PASS Program Reviews 532

I had failed STEP2 before this class and was feeling pretty hopeless. This morning I woke up to a pass score on STEP2! Phenomenal program! If you trust the process and Dr. Francis’ teaching, you’ll definitely get through an excel. Also amazing tutors (shout out to Dr. Merzier). Worth your money and your time. It’s a phenomenal community to be a part of not just during the program but beyond. God is with you! Don’t be discouraged. The best is yet to come!

The information and the way that information is delivered is truly mind blowing. After attending the class, I can honestly say that I understand medicine. I was an online participant and it changed my way of thinking, I could only imagine how it would have been if I were in person. The tutors and the entire staff make it a welcoming situation, everyone wants you to succeed. Hearing the testimonies really give you hope. I would definitely recommend this program!!

So far, its been great. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 is because I haven't finished the program. It's very well throughout. You learn a lot. The atmosphere is good for studying. I dibwish it were open until midnight 7 days a week to study. Dr. Francis teaches concepts in a way that your mind easily absorbs. I do wish they had an automstic barristta machine that made different caffeinated coffee bean based drinks. I also wish they had a machine that sold prepped meals. I do think you have to be open minded to learn here. The staff are great. I do wish they had an established partnership with a hotel or housing company so students could be close to the center. There's not much else to say. You have to put in the work. This is a place that allows you to put in the word with no distractions. If you are lazy, you shouldn't come. I trust their process will equip me to perform well on USMLE step 2.

I attended the PASS Program in October 2025 while preparing for the CBSE and Step 1, and it ended up being a turning point in my journey. I had already passed Step 2, but I struggled for a long time with the CBSE/CCSE and honestly questioned whether I had what it took to get through Step 1.

What made the biggest difference for me was the way Dr. Francis and the program teach you how to think rather than just memorize. The focus on understanding concepts, staying calm under pressure, and approaching questions with a clear strategy helped me build the confidence I was missing. The daily structure—especially the morning questions—forced me to stay consistent and actively engage with the material.

The environment also played a huge role. Being surrounded by other students going through the same process, along with supportive tutors and staff, created accountability and kept me moving forward even when things felt overwhelming.

I can confidently say this program helped me get over one of the biggest hurdles in my medical journey—I passed Step 1.

Even now, as I prepare for residency and Step 3, I plan to continue using the PASS approach (especially the question-based learning and tutoring support) because it has changed the way I think about medicine and approach exams.

If you’re struggling with confidence, test-taking strategy, or getting through CBSE/Step 1, this program can genuinely make a difference if you commit to it.

Dr. Francis is a class act and a genius. He takes apart an extremely hard concept of medicine as a whole, and breaks it down to much more digestible material for you to absorb, learn, grow and build upon. I finally have a template that I will use to get me over this hump vs before I would read a question and see what answer matches best. As he often says in class, "stop guessing." It is going to take work but at least I have a proven template to work with. I wish I knew about this program earlier.

The one on one interaction is great. You cannot hide even if you want to. So this removes all the fear in you. Dr Francis teaches us timely responses. He also guides us what clues to see in solving the question and ignore what a distraction could be which i felt very important. He does'nt make you feel low even if your answer is wrong. We need more Dr Francises around the world who actually knows the pain of a test taker. There is always more good to talk about the program.

This program is an excellent adjunct to your preparation. Dr. Francis helps open your mind to different perspectives when assessing topics and diagnoses. The most important aspect of this program, in my opinion, is the relentless targeting of methods to tackle questions which ultimately results in excellent test-taking strategy/preparation. All in all, great experience for me.

I have never been taught the way Dr Francis does, no memorization only logic.

Learned how to become a great Medical Doctor by sitting in the classes of Dr. Francis

I attended the pass program in person in Houston. Although it was a big decision, it is one I would do 1000x over and one I wish I knew of sooner. I had previously failed STEP 2 twice, the first attempt by 7 points, the second attempt by 4 points, both completely devastating. I finished the Pass Program about a month before I sat for my next attempt. I just recieved my score and I passed with a 24 point increase from prior scores and well above the pass threshold! I could not have done it without Dr. Francis' teachings. He helped improve my foundational knowledge immensely. The other most helpful thing was learning how to organize the material in my mind. It gave clarity on topics I never thought would make sense. I would recommend this program to everyone, but especially to those who need help with foundational content and organization. I wish I had taken the course prior to STEP 1 too.

PASS truly changed my life. i would tell anyone considering it GO and go in person. i went from barely passing tests and always feeling inferior and wondering if i could pass my COMLEX to passing with flying colors and feeling more confident then i ever have

The PASS Program was a game changer for my USMLE Step 1 preparation. The structure, explanations, and high-yield pattern recognition helped me understand difficult concepts and build confidence. Thanks to this program, I was able to pass Step 1 successfully. A special thank you to Dr. Francis and Dr. Gaspar for the clear teaching, support, and motivation throughout the journey. I highly recommend PASS to anyone serious about passing Step 1!

Amazing program, you get MORE than what you pay for! I highly recommend!

