27,115Leland Reviews

I saw Nirmal for about 2 months, and thanks to him, will be attending the Simmons School of Management in September. While I am not sure of what my starting score was for the GREs, I am sure that I wouldn't have done as well as I did without Nirmal. He was very good at meeting me where I was at in terms of what I knew and didn't know and was willing to start from the beginning with me. Not only did he help to reorient me with terms and ideas that I learned in high school, he also helped teach me time saving tricks and techniques that were extremely useful. I have already recommended him to my co-worker and will continue to do so for anyone else planning on taking the GREs or GMAT. Nirmal is a really great, energizing, enthusiastic and extremely helpful tutor and teacher!

My name is Munisa and I’m from Uzebekistan 🇺🇿 My GRE journey really started back in 2023, but my most serious and structured preparation happened between September and December, building on earlier attempts. In my final attempt, which was my second attempt within the year and fourth overall, I scored a 338 total (170 Quant, 168 Verbal, and 4.0 AWA). While the score itself was rewarding, what mattered most to me was finally understanding how much mindset, stress management, and exam strategy influence performance. Quant had always been my stronger section, but the GRE is not just about knowing math. It’s about timing, recognizing traps, and adapting to ETS-style logic. Stress and pressure played a big role in my earlier attempts, and I learned the hard way that even strong preparation can fall apart if your mental state isn’t right. For Quant, I was already comfortable with most concepts, especially algebra and geometry, so my main focus was improving timing and mastering specific question types like Quantitative Comparison and Data Interpretation. I used GregMat extensively for strategies, along with official ETS Quantitative Reasoning, Manhattan 5 lb, the Big Book, Target Test Prep, Kaplan, and Magoosh. I was honestly lucky to find official GRE, Kaplan, and Magoosh books in the apartment I moved into. It genuinely felt like everything aligned at the right time. I repeatedly solved questions from the Manhattan 5 lb and the Big Book because repetition helped me internalize patterns and common traps. Kaplan GRE prep subscription (with live & recorded lessons + 7 free practice tests), which was given for free from a stranger was another blessing which was useful for speed training, although I found Kaplan overall harder than the actual GRE. For Verbal, my preparation became stronger after I started my graduate program, mainly because constant academic reading naturally improved my comprehension and vocabulary. What I initially lacked was strategy, which I learned through GregMat and Kaplan videos. I practiced verbal questions wherever I could find them and focused heavily on vocabulary using Magoosh and GregMat flashcards, learning around 30–40 words a day. I am a person who gets easily bored with manual tasks or sitting and memorizing the vocab. I often learnt while walking to and from school. I am learning French and some survival Italian and the connecting the roots of the words to these languages helped to memorize the words easily. When I ran out of those lists, I used Saad’s vocabulary list that I found through his Instagram stories, and the 341 vocabulary definitely helped reinforce high-frequency GRE words. I also think I often saw those words in my daily readings from school which helped me to memorize them faster. In terms of mocks, I attempted all the free ETS PowerPrep tests, older official ETS computer-based tests, and both 341 mocks. I found the 341 mocks slightly more difficult than my actual exam, particularly in terms of time pressure. I often ran out of time while attempting them. That said, they were excellent for building endurance and exposing weaknesses. Whenever I got Quant questions wrong, I made it a rule to re-solve them on my own before looking at the solution, which helped me understand whether the mistake was due to timing, carelessness, or a conceptual gap. On test day, I felt the actual exam was very similar in difficulty to official ETS material and Saad’s 341 mocks. I also noticed that Reading Comprehension passages often repeat or follow very similar structures from older official exams, which makes deep analysis of ETS passages extremely valuable. My