GMAT Strategy

Hello BTG Community!!

I am a fairly new member but have been following btg for quite some time now. I know this is the right place to go for my question, so I am hoping all you experts can advise me on what I should do. This is my dilema...

I took a Princeton Review classroom course from Jan - March and took the actual GMAT exam in April. Sadly, I only got a 440 (Q25 V 26). I am really aiming for a 650. I totally suck with timing and always have 7-8 questions unanswered in each group. I was totally bummed out about my low score and have actually not opened a gmat book since. I need to get back on the study band wagon since I would like to apply for 2011 FT (applications due in the fall). So, I am considering one of these two options and need advice on which one people think is better or will help from personal experience...

1. Take a MGMAT classroom course
or
2. Hire a personal tutor for a few weeks from craigslist. I would check their score report to confirm.. but has anyone ever done this? I am a little skeptical to be honest but it would cost approx the same amount as the mgmat course and be more personalized.



Please help! Thank you!

I'm not an expert, But I would recommend MGMAT class because they have good materials.

Thanks for your reponse. I have also heard good things about MGMAT materials. Originally I was going to take MGMAT but decided to go with PR since it was closer to my apt.

Has anyone hired a personal tutor before not from one of the big companies? Are they helpful?

I would recommend attempting to study on your own first. If you feel like you can make progress on your own, then maybe hire a tutor to just go over whatever weaknesses you still have. If you still don't see improvement, then maybe consider taking a class.

I took the MGMAT in person 9 week class. It won't help you if your not already scoring in the 600's simply because the level of questions that they work on, you'll never see if you can't get to the upper echelon of questions.

Tutors are expensive..but hey if you can do it... do it...

Thanks osirus and money9111 for your responses. Maybe the best thing to do is study for a little bit on my own to get my scores higher before taking a course or hiring a tutor

Money - you make a good point about the class not helping if I am not scoring atleast 600 [ which i am not ] I like the idea of a class for structure but I will have to really focus on improving my score first. BTW, I follow your blog and love it! Good luck on saturday!