I enjoyed every bit of the class more than I think is acceptable. More than teaching, Dr. Francis told us about his personal experiences, gave us advice, motivated us, and made us laugh! I came in there feeling like I wasn't smart enough but came out feeling empowered and worthy to enough to keep going!
Shout-out to the OMM tutor who never made us feel bad for getting an answer wrong. He kindly helped us work through the answer without putting us down. I do have one feedback in regards to the OMT powerpoints. The powerpoint is emailed after the session is done. I understand that there are mostly drills on the slides that students shouldn't see beforehand since it defeats the purpose of the structure of the class. But that makes it harder to take notes on the slides that AREN'T the drill slides. As a result, when I am going back to study the slides there is key information that I wish I would've wrote down. For example, the reasoning behind a question or the mnemonics that students mentioned while online. I would appreciate a powerpoint before class without the drill slides and the complete powerpoint after class for completion.
I am thankful for my hardships, the PASS program detour was beautiful. Thank you Dr. Francis and your entire team that makes it possible!

I had a fantastic experience with the PASS Program. The instructors were incredibly supportive and knowledgeable, providing personalized guidance that made a real difference

This program has already made a big difference. My comprehension and ability to process material have improved greatly, even before taking the exam. Dr. Francis is dedicated to turning his students into excellent physicians.

I filed a credit card dispute that was ruled in my favor: I received a full refund of $2249.10.

Upon reviewing evidence from both parties, the bank issued me a total refund of $2,249.10, NOT EVEN PARTIALLY siding with the PASS Program! Note: banks can, and often do, issue partial refunds or nothing refunded at all.

Purchase made: August 3rd
Course start date: August 4th
Claim opened (by myself): September 12th
Claim successfully resolved (bank): November 25th

The PASS Program attempted unsuccessfully to win this dispute.

Based solely on my personal experience, I rate the PASS Program course a 1/5. I believe strongly that I found over 100 factual errors that undermined the quality and usefulness of the course.

I emailed the program about specific errors, but they didn't acknowledge any errors I found. Sirolimus is NOT a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. I said sirolimus is an mTOR inhibitor. I also found wrong classification regarding the urease/oxidase/catalase algorithm that is important for you to know, but the PASS Program ignored this in my email too. I received no acknowledgement of any errors I caught, no apology, and no mass notification sent out to the class to correct their errors.

If you don't believe the errors I caught, my review on Google includes a screenshot of their own public FaceBook page stating (incorrectly) that clostridium and listeria are gram-negative cocci. No, they're gram-positive rods! Would you trust someone who told you listeria is a gram-negative cocci?

Also, I personally believed that the professor(s)' teaching times failed to reasonably approximate the advertised teaching times. I can objectively say that the professor was late to teaching on the majority of days.

On Day #2 of the course, the Zoom host hadn't started the meeting yet. I called the office a few times, but nobody answered. I also emailed them.

The following quote is from the PASS Program's email response at 6:29am (PST): "You aren't getting an answer because the office is still closed. Also, the class has not started yet. They are still finishing up Morning Questions. They should be starting shortly." No warning, no apology. Imagine waiting anxiously ~30 minutes on the second morning of class, not knowing why the host hasn't started the Zoom meeting or if maybe you're using the wrong Zoom link. It turns out he was teaching something else in a different Zoom room!

Again, he was late many times. I have proof of this; the PASS Program can't deny the professor's late starts on most days.

Furthermore, the PASS Program refused to ship me my books (I have proof via email), despite the physical books being advertised at the time of purchase. When I purchased the course on August 3rd, I received an automated welcome email (on August 3rd); this email included a statement that my books would be shipped within 48 hours. However, on August 4th, after I contacted the PASS Program regarding the shipment, I received an email that included the following: "To obtain a physical copy, you will have to purchase it separately." However, I was legally entitled to receive the books in the physical format.

The bank sided in my favor, so you can interpret the bank's decision for yourself.

In my opinion, banks don't easily refund $2249.10 to a customer, especially considering the gap between the course start date (August 4th) and dispute filing date (September 12th). The PASS Program submitted a lengthy response document with thousands of words and many pages of screenshots, but the bank didn't take their side at all.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: This review reflects solely my personal experience and honest opinion as a former customer of the PASS Program. Statements pertaining to the billing dispute and final resolution are objective and accurate, and pertain exclusively to my experience with the merchant. Potential consumers should conduct their own research and form their own conclusions about the program.

EDIT on 12/17/2025
1 -- The program responded to my review, stating "[I] have repeatedly harassed [them] over the last 6 months and left all the negative reviews [I] could." This is a vague, unsupported claim. My review here is objectively backed.
2 -- The program's response includes the following: "I would address your points, but that was already discussed in the email..." No, the program didn't respond to the vast majority of issues I raised. Can the program please defend its mistakes? I found a handful of issues. I never received any specific response when I said sirolimus is an mTOR inhibitor, which contradicted their PowerPoint slides.
3 -- "our payment processor sided with us on that dispute, too." A payment processor CANNOT override or reverse an issuing bank’s final chargeback decision. The bank sided with me, not PASS; I won.

The pass program was a good learning experience for me, Dr Francis changed my perspective about learning medicine in an entirely different way from understanding the basics to using that knowledge about normal to learn abnormal , truly enlightening for me to connect things I never knew I could relate before , so thankful for this opportunity to sit in classroom and learn from Dr Francis. 🙏

I joined the PASS Program, and it's been really helpful. The resources are easy to follow, and the support from the team makes learning much easier. It feels well-organized, and I've already seen some progress in my skills. Definitely worth checking out.