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If you’re preparing for the GMAT to apply to business school, you may be considering different types of preparation resources. Or you may be wondering how to speed up your progress or more easily learn topics you’ve found particularly challenging. In any case, you may be wondering whether GMAT tutoring would be helpful for you and whether it is worth the cost. In this article, I’ll discuss some key aspects of GMAT tutoring to help you decide whether GMAT tutoring is worth it for you.
Here are the topics we’ll cover:
- What Are the Advantages of GMAT Tutoring?
- A Tutor Can Support You Throughout the Preparation Process
- How Much You Get Out of GMAT Tutoring Depends on You
- How Do I Find a Good GMAT Tutor?
- Key Takeaways
- What’s Next?
Let’s begin by discussing the advantages of GMAT tutoring.
What Are the Advantages of GMAT Tutoring?
To determine whether GMAT tutoring is worth it, we first need to know how exactly it can be beneficial. So, let’s consider the main advantages of working with a GMAT tutor, online or in-person.
A Tutor Can Help You Learn Faster
The most basic benefit of working with a private GMAT tutor is that a tutor can speed up the learning process by showing you facts, concepts, and strategies in ways tailored to you. Yes, a book or a course could explain how to answer various types of Quantitative and Verbal GMAT questions. At the same time, a tutor can show you how to answer questions in ways that you personally understand. Also, if you’re confused, a tutor can help you address what you don’t understand so that you learn quickly.
KEY FACT:
Working with a GMAT tutor can help you learn GMAT content and strategies more quickly.
A Tutor Can Help You Optimize Your GMAT Prep
In addition to helping you learn GMAT material, a tutor can help you organize your preparation and find study approaches that work for you. This advantage can make a huge difference! GMAT students often don’t learn as fast or as well as they could if they prepared more effectively. So, by helping you optimize how you prepare, a tutor can save you time and help you get better results.
KEY FACT:
A GMAT tutor can help you make the most of your GMAT preparation time.
A Tutor Can Diagnose Why You’re Having Trouble
Often, GMAT students aren’t making the progress that they expected to make. Or they find that their performance is plateauing and aren’t sure why. An experienced tutor can diagnose what’s going on by talking with a student and observing what the student is doing. Many tutors offer to review practice sessions and practice exams you’ve completed. Then, the tutor can make recommendations regarding what the student can do differently to get better results.
KEY FACT:
An experienced GMAT tutor can figure out exactly what is holding you back and then offer suggestions for improvement.
A Tutor Can Provide Information Not Found Elsewhere
Another key benefit of working with a GMAT tutor is that a good tutor will have deep expertise in the GMAT. As a result, your tutor can provide information that you wouldn’t get anywhere else. A GMAT class or the Official Guides can provide only so much information. Moreover, that information will generally be limited to what is useful to the average GMAT student. In contrast, a tutor can be a source of all kinds of little-known information that applies specifically to you and what you need to accomplish in order to achieve your GMAT score goal.
KEY FACT:
A good GMAT tutor can provide key insights that you won’t find in a GMAT class or official prep materials.
A Tutor Can Help You Identify and Change Bad Habits
A less commonly known benefit of working with a GMAT tutor is that a tutor can help identify bad habits. Many students preparing for the GMAT habitually do things that aren’t actually working for them. Unfortunately, one of the main causes of learning difficulty is having habits that seem sensible but aren’t actually effective.
Of course, if the habit makes sense to you, identifying and changing it can be challenging. Conversely, a tutor can more easily identify such habits, explain how they’re harmful, and help you change them.
KEY FACT:
Working with a GMAT tutor can help you identify and fix habits preventing you from succeeding.
A Tutor Can Support You Throughout the Preparation Process
One more benefit private tutors can provide is general support. As you can imagine or may have already experienced, the GMAT preparation process has its ups and downs. Many GMAT test-takers have moments when they wonder what to do next and whether what they’re doing will work. An experienced tutor has been through the GMAT preparation process many times. As a result, they can help you remain motivated, confident, and on track to reach your GMAT score goals.
