I'm planning to take MCAT in April 06. Besides taking prep course, which books do you recommend as the starter? My plan is to take prep course in Jan.06, but I'd like to start studying by myself now. Not only on books but any advice on preparing for MCAT needed. Please!!!

I borrowed a friend's Examkrackers cd set and it was pretty good. Her boyfriend took the MCAT in August and he said although the cds were great, he really recommends doing practice test after practice test. I have heard lots of great things about Princeton Review. The good thing I have heard about Kaplan is that some usually score higher on the MCAT than they score on the Kaplan practice tests. Of course, I don't have a clue about that. Princeton Review offers lots and lots of free opportunities to take a practice MCAT in real time, with other people to get you familiar with the test taking process. Check out their website. Good Luck to you in April. You can do it!!

I think the Examkrackers books are the best! I bought the Examkrackers 1001 questions books for chemistry, physics, organic and biology, plus the 101 Passages in Verbal Reasoning book. I spent a long time just going over questions, then did a ton of practice tests as the MCAT got closer. Using examkrackers helped me raise my score a lot compared to what I got the first time I took the MCAT.

Practice practice practice. Do the entire thing, in order, with the appropriate breaks all in one session.

I practiced w/the AAMC practice tests that I timed and took at the library. Of course there are practice exams given in prep classes as well. The real test day was from 7:30-5:30 (we had to be there at 8am, but I had allowed for traffic and getting lost that didn't end up happening), and it really didn't seem that bad because my testing endurance was so good.

Reviewing concepts is important too, especially if there were things you didn't get the first time around. But be sure to understand the concepts, not just memorize stuff.