Examkrackers Verbal 101 2nd Edition... New Passages, New Questions! NOT TRUE

[MCATWorries]

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(Called 1-888-KRACKEM sometime last week)
Me: I hear that Examkrackers is releasing a second edition to it's Verbal 101 book...
EK Guy: Yeah, it should be off the press sometime next week.
Me: So the new book has new passages and new questions... (I read about this possibility off a SDN thread)
EK Guy: Yes sir, all-new content for the passages and it has more verbal sections than the previous edition - 14 instead of 11.
Me: Okay, great! I'll order my copy immediately. Thank you
(I hang up and of course go to the EK web site and order the book. Anxious and with high hopes I even select the 2nd Day Air shipping option for a total of $70+)

I received the book today, and the PASSAGES AND QUESTIONS ARE THE SAME AS THE 1ST EDITION! I feel somewhat deceived, but more importantly I am left without any decent verbal practice material.

I already did the entire Verbal 101 1st edition and about half of the Kaplan material (which is not quite up to the mark!).

Any suggestions on what I could use and where I could obtain more verbal practice material?


p.s. I suck at verbal, in spite of so much practice, trying a variety of strategies (including from some good SDN posts), good post-test analysis, etc.

 

[auroraboy]

Love the username hahaha, why didnt I think of that

 

[nfg05]

so you're saying that the two editions are EXACTLY, word for word the same? As in, they both have 11 passages? Seems hard to believe... surely there must be some difference, somewhere...

 

[Vihsadas]

That's troublesome...

Can anyone else verify this claim?

 

[tncekm]

That's troublesome...

Can anyone else verify this claim?

That's what I've heard from a few people who have contacted EK. It seems some people misinterpreted "New Format" as "New Material".

 

[nityking]

yeah.. I called 1-888-CRACKEM to verifty b4 buying it. I hoped that passages will be different and not the ones I already have with the 1st edition. However, the customer support guy said it "mostly" has the same ones but organized differently. And by his tone and roundabout answer, it def. clarified thats its the exact same thing. So don't buy it if ya already got the first edition! 🙂

Instead try to get AAMC Practice Item Verbal Workbook - I luckily found these AAMC Practice Tests 1, 2 & 3 (is available on CBT, not 1/2) along with Student Manual, Practice Workbook for PS/BS/VR that was published in 1991 by AAMC~ hahah its awesome cuz it has about 263 verbal reasoning items = about 6 tests. And quite similar to the AAMC 10 verbal (which I think was the hardest so far I've taken in terms of difficulty and content.)

 

[Vihsadas]

To be fair, even though it does seem somewhat like a misrepresentation, the EK person's answer could be interpreted to mean that there are only 3 more new verbal sections, and that the other 11 would be the same...

 

[nfg05]

yeah.. I called 1-888-CRACKEM to verifty b4 buying it. I hoped that passages will be different and not the ones I already have with the 1st edition. However, the customer support guy said it "mostly" has the same ones but organized differently. And by his tone and roundabout answer, it def. clarified thats its the exact same thing. So don't buy it if ya already got the first edition! 🙂

Instead try to get AAMC Practice Item Verbal Workbook - I luckily found these AAMC Practice Tests 1, 2 & 3 (is available on CBT, not 1/2) along with Student Manual, Practice Workbook for PS/BS/VR that was published in 1991 by AAMC~ hahah its awesome cuz it has about 263 verbal reasoning items = about 6 tests. And quite similar to the AAMC 10 verbal (which I think was the hardest so far I've taken in terms of difficulty and content.)

I'm a little confused here what do you mean by "is available on CBT, not 1/2". Also, where did you get this practice workbook (i.e. from a friend or a store available to the public)

 

[auroraboy]

Original EK 101 has 11 practice tests with 9 passages each, new format has to have 7 passages in each test, that gives them 22 more passages to play around with, hence 3 more practice tests to a total of 14,
That still leaves out 1 more passage..perhaps the warm up has 3 instead of 2 passages now

of course all this is considering no new material was introduced 😛

 

[krazydesi]

I had called EK the other day and they said that if you have the first edition of 101 then your fine because the 2nd edition is same exact thing.

They said they just corrected the mistakes in the 2nd edition and made it to represent the new MCAT format. Nothing else is changed.

 

[engineeredout]

Hey mcatworries I'll pay you 30$ for your new 101 verbal book 😀

When you guys study with these, do you actually go through nine passages at a time? I prefer to go through three passages at a time (like how I do with the 1001 bio) and then review them. That way the material is stretched over a longer period of time.

