Did NextStep fix their scoring scale?

[Gilakend]

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I scored higher than I expected (not great, just higher) on NS FL 1, this was my first full length. I was considering buying their exams as I thought they were alright but I read online that their scores were inflated and I found an entire thread of someone urging people not to buy then due to this issue. Has this been fixed? I was pretty happy with my score because it was my first full length with pretty minimal studying so I was just trying to asses how I was progressing. Also don't want to invest a lot of money in 5 tests if their scale is still messed up.

Edit: For reference I'm aiming for a high score but I only got a 505. Which I know isn't good, but I thought I did okay for only slight studying (I'm in summer classes for the next 2 weeks. But one is Biochem). Surprisingly I did best on the section I haven't taken the class, psych. I know it is literally impossible to tell, but I can't help but ask: Is this a good score for a first test? Do you guys think I'm on a good track to score high or are the people who score high super scorers from the beginning usually?
Score: 126/126/126/127

Thanks!

 

[bears1992]

I scored higher than I expected (not great, just higher) on NS FL 1, this was my first full length. I was considering buying their exams as I thought they were alright but I read online that their scores were inflated and I found an entire thread of someone urging people not to buy then due to this issue. Has this been fixed? I was pretty happy with my score because it was my first full length with pretty minimal studying so I was just trying to asses how I was progressing. Also don't want to invest a lot of money in 5 tests if their scale is still messed up.

Edit: For reference I'm aiming for a high score but I only got a 505. Which I know isn't good, but I thought I did okay for only slight studying (I'm in summer classes for the next 2 weeks. But one is Biochem). Surprisingly I did best on the section I haven't taken the class, psych.
Score: 126/126/126/127

Thanks!

I have taken 4 NS FLs over the past 3 months.
506 (128/125/127/126)
504 (126/126/125/127)
504 (127/125/126/125)
508 (128/125/127/128)

I took AAMC FL 1 in between NS FL 2 and 3 and I scored a 501 (128/125/125/123)

Almost everyone agrees that the AAMC FL tests will give you the score you would get on the actual MCAT. For me, NS was inflated a few points but most people actually report a higher MCAT score than their NS scores (I think the average is 6 points higher on the real MCAT). Next Step may have recently changed their scaling to compensate for their deflated scores and it may have over corrected to make them a bit inflated.

I really don't pay attention to the score, I just go through the questions and see what I'm missing and what questions I'm missing that everyone else is getting right. I don't really pay attention to questions that most everyone got incorrect because it most likely means that it was a bad question that would not be representative of the actual test.

Use the AAMC FL to figure out what your actual MCAT score is at.

 

[Gilakend]

I have taken 4 NS FLs over the past 3 months.
506 (128/125/127/126)
504 (126/126/125/127)
504 (127/125/126/125)
508 (128/125/127/128)

I took AAMC FL 1 in between NS FL 2 and 3 and I scored a 501 (128/125/125/123)

Almost everyone agrees that the AAMC FL tests will give you the score you would get on the actual MCAT. For me, NS was inflated a few points but most people actually report a higher MCAT score than their NS scores (I think the average is 6 points higher on the real MCAT). Next Step may have recently changed their scaling to compensate for their deflated scores and it may have over corrected to make them a bit inflated.

I really don't pay attention to the score, I just go through the questions and see what I'm missing and what questions I'm missing that everyone else is getting right. I don't really pay attention to questions that most everyone got incorrect because it most likely means that it was a bad question that would not be representative of the actual test.

Use the AAMC FL to figure out what your actual MCAT score is at.

Thanks for the scores! Have you taken the actual MCAT? I was wanting to save my AAMC tests right before the exam to try to get the best representation. Have you used any FLs besides NS? I plan on doing a thorough review of the exam, I just took it yesterday. But I feel I learn best with practice so I want to do FLs early and often, maybe once every 1.5 weeks for a little while then 1 a week, then eventually maybe 2 a week with 2-3 days of review between when I get within 2ish weeks of the exam. SO obviously I'll need a lot of FLs and NS are a good price but don't want to shell out a bunch of money for them if you don't felt they help you. Do you have a goal score for the real exam?

I've heard good things about EK exams but at $50 a pop that's just a little out of my price range, at least for now.

Thanks!

 

[bears1992]

Thanks for the scores! Have you taken the actual MCAT? I was wanting to save my AAMC tests right before the exam to try to get the best representation. Have you used any FLs besides NS? I plan on doing a thorough review of the exam, I just took it yesterday. But I feel I learn best with practice so I want to do FLs early and often, maybe once every 1.5 weeks for a little while then 1 a week, then eventually maybe 2 a week with 2-3 days of review between when I get within 2ish weeks of the exam. SO obviously I'll need a lot of FLs and NS are a good price but don't want to shell out a bunch of money for them if you don't felt they help you. Do you have a goal score for the real exam?

I've heard good things about EK exams but at $50 a pop that's just a little out of my price range, at least for now.

Thanks!

