The Official Guide to the MCAT Exam

For any student seriously considering the MCAT exam, this book should be the first thing you purchase. Grandiose introductory statements aside, the book is well organized, informative, and most important; it's published by the AAMC who administer and score the test. One of the things that make this book a success is the way it is organized. The first section is entirely devoted to admin details and facts about the test itself, such as: what the test is and is not designed to measure, how it is and is not scored (and there are enough rumors to make this necessary), how those scores are used by medical schools, how to register and what to expect on test day, and how a given score stacks up against the national averages. The rest of the book is divided into the disciplines, those being biological sciences, physical sciences, verbal reasoning, and writing sample, from which the test questions are drawn. Each of these opens with an outline of material the student should master before taking the test, then describes the number and type of question you might encounter. For example, some questions in physical sciences test your ability to recall specific knowledge, others test your ability predict the outcome of an experiment if a variable were changed. Finally, each section has a passage and a set of practice questions with answers. The answer section for each passage tells you specifically why that question is correct, and outlines some of the mistakes students typically make that lead to incorrect answers. The downside of the book is that you can plow through it so quickly it almost reads like an issue of esquire. The information presented is important and relevant, but there are few practice questions and that's really what will make the difference in your score. Because of the lack of practice problems, the book should be used more as a starting point and you should definitely use an additional text to supplement your MCAT prep. Overall, I'm satisfied with my purchase and would recommend this book to anyone else preparing to take the test. I can't think of a better source of information about the MCAT than the people who write and score it. Good luck!