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Examkrackers MCAT Course Review
Our in-depth review and analysis of the new MCAT prep course from Examkrackers
Most people know Examkrackers for having (probably) the best MCAT books in the industry. In fact, their books are so good that other MCAT prep companies use these books to teach their courses. Recently, however, Examkrackers has upped their game by creating a new full-scale MCAT prep program called KrackU. In this post, we explain what we think of this new MCAT prep course after using it for a few weeks.
Due to this being a more detailed review post, we’ve dropped jump-to links above so you can more easily navigate the article.
Video Review: Examkrackers MCAT Breakdown
In the video above, team member John breaks down our thoughts on the Examkrackers new MCAT prep course, KrackU. Please keep reading for additional detail.
How The Examkrackers MCAT Course Works
The first thing to know about the Examkrackers MCAT Course (called KrackU) is that the program revolves around their books. Essentially, Examkrackers has taken their legendary print books, converted them into digital format, and layered in a ton of interactive features. This is the backbone of the course.
There are seven books in total covering Biology, CARS, Chemistry, Lab Techniques, Organic Chemistry, Physics, and Psychology. Each one is sort of treated as a standalone course or module, yet how they all function is the same.
The Examkrackers MCAT books are the foundation of the course
You open the first chapter of the book (in the online portal) and start reading; however, it is definitely not your standard assigned reading. As you go, there are a million little interactive features. In fact, there are so many I am just going to list them off:
you can pin your own notes to each section as you go
you can bookmark sections
you can highlight important parts in different colors
you can see what the Examkrackers team highlighted and what they suggest as the most important part of each section
there are tons of images and graphics throughout each subchapter (some embedded right in the text and some in a separate window on the side)
there are flashcards related to the chapter in the window to the side
there are a bunch of little popups which appear when you click the icons (some of these offer more in-depth explanations, others are for clinical context, and some show you an AAMC checklist of covered topics)
at the bottom of each subchapter there’s a linked video lesson (more on these below)
there are content questions in each subchapter, which are punchy quiz questions that test you on the material you just read about
there is a notes feature where you can jot down your own notes for the overall chapter
each chapter ends with a chapter exam, which are 30-minute long tests made up of MCAT-style questions
I understand that is a lot to take in (it was for us at first as well). There is just so much going on in these interactive chapters that it’s kind of hard to get your arms around at first. However, once you do, it makes a lot of sense and it’s pretty easy to find a groove.
Honestly though, that’s the main thrust of the KrackU course. For the most part, everything revolves around the Examkrackers books. However, there are a couple elements worth taking a deeper dive on.
The Examkrackers MCAT flashcards
The first is the video lessons. As noted above, as part of building out their full MCAT course, Examkrackers created hundreds of short videos to go along with each chapter. In short, every subchapter gets its own 5-minute video lesson.
They’re all created in the same format with the Examkrackers lead instructor and founder Jon in front of a whiteboard, and he takes the info from the subchapter you just read and summarizes it in five minutes.
You can also access these videos separately outside of the books under the videos tab. That’s a good way to find them if you don’t want the accompanying text.
Beyond the videos, there are also group tutoring sessions. This is actually something that we were not expecting and sort of blew us away. Six nights per week (for 20 total hours), Examkrackers hosts a group tutoring session, which functions like a Q&A session with one of their instructors.
Examkrackers has some interesting and fun games
You can show up and ask questions about whatever you want. And the crazy part is that because the Examkrackers course is somewhat new and they’re building out their enrollment, there was hardly anyone in these sessions.
Half the time we logged in, the instructor was just waiting for students, so they kind of became de facto private tutoring sessions. This is crazy given the price of this course, which is actually a good segue to jump over and talk about price.
Examkrackers Price
The KrackU course costs just $500. To be clear, there is also a live online version of the course, which layers in a series of live classes and extends course access to a full year (that costs $2,000), but we only reviewed the on-demand, self-paced KrackU version.
Putting the price of this package in context though, at $500, this course is a very, very good bargain. For reference, the self-paced courses from Kaplan, Princeton Review and Blueprint all cost anywhere from $1,300 to $2,000, making KrackU about a third to a quarter of the price.
