Every year a considerable number of high school graduates in Russia choose to pursue a career in medicine and apply to medical universities. However, the level of preliminary training of applicants is often insufficient to enrol in the preferred study programme. Private tutoring is often considered as a means to close the gap between the generally insufficient level of mainstream education and high entry requirements of medical universities. The study is based on the hypothesis that the tutor is an important, but not essential component of an individual educational strategy for entering a medical university. So, this paper aims to provide an analysis of the efficiency of private supplementary tuition by measuring its impact on the performance of students in the Unified State Exam (USE) in biology. Besides, the role of two educational programmes run by the Moscow government, namely, 'Medical class in Moscow school' and 'Sechenov Pre-University' is analyzed. More than 100 first-year students of Sechenov University took part in the questionnaire survey to implement the goals and objectives of the research. The survey results were analysed using Orange 3 statistical package. Standard methods of descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and clustering were used.

Background Nowadays the specialist program of medical profile is one of the most popular admission programs among university entrants. The study is aimed at assessment of the tutor's role in the implementation of the applicant's individual educational strategy basing on the example of preparation for the exam in biology for admission to a medical university. Methods The study is basing on the hypothesis that the tutor is an important, but not essential component of an individual educational strategy for entering a medical university. More than 100 first-year students of the Sechenov University took part in the questionnaire survey to implement the goals and objectives of the research. The survey results were analyzed using specialized statistical packages. Standard methods of descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, clustering methods were used. Results As a result various IES were identified and several features of the interconnection of the IES and the results of USE were studied.In the framework of this study, various educational strategies that are implemented by the student were identified and analyzed, including the students of schools participating in the program “Medical class in Moscow school” and “Sechenov Pre-university”, so, it gives an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of profile orientation within the biological profile and to extrapolate findings to similar programs of profile orientation of education in high school. Conclusions This study provides an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of a particular educational strategy and can help to choose the right path in preparation for admission to medical university. Trial registration Retrospectively registered.