HR interviews are BS. Any process that skews inordinately toward individuals who paid $1K+ to a “non-affiliated” contractor for prep services is a scam. It’s a continuous loop of interviewers and prep contractors feeding each other standards. The interviewers get used to hearing the polished product the prep guys create & start to believe that’s what a “qualified” candidate sounds like. Anybody who actually organically has 12 good stories off the top of his head about a time they had a “difficult interaction with a coworker” is probably an @hole & horrible to fly with. Most of the time, people’s evaluation of whether the interview process was “fair” correlates directly to whether or not they got the job.

For the record, bought the prep (& the sim time back then) & got the job. Measurably the best investment I ever made. Don’t punish yourself just because the system sucks.