What happens in my private tutoring sessions?
In the competitive world of GMAT preparation, the ultimate goal for most is a high score. While that is a crucial outcome, I believe it is a byproduct of a much deeper, more transformative process. My private tutoring sessions are designed not merely to make students better at the GMAT, but to fundamentally enhance their ability to comprehend, reason, and think with clarity—skills that extend far beyond the exam. The recommendations on my LinkedIn profile stand as a testament to this enduring impact.
Here are a few:
...forces you to move beyond superficial learning and develop a deep, conceptual understanding — a skill I later realized is the true focus of these exams and one that has proven invaluable in my professional life.
CJ has an amazing quality to question one’s assumptions and look at things from the bigger perspective. His emphasis on building skills and guidance with GMAT helped me score a 90+ %ile.
Rather than just teaching to the test, Chiranjeev focused on building a strong foundation in verbal reasoning and comprehension. The approach was holistic, emphasizing understanding over rote memorization. Chiranjeev's teaching method fostered a deep appreciation for the intricacies of the English language, enhancing my ability to critically analyze text and improving my performance on the exam!!
He not only helped me with my direction on the GMAT but also changed my view on how I viewed challenges. He taught me to focus on the right process and things fell in place once I started to. My journey with CJ does not end with the GMAT. I look forward to learning from his wisdom continuously.
His training not only increased my score but gave me the ability to read challenging material and, thus, improved my reading comprehension as well.
CJ focused less on the errors itself, but more on the root cause behind these errors, and second CJ does not just believe in learning for the GMAT, but to learn and improve for the sake of improving your own skills and abilities – hence his methodology is to be deliberate in understanding the root cause and reprogramming yourself to relearn ill formed habits to avoid making many mistakes. Following CJs advice did not just help me improve my GMAT score in a sustainable manner, but it also helped me drastically improve my ability to read more effectively – as someone with a constantly growing reading wish list, this was very important to me. I highly recommend CJ to anyone who would like to improve themselves and thereby find the path to improve their GMAT scores.
How is this achieved?
My methodology is rooted in a simple but profound principle: I don’t give answers; I ask questions.
A typical tutoring session might involve an instructor explaining a concept and providing the correct answer to a problem. This approach can create a dependency on the tutor and often fails to address the student’s underlying thought processes. My method is different. It is a Socratic journey.
I employ a series of targeted questions designed to help individuals see the confusions that live within them. The goal is to bring them face-to-face with their own conflicts and lack of clarity. Many people are not even aware of what they are lacking, or the extent of it. Only when they see this gap for themselves do they become truly open and willing to learn.
This learning is not about passively receiving more knowledge. It’s an active process of deconstruction and reconstruction. We work together to:
- Identify Flawed Thoughts: Pinpoint the incorrect assumptions or broken logic that lead to an error.
- Understand the ‘Why’: Go beyond memorizing rules and instead figure out why the wrong approach is wrong and why the right one is sound.
- Cultivate Critical Thinking: I constantly encourage students to question everything—to not accept any concept on face value, even if it comes from me.
Through this approach, students don’t just learn GMAT strategies; they develop their own innate ability to think and reason independently.
A Psychoanalytic Approach to Learning
What happens in my sessions can be likened to a psychoanalytic approach. We are constantly questioning to unearth what lies beneath the superficial layers of reasoning. My deep interest in the mechanics and psychology of learning allows us to explore not just what a student got wrong, but why they might be struggling to learn in the first place.
Frequently, as we delve deeper into the source of a recurring problem on a quantitative or verbal question, we discover the root cause isn’t a lack of knowledge. Instead, the problem lies at the foundational level of how that person learns. We often uncover psychological barriers that are preventing progress, such as:
- Pervasive self-doubt
- Test-taking anxiety
- A paralyzing fear of failure
When these issues surface, we address them. We discuss preliminary strategies to manage these psychological aspects, as they are intrinsically linked to performance. This integrated approach—tackling both the technical GMAT content and the psychological framework for learning—is where true growth happens.
Of course, I understand my limitations. If we uncover severe psychological challenges, I make it a priority to recommend seeking professional psychiatric help.
Ultimately, a student leaves my tutelage not just with the tools to excel on the GMAT, but with a renewed sense of intellectual confidence and a durable framework for clear thinking. They learn how to learn, how to reason, and how to confront any complex idea with curiosity and precision. That is my true measure of success.
