GMAT GeniusReviews of gmatgenius.com

Response from GMAT GeniusNov 28, 2018

Amanda’s review paints a very inaccurate and misleading portrait of what actually transpired. As such, I must lay out in depth the facts of my interactions with Amanda, detailing the true story. In summary, we helped Amanda achieve a 90-point increase in her practice test scores and provided her with 7 weeks of ongoing support at no cost after her 3 weeks of paid tutoring concluded. Furthermore, we never provided any score guarantee or pressured her to add tutoring hours. Please allow me to address each of Amanda’s claims one-by-one. Claim: “I spent about $$2500 working with Vinay” Facts: Amanda spent a total of $2,379 on our tutoring services. I recognize that this is not an insignificant amount, but it is significantly less than she would have paid using one of the bigger test preparation companies. The 14 hours of tutoring that Amanda paid for would have cost $3,430 with Manhattan Prep and $3,710 with Veritas Prep. By the way, neither of these well-known companies offers a score guarantee either. Claim: “for a subtle point increase from my first GMATprep score” Facts: Amanda’s Official GMAT practice test score, taken two days before we started working together, was a 620. During our tutoring and thereafter, she scored 700 or 710 on five separate Official GMAT practice tests. This represents a 90-point increase on an apples-to-apples basis. More Facts: Amanda is upset that she scored below 700 on her live GMAT administration. But comparing a practice test to a real GMAT attempt is apples-to-oranges. There are many reasons why someone may score lower on the actual GMAT; these reasons include test anxiety, discomfort with an unfamiliar testing environment, and bad luck with question selection. Multiple practice tests validated that Amanda was capable of scoring as high as 710, as I believed her to be, but unfortunately this did not happen on test day. Claim: “Throughout prep, Vinay assured me that I would hit my target (which was above a 700)” Facts: Part of a tutor’s job is to instill confidence in his or her clients. On several instances, Amanda expressed self-doubt in her abilities. It seems that she would have preferred me to reinforce those doubts rather than try to erase them. In my opinion, doing so would have served her very poorly. Saying something along the lines of “you can do this” or “you have the skills to do well” was in no way, shape, or form an assurance that she will definitely score 700+ on a live GMAT administration. These statements were clearly meant to be a confidence boost, not a guarantee of what her results would be on test day. There is a big difference between conveying unrealistic goals (which I did not do) versus trying to instill confidence and a positive mindset in a client. More Facts: On five separate Official GMAT practice tests, Amanda achieved scores of 700 or 710, validating my belief in her abilities to reach this scoring level. But because of factors beyond my control, unfortunately she did not score 700+ on test day. Claim: “I felt at some point he used my time crunch to push more tutoring hours” Facts: We conducted our tutoring from July 9 to July 28, 2018. Amanda’s timeframe for GMAT preparations was set by her, not by me, given her desire to get this done before returning to medical school and her strong preference for in-person tutoring rather than online tutoring. I simply worked within those parameters to help her achieve her objectives. More Facts: In no way did I ever pressure Amanda to add more tutoring hours. Rather, my style is completely the opposite – very low pressure. Even after her last tutoring hour was used in end-July, I continued to provide informal support (e.g. review practice tests, provide study advice, etc.) for seven weeks at no charge through her test date of October 22. I never asked or pressured her to add more tutoring hours in this timeframe. Rather, I invested several more hours of my time in helping her at no cost because I continued to be vested in her success. Claim: “Vinay was well intentioned and a very nice person” Facts: Well, this one actually is true :) Claim: “his method did not assist me in making the necessary jump” Facts: Our tutoring helped her improve from 620 on an Official GMAT practice test, taken two days prior to our first tutoring session, to a 700 or 710 on five separate Official GMAT practice tests. Although she scored below 700 on her live GMAT administration, it is simply inaccurate to say that our tutoring proved to be of no help. More Facts: Unlike other tutoring companies, GMAT Genius offers a full refund at any time for unused tutoring hours. If Amanda felt that my methods were not helpful, she could have and should have requested a refund for unused hours. Rather, she actually added four more tutoring hours above what she initially paid for. I did not pressure her to add these hours; she did so on her own free will. Claim: “when I read these yelp reviews I thought it was almost a guarantee that I would see my desired score increase” Facts: GMAT Genius does not offer score guarantees, as is clearly stated on our website, because there are too many factors beyond our control (such as test anxiety and bad luck with question selection). Consistent with this policy, I never guaranteed Amanda that she would achieve a score above 700 on the GMAT. Claim: “I lost a lot of time” Facts: We conducted our tutoring over the course of less than three weeks in July. Amanda spent an additional seven weeks on GMAT prep on her own after our paid tutoring concluded. Although I continued to provide informal support during this period at no additional cost, Amanda could have pursued alternate GMAT preparation options in this time if she felt doing so was necessary. Claim: “I lost a lot of … money” Facts: The tuition that you pay to a university entitles you to a quality education and a teaching staff that is responsive to your needs. In no way does paying tuition guarantee that you will receive straight A grades in your classes. Similarly, hiring a tutor should ensure a quality education and responsive customer service. We exceeded these objectives by far, providing excellent GMAT tutoring (resulting in a 90-point score improvement as measured by practice tests) and top-notch customer service. As another example of our customer service, when one of Amanda’s practice tests crashed, I used my personal connections with GMAC executives to get her practice test reset. You will be exceptionally hard-pressed to find another GMAT tutor in the entire world who could and would do this. But Amanda’s expectation seems to be that paying for 14 hours of tutoring would guarantee a 700+ score on a live GMAT administration, and that is not something that I (or anyone else in the world) can guarantee. GMAT Genius is fully vested in helping our clients achieve GMAT success. I can understand Amanda’s frustration at not achieving a score on her live GMAT administration that is consistent with the 700-710 score that she received on five separate practice tests. But I completely fail to understand why this justifies such a negative review. No GMAT tutor or company can claim 100% success and we are no exception. But GMAT Genius provided Amanda with the highest-quality GMAT tutoring and excellent customer support, as we strive to offer all our clients. As the numerous other reviews here demonstrate, a majority of our clients reach their GMAT goals and highly vouch for our services. This is partly because when a prospective client comes to us with unrealistic goals, we tell that person upfront that he or she has a low probability of reaching those goals. Although we often lose potential clients as a result, I believe that it is more important to serve people with honesty. I would be happy to discuss any of this with anyone who has any questions. Thanks for considering GMAT Genius for your GMAT preparation needs. Vinay Narang Chief Genius GMAT Genius