~ A CLEAR ADMIT EXCLUSIVE ~
Of course, our profile series on GMAT test preparation companies could not be complete without a look at the granddaddy of all test prep offerings, Kaplan Inc. Founded by Stanley Kaplan in 1938, Kaplan offers test prep for high school exams such as the SAT and ACT as well as a range of graduate placement exams, including the GRE, LSAT, MCAT and GMAT. Headquartered in New York City, Kaplan now has more than 150 centers in 42 states as well as locations in Canada and elsewhere around the globe.
To learn more about Kaplan’s specific GMAT offerings, we spoke with Andrew Mitchell, Kaplan’s GMAT program manager. A transcript of that conversation follows.
Clear Admit: How many GMAT tutors do you have? Who are they? What are their qualifications? What markets do they serve?
Andrew Mitchell: To become a teacher – and our teachers also serve as private tutors as well – the process has a few steps. The first step is outstanding performance on the GMAT. Once you have that performance on the GMAT you are able to begin the rigorous process of becoming a Kaplan teacher. All of our instructors have scored in at least the 90th percentile, and all of our advanced teachers have scored in at least the 99th percentile.
The next step is that the teachers undergo an audition. Just because you are good athlete doesn’t mean you’ll be a good coach, and the same applies to GMAT instruction. In the auditions we are gauging candidates for their ability to engage students and communicate ideas effectively. Once we have determined that they have superlative skills in that area, then they can go on to the next step, which is teacher training.
As part of our teacher training we instill best practices and communicate all of our instutitional knowledge about the GMAT. We have been teaching GMAT for more than 40 years, so that knowledge is significant. We take candidates with raw talent with the GMAT and mold them into Kaplan teachers.
In terms of who they are, they tend to be people who have some passion for the test and a proven ability on the test. And certainly a lot of our teachers are business school graduates. I myself am a teacher – in fact, I just finished teaching a GMAT advanced class in our Live Online offering – and I have an MBA from the Chicago Booth School. So plenty of our teachers have MBAs themselves, but it’s a little bit like the qualification for any job or school. Our teachers have excellence in many different categories.
In terms of how many GMAT instructors we have, we don’t have a specific number for our roster. We don’t really publically disclose that. But we have GMAT instructors in each of our centers, and we have 160 centers in more than 40 states as well as a presence in Europe, Mexico, Asia. Add to that the fact that the game has really changed because of our Live Online classes. Through those, it’s no exaggeration in any sense to say that we offer GMAT classes everywhere – everywhere you can get an internet connection. It’s a really remarkable offering that adds a lot of value for people who are geographically far from a center or have a lot of schedule constraints. A lot of people who take classes online are people who have busy schedules, are in the office for long hours, have a lot of travel, or are balancing commitments at home. These folks can log in, connect through chat with other students, and see and hear their teacher, and we are able to deliver the full content of our class in this way. In fact, many students feel that Live Online is more effective than ordinary classroom instruction. And we give free preview classes so any student can sign up through our website and get a sense of whether online might work for them. These free sessions provide an opportunity for people to both get a flavor for the Kaplan GMAT program and just how good classes are in Live Online.
CA: Describe the type of candidate you feel would be best served by Kaplan’s approach to GMAT prep? What sets Kaplan apart from other test prep companies?
AM: I would say that the best candidate for Kaplan is someone who plans to take the GMAT. Really what we strive to do is offer prep programs that are comprehensive and personalized. No two students come to us with the exact same starting point, nor do they have the same goals. We have built the text preparation materials that you need, and those form the foundation for our comprehensive program. But we also build in the ability to personalize your syllabus and your own practice strategy. So in this way we really give individuals the tools they need to get where you need to go.
Every person who takes a class starts with a diagnostic test. Your diagnostic performance goes right into your Smart Report – which provides a dashboard view of your current areas of strength and areas of opportunity with respect to question type, type of content, etc. So you know right off the bat what your high yield areas of opportunity are for studying. So a student who comes in at a 540 and is shooting for a 650, they immediatley know what areas they need to focus on. At the same time, a student who is at a 690 and is going for a 760 is going to get another set of customized results. Our GMAT Advanced class would be for those coming in with a score of 690. That’s the only score-qualifying class we offer. But the long and short of it is that wherever you are starting and wherever you are going we have the program to get you there.
This is linked in our eyes to the fact that we have been preparting students for 40 years, so we’ve seen everything thousands of times. Right now I have one student who started with a score under 400 and now is pushing at the high 600s to get in to the 700s. Depending on where you start, you may have farther to go. We can’t give people more time than they give themselves, but we can guide them and give them the research they need to develop a strategy that will help them reach their goals.
CA: What is Kaplan’s typical GMAT class size?
AM: We don’t have official statistics on our class size, but classes tend to be well under 20 students per class. The typical class would be under 15 for our classroom courses. Our Live Online classes include more students, but that’s simply because the format of Live Online makes it feasible to teach a greater number of students. Those classes also feature at least one additional teacher. So one instructor is on camera, and there is always another GMAT teacher present in the chat area to answer questions.
