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- Feb 19, 2012
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I've seen a few different threads on here over the last few weeks wondering about Testing Solutions verbal. It was actually Idiaz29 who put me onto their path a while back. I've taken three out of the five they have on amazon, so I thought that I would write a brief review of them so other people can know if they will be useful to them:
PROS:
Difficulty: I found TS3 to be the most difficult of the three I've taken. It was a real struggle to finish on time. In all three tests, I found them to be more difficult than EK, pretty darn close to the AAMC, and about on track with how I felt after the TPR hyperlearning passages. Of any of the other materials I have taken, they most reminded me of the TPR hyperlearning passages. I have only completed 1/2 of the TPR verbal, so take that with a grain of salt. Overall, I'd say that the TS tests were harder than what I would have liked, but on the other hand, I guess it is good to practice with really challenging stuff, but I did find it a little discouraging.
The passages seemed well written, didn't remind me at all of the GS copied from wikipedia VR passages from years ago. Some of them I even found interesting!!! Ha!. Their questions reminded me of the MCAT, which was a great relief, because a friend gave me access to his Kaplan account for the last few weeks of his service after he took the MCAT, so I took a lot of Kaplan's material, and especially on verbal, I felt like it was hunt for the answer in the passage. TS didn't feel like that at all. I felt that TS had a good balance of the different question types. Of any of the other materials I have taken, I thought their solutions to their questions were the best. It feels like you are getting into how verbal tests are written. I found it really useful.
CONS:
Like I said above, the passages and questions were difficult. Whereas with other tests, I usually finish just fine on time, with these tests, on two of the three, I ended up leaving two and three questions blank, while for the third test, I was able to get through it all, but had to rush. I guess it just depends on what kind of practice you are looking for.
Another piece is the format on which you have to take it. I downloaded the kindle app to my computer and took the practice tests on there, which was fine, but I've read a few other people on here and on the amazon reviews that said they hated taking it on an actual kindle. I can't imagine actually taking it on the small kindle, I would think everyone would take it on the computer, but if you are thinking of using a small portable device, I'd stay away. How they have it set up for the computer worked reasonably well, although it wasn't ideal that you could look at the question and the passage at the same time, but the links they have in the book make it very easy to skip back and forth. It wasn't an issue for me, but it really seemed to bother other people. It sucks they don't have these available in book or pdf form. I guess I can understand why they don't though.
CONCLUSIONS:
I'm going to buy the final two remaining tests they have published. I think the verbal materials are really pretty good, and at the price, there isn't anything that even comes close. I'd recommend them and especially for someone like me who has gone through a lot of verbal material in years past, its nice to have a fresh alternative that is high quality. I was really worried about having gone through EK and half of TPR books already, since it isn't much value at all to re-do passages, but is a nice alternative.
PROS:
Difficulty: I found TS3 to be the most difficult of the three I've taken. It was a real struggle to finish on time. In all three tests, I found them to be more difficult than EK, pretty darn close to the AAMC, and about on track with how I felt after the TPR hyperlearning passages. Of any of the other materials I have taken, they most reminded me of the TPR hyperlearning passages. I have only completed 1/2 of the TPR verbal, so take that with a grain of salt. Overall, I'd say that the TS tests were harder than what I would have liked, but on the other hand, I guess it is good to practice with really challenging stuff, but I did find it a little discouraging.
The passages seemed well written, didn't remind me at all of the GS copied from wikipedia VR passages from years ago. Some of them I even found interesting!!! Ha!. Their questions reminded me of the MCAT, which was a great relief, because a friend gave me access to his Kaplan account for the last few weeks of his service after he took the MCAT, so I took a lot of Kaplan's material, and especially on verbal, I felt like it was hunt for the answer in the passage. TS didn't feel like that at all. I felt that TS had a good balance of the different question types. Of any of the other materials I have taken, I thought their solutions to their questions were the best. It feels like you are getting into how verbal tests are written. I found it really useful.
CONS:
Like I said above, the passages and questions were difficult. Whereas with other tests, I usually finish just fine on time, with these tests, on two of the three, I ended up leaving two and three questions blank, while for the third test, I was able to get through it all, but had to rush. I guess it just depends on what kind of practice you are looking for.
Another piece is the format on which you have to take it. I downloaded the kindle app to my computer and took the practice tests on there, which was fine, but I've read a few other people on here and on the amazon reviews that said they hated taking it on an actual kindle. I can't imagine actually taking it on the small kindle, I would think everyone would take it on the computer, but if you are thinking of using a small portable device, I'd stay away. How they have it set up for the computer worked reasonably well, although it wasn't ideal that you could look at the question and the passage at the same time, but the links they have in the book make it very easy to skip back and forth. It wasn't an issue for me, but it really seemed to bother other people. It sucks they don't have these available in book or pdf form. I guess I can understand why they don't though.
CONCLUSIONS:
I'm going to buy the final two remaining tests they have published. I think the verbal materials are really pretty good, and at the price, there isn't anything that even comes close. I'd recommend them and especially for someone like me who has gone through a lot of verbal material in years past, its nice to have a fresh alternative that is high quality. I was really worried about having gone through EK and half of TPR books already, since it isn't much value at all to re-do passages, but is a nice alternative.
That distraction probably costs me a couple of errors.
