Kaplan MCAT 2009-2010 Premier Program (Kaplan MCAT Premier Program (W/CD))

This volume is Kaplan's alternative to their $2000 in-person prep course which comes with course books. This is a large, heavy tome--weighing in at 5lbs and nearly 1100 pages--containing condensed course notes for chemistry, physics, biology and organic. The material in this single volume is, for all intents and purposes, nearly identical to the notes you receive in the classroom course.

Now the big question: "Is this the right book for YOU??"

Did you take great notes in biology, chemistry, organic and physics? If you did (and kept them safe) then this book is probably not for you.

Did you send your invaluable course notes and old exams to the landfill after final exams? If you did, then this book is probably for you.

**90% of the pages in this book are NOTES not practice questions. If you already have great notes in the major subject areas, your money is better spent on a set of the Examkrackers 1001 Question books and...Read more

Very well-done book... has comprehensive science review with plenty of advice for the writing sample and verbal reasoning sections. The color pages and diagrams are a major improvement over the 2007 ed. They've also gotten rid of the CD in favor of a completely online companion (this is less cumbersome and much better for the environment). The book questions and online questions come with complete, thorough explanations.

One of the best features is that taking their diagnostic test (and full simulation tests) the program tells you specifically what your weaknesses are. Your overall score can be separated into your biological sciences score and physical sciences score. From here, e.g., your biological sciences score is separated into biology and organic chemistry. If you select biology it will list the topics that were tested and the amount of questions you got right out of how many questions touched on that particular topic. From this you know what your specific...Read more

Kaplan's Premier Program was a pretty sound investment, and I used it a lot more than the Exam Krackers material that I also used in my preparation. They are good complements to each other, in my opinion.

I think EK is a little more "user-friendly" as far as presenting information, though.

Anyway, there's a lot of breadth in this book, with appropriate depth, especially in the organic chemistry and biology sections. The cell metabolism and and cell cycle sections were really, really solid, I grew to love reviewing them, haha.

The "clinical correlates" and "Kaplan exclusives" really aren't that useful in my opinion, because they are rather superficial and too short.

I was happy with the chemistry and physics sections, though more practice problems would have been nice.

The book's practice sections could have tested your critical thinking abilities a little more, but for that, I'd recommend MCAT 45 or "MCAT Advanced"...Read more