thegmatcoach

[squibb]

I have been in touch with a prep service that focuses strictly on the Math section of the GMAT. www.thegmatcoach.com It's only out of Atlanta and I am considering taking the course.

It is 2 days of Math focused material and class size is limited to only 6 people. I heard about it via a YouTube video by one of its users who had pretty good success.

All I know is I need all the help I can get with MATH and if this works i'm up for it. I live in Savannah, Ga (about 4 hours out of ATL) and there are no GMAT coaches, classes or anything offered in this city so i have to look elsewhere.

Anyone have any feedback on thegmatcoach.com?

[aim-wsc]

let us know once you check that course.
Give us the feedback.

[squibb]

It is going to cost me $1430. That is $1200 for course (covers lunch, snacks as well for the 2 1/2 days) and $230 for hotel room. I have to drive to Atlanta to do it.


It is only going to be me and one other guy being taught so it will have a great one on one attention level. Hope it gets my Math score up to acceptable levels. I don't need to get into Harvard here, just need around a 600 to feel comfortable.

I'll keep ya posted.

[squibb]

Okay so I am back from the "thegmatcoach" math tutor weekend. Overall I am pretty disappointed. I think the people running it are cool guys but as far as the program satisfying my expectations? I would give it about a 4 out of 10.

I was in a class with 2 other people who both had an engineering background giving them a much stronger understanding of math. The class ended up being taught at their pace and i sort of felt like "the dumb kid" in class.

Like I said personally everyone was very nice and cordial but it just wasn't effective for someone like me who really needed help with math and not just a brief refresher.

To their credit I was offered the opportunity to come and do another weekend at no expense to myself. The problem is I can't just take off a weekend and drive to Atlanta on a whim. I had to put in for this weekend off and won't have another chance to do that for a while. I needed the class to work for me while I was there, not later when I am unable to attend.

They also offer continuous phone and email consultation which is good but still, I paid for a good one on one experience.

If you need a slight refresher with some one on one instruction then this is a great option seeing as they are just getting started and will probably have smaller class sizes for a while and the instructor is very knowledgable. However if you need more than a refresher I would not recommend it purely based on my experience.

I feel they should place people in groups with the same level of experience in the future, otherwise it just doesn't work. Putting someone like me in a math class with engineers doesn't seem very fair.

I wish I was offered a refund of some of the money instead of another session but I was not. It's also important to know that the guy that runs the business is also the guy in the youtube video promoting it as something he is not a part of.

He said he wasn't involved in the business aspect of it until after he experienced it personally and produced that video but I feel he should probably disclose he is part of it now in the video otherwise it comes off as a little deceptive.

Just my .02 Take it for what you will.

[athletics]

I found squibb's post to hit pretty close to home because he mentioned two engineering students in his class that had more math background and made the class pace tough for him. I was one of the two engineering students.

I agree with what squibb said about the class, if you need a review and strategy course, The GMAT Coach will be very useful. I saw 100+ improvement in my score and I can thank this tutoring class for at least 4-5 additional correct and fast answers.

I would recommend this class to someone who is comfortable with their math knowledge level or done some quant practice problems and needs to optimize their ability and score.

The class for me was very successful. I agree on the thought on the guy on the video facilitating the class.

[TheGMATCoach]

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to chime in and thank squibb and athletics (the two posters above) for giving an honest review of my (The GMAT Coach's) workshop.

Squibb, I wished we could have made the experience better for you. I agree with your thought that if we would have broken up the group into smaller sections, based on math experience level, it would have worked out better for everyone. We will definitely implement that into our future sessions so everyone can benefit more.

We really try to focus on keeping the groups small and that's one reason why we feel this program is better than other ones. It's not cookie-cutter like the others and we aim to make it as personalized as possible. We follow up with unlimited email and phone support, and are more than willing to do anything and everything necessary to make sure you get the score you desire.

Though our formal company is new, the methods and materials have been in development for 5 years and have shown a very high success rate. I think in the future, when we give our baseline exam to determine our student's math skills, we will advise those who are in need of a full scale A-Z math review that our course might not be suited for them. As good as our materials and methods are, it is difficult for anyone to teach a student everything there is to know about math in only three days. However, if you have a general grasp, our stuff works great.

Also, we have talked as a company and have decided a partial money-back guarantee will be available to future students who don't get the score they were realistically hoping to achieve. All we require is that the student attends all three days, do the problems we assign after the 3-day session and send them back with full calculations, and give a good-faith effort to do their best.

When any company truly believes what they are offering is the best of the best, they are willing to put their name, and money, on the line. I've yet to see another tutoring company step up and offer this type of guarantee. I'm proud to say we feel that strongly about our materials and methods.

