How to Evaluate MCAT Tutoring Programs
Tutoring companies often structure their products to inflate prices without improving outcomes.
Before purchasing an expensive tutoring package, it is important to understand how these programs are marketed, and how students and parents are led to buy products they don’t need.
Below are several common practices we recommend students and parents avoid.
1. “All-Inclusive” Packages
Marketing
Many companies bundle tutoring with a long list of extras in order to justify extreme prices.
Typical examples include:
Question banks
Flashcards
Content videos
“Custom study platforms”
Hardware (tablets, cheap laptops etc.)
Practice exams
Reality
While these may sound impressive, they are often useless and even detrimental to success.
Widely respected resources already exist for students. Examples include:
UWorld question bank ($300)
AAMC materials for official exam preparation ($100-$400)
Khan Academy for content review (free)
Companies selling their own versions of content videos, question banks, etc. are often just selling inferior products to upsell students.
Many of the largest companies will actively steer students away from gold-standard resources and towards their own, just to increase their profits.
2. Score “Guarantees”
Marketing
Companies either offer a guaranteed increase in your score compared to your first practice test or a guaranteed minimum score on the real MCAT
Typical examples include:
“515+ guarantee”
“10-point minimum increase”
“520+ prep course”
Reality
No one can “guarantee” that you or your child will reach a specific score on the MCAT. Read the fine print.
How companies guarantee a score:
Force low-scoring students to retake months-long prep courses before taking the MCAT again
Offer a few free tutoring hours
Offer extra resources (flashcards, etc.) that only harm students even more
Multiple companies have been sued for this practice and have been forced to make their terms and conditions more visible.
3. Minimum Hours
Marketing
A common pricing structure involves large minimum tutoring packages, sometimes requiring students to purchase:
40 hours
60 hours
100+ hours of tutoring
This can result in costs exceeding $10,000 - $12,000, even though many students only need targeted help with specific sections of the exam.
Reality
40 tutoring hours is already an extreme amount. 60+ hours is outrageous.
Before purchasing tutoring hour packages (including ours), students should ask:
Is the tutoring flexible?
Can hours be scheduled as needed?
Is there a clear plan for how the time will be used?
If a student finds themselves needing over 40 hours of tutoring, their tutor is failing to teach effectively.
4. High Prices, Low Quality
Marketing
Large companies almost always bundle tutoring with upgrades, resource packs, etc. to justify high prices.
If a student pays $4000 for 20 hours of tutoring, they reasonably expect a $200/hour-quality tutor.
Reality
The largest companies charge effective rates of $150 - $300/hour, but pay tutors $15 - $60/hour while investing little or nothing in training. Tutors at large companies are often inexperienced, untrained, and disengaged.
When evaluating tutoring packages, students should assess:
Tutor expertise and past success
Teaching style
Whether the tutor is using evidence-based preparation strategies
These factors are far more predictive of success than the number of included “features”.
The Bottom Line
The largest MCAT prep companies often sell low-quality resources, false guarantees, useless packages, and low-quality tutoring.
A Simpler Philosophy
Nokota focuses on a straightforward approach:
Use the best existing MCAT resources, which are included with your tutoring package
Provide targeted instruction by experienced tutors with 519+ MCAT scores
Avoid unnecessary services and keep pricing transparent
Get in Touch
Contact us to join the waitlist for a free consultation.