Score improvement depends on your starting point and study intensity, but most students see meaningful gains with focused preparation. If you're struggling with foundational concepts, you might gain 5-10 points per month with consistent practice. If you're already scoring in the mid-40s, improvement slows but is still achievable—many students gain 3-5 points through targeted strategy work and practice test analysis. Personalized tutoring helps identify exactly which question types and concepts are holding you back, accelerating your progress.

The two most common struggles are pacing and data sufficiency questions. Many students rush through problems and make careless errors, while others spend too long on difficult questions and run out of time. Data sufficiency questions are particularly tricky because they require a different mindset than traditional problem-solving—you're evaluating whether you have enough information, not just solving for an answer. Working with a tutor helps you develop strategies to recognize question patterns quickly and manage the 62-minute time limit effectively.

Most students benefit from 4-12 weeks of focused preparation, depending on their baseline skills and target score. If you're aiming for a top business school, you'll likely need 8-12 weeks to master both content and test-taking strategy. A structured study plan with practice tests every 1-2 weeks helps you track progress and adjust your focus. Personalized tutoring accelerates this timeline by helping you skip material you already know and concentrate on genuine weak spots.

Practice tests are essential—they're the best way to identify which concepts you need to review and how well you manage timing under real test conditions. Most students should take full-length practice tests every 1-2 weeks, then analyze their mistakes in detail to understand why they got questions wrong. The GMAC (test maker) provides official practice tests that most closely mirror the real exam. A tutor can help you interpret your practice test results and create a targeted review plan based on your specific error patterns.

Test anxiety often stems from feeling unprepared or uncertain about your approach to problems. Building confidence through consistent practice and mastering test-taking strategies reduces anxiety significantly. Techniques like pacing yourself, knowing when to guess strategically, and having a clear problem-solving process help you feel in control during the exam. Working with a tutor gives you a personalized strategy tailored to your strengths, which builds the confidence you need to perform well under pressure.

Look for tutors with strong GMAT scores (ideally 90th percentile or higher on the Quantitative section), business school experience, and a track record of helping students improve. They should understand both the content deeply and the test's unique format—including data sufficiency strategy and time management. Varsity Tutors connects you with expert tutors who have proven success teaching GMAT Quantitative to students in Tulsa and can customize instruction to your learning style and goals.

Your first session typically includes an assessment of your current skills, a discussion of your target score and business school timeline, and an overview of your personalized study plan. The tutor may ask you to solve a few sample problems to understand your problem-solving approach and identify where you're losing points. From there, you'll work together to prioritize which concepts or question types to tackle first, ensuring your study time is spent efficiently on areas that will have the biggest impact on your score.