Q: How much does a GMAT tutor cost?
A: The majority of our GMAT tutoring students buy between 12 and 20 hours of tutoring ($3360 to $5600)
But what you need depends on your profile and goals.
-6 hours is the minimum amount required to work with us.
-With the average client it takes us about 12 hours to get through the quant curriculum and 8 hours to get through the verbal curriculum.
Not everybody needs every lesson. Some people need much less time to get through things. Some need more.
Some people can get by with 6 hours of tutoring and the rest organized self-study. Some do much better having steady sessions for 5 months.
Our GMAT tutoring system is designed to do as much as possible with as few hours as possible without sacrificing quality.
Again, that doesn’t mean that we can take anyone and get them to a 700+ GMAT score with zero budget. We’re creative in our planning and leverage organized self-study as much as we can BUT the plan has to match the student, not only their starting score and goals but their timeline for the score and time available to study.
In general, a plan that leans more heavily on organized self-study requires a lot more time and effort.
Q: Is GMAT tutoring worth it?
A: The greatest concern with GMAT tutoring is the cost of it. And when you’re staring down the barrel of $280 an hour it makes sense to pause for a second to think about whether the investment in GMAT tutoring is worth it.
One thing I’d suggest in that analysis is to think about the total cost of the preparation not the hourly rate, which tends to look very scary.
A majority of our students spend between $4000 and $6000 on tutoring which usually represents 11-16 weeks of preparation including us planning every single day of homework and providing a ton of materials.
Once you’ve graduated from the tutoring program we provide access to our materials and plan your retakes, up to 4, for a very reasonable flat fee ($100 per retake up to 4 weeks).
The other thing I’d say is that about half of our students have already done FULL many month long several thousand dollar preparations with another company or tutor and then come to us to actually do it right.
It is extremely rare that a student leaves us and seeks out another system. It happened once based purely on cost and the person came back complaining about how disorganized and without a plan the other tutor was.
My point is that: do the tutoring with us and you won’t need to hire anyone else.
Not all GMAT tutoring is created equal. Buyer beware. There is so much crap out there. Smart, nice people, doing a mediocre job charging ridiculous rates for the service they provide.
Whatever direction you go in: do your research, do a couple of consultations, and avoid making decisions based on the “apparent” cost because that assumes the system is going to deliver for you.
Q: I’m not in NYC, how can I hire you?
A: We do about 90% of our tutoring virtually, our curriculum is tailored to online sessions, and our GMAT tutors are specifically trained to teach online. It’s a great way to learn. Here’s an article about meeting your GMAT tutor online.
Q: What can I expect from your GMAT preparation?
A: We get asked this all the time. This is tough to answer because every person is different and every tutoring program is customized to the student. Atlantic we do not do big prep/one-size fits all. That’s not why you are hiring us.
That said, we’ll generally start with 5-10 days of HW ahead of the session to get you acquainted with our learning management system and the way we lay out your HW schedule. It will also give us a bit more info on your skills on question sets that we’re very familiar with. Lastly, we often need at least a week to get the fist session booked so this initial HW allows that time while keeping your productively working on your GMAT preparation.
From the first session we’ll hit the ground running with specific GMAT strategy content. Sessions are lessons based (not QA/HW helper sessions). It is important to do some HW review and it’s possible that depending on your profile we may need to do a lot of review in session but that’s not the default.
Where we start in the curriculum and how fast we move depends on your profile.
With every subsequent session we will continue learning strategic approaches to GMAT content and addressing your specific strengths and weaknesses not only in the content but in your workflow. You may know every last scrap of GMAT content but have a sloppy way of applying it. Chatting through the process and having someone analyze how you’re thinking can provide big breakthroughs in performance that can’t be achieved by just learning content.
Once we’ve achieved a certain level of momentum with the preparation we’ll start adding mixed sets followed by more, long form, test-like sections, and then full tests so you can apply the individual lessons in a more realistic setting and refine your timing/test-day strategy.
The last week before the test we tend to focus on review to maintain your skills.
