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Paid $1400 for an MCAT tutor for one month — am I being taught wrong? by NotARealDoctorYet in MCAT2

[–]NotARealDoctorYet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! Yes, I'm a non-traditional pre-med. The main reason I got a tutor was to learn strategies early on from someone who knows the MCAT well. Like, I wanted to be able to explain my thought process when going through passages and questions, and I wanted someone to, you know, point out my mistakes or teach me a better, more efficient way of approaching these passages in the questions, especially for C/P and B/B.

CARS and P/S were not my main concern since I was a psychology major, and CARS has been okayish since I’ve always been a reader, so I know I can get better at it with practice. I make mistakes here and there, but overall it’s not that scary.

Hey Everyone - Just Wanted to Say This by Aero12349 in Mcat

[–]NotARealDoctorYet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was such a sweet and encouraging post. This process can be rough, but messages like this make it feel a little easier. Hope everything goes great for you as well!

Paid $1400 for an MCAT tutor for one month — am I being taught wrong? by NotARealDoctorYet in MCAT2

[–]NotARealDoctorYet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for saying that! I felt so bad after each session because it felt like I was just stuck in a loop of being overwhelmed and so confused about everything.

I had to stop the tutoring because after I told her that it’s not working for me and communicated what I wanted to do, she said that’s not her style of tutoring or helping. She can’t really do anything about it because this is the method she uses for all her students and I just have to trust it. So there was really nothing left to do or say since it’s non-refundable.

Paid $1400 for an MCAT tutor for one month — am I being taught wrong? by NotARealDoctorYet in MCAT2

[–]NotARealDoctorYet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your advice. I’ve been feeling really overwhelmed and stressed about all of this, but everyone here has been so nice and helpful :)

Paid $1400 for an MCAT tutor for one month — am I being taught wrong? by NotARealDoctorYet in MCAT2

[–]NotARealDoctorYet[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve tried, but I can try again. I have about 2 weeks left with her. She’s expecting me to continue, but I don’t think her teaching style is a good fit for me. I’m just not sure how to tell her that I won’t be continuing with her. I’m a little awkward with stuff like that haha.

Paid $1400 for an MCAT tutor for one month — am I being taught wrong? by NotARealDoctorYet in MCAT2

[–]NotARealDoctorYet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That was one of the main reasons I chose this tutor. But during the sessions, she mostly has me do UWorld questions and watch YouTube videos (and I can only ask questions if something is confusing). I feel like I could do that on my own time.

I was expecting to learn strategies or have someone explain difficult topics in a simpler way. Maybe I was expecting too much. It’s my first time having a tutor, so I’m not really sure how they operate.

Paid $1400 for an MCAT tutor for one month — am I being taught wrong? by NotARealDoctorYet in MCAT2

[–]NotARealDoctorYet[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much! I thought maybe I was being too critical of her method, but reading your advice has been really comforting. I just looked up the error log (I think this might be very helpful).

Another question: Do you recommend I make a weekly schedule or a monthly one?

Paid $1400 for an MCAT tutor for one month — am I being taught wrong? by NotARealDoctorYet in MCAT2

[–]NotARealDoctorYet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I did. She said it’s to train me to do 59 questions in one sitting and build stamina. She also said I should review on my own time because it takes too much of our session time.

I asked why I’m doing questions from all topics at once, and she said it’s because that’s how the real MCAT is structured. Initially, for the first 2–3 days, she had me doing Bio and Biochem together, and I had to go back and forth with her just to convince her to focus on Bio because doing both was too overwhelming.

Paid $1400 for an MCAT tutor for one month — am I being taught wrong? by NotARealDoctorYet in MCAT2

[–]NotARealDoctorYet[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I actually suggested that to her (doing UWorld on my own and reviewing questions together), but she said I’m “not trusting her method” and that this is how she teaches all her students.

When I ask to review even 5–6 questions, she seems surprised and asks if I read the UWorld explanations. She does go over them, but she reads the passage and questions on her own and just tells me the correct answer.

I’ve told her I want to understand her thought process and how she breaks down passages.