What to Look For in a GMAT Tutor and What to Avoid?

by | May 31, 2023 | GMAT

Cynthia Addoumieh

Cynthia Addoumieh

Cynthia is our Marketing Specialist and has been with Apex for since December 2021. She ensures that those who are looking for our services can find us effortlessly. With a degree in journalism and mass communication, she excels at communicating our message clearly and effectively.

Choosing a GMAT tutor is an essential step towards achieving success in this challenging test. While self-study can be challenging, having an experienced tutor by your side can provide valuable help and guidance during the preparation process. However, finding a good tutor can be overwhelming, as you have to consider many factors such as their qualification, teaching style, flexibility, and more

In this article, we provide you with tips that will help you choose a good GMAT tutor. 

Best Tips to Choose a Tutor

  • Choose a tutor experienced in GMAT – When selecting a GMAT tutor, focus on the tutors who have experience in that specific exam. While math is one of the crucial components of the exam, it’s not enough to select a tutor who only masters this subject. You need a tutor who is well familiar with the GMAT exam structure, as this test has quite a specific design. 
  • Evaluate the tutor’s teaching approach – Many people may excel at taking tests, but not everyone can teach effectively. Before hiring a private tutor, it would be beneficial to request a consultation call and determine their teaching style, to ensure it fits with your learning preferences. 
  • Go for a GMAT tutor with a high test score – The GMAT evaluates a candidate’s specific skills and knowledge within very limited testing time, thus knowing the strategies to excel in the exam is crucial. While GMAT is more than just having knowledge in a specific subject, being familiar with the exam format and techniques for solving complicated problems quickly is important. A GMAT private tutor with a higher test score will provide these strategies and tips to help you effectively solve complex problems within a very limited time. 
  • Consider flexibility – When preparing for the GMAT exam, you may also be simultaneously applying to your desired schools and programs, or working at the same time. Considering this, the flexibility of a GMAT private tutor is an essential factor to take into account. Fortunately, online tutoring is just as effective as in-person tutoring, so hiring tutors online is relatively easy. Make sure your future tutor is flexible and can accommodate your busy schedule or offer online tutoring options. 

How to Avoid Online Tutoring Scams?

Online tutoring has become quite popular these days, but with its growth, scams have also become more frequent. Before choosing a private tutor online, research their platforms and check testimonials to identify any warning signs of a scam. 

Checking their professional experience in teaching for the GMAT exam, or looking for the certificates of their official scores would also be beneficial. 

When navigating on their platforms, check if the indicated contact details are authentic. Make a consultation call with them and don’t pay anything upfront. Legitimate tutors usually don’t ask for payment before a consultation session. 

What Makes Apex Tutoring Stand Out?

Apex has a unique approach to the GMAT test preparation that is focused on understanding the test structure on a deeper level. As the GMAT test has a very specific design, assessing students’ skills and abilities to solve complex problems from various fields in a very limited time, we not only teach the strategies for answering questions but also help our students understand the reasoning behind each question well. 

Together with this, Apex recognizes the individual needs of the students and holds a customizing approach towards each of you. It helps our tutors to identify your strengths and weaknesses, and create a personalized plan, to ensure you can reveal their full potential on the test. 

Additionally, as we believe test familiarity and experience is an essential characteristics for a private tutor, all of our tutors have scored in the 99th percentile on the test themselves, ensuring our students are getting the highest quality instruction possible and becoming better acquainted with the tips and insights to improve your test scores. 

We believe in the power of a holistic approach, therefore our private tutors not only focus on test-specific topics but also provide you with useful tips on time management, stress management during the exam, etc. This allows our students to get a more comprehensive understanding of the test, often leading to better results. 

Request References 

When it comes to choosing a private GMAT tutor, make sure to check the reviews as well. Testimonials from previous students will give you more honest information than the official pages of the tutors themselves. Read them to get an idea of other student’s experience with the tutor and if it’s not available, do not hesitate to ask your future tutor to give you the contact information of their previous students, from whom you can get a better understanding of the tutor. 

Learn About Their Teaching Approach

Before hiring a private tutor, make sure that their teaching approach aligns with your learning goals and preferences. To guarantee this, it is recommended to ask them for their program or session plan. This will give you a better understanding of what topics they cover, how they plan the sessions, and assess your progress. Additionally, this will help you to establish the right expectations toward your tutor. 

Check the Veracity of the Website

When considering online tutoring, check the veracity of the website. Look for clear contact information, including the tutor’s email address and phone number. If the tutor is employed in a specific company, research its legitimation and reputation, by using other sources, such as forums, reviews, etc. Make sure the testimonials on the website are real, and also, that you can directly approach the support team in case of any questions. 

Look for the Specialists in the Subject to Be Studied

While some tutors may have general knowledge in various subjects, it’s better to choose someone having specific expertise in the GMAT test. This is a very specific exam, focusing on particular skills and specific types of problems. When preparing for the test, it is crucial to get familiar with its format, quickly identify similar patterns, and be able to solve them in a limited time. A tutor will provide you with the support specifically relevant to this exam and ensure that you will receive the best possible guidance.

If you are looking for professionals to help you to boost your GMAT score, book a 30-minute complimentary call with our 770+ scoring tutors now, and learn how we can help.

Contributor: Ana Rurua