KEY FACT:
A GMAT tutor can offer support from the beginning of your GMAT preparation process to test day.
Now that we understand the advantages of GMAT tutoring, let’s discuss some factors that affect whether GMAT tutoring is worth the cost for you personally.
Is a GMAT Tutor Worth It for You?
While GMAT tutoring has all the advantages we discussed, private GMAT tutoring can cost as much as several hundred dollars per hour. So, determining whether GMAT tutoring makes sense for you requires doing a cost-benefit analysis. Here are some questions to answer as you find the best GMAT tutoring for your specific situation.
How Much Time Do You Have?
Most people can prepare for the GMAT for a reasonable amount of time each week. However, others are so busy with work or other commitments that they have trouble finding time for GMAT study. If you are in the latter group, GMAT tutoring may make sense for you. After all, one of the primary benefits of GMAT tutoring is that it can speed up the learning process and save time.
KEY FACT:
If you’re pressed for study time, GMAT tutoring can help you make the most of the time you do have.
What Is Your Learning Style?
While some people learn well by studying alone, others prefer a classroom environment. Another group of students learns best by working one-on-one with a teacher. If you fall into this last category, then private GMAT tutoring may make sense for you.
KEY FACT:
If one-on-one learning works well for you, consider finding a GMAT tutor to work with.
How Fast Are You Progressing?
If you find that your progress has slowed or plateaued, or that you don’t seem to be getting the expected results, then some GMAT tutoring may make sense for you. As we discussed, a GMAT tutor can help you diagnose what is happening and change counterproductive habits. In these situations, a few hours of GMAT tutoring to get you back on track could make a big difference.
KEY FACT:
Working with a GMAT tutor can be a great way to address slowed or stalled progress.
Do You Need Help With Specific Areas?
If you’re having trouble with a specific area of the GMAT, working with a tutor can be a great way to make progress in that one area. If you find a tutor who is talented in that area, you may find that your weakness soon becomes a strength.
KEY FACT:
A GMAT tutor can help you improve your specific areas of weakness.
How High Is Your GMAT Score Goal?
Many students have a particularly high GMAT score goal for a specific reason. For example, they are from an overrepresented applicant pool or plan to apply to schools with high median GMAT scores. If this describes you, then tutoring may make sense. In this case, the right tutor could help you take the necessary steps necessary to achieve an incredible GMAT score.
KEY FACT:
If you’re aiming for a very high GMAT score, an experienced tutor can help you achieve it.
All that said, how much you may benefit from GMAT tutoring depends to a large extent on you. Let’s discuss.
How Much You Get Out of GMAT Tutoring Depends on You
Simply put, how much you would get out of GMAT tutoring depends largely on what you do on your end. After all, the tutoring process is not all about the tutor. Rather, the student and tutor work together to achieve results.
For instance, the clearer you are about what you want help with, the more effective a tutor can be. For example, if you say you need help with GMAT Verbal, a tutor may have to spend valuable tutoring time determining what to focus on. On the other hand, if you say that you are having trouble with Reading Comprehension, a tutor can help you develop just the skills you need.
In general, the more communicative and proactive you are in the tutoring process, the more you’ll get out of it. If you have questions, things will go better if you ask them. If you have concerns, you’ll make more progress if you make them known. A tutor is just one member of the partnership. As the other member, you have to play your role as well.
Finally, to get the most out of working with a GMAT tutor, remember that the tutor is just there to help. Of course, you still have to do the learning. In other words, you won’t avoid all the challenges of the learning process by working with a tutor. You’ll still have to do a lot of studying and practicing on your own.
TTP PRO TIP:
How much you would get out of GMAT tutoring depends to a large extent on you.
Now that we understand how to determine whether GMAT tutoring is worthwhile, let’s discuss how to find a good tutor.
