I have been taking a next step full length mixed with TPR full length every other week and I have been scoring okay. I started Next Step Full Length 6, and haven't really gotten the sense that it is as representative as NS5 and NS4 (albeit it's harder and hits my weaker spots). I'm planning to go over answers for NS 6 for sure, but I was wondering what you guys thought of about NS 7-10, and if they were just as representative as 4 and 5. I would like to have a couple more NS MCATs because I think they're more representative of AAMC than TPR tbh. But I don't see any substantial forum discussing the quality of 7-10 for Next Step. Anyone have any thoughts?
Next Step Full Lengths 7-10
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I haven't taken them yet - but curious what you thought about 1-4? I took the first three and got rocked hard. I also noticed the percentiles are more generous than the AAMC tests The passages seem like they're a bit longer than what I'm used to seeing on AAMC material, and the information is a bit more convoluted or detailed. There's a lot more "little picture" than "big picture" from what I can tell.
4 and 5 are much more representative although 4 is my lowest score and 5 is my highest score to date. I started 6, agreed with the bad reviews of it, and decided to just go over answers. Yes the percentiles are more generous but the test is harder so I assume the effects cancel each other out. When comparing to my AAMC unscored, I think I got a couple of points higher than my highest Next Step. I'm trying to just practice with AAMC stuff now. Saving practice exam for last week after all content review is done. I'm actually thinking I might as well just buy 7-10, it can't hurt.
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I bought NS 1-4 recently. I have only taken #1 so far but it was pretty good and matched the AAMC material I have done closely IMO. Glad to hear it gets better as I will go 2-5. As for the exams 6-10, I did not buy them yet, and I may not if I do not need them. Likely many people never get to all 10 NS exams or 12 Kaplan/TPR exams and, as a result, you will not find much discussion of them on SDN. Don't forget, SDN is but a fraction of a fraction of the MCAT population.
I do know a few friends who took a Kaplan MCAT course in Spring and said that their #10-12 exams were much more difficult, with more obscure AAMC topics on them. I imagine NS would do the same, as does TPR. After 6+ exams, they are going to have to move on from the high yield topics and start testing us on the more rare MCAT material. To me this would have to effect the curves and difficulty level perceived by any given student. Also, we only have 2 AAMC exams, so knowing what is truly AAMC like is tough with so little info. Does the tone/style of the NS exams change radically after 6? That would help me decide if I want to purchase them.
There is a table/thread which shows how well any companies FL exams stack up and predict performance on the AAMC practice tests. It looks like EK and NS come out at the top, but again, its all limited to SDN people inputting anonymous data. I will likely buy 1-2 EK exams if I still have the $ and sanity required by December.
I do know a few friends who took a Kaplan MCAT course in Spring and said that their #10-12 exams were much more difficult, with more obscure AAMC topics on them. I imagine NS would do the same, as does TPR. After 6+ exams, they are going to have to move on from the high yield topics and start testing us on the more rare MCAT material. To me this would have to effect the curves and difficulty level perceived by any given student. Also, we only have 2 AAMC exams, so knowing what is truly AAMC like is tough with so little info. Does the tone/style of the NS exams change radically after 6? That would help me decide if I want to purchase them.
There is a table/thread which shows how well any companies FL exams stack up and predict performance on the AAMC practice tests. It looks like EK and NS come out at the top, but again, its all limited to SDN people inputting anonymous data. I will likely buy 1-2 EK exams if I still have the $ and sanity required by December.
Did you guys think that the NS 4&5 passages were the same length/difficulty as the real test? I took both and did okay-ish but I found the science passages long and unnecessarily convoluted and #5 CARS was just ... lol
Thank you for the input guys. Just took Mcat yesterday. I would say that NS 1-5 are great and I tried NS 6-10 and my opinion, just don't. Don't even bother . 1-5 is plenty practice. Plus you have sample and practice from AAMC. The question packs put together will come out to 2 full lengths. You don't need more than that. Mcat was in between practice and NS so good luck!!
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Hello! I was wondering what the validity if the NS full-length exams are. I just took NS FL1 and scored way higher than Kaplan (like by 13 points!!) I'm in disbelief and am not sure if it's an accurate measurement of where I stand. I know that no test prep's scoring is perfect but was wondering if the scores that people receive on NS FLs are similar to the ones they receive on the real test?
Thank you!
Thank you!
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What was so tough about 6-10, or did you just not need them at all? I pushed my exam back to March (I know, I know) so I need more practice tests. NS also offers an online Qbank which would be nice to pad out my study time. Did you try that?
I have not taken any Kaplan exams since summer but I am getting similar % correct on my EK and NS exams. Was there a huge gap b/w the 2 exams? 13 ponits is an insane jump unless something went really wrong on your Kaplan exam and/or you took it a long time ago? Care to elaborate?