I take the MCAT 6/17. My advice would be to take the AAMC FL1 now to see what you are deficient in, and then take AAMC FL 2 a week before the actual test to give you an idea of what your MCAT score is going to be. Next Step is pretty close to the AAMC materials but I would not rely solely on NS. NS passages are a bit longer than the AAMC stuff but AAMC seems to be much more "experimental data" oriented.

 

[Gilakend]

I take the MCAT 6/17. My advice would be to take the AAMC FL1 now to see what you are deficient in, and then take AAMC FL 2 a week before the actual test to give you an idea of what your MCAT score is going to be. Next Step is pretty close to the AAMC materials but I would not rely solely on NS. NS passages are a bit longer than the AAMC stuff but AAMC seems to be much more "experimental data" oriented.

I've heard Altius is very experimental data oriented. Have you tried/have an option of theirs?

 

[kwu]

In my opinion, I do not think NS scores are inflated However, I think that their FL 1 is a little bit easier than the other exams they have. I purchased their 6 exams package and I did all of them. Exam 1 was relatively easy, 2-5 were average, and 6 was very difficult. Nevertheless, you shouldn't focus heavily on your individual exam score, just make sure you understand the material and identify your weak points. At the end, all 3rd party companies have their strengths and weaknesses and none of them are written by AAMC authorized authors.

 

[Gilakend]

@kdapik @bears1992 You guys have any opinion on TPR. I got the 4 exams for free but heard they weren't good. Is there any consensus on if they're helpful or just waste of time? I was going to use them essentially just as extra practice and to try to get used to the test during my content review, as opposed to the time leading up to my exam where I'm prepping for AAMC like material.

 

[bears1992]

@kdapik @bears1992 You guys have any opinion on TPR. I got the 4 exams for free but heard they weren't good. Is there any consensus on if they're helpful or just waste of time? I was going to use them essentially just as extra practice and to try to get used to the test during my content review, as opposed to the time leading up to my exam where I'm prepping for AAMC like material.

I took the TPR FL1 and it was not comparable to the AAMC practice material. Almost every AAMC practice passage for B/B and C/P goes like this:

1) Background information on experiment

2) Information on how experiment was conducted

3) Experiment results (typically with a graph or table

Most TPR passages did not follow this formula. They would give an excessive amount of information on a theoretical process and that was it. From what I've heard from people who took the real MCAT, Kaplan and TPR are not very representative. Next Step and Exam Krackers seem to be the two best third party companies.

 

[Gilakend]

I took the TPR FL1 and it was not comparable to the AAMC practice material. Almost every AAMC practice passage for B/B and C/P goes like this:

1) Background information on experiment

2) Information on how experiment was conducted

3) Experiment results (typically with a graph or table

Most TPR passages did not follow this formula. They would give an excessive amount of information on a theoretical process and that was it. From what I've heard from people who took the real MCAT, Kaplan and TPR are not very representative. Next Step and Exam Krackers seem to be the two best third party companies.

Thank you for all your help, I appreciate it. So would you say not to bother with them?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[bears1992]

Thank you for all your help, I appreciate it. So would you say not to bother with them?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

I only took one TPR and I would say it was the worst practice test I've taken when compared to AAMC material. I haven't taken Kaplan but I've the same about it. AAMC passages are not lengthy and almost always contain experiments or data. Any practice tests that have lengthy passsges and don't contain experiments are probably not going to mimic the real MCAT test.

 

[Gilakend]

I only took one TPR and I would say it was the worst practice test I've taken when compared to AAMC material. I haven't taken Kaplan but I've the same about it. AAMC passages are not lengthy and almost always contain experiments or data. Any practice tests that have lengthy passsges and don't contain experiments are probably not going to mimic the real MCAT test.

Thank you for all the help!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[kwu]

@kdapik @bears1992 You guys have any opinion on TPR. I got the 4 exams for free but heard they weren't good. Is there any consensus on if they're helpful or just waste of time? I was going to use them essentially just as extra practice and to try to get used to the test during my content review, as opposed to the time leading up to my exam where I'm prepping for AAMC like material.

I don't have much experience with TPR FL, I purchased their content review set (7 books) and I really enjoyed them, I did one TPR practice exam and I did not like it at all. The passages are all over the place and they ask about very specific details that the real MCAT will never ask about. My advice, just do their exams as content practice and as a way to get used to reading passages. So only use them during the content review period and don't stress out if you got lower scores. Also, I would do them untimed. After the content review period, I would purchase next step exams and AAMC full-length exams.

Many SDN members indicated that Kaplan and TPR are not representative and NS and EK are better options.

 

[Gilakend]

I don't have much experience with TPR FL, I purchased their content review set (7 books) and I really enjoyed them, I did one TPR practice exam and I did not like it at all. The passages are all over the place and they ask about very specific details that the real MCAT will never ask about. My advice, just do their exams as content practice and as a way to get used to reading passages. So only use them during the content review period and don't stress out if you got lower scores. Also, I would do them untimed. After the content review period, I would purchase next step exams and AAMC full-length exams.

Many SDN members indicated that Kaplan and TPR are not representative and NS and EK are better options.

Thanks for the advice! I didn't consider doing them untimed just for review and some practice. That'll still give me some way to utilize them!