MCAT Tutor

RILEY

TUTORING PROFILE

MCAT Score

99th Percentile Overall

Undergraduate GPA

4.0

Undergraduate Studies

Anthropology, Biology Major

Special Expertise

Chemistry/Physics (99th Percentile) Biology/Biochemistry (98th Percentile) Psychology/Sociology (100th Percentile)

Medical Education

Currently studying at UC Irvine SOM

In-person Availability

Video call

More About Riley

Hi there! My name is Riley, and I’m so excited that you’ve found your way to MCAT Self Prep! I personally found my way to medicine and to MCAT Self Prep through my loved ones. My dad was an Emergency Room physician that practiced primarily in our small farming town. Seeing his impact on our community sparked both my interest in medicine and my interest in working with underserved populations.

When I started preparing for the MCAT, I knew I could not slap my preparation together haphazardly and get the results I wanted. Thus, I took a consistent, balanced, and reflective approach. I targeted my weaknesses, used active-recall flashcards fanatically, and closely monitored my progress–all hallmarks of the MCAT Self Prep model. A few months later, I found myself delighted with my 99th percentile score and eager to share my strategy for MCAT success with others!

In my free time, I’m an avid surfer and musician. While they are both a total blast, surfing and music have also made me respect two things: pattern recognition and perfect practice. Learning wave patterns helps me catch the waves others miss, and trying difficult pieces over and over again has made me a better guitarist. Thus, they are now the foundation of my approach to the MCAT.

As a tutor, I help students break questions down into basic and recognizable pieces and then make that process a reflex. Unlike endless content review, I believe this helps students adapt quickly and not be scared by obscure and complex passages. Furthermore, this gives us plenty of time to identify your most common errors and fix them.

As an anthropology major, I also recognize that we all live and learn in different ways. Thus, I am committed to building a plan that fits your needs. With MCAT Self Prep’s resources and strategies, I am confident we can build that plan and get you a fantastic score. I sincerely look forward to working with you!

Best,
Riley

Hear What Riley’s Students are Saying About Him

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Dwight

“Riley has helped me tremendously with my MCAT studying. Not only with approaching material, but also with planning out my studying schedule. He has an abundant number of resources, all of which were extremely helpful for practice and testing myself. He is also great to work with, he showed a great amount of care and interest in my improvement and was there to help me whenever I needed him. I would highly recommend him to anyone I know who is studying for the MCAT.”
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Christian

“Riley is an excellent tutor who focuses on teaching fundamental details within concepts necessary for learning. He is a very kind and patient person who creates a positive learning environment for any student looking to improve their understanding of the material, no matter what their familiarity with the material may be. Riley has significantly helped me internalize difficult and abstract science concepts with ease and I would most definitely recommend him to anybody seeking to improve their MCAT knowledge and test-taking ability.”
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Caitlin

“Riley is an incredibly patient individual. He emphasizes the fundamentals first and then thoroughly explains more complex ideas. He is the kind of person that never made me feel silly even when I asked the most basic questions. I highly recommend Riley to anyone who is trying to prepare for the MCAT or any other subject. I know very few people who have the depth and breadth of understanding that he does.”

MCAT Self Prep Deluxe

Paul

“Riley is an extraordinary communicator and is an excellent tutor for any student. Riley speaks clearly and intelligently, successfully explaining complicated ideas and figures in relatable terms for any person to understand. Riley has an uncanny sense of empathy when interacting with people regardless of their background. My time with Riley has left me with a greater understanding of all of the topics that we discuss.”

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Karina

“Riley is an incredibly patient, kind, and helpful person, and he’s great at explaining complicated concepts in an accessible way. He advised me on MCAT preparation and gave insight on which resources were useful and worth the time, as well as how best to plan my study schedule to be successful. He has such a bright and sunny personality that is fun to be around, and he always pushes you to be your best. I highly recommend Riley as a tutor to help raise MCAT scores!”
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Susan

“I really enjoyed working with Riley as a tutor because he helped me in more than one way with my medical school application. When I started working with Riley, I had already taken the MCAT and scored a 501. From the very first meeting, he helped me with creating a personalized study schedule and also with questions I was working on. Because of my prior experience with taking the MCAT, he ensured that most of my time was spent on practice problems and I think that really helped to highlight where I had issues so I knew what to work on. I also enjoyed the zoom method of tutoring because of how flexible it was. Due to where I live, I was unable to get any tutoring done in person so this was able to work best with my schedule. I also enjoyed the one on one system vs the group tutoring I had previously used. Here, my specific problems were worked on and there were no distractions. He also helped with advice on how to write my personal statement and work/activities essays which helped my application stand out. I got a 506 on my second MCAT and I have received acceptance into 5 medical schools so far so I am grateful for Riley’s help.”