CA: Can you describe the evolution of the Kaplan GMAT curriculum and offerings? How does the curriculum differ from one offering to the next?
AM: The theme, I would say, of the evolution of our curriculum is that it evolves. It is something that undergoes constant revision. On one hand we have been building it for all these decades, but we always have a sharp eye on how we can change it. Part of the curriculum is based on the test itself, part on students and their needs, part on our own learning and knoweldge. We closely monitor the GMAT itself and how it changes and stay in close touch with GMAC and pay close attention to all the published information on the GMAT to keep an eye out for any new developments. These include any changes to the Official Guide to the GMAT, which is the single official source of retired GMAT questions. We include the guide in our courses – every student receives it.
We also offer a Math Intensive course, which is our complete classroom course with extra training in the math fundamentals. So if you look at our Math Intensive offering and our GMAT Advanced offering, those are both good examples of how we’ve responded to student needs. Those who were starting well above 50 percent simply wanted a class where they knew that other students would be at the same level, and so the GMAT Advanced class was born. The creation of the Math Intensive class was similar. As another means of responding to student need, we also build personalization into the class, use technology and offer a wealth of resources.
CA: You also offer several self-study options. Can you tell me more about those? Sure, self-study options can be a good alternative for people who really need to be self paced. For them, we have the GMAT Premium Online product, which includes the full curriculum of the GMAT Online course, but rather than having live class sessions you are able to watch sessions in a recorded format. This option is best for people who aren’t able to attend regular classes. As an in-between option we have our GMAT tutoring, which is great for people who have unique needs, who are going for particularly ambitious score increases. And our tutoring offerings actually include a GMAT class sequence in addition to private tutoring.
And then there’s the Quiz Bank, which is an element of our online resources. The Quiz Bank is essentially for people who want to focus on a given type of question at a given difficulty level. It’s kind of like going to the batting cages. You can say, “I want to practice the curve ball at 50 mph so give me 50 in a row.” In our classroom the quiz bank is a natural extension of our Smart Reports. You can march over to the Quiz Bank and give yourself quizzes based on the areas your Smart Report reveals you need to work on. But people can also go just for the Quiz Bank.
CA: Anything new on the horizon? Expansion to new markets? New services or tools?
AM: We have a continuous pursuit of excellence, so we always have new things on the horizon and we are always getting better at what we do. The Live Online course offering, being so new, has a long way to go in terms of growth and awareness. A lot of people haven’t tried it and maybe have a little skepticism about the environment, but once they get in and have a chance to try it they see just how powerful it can be. So I think that’s going to be an exciting area of growth.
CA: What is the cost of your services? Services range from $119 for the Crash Course to $4649 for 35 hours of private tutoring. Our classroom courses come in somewhere in between $1449 and $1759. I wouldn’t use cost per hour of instruction as our key metric because that number really varies based on the student. In actuality, the number of hours can be massive. It starts and ends in the classroom, but it can include an unlimited amount of self study with access to a vast range of our resources.
[For a full list of Kaplan’s course offerings and prices, click here or call 1-800-KAP-TEST.]
CA: How does a student determine which level of test prep is best for him or her?
AM: In terms of determining which offering is right for a given student, a table on our website will help you find the course that’s right for you. In general, we recommend that you start with a classroom course because that is designed to work for everybody. Then from there you ask yourself, “Do I think that I am going to need special assistance? Extra fundamentals on, say, solving basic algebra equations?” A lot of students are able to identiy that for themselves. If you are in that category, you can go right to a Math Intensive course. Or if you are starting at above a 600, you can go ahead and enroll in one of our advanced classes. But you can always transfer to a different level if you need to. We do want to help people adjust midstream as necessary.
CA: Is the fact that Kaplan offers test preparation for a full range of exams other than the GMAT an advantage in any way? Do instructors who teach GMAT classes also teach other test prep classes?
AM: I think Kaplan’s depth of experience in the test prep industry over time has no doubt been an advantage for the GMAT. We started teaching the GMAT more than 40 years ago, but when we did we’d already been teaching tests for decades. We’d already been teaching teachers and helping students to improve. It’s my job as a GMAT instructor to be attuned to that particular market, but our teachers are talented enough that they can teach more than just GMAT. Whether or not they do is really an HR question. Some of our teachers are full-time teachers, so they have plenty of time to teach other classes other than GMAT. And those teachers are living and breathing test prep and working with many, many students, so their experience with other tests only makes them more qualified to teach the GMAT.
CA: Any closing thoughts?
AM: One thing I might point out is that one of the greatest pitfalls for an MBA applicant is underestimating GMAT preparation. In 2008 we did a survey of business school admissions officers, and 55 percent identified the GMAT as the most important factor in making their admissions decisions. Relative to all the other parts of your application that you’ve been building for years, it’s one that you can go and take in one day. So don’t underestimate the preparation you do for it. You are about to invest all this time and money in business school, so I think you owe it to yourself to likewise invest in your GMAT preparation.
Read the full article: GMAT Test Prep Company Profile Series: Kaplan Inc.
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