If you’re looking to make an extra income online, I have a great site you might want to check out. The site is called Prolific Academic and it pays you to participate in studies, surveys, and tests.
It’s available anywhere you can get a PayPal account, but the UK and US have the most studies available.
Please understand that Prolific Academic or any other short task site won’t earn you much money. If you’re looking for a full-time income online, check out My #1 Recommendation, it’s how I made over $13,000 online last month!
In this review, I’ll cover how it works, how to get paid, some complaints, and show you proof that Prolific Academic is not a scam.
If you have any questions about the site or have used it in the past, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!
Prolific Academic Review
What Is Prolific Academic?
Prolific Academic is the largest crowdsourcing platform tailored for research, which pays you to participate in studies ranging from surveys, experiments, and testing apps. By signing up as a participant, you are helping to advance human knowledge from studies by the world’s leading researchers.
Who Can Join Prolific Academic?
Prolific Academic states that in principle, anyone can sign up and participate in their studies, but studies are limited based on demographics and country. You’ll need a PayPal account to get paid.
How Does Prolific Academic Work?
Prolific Academic is free to join. Researchers will post their studies or tasks on the website. When you sign up as a participant, you can choose to take part in the studies that are made available to you and get paid for them.
When signing up, you will need to verify your account. To do this, you will need to verify your email address and phone number. They also recommend that you verify your account via Facebook.
On your dashboard, scrolling down to the bottom of the screen will show you pre-screening questions posted by the researchers, which you should answer to make sure you are eligible for their studies. It is worth checking this section often and answering all the questions, as it will help you become eligible for the right studies. You will need a particular demographic depending what they are looking for, for example, it could be a study for tea drinkers only or a study that only requires females ages 20 – 30 years old.
You can participate in any study that is made available to you. It will give you a description of what the study is about, how much it pays, and the average completion time – so you can decide before selecting it if you can dedicate the time to it.
When completing the study, it is important to pay attention and make sure there are no distractions – turn off your phone, TV, etc. Make sure you can focus on the study for the allotted time. They usually have quality control questions to ensure you are paying careful attention and completing it correctly.
If you decide after accepting a study that you no longer can complete it, you can choose to return the study and delete the submission without consequence.
On your “Manage Studies” section, you can see a list of all the studies you have taken part in and returned, whether or not they are awaiting review, how much you have earned to date and your Prolific Score.
The Prolific Score is marked out of 100. This can go down if you don’t pay attention to quality control questions or have had a study rejected. Prolific Academic are fair, and it’s relatively easy to keep your score at 100, as long as you pay careful attention to each study and pass the quality control questions. The higher your Prolific Score, the more studies you will receive.
You can participate in as many studies that are made available to you. I would advise checking the site as often as possible, as the studies tend to fill up very quickly – they each have a certain amount of spots available.
Occasionally they will send out email alerts for a new study, but they don’t do this every time – it’s better to check the site manually to get the most studies. They are frequently posted, at various times of the day, each one varying in length and payment.
How Does Prolific Academic Pay You?
After you have submitted your completed study, you have to wait for the researcher to approve it. On average this can take 1-3 days. I have had studies approved on the same day in the past. Occasionally it can take longer – if the study has not been approved after 21 days, the reward is automatically approved and added to your account.
The payment for each study varies, depending on the type of study and the length of time to complete it.
Once you have reached £5 in your balance, you can cash out – payments are made via PayPal. For the United Kingdom, Prolific Academic state that to avoid a processing fee you should wait until you have £20 in your balance. Having said that, the last few times I have cashed out at below £20 I have not been charged a fee. If you are outside the UK, there will still be a small fee.
Processing your payment can take up to five working days, sometimes it can be faster, depending on if there is a high volume of payments to process. Make sure to enter your PayPal email address correctly.
Prolific Academic Payment Proof
What I Like About Prolific Academic
Prolific Academic is very different from general survey sites. The studies are varied and interesting, and usually don’t take very long to complete – yet the pay is very generous. You can build up your balance extremely quickly if you check the site often enough, as the pay is very high for the amount of time spent.
It is a highly reliable website and is great for boosting your bank balance.
Prolific Academic Concerns
In general, I do not have any concerns with Prolific Academic. There may not always be studies available, but it is worth checking the site often and not giving up, as the pay rate is good. You can still earn a decent amount in a relatively short period.
Is Prolific Academic A Scam?
I would highly recommend joining Prolific Academic. It pays every time, it is reliable, and the studies are interesting and varied. The pay is generous and a great way to earn some extra cash. It won’t make you rich, but it can help to add a generous boost to your bank balance.
If you’d like to learn more or to join, visit Prolific.au to get signed up for free!
If making a tiny income taking surveys isn’t for you, check out My #1 Recommendation, it’s how I made over $13,000 online last month!
Are you a member of Prolific Academic? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this review in the comments below!
