You won’t find many online MCAT Prep courses that lay this much focus on 1-on-1 mentoring and personalized studying as Altius does.
Yes. Altius’s test prep revolves less around recorded videos and more on 1-on-1 mentoring.
Also, it is one of the few prep companies that solely offer MCAT prep.
These two things make Altius super effective and popular among MCAT students.
But how good is it really? Let’s go through the packages and features in detail.
Summary Table
Altius Private 1-on-1 Mentoring Programs | |||
Silver | Gold | Platinum | |
1-on-1 Sessions | 15 | 25 | 45 |
Altius Perfect-Match MCAT Practice Tests | 10 | ||
Total Hours of Small-Group Instruction | 120 Hrs. | 160 Hrs. | 200 Hrs. |
Problem-Based Group Sessions | 30 | ||
Small Group Tutoring Sessions | 15 | ||
Mastery Sessions | -- | 15 | |
All Available AAMC Practice Tests | Yes | ||
Personal Statement Review | ✘ | Yes | |
24/7 Support | Yes | ||
14-Day Return Policy | Yes | ||
90th Percentile Score Guarantee | Yes | ||
30-Day Money Back Guarantee | Yes | ||
Price | $3,699 | $4,999 | $6,999 |
Altius MCAT Overview
- Comprehensive Study Materials: The program includes access to a wealth of study materials, including study manuals, live classes, practice tests, and subject-specific mini-exams.
- 1-on-1 Mentoring: Altius provides personalized 1-on-1 mentoring sessions for tailored guidance, study strategies, and support from high-achieving MCAT mentors.
- Small Group Instruction: Altius conducts small group sessions that foster active participation and discussion among students, leading to better learning and preparation.
- Perfect-Match Tests: Altius offers practice tests designed to simulate the real MCAT experience, closely mirroring the exam’s structure, difficulty, and content.
- 90th Percentile Score Guarantee: Altius guarantees a 90th percentile score or a minimum 12-point score increase if students complete 100% of the Platinum, Silver, or Gold 1-on-1 MCAT Program.
- Easy Refund Policy: They have a 30-day money-back guarantee if you aren’t satisfied with their mentoring or elite programs. Plus, a 14-day refund policy on all self-study material.
Altius MCAT Review For 2024
“We don’t lecture; we mentor.” That’s the motto of Altius’ founder, Lauren Curtis.
In 2005, Curtis founded Altius in a bid to reform a broken test prep industry. He wanted students to get out of the “memorization” race and win the conceptual game.
And that’s the whole approach behind Altius MCAT – they promote critical thinking.
Let’s discuss different aspects and features of their MCAT courses.
Pricing & Packages
Altius has a course option for every kind of student.
Whether you like to study at your own pace, want to be assisted by an Altius mentor, or simply want to take some practice exams, Altius has got you covered.
You will find the following prep programs on their website:
- MCAT Mentoring: These course options include 1-on-1 mentoring sessions with regular course material.
- Summer Immersion: This category includes 10 weeks of hyper-focused MCAT prep offered during the summer break.
- MCAT Study Materials: This category includes a self-paced course and bundles of practice tests and tutoring sessions that you can buy separately.
- Undergrad Science Tutoring: This includes tutoring sessions.
- Medical School Admissions Mentoring: These are mentorship and review sessions to improve your overall application.
The major things to discuss among all these offerings are Altius’s mentoring programs and their self-paced course. So, let’s dive deep into that.
MCAT Mentoring Programs
You get five options if you wish to prepare for the MCAT with an Altius mentor’s help.
Here is how much these packages cost:
- Platinum for $6,999
- Gold for $4,999
- Silver for $3,499
- Elite for $2,999
- Elite + 10 tutoring sessions for $3,999
While the prices are on the higher side, they are completely justified once you measure the value for money.
These packages include 1-on-1 sessions, group sessions, practice tests, subject mastery sessions, and so much more.
The 1-on-1 sessions are truly helpful as you get a dedicated MCAT mentor whom you can contact almost at any time of the day about any question or confusion.
That’s the best part: knowing that an expert has got your back!
However, you need to be careful when using these sessions, as you’re allowed a specific number of private sessions according to the course option you buy.
