NextStep is the biggest scam ever.

[Enik]

I've done all 5 NS exams (last) prior to those I did 3 ek, 3 TRP, 3 Kaplan. Next step literally takes passages from the TRP/Kaplan/EK/Oficial guide, and makes exams out of them. Every time I do their exam I think to myself I've seen this.... Not until not did I not dive deeper. NS 3 the verbal passage about the Beatles and use of sitar is literately the same passage as EK 2. I've spent about an hour and opened TRP exams that I did months ago and found 4 other passages that are literally almost the same, same story was for Kaplan. To me it seems like some one literally took a passage from each one of the tests and constructed the NS exams.

If a moderator on this forum OKs it I would love to post the evidence (I'd hate to violate any copyright laws by posting screen shots of actual passages) of this and and hopefully put an end to this scam of a company. I cant imagine their tutoring service...

I hate how companies prey on desperate pre-meds, some guy came on the forum claimed to have gotten a 43 on the MCAT and told everyone to buy NS tests and books.... I did and so did many others I'm sure. Sorry for the rant and I will definitely be disputing the charge for the NS exams with my bank... since I highly doubt NS will offer refunds.

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[LakridsA]

And I was just about to buy the NS full lengths lol

 

[rraidermd]

Yep I kept going back and worth about whether or not I was going to buy the exams but my instinct ultimately told me to trust the bigger companies like kaplan and EK because they would never try a stunt like this.

 

[MyNameIsRobertPaulson]

I've noticed alot of similarity among the science sections I've seen across TPR, Kaplan, EK Nextstep, and the TBR Qs I've seen. I chalk that up to their only being so many ways to test the limited MCAT topics no matter how creative you are. I don't care if the companies use aamc stuff, I bet they all do, so long as their products are the same in tone, but different enough to not repeat the same exact example of a science concept too often. I hope to get to the real MCAT and think "I've seen this before, just not in this way per se."

The verbal though, that it is disconcerting. But, I would point out, before we string someone up, that the EK exams were the LAST set of exams to come out, months after NS, TPR and Kaplan. So the borrowing, if it exists, goes both ways.

 

[Dochopeful13]

Read this thread

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/lol-next-step.1132070/

 

[Blueprint MCAT Tutor]

NS 3 the verbal passage about the Beatles and use of sitar is literately the same passage as EK 2.

If you're referring to the passage about George Harrison introducing the sitar to the Beatles' repertoire and how it was ultimately a good thing, I can 100% guarantee you that that passage is entirely original to us, because I wrote it. I happen to be a huge Beatles fan and I wrote the passage without reference to any other material, other than following the general pattern laid out by the AAMC.

I haven't seen the ExamKrackers tests, but I can tell you that I will be looking at their exam #2 and if they copied my work, we'll be taking the necessary steps.

I'm sorry if any student feels like they're getting a less-than-stellar prep experience with any of our products. If you'd like to contact me privately to discuss the matter in more depth or detail, I'd be happy to do so. We're 100% committed to producing the best products we can and so when we get feedback (good, bad, or otherwise) we take it seriously. As an example, we had several students ask for more in-depth coverage of molecular genetics in our Biochem Content Review book, and we responded by producing three free supplemental chapters adding over 100 pages of additional material (distributed free on our website). As far as I know, we more actively work to update, revise, and respond to student feedback than any other prep company out there.

 

[daftypatty]

Damn i was about to buy Nextsteps 108 verbal passages.

 

[daftypatty]

If you're referring to the passage about George Harrison introducing the sitar to the Beatles' repertoire and how it was ultimately a good thing, I can 100% guarantee you that that passage is entirely original to us, because I wrote it. I happen to be a huge Beatles fan and I wrote the passage without reference to any other material, other than following the general pattern laid out by the AAMC.

I haven't seen the ExamKrackers tests, but I can tell you that I will be looking at their exam #2 and if they copied my work, they'll be hearing from our lawyer.

I'm sorry if any student feels like they're getting a less-than-stellar prep experience with any of our products. If you'd like to contact me privately to discuss the matter in more depth or detail, I'd be happy to do so. We're 100% committed to producing the best products we can and so when we get feedback (good, bad, or otherwise) we take it seriously. As an example, we had several students ask for more in-depth coverage of molecular genetics in our Biochem Content Review book, and we responded by producing three free supplemental chapters adding over 100 pages of additional material (distributed free on our website). As far as I know, we more actively work to update, revise, and respond to student feedback than any other prep company out there.

Lol wait what, so the plagirization was the other way around?

 

[Dobechance]

ive heard their NS diag is essentially paraphrase of AAMC sample FL?

 

[TheAnonymous]

I'm using their CARS Strategy and Practice as well as their Verbal 108 Book - I really, really, really hope they haven't copied any of those from the only AAMC full length available to us or I will be super pissed !

I was going to purchase their full lengths - thanks for creating this thread.

 

[trimethylpurine]

Lol wait what, so the plagirization was the other way around?

I guess so, considering NS came out with their FLs first.

 

[Bears458]

I've done all 5 NS exams (last) prior to those I did 3 ek, 3 TRP, 3 Kaplan. Next step literally takes passages from the TRP/Kaplan/EK/Oficial guide, and makes exams out of them. Every time I do their exam I think to myself I've seen this.... Not until not did I not dive deeper. NS 3 the verbal passage about the Beatles and use of sitar is literately the same passage as EK 2. I've spent about an hour and opened TRP exams that I did months ago and found 4 other passages that are literally almost the same, same story was for Kaplan. To me it seems like some one literally took a passage from each one of the tests and constructed the NS exams.

If a moderator on this forum OKs it I would love to post the evidence (I'd hate to violate any copyright laws by posting screen shots of actual passages) of this and and hopefully put an end to this scam of a company. I cant imagine their tutoring service...