first attempt in November didn’t go well. I scored lower than my mocks due to stress, midterms, finals, and simultaneous application writing. That experience taught me how damaging divided focus and internal pressure can be. I did not rush to take my next GRE, I waited for my diagnostic test results to come and work on my weak points. My final test-day experience was much smoother. One key change was deliberately rechecking Quant questions if I had time, even when I felt confident. This alone helped me catch two to three mistakes that I would have missed otherwise. Interestingly, I didn’t get as many data interpretation questions as I expected in the second Quant section, which reminded me that the GRE can always surprise you slightly. One thing I truly wish I had known earlier is the value of structured study rooms and accountability systems, especially for people juggling school, work, and life. I also wish I had taken the GRE more seriously when I had more free time in earlier years, done more full-length mocks, and started engaging with Saad’s guidance earlier. Among all resources, official ETS questions were by far the most helpful, simply because they are the closest to what appears on the real exam. Make sure you read all of Saad’s success stories and solve the questions he posts on his Instagram stories the exact same concepts were tested to me in the exam. Of course, some days were boring and exhausting, but I kept learning and showing up. What motivated me the most was my parents. I am studying abroad and chose this path with the intention of pursuing graduate school after my master’s, even though my parents were initially against it. Over time, their support became one of my biggest sources of motivation. I would literally tell myself: Study now, or go back to the version of life you worked so hard to leave behind. You didn’t come this far to stop one step before the finish line. I was also deeply motivated by my professors’ belief in my graduate school applications; I didn’t want to disappoint them or let a single GRE score take me out of the schools I was aiming for. On days when I felt demotivated, I had a friend who was preparing for another exam, and we would schedule calls, set daily to-do lists, and report what we had achieved. That accountability helped me stay consistent. For Reading Comprehension, the biggest shift was mindset. GRE RC is very different from IELTS or TOEFL. Watching strategy videos, predicting answers before looking at options, and consistently reading ETS passages helped me improve steadily. Consistency mattered far more than intensity. I didn’t prepare seriously for AWA, which I slightly regret. I used AI tools like ChatGPT to organize ETS issue topics and practiced structuring responses, but I didn’t dedicate focused time to it. In hindsight, even light but intentional practice would have helped improve my score. I got a fully funded PHD in political science from MIT and will be pursuing in September 2026. Overall, my biggest advice is this: memorize question structures, keep an error log, revisit your mistakes regularly, and prioritize official ETS material. Practice is essential, but reflective practice is what actually raises your score. I spent most weekends doing practice tests and analyzing them thoroughly instead of postponing review, which helped reinforce learning immediately. If I had to give one piece of advice to someone just starting GRE prep, especially someone aiming for a high score, it would be to respect consistency and mindset as much as content. You don’t need to do everything every day, but you do need to do something every day. But practice is a key and do not forget to work on your mistakes. Importantly, DO NOT let your score to define who you are as a person or an applicant to the schools you are applying! In the end I would want to say this to Saad: Thank you so much for your Instagram stories and for sharing how your students prepared for the GRE and achieved such strong scores. It truly inspired me and helped me a lot. Your posts were far more practical and trustworthy. Seeing how your students approached their preparation helped me understand what an effective strategy looks like. I carefully noted the resources you shared on Instagram and then started preparing much more seriously and strategically. Your guidance made a real difference in how I approached the exam, so I just wanted to say thank you.

