Tutoring FAQ

The general goal of tutoring is to help you to use your time as efficiently as possible – to help you craft a personalized plan to most effectively strengthen your weaknesses, to teach you the things that would take you exceedingly long to teach yourself, and to help you to learn how to approach questions to maximize your knowledge.

In my experience, most students struggle with identifying their true weaknesses, and are even worse at addressing them. Thus, they focus their time and energy on tasks that are incredibly low-yield, like repeating USMLE World for the 3rd time, rather than focusing on their true weaknesses (e.g. the application of knowledge, their approach to questions, etc.)

Even in the rare instance when I find a student who has correctly identified the things holding them back and is actively working on it, that all still takes TIME. When you work with me, there are only two kinds of subjects: subjects you can teach yourself without help, and subjects that will take you a disproportionate amount of time to learn. My job, in addition to tailoring a plan to your individual needs and situation, is to teach you the subjects you struggle with the most, so that you can get back to doing the things that you’re good at.

You are too kind! While it is true that I created this website so I could share my years of experience to those who were preparing for the biggest exam(s) of their life, there are still things that I cannot convey well to a mass audience. An example would be how to approach clinical vignettes in questions. An article on how to read through questions, analyze the meaning of each sentence, and how to figure out what the question is actually asking would be limited, given that it would be filled with generalities, and without the ability to give specific feedback to where each student is.

Sessions are 2 hours long, which students have found to be the ideal length.

Again, it’s hard, since every student has individualized needs and abilities. I’ve worked with students as little as once every couple weeks, although this is more common for students who contact me during their 1st year of medical school, to get an extra boost in their studies to lay the groundwork for when they begin in earnest. I’ve also had students who have found the sessions so useful that they request sessions nearly every day. While every student is different, I would say “typically” I meet with students once every 1-2 weeks in the beginning, and space it out after that.

Haha, that last one was a bit of a joke. But in all seriousness, I regularly get e-mails/calls from former students, asking for advice, extra tutoring, or just to let me know how they’re doing. And I know how valuable it is to get direct insight from those ahead of you. My high school had 3 counselors TOTAL, for all 1600+ students; getting advice, or even just a letter of recommendation for college, was a nightmare. I’ve also trained at some of the “elite” institutions of the world (Stanford, MGH, etc.), and realize just how valuable a mentor who cares for you can be. Mentoring students is one of my favorite parts of my work, and I will want to help you achieve success beyond your USMLE/COMLEX/Shelf exam!

In one word, “yes!” I’ve seen students’ NBME scores jump by more than 10-20 points simply because they suddenly began to realize how to read questions. Every school I’ve ever seen (including Stanford and Harvard) focus on knowledge over application during preclinical years, and all students (including myself) struggle with applying that knowledge to clinical scenarios.

What has been most gratifying, though, is to hear from students after they’ve begun clerkships, many of whom really rock! Most students that memorize for their exam never learn how to properly analyze/interpret data, which hampers them for both Step 1, as well as clerkships. I knew a student who had scored >255 on Step 1, but who really struggled with presentations and getting asked questions on rounds, simply because they had put all of their efforts into answering multiple choice questions. Your ability to impress your attendings/residents on rounds (and thus your clinical grade) is directly related to your ability to analyze and interpret large amounts of data.

How you approach Step 1 can set you up for success or failure when you enter clerkships.

Literally 10 minutes after I wrote the previous section, I received this e-mail from a former student who is on her first clerkship of 3rd year, which also happens to be internal medicine (things like this make me so proud!).:

I wanna start working with you again ! Maybe 1x per week . Need help with pharmacology and dosing and just slowly starting to prep for step 2 .

Would it be possible to have a set date ? Like Saturday mornings or something like that ?

Pps literally killing rotations basically been offered jobs haha ! You trained me well 🙂

Let me know .

While I can’t guarantee job offers, I will say typically students feel very well-prepared for clerkships, as my teaching style is very similar to the style of teaching most commonly seen on wards, both for clerkships and residency.

99% of the time, I work with students via Skype, which the vast majority of students prefer – it allows us to share screens, for me to draw on the screen for demonstration purposes, and for us to conveniently work together while minimizing travel time. If you live in the Boston area, and would like to meet in person, I am also happy to accommodate requests to meet in person when possible.

There is a discounted rate for the first session, to give you an idea of what tutoring will be like, as well as for us to both assess for “fit.” After that, there are various discounts for pre-paying for hours.

I’m very open about my students’ successes, which you can read about here.  I will say that typically, students who develop the habits for success on these exams earlier tend to do better; I’ve seen students with score increases of 70+, although the average is closer to 35-40.  As in all things, however, your miles may vary.

Feel free to e-mail me at alec@yousmle.com with any other questions!