How Do I Find a Good GMAT Tutor?
There are a few different ways to connect with GMAT tutors. Possibly the easiest way is simply to contact a major GMAT prep company and sign up for one of its online or in-person tutoring packages. There are also services that can connect you with tutors and provide ways to choose one. Meanwhile, the ability to do online tutoring allows you to work with many GMAT tutors located around the world. You can find all kinds of information about these online GMAT tutors by doing internet research.
Regardless of which of these approaches you use, there are some key things you can do to find a GMAT tutor who will truly help you. One is to find out about the tutor’s years of experience and other qualifications.
Criteria to Consider in Selecting a GMAT Tutor
Possibly the most important criterion to consider in selecting a GMAT tutor is experience. The simple fact of the matter is that tutoring is something a person becomes more skilled at over time. Even tutors who are knowledgeable or well-trained learn more as they tutor more. By working with more students, they see what gets results. So, to find a good GMAT tutor, consider how much experience each potential tutor has.
While not as important as experience, a tutor’s official GMAT score is another criterion to consider. Indeed, many good tutors do not have high GMAT scores. And of course, a high score does not necessarily mean someone is a good tutor. All the same, the fact that a tutor has scored high on the GMAT means that the tutor has shown GMAT mastery. So, a high GMAT score can be a good sign that the tutor can help you.
Related to a tutor’s GMAT score is how much GMAT-specific knowledge a tutor has. Often, subject experts or tutors with experience with other tests go into GMAT tutoring. While these tutors can be effective, it’s also true that a tutor who knows a lot about a subject such as math or English but not a lot about the GMAT exam is not ideal. So, when talking with tutors, find out how much they know about the GMAT. If a tutor comes to the GMAT from another background, ask why that tutor expects to be able to help you master this test.
TTP PRO TIP:
To find a good GMAT tutor, consider a tutor’s experience, GMAT score, and GMAT-specific knowledge.
It’s also helpful to talk with potential tutors to get to know them. Let’s discuss why.
Talk With Tutors to Evaluate Fit
Every student, and every GMAT tutor, is different. Thus, some tutors will fit you better than others regardless of how knowledgeable or skilled any of them are.
For instance, if you want help with Critical Reasoning, a tutor who is particularly strong in GMAT Verbal will likely be better for you than one heavily focused on GMAT Quant. Meanwhile, different tutors have different styles. Some tutors are very patient and into helping people starting with low GMAT scores work their way to their targets. Meanwhile, other tutors are more comfortable helping test-takers already scoring relatively well put the finishing touches on their GMAT skills.
So, you can see how someone who is a “good tutor” may not be the best GMAT tutor for you. Thus, it’s good to talk with tutors you’re considering to see whether their strengths match your needs. Also, you don’t have to go all in with a particular tutor from the outset. Rather, you can book one or two tutoring sessions before committing to an expensive tutoring package.
TTP PRO TIP:
You don’t have to go all in with a particular tutor from the outset. Book one or two tutoring sessions and see how things go.
Let’s wrap up by reviewing the key takeaways from our discussion.
Key Takeaways
Here’s a quick rundown of key points to keep in mind when considering whether GMAT tutoring, online or in-person, is worth it for you:
- GMAT tutoring has a number of benefits, including helping you learn faster and keeping you motivated, confident, and on track.
- Whether a GMAT tutor is worth the cost for you depends on how much time you have and other factors personal to you.
- How much you would get out of GMAT tutoring depends to a large extent on you and what you do on your end.
- To find a good GMAT tutor, consider experience and other criteria and talk with tutors to evaluate how well they fit with you.
What’s Next?
If you’re just starting your GMAT prep, read this article to determine how many hours you may need to study if you choose the self-study approach.
Struggling to fit GMAT study into your daily life? Get some key tips for studying when you have a demanding schedule.
Interested in working with one of Target Test Prep’s veteran GMAT tutors? Sign up for a free consultation.
