One book against a seven-book exam
Barron's MCAT is a single volume with online practice tests. That is the whole review in one sentence, because every other observation follows from it.
Kaplan, Princeton Review and ExamKrackers each use seven books to cover this exam. They are not padding. The MCAT tests biology, biochemistry, general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, psychology, sociology and critical reading, and compressing that into one volume means covering each at a depth that will not survive contact with real practice questions.
The arithmetic on the price
Barron's is the cheapest option here, and that is a genuine argument for it if money is the binding constraint. The comparison worth making is not one book against a set, though. It is one book plus whatever you buy next.
Students who start with a single-volume guide commonly find the depth insufficient once they begin working practice questions, and buy a proper set anyway. At that point the cheap book has cost you the book plus several weeks.
Where it does work: as a first orientation, read before you commit money, to understand the shape of the exam. For that job it is fine and the price is right.
How it compares with the other sets
Barron's against the other MCAT book sets we review. This compares books with books. Where coaching fits is a separate question, covered further down.
| Barron's | The alternatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | ||
| Format | A single volume | Kaplan, Princeton Review and ExamKrackers each use 7 books |
| Depth of coverage | Compressed by necessity | The sets cover each section in its own volume |
| Currency | Has not kept pace with the current exam | Kaplan revises annually; ExamKrackers on its 12th edition |
| Cost | ||
| Price | The cheapest option here | Sets run $250 to $300 list |
| True cost | Most students buy a second resource anyway | One good set is usually sufficient for content |
| Content | ||
| Strategy coverage | Very little | ExamKrackers teaches approach directly |
| Practice material | Thin, and not at current difficulty | ExamKrackers 44 mini-MCATs; the big two 3 tests each |
Free quiz
The Unbiased MCAT Prep Course Decision Quiz
Three different problems stall an MCAT score, and buying the wrong fix costs months. Six questions sort out which one is yours and what to spend on it. We name competitors and free resources when they beat us, and say so when the answer is spend nothing.
No email required. Your plan appears on screen.
Transparency, before you start. We sell MCAT tutoring and courses, so here are the rules this quiz follows.
- Zero budget, nothing paid. Free resources only, and we say so.
- Content gap, buy content first. From whoever does it best, which is usually not us. Our tutoring comes up only as an optional add-on for a big gap.
- Competitors named and linked when they beat us: UWorld, Kaplan, Blueprint, ExamKrackers, Khan Academy.
- We appear only where we fit, with the budget to match, and always beside a cheaper option.
- Our free MCAT resources show up wherever they fit, and they ask for nothing.
Where books fit, and where they do not
Every set on this page is a content resource. That is worth saying plainly, because it decides whether buying one is a good use of your money.
Books are excellent at closing content gaps. If there are topics you have never properly learned, a well-written set will teach them, at your pace, for a fraction of what a course charges. This is the case books are built for and they do it well.
Books cannot watch you work. They cannot see that you commit to an answer before finishing the passage, or that you lose four minutes on the first CARS passage every time. The most common thing students write to us about is finishing a full content resource, retaining it, and sitting at the same practice score. No book fixes that, because the problem is not knowledge.
What we would actually recommend. Buy the official AAMC material first, because nothing substitutes for questions written by the people who write the exam. Add one book set if you have real content gaps. Add a question bank. Only then consider paying for hours with a person, and only if your score has stalled while you already know the material.
We sell coaching, so read that ordering knowing what we sell. It is also the order we would give a friend who was never going to buy anything from us.
Get the free Decision Guide
On its way.
Check your inbox in the next minute.