Best Prep, Best Price

Our prices cannot be beat. While other companies charge as much as $4,099 for a 10-session package ($410 per session) with a barely-90th percentile tutor, tutoring with our 520+ Elite Tutors starts at just $149 per session! Other companies charge as much as $14,999 for a 28-session package ($469 per session) with one of their head tutors, but meeting with our Head Tutor starts at just $399 per session! We are so confident you won’t find a better price that we stand behind our Lowest Price Guarantee.

Start Now, Pay Later

Not ready to pay in full? Simply select Affirm Pay Over Time at checkout and get started for a fraction of the cost with a payment plan that works for you.

Elite MCAT Tutoring Packages

1 Tutoring Session

$299.99/session
  • Recommended for:
  • Students simply in need of a customized study plan.
  • Students who want to pay as they go.
  • Students looking to try it out before committing to a larger package.
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5 Tutoring Sessions

$239.99/session
  • Recommended for:
  • Students needing help with a single weak area.
  • Students on a very tight financial budget.
  • Students looking for a boost during their final month of MCAT studying.
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10 Tutoring Sessions

$194.99/session
  • Recommended for:
  • Students needing extra help with a single weak area.
  • Students on a tight financial budget.
  • Students looking for a significant boost during their final month of MCAT studying.
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20 Tutoring Sessions

$164.99/session
  • Recommended for:
  • Students needing help with several weak areas.
  • Students struggling to make score improvements.
  • Students wanting to follow up with a tutor regularly (i.e. weekly).
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40 Tutoring Sessions

$149.99/session
  • Recommended for:
  • Students needing extra help with several weak areas.
  • Students really struggling to make score improvements.
  • Students wanting to follow up with a tutor regularly (i.e. biweekly).
Sign Up

Frequently Asked Questions

Which plan is right for me?

If you are not sure which plan is right for you, simply request a free consultation with Andrew and he will point you in the right direction. He’s worked with hundreds of students and knows what you’ll need to achieve your goal in your unique situation.

What are sessions like?

Each Elite Tutoring session will include the following:

Meticulous Preparation. Before the session even starts, your tutor will look through your Study Portal as they prepare an individualized lesson plan.

Pivotal Adjustments. At the beginning of each hourlong session, your Premium Elite Tutor will examine your progress and help you adjust your study plan using the Study Plan Spreadsheet.

Individualized Training. Your Premium Elite Tutor will spend the bulk of the session focused on teaching you the strategies and content that address your exact needs.

Can a tutor help me with my study plan?

Our Elite Tutors’ primary focus is on helping you know what and how to study in order to achieve MCAT success. They understand that having an effective study plan is the number one determining factor regarding whether you will reach your goal MCAT score. For this reason, they will focus on helping you develop and follow a customized study plan unique to your needs. They all scored in the 97th+ percentile using the MCAT Self Prep Program, so they know what it takes to achieve MCAT success.

Will Elite Tutoring help me during my final month of MCAT studying?

Yes! The final month of studying is actually the best time to take advantage of Elite Tutoring. You will be doing many full-length practice exams during your final month, and your Elite Tutor can review the toughest passages and questions with you. Study Plan Advising is also extremely helpful as you try to decide what and how to study during the final month. Students find that working with someone who has already conquered the exam to be very reassuring during the most stressful period of studying.

I need help with the CARS section. Can an Elite Tutor help me with that?

Yes! Our Elite Tutors are trained to help you with every section of the MCAT.

How do I start meeting with a tutor?

To start meeting with your tutor, simply add Elite Tutoring to your cart, and complete the checkout process. Afterwards, you will receive an immediate confirmation email with detailed instructions for getting started.

You can immediately start our Create-your-own Study Plan Course, which will walk you through developing a rough draft study plan using the Study Plan Spreadsheet.

After that, you can schedule a your first at your convenience so that you can discuss your study plan with one of our Elite Tutors in a one-on-one setting.

How often will I meet with a tutor? How does scheduling a session work?

The great thing about our program is that it offers you the flexibility to study at your own pace and on your own schedule. You do not need to meet with your tutor at the same time every week for a set number of weeks. You are able to choose any available tutoring slot from your tutor’s calendar, whether that slot is two months from now or two days from now. You choose the time that works for you! Students love having this flexibility.

Is there any way to meet in person with my tutor?

All of our tutoring sessions are conducted online, and our students find this to be just as effective, if not more effective, than meeting in person. Students really enjoy the fact that they can visit with their tutor without having to ever leave their apartment!

Can I defer my payment or pay in increments over time?

Yes! Simply select affirm pay over time at checkout to customize your payment plan with affirm. In some cases, affirm can decline users from using their pay-over-time service. If this happens, you can shoot me a message, and we’ll get you set up with a personalized monthly payment plan that will suit your financial needs. If you have questions or need to make changes to your affirm payment plan, you can contact affirm here. For non-affirm, custom payment plans, contact us.