Keep in mind: this is a very broad explanation of what we do and the tutoring can be very different depending on your needs. What stays the same is the organized methodical approach to GMAT problem solving and the focus on your needs as a student.
Q: Can you provide references from past GMAT students?
A: Visit our GMAT tutor bio page for the most recent reviews. Also, Testimonials are posted here We should also be able to put you in contact with former students via email/phone.
Q: When should I schedule my GMAT?
A: I get asked this so often that I went ahead and wrote an article with everything that you might want to know about GMAT Registration and scheduling your GMAT.
Q: What are your GMAT tutoring rates?
A: All information about current rates and policies is here.
Q: Can I ask you questions about the GMAT study schedules?
A: I’m glad you are using the GMAT study schedules! It’s unlikely that I’ll have time to directly answer any questions about these. I do answer questions at my GMAT QA on Poets and Quants, so you could post there and then a whole bunch of other people will also benefit.
Q: What about GMAT strategy questions?
A: Same deal as above. Let’s try to keep questions in the public forum so that other people can benefit as well.
Q: What about a discount?
A: We don’t offer any type of package/volume discount. This isn’t Kaplan, Princeton review, Veritas, or you name it other Big Prep that operates a GMAT assembly line. We are a one-at-a-time careful, considered, and customized mom and pop GMAT shop.
If we have a GMAT tutor in training we offer them at 50% off the standard tutor price (currently $280 to the discount is $140). But, again, besides that we do not offer any discounts or packages.
Q: Can we meet for an hour at a time?
A: We could but we have found that either 2 hour or 1.5 hr sessions work best. An hour tends to be too short to get working efficiently. Yes, short sessions can be successful under very specific conditions. I had a student who could not pay attention for more than an hour so 1 hour virtual sessions were perfect for him (I also had to program HW sessions that were only 45 minutes long).
Q: What is your cancellation policy?
A: This is a tough one. We are as flexible as possible to accommodate reasonable schedule changes. But the reality is that if you cancel a few hours before a session then it is impossible for to schedule another student during that time. We can’t put the hours lost back on the shelf.
The time that working people have to study GMAT is generally very limited (evenings and weekends) so there are very few time slots available.
The best thing is for everyone to show up on time for our scheduled appointments. If your life is interrupted by some unforeseeable/unavoidable catastrophe (hurricane, earthquake, tornado…) not just an unforeseeable change of schedule (staying late for work, girlfriend’s flight delayed, surprise concert tickets…) then we can discuss it. Otherwise, we need 24 hours notice for any cancellations. If you can’t cancel with 24 hours (or more is even better) then you have to pay for the time.
Q: Do you teach any other tests?
A: Yes we do but we specialize in GMAT, GRE, and Executive Assessment (EA) preparation. Here’s a list of what we have experience teaching: LSAT, SAT, ACT, SSAT, SHSAT, and ISEE
Q: Can we meet 7 days a week for the next month?
A: This type of program can work but isn’t for everyone. It is very tempting to do an intensive but realize that along with the tutoring you will have to do a whole bunch of HW and practice tests. Beyond that, for some people it just takes longer than a month for all of the information and strategies to sink in. So, yes, we can probably make it happen but let’s make sure this is right for you.
Q: Do you offer GMAT tutoring on the weekends?
A: Yes, but realize that most other people want to be tutored on weekends and evenings so you will probably have to schedule far in advance.
Q: How much GMAT tutoring do I need?
A: This is another really common (understandably so) question. Most of our students do 12-18 hours of tutoring. That’s it?!!! Yep. We try to be as efficient as possible and get a lot of mileage out of just keeping your studying extremely organized. But to answer this for you we need to know where you are in your GMAT prep and where you want to go.
If you want fine-tuning after having studied on your own for 4 months you will probably need less time than someone who is starting from scratch.
If you are scoring 200 points below where you want to be then you should expect to spend a bunch of time with a GMAT tutor.
Everybody learns at their own pace. Everybody has different goals.
The best thing to do is to email over your situation and we would be happy to talk about where you are and where you want to be.
