GMAT Student Increases Score by Over 100 Points

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Executive Summary

This case study gives the story of a prospective graduate student looking to improve his GMAT test score.  This student worked with MyGuru for a total of 35 hours to increase his score by 100 points.

***It is important to note that this is a GMAT student case study, and all of MyGuru’s original founders are all graduates of top ten United States business programs; Northwestern (Kellogg) and the University of Chicago***

 

Introduction: Why we Develop Case Studies

MyGuru students seek private tutoring for a variety of reasons. 

Some are already scoring above the 90th percentile on a standardized test, but realize that getting into an Ivy League university or one of the top graduate, MBA, Law, or Medical schools is only getting more intense, and thus seek private tutoring to squeeze out a few extra points on the test.  But, others are truly struggling, scoring well below average.

For some students, the key issues are knowledge-based –meaning the students don’t know certain facts or understand certain concepts that they need to master to perform better.  But, in more cases than many people might realize, the issue is more emotional or psychological – the student just needs a private tutor to help them build confidence, relax, and perform.

The benefit of customized, private tutoring is that the particular situation, strengths, and weaknesses of the student can be understood and addressed by the tutor, thus improving performance.  The purpose of MyGuru’s Case Studies is to illustrate how a particular student benefited from private tutoring.  Of course, your or your child’s particular situation is different – but if you can draw some comparisons and identify some similarities, you might be able to envision how private tutoring would benefit you.

 

Student Situation

This particular individual was a graduate of the University of Illinois currently working as a Manager at an international manufacturing and distribution firm.  Now hoping to apply to graduate school, he had previously taken the GMAT on his own, scoring a 620.  His eventual goal was to get into a top 10 graduate business program.  Usually, students have to score a 700 or higher to feel comfortable submitting their scores to the top tier schools.  This student was feeling nervous about his lower score and decided to seek private tutoring help with MyGuru.  Looking for a broad based approach to the GMAT, we connected him with a tutor who had comprehensive experience with all areas covered in this standardized test.

 

The Tutor

This student was matched with John, a GMAT tutor that has been with MyGuru for two years.  John is MyGuru’s most senior GMAT tutor (check out his background on our website here), with a rich history of guiding students on how best to approach the test.  As a graduate of Indiana University and the University of Illinois – Chicago, he himself scored in the 99th percentile on the GMAT.  John holds a PhD in Mathematics and has worked with three other major GMAT test prep companies.  Currently, he is creating his own problem and solution sets for the GMAT.  He has extensive and complete knowledge about the core concepts and theories behind the test. 

 

Tutoring Approach

John began with a practice test to diagnose where the student was stronger or weaker.  He wanted to get down to the root of his student’s inefficiencies to most directly correct them.  They then embarked upon a total of 25 hours of tutoring, covering all sections of the GMAT.  John realized that the student needed a little more practice with the quantitative section of the test and adjusted the tutoring to fulfill that specific need.

With increased confidence and practice, this student took the GMAT once more and achieved a 670.  Although this was a positive jump of 50 points, it was still not where he wanted to be to assuredly apply to the top graduate schools he was looking at.  He decided to spend 10 more hours with John and took the test once more.

 

Results Achieved

Due to the tutor’s expertise with the GMAT and effective practice covering the test’s core concepts and testing methods, this particular student reached a final score of 720 on the GMAT, a full 100 point increase!  Since then, the student has asked MyGuru for recommendations for Admissions consulting options to place himself in the best possible position when applying to graduate schools.  For this student and others, MyGuru has become a trusted resource and partner, able to point him in the right direction for various other educational services.

This student considers MyGuru a dedicated partner, helping him reach his ultimate goal of getting into a top ten business school.

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