FAQ

Since 1999, we’ve been asked a lot of questions. Find answers to the most common inquiries below.

Service

 Our Live Online Flex and 515+ Flex courses are offered in the summer. They bring each live online class to you three times weekly – weekday morning, weekday afternoon, and weekday evening – for you to choose from. Join whichever class is most convenient for you, or join more than one if you’d like to repeat a class. If you somehow miss all three options, we’ve still got you covered. We also post a recording of each class to make it next to impossible for you to miss one.

 Our Live Online Fixed and 515+ Fixed courses are offered in the fall and winter. They bring each live online class to you once weekly on a weekday evening. We also post a recording of each class so you never miss one.

The Self-Paced course has no set schedule, allowing you to study entirely at your own speed with the guidance of your Coach and the structure of your Personalized Study Plan.

  • Most comprehensive. 154 hours of live instruction delivered from expert instructors for Live Online and 515+ students (or video lessons for Self-Paced students). 
  • 7 hyperbooks. Packed with uniquely interactive features, our user-friendly digital hyperbooks cover absolutely everything you need to know for the MCAT.
  • Guided Practice. Expert instructors walk you through 6-8 practice passages in every class. Only Prep101 devotes 50% of class time to sharpening your MCAT-specific reasoning skills and strategies.
  • Emphasis on CARS. 40 hours of instruction and workshops devoted to the challenging CARS section: more than our leading competitors combined.
  • Flexible Schedule. Our Live Online and 515+ classes are offered three times weekly to allow you to attend whatever class best fits your schedule.
  • Free Repeat Policy. Take our Live Online course again for free if you decide to retake the MCAT. (See Terms of Use for details/limits).
  • Most Full-Length Exams. 25 exact simulations of the real MCAT with robust analytics and diagnostics.
  • 14 CARS Workshops. 28 hours of guided practice devoted to high-yield strategies and skills for the challenging CARS section.
  • 44 Chapter Exams. 30-minute passage-based mini-exams in every class to reinforce key points and sharpen skills and strategies.
  • Your own MCAT Coach. One-on-one guidance from an expert who designs your Personalized Study Plan and keeps you on track through to test day.

Instructors hired by pre-med students. We can’t think of anyone better qualified than students to spot the best teachers so we let your peers decide who we hire at competitive auditions.

 Our prep courses deliver 154 hours of instruction. This includes 55 Lessons covering the basic science tested on the MCAT. We also offer 44 Chapter Exams and 16 Workshops to help you master the reasoning skills and strategies you’ll need for the MCATs unique passage-based questions. Beyond the instruction, your MCAT Coach will design a Personalized Study Plan with a day-to-day breakdown of what to study and practice from the first day of the course right through to your test day.

We have a unique four-step learning curve that makes sure you master every MCAT topic: reading, lesson, chapter exam and homework. Here’s how it works for Live Online and 515+ students: 

  • Before Class: Read assigned Hyperbook chapter on Topic X and work through 24 content questions. 
  • In Class: An engaging lecture covering the Lesson on Topic X in the Classroom Companion is followed by a passage-based Chapter Exam on Topic X and an instructor-led review of the Chapter Exam
  • After-Class: Complete assigned practice questions on Topic X in the AAMC Question Banks and Section Banks.

Self-Paced students follow the same cycle using recorded lessons and explanations of chapter exams.

 Prep101 takes a more comprehensive approach. We teach you all the science on the MCAT. We also help you master the MCAT’s challenging passage-based format. 

And we hone your critical thinking and reasoning skills. When you nail these three areas – knowledge, skills, strategies – you’ll get that higher score. 

We offer 154 hours of instruction. That includes 55 Lessons covering basic science. But we also devote much more time to guided practice than other MCAT prep companies. Our 44 Chapter Exams and 16 Workshops led by expert prep instructors will help you master the reasoning skills and strategies you’ll need for the MCAT’s passage-based questions. 

All of this adds up to a prep course that offers more of everything you need to get a top score.

We’re the only MCAT prep company that lets students customize their weekly schedule by offering each class multiple times.

Our Live Online Flex and 515+ Flex courses bring each live online class to you three times weekly – weekday morning, weekday afternoon, and weekday evening – for you to choose from. Join whichever class is most convenient for you, or join more than one if you’d like to repeat a class.

