I can't recommend another book (Kaplan, Barrons, etc.) from experience, and usually Princeton Review is the best - but in this case - steer clear.

Comment: I purchased the Princeton review mcat review book because to me, princeton review had a certain level of prestige. I knew the book with be well put together, cover all the topics I needed, and since it was the new edition, be completely up to date.

After getting about halfway through the book, I can say it is well put together, the examples and format of the book are great, and it's about what I expected as far as material.

BUT.... it is an absolute failure when it comes to typos. I have never read a professional labelled book, or any book for that matter, riddled with as many errors. I have found errors in every single section, including the practice problems!!! and they are not small errors. They have incorrectly written formulas, used incorrect exponents and coefficients, completely mislabeled answers as correct, incorrectly written answers to practice problems, its AWFUL! Even the colored important formulas/laws at the end of the book that you can tear out have several errors. In fact, I am going to email PR after this review because I am so shocked at their lack of editing.

As far as material, the book does a semi-thorough job of going through concepts, but they do expect you to have had some prior exposure to material, hence why this review book not a learning book.

I'd stay away from this edition, and wait till they take some time to edit their material.

Comment: This is my second time studying for the MCAT. Before I used the Kaplan book and didn't like it very much. I decided to splurge on a new book to reinforce the concepts and thought Princeton Review would be the way to go. For me, it's greatest advantage over Kaplan were the practice questions after each concept. Each major science topic (Physics, Bio, Chem, and O Chem) are broken down into 3 subsections

Mastery Achieved - a review of the concepts followed by simple sample problems
Mastery Applied - an MCAT style passage with 5-8 questions at the end of a group of related chapters
Mastery Verified- explanations of the answers to the Mastery Applied MCAT style passage.

In theory this is great approach. You read a concept, immediately test your comprehension with a brief question or 2 so you can determine if you really understand it, then apply your knowledge to a passage similar to what you would see on the MCAT. Then, you check your answers, and get a detailed explanation of each one which emphasizes both the concept and how the MCAT will try to trick and manipulate you.

Great.

Except the book is so riddled with typos, incorrect figures, and errors that it becomes a source of confusion. Apparently the Princeton Review does not have editors. To me, these errors were the most horrendous in the physics section. For example
*gravity on Earth is commonly listed as 1 or 100 m/s^2
*mathematical signs were forgotten (550 is NOT the same as 5x50)
*figures are labeled one way, then referred to in a different half way through the problem (without being substituted, mind you)
*Answer keys are labeled wrong. For example it will read THE CORRECT ANSWER IS A, but then when they explain and state the correct answer, it was actually C on the exam, leading to confusion and frustration.

The strange part is that the set up is usually valid, and the answer is always correct, but it's all the steps in between that are messed up, and the middle steps are CRITICAL for a person reviewing subject where they have a weakness. I find myself spending more time trying to verify if something is correct or if it's just another one of the insulting number of typos.

It is especially disappointing because the format of the book is leaps and bounds ahead of the other textbooks I've read and browsed through. It would be 5 star worthy if not for the amount of errors. It's ironic that a book can "guide" students on how to write a solid essay on the MCAT when they clearly can't write well themselves.

Let's be honest, I'm not an expert here so who knows what I'm NOT seeing. I have half a mind to highlight all the glaring errors and send it back to the Princeton Review but in the end I don't want to waste that many highlighters.

I would recommend using this book to study AFTER you have studied with other material because it really does help solidify concepts much better than other books.