How it works

Short sessions of MCAT questions, an explanation of why after every answer, and a scheduler that brings each question back just before you would forget it. The point is to understand the science well enough to use it on passages and data; the game is there so you open it every day.

Pick a topic and start a quest.
A quest is a study session: 10 questions from one topic, such as amino acids or renal physiology, about five minutes. There are 50 topics and 2,488 questions, all written for ATP Quest and tagged to the AAMC’s content outline. No deck to build, no cards to write. Every right answer earns ATP, and you spend ATP building your cell.
Your cell. Answer the question below to power your first organelle.
Answer, then read why.
Questions come in 6 kinds: multiple choice, head-to-head pairs, structures, numbers, ordering and sorting. Every answer comes with its reasoning and a memory hook. You never grade yourself: whether you were right, and how fast, tells the scheduler how well you know it.
Acid-base & pIQuestion 1 of 10
Lysine has pK_a values of 2.18, 8.95 and 10.53. Its pI is:
0 ATP
Pick an answer. A right one sends ATP into the cell.
It comes back before you forget it.
Each question keeps its own calendar. The scheduler uses FSRS-5, an open-source spaced-repetition algorithm, to bring it back just before your chance of recalling it drops below 92%. Get it right and the gap grows; miss it and it returns later in the same session, then daily until it sticks. Set your test date and nothing is scheduled after it.
day 0: first answerday 90: test day
Answered right each time. The gaps grow (2, 3, 9, 25, 28 days) while the memory holds, then close up (12, 6) as test day nears.
Missed once, on day 2. Back ten minutes later, then 2 days later, and the gaps start growing again.
One card’s first eight reviews, with a test date 90 days out.Worked out by the app’s own scheduler

If you use Anki

Anki is a good tool and plenty of premeds use it. Here is how ATP Quest differs, and where Anki is still the better choice.

The questions: ATP Quest: 2,488, written and checked for the MCAT. No deck to build or buy.; Anki: You make a deck, or download one someone else made.
Each card: ATP Quest: Multiple choice, head-to-head pairs, structures, numbers, ordering and sorting, each with an explanation.; Anki: A prompt, then you flip it to see the answer.
Grading: ATP Quest: Right or wrong, and how fast, set the rating. You can flag a lucky guess.; Anki: You rate each card: Again, Hard, Good or Easy.
Scheduling: ATP Quest: FSRS-5 at 92% target recall, and no review after your test date.; Anki: SM-2 or FSRS. No test date built in.
Progress: ATP Quest: ATP, 50 topics to clear, bosses and a cell to build.; Anki: A count of cards due today.

Where Anki is better

You can write any card you like, on any subject, with your own images and audio.
Shared decks and add-ons, made by a large community over many years.
Every setting of the scheduler is yours to change.
It is free on desktop, the web and Android.

If you want full control of every card, use Anki. If you use both, Premium exports your ATP Quest cards to it.

The game, in plain words

The game words are there to make studying something you want to come back to. Each one stands for something ordinary.

“I spin at 100 revolutions a second. Keep up.”
ATP Synthase, a boss

Quest: A study session: 10 questions from one topic, about five minutes, plus a second try at any you miss. The everyday way to study.
Topic: One slice of the MCAT outline, such as amino acids or renal physiology.
ATP: The points you earn for every right answer, more for fast ones and streaks. Spend them in the Foundry.
Hints: Spend one to strike out two wrong answers. Five right in a row earns another.
Boss: A timed test on one topic with three lives. It opens after a few sessions on that topic.
Blitz: A speed round: 90 seconds, every topic, as many right as you can.
Foundry: Where you spend your ATP: timed games on the same questions, and a cell you build one part at a time.
Codex: The reference: every structure, pathway, equation and figure, to look things up.
Rank: Your level, from Monomer up to Attending Physician, climbing with the ATP you earn.

What it costs, and where your progress lives

What it costs

Free is 25 new questions a day in every topic, with unlimited reviews of anything you have seen. Premium adds the timed sections, bosses, minigames and the whole Codex.

See pricing

Where your progress lives

You can study without an account: progress is saved in your browser. A free account keeps it safe and syncs it across your devices.

Read the FAQ

How it works

Pick a topic and start a quest.

Answer, then read why.