Option has dedicatedly worked on understanding the different tests and on evolving effective classroom strategies to tackle even the worst questions these tests are so good with throwing at test takers. Of course each of these tests exhibits different peculiarities that require different skills from the test taker. So penning a general list of what training at Option specializes in would be a wrong approach; our platform for the SAT training is not the same as that for the GMAT or the GRE training.
So let’s start by answering the most important question every student planning to take the GMAT is duty bound to ask before he intelligently selects a training institute – Why Option? By asking this question the student not only exercises his right but gives us an opportunity to explode for him some of the myths about GMAT training – how easy it is to score a 700+, how so many students have scored a 700 and so you will too, how native speakers are the panacea for all your training problems and how graduates from Ivy League colleges make the best trainers!!!! We wish all this garble was true. But because it is not the majority of the students find themselves nowhere after the whole process of the so called ‘training’ they were made to believe they were being put through. Only a handful, mostly the already fairly strong students, actually get the score they aimed at and it is these handful that are marketed as the rule, not the exception that they are!!! The scenario is pretty bleak when it comes to intelligent questioning and not many of the ‘dream merchants’ can actually deliver what is promised.
Option Training Institute, Dubai, would be better categorized as ’boutique’ training platform. We work by one fundamental – quality – and strive to offer for each student a specially gratifying academic experience that not only translates into good scores but far sighted and smart career planning. What use is a high GMAT score if the student still finds himself nowhere in terms of admissions? Is it not the duty of a ‘GMAT PREPARATION COURSE’ to guide the candidate in all dimensions of his preparation? As Option sees it, a prep course must approach training holistically and provide for the student all the possible avenues for learning and planning ahead.
Below are the three features that mark Option out from among others, three reasons that answer the question – Why Option for GMAT preparation?
1. A sound investment: Money is hard earned no matter how much or how little of it you have; so put it to right use.
Courses at Option have a stipulated duration but because we are well aware that different students have different learning abilities and speeds, we encourage students to ‘stretch’ their learning time at our institute by finishing their courses and then repeating them with another group or batch so as to maximize learning. To this end, we also organize random lectures on various topics. Admission to these lectures is open to all. This allows students to meet, interact and derive from each other. It also expands each one’s exposure to opportunities.
This kind of flexibility in terms of course duration eases the pressure on students and very naturally enhances performance while the random sessions add to the excitement of the training and accommodate the importance of interaction in making the GMAT preparation course worth the money you pay for it!
2. The GMAT is about real skills not cosmetic surgery!
Option works to inculcate real skills that are robust enough to help a student tackle every conceivable trick on the test. Training is less theoretical and more practice oriented and lays emphasis on interaction, questioning and problem solving. No doubt projectors and fancy apparatus add to the physical ambience of a class room but they definitely do not enhance proactive and aggressive inquiry that goes beyond a few slides and constructed material. Learning knows no bounds and students must be given the liberty to share and use materials that they source. Why should a trainer have the easy way out by limiting class exchange to the concepts as presented on a few slides? Why must inquiry be curtailed by setting limits to discussion?
Option recommends the GMAT Official Guide as the first step to start preparation at and builds up the teaching level gradually to a crescendo by including worksheets, lectures, discussions and home assignments in the class plan. The result is that the training manifests itself not only in good scores but also in better equipped individuals who are well informed and appreciate inquiry and are better equipped to take on the task of applications.
3. The GMAT score is but the first step: Plan where you are headed with it!
Option talks to you. Each student, enrolled or prospective, is an asset worthy of attention. As soon as you contact us and show an interest in our courses, we begin a communication with you that lasts long and proves useful. We discuss your career plans, study your resume, ask what your study schedule is, and understand you. You are then made to take a diagnostic test. After this, the scores, the details of your profile and the proposed GMAT test date are all entered into your profile page on our system and are shared with each of your trainers so that they all know about you. It is not uncommon to find yourself at an institute where the counsellor and the trainer occupy different territories and although you have shared all your details with the administration, the trainer – a vital link in the preparation – is clueless about you and your plans!!!! Even sadder is the fact that the trainer does not mind that and trains a whole group with an apathy that is fatal.
For any interaction to be productive it needs to be intense and animated. Option and its trainers are people with a passion for delivering quality and are given the liberty to engage in exercises that cater to the needs of individual students despite them being in groups. We frequently invite graduates from business schools to interact with students and even hold orientation sessions for application information at strategic points in the year to facilitate the whole effort triggered off by the GMAT preparation course.
This is a simple effort to answer the question we set off to answer. But honestly there are many more reasons for being a part of our large and successful fraternity. Option has worked hard to deliver what it promises and continues in its efforts in order to reach out to the students of Dubai and the UAE.