Guys…I need help.

[Gladiolus23]

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Ok so I need help making this decision…b/c for some reason, it's causing me a lot of stress!

I'm taking my MCAT on Jan 15th and am unfortunately still doing content review…but I'm almost done. I took a TPR course over the summer and was stupid enough not to make use of it at all. Even though I knew the MCAT was changing, I took the course lightly and didn't study hard-core like I should have. I wish things were different, but I can't change the past now 🙁 My time-management and discipline sucks, and I'm just beginning to realize first-hand that I will NEVER get to medical school like this.

Recently, one of my course instructors talked about tutoring for the MCAT and told us that she has been able to raise students' scores by many points by working with them on practice and strategy. One girl was able to raise her MCAT score from a 20 to a 32-33, but that took her close to 4 months of tutoring.

Now, I am impressed by these success stories and wish I could hire this lady as my MCAT tutor…BUT it's $300/hr. and my MCAT is only a month away! I'm not sure if there's anything I can do so late at this point in time to drastically improve whatever MCAT test-taking skills I need….and I've already spent and shamelessly wasted $3000 on a prep course. I'm definitely going to write the old MCAT, but I've kinda accepted the fact that I may have to write the new one too and have mentally prepared myself to study for it right after Jan 15th.

Considering my situation, do you think I should go ahead with tutoring as a desperate attempt to "magically" improve? Has anyone ever done this? Or will it just be a huge waste of money and time at this point?

 

[LuluLovesMe]

The MCAT isn't THAT hard. Jesus. All you need is 200 hours of solid, focused studying which can be done by yourself. If you can't commit to that much time, a tutor ain't doin' **** anyways.

 

[ayocaptain628]

Ok so I need help making this decision…b/c for some reason, it's causing me a lot of stress!

I'm taking my MCAT on Jan 15th and am unfortunately still doing content review…but I'm almost done. I took a TPR course over the summer and was stupid enough not to make use of it at all. Even though I knew the MCAT was changing, I took the course lightly and didn't study hard-core like I should have. I wish things were different, but I can't change the past now 🙁 My time-management and discipline sucks, and I'm just beginning to realize first-hand that I will NEVER get to medical school like this.

Recently, one of my course instructors talked about tutoring for the MCAT and told us that she has been able to raise students' scores by many points by working with them on practice and strategy. One girl was able to raise her MCAT score from a 20 to a 32-33, but that took her close to 4 months of tutoring.

Now, I am impressed by these success stories and wish I could hire this lady as my MCAT tutor…BUT it's $300/hr. and my MCAT is only a month away! I'm not sure if there's anything I can do so late at this point in time to drastically improve whatever MCAT test-taking skills I need….and I've already spent and shamelessly wasted $3000 on a prep course. I'm definitely going to write the old MCAT, but I've kinda accepted the fact that I may have to write the new one too and have mentally prepared myself to study for it right after Jan 15th.

Considering my situation, do you think I should go ahead with tutoring as a desperate attempt to "magically" improve? Has anyone ever done this? Or will it just be a huge waste of money and time at this point?

i think the pattern that i see in ur posts is that since u have a hard time managing ur time,
u do things like take courses so that they give u a scheduled regimen that u can follow...but this didnt work for u, so now u wanna hire a tutor which will have some sort of scheduledness to it as well as accountability.

imo, what would be good for u is to find a study buddy/group study. it will give you the accountability u need and u'll benefit from having many brains to ponder a hard question even if not IRL, there r defo people on here or on other websites that will skype study w/u 🙂

dont spend anymore money on the tutoring🙂 u can do this

 

[texan2414]

The MCAT isn't THAT hard. Jesus. All you need is 200 hours of solid, focused studying which can be done by yourself. If you can't commit to that much time, a tutor ain't doin' **** anyways.

I agree.

I am baffled as to how premeds even are able to afford such a course, let alone pay $300/hr for tutoring.
You have a month to do practice passages/FLs - make sure you do all AAMCs (these should be your priority). I wouldn't pay anyone that much but that's just me

 

[ConfusedChemist]

I agree.

I am baffled as to how premeds even are able to afford such a course, let alone pay $300/hr for tutoring.
You have a month to do practice passages/FLs - make sure you do all AAMCs (these should be your priority). I wouldn't pay anyone that much but that's just me

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this
I'd have to work 30 hours at my current job to pay for one hour of this tutoring....haha I feel like those 30 hours spent studying would have a much better impact on my MCAT score

 

[pithy84]

As a long-time tutor, I am probably biased but I must say, tutors can be effective. I personally got a 2350 on the SAT (800 math, 800 writing, 750 verbal), so I decided to make some cash as a tutor. I routinely boosted students from 1300 up to 1800 on the SAT (the 2400-point version). I charged about $50 or $60 per hour for most of my tutoring career.