Q: How much can I expect to improve my GMAT score?
A: Here comes the broken record: it depends. We’re teachers not a salesman and we don’t make guarantees.
Statistically, it’s unlikely that you are going to improve by more than 200 points. We have seen it but it is rare. That said, for people starting on the lower end of the scale an increase of 150 points is a realistic goal.
As your score gets higher it does get tougher to improve. Going up 100 points from somewhere in the 600s is a lot of work. Going from a 670 to a 730, only 60 points, or from 770 to 800, only 30 points, can be a huge amount of work (depending on the person/profile).
We make it as easy as possible but that doesn’t mean easy. We make it as efficient as possible but that doesn’t mean quick.
Q: Can I see your official GMAT score report?
A: Sure, it’s on my fridge. But I would like to be really clear: a great score does not mean a great GMAT tutor. There are whole bunch of factors that go into being a pro and the test score while probably necessary is certainly not sufficient.
Q: Will you log into my (insert test prep company) account to see my progress so that we don’t waste tutoring time on things I’ve already checked off?
Third party questions (from whatever company) don’t equal GMAT questions. Just because you’re flopping on some specific content at ABC test prep doesn’t mean that you would necessarily do poorly on an OG question testing similar content.
For instance, maybe it’s really easy to write very difficult statistics questions. So ABC stats questions just happen to be way more challenging or wordy or whatever than normal GMAT questions. So, just because you’re doing terrible on ABC statistics doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t excel on GMAT statistics.
On the flip-side, maybe ABC exponents questions are more math-y and less puzzle-y than GMAT questions. And maybe you excel on those ABC math-exponents questions but actually would not do so well on the GMAT puzzle-exponents questions.
There’s also the quality issue. GMAT questions are super high quality. GMAC invests thousands of dollars to develop and test a single question to make sure it’s just right. So that it’s actually testing you properly, not just confusing you through poorly constructed questions. You just don’t have that kind of quality in third party materials.
My point isn’t that third part questions are unusable but that they are not GMAT questions and aren’t great for judging whether you need help or not on GMAT specific content, especially when we’re talking about the more nuanced stuff.
I think they can be used to judge certain things.
If you’re getting 100% on Kaplan GMAT quant you’ll probably do pretty well on official GMAT quant. And if you’re absolutely bombing Kaplan GMAT verbal it’s also likely that you will bomb regular GMAT verbal because it’s likely that your fundamental verbal skills are weak.
The reality is though that most people are somewhere in the gray area in between. And in that subtlety is where we need to come up with a solid plan.
Third party questions can also be used to judge whether you have the fundamental quant in place. Basic quant questions are easy to write and it’s easy to test whether you know a rule or not. But beyond that you really need to use official questions to get a sense for things.
Third party questions/tests do not allow for the type of precision we need to make high percentage decisions.
Also, because third party questions can be wildly off, the data derived from them isn’t all that helpful. If anything it tends to confuse people and send them off on GMAT quant content rabbit holes on GMAT club.
The short answer: we wouldn’t use your content data from third party questions to judge what you need. We would factor in what you’ve done already (in a general sense) but center on your official GMAT practice test quant score and your goal.
From there, we’d lay out a plan that would get modified sometimes lightly sometimes heavily depending on how we judge our sessions and HW results. Depending on your starting score and goal we’ll range from starting you off with basic quant to skipping the entire quant curriculum and just assigning challenging diagnostic quizzes to see if there are any little holes in the content knowledge.
Can I do a trial session?
Of course. You would still be billed for 6 hours as we always bill 6 hours up front in order to get started. If you choose not to move forward we would refund the unused hours (assuming you started with a 90 minute session we’d refund 4.5 hours).
In general, all unused hours are 100% refundable so you’re not locked in to any hours you’ve purchased. But our invoicing/admin/setup system works with this initial 6 hours payment so that’s generally required.
If you really feel strongly about starting off only paying for the first session let us know and we’ll see if we can work something out.
Will we be doing GMAT Practice Tests along the way? Do you plan those as well?
