Vince Kotchian
Vince: 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.
GRE prep is literally all I do. 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.
We start with a holistic evaluation of your situation, strengths, and weaknesses. Once we meet, you'll get a continuously customized study plan and access to my private Discord to discuss GRE questions with me between tutoring sessions.
My goal is to help you both master the GRE and be efficient and productive with your study time. I'll work with anyone, but if I had to pick a specialty, it'd be helping MBA applicants go from sub-320 scores to 325+. If you're applying to a competitive program and want to give yourself every possible chance to score well, I'm your guy.
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 10 hours.
"Vince is a true difference maker, and a gentleman. I was struggling with my GRE studies for a long time, and it wasn't until I discovered Vince's service that my scores drastically improved. He was extremely effective in developing my critical thinking skills, and getting me to understand the nuances of the exam. Suffice to say, I am grateful to Vince for helping me secure a seat in a top 10 MBA program." - Junaid Lughmani
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 13 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 10 or more hours).
He meets clients in his Del Mar Heights office or online via Zoom.
"Having used another tutoring service prior, I can definitely say that Blake's explanations were much clearer and his methods much more effective. He didn't just show me how to solve individual problems, but instead taught me the broader concepts and tools that would allow me to tackle a variety of problems. He has in-depth familiarity with all of the GRE material as well, which was really beneficial when it came to crafting a study plan. After studying with Blake, I was able to increase my quant score to above a 160 and get the score I wanted for my programs. Definitely recommend!" - Hina Malik
Blake Jensen
Video: How GRE Prep is like the Pizza Industry
The most important factor in GRE prep is the person teaching you.
One-on-one GRE tutoring from actual experts
The most important question to ask, we think, is this: "Who will be the person actually tutoring me?"
Blake and Vince are the most expensive GRE tutors in San Diego. Why? In stark contrast to our competitors who employ a rotating cast of 23-year-olds, We both have 15 years of experience. If you're smart and ambitious, you're probably in the right place.
Meet Blake and Vince here!
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 explains a level 5 out of 5 difficulty reading comprehension question.)
Meet Blake and Vince here!
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, motivation, or even your personal approach to studying and test-taking.
You may also want to check out our GRE tutoring pages for LD/ADHD students and older / non-traditional students. Also, we offer a 15% discount for active duty military.
Normally, we work on the entire GRE with people, but if you'd like, we can just focus on the verbal or math section. P.S. We also help people write their graduate school admissions essays and statements of purpose!
"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
- We get straight to what YOU need to improve your score as efficiently as possible
- Math explained in plain English
- Feedback on your essays
- Accountability and encouragement :)
Meet Blake and Vince here!
"How much GRE tutoring will I need?"
We usually recommend about 10 hours of tutoring. That's enough time for us to talk through the strategies for each type of question and go over a few practice tests with you. Of course, some people need fewer or more than 10 hours. Given that tutoring is pretty expensive, we'll customize everything based on your situation to give you the most bang for your buck.
"How much does GRE tutoring typically cost?"
Most of our clients spend between $1800 and $2500 on GRE tutoring with us. Of course, some spend more or less than that, but again, most people use around 10 hours of tutoring, and that general range reflects a 10-hour purchase.
"What's your average score increase?"
Most people, given a typical tutoring plan and a couple of months to study, increase their GRE scores about 10 points. Some people improve way more -- or way less -- than that. A lot depends on how much study time OUTSIDE of tutoring the person has, and how effectively they use that time. Also, score increases tend to vary for people who haven't studied at all yet and have lower scores vs. someone who has already studied for a couple of months and has a higher score. The latter person typically has less potential for a gigantic point increase, since they've already realized some of their potential improvement.
When you hear about a huge score increase, it's often because the person had a strong verbal and math knowledge base and just needed to figure out how the GRE worked... and/or because they truly worked their ass off! The converse is also often true: people with below average reading ability and who never learned the math concepts the GRE tests will generally have a much tougher time and need a longer-term study plan.
You can count on us to be honest about your potential given your situation, goals, and progress with the material, and to give you every resource we know of to help you improve, including a completely personalized homework / study plan.