If you somehow miss all three options, we also post a recording of each class to make it next to impossible for you to miss a class.

Materials & Resources

 All our courses include:

  • 7 interactive digital hyperbooks
  • 5 workbooks
  • 154 hours of recorded instruction
  • Instructors’ annotated notes
  • 610 MedReels

All our courses include 1,500+ practice passages and 12,000+ practice questions:

  • All AAMC practice materials
  • 10 Altius full-length exams
  • 10 Examkrackers full-length exams
  • 11 Examkrackers CARS exams
  • 44 Examkrackers mini-exams
  • 23 Prep101 after-class practice sets

Prep101 students now get a one-year subscription to 7 hyperbooks at no extra cost. Hyperbooks are digitized versions of the legendary MCAT Complete Study Package from Examkrackers with a LOT of interactive features layered in. The cutting-edge hyperbooks platform put an abundance of top-notch content review and practice resources at your fingertips with:

  • 7 interactive study guides
  • 10 full-length practice exams
  • 11 CARS section exams
  • 44 mini-exams
  • 2,000+ content questions
  • 3,000+ images and animations
  • Detailed score reports
  • Robust diagnostics and analytics
  • Topic-based progress reports
  • Personalized note-taking and highlighting
  • Integrated AAMC checklist

 All our courses include:

  • 5 AAMC full-length practice exams
  • 2 AAMC Biology question packs
  • 2 AAMC CARS question packs
  • 1 AAMC Chemistry question pack
  • 1 AAMC Physics question pack
  • 2 AAMC section banks
  • 1 AAMC CARS diagnostic tool
  • 1 AAMC independent question bank

No. They are included in the course fee.

 Every new student is paired with an expert MCAT Coach who will motivate you and reinforce good study and practice habits  from the start of your prep course through to test day. Your MCAT Coach will design a Personalized Study Plan exactly tailored to your individual circumstances. They’ll consider your science background, target scores, test date and everything else happening in your life to design a day-to-day study and practice schedule that’s the absolute perfect fit for you. Thereafter, your Coach will regularly check in with you to keep you on track and fine-tune your Study Plan.

We know how crucial extra study and practice can be so that’s where our Personalized Study Plan comes in. Whatever your test date, target scores, science background and other time commitments, you’ll receive a tailor-made day-by-day study and practice schedule to keep you on track right through to test day.

Our 44 Chapter Exams cover only the topics you learned in the preceding Lesson. Using what you’ve learned directly after you’ve learned it is the best way to ensure that your newfound knowledge really sticks. After completing each In-Class Exam, the instructor walks you through it and shows you how to analyze the passages, dissect the question stems, and attack the answer choices.

Our 14 CARS workshops are devoted solely to high-yield test-taking techniques such as effective time management, mapping and analyzing passages, reasoning within and beyond the passage, simplifying question stems, recognizing distractors and confounders, and elimination strategies.

MedReels are 610 on-demand videos available for you to watch whenever it’s most convenient for you. 444 videos clearly and concisely explain every MCAT topic. Another 166 videos provide expert guidance on strategy and technique.

Our 23 After-Class Practice Sets of 5-10 passages are used to strengthen your grasp of the topic covered in each class and how it’s presented on the MCAT. They’re online, with the exact same interface as the MCAT.

Except where indicated otherwise, course materials are the intellectual property of Prep101. This means they are protected by copyright law and cannot be shared, distributed, or reproduced without explicit permission. These materials are intended for your personal use only as a registered student. Any unauthorized use, copying, or distribution of these resources may result in legal consequences.

Registration and Payment

 We accept payment by VISA, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal and debit cards (except CIBC). In Canada, We also accept installment payments through Affirm’s buy now, pay later plans.