 

[Vihsadas]

Original EK 101 has 11 practice tests with 9 passages each, new format has to have 7 passages in each test, that gives them 22 more passages to play around with, hence 3 more practice tests to a total of 14,
That still leaves out 1 more passage..perhaps the warm up has 3 instead of 2 passages now

of course all this is considering no new material was introduced 😛

Oh. I see.
That's lame! 🙁

 

[Davjc2009]

If it aint broke don't fix it...

but OP that does suck... any chance on getting your money back?

 

[Cumberland_Doc]

This book will be arriving to me today, I never purchased the first one. I guess I'm glad they came out with this when they did due to the new formatting, even though that wont' make a huge difference.

 

[HawkeyePostOp]

Great. Another useless book on my shelf.

 

[engineeredout]

Again, to all you guys who bought the new one and now found out is a mistake, I'll take it off your hands for you.

 

[MCATWorries]

Original EK 101 has 11 practice tests with 9 passages each, new format has to have 7 passages in each test, that gives them 22 more passages to play around with, hence 3 more practice tests to a total of 14,
That still leaves out 1 more passage..perhaps the warm up has 3 instead of 2 passages now

of course all this is considering no new material was introduced 😛

aurora boy's prediction is correct.

Same passages, just redistributed across 14 instead of 11 sections and an added passage in the warm-up.

Does anybody have recommendations on what I should use for verbal now? I'm out of EK material and don't see much value in finishing the Kaplan material I have left. Is TPR material any good? And if so, I wonder where I could get a copy?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-MCATWorries

 

[l7anxtl7lvln2n]

yeah.. I called 1-888-CRACKEM to verifty b4 buying it. I hoped that passages will be different and not the ones I already have with the 1st edition. However, the customer support guy said it "mostly" has the same ones but organized differently. And by his tone and roundabout answer, it def. clarified thats its the exact same thing. So don't buy it if ya already got the first edition! 🙂

Instead try to get AAMC Practice Item Verbal Workbook - I luckily found these AAMC Practice Tests 1, 2 & 3 (is available on CBT, not 1/2) along with Student Manual, Practice Workbook for PS/BS/VR that was published in 1991 by AAMC~ hahah its awesome cuz it has about 263 verbal reasoning items = about 6 tests. And quite similar to the AAMC 10 verbal (which I think was the hardest so far I've taken in terms of difficulty and content.)

Where did you find this "AAMC Practice Item Verbal Workbook" ?

 

[Bdubz12]

Are these books available at stores yet? I don't feel like paying so much for shipping when I can just go out and get it now.

 

[engineeredout]

Yeah I've been waiting for it to be available on amazon (free shipping) or at barns and nobles. I don't want to pay EK 40$ for it plus shipping, but man I really need verbal practice.

 

[cwfergus]

(Called 1-888-KRACKEM sometime last week)
Me: I hear that Examkrackers is releasing a second edition to it's Verbal 101 book...
EK Guy: Yeah, it should be off the press sometime next week.
Me: So the new book has new passages and new questions... (I read about this possibility off a SDN thread)
EK Guy: Yes sir, all-new content for the passages and it has more verbal sections than the previous edition - 14 instead of 11.
Me: Okay, great! I'll order my copy immediately. Thank you
(I hang up and of course go to the EK web site and order the book. Anxious and with high hopes I even select the 2nd Day Air shipping option for a total of $70+)

I received the book today, and the PASSAGES AND QUESTIONS ARE THE SAME AS THE 1ST EDITION! I feel somewhat deceived, but more importantly I am left without any decent verbal practice material.

I already did the entire Verbal 101 1st edition and about half of the Kaplan material (which is not quite up to the mark!).

Any suggestions on what I could use and where I could obtain more verbal practice material?


p.s. I suck at verbal, in spite of so much practice, trying a variety of strategies (including from some good SDN posts), good post-test analysis, etc.

I dont know about you, but if i havent looked at the passage for a few months, i could redo it with no memorization of the answers and it would be as if i hadnt done it before.

So if you have time, wait and then use it

 

[DrNinja]

I just finished the warm up exercise (3 passages), and it's already riddled with inconsistencies.

As a heads up, don't use the answer key to grade your test. Instead, use the actual explanations. The answer key and explanations DON'T MATCH. Furthermore, the answer key has extra questions on there that don't exist. The raw score conversion chart is STILL out of 60 questions, not 40-42 like the new CBT. I guess you can take the percentage and still get an accurate score though.

This is supposed to be the 2nd edition, these errors are supposed to be taken care of!

 

[Excelsius]

I just finished the warm up exercise (3 passages), and it's already riddled with inconsistencies.

As a heads up, don't use the answer key to grade your test. Instead, use the actual explanations. The answer key and explanations DON'T MATCH. Furthermore, the answer key has extra questions on there that don't exist. The raw score conversion chart is STILL out of 60 questions, not 40-42 like the new CBT. I guess you can take the percentage and still get an accurate score though.

This is supposed to be the 2nd edition, these errors are supposed to be taken care of!

