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Executive Summary
This testimonial tells the story of a GRE student who needed help brushing up on his Math skills. Having not taken a proper math class since high school, he needed an individual with a broad grasp of what would be tested on the graduate level exam. By working with a MyGuru tutor for 4 hours a week for a total of 6 weeks, the student was able to achieve high scores on the test.
Introduction: Why We Develop Case Studies and Testimonials
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 case studies is to illustrate how a particular student benefited from private tutoring. Of course, your or your child’s particular situation is unique – but if you can draw some comparisons and identify some similarities, you might be able to envision how private tutoring would benefit you.
The Tutor
The tutor we matched with Gabriel was John W. John has years of experience helping students of all ages and ability levels. He received his both his BS and MS in Physics from the University of Arkansas. Along with perfect SAT verbal and math scores, his GRE score was above the 90th percentile. He has spent years as a private tutor and teacher at a community college. He is patient and understanding and can explain difficult subjects well. He can help you focus on the things you most need help with to make the most progress when it comes to GRE, GMAT, ACT, Physics, Math, Economics, and Chemistry.
Words from the GRE Student, Gabriel
First of all, working with John was always a great pleasure. He was very patient and humorous and always in a good mood. I had not taken a real math class since senior year of high school (5 years ago) so I was very happy John had specialized in Math. And boy, he ain't kidding about that being his specialization. John was not just knowledgeable about all the various math parts of the test (and beyond, though obviously the math on the test is most important here), but he was able to hone my focus on what was most important to study and identify my numerous weaknesses and gaps in order to provide me with a very tailored and specific tutoring experience. By the time test day came, I felt confident that I had done the most I could to improve my math skills and that I had been preparing for the right kind of questions in the most efficient way. My test day experience only reassured me of that fact.
While two thirds or more of our time was focused on Math I also found John to be impeccably accurate and helpful when going over the verbal and written sections. I felt like I was able to get very good scores on those sections even without tutoring, but John helped me learn the best test taking strategies and little tricks to look out for that only a person with tons of standardized testing experience would know. His vocabulary is truly impressive. He was a great help in tinkering with my essay writing structure and strategy, too, and helped me refine my ability to come up with simple yet potent theses in order to best display my critical thinking/analysis skills. I think I saw John slightly stumped on one very tough verbal question (which was out of a third party workbook, was poorly written and oddly ambiguous in its composition) the whole time we worked together. Never once was he unable to break down a math question and help me find the quickest path to the answer in the way that was easiest for me to remember. In my initial diagnostics exams I scored in the low 140s on math and the high 150s on verbal. My scores on the actual test were 155 math and 166 verbal with a 5.5 essay score. This is definitely due to the great work I was able to do with John. 5 stars! Highly, highly recommend.
Best of luck!
- Gabriel
