Kaplan MCAT Comprehensive Review with CD-ROM, 7th Edition : 2004 Edition

This book provides a very good summary of everything that you need to know for the MCAT, but I didn't find it detailed enough to really understand the information well. It does have good tips, clinical examples that you might find on the MCAT, and connections between the different subjects. However, I think that the most important thing is to do practice problems on the material, so you know what you understand and don't. This book has very few practice problems. I would recommend this as a good summary book if you are taking an MCAT class or have learned the material very recently, not as a primary study material. If you aren't taking an MCAT class, the only series I have found to be excellent is Berkeley Review. I am studying from these books now. The quantity of material is similar to what you would get from taking the Kaplan or PR course for a fifth the price, and you can self pace. Unforetunately, you have to buy the books directly from them, so many people outside of...Read more

First I'll introduce myself- I'm a 37 year old with a BA and MAT in biology who is planning on returning to school next year. I am using this as a study guide for the OAT, since 1) the OAT books are not well reviewed, and 2)they say if you can 80% the MCAT, you'll 90% the OAT.

The MCAT covers several years worth of material. This book- hefty as it is - is only a good starting point for studying. It outlines the material covered on the MCAT with some depth, but that's it - it's only an outline. If the material is somewhat familiar to you, you'll need no other resource, but when you get stumped, you will occasionally have to seek more detail elsewhere.
The book also does not have many practice problems- which again will cause you to open old text books. There is a single test in the rear, but I always feel like saving that to the end. The CD is ok. It also contains a test and some handy flashcards. The flashcards are nice, but you can't work with them by subject.

Again- this...Read more

I did very well on the MCATs, and I attribute a large degree of my success to this review book. While it's important to have a solid base from your classes already, this book will make sure you know every topic covered on the MCATs, including areas my classes had left out (e.g. optics in the physical science section). It covers all sections well, includes test strategies and practice problems/essays, and if you take the time to thoroughly study the book, it will pay off. My only warning is that the practice tests and problems are deliberately more difficult than the MCAT so Kaplan can claim to have improved your score by a vast number of points. For example, they make the math deliberately time-consuming to slow you down (there was no long division on the real MCAT!). I scored a full 7 points higher on the actual MCAT than on the Kaplan test, so don't stress if you're not scoring how you'd like.