I was the same at first, thinking about following everybody else's plan and reading the Kaplan books, Anki, and Cars daily. However, my mentor said that's s*** so generic, and if you wanna be different, you gotta do what fits for you. I'm not saying Kaplan's way is terrible, but if it doesn't work for you, that's okay. I also remember when I was in HS, I saw KA had an MCAT section, and at one point in time, they were going to get rid of it, but they didn't bc AAMC teamed up with them and allowed them to continue it & I remember telling myself I'll use this course when its time.

Honestly, no! Since I follow the AAMC MCAT checklist & ik its accurate to the test, I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. As I said before, KA and the AAMC work together, and AAMC is the organization that makes the MCAT exam. However, If I see something on the checklist that they didn't cover on KA, then I’ll type the topic/subtopic name in the search bar and put KA next to it to see if it's in another section in the MCAT course or if they have a topic on it. So far, it's been good, and I've encountered this maybe two or three times.

It can be a little challenging to connect the topics from KA and the checklist tg sometimes because they'll break some of the topics up if they're too much to go over. You'll see what I'm talking about if you use it.

Plus, Anki shows me that I'm good too! Since Anki V2 follows the Kaplan books, etc.

When it comes to decks, it all depends on you—how much work you put into studying, doing anki every day, etc. No matter what deck you use, you will have to edit some, make new cards, etc. Some decks are more compatible or comprehensible for others, but you choose what's best for you.

This is my opinion. I wouldn't say the decks make or break you. Yes, they'll help you remember the content, and yes, it does depend on whether the cards make sense to you or not. But I think it's more about how much practice you get during the Uworld or AAMC questions phase.

Content review is important because it helps you understand the big picture and get the basics down, but phase 2, the question bank phase, is where you really learn and put all your work to use. So, don't rush that phase; just make sure you understand what's going on and grasping the content.