Pro Tip: It’s always a good idea to go through practice questions and tests with your mentor during 1-on-1 sessions.
Self-Paced Study
Under the MCAT Study Materials, you will find Altius’s self-paced course.
Their main offering is their Premier Self-Paced MCAT Course, while others are just practice tests and tutoring sessions.
Here’s what you get in the self-paced course:
Altius Premier Self-Paced MCAT Course | |
Altius Study Manual Printed | Yes |
AAMC Official Guide | Yes |
Altius Student Portal 1-Year Access | Yes |
Altius Full-Length Exams | 10 |
AAMC Full-Length Exams | Yes |
Subject-Specific MCAT Mini Exams | 60 |
30-Day Money Back Trial Period | Yes |
Price | $999 |
Altius’s study manual is their MCAT bible, which is almost 600 pages long.
This prep book features practice drills, questions with explanations, and content review.
While it might not seem like much when compared to other MCAT courses that offer heaps of books, Altius actually does a great job with it. They have intelligently cut down the fluff and only included bits that are most effective.
Apart from this book, you get online access to plenty of other resources like the AAMC official guide, practice exams, and some more practice questions with answers.
Elite Mentoring
This is another one of Altius’s mentoring course options, but we are discussing it separately because it’s kind of a mixed course.
The name might make it seem like the premium most option, but it’s actually a basic-level program as compared to other Altius courses.
The Elite mentoring program gives you access to self-study material along with four hours of 1-on-1 sessions, 20 hours of small group sessions, and proctored exams.
All of this for $2,999. And if you want additional tutoring sessions, you can get 10 hours of tutoring for another $1,000.
Altius MCAT Elite Mentoring | |
All Contents From Premier Self-Study MCAT Course | Yes |
Classroom Sessions | 32 |
1-on-1 Mentoring Hours | 4 Hrs. |
Small Group Tutoring Hours | 20 Hrs. |
In-Person Proctored Exams | 4 |
Classroom Weeks | 7 |
Review Weeks | 3 |
Online Access Period | 12 months |
Price | $2,999 |
Price with 10-Tutoring Sessions | $3,999 |
It’s a 10-week program, but you get to keep the online access to learning material and tests for a full year.
This program can be a great choice if you don’t intend to take the MCAT soon and can do well with limited tutor support.
Altius MCAT Practice Tests
No matter which field of study you’re in, practice is the most crucial aspect of your test prep.
Altius understands this well and claims to have built perfect-match MCAT practice exams in every aspect.
From word count to difficulty, topic, formatting, and standardization, they have successfully replicated AAMC procedures to bring you the real MCAT experience.
How are their tests so representative of the original MCAT?
Well, they claim to have invested millions of dollars into building software that detects patterns just like the FBI’s software does for criminal activities. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?
This is also the reason why Altius also offers their practice exams as standalone items: because they believe in their accuracy, and the results speak for themselves.
On top of this, their questions are accompanied by detailed explanations, so you clearly understand why certain options are correct or incorrect.
Small Group Instructions & Mastery Sessions
Altius MCAT prep course also includes live classes in the form of small groups.
These are more like workshops than lectures because there are only a handful of students, and they have to participate actively in the discussions.
These live classes may take place once a week or more often, depending on the track you choose.
Yes. When you enroll, you choose a “track” for the course based on the season (spring, summer, fall, winter).
The number of hours for these live classes is directly linked to the package you select, ranging from 120 to 200 hours.
How good are these? Honestly speaking, they aren’t any less valuable than their 1-on-1 mentoring sessions.
Since there is a limited number of students per batch, you get the personalized focus and attention of your mentor in each session.
Overall, it’s a very powerful combination of group talks and mentoring, which keeps you surrounded with peers and high-achieving MCAT tutors.
Speaking of tutors, let’s see who actually teaches at Altius MCAT prep.
Tutors
Since the entire Altius MCAT prep is built around mentoring and personalized tutoring, they had to hire the best lot to teach.
As a result, all Altius courses are taught by former Altius students who scored at least a 515 on their own MCAT exam.
But apart from acing MCAT with flying colors, their tutors are highly knowledgeable and great communicators as well.
They cover certain study topics, review practice problems, and provide feedback for each individual’s problem.
