Examkrackers MCAT Audio Osmosis with Jordan and Jon

(Update 2011/06/07 - I increased the star rating to three, as I think, in hindsight, one was a bit harsh)

I bought these CDs for my wife, who is studying for the MCAT exam. This, along with hundreds of dollars worth of other assorted books and materials to help her prepare for it. We do not have a lot of money to spend on these materials as we are both university students (well, I just graduated) but we are willing to pay a high price for these items because we consider the benefit that my wife receives from them - a higher MCAT score - very important to our family's future success and a good investment. We feel the high price can be justified.

What I cannot tolerate is having recently discovered a list of numerous factual errors on these CDs, which I have verified myself by listening to them. This would not bother me so much if ExamKrackers had bothered to press a second edition of the CDs to correct these errors (I understand that people make mistakes,...Read more

I'm satisfied with my 35, and I give these CDs a fair bit of the credit. I'd recommend, as another reviewer has, taking notes the first time through. It is a bit time consuming to do that, but you'll engage another learning modality. I think such an approach really helps drive home concepts later while listening over and over...and porta-lecture is the true beauty/benefit of AO CDs.

Yes, the humor and sound effects are goofy and sometimes get carried away, but generally they are welcome breathers. I'd second the call for a revision that maybe shortens some of the longer comedy bits. But after a few listens, you'll know when to hit the ">>" button.

I just can't see paying $1,000 for such a class, given resources like the AO CDs, the plethora of study books (by various companies including Kaplan), your textbooks and notes, and cold AAMC exams (be sure you self-administer, timed, several of these!!). AO CDs are broken into topical lectures so you can create a very efficient...Read more

I used the Audio Osmosis CDs, my textbooks, and AAMC practice tests for self-directed MCAT prep. In my opinion, A.O. is a great bargain; I am very glad I "took a chance" on it rather than blowing $1K+ on a prep class. All I wanted, and what I got from A.O., was a clear, concise refresher of the science covered on the MCAT (as a post-bacc premed, my general chem and physics are about 7 years old). To boot, they also give a useful "strategy" for the verbal reasoning section - worked for me.

In short, I found Jon's description hits its mark: the CDs condense many major concepts into a series of compact, conversational lectures (and they're portable and repeatable). Dense topics are frequently leavened with humor and goofy sound effects - these also generally make factoids and rules-of-thumb stick in your head. Please note that a few errors slipped through, you'll probably catch them, but you can also check their website for the short list of errata. Finally, the...Read more