Kaplan MCAT Advanced 2009 Edition: Intensive Prep for Top Students (Kaplan MCAT 45)

I am a pre-med student preparing for the MCAT. I wanted help to really pull my grade up from the upper-middle quadrant to the highest quadrant. This book really helps you hone your thinking on what the MCAT wants you to be prepared to know, as well as provides a good reality check ( since the questions are fairly difficult) to where you stand. The explainations are in detail and excellent. The only thing to consider before investing in this manual is that its a relatively short book without extensive examples and study questions.

The sample passages in this book are the only passages that come close to being as difficult as the real MCAT. Make sure to do them under timed conditions for most benefit. The rest of the book explains Kaplan's "Passage Mapping" which is fine if you have more than 2 minutes to read a passage and 1 minute to answer each question. Students with the potential to score a 45 on the MCAT are likely to understand how to find key points in passages and students who need to bring up their scores will find strategies in this book that will only help if you are a fast reader who needs help breaking down the MCAT passages. My summary: the prep questions are helpful; the strategies are not.

I thought this book was really useful after I had read the material from the Kaplan review books. I used this as practice because the passages are like the real MCAT. I didn't bother with the strategies though.