Examkrackers Mcat Complete Study Package (Examkrackers)

10 years after originally taking the courses covered on the exam, I managed to score in the 80-90 percentiles. Considering how many new graduates I was testing against, I am happy with that result. I thank the Examkrackers series for my good score.

The books and CD lectures cover all of the subjects on the MCAT and allow you to realize your weak spots.

I made a set of flash cards from the CD lectures and books on points of information that I was rusty on. I then memorized those flash cards. I understand Jon and Jordan are coming out with a set of flash cards so that may save you a step.

As a bonus to buying their books, you can access their website at examkrackers com and chat with Jon and Jordan themselves. They will personally answer any questions you have. Also, they have a medical career counselor who will answer your career based questions. From their website, I see that they offer in-class preparation courses on the East Coast. That may be a good option for people living in that area.

Hands down this is the best series for MCAT preparation.


Best Thing Out There!!!!!!   October 17, 2005
 36 out of 37 found this review helpful

Jordan and Jon did a superb job with these MCAT study guides. They are by far the easiest to read, most thorough, and in general best MCAT study guides out there today.

I scored a 39P on the MCAT with a 13 in each section and I owe it to these reasonably priced books.

Biology: This section is very hard to study for since the MCAT does not demand much outside specific knowledge of the subject, but there will still be a few questions based on random tidbits of biology as well. This guide is written so that you can learn those random things easily (things probably not essential for the MCAT are italicized), while main points and important concepts are put in bold to emphasize their significance. They do need to put some more emphasis on Genetics/Molecular Biology. This section on the MCAT also has alot of "experimental logic" type of questions that test one's general scientific aptitude rather than a classic "why did this work?" type question. Hopefully, Examkrackers will emphasize this skill in future editions.

Organic Chemistry: This was a helpful review, the orgo on the MCAT is fairly straightforward. But they can throw in many random questions that make sure that the testtaker has a grasp on the subject (i.e. random functional groups/reactions)

Physics: The physics book is an excellent text for its goal. I am a physics major so I didn't get much out of this book, but I believe it is written well enough to teach the seemingly difficult subject to a group that normally struggles with the material. An intro physics course does not pound in the concepts well enough for most premeds (mostly biology majors) to go into the MCAT physical sciences section and do extremely well.

Chemistry: The subject matter of intro chem is easy enough that I didn't give this guide much mileage. Physics is much more difficult and you should probably spend more time on the physics section, unless your intro chem knowledge is that poor.

Verbal: Although this was the smallest guide, it was by far the most valuable. I was scoring 9s initially on this section and using the techniques in this guide, I was able to reach a 13! So instead of missing one or two questions on each passage, I ended up only missing a question on every other passage at most. This guide's advice is so essential since no other test prep gives such common sense, usable strategies. Rather than telling the reader to get a subscription to The Economist, Examkrackers tells you to read for the main idea and to read the question carefully for clues for the answer. This along with 101 Passages in Verbal Reasoning, also published by Examkrackers, lifted my score to a very high level!

Looking back, I could've used only these guides, the 101 Passages in Verbal Reasoning book, and the AAMC released previous MCATs and my score would've been just as good compared to the mounds of other prep books that I bought.

Good luck on the MCAT...I'm going to start some USMLE prep now.


All the information you need and nothing more   October 15, 2005
 28 out of 28 found this review helpful

This study package is marketed as the only one out there that gives you everything you need to know and nothing more. That's absolutely true. While studying for the MCAT, I used these books as my sole source of review material and found nothing lacking. I had friends who were taking Kaplan and Princeton Review prep courses, and I looked at the books they used: they all tell you to memorize way more info than you need. They're also a lot more boring than the Examkrackers books, because, face it: if you're going to spend three months poring over some review books, you might as well get ones with color pages, a really dorky cracker mascot, and at least some sense of personality behind the writing voice. The Examkrackers books won't ask you to waste valuable brain space on extraneous material, and the style of the books favors conceptual understanding over rote memorization (though of course the latter is used when appropriate, as with biological sciences).

I would suggest that in addition to buying this package, you also get the Examkrackers "101 Passages in MCAT Verbal Reasoning". It's probably the only good book out there for practicing MCAT verbal questions and it's an absolute must. I was scoring 9's on the Verbal before I worked through it, and 12's by the end.

I would say that if you can learn and memorize all the things that these Examkrackers review books tell you to, you are completely set in terms of knowledge. Everything else is just practice, and for that I suggest doing all the tests you can get your hands on. The AAMC publishes old MCATs which are DEFINITELY worth buying, despite the expense. For more practice I would also suggest Princeton Review's "Practice MCATs" and Kaplan's "MCAT Practice Tests" (each contains two complete tests) as well as Kaplan's "MCAT 45". Examkrackers also puts out a book titled "16 Mini-MCATs" which I found to be useful for additional practice. The only caveat I can add is that Princeton Review's practice tests are written to be harder than the actual MCAT -- they will ask you questions about stuff that is contained in their books but is NOT on the MCAT. Therefore, I wouldn't panic if you find that you don't do well on them. The Examkrackers and Kaplan tests ARE commensurate in difficulty to the MCAT so they are more useful for gauging your performance.

I did not use any of the Examkrackers 1001 Questions series, because I understand that all of the questions in those books are stand-alone, which is unrepresentative of the real MCAT, on which almost all the questions are passage based. However, if you're having trouble learning the science, they might be a good option because stand-alone questions really test your knowledge base. Just keep in mind that success on the MCAT is based just as much on how well you can glean information from passages as it is on pure knowledge. And learning how to glean is something that only practice with actual MCATs (either real AAMC ones or test company-made ones) can give you.

So basically, my point is that if you use this study package and practice the hell out of all the practice tests you can find, you should be fine. I never took a MCAT prep course (couldn't afford one) so all I did was shell out about $300 for books and tests, and I ended up with a nice 42R. (15P, 13V, 14B) It can be done. Examkrackers can help you do it. Go buy this study package now. ^_^


I am so glad I found these books! Highly recommended!   January 30, 2006
 37 out of 39 found this review helpful

These books helped me get into the top medical school of my choice,and I was accepted to every school to which I applied. At my undergrad institution it is not typical for students to do well on the MCAT (they usually score in the teens). When I took my first practice test I scored a mere 15 in my junior year. Then the summer before I took the August MCAT I discovered this series and what a difference it made. I can't imagine what I might have scored if I had more than 3 months to study. I scored in the 30s, while some of my friends who used Kaplan and the like scored 13s and such.

I don't think I'm that smart, but with Examkrackers it doesn't matter. It only teaches the stuff you really need to know for the MCAT and puts it in clear examples so you can understand. It does not simply just reprint all of your science textbooks in one volume, like Kaplan and Princeton Review.

Also the 30-Minute quizzes at the back of each book are extremely good indicators of how you will actually score on the real test. I found that sticking to a study schedule and actually working through the examples was very effective.

Pay attention to Salty, he gives excellent memorization tips and they really stay with you.

If you want to do well on the MCAT, then purchase this series. It will be well worth it.