Sanford is a gem of a tutor and an invaluable resource to my LSAT journey. I really appreciate the way he thinks, he has a knack for deconstructing information and making it very easy to understand. As a result of following his recommendations, I am starting to see improvement which has certainly helped my confidence. I highly recommend him.

Very insightful session, thank you.

Wonderful intro session for the GMAT/GRE test. Good energy and very open.

Extremely helpful and introduced me to new techniques and approaches to understand the test and perform better!

I first took the GRE about a year ago and scored around 300. I had practiced a lot, esp. through GregMat but did not score well and did not know how to improve or what I was doing wrong. I took the GRE again a few months later and got a 312, which was better but still far from the 320+ score I wanted. I did a ton of research; Googling, reading through Reddit posts and all other sources I could find, and was fortunate enough to find Saad. I reached out to him on his ig, and that’s really when things started to change for me. Before him, I had worked with another tutor who was honestly very rude and told me I was “bad” at TC and should consider taking the GMAT rather than GRE. That destroyed my confidence. Saad was the complete opposite - patient, calm, and very good at explaining concepts. He never made me feel stupid, and I think that encouragement made a huge difference and was also the main reason why I managed to perform later. He is really just the sweetest and one of the most caring people I have ever met, and I am very happy to call him a friend today 🥰 How I studied: For Quant, I initially used GregMat but that didn’t explain concepts deeply enough. I’m someone who needs to really understand the concept, not just memorize a trick, so that was not working. Then I tried GMAT Quant through TTP for a while, which actually helped a lot because the questions are harder and force you to learn the concepts properly. I do think it is very good but it is also so so cumbersome and for someone who is slow at studying it takes up more time than what you typically have to give (but I would still recommend it for Quant!) And for verbal I do think GregMat was quite a good source, because they teach you super good strategies for esp. TC & SE e.g., the pairing strategy. When I then also started taking tutoring sessions with Saad, we focused on Quant for the first few months, just practicing together, reviewing concepts, working on timing, and figuring out my weak spots. His recommendation to use Magoosh videos was helpful, and I also benefitted from doing more challenging questions from Target Test Prep (GMAT) so the GRE then felt easier. I also took Saad’s mocks to get a bit of the feeling on what level I am. For Verbal, I realized too late in my earlier attempts that I had completely underestimated RC. This time, we focused heavily on it. I practiced words and RC from the Big Book, and adopted the approach Saad taught me, e.g., to mainly eliminate wrong answers instead of trying to immediately pick the “right” one. For vocabulary, I used a mix of GregMat, Magoosh, and Saad’s own list. In total, I learned around 1,000–1,200 words, which I think is the right range. More than that is probably unnecessary. I would also recommend taking all the official mocks, and Saad’s ig mocks so that you are able to test your level and get as real to true GRE questions as possible. My score / Study schedule The ”first” attempt with Saad where I scored 325 (163V, 162Q, 5.0 AWA) happened after I took a few weeks off from work and studied basically 10–12 hours a day. I didn’t split my daily focus on both Quant and Verbal, but I focused on one for a few weeks at a time, which worked better for me, with the exception for the ”SE/words” that I tried to do daily. For the second attempt, where I scored 327 (164Q, 163V, 5.0 AWA), I barely had time to study because of work, but I think everything was still fresh in my mind from the previous attempt. I was also fortunate with the exam difficulty that day. Test day Across my exams, Quant difficulty varied a lot. The first time, I struggled to finish, even though in practice I usually had time left. Some topics that came up frequently were statistics, work-rate problems and coordinate geometry. Because exam slots in Helsinki were limited, I ended up taking the test at home, which was very smooth. What helped the most: • Saad’s guidance, both technically and in terms of confidence • ⁠Deep understanding of quant concepts • ⁠Practicing RC extensively and learning the tricks there are, it is a huge part of the test • ⁠Learning vocabulary consistently not just new words, but repeating old ones • ⁠Using harder Quant (like GMAT) to make GRE Quant feel manageable • ⁠Mock tests at the right moments; one in the beginning of your prep to understand your level, reviewing your weak points and then a few more throughout your studying • ⁠Consistency and patience, especially in the beginning when everything feels slow To conclude, I improved from ~300 to 327 over time (saad will post that scorecard too), and a huge part of that was finally having the right and tremendously talented teacher Saad is, and the right mindset and confidence that Saad had given me. The journey was long, and at times very discouraging, esp. when you feel you felt you had practiced but were not improving your score. My work hours were super tough because I work at McKinsey & Company as an associate for the last three years and have already received admits (as we speak) at MIT and Wharton for MBA and I’m waitlisted for Columbia. I am eternally grateful to Saad for all the help he has given me, nothing would have been possible without him! Thank you my 🇵🇰 friend ❤️

