Next Step MCAT Course Review 2023: My HONEST Testimonial
Our Rating
Highlights
Next Step offers features that not even Kaplan and Princeton Review can match. It is a great alternative for self-paced individuals who are looking for a less costly review option.
Course Effectiveness
The Next Step MCAT practice tests and analytics are two of the biggest highlights in the program.
Price
Next Step MCAT offers a generous deal in their course package and is a solid bargain that isn’t too expensive or too cheap.
Ease of Use
The Next Step MCAT review platform is one of the best I’ve used that offers a lot of flexibility.
Student Reviews
Currently known as Blueprint, Next Step of the prep MCAT program delivers a positive force in student reviews.
Next Step MCAT exams are one of the strongest prep resources you can use to focus on improving your test taking approach, pacing, and receiving feedback to pinpoint any weaknesses.
Next Step provides an interactive learning experience through its animations, video illustrations, and intutitive analytics geared towards a self-study approach.
About Next Step and Their MCAT Prep Course
Next Step MCAT prep review, currently known as Blueprint, is best described as a hybrid course that combines live online and self-paced study options into one package.
Unlike Kaplan or Princeton Review, Next Step MCAT takes a direct approach to make the most out of its practice tests, offering value to medical students.
Is it as good as Kaplan and Princeton Review? Or is it a subpar course not worth spending for?
In this Next Step MCAT review, we take a deeper look into what medical students will benefit should they enroll with Next Step.
As the perfect test-taking strategy for any med student, it combines engaging content and advanced analytics. The instructors score a 99th rank percentile (1) and offer both guidance and experience for its students throughout the program.
With their latest additions, Next Step practice tests have taken a whole new level of MCAT prepping, which we’ll discuss in the later sections.
Source: Blueprint Prep
What Makes This Prep Course Unique?
Interactive Learning + Personalization
Next Step test prep for MCAT encourages learning with the use of illustrations and animations to keep students interested and motivated throughout each lesson.
They provide short quizzes in between lessons in multiple-choice and matching-type formats.
In addition, you can skip the learning module if you pass the pre-assessment exam, allowing you to personalize your study method and plan.
Powerful Analytics & Practice Exams
Next Step’s analytics are the best I’ve ever tried. Not only are they detailed but they also provide thorough feedback by subject, difficulty, content category, and reasoning skill.
What’s more, you can see which answers you changed from right to wrong and wrong to right, along with the time taken to complete each question per subject and topic.
Finally, the difficulty of the Next Step MCAT practice tests (2) closely simulate the actual exam, according to student reviews.
Study Plan Tool
When you first do your Next Step MCAT login, your first course of action is to set your study plan.
Afterward, Next Step will automatically create a study plan that fits your preferences.
This is what makes Next Step so unique. The study plan and color-coded format offers flexibility in your schedule and an easier organization of task planning.
You can easily edit lessons through the drag & drop feature and add assignments by clicking the “+” icon under the color-coded modules.
Live Office Hours
The live office hours are a supplemental resource to receive feedback in real-time Q&A exams and guidance for each topic five days a week.
It’s an optional feature of the program and is a useful benefit that adds flexibility to self-paced learning without any compromise.
Curriculum Overview & Effectiveness
The entire program offers a ton of resources and prep review tools for any aspiring student:
Next Step just released new edition books to make up for their outdated content, along with a customizable Qbank of more than 4,000 questions both discrete and passage-based.
Next Step’s studying tool also allows you to highlight, strikethrough sentences, and flag questions as you go.
For a good measure of pace per subject/topic, you can time your tests at 1.25x, 1.5x, 2x, or choose untimed.
All the Next Step MCAT full-length practice tests also offer 5 test-taking attempts.
The review course also provides an explanation for your answers, wrong or right, together with how many students answered the questions correctly or incorrectly.
Finally, choose from any of the 3 Next Step MCAT tutoring programs.
The Next Step MCAT tutoring reviews reveal a lot of positive feedback and strong support from its students.
Source: Blueprint Prep
There are also premium tutoring programs that offer the same package as the standard plan along with 10 Next Step MCAT full length practice exams. The only exclusion is the 520+ scoring instructor.
Source: Blueprint Prep
Lastly, the crash course tutor program is useful if you already have seasoned knowledge on each topic.
Course Pricing Options
Next Step offers either a 6,12, or 18-month plan. All have the same features except for the duration of access and what you can save more on.
The tutoring course prices are also as follows:
Source: Blueprint Prep
You can also check the study sample per tutoring plan to help you decide which fits your schedule best.
Sample Study Plan for 16 hours of tutoring:
Source: Blueprint Prep
Platform’s Ease of Use
Upon entering your Next Step MCAT login account, the dashboard is straightforward and user-friendly. It shows your activities for the day, tomorrow, your upcoming office hours, and scores over time.
The tabs are easily accesible and aren’t confusing at all. You also have a set of introduction videos on how to use the course.
The layout is well-organized and you will have no issues getting around and accessing different course materials or when taking exams.
Is Next Step a Reputable Online MCAT Prep Course? (Not a Scam)
Next Step merged with Blueprint just two years ago and has transformed astoundingly since then.
With 15 years of striving towards excellence in helping students learn through creative and fun concepts, the Next Step is far from being a scam.
The success stories are more than enough evidence to show how credible the company is:
Source: Blueprint Prep
Reviews and Real Unbiased Text and Video Testimonials:
Although some reviewers mention how some sections of the practice tests were not as strong in content material, Next Step as a whole is widely recommended by its users. Overall, it’s voted as one of the practice tests that really helped users improve their MCAT score.
— Madison M ★★★★★ (trustpilot.com)
— Jordan ★★★★★ (trustpilot.com)
Final Verdict & Recommendation
I give Next Step an overall rating of 4.6/5.
It’s true that the Next Step is a little short in books or printed material quality, however, it boosts the MCAT prepping process with an easier learning curve through its video lessons.
The practice tests are insightful, thanks to the analytics and difficulty of each section, which provides a stronger readiness and confidence for the actual exam.
In addition, the option of live online classes, together with a study planner tool, contributes to the Next Step’s personalized & flexible experience.
This prep course is ideal for any person who wants to maximize the most of their time while keeping their side activities active. Highly recommended for someone looking for a strong reviewer course that pinpoints weaknesses and subject/topic adeptness.
Frequently Asked Questions
References
- https://blueprintprep.com/mcat/our-tutors
- https://blueprintprep.com/mcat/free-resources/free-mcat-practice-bundle
