| Comparison Factor |
GMATPro121 Tutors |
Typical Classroom Course |
Overall Quality Assurance
| High overall quality assurance. Because our hand-picked one-on-one tutoring specialists deliver a pay-as-you-go service that only profits when students return for more sessions. See our testimonials, and our independently verified 4.9 out of 5 stars rating on Google Checkout! | Low overall quality assurance. Because the classroom teaching model cannot offer the kind of individualized attention required for substantial score gains. Students are largely left on their own to progress outside of a one-size-fits-all curriculum that’s always either too fast or too slow. |
Guaranteed Expert One-on-One Tutoring Specialist? | Yes. All we do is one-on-one tutoring, and we hand-pick the strongest tutors we can find, based on:
1. Superb 750+ minimum score
2. Significant one-on-one tutoring experience
3. Consistently excellent student feedback. | No. Classroom teachers simply don’t have enough in-class time to be able to diagnose and treat even a fraction of all the individual issues students have. Even if they did have the time, many classroom teachers have little experience solving student-specific issues through to the end (e.g. helping develop tactics specific to a non-native English speaker for the verbal section). |
| 750+ Minimum Score Required? | Yes, 99th %ile / 750+, matching the highest standard in the industry. | Maybe: ranges from 90-99th %ile / 680-750+. Only a 750+ score assures genuine mastery of the exam! |
| Proof of Tutor Score Provided? | Yes. We always send a high-resolution scan of your tutor's score report before we ask for any money. | No!
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| Speak with Tutor Before Starting? | Yes, always! | No (you will get whichever teacher is available regardless of how good they are, and you cannot change). |
Quality of Materials Used | We suggest the best of all available 3rd party materials — tailored to student strengths and weaknesses for maximum effectiveness — and supplement where appropriate with our own. The best materials are not always well-known — but they are not expensive. Our proprietary "ActiveTracker" online companion tool to the Official Guide automatically tracks and diagnoses strengths and weakness by topic area. | Largely limited to proprietary, one-size-fits-all classroom course materials regardless of quality (and usually including non-representative practice questions). No one provider has a monopoly on all the best study resources, yet they all push their own (often inefficient) materials as if they do! |
Total Cost to Reach Score Goal | Unknown! Yet the most important cost-related question you can ask about different GMAT prep options. See our "Results" comparison at the bottom of the table.
The great thing about the GMATPro121 service is our pay-as-you-go payment model, where you are always in control of your spend, and our tutors have to earn the privilege of serving you every session! We never require a large up-front payment commitment.
Unfortunately, the best GMAT prep decision cannot be made based on a comparison of over-simple marketing headlines of cost-per-hour or course cost — because assistance that does not get you to your goal is not cheap (no matter what the fees!). | Unknown! Most test-takers take false comfort from thinking that their total GMAT prep cost will simply be the classroom course fee. But given how few students achieve their score goal from classes alone, total cost can be much higher when additional post-course prep costs (e.g., for a one-on-one tutor) are factored in. Most test-takers would be better off skipping straight to one-on-one tutoring, the most cost-efficient and effective prep method. |
Fees | $140 per hour, much less (about 25-50%) than one-on-one tutoring fees from classroom providers (the nearest comparable service). Total fees will naturally vary, but GMATPro121’s students are always in control of their spend with pay-as-you-go. Typically students spend about as much with us as they would have on a course, but with far better results due to the expert individualized attention, and total control always over their spend (no big up-front commitments ever required). | $1500 all committed up-front for a full course, with no meaningful recourse if you don’t reach your score goal (always read the fine print, as there is no meaningful guarantee available in the GMAT prep market). |
| Minimum Cost Commitment | 2 hours only (one session) | $1500 all committed up front for a full course. |
Student Results | Very strong: often +100 points or +20 %ile points vs. previous real GMAT test with 7-8 sessions of 2 hours spread over a reasonable time period. Many report higher score increases; see our testimonials and independent student reviews leading to our amazing 4.9 out of 5 stars rating on Google Checkout! Revealingly, over half of our students are "graduates" of other prep providers that failed to help them reach their goal. | Poor: Providers always claim strong results, but in practice most students only improve 5-10 %ile points with classroom courses. Such claims should be taken with a grain of salt because testimonials are often cherry-picked, and providers are often in control of the comparison starting point by using their own diagnostic test for new students. A *genuine* comparison can only be made between two REAL GMAT tests, but classroom providers are rarely ever honest about this.
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Convenience | Highest possible convenience because our tutors visit you in your home, office or other mutually agreed location, always working around your schedule. | Very inconvenient because live classroom times and locations are fixed, and can frequently be cancelled at short notice if they are not enough students (i.e., revenue for the provider!). |
Overall Value | High | Low, because of:
1) Certainty of high cost and up-front $$$ commitment
2) Inability of the classroom model to provide the kind of individualized attention required for the score improvements most test-takers require. |