I first took the GRE about a year ago and scored around 300. I had practiced a lot, esp. through GregMat but did not score well and did not know how to improve or what I was doing wrong. I took the GRE again a few months later and got a 312, which was better but still far from the 320+ score I wanted. I did a ton of research; Googling, reading through Reddit posts and all other sources I could find, and was fortunate enough to find Saad. I reached out to him on his ig, and that’s really when things started to change for me. Before him, I had worked with another tutor who was honestly very rude and told me I was “bad” at TC and should consider taking the GMAT rather than GRE. That destroyed my confidence. Saad was the complete opposite - patient, calm, and very good at explaining concepts. He never made me feel stupid, and I think that encouragement made a huge difference and was also the main reason why I managed to perform later. He is really just the sweetest and one of the most caring people I have ever met, and I am very happy to call him a friend today 🥰 How I studied: For Quant, I initially used GregMat but that didn’t explain concepts deeply enough. I’m someone who needs to really understand the concept, not just memorize a trick, so that was not working. Then I tried GMAT Quant through TTP for a while, which actually helped a lot because the questions are harder and force you to learn the concepts properly. I do think it is very good but it is also so so cumbersome and for someone who is slow at studying it takes up more time than what you typically have to give (but I would still recommend it for Quant!) And for verbal I do think GregMat was quite a good source, because they teach you super good strategies for esp. TC & SE e.g., the pairing strategy. When I then also started taking tutoring sessions with Saad, we focused on Quant for the first few months, just practicing together, reviewing concepts, working on timing, and figuring out my weak spots. His recommendation to use Magoosh videos was helpful, and I also benefitted from doing more challenging questions from Target Test Prep (GMAT) so the GRE then felt easier. I also took Saad’s mocks to get a bit of the feeling on what level I am. For Verbal, I realized too late in my earlier attempts that I had completely underestimated RC. This time, we focused heavily on it. I practiced words and RC from the Big Book, and adopted the approach Saad taught me, e.g., to mainly eliminate wrong answers instead of trying to immediately pick the “right” one. For vocabulary, I used a mix of GregMat, Magoosh, and Saad’s own list. In total, I learned around 1,000–1,200 words, which I think is the right range. More than that is probably unnecessary. I would also recommend taking all the official mocks, and Saad’s ig mocks so that you are able to test your level and get as real to true GRE questions as possible. My score / Study schedule The ”first” attempt with Saad where I scored 325 (163V, 162Q, 5.0 AWA) happened after I took a few weeks off from work and studied basically 10–12 hours a day. I didn’t split my daily focus on both Quant and Verbal, but I focused on one for a few weeks at a time, which worked better for me, with the exception for the ”SE/words” that I tried to do daily. For the second attempt, where I scored 327 (164Q, 163V, 5.0 AWA), I barely had time to study because of work, but I think everything was still fresh in my mind from the previous attempt. I was also fortunate with the exam difficulty that day. Test day Across my exams, Quant difficulty varied a lot. The first time, I struggled to finish, even though in practice I usually had time left. Some topics that came up frequently were statistics, work-rate problems and coordinate geometry. Because exam slots in Helsinki were limited, I ended up taking the test at home, which was very smooth. What helped the most: • Saad’s guidance, both technically and in terms of confidence • ⁠Deep understanding of quant concepts • ⁠Practicing RC extensively and learning the tricks there are, it is a huge part of the test • ⁠Learning vocabulary consistently not just new words, but repeating old ones • ⁠Using harder Quant (like GMAT) to make GRE Quant feel manageable • ⁠Mock tests at the right moments; one in the beginning of your prep to understand your level, reviewing your weak points and then a few more throughout your studying • ⁠Consistency and patience, especially in the beginning when everything feels slow To conclude, I improved from ~300 to 327 over time (saad will post that scorecard too), and a huge part of that was finally having the right and tremendously talented teacher Saad is, and the right mindset and confidence that Saad had given me. The journey was long, and at times very discouraging, esp. when you feel you felt you had practiced but were not improving your score. My work hours were super tough because I work at McKinsey & Company as an associate for the last three years and have already received admits (as we speak) at MIT and Wharton for MBA and I’m waitlisted for Columbia. I am eternally grateful to Saad for all the help he has given me, nothing would have been possible without him! Thank you my 🇵🇰