Yes! We plan everything. Home work, practice tests, and even your Official GMAT (and potential retakes)
Do you provide online GMAT Tutoring?
We do the bulk of our GMAT tutoring online and having been refining our online tutoring system for the past decade.
Can you help me decide on the GMAT or GRE?
We’d be happy to help. Just go ahead and fill out our consultations form and then we’ll get back to you with some insight.
How many hours of GMAT tutoring will I need?
That depends on your profile, where you’re starting from, your goals, and how many hours a week you can put into studying.
What are Atlantic’s GMAT Tutoring Rates?
Andrew Geller $400/h
Matt Abuzalaf, Tom O’Brien, and Luciano Lapa $280
Gunnar Mattson $240
GMAT Tutoring vs a GMAT Class?
Huge conflict of interest here but I’ll give you our take on it. Pretty much any way you slice it, our GMAT tutoring program is better than any GMAT class out there. You pay for that difference though. A class is between $1500 and $2000 and tutoring will be two to three times that range.
Whether the extra quality is worth it for you is going to depend on a bunch of factors. Some of those factors are based on your profile and goals and some are based on how you value your time and how safe you want to be in your approach.
It’s also important to keep in mind that although you will pay more for tutoring, we generally will keep you organized and working productively for a much longer timeline than a GMAT class would. A $5,000 tutoring outlay could cover 6 months of studying (including HW assigned before tutoring and HW assigned for GMAT retakes).
What about a video on demand GMAT course? Should I do that and then maybe consider GMAT tutoring?
Yes and no. It can be extremely helpful and time/money saving to get your math basics in shape ahead of tutoring. So, you could sign up for a GMAT on-demand course and really just do foundations. Avoid test prep strategy. You could also buy one of the several test prep foundations books and work through that. You don’t need a fancy interface to remind you about long division.
That said, we also have a math basics curriculum. So if you want us to handle it we absolutely can.
What I’d avoid is three months of drilling with an online program driving yourself crazy and then not doing so hot on an exam and then in desperation reaching out for tutoring when you’re already burnt out. I’m not saying: don’t call. Of course, get in contact and we’d be happy to chat through your prep and see if we’re a good fit. I’m just trying to suggest how you might get the most out of your time/energy.
What about on the verbal side – should I start with an on demand course to brush up on the basics?
This is a tougher one to answer. Verbal fundamentals are tougher to improve and for this I’d probably argue against starting with a video course or any fundamentals test prep verbal book. If your verbal score is low and you just know that your verbal skills are weak then you could just do some reading for a bunch of months ahead of the preparation.
Should I take the Official GMAT just to see where I am before starting GMAT tutoring?
That really depends. How close are you to your goal? If within 20-30 points then sure, there’s a real chance you’ll hit your target and you might avoid more studying and the expense of tutoring. We’ve suggested this to a number of people who’ve inquired about tutoring and actually every one of them has nailed the test and not needed help.
If you’re more than 30 points away or if you’ve already taken an official practice test or two and haven’t hit your target then you might want to hold off. You only get 5 GMATs per year. I’d avoid blasting them. The more GMATs you have left the less stress. We don’t always use all of them but it’s good to have the breathing room if needed.
If you want to gauge your current level take an official GMAT practice test. Don’t blast those either as you only have 6 but certainly worth doing to get a baseline as it will be very helpful for planning your tutoring.
What kind of improvement can I expect and in how long?
This is very specific to your profile. Also keep in mind that improvement depends mightily on the quality of the work you put in.
Go head and get in contact through the consultations page with your GMAT history and we then can provide some clarity on timeline and tutoring hours.
Very rough guides: For 50 points aim for 2-3 months. For 100 points aim for 3-4 months. For 150 points aim for 4-6 months. For 200 points aim for 5-7 months.
Keep in mind that the higher the score the more challenging it is to improve. So Improving a 680 to a 780 is completely different than a 580 to a 680.
Yes, we‘ve helped plenty of people improve already fantastic GMAT scores but it isn‘t something to be taken lightly.