What is going on with all these errata? I just don't understand it. Are MCAT prep companies completely careless or what? It is bewildering that a renowned prep company cannot even properly type the correct letters for the answer choices, even in the second edition. I wonder if any people have lost points on MCAT because the prep materials gave them the wrong info.

I hear that EK Bio 1001 has a lot of errors and that you cannot access the list of errors on their website unless you subscribe. Is this true? This would be ridiculous. I am hoping that we can share the error data in this forum - we have paid for the book and have the right to know about any typos and misinformation. Is there a thread on this already or is the problem really insignificant?

 

[Cumberland_Doc]

It's awful that we're spending money on testing materials that could potentially do more harm than good. In my studying and review process, I take the answer key for what it's worth. I have yet to read an explanation that didn't coincide with the answer they gave, however, it could be detrimental to start studying hormones one way just because the book said it was right, when it was in error.

 

[tco]

I'm pretty sure I've found a couple errors during studying in the EK series (1001 questions and complete study package) but I refuse to pay more money just to see what they say the correct answers are for their mistakes.

Also, as I posted in my thread, I've been having serious problems with getting into contact with EK. I'm at work in the lab all day, so I can't hardly call them during business hours. They don't respond to emails or messages on their message boards.

I'm starting to think EK is pretty worthless when it comes to customer support, but overall, I would recommend their review products.

 

[Excelsius]

I'm pretty sure I've found a couple errors during studying in the EK series (1001 questions and complete study package) but I refuse to pay more money just to see what they say the correct answers are for their mistakes.

Also, as I posted in my thread, I've been having serious problems with getting into contact with EK. I'm at work in the lab all day, so I can't hardly call them during business hours. They don't respond to emails or messages on their message boards.

I'm starting to think EK is pretty worthless when it comes to customer support, but overall, I would recommend their review products.

I don't have EK yet as my MCAT is not due until a year or more. I am, for now, using 2002 TBR books to leisurely study for Bio and PS. However, I know that I am going to get EK simply because many confirm that it is a great book. If I ever gain access to the errors, guess what? I am going to posteverything on SDN. I am hoping that everyone else would do the same.

I'll add that I have been unable to locate the error information on P2P networks, though have located their audio osmosis. Given that it offsets the cost of $200, it might not be too bad to pay for EK online access to see the errors.

 

[cornpops21]

What is going on with all these errata? I just don't understand it. Are MCAT prep companies completely careless or what? It is bewildering that a renowned prep company cannot even properly type the correct letters for the answer choices, even in the second edition. I wonder if any people have lost points on MCAT because the prep materials gave them the wrong info.

I hear that EK Bio 1001 has a lot of errors and that you cannot access the list of errors on their website unless you subscribe. Is this true? This would be ridiculous. I am hoping that we can share the error data in this forum - we have paid for the book and have the right to know about any typos and misinformation. Is there a thread on this already or is the problem really insignificant?

I use the EK books and I'm just completely amazed at the abundance of spelling errors in a 7th edition book!!! There's even some instances when pieces of information are just completely left out. For example, in the Math lecture of the EK Verbal 7th edition, there is a problem that has only answer choices, but no question stem! WTF! And I believe in the Bio book in whatever chapter they're talking about the composition of nucleic acids, they start out with "Each nucleotide is bound to the next by a phosphodiester bond between the 3rd carbon of.... (page turn) (next page) (beginning of a completely new sentence)"

Don't get me wrong, I'm very satisfied with the content of these books, but I think for an established test prep company with 7 editions of their books, these mistakes are inexcusable.

 

[Marcus Brody]

Wow, I am in the same exact boat. EK = organized crime, in my opinion. Their books are garbage.

 

[WWXstand]

as I recall I never even got the EK verbal book (got all the rest) because it was on back order for virtually my entire study period. The verbal sections of the AAMC practice tests are money though for practice!

 

[stixx]

I loved the EK series, except EK V101. Absolute waste of time. The author comes to just some of the most absurd conclusions - I got frustrated after my 3rd test and gave up. I tended to get 11s/12s on AAMC practices.

And it's not even like the sciences, where extremely tricky questions can be helpful to test your understanding and boost your confidence. There is no use trying to comprehend the random thought processes of the EK author when the AAMC is significantly more straight-forward.

 

[Marcus Brody]

The author comes to just some of the most absurd conclusions - I got frustrated after my 3rd test and gave up.

This book is garbage.

 

[musicsung3]

This book is garbage.

arrgg...are you serious!! I was counting on this book....everyone seemed to recommend it 🙁

 

[VaBeachGrl007]

I was counting on it too! But after getting a 6 on the first practice test, after already receiving a 10 VR on the actual MCAT, I realized these tests cannot predict your performance whatsoever. But hey, practice is practice.