What are your thoughts on Kaplan for main content review then doing TBR passages as well as EK passages?
Was this directed towards me?
Thoughts: Materials don't matter, as long as you have some. If I had to proportion time, I'd say 1/5 detailed content review, 2/5 for passages/discretes with detailed analysis (not just what you got wrong, but also what you go right, and WHY it was wrong or right), 1/5 for FL and detailed FL analysis, 1/5 for Hat Trick, and daily CARS work. Asking for advice is good, working it out for yourself is better. NO ONE knows you better than you do (except God/Allah/whatever overarching deity you believe in). Asking strangers on a forum for advice on how you should repair is like asking your neighbor what you should have for dinner. Your neighbor may be an amazing cook, or a world famous food critic, but they don't know what you like to eat. Read, use the search function, sticky threads, formulate a plan, present it, then ask for advice.
Oh you wanted advice? Sure thing.
Advice: It will work, if you do it right. Read in Kaplan, then do EK1001 discretes and TBR passages? With proper item analysis afterwards? Beautiful. Don't forget your 7+ FLs and Hat Trick.
Ok real talk? There's no one concrete thing that puts one company completely ahead of another company. If there was, either there would only be one company, or every company would be doing it. Each thing has its strengths and weaknesses. Your job is to try to decipher which company has the strengths you need to succeed, and the weaknesses that you can ignore.
For example: TBR has (generally) the most thorough content review. Note I didn't say best content review, because THAT is subjective. The problem with thorough content review is that its LONG. And its also money if you buy new. So you have to ask, A. do I need thorough content review? and B. do I have time for it?. If you answers yes to both, guess what, you can take advantage of its strength and don't have to worry about its weakness. Is Khan Academy good for P/S? Again, strengths include full coverage of materials, video format, and its free. Weakness is that it can be quirky, its video format, and its purely online. No highlighting this one. So for many, its great! For me, it sucks. I hate videos as a first resource. I especially hate this new trend of the mass media to present information in data-heavy, 10 min visual mediums with ads, when a short article I could have read in 1 minute would have done fine. I zone out in videos. I watch videos aka Netflix to turn off. So this resource is TERRIBLE for me. But for you it might be great. Even Hat Trick has its strengths and weaknesses. Strength is that it promotes lateral thinking, out of the box connection formation, and forces you to properly gauge your mastery without lying to yourself. Weaknesses is that its hard, its time consuming, and sometimes it just doesn't work. If you have 1 week, I suggest you skip trying to learn how to efficiently do the Hat Trick. Just spam FLs and take your test. It's bad in that particular situation.
Everyone is going to have an approach that works for them. When I originally took the MCAT in 2012, I didn't like how Kaplan wasn't comprehensive enough, and TBR was more of an unknown back then compared to the old big 3 (Kaplan, TPR, EK). EK was too childish for me, with its artsy fartsy orange kiddy covers, so I went with TPR. I was just unhappy across the board. I got a 27 and decided I wasn't ready for the commitment and rigors of medical school. Fast-forward and I've come back and now I'm gearing up for a serious push. I want this now, badly. So I read the SN2ed thoroughly, I read KoalaT, MCATjelly, MeVamp and all that. Multiple times. Like I went through, printed out the threads, and highlighted/underlined/TERed the damn things. I searched across Reddit and SDN in general to see what people were having success with for MCAT2015. Cross referenced them, found overlaps, things I like and things I hated.
Here's what I know about me:
1. I need detailed content review. It's been 6 years since I took Physics, 7 years since Bio and OChem, 8 years since GenChem. I don't know jack.
2. I want to learn. Not memorize, I want to learn. Master the concepts. I'm not doing this to pass some test. This is me, setting up the groundwork for medical school. There's a reason these are prerequisite subjects. Example: Physics Conservation of flow will tell you why blood slows down in capillary beds. A1V1 = A2V2. Remember Area is radius squared, so a vessel that has twice the diamater, has twice the radius, four times the Area, 1/4 the velocity. BUT the number of capillaries far outweighs the major vessels, so A2 becomes so large, V2 must drop. Then you must realize that this drop in blood flow allows for increased time for diffusion aka O2/glucose dropoff and CO2/waste pickup. Also the reduced diameter is often so that only 1 or 2 RBC may pass at a time, so the diffusion distance is much smaller and more efficient. Instead of memorizing all that, you can work it out. And that is always more reliable than pure recall in high pressure situations (if you excuse the fluids pun).
3. I have time. I'm not in school, I have the full support of friends, family, and S/O. I can take my time and do proper, deep review.
4. I need to schedule my review down to the hour, or I WILL go off task. Because studying is hard and I prefer to do other "constructive things" like cook and clean.
So I'm going the deep route.
Materials: EK1001 discretes, EK101 Verbal, TPR CARS, TPRH Verbal, TBR complete set, TPR P/S, Reddit's Khan Academy P/S materials.
Timeline:
Aug-Sept: Shallow content review of all my TBR books. Allows me to setup anki cards I might want (formulas, P/S terms, amino acid memorization), prepare my hat trick topics. Get back into the mindset needed for daily studying for 10 hours. Cut out coffee, extra sugar, introduce regular workouts and a strict sleep schedule. Get up at 6. Brush, shower, eat, check emails, back at the desk by 7, do my daily CARS warmup until 8. Get to work. Just as if it was an MCAT day. Take a 10 minute break at 9:30, a half hour break at 11:30 for lunch and email check, 10 minute break at 1:30, (so far just like the MCAT) 30 minute break at 3 for calisthenics and a snack. Finish everything by 6-6:30. Eat dinner, check email, do another CARS, re-confirm my schedule for the next day, play some piano to unwind (re-learning after 15 years) and to stretch the brain in a different way, brush my teeth and get ready for bed at 9, meditate from 9:15 to 9:45. In bed, lights off, phone off, eyes closed at 9:50 until 6am the next day. Sundays = Fundays, but I still get up at 6, and go to bed by 9:50.
Mid-Oct to Mid Jan: Hard review, custom 120 day schedule. Then Exam. Continue spartan schedule.