I wouldn't say useless. I thought the verbal reasoning on the #1g exam was difficult, but that it was also somewhat representative of the difficulty on the real mcat. Although, I know the format is completely different. I took it last summer, without taking a prep course which was pretty stupid, I admit.....but being a non-traditional applicant, I didn't have a whole lot of guidance. I used most of AAMC's last year before the exam, audited Gen Chem and Physics, used some old kaplan books from 2006 to prepare, and bought some verbal reasoning help from a company called "Test Prep New York," which turned out to be not much help at all.
In my opinion most of the AAMC exams are not as difficult as the he real test, (other than maybe tests 8, 9, and 10). I wanted to try a reputable test prep company this time, do more full length practice and save the remaining AAMC's for closer to the test date. I bought the 7CBT's from TBR as well as their gen chem and physics books, and finished the EK 10 week home study schedule with all of their materials. The EK full lengths were only $20, so I guess my thought process was, the more practice passages the better. If anybody took a chance with EK full-lengths, I'm curious what you all thought.