Why is XYZ test prep or tutor saying I can improve much faster than the plan you laid out?
Maybe you can. But we don’t sell maybes and we don’t lay out tutoring plans that have a low percentage chance of succeeding. The opposite. We lay out high percentage plans that take into account the realities of studying while having many other commitments in your life namely your demanding and sometimes unpredictable job, MBA applications, and not to be underestimated, your personal life.
All of that said, if you’re crushing HW and excelling in sessions we just move faster. That’s all. We’ll always be pushing you. Just because we have a super detailed tutoring plan to start the preparation doesn’t mean that we don’t adjust. We always do. We have to because assumptions that we started with get tested and corrected. As we understand more about your GMAT skills the plan will get even better and more tailored.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean that every plan gets shorter. Some people need more time that way we predicted on the outset.
The other thing to consider is that we plan very specifically based on your baseline, profile, and goal though multiple official GMATs. From our experience with hundreds of successful clients we know that a solid majority of people need more than one test to hit stratospheric GMAT scores.
Instead of scrambling for a plan if test day success fails to materialized we pan in advance for reality.
Can we cut the plan in half but keep the same quality?
Probably not. There’s wiggle room and a session here or there isn’t do or die. That said, deviating greatly from our initial estimate is likely going to cause some serious compromises in the preparation. Whether those compromises are worth it really depends on the individual situation. Sometimes there simply isn’t time to do the preparation in the ideal way and that is what it is. We’d strongly recommend leaving the proper amount of time to get it right. We have a stellar service but it needs space to have a high percentage chance of working.
Of course, there are situations where a student finishes early. We planned for two tests and 14 weeks and they finish in one test and 10 weeks. Great! We will not hold you back. We’ll always be pushing and just because the initial plan called for 14 doesn’t mean that we’ll slow you down in any way if you’re chomping through GMAT materials.
The opposite can also happen. That we need to slow down a bit. We’re generally in favor of not taking too long to get into the hot seat and take an official GMAT. Usually the extra preparation is in the form of GMAT retakes.
Why can’t I use a third party test as a baseline/why does it have to be official GMAT?
Third party tests don’t use official GMAT questions and don’t have the official question selection or scoring algorithm. For questions they don’t really know what the content guidelines are and for the test as a whole don‘t really know what the content breakdown is. They can guess. But that’s what it is. Same deal with the scoring algorithm. The real scoring algorithm is much more nuanced and complex than what any of the big box test prep companies are coming up with.
From a subjective perspective. I have taken their tests. They’re just not GMATs. Yes, sometimes we do use certain tests for certain situations but never to get a baseline score or to get an understanding of where you are.
What’s a good GMAT score?
Check the median GMAT score at schools to which you want to apply and aim for that or above. That would be a good GMAT score for you. Do you need that score for admission? Not necessarily as half the people are below the median. The rest of your application in total is more important than your GMAT score. Here’s a breakdown of the relative importance of each portion of your application.
The other thing to consider in terms of what is a good GMAT score for you is MBA scholarships. The higher your score the better your chances at a merit scholarship. So with that in mind, shoot for the moon. You have 5 GMAT attempts per year, if it were me, I’d ping all of them to try to get as much scholarship money as possible.
Last thing: post MBA job applications. Some do ask for your GMAT score. It’s tough to judge how important that is and what these firms consider good enough but certainly a high score isn’t going to hurt you.
I did terrible on the integrated reasoning! Will we cover that?
The IR doesn’t count toward your overall/composite GMAT score (the one that schools use) so it’s by a large measure less important than getting your Quant and Verbal sections up. Also, the same content we cover for Q and V will improve your IR.
So, yes we do prepare you for it but in general we won’t do any IR focused sessions because they’re almost never needed and we don’t want to waste your time or money on something that isn’t helping you get into your dream MBA program.
What about the essay?
Even more so than IR, the essay score isn’t something schools are really looking at. So much so that it wasn’t even included on the original online version of the GMAT. So we do not cover it in tutoring. Again, why waste tutoring time on IR and essay when they don’t factor into your MBA application success?