I think part of this low cost is the fact that the course is still new and they are trying to build a reputation. I tend to think it actually has nothing to do with quality (i.e., lower price doesn’t equal lower quality), and it more so is one of those things where early adopters are getting rewarded for taking a little bit of risk with a lesser known commodity.
Examkrackers: The Positives
Anyway, now that I’ve provided a high-level summary of how the course works, as well as how much it costs, let’s get to the pros. I see five major positives with this prep program.
Examkrackers MCAT Books
The first positive is how they leverage the Examkrackers books. In my opinion, it is a super smart approach using the books as the backbone of this course.
Their books are legendary and provide a ton of awesome info, all served up in digestible chunks. So I love that they’re the focal point.
Top-Notch Video Lectures
The videos that Examkrackers has created really impressed us. They don’t have amazing animations or cartoony graphics like the video lectures from Kaplan and Blueprint MCAT, but they’re concise, clear, and really help to break down the info in each chapter.
Examkrackers’ video lessons are excellent
They attack the content from a slightly different perspective than the text and help to boost retention. Plus, they’re only five minutes long each, so they’re very digestible.
Learn By Doing As You Go
The embedded content questions in each chapter are great. They aren’t MCAT-style questions, but I actually like that.
They’re just quick little quiz-style questions that test your knowledge, which really helps you retain the material. The inclusion of these alongside the chapter text makes a ton of sense.
Tons of Value
I still cannot get over the cost of this prep program. I don’t want to harp on this as I just discussed it above, but obviously, $500 is a great price.
This is a fraction of the price of other MCAT courses, and it’s one of those things where I wouldn’t be shocked if they double their prices in a year or two after they start getting traction and more students signed up.
Quality Practice Material
Lastly, I want to note that the Examkrackers practice material is very good. They write a lot of their practice material in-house and it is very realistic of what you’ll see on test day.
Examkrackers MCAT chapter exam
All of the problems in their chapter exams and full-length tests are a good match for the style and difficulty of real MCAT questions.
Examkrackers: The Negatives
Those are the positives we found reviewing this course. Now, let’s turn to the negatives.
No Clear Study Plan
There is no real clear guidance on what to study in this prep course. There is no overarching study plan or schedule directing you on what chapters to read or holding your hand day-by-day.
Examkrackers could afford to add a detailed study plan
You’re kind of just dropped into the course, and you start working your way through chapters and practice material. Personally, I think Examkrackers could benefit by building a detailed study schedule into the dashboard (rather than the car-like speedometer thing).
Flashcards Need To Be Trimmed Down
To go along with the books, there are about 1,200 flashcards in the program. While I generally like flashcards, a lot of the answers and definitions on the back of the Examkrackers flashcards are just too long.
They’re well explained points, but not well-suited to flashcards. You simply can’t memorize that level of detail for flipping through flashcards. It would be good to see them tighten those up a bit like a more typical anki deck.
Loud Background Music
Lastly, while the Examkrackers videos are really good on the whole, for some reason the background music in them is really loud. It’s always the same kind of instrumental track (similar to something you’d hear at a yoga retreat), and it’s just too loud. 😖
They must use this track because a study showed that instrumental music helps with learning or something, but it got kind of annoying and distracting at times. You get used to it after a while, but it was just too loud.
Final Thoughts & Summary
On the whole, I really like this new course. Obviously, with their books as the basis of the prep program, Examkrackers has an amazing starting point and advantage over other MCAT prep companies, and we liked the features and material they’ve layered on.
With video lectures, interactive functionality, practice questions, and live tutoring sessions, for $500, it’s a ton of value and really hard to beat. I think this is especially true if you learn well via text. If you’re a DIY’er and you do well learning by text on your own, this course is a slam dunk.
In our team’s opinion, yes, the Examkrackers MCAT prep program is worth the money and time commitment. We especially like their use of interactive textbooks and video lectures. Their MCAT material is chopped up into easily digestible and retainable chunks.
How much does Examkrackers cost?
The Examkrackers MCAT prep course (called KrackU) costs $500 for 90 days of access. Compared to other MCAT prep companies like Kaplan and Princeton Review, this is a stellar value.
Are the Examkrackers MCAT books good?
The Examkrackers books are arguably the best in the industry. They have been publishing these books for close to 30 years and offer iterative updates every year. They are some of our highest-rated MCAT prep books.