Can I schedule sessions before my payment plan is paid off?

Yes! You can begin scheduling tutoring sessions right away after signing up. But keep in mind that we will suspend your account and postpone all remaining tutoring sessions if your recurring payment fails at any time. If you have questions or need to make changes to your affirm payment plan, you can contact affirm here. For non-affirm, custom payment plans, contact us.

What materials will I receive as part of this tutoring program?

As soon as you enroll in Elite Tutoring, you will receive immediate and free access to all of the following:

  • Our MCAT Video Collection, which covers ALL the MCAT topics as listed by the AAMC.
  • All ten of our online content modules (Biology I, Physics II, etc) as well as MCAT Bootcamp with customization.
  • Create-your-own Study Plan Course, which includes our Create-your-own Study Plan Spreadsheet and Score Tracker.

Request a Free Consultation

Simply fill out the form below to request a free 10-minute phone consultation with Riley. They’ll be in touch shortly.

Please note that if you have a question for me regarding the website or a technical issue of some kind, please check our detailed FAQs.

How we Matched up the Khan Academy Passages with the eCourse Lessons

Each lesson of the eCourse contains links to 1 to 5 Khan Academy science passages for the purpose of providing you with non-AAMC material to practice your science passage reading skills on. By completing all the linked passages within every lesson, you will have finished all the freely available Khan Academy science passages.

To match up the Khan Academy Science Passages with the eCourse lessons, we carefully examined the passage and question content of each one. Then we decided which lesson of the eCourse best correlated with that content. You may notice that some passages don’t match up perfectly with the current lesson. If they don’t match up with the current lesson, they should match up with one of the previous lessons in the module. We did this carefully so that you could practice your science passage reading skills on passages that contain the content you’ve already learned.

Why we don’t recommend non-AAMC CARS practice questions

We recommend practicing CARS by reading non-AAMC CARS passages but not doing the associated practice problems. The reason we don’t recommend doing the practice problems is because the MCAT is written by the AAMC. They have a very unique style in which they write CARS practice questions that third-party companies (try as they might) are unable to replicate. When students spend time on non-AAMC CARS practice problems, they get familiar with the wrong style of questioning, leading them to overthink and incorrectly respond to the questions written by the AAMC. Thus, it is in your best interest to solely practice on AAMC CARS practice questions.

That said, we highly recommend practicing your reading skills on non-AAMC CARS passages. In our Ultimate CARS Strategy Course, we provide you with 1,000 free CARS passages and 100+ homework assignments, giving you ample material to practice on. Reading countless passages while practicing the proper reading habits and strategies will prepare you well to conquer the CARS section as it was written by the AAMC.

Which books do the lessons match up with?

The books we use in each lesson are linked below. We plan to stick with these older editions of the books since very little has changed and the older editions are much more affordable:

First Edition of the Kaplan 7-book Series
First Edition of the Princeton 7-book Series

Do the chapters match up perfectly?

The Kaplan Books, Princeton Books, and Khan Academy Videos were all produced by different authors. For this reason, there are some chapters in the Kaplan Book or Princeton Book that are not even found in the Khan Academy Videos and vice versa. For instance, the Kaplan and Princeton Books have chapters that cover certain experimental procedures that the Khan Academy Videos do not cover.

Our goal in matching up the books with the videos was to correlate the content as best as possible while also covering ALL the content from every resource. For this reason, when nothing in the Kaplan Books matched up with one of the video playlists, instead of leaving the reading assignment for Kaplan blank, we inserted material that did not fit in anywhere else (i.e. one of those chapters on an experimental procedure that was not covered by Khan Academy). So, when the assignment doesn’t appear to match up right, please know that this was intentional.

*If you follow the reading assignments outlined, you will finish the entire Kaplan 7-book series and/or Princeton 7-book series by the time you finish all 10 content modules.

Do the sections match up perfectly?

If the sections assigned in our eCourse do not match up with the sections contained in your content review book, you may have a different edition. The sections should still match up the large majority of the time, but in the rare instance that they don’t, I’d recommend simply reading sections that do match up and saving the ones that do not for a future lesson.

MCAT Launchpad Required!

Before jumping into our free eCourse, you’ll need to complete orientation by watching MCAT Launchpad. During this free 35-minute intro session with Head Tutor Andrew, you’ll learn 6 Keys to Earning a Top MCAT Score, the 5 Essential Elements of an Effective Study Plan, 12 Tips for Taking the Best MCAT Study Notes, and more! Andrew will also provide you with a detailed overview of the Free MCAT Prep Course, teaching you how to get started.

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