Yes. We offer Affirm at checkout for Canadian students so you can buy now, and pay over 6 months, 12 months or 24 months.**

**Payment options through Affirm Canada Holdings Ltd. (“Affirm”). Your rate will be 0–31.99% APR (where available and subject to provincial regulatory limitations). APR offered is based on creditworthiness and subject to an eligibility check. Not all customers will be eligible for 0% APR. Payment options depend on your purchase amount, may vary by merchant, and may not be available in all provinces/territories. Actual payment option terms will be shown at checkout. A down payment (or a payment due today) may be required. Affirm accepts debit cards and PAD as forms of repayment on payment options. Select payment options may be eligible for repayment in the form of credit cards. Please review the terms and conditions of your credit card when using it as a form of repayment. Sample payment options may be: a $800 purchase could be split into 12 monthly payments of $72.21 at 15% APR, or 4 interest-free payments of $200 every 2 weeks. For more information, please see https://www.affirm.com/en-ca/how-it-works.

You have two payment options:

1. Full payment guarantees your spot and course materials will be shipped to you 3 to 4 weeks before the course starts.

2. $100 deposit guarantees your spot but your course materials will not be shipped to you until you pay the balance.

14 days before the start of the course so we have time to ship course materials to you before classes begin.

Log into our account and select Pay Balance.

Only $50 for shipping and any applicable sales tax.

Standard Policy (Live Online): You receive a full refund if you withdraw at least 2 weeks before the course starts. You forfeit the $100 deposit if you withdraw  in the two weeks before the course starts. There are no refunds after the course starts.

Self-Paced Policy: All sales are final. No refunds are issued once the course is activated or any digital materials are accessed.

515+ Score Guarantee: In addition to the Standard Policy, students in this course may be eligible for refund based on the money-back guarantee. See Terms of Use for specific details.

All eligible refunds exclude the cost of shipping, any activated digital materials, and any open physical materials (or cost of return shipping if unopened).

We grant a maximum of one discount per student per prep course. If you are eligible for multiple discounts, we will honour the discount with the highest dollar value. No new or additional discounts will be granted to registered students after the course starts.

Student Portal

Account sharing is strictly prohibited. Each account is intended for individual use only.

Unauthorized sharing may result in suspension or termination of your account to ensure the security and integrity of our platform.

You can access the student portal with up to two of your own devices.

Repeat Students (Live Online ONLY)

Live Online students can retake the course once for free within 24 months of their original course’s start date.

This repeat policy is available only to you — the original registered student — and cannot be shared or transferred.

The only (optional) costs incurred by repeat students is for new course materials, if any, added since you last took the course, expired course materials, and a coach. All of these are offered to repeat students at significantly discounted prices and are completely optional.

We recommend (not require) that repeat students purchase new, extensively updated or expired materials that are essential to full participation in the course. Such materials are offered to repeat students at significantly discounted prices.

The materials we recommend that you purchase depends on when you last took the course. The recommended materials are displayed at the end of the registration process for repeat students to pick which, if any, you want to purchase.

You can also purchase materials on your student portal at any time during the course.

The following materials expire after one year. Students who repeat the course beyond one year have the option to buy them again at significantly discounted prices:

  • AAMC official practice materials
  • Altius practice tests
  • Examkrackers hyperbooks

Expiry dates are set by the AAMC, Altius and Examkrackers so Prep101 is unable to extend your subscription beyond one year.

Repeat students whose hyperbooks subscription has expired can buy a new one-year subscription for $225 USD.

You can buy a new set of 44 chapter exams for $70 USD.

 

Other​

 We put prospective instructors through a competitive audition by having them teach a mock lesson to our former MCAT students. We can’t think of anyone better qualified than students to spot the best teachers, so we let your peers decide who we hire.

 We put prospective instructors through a competitive audition by having them teach a mock lesson to our former MCAT students. We can’t think of anyone better qualified than students to spot the best teachers, so we let your peers decide who we hire.

Yes, but you have to do the work. You must complete your Coach-assigned study plan and take the official MCAT within 90 days of finishing the course. See Terms of Use for full details.

 Email mcat@prep101.com

 Yes. By purchasing or registering for a Prep101 MCAT course, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use. 

These terms outline important details about course access, our refund and repeat policies, student conduct, and more. We encourage you to read them carefully before enrolling.

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Flexible Schedule

Our 12-week course has three classes every week, running Monday through Wednesday. With our Flexible Schedule, you get to choose from three different times—morning, afternoon, or evening—for each class. Just pick the one that works best for you.

Can’t make any of them? No worries! Every class is recorded and drops into your student account within 24 hours, so you won’t miss a thing.