$300 per hour for a tutor is ridiculously expensive, where the heck are you located? I am in a major US city, and the most expensive MCAT tutors on Craigslist are $75 per hour. Most of them are $50 or $60 per hour, some are less.

I admit, I have made up to $100 per hour as a tutor. In those cases, I gave a full money-back guarantee. Nobody ever needed their money back.

Don't spend $300 per hour, that's highway robbery. Also, when looking for a tutor, ask for past student testimonials. Craigslist is a fine place to look. Shop fast, you don't have much time. Craigslist will give you an idea of a fair price in your city - different cities are quite different, but none are $300/hr.

 

[pithy84]

You have 32 days until your MCAT. I am not an MCAT tutor (I did mostly SAT, some GRE), but in my professional opinion, you should be able to boost your score 3 to 5 points in 32 days, with a good tutor. (The estimate of 3 to 5 points is assuming you haven't studied enough yet, and it sounds like that is the case. If you were fully prepared, you would not be looking for a tutor, and a tutor would not be able to help that much.)

The tutor will help crack the whip and keep you motivated. You may only pay for 10 or 15 hours of tutoring, but that money also gets you 60 hours of self-study that you wouldn't have done otherwise because the tutor gave you structure and cracked that whip.

 

[ConfusedChemist]

You have 32 days until your MCAT. I am not an MCAT tutor (I did mostly SAT, some GRE), but in my professional opinion, you should be able to boost your score 3 to 5 points in 32 days, with a good tutor. (The estimate of 3 to 5 points is assuming you haven't studied enough yet, and it sounds like that is the case. If you were fully prepared, you would not be looking for a tutor, and a tutor would not be able to help that much.)

The tutor will help crack the whip and keep you motivated. You may only pay for 10 or 15 hours of tutoring, but that money also gets you 60 hours of self-study that you wouldn't have done otherwise because the tutor gave you structure and cracked that whip.

Are you really suggesting 3000$ on top of a 3000 prep course....
It blows my mind that people actually do these things
In my opinion (a humbly self-supporting, self-studied 32 scorer in 2 months with a full time+part tie job....) you can totally bring up your score on your own. You just need to apply yourself.

 

[LuluLovesMe]

As others have said, a tutor isn't going to solve a motivation problem

 

[justadream]

Waste of money.

Start studying 12-14 hours/day for 2-3 weeks.
You can probably improve your score by 5 points+ in that time.

 

[Cawolf]

I concur with @justadream

I tutor basic sciences at my university, and believe in the value of tutoring, but $300/hr is mind blowing. Maybe if it is a professor who designed the specific MCAT you are taking. . .

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

You seem to recognize how procrastinating for this test can exponentially increase your anxiety- and luckily you have done so with a month left. Utilize your time wisely!
Now is the time for the utmost efficiency. If you're still in the content review stage, then figure out a way to finish in the next week. Though I'd recommend taking a practice test now, and spending your remaining time on taking a large number of practice passages, doing some light content review here and there on topics that are largely foreign, and taking all the AAMC practice tests under stringent, test-like conditions.
Good luck!!

 

[breezy124]

The MCAT isn't THAT hard. Jesus. All you need is 200 hours of solid, focused studying which can be done by yourself. If you can't commit to that much time, a tutor ain't doin' **** anyways.

Hard is relative. If you're satisfied with a 25-30 then yes, with 200 hours it's quite possible. If you want 30+ it IS hard. You're talking about beating 80% of the cream of the crop of America's students

Personally, a 25-30 was hard for me to get (bc I suck at verbal so much).

 

[LuluLovesMe]

Hard is relative. If you're satisfied with a 25-30 then yes, with 200 hours it's quite possible. If you want 30+ it IS hard. You're talking about being 80% of the cream of the crop of America's students
Personally, a 25-30 was hard for me to get (bc I suck at verbal so much).

The way I see it, 200 hours is enough to reach 90% of your innate potential and past that you see diminishing returns. For some, 200 hours may very well be a 25-30 but for others it can be a 35-40 or 15-20.

 

[breezy124]

The way I see it, 200 hours is enough to reach 90% of your innate potential and past that you see diminishing returns. For some, 200 hours may very well be a 25-30 but for others it can be a 35-40.

Yes, but the latter is probably for the few. The people who I know that studied 1-1.5 months for the mcat and got 35-40 were extraordinarily smart to begin with.

With the mcat being such a variable test, diminishing returns doesn't really apply because the more you know (let's say, in discretes) the more luck may play in your favor on test day.

For verbal, yes diminishing returns def applies LOL, or it did atleast to me...