GRE motivation tips and tutoring near you & online
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GRE Motivation: How We Can Help
GRE prep only works if you actually have the motivation and discipline to study on a regular basis. If you're low on motivation, or you just can't seem to make yourself do the work you know you need to do, we might be able to help.
We've got two options for you:
Option 1: Vince's GRE Prep Motivation Online Course
Option 2: GRE Tutoring For People Who Need Help With Motivation
GRE Prep Motivation Course: 6 Powerful Ways To Get And Stay Disciplined
How To Raise Your GRE Prep Motivation With Vince Kotchian
Let's consider three categories:
- People who have the discipline to do the GRE prep they need to do
- People who don't have the discipline do the GRE prep they need to do
- People who thought they had the discipline but then who find out the hard way they don't
If you're in either of those two latter categories, this course is for you.
I'm operating under a simple premise, here. If you're know what you need to do but you're not doing it, increasing your motivation will help you generate the discipline to get shit done.
Going back to our three categories, #3 interests me the most. Who hasn't made a New Year's resolution and then failed to follow through? We all have set goals and then found we didn't really want to do the work required to achieve them... so we didn't. To put it mildly, this creates a problem if we've made a plan to apply to grad, business, or law school and want to submit a competitive GRE score -- yet we find ourselves not studying. How can we help fix this problem? The GRE prep pantheon only works if you do the work.
Enter my GRE prep motivation course.
About My Motivation Course
In the course, I'll be teaching you how to increase your motivation in six areas:
- Biohacks: physical inputs and actions
- Subtraction: cutting out the crap that saps your motivation
- Sleep: get more and better rest
- Mental Hacks: change the way you think
- Spiritual Hacks: using meditation, gratitude, and other tools
- Camaraderie: lifting each other up
The cool thing about motivation is that we can create a virtuous cycle: one of the things that increases motivation is successfully doing hard things. The motivation increase from those hard things will help you do more hard things. I hope the course, and cohort, will boost your motivation enough to get that cycle rolling.
GRE Motivation & Tutoring
Most - if not all - of our tutoring clients have at least some issues with motivation. Over the years, we've learned several methods to help them increase motivation and discipline, so they can study productively between sessions.
If you're worried about motivation hampering your ability to do your best on the GRE, a tutor can be a great sounding board to generate solutions. When we talk about your motivation, we'll inevitably find things you can change about the ways you're studying for the test that will make a difference.
Since the psychology of studying is such an important part of GRE prep, we think a discussion of motivation and ways to increase it is an important component of many GRE tutoring plans.
The most important question to ask, we think, is this:
"Who will be the person tutoring me?"
We're probably the most expensive tutors in San Diego. Why? In stark contrast to our competitors who employ a rotating cast of 23-year-olds, our tutors have an average of 10 years of experience. We pay them really well because we only hire tutors who are extremely good at what they do.
One-on-one tutoring, with us, is completely customized to your learning style, personality, and needs.
In our GRE tutoring sessions, talking through the nuances of practice questions not only allows us to explain, in detail, the strategies that work, but those conversations also allow us to see what you're thinking and adjust our instruction minute-by-minute - something you can't easily get from a big class and that you certainly can't get from a GRE video course.
(Above: Vince demonstrates a key GRE quant strategy.)
Conversation is what makes private tutoring so valuable. It allows us to see the best way to help you, whether the problem is content, strategy, timing, test anxiety, or even your personal approach to studying and test-taking.
"Is GRE tutoring worth it?" Here are some of the benefits:
- A study plan and schedule tailored to your specific situation and adjusted as you go
- Talking through questions with someone with several years of experience with the GRE and its many quirks
- Math explained in plain English
- Feedback on your essays
- Accountability and encouragement :)
One-on-one tutoring is simply the most effective way to raise your GRE score.
Look for each tutor's location and pricing in their bio.
Vince Kotchian
Vince: Hi!
What you probably will benefit from most, in my experience, is:
- A GRE study plan tailored to your specific situation
- Following that study plan to build foundation, learn strategies, practice effectively, and learn from your mistakes
- Maybe also GRE tutoring (see below)
If you have more than a few months to prepare, I recommend starting with my personalized study plan and then moving into tutoring after you build some foundation.
If you have less than a few months to prepare, tutoring should probably start soon. All tutoring includes my customized study plan / customized homework, so you can maximize your productivity between sessions.
Contact me if you'd like to chat about any of this!
About me: GRE prep is literally all I do.
I grew up in Connecticut and completed the honors program at Boston College. I moved to San Diego in 2007, and I’ve been working full-time as a test-prep tutor ever since. I've scored a perfect 170 in verbal and a 167 in quant on the GRE.
I've co-authored GRE prep books and created GRE courses and apps, but I spend most of my days working with people one-on-one. I enjoy tutoring since it's a conversation, and discussion is actually what makes the process so valuable. It lets me follow what you're thinking and focus on what you need most, whether that's content (like understanding math concepts), strategy (like figuring out if a reading comprehension answer choice is right or wrong), timing, or even something like study skills, test anxiety, or test-taking skills. Plus, I can give you support and reassurance during what can be a stressful process.
My specialty is helping MBA applicants get their scores above the 320 mark. If you're applying to a competitive program and want to give yourself every possible chance to score well, I'm your guy. Of course, I am happy to work with anyone as well.
Vince is a true GRE specialist - he's one of the very few tutors out there who ONLY teaches GRE prep. His publications include Barron's 6 GRE Practice Tests, LinkedIn's GRE prep course, and the apps "GRE Math Knight" and "GRE Vocab Cartoons". He also teaches for GregMAT+ and is a moderator of the GRE subreddit.
If you're interested in working with him for private GRE tutoring via Zoom, please contact us with a description of your situation, and we'll set up a free 15-minute consultation. Vince charges $325 per hour, or $295 an hour if you buy a package of 15 hours.
"I am an older student applying for a graduate degree in psychology. I hadn't taken a standardized test in twenty years and my first GRE score reflected my long lapse in testing. In the first session, Vince knew exactly what I needed to focus on in order to achieve my targeted score. He gave specific homework that immensely helped my test scores. I had tried another tutor before Vince but it was a waste of time and money. Vince has a keen understanding of what each student needs to do in order to be successful. I highly recommend him for standardized testing and personal statements." - Kate Carter
Blake: I’m a native San Diegan, father, and an aficionado of basketball, vintage video games, pitchy karaoke, and lecturing my son on how much better Star Wars was "back in the day." I played college basketball at St. Mary’s College and Whittier College, where I earned my B.A. in Psychology in 2002.
Having been a full-time test prep coach for over 15 years, I have seen just about every type of student and tutoring situation. This allows me to give my students exactly what they need to reach their goals.
My years of experience have also led me to coach my students a little differently than most. A lot of test prep revolves around how to answer a question. While that is a necessary component, identifying what is needed to answer a question is at least as important, especially for timed tests like the GRE. I show my students how to look at the test the way I do, to the patterns and tendencies of the test to make them faster and more accurate.
GRE tutoring with Blake is $250 / hour (or $225 / hour for 15 or more hours).
He meets clients in his Carmel Valley office, or online via Zoom.
Blake Jensen
