Next Step PLAGIARIZING the AAMC...Again!

[TorontoCowboy]

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So freaking angry I can't sleep, and I can barely type this damn post. I'm a 3/31 test taker who spent weeks researching full-lengths on SDN before deciding on Next Step. I SAW this post back then: https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/lol-next-step.1132070/. Should have ran for my life, but it seemed to have died down, so I forked out my cash for 10 NS exams. STUPID ME. Once in a while I have had an odd feeling like I've seen something before, then last night I saw this, and I knew it wasn't my imagination:

From NS#5, C/P Passage 10:

“A nerve conduction test utilizes the electrical properties of neurons to test for axon damage. During the test, two electrodes are placed on a subjects body. An electrical current is placed on one node, and the nerve response is measured on the other node. The pulse travels at a near constant velocity of 200 m/s.”

From AAMC Sample Test, C/P Passage 2

"A nerve conduction velocity test (NCV) exploits the electrical properties of neurons to test for nerve damage. In this test, two electrodes are placed on a patient’s body, with an electrical shock placed on one and the nerve response measured on the other. The pulse travels at a constant speed of 100 m/s."

ALL of the questions were copied too, 100%, ALL OF THEM! Like this one:

"Channel A transports only the smallest solutes dissolved in the intracellular fluid through the axon membrane. Which of the following is most likely transported by channel A"

Yep, that's #7 on the same AAMC passage:

"Channel X transmits only the smallest substances dissolved in the extracellular fluid through the axon membrane. Which substance does Channel X transmit?"

Most of the answer choices were even identical. I went back and skimmed the AAMC stuff I've already taken and I found more blatant copies too. Who knows how many there are. Like look out for a certain NextStep passage about muscles, and A,B,C types of muscles, and hints in the passage about which muscle type each one of those is, and a table of characteristics for each muscle type, and what do ya know, AAMC also wrote a passage about muscles, with A,B,C muscle types, hints about the muscle type, table of muscle characteristics...

WTF NextStep? This is complete plagiarism. You didn't learn from the last time you did this and everyone freaked out? Your company is seriously jacked.

I am so done with all the prep companies. I'm going to go hide in a corner and study ONLY the AAMC materials. Thanks NextStep, EVEN THAT is now ruined for me b/c who knows what else in the AAMC tests I've already seen.

 

[Swagster]

Relax and try to sleep, there are two other AAMC exams out there. You'll be fine.

 

[TorontoCowboy]

@Next Step Tutor send me a nice private message re: the plagiarism promising to address this issue by taking "corrective action" against the "responsible parties." I feel like this is kind of passing the buck.

1) I feel like NextStep owes an explanation to the entire SDN community. This isn't the first time this has happened: https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/lol-next-step.1132070/. I doubt 1% of students using NextStep tests realize that some of the passages they're using may be copied nearly verbatim from AAMC.

2) Is it really some low-level guy who writes your questions/passages and yet your system for double-checking his work doesn't recognize word-for-word copying? Maybe that's not so much the peon's that needs "corrective action."

3) I think this is a bigger problem that demands more attention than just replacing the material. I for one, have no trust in the rest of the exams I bought and won't even be looking at them.

4) At first I thought it was insane that I was the first one to notice this? Then I realized that EVERYONE saves the AAMC materials until very last. That means they wouldn't recognize the similarities until they take the AAMC stuff right before their exam.

No one seem to have even seen this thread, so maybe y'all will get off lucky there. But what we do when nobody can see us says a lot about our character...