Welcome to this week’s edition of Wednesday Wisdom. The question that I get asked a lot by our students and also by a few people in the GMAT community is –
“I have decided to go in for GMAT coaching (I had a separate Wednesday Wisdom on whether you should do self study or coaching, but now that I have made the decision to go for coaching), should I pick an online option or should I pick a classroom option, where I need to physically go?”
Great question!
I think there are 3 factors you need to consider, and it’s something that your preference should be based on.
Watch a quick video to know about the 3 factors!
So what are the 3 factors that you need to consider?
1. The first factor you need to consider is flexibility – how far is the centre away from your house? Does it take an hour, 2 hours for you to commute? Or maybe it’s not even there in your city! Or, though typically classroom coaching, like the ones we have at CrackVerbal, are on the weekends, we have weekday online programs.
If you are a person who says you’re going to be back home by say 7:30 p.m. and you can take a class at say 8 p.m., then maybe the weekday online class maybe better suited, considering, say you’re working over the weekend. So that’s another thing you want to consider – between flexibility on weekends and flexibility on weekdays.
2. The second thing that you want to consider is your own persona – what kind of person are you? Are you a person who goes and meets people? You’re the kind of person who likes to talk to people? Or you are the person who feels that you are super focused and you don’t want the kind of interaction, the kind of face-to-face thing that you would do in a classroom?
Ask yourself – “Am I focused enough to take the course online?”, “Am I disciplined enough to do that?” or “Do I need the social structure that comes when I attend a weekend classroom program?”.
3. The third thing that you need to ask yourself is in terms of infrastructure. Many-a-times I get students who tell me, “Though I have a laptop or a computer at home, I don’t get free time.” or “I have room-mates disturbing me.” or “My internet connection is very low, the bandwidth is very poor”.
If these are the concerns you have, then probably online is not for you. But if you feel you have a laptop, the requisite internet connection and you would like to go for it then probably an online course is for you, if not a physical classroom.
So there are 3 things, let me just summarise it once more :
1. Flexibility – are you available on weekend/weekdays, if it’s weekdays, are you open to taking the classes in the evening?
2. Would you be the kind of person who likes the interaction or you feel that you’re a person who focuses more when he studies by himself? and
3. In terms of the overall infrastructure – “Do I have a laptop?”, “Do I have an internet connection?”, “Do I have space to study by myself?” are all questions you need to ask yourself.
So these are the 3 things, I hope this was helpful.
Please write into us and mail us or comment on Facebook or Twitter to let us know if there is anything specific you’d like me answer, I’ll be glad to do that for you. Thank you!
Hope these techniques make a positive difference to your GMAT prep! If you’d like to share what works for you and what doesn’t, please leave a comment in the comment section below.
If you are looking for more customized and focused prep, why don’t you check out our GMAT courses!