I actually started my MBA application prep with GMAT in April 2025. I followed GMATNinja's YouTube channel and practiced all their verbal and quant series from their playlists. Charles has been a phenomenal help. Seeing my struggles with long and dense RC passages, I decided to start practicing from LSAT official materials (practiced about 30 past LSAT verbal sets). Initially, I was horrible at it but with time and refinement and some help from Charles et. al. from GMATNinja, I finally started to get better at both RC and Critical Reasoning. 2 months into my prep, as I was looking to break through an initial plateau in my quant practice scores, I was seeking help from my GmatClub moderator buddies (I hosted a couple of MBA events fro GmatClub got to know a few awesome and helpful people there). Simultaneously, I was also in a limbo to switch back to GRE as I had prepped for and taken the GRE in the past for my graduate studies a couple of years ago and had scored a 314 back then (which was enough for my master's degree right after my bachelor's) and was kind of used to the GRE structure compared to GMAT. Through one GMATclub moderator I found Saad and contacted him for 1:1 sessions GRE sessions. Keep in mind though, knowing Saad now, my suggestion to you all preparing for GRE and seeking GRE coaching with Saad, you got to show your seriousness with your ambitions and rigour when reaching out to him. Saad has a tremendously huge following and gets hundreds if not thousands such requests weekly for GRE coaching. He has no other choice than to select the ones who have the serious itch to break through their plateau. In the meantime, I had also started using Magoosh for quant (I had also used Magoosh the first time I took GRE a couple of years ago). Their quant has been a very useful resource to recap and refine the aspects of GRE math I have been out of touch for years since I have been a working professional for a while now. Although Saad also suggested me to continue to follow Magoosh for quant, his recommendations for verbal was different. He advised me to use only official ETS practice sets from the good old Big Book. Since big book sets are limited, I also opted for GregMat's verbal questions. I found Greg's live session recordings to be very useful, especially for the verbal sections (for those live sessions, he also sticks to official ETS questions only from big book or PPs). In the meantime, as I was working on my vocab through Greg's vocab mountain, Saad provided me with his 341 list. I am usually decent at vocab, but Saad's and Greg's vocab combo were extremely useful and comprehensive enough to be comfortable during the judgement day. Bottom line: My prep resources were Magoosh's Quant practice sets, daily vocab practice, Big Book, and a few sets from Manhattan 5lb quant sections. As I was practicing, I was in constant touch with Saad where he provided his tailored feedback on what I was doing wrong, what reasoning led me to get a question wrong, what learning to take away, tips on stopping myself from overthinking, so on and so forth. These tips and tricks have been fundamentally crucial in helping me break my several plateaus. P.S. In my 1:1 with Saad, we spent most of our time going over my homework mistakes using an error log book and refining strategies either to avoid repeating the same mistakes or to save time wherever necessary. We would go over each and every mock test (void of the fact whether it was from Magoosh or Greg or Saad mocks on Insta or Big Book set) results in excruciating details. This is a crucial point if you want to improve both your efficiency and timing. For the last couple of weeks, my go to practice sets were Saad's mocks tests (available on Instagram) , the official GRE practice sets from the recent books and the PP sets. I had also created an excel program for practicing vocab, where I had integrated both Saad's 341 word list on ig, Greg's vocab mountain, and Big book's vocab and then added tersed sentences with relevant meanings (yes, meanings; GRE loves to test on multiple meanings of the same word). I'd highly recommend you create an excel program or on handwritten notebooks or whatever floats your boat to practice vocab and keep practicing vocab, if you really want to get better at vocab. The trick to do well with vocab is always linked to how well and how quickly you can recall meanings and put that in context. Practice vocab daily and keep revising. Can't emphasize enough how important this is. A lot of people have asked me how much effort and time did I put in for GRE prep - to that I say: To be honest, I never measured. I frankly didn't have the time to. Just like most of you, I have a demanding job + family responsibilities + friend's + other surprises that life threw at me. All I did was every chance I got I tried to prepare. Some days, I was studying for 6+ hours and on some I barely studied for 1-2 hours. But daily consistency was crucial. However, I am human, so, I did miss a couple of days of prep here and there but consistency in both practicing/prepping daily and at specific hours (ideally) helped me get to my goal. All in all, I started in April 2025, attempted for the first time in August and then the last time in September 2025. Finally, in my first attempt, I didn't even prepare for AWA. Of course, I did horribly and scored a 3.5. For my next attempt, I prepared for AWA thoroughly using ETS's own official essay pool and created my own framework using predominantly Greg's AWA videos, and also Saad's AWA suggestions. On my first attempt, I was way too overwhelmed (didn't sleep much for the last week), and kept thinking about whether the question I was solving was a hard question or medium or easy level question. Not a good idea to do that. When I saw the 308 score flash, I was not only disappointed but also disheartened a bit. Thought to myself, perhaps, I can't break through my plateau and this is my limit. But then my wife jolted me with the reality and reminded me of my mock scores (I did score 325+ during my practice tests, so, deep down I knew I could do better. Just needed to restrategize again). I went back to the drawing board. But didn't push to do more new mocks and rather fix what I did wrong last time. So, before my second attempt, I made sure to mediate, sleep well, exercise, and tried to not overthink during the exam. Moreover, I chose to consciously skip questions this time when I got a bit stuck. I marked and moved on and then came back when I was ready again. These standardized tests are not just a test of your quant and verbal prowess, they test your organization skills, they indirectly test whether you are calm under pressure or not, snd how well you do in thinking/reasoning on your feet. Not that I didn't know all this in my first attempt. It's just that I had to experience it and get used to that environment again to be better next time. So, if you are preparing for GRE or GMAT or LSAT, go take an official GRE once to get used to the environment and pressure. You are likely to do better when you are kind of used to that pressure. Every test taker is different and I guess every test is different. Not everything I did will or should resonate with you all. However, feel free to use whatever part fits your bill from my story and hang in there. You will get through this and if not, it's not the end of the world. I am applying to HBS MBA and GSB MBA (is at interview stage) and I work as an analyst for Tesla.