We have tried to separate ourselves from the Kaplans of the world by offering more personalized service and a better product at a (slightly) lower price. We don't put you in a class with 40 people. We provide unlimited follow up support. We have better materials and have worked our asses off to make sure our students have the best opportunity to succeed on the GMAT. That is our mission. Without people succeeding with our course, we don't have a company.

All that aside, I'd like to congratulate "athletics" and our 3rd student, Monali, for improving their score significantly on the test through using us. I'm glad we exceeded your expectations. Also, congrats is in order for "squibb" as he got into Law School recently up north.

If anyone has any questions about anything we offer or how we teach, just shoot me a message or google search "the gmat coach" and email me.

Again, I'd like to thank the two posters here for their honest reviews. We will certainly take the great ideas presented and implement them.

To Your Success,

Lee Burrell

Note: I've added a "disclosure" part to the video mentioned in previous posts, letting everyone know the video was made BEFORE I joined the gmat coach company. It is my honest and truthful review of the course. I got my desired score and got into b-school because of The GMAT Coach. I knew if it worked for me it could work for others, so I joined the The GMAT Coach to help promote the services. Hope that helps. It was never my intention to mislead anyone.

[supercyc]

Dhiraj (the founder of GMATCoach) asked me to post here and share my experiences with his program. I had such a positive experience working with him that I am really excited to share it with you all.

First, let me tell you a bit about my business school application experience. My resume is definitely lacking in a lot of work experience, and my GPA from my undergrad is about average, so I knew that I had to do well on the GMAT if I wanted to get into a good MBA program. I wanted to be prepared for the GMAT, so I took the Kaplan GMAT course before I took the GMAT and before I found the GMATCoach.

The first diagnostic test I took with Kaplan I got a 600 on the GMAT. I went through the class, and although I think it was helpful in understanding the format of the test and little tips and tricks you can use to save time, I felt that Kaplan didn't focus too much on content. I took the actual GMAT a couple weeks after finishing the Kaplan course and bumped up my score to a 640. I started applying to schools and got accepted to Wake Forest, which was a big accomplishment for me.

However, Wake Forest basically said that I had to pay sticker price for tuition, which is no small amount! It was definitely out of my price range to even go there and I was considering a lesser program for that reason. The kind folks on the admissions committee indicated that if I could do at least 20 points better that I could be considered for scholarships.

I was desperate at this point, which is what brought me to the GMAT coach. I engaged in one on one tutoring with Dhiraj for about a month and a half or so, focusing only on the math section (which is probably the place you can most easily improve and the area I seemed to be most lacking). I was a little skeptical because one on one tutoring by its nature is extremely expensive and I debated whether it was worth it. However, within about an hour of meeting Dhiraj I knew he was exactly what I needed, and I will explain why.

Basically, the first 8 sessions or so we reviewed basically every possible type of GMAT problem that you would ever see on the test. Although this may seem like a lot (and it is), Dhiraj was able to break the problems down into easily understandable parts and do a brief one on one lecture about each. This was very helpful. It wasn't so much that I needed to know HOW to do these problems, the most important thing on the GMAT is doing the problems as fast as possible, so the extensive review was really necessary. There are also areas that you may THINK you know a lot about (rules of exponents for example) when you are really missing an important property that helps you solve a lot of problems on the actual test.

In addition, Dhiraj taught me all sorts of cool little math tricks that I had NO idea about (ask him how he does least common multiple problems) that really make your ability to do the problems so much faster. There were other areas I was definitely lacking in (Geometry for instance) and he recognized that immediately. So we spent extra time on that subject.

But really the most helpful portion was the second part of the course. Basically during this part all you would do is take practice tests, and then all you would do is talk about your mistakes with him. Although this seems very simple, it is amazing how many stupid little errors you will make over and over again are ingrained in your brain. By working with Dhiraj we did away with all the mistakes and stupid errors that hold you back by constantly correcting them. If you've ever looked at one of the practice tests that you've done and thought "how could I of done THAT dumb mistake" I think the GMATCoach will help you overcome a lot of these barriers.

By the end of the course, although I was still a bit nervous, I felt really prepared and as if I had all the tools I needed to tackle any problem. I retook the GMAT and it was AMAZING how many problems on the test were EXACTLY what we covered and what we talked about. I ended up getting a 700. It goes without saying that the difference between a 640 and a 700 is absolutely enormous.

Wake Forest gave me the scholarship money, but Washington University in St Louis, who originally waitlisted me, took me off their waitlist and offered me a scholarship of about $22,000/year to attend there, and that is where I will be going in a couple of weeks.

Doing well on the GMAT is the single most important thing you can do for your b school application. B schools care about it MORE THAN ANY OTHER FACTOR for admissions because it increases their rankings. It is very important you do well on it. For me, the GMATCoach is one of the best investments I've ever made. I felt like Dhiraj understood the way that I think, and taught me accordingly. Take his class or get tutoring from him, I don't think you'll regret it.