Besides MCAT prep, Altius tutors also offer admission mentoring.
Yes, they have four packages for Medical School Admissions Mentoring.
Based on the package you buy, you get the following services:
- Personal statement review
- 24/7 Admissions mentor support
- 15-Activities section review
- AMCAS review
- List of target schools
- Secondary essay review
- Mock interview
More Course Options
Altius also offers two Summer Immersion programs: Platinum and Gold.
These are 10 weeks of hyper-focused MCAT prep courses designed to help you significantly boost your scores.
You will be offered to select one of two available summer slots, as shown in the image below.
What do these packages offer?
A lot. Here’s an overview:
Altius MCAT Summer Immersion Programs | ||
Gold | Platinum | |
Private 1-on-1 Mentoring Sessions | 25 | 45 |
Small-Group Tutoring Hours | 125 | 175 |
Altius MCAT Practice Exams | 10 | 10 |
All Available AAMC Practice Exams | Yes | Yes |
Personal Statement Review | ✘ | Yes |
14-Day Trial Period | Yes | Yes |
Price | $8,499 | $9,999 |
As you can notice, these are highly expensive.
So, are these the right choice for you?
Well, these summer programs can be great for you if you desire personalized guidance and maximum score improvement.
Score Guarantee & Refunds
If there’s one thing that you will see popping on every page of Altius’s website, it’s the word “Guarantee.”
Yes. All of their full courses (not tutoring sessions) offer high score guarantees.
The 1-on-1 mentoring programs offer a Guaranteed 90th-Percentile MCAT Score OR a Minimum 12-point Score Increase if you complete 100% of the Platinum, Silver, or Gold 1-on-1 MCAT Program.
Then there’s the 30-Day Money Back Guarantee. You have 30 days from the date of purchase to receive a full refund if you’re not satisfied for any reason.
And there’s yet another bold and crazy guarantee.
If you complete 100% of the Elite Program assignments and do not improve your score over a previous MCAT (or your first full-length diagnostic exam), Altius will refund double your paid amount.
How’s that for a guarantee?
Well, that’s how confident they are in their prep programs.
Lastly, they have a 14-day money-back policy for all self-study Altius MCAT prep courses and materials, provided that you haven’t used any of them.
Altius MCAT Pros & Cons
– Hands-on learning.
– Personalized support of a mentor.
– High-quality prep material (notes + prep book).
– 90th percentile score guarantee.
– Perfect-match Altius practice tests for real MCAT experience.
– Fewer students in class, getting you more attention from the tutor.
– Admission mentoring.
– Limited flexibility because of fixed dates.
– Very expensive.
Verdict
The Altius MCAT prep programs, emphasizing personalized mentoring and small-group instruction, cater to a specific type of MCAT test-taker.
Those who thrive on hands-on learning will find Altius a strong fit. Because of how their programs are designed, Altius is ideal for those who want to gain a deeper understanding, not just memorize.
Moreover, Altius’s practice tests are highly regarded for their accuracy and similarity to the actual MCAT exam.
These “perfect-match” tests meticulously replicate the MCAT experience, mimicking aspects such as word count, difficulty, topic coverage, and formatting.
However, these programs might not be suitable for everyone.
Individuals who prefer flexibility in study schedules might find the fixed dates and structured tracks restrictive.
Additionally, the higher cost associated with Altius’s offerings might be a deterrent for budget-conscious students or those seeking more affordable alternatives.
Furthermore, test-takers who excel in self-directed study without extensive support or prefer learning through recorded videos might not fully benefit from Altius’s hands-on approach and live sessions.
Still, the course suits ambitious students striving for significant score improvements within a structured and supported environment.
FAQs
How much does Altius MCAT cost?
Altius presents a range of course choices, spanning from the basic Elite Course, costing $3,000, to their top-tier $10,000 summer immersion program.
However, their 1-on-1 mentoring Gold package might seem like a favorable option, priced at around $5,000.
Is Altius similar to AAMC?
Yes, Altius’ prep material is similar to AAMC’s material.
How good are Altius MCAT exams?
Altius MCAT exams are quite good as they are similar to official MCAT exams in almost every aspect of the test, including word count, difficulty, topic match, formatting, and the exact same number and type of figures as AAMC.