I’m not working right now and am dedicating 100% to GMAT prep. Can we meet everyday and be ready in a month?
Best thing to do is to go to the consultations page and to fill us in on your GMAT history so far. If you haven’t taken an official GMAT practice test to get a baseline you’ll need that to get started.
Without knowing your baseline and goal this is a tough question to answer. Can we do this? Yes, given that our schedules match up we can certainly meet everyday for a month and get a lot of work done.
The question though: is that the best way to plan your GMAT even given all the free time you have now? In most cases the answer will be: there’s a better way to do it. Yes, with more time to study we’d bulk up on sessions to make use of the space but there are diminishing returns to concentrating the preparation. And I’d much rather have a few extra weeks so that you have time to consolidate things than tons of tutoring hours.
Also, if you’re going for a massive GMAT score it’s always good to plan for retakes. So most of our GMAT tutoring plans will include at least one and most likely two retakes planned.With that in mind, it’s rare that we’ll have a GMAT prep that’s only planned for 4 weeks.
All of that said, if you really only have 4 weeks and then that’s it we’ll put together an amazing plan with that in mind.
I’m working full time but I’m a super diligent and dedicated studier and want to get this GMAT knocked out in the next 6-7 weeks. Can we make that happen?
Similar answer to the above. Give us the details and we’ll provide our opinion. In general though expect that things will take longer than you think. I’ve never seen someone plan too much time for GMAT studying.
Really consider whether adding 3-4 more weeks is going to be the end of the world because that time could have a very positive impact on your studying and could save you time and money in the long run.
Way too often people under plan and then end up having to spend more to buy more tutoring hours to make up for having to switch gears mid-prep.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t be the exception. You might have a great profile for doing something more accelerated. Just send over your GMAT history and we’ll give our take on what’s possible.
Can you help me improve a 700?
Yes. We’ve helped plenty of people improve already great GMAT scores.
Have you helped people achieve 740+?
Yep. We’ve helped plenty of people hit mid-700’s GMAT scores. That said, a 740 is an out of this world score so for most people that means a lot of work.
I’ve already taken 4 GMATs and only have one left for the year. Is it still worth doing tutoring?
That really depends. Are you applying this season? If yes, then it probably makes sense to go for as high a score as possible. Considering you’ve already taken 4 GMATs it’s not unlikely that you’re a bit stuck so need something targeted to help you get out of whatever rut you’re in. Tutoring fits that bill.
If you’re not applying this season then there’s an argument to be made to wait until you’ve got more attempts before you invest in tutoring. There are a couple other factors to consider so the best bet is to contact us with the details and we’ll make some suggestions.
Do we need to pick a regular time for our GMAT tutoring sessions?
Having a rhythm for studying and tutoring sessions will make your GMAT prep easier. With that in mind we strongly suggest regular meeting times. Can we reschedule every once in a while? Of course. We’re happy to be flexible. We have a 24 hour cancellation policy. So as long as you give us at least 24 hours notice you can reschedule the session.
How do you decide what tutor to suggest?
In a great majority of cases it’s a question of availability. All 5 of us are capable of working with the whole spectrum of GMAT profiles and goals. That said, sometimes I read something in the email that gives me a sense for which personality might work best. I’ve just noticed that certain tutors have had great results with certain personalities/profiles and try to match them.
Q: I’m very comfortable with GMAT content and think I’ve been underperforming on practice tests. Can we do a tutoring program based on better scores?
A: We create the tutoring plan based on the data that we have. That includes test scores but other factors also add to the picture:
-How long you’ve been studying
-What your study routine has been
-What materials you’ve worked through
-The trend in your improvement
-If you’ve sent an ESR, the timing and content breakdown.
I’d also add that you may have studied a whole bunch and feel comfortable with the material but still not be solid enough with it. That’s probably why your test scores aren’t as high as you’d like them to be.
Is it possible that you’re actually in an awesome place but not yet making it happen on the tests? Yes. It is possible. And if that’s the case we’ll learn that once we have a a few sessions and see your HW results.