So, you’ve decided to pursue personalized tutoring to prepare for the MCAT exam. You’re scrolling through all the ads online and find student after student offering to coach you to the perfect 528. How do you know which one is the right tutor for you? And how do you know that what they’re promising you is real?
Let’s break down how to find the best MCAT tutor that will help you succeed in your goals and work with you to build a realistic study schedule.
What MCAT Score Should My Tutor Have?
Most posts advertising MCAT tutoring share the MCAT scores that each tutor received before matriculating into medical school. While there is no explicit score that a tutor should have received, you want to select a tutor that demonstrates good command of the material and can guide you to your goal score. For that reason, we suggest selecting a tutor who has achieved at least the 90th percentile (515) on the exam. Tutors who have scored at least 515 on the exam likely have a good understanding of the material and have achieved a score that many regard as the “cut-off” for MD schools.
Tutoring Service | Average MCAT Score of Tutors* | Price Per Session |
MedLife Mastery | > 515 | $72-$182 |
> 519 | $50-$70 | |
Shemassian Consulting | > 520 | $137-$250 |
MCAT Nerds | > 524 | $225 |
*Averages calculated from promoted tutors on respective websites
While it is tempting to select a tutor who received a 528 with minimal studying, always make sure to do your research on how your tutor achieved that score. While some students are naturally adept at standardized test-taking and have near perfect recall, this does not necessarily make that person the best at teaching how to take the test. What worked for a tutor, or for another student, may not necessarily work for you! So let’s keep talking about how to find the tutor that you want to work with.
How Much Tutoring Experience Should My Tutor Have?
Like many things in life, practice makes progress. Good tutors often have strong track records of working with students long-term to achieve their goals. The topic that they tutor is much less relevant than the number of students they have worked with and their success with those students. Many MCAT tutors start out tutoring for the individual subjects covered on the MCAT exam, working with their peers throughout college and honing in on their teaching skills.
When deciding on a tutor, it’s critical to see if they have previous experience teaching STEM topics, and if not, why they think they are qualified to do so. Unless you have a lot of time and are willing to work with a tutor who is also learning themselves, we recommend that you find someone who has experience working with and coaching students to achieve their academic goals.
Does It Matter Where My Tutor Went to College?
This question is a lot easier- it’s a resounding “no”! Since the MCAT is a standardized exam, their performance on the exam should provide you with a lot more information than their undergraduate or post-undergraduate training. Everyone has to learn the same content for the MCAT exam, so there should not be any major differences between the different educational backgrounds of different tutors.
Do You Prefer Online or In-Person Tutoring?
Online and in-person tutoring are argued to have similar effectiveness. However, different formats work better for different students. While we are strong proponents of online tutoring, studying for the MCAT exam is not a one size-fits-all approach. Your choice of an MCAT tutor may vary based on whether you’d like to set up sessions online, or find someone who is close to your campus for regular sessions.
What Are My Goals for the MCAT?
As we discussed earlier, there is a wide variety of tutors with different MCAT scores and educational backgrounds available online. If you are someone who is hoping to achieve a score > 520, then it is likely best to find a tutor who scored similarly well. However, if your goals are to score > 510 or > 505, then a tutor who received a 515 may be a better fit for you.
The same goes with timeline. A tutor who only studied a month for the MCAT, or alternatively, took over 6-months, may suggest a radically different approach than what you’re looking for. Read closely through the description of each tutor you’re considering to see how their study schedule may align with the one you want to use. While many tutors can adapt and work within your parameters, this is something to consider to narrow down who may be the best tutor for you.
Similarly, the resources that a tutor advertises they used or recommend to students can have a large impact on tutoring fit. Some students take extensive courses to study for the MCAT, while others study completely independently. If you already have an idea of how you would like to study, it might be a good idea to select a tutor who has expertise working with those kinds of resources.
Do I Like This Tutor?
The search is not over once you initially connect with a tutor. As a tutor is someone that you will be working with closely to develop a personalized tutoring plan, it’s important that you find someone that you get along with. It’s great if your tutor has a lot of experience and knowledge in the subject area- but that does not matter much if you dread going to your sessions! There’s a lot of flexibility within tutoring, try, try again!
There are a lot of great, and not-so-great, MCAT tutors available for personalized coaching. However, it’s important to take a close look at what different tutors can offer you and how that aligns with your own goals and learning style.
Here’s a list of questions we recommend asking anyone you consider asking to be your MCAT tutor:
Feel free to check out our Tutoring Page on MotivateMD to meet some experienced tutors who would love to start working with you today!
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Written By: Emily L
As the first person in her family to be in medicine, Emily had no idea about the time commitment or intensive preparation that would go into taking the MCAT exam. She had heard of her classmates taking anywhere between a few weeks to a few months to study and was not sure where to start. After careful research, she built herself a study plan that she integrated into her semester coursework and managed to excel with a score in the 95th percentile (517) after 12 weeks of studying while taking 16 credits of college courses. She has over 10 years of tutoring experience and is motivated to help students build a study plan that works with their schedule and allows them to build a diverse toolkit of foundational knowledge and test-taking skills.
