I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi everyone!! as you can see i am pretty new to the forum, did mostly reading but now I feel like i have to post something. i took my first free gmat prep and scored 530 (40q/22v)

my question to the ones that HAVE succeeded in beating the GMAT and a review course or a tutor is what attributed the most to yoru success, and if so how effective? I see priavte tutor costs up to $200/hr and im not sure if that is the most economical way in approaching this for me, ie. 10 hours will cost $2000, how effective can those 10 hours be? its not that much time since you can spend 30-45 mins analyzing one problem as i have seen on the videos "thursdays with ron"

i have no problem keeping a strict study schedule and sitting still studying for 4-5 hours a day

reason why im so jaded on the idea of spending money to be taught is when i took my SATs, the princeton review course did nothing for me, granted that was 10+ years ago

feedback please!! =)

You could always hire a non-GMAT tutor for whatever your weaknesses are. I hired a math tutor as opposed to a GMAT tutor and recommend it. I payed $20/hour. And I completely understand what you mean about a class possibly being useless. I also took a class for my SATs and got nothing out of it. The teacher spent the entire time explaining the most basic questions and answering kindof dumb ones, while teaching us "tricks" instead of how to actually solve the problems. But there of course are the people that get a lot out of it. I guess you have to ask yourself how you learn best.

i have a verbal tutor but not sure if general tutoring in verbal can be gmat worthy

does anyone know what i will get out of a $200/hr tutor?

The biggest thing you get from a professional tutor is focused guidance on how to improve. It is tough for you to understand why you are not performing well as in general you don't know what you don't know. I focus on simplifying my students approach. Mostly I deliver material that helps them develop a solid foundation with the fundamentals and then she them how the fundamentals are applied to the exam. A lot can be done in 10 hours actually.

thank you for your input!!