Table of Contents

1. Is test prep worth it or not?

2. What proper test prep provides to students

3. Gain a competitive advantage with your career path

4. Learn vital skills that are helpful in all fields of life

5. Save hours on understanding test material

6. How many hours do you have to study to score highly on the GMAT?

7. Return on investment of thorough test preparation

8. Summary

One of the biggest questions students ask themselves before they have to take an important exam is whether to study and revise on their own, or if they should work with a tutor?

In order to get the highest score on any test or exam it’s important to study the subject thoroughly so you know you’ll do your best once exam day comes. 

There’s other factors involved in scoring highly too, some people get nervous ahead of an exam and aren’t able to fully focus whilst taking the test. This is where an expert tutor becomes invaluable – they can boost your confidence by reassuring you that you have the knowledge you need to ace a test, and give you expert tips and tricks to feel calm when you sit down to take that all-important exam.

If you’re hoping to get into a certain business school or university, the admissions team will always pick the candidates with the highest test scores. The chances of gaining admission into the university of your choice is considerably higher with proper test prep.

The UK’s Financial Times newspaper recently published a table of the top five business schools and the average GMAT scores required by each one. HEC Paris, London Business School, INSEAD, IESE Business School and SDA Bocconi all require GMAT scores that are over the 80th percentile. The lowest GMAT score accepted was 670.

This is why skipping on test prep is never worth it, but prepping fully and getting the highest score you can is always worth it.  

Many exams are crucial stepping stones to competitive business sectors. Employers pay a great deal of attention to the results of entrance exams such as GMAT, GRE, and the SAT. If they have two candidates with identical skills but one has scored more highly on their entrance exams then they’ll pick the highest scorer.

We’ve all met people who are always running late and are really disorganized. They’re often the type who stay up all night before an exam cramming at the last minute, instead of prepping in a calm, organized and time efficient way spanning several months. This isn’t because they were born that way, it’s because they’ve never learned how to make good use of their time. A great tutor will teach you time management and help you to develop the skills needed to ace an exam. These include analytical thinking and quantitative reasoning – which are crucially important for a successful academic, professional and personal life.

It can be overwhelming sitting on your own and looking at a huge amount of material that you’ll have to learn in order to pass an exam with a high grade. A good tutor will walk you through each stage in easy to digest stages – ensuring you don’t waste your precious time misunderstanding things, or getting so tired that you forget what you have spent an entire evening studying.

Students who spent a total of 90 hours studying scored over 700 on their GMAT exam, according to a survey of over 4000 students by GMAC mba.com. Those who studied for 80 hours scored between 600-690, students who spent 60 hours scored between 500 and 590, while those whose marks were under 500 spent an average of 45 hours studying.

It’s not just the hours spent studying that get you that crucial high score though, it’s how well you use those hours – which is where a tutor comes in. Just one hour with a tutor who has already sat the GMAT themselves and scored in the top 1% is worth five whole hours of studying on your own. 

We’ve worked out a formula so you can see how the return on investing in test preparation with a highly qualified tutor breaks down.

Investment:

• Cost of test prep

Return:

• Getting into your dream school
• Competitive advantage in labor market
• Vital skills that are helpful in all fields of life
• Hours saved on understanding test material

It’s important to see your education as an investment in yourself and your future career, so deciding how you approach preparation for a test now will become an important factor further down the line. Ask yourself what kind of investment you’re prepared to make in terms of your time and finances and what kind of return you will get in the future on that expenditure.