If you have landed on this page, you are likely looking for a private GMAT tutor from your city. To find out who is the best private GMAT tutor, you need to first have your criteria sorted out on which you’ll measure different private GMAT tutors. Right?

Have you listed down a list of parameters on which you’ll evaluate different tutors and which all resources you will use to research on the tutor?

If not, I’ve written an article that can help you in this task: http://gmatwithcj.com/articles/best-private-gmat-tutor-in-delhi-and-gurgaon/. Even though the title seems to suggest that the application of this article is limited to Delhi and Gurgaon, the content of the article can help you figure out the parameters on which you should assess a private GMAT tutor, regardless of the location.

I understand that the reason why many people look for private tutors locally is that these people are much more comfortable taking an in-person session than taking an online session. Besides, many of these people also think that in-person sessions are more effective than online sessions.

Probably, you are one of these people.

Before I say anything else, let me ask you a couple of questions:

Do you think that putting a location constraint on the search for a private tutor has the possibility of limiting your available options quite drastically? And in other domains of education (undergraduate or post-graduate colleges), do you even think of limiting your options to just local institutes? Then, why do you need to limit your options for GMAT preparation, which is going to play a very crucial role in your career?

Why just look for the best private GMAT tutor in your colony or your city? Why not go for the best in the country or the best in the world?

Of course, when you hire a private GMAT tutor outside your city, you’ll necessarily need to have sessions online rather than in-person (unlike one of my students in Lucknow who was willing to come down every weekend to Delhi for taking sessions).

Here, let me address a couple of concerns people have with the online sessions vis-à-vis in-person sessions:

1. Comfort: Many people just think they will be much more comfortable sitting with a person than staring at a screen. While I agree that there is a difference in the level of comfort between the two mediums, I do not agree with the ‘extent’ of the difference. While an in-person session can be 10-20% more comfortable than an online session, the difference is not along the lines of 70-80% people think of. People who think that there is a significant difference in the level of comfort between the two mediums have generally not used the latest software tools for online meetings. This is what I have seen. Many of my students, who live in NCR but more than a hour away from my office (and are recommended by me to try online sessions), are initially very apprehensive of taking the sessions online. They think that the entire experience of taking private sessions is going to get diluted by going online. However, very consistently, after taking just one online session, they become willing to take all sessions online. (This also happened to the guy in Lucknow who was willing to come down to Delhi every weekend. I urged him to try online first. After the first session, he was happy that he didn’t have to travel every weekend.)
2. Effectiveness: Many people are under the opinion that in-person sessions are more effective than online sessions. This is completely wrong. For sessions on the Verbal component (whether it’s RC, CR, or SC), online sessions are always as effective as in-person sessions. For sessions on the Quant component, in-person sessions are preferable to online sessions only for students who are very weak in Quant (<Q40). For students >Q40, the online sessions are as effective as in-person sessions, even for Quant. The reason why in-person sessions are more effective than online sessions for people

Given above understanding, the only advantage of going for a local expert is the additional 20% comfort you may derive from having in-person sessions rather than online sessions. However, to get that 20% additional comfort, you may end up compromising a lot on the quality. Not every region has high-quality experts. And the difference in the quality of the experts can be very significant. Do you think it makes sense to risk quality of preparation (and thus your time, effort, and potential earnings in terms of better career growth and scholarship savings that come with high GMAT score) for a little additional comfort?