Great tutor, helped me to break through the 700 mark!

I signed up for MGMAT’s private tutoring services after failing 10-20 point short of breaking the 700 mark. Since I have gone through most of the materials and tests myself and consider myself pretty well-versed at them, I was looking for guidance more on my approach and mindset than the actual content.

On our first session, Sarah stated a very important point that shifted my mindset. She mentioned that GMAT emphasizes on one’s decision making skills as much as it does an individual’s knowledge on the materials. GMAT is a test against perfectionist; to do well on the test, one has to be able to give up questions, the same way a good executive decline projects with only average return, and make educated guess, as what business owners do daily. This has a profound impact on my approach to the test – instead of thinking giving up/ guessing questions as a last resort, I now think of that as one of my testing strategies to preserve my mental energy for other questions.

Another great point that Sarah made was on my problem solving approach in quant. She mentioned GMAT wants us to simplify problems and to break them down, not to make things bigger. Therefore, think factorization, not multiplication. This single twist in my approach has helped me in numerous questions, especially in DS.

On top of that, Sarah taught me some techniques on making an educated guess. And it is also helpful to go through my approach on each question with her, so that she she can pinpoint any concept mistakes or point out ways to fine tune my approach.

Overall, I believe working with Sarah is significant in raising my score through the 700 mark. I will definitely recommend her to anyone looking into GMAT private tutoring.