I hate how companies prey on desperate pre-meds, some guy came on the forum claimed to have gotten a 43 on the MCAT and told everyone to buy NS tests and books.... I did and so did many others I'm sure. Sorry for the rant and I will definitely be disputing the charge for the NS exams with my bank... since I highly doubt NS will offer refunds.

Send the pictures to EK of whatever other company and let them know. EK will just file a law suit against them.

 

[MyNameIsRobertPaulson]

Send the pictures to EK of whatever other company and let them know. EK will just file a law suit against them.

you must not be paying attention. If Enik isn't full of it, it looks like EK bit off nextstep, given that ek exams came out months after NS, Kaplan and TPR. I figured EK waited to get more aamc info, but maybe they waited to see what everyone else was doing.

 

[radguy134]

I've taken NS FL 1-5 and the Diag, and while they're hard, I think they and EK (30 minute exams from book) do the best job of mimicking the general look and feel and editorial voice of an AAMC passage when compared to the TPR FL lengths, which I feel have passages that are way too long, too complicated, and too focused on nit-picky stuff. For what it's worth, I've also noticed that since I've taken the NS diag and several of the NS full lengths, some of the passages have changed altogether, some of the questions have been modified and other passages have moved from test to test. While this has been confusing for review purposes, it does at least seem that--for whatever reasons--they're revising the tests. I don't know if this was a single wholesale revision or multiple changes. I assume like a lot of companies they're doing what they can to make the tests better match 2015 administered material.

 

[Bears458]

you must not be paying attention. If Enik isn't full of it, it looks like EK bit off nextstep, given that ek exams came out months after NS, Kaplan and TPR. I figured EK waited to get more aamc info, but maybe they waited to see what everyone else was doing.

Ok fine... Send the pictures to AAMC or whoever NS is stealing passages from. Does the company or organization really matter if you think NS is stealing questions?

 

[MyNameIsRobertPaulson]

Lol wait what, so the plagirization was [from EK's end]?

I guess so, considering NS came out with their FLs first.

Ok fine... Send the pictures to AAMC or whoever NS is stealing passages from. Does the company or organization really matter if you think NS is stealing questions?

Wow...just....wow. @Bears458 Either your purposely being obtuse (axe to grind?) or you are not reading any of the above posts regarding EK and NS before you comment. Either way, given your post history and current comments I think I'm better off ignoring your posts on this topic. I'm out.

/thread

 

[nomdeplume1234]

I've done all 5 NS exams (last) prior to those I did 3 ek, 3 TRP, 3 Kaplan. Next step literally takes passages from the TRP/Kaplan/EK/Oficial guide, and makes exams out of them. Every time I do their exam I think to myself I've seen this.... Not until not did I not dive deeper. NS 3 the verbal passage about the Beatles and use of sitar is literately the same passage as EK 2. I've spent about an hour and opened TRP exams that I did months ago and found 4 other passages that are literally almost the same, same story was for Kaplan. To me it seems like some one literally took a passage from each one of the tests and constructed the NS exams.

If a moderator on this forum OKs it I would love to post the evidence (I'd hate to violate any copyright laws by posting screen shots of actual passages) of this and and hopefully put an end to this scam of a company. I cant imagine their tutoring service...

I hate how companies prey on desperate pre-meds, some guy came on the forum claimed to have gotten a 43 on the MCAT and told everyone to buy NS tests and books.... I did and so did many others I'm sure. Sorry for the rant and I will definitely be disputing the charge for the NS exams with my bank... since I highly doubt NS will offer refunds.

I looked at their diag and it did not seem similar to the AAMC practice exam. Could you post the proof you were writing about?

 

[Gandyy]

Guys... this isnt hard to understand. IF EK came out with their exam LATER than Next Step and the two exams are identical.... like its very easy to see who is at fault here.

 

[basophilic]

I've taken NS FL 1-5 and the Diag, and while they're hard, I think they and EK (30 minute exams from book) do the best job of mimicking the general look and feel and editorial voice of an AAMC passage when compared to the TPR FL lengths, which I feel have passages that are way too long, too complicated, and too focused on nit-picky stuff. For what it's worth, I've also noticed that since I've taken the NS diag and several of the NS full lengths, some of the passages have changed altogether, some of the questions have been modified and other passages have moved from test to test. While this has been confusing for review purposes, it does at least seem that--for whatever reasons--they're revising the tests. I don't know if this was a single wholesale revision or multiple changes. I assume like a lot of companies they're doing what they can to make the tests better match 2015 administered material.

I only have TPR and Kaplan FLs, but I felt TPR is a bit simplistic compared to AAMC level of reasoning. Do you mind elaborating why you felt TPR is harder, longer, or complicated? I haven't taken the real thing yet, so was curious.

 

[radguy134]

I mean that in that in the sense that the passages are literally longer (word count--AAMC passages tend to run 200-300 words so far as I can tell; TPR passages seem at times much longer; KTP used to do this but seems to have gotten better about it) and the right and wrong answers seem to driven more by nuanced-detail or unrelated facts and not on understanding the general context of right and wrong answer choices and the passage. I'm certainly not saying passages that AAMC writes are easy, but they do seem to have more direct logic and don't have complex, multi-step answers or right/wrong answer choices that are driven by understanding the details of an experiment.

 

[TheHound]

I'm using their CARS Strategy and Practice as well as their Verbal 108 Book - I really, really, really hope they haven't copied any of those from the only AAMC full length available to us or I will be super pissed !

I was going to purchase their full lengths - thanks for creating this thread.

How did you find the NextStep 108 book ?? Been doing it - personally find it's much worse than TPR or EK.