Simply Brilliant

Palo Alto, United States

4.7

10 reviews

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 650-833-9237
Website:
www.simplybrilliantprep.com
Address:
Serving Palo Alto and surrounding area
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
1.9 miLittle Puffer Steam Train Depot
2 miWawona & 46th Ave / SF Zoo‎
2.1 mi46th Ave & Vicente
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Today

Today 9:00 am – 10:00 pm
Local time (Palo Alto) –

Business hours

Monday 9:00 am – 10:00 pm
Tuesday 9:00 am – 10:00 pm
Wednesday 9:00 am – 10:00 pm
Thursday 9:00 am – 10:00 pm
Friday 9:00 am – 10:00 pm
Saturday 9:00 am – 10:00 pm
Sunday 9:00 am – 10:00 pm

Description

Specialties

Simply Brilliant offers expert GMAT test prep and MBA application help. Work directly with an «elite» Harvard grad GMAT instructor. Group classes and private tutoring available.

Recent clients have been accepted at Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, London Business School, Chicago Booth, MIT Sloan, Northwestern Kellogg, UC Berkeley Haas, Columbia, Dartmouth Tuck, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, UVA Darden, Yale, Duke Fuqua, UCLA Anderson, Cornell Johnson, Carnegie Mellon Tepper, INSEAD, UNC Kenan-​Flagler, Emory Goizueta, Indiana Kelley, Georgetown McDonough, Notre Dame Mendoza, Washington Foster, Arizona State Carey, USC Marshall, and other top business schools.

History

Established in 2007.

Simply Brilliant was launched in the Los Angeles area and soon thereafter established a Silicon Valley location in Palo Alto, California. Be sure to check out the «other reviews that are not currently recommended» by clicking the link at the end of the reviews. All of those are 5-​star reviews except for one deleted review, which was deleted by Yelp because it was for the wrong business (the review was written for «Simply Brilliant Press» not «Simply Brilliant Prep»). Also see our LA area Yelp reviews at www​.yelp​.com/​b​i​z​/​s​i​m​p​l​y​-​b​r​i​l​l​i​a​n​t​-​s​a​n​t​a​-​m​onica. Be sure to check out the many «other reviews» there, too! In addition to in-​person local tutoring, Simply Brilliant serves clients all over the world through online sessions using GoToMeeting.

Meet the Business Owner

Stuart P.

Business Owner

I have taught many live and online GMAT classes for the most comprehensive of the «elite» GMAT courses, and I am one of that company’s top-​rated instructors in the world. I have also tutored hundreds of GMAT clients in private sessions, including many who have taken the most popular GMAT courses (Veritas, Manhattan GMAT, Kaplan, Princeton, etc.). I have a degree in Applied Math/​Economics from Harvard, and the first time I took the GMAT, I scored in the 99th percentile on both the quant and verbal sections of the exam. See my complete credentials and several client testimonials at www​.sim​ply​bril​liant​prep​.com.

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10 reviews of Simply Brilliant

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Redwood City, CA
Before working with Stuart, I used Manhattan GMAT self study and did not do well on GMAT. I was referred to Stuart’s prep course by a friend. I am pretty impressed with Stuart’s communication style right from the beginning. I wanted to sign up for his test prep services, however, could not fit one class due to my upcoming travel. He was very kind and generous to get the class material to me. In a very small group of virtual class, Stuart always checks in on every student’s understanding. At least in one instance, he offered to take little extra time with one student to help understand a concept. I look forward to completing my current session and get a better GMAT score soon!
Place rating: 5
Oakland, CA
Prior to working with Stuart, I used the Manhattan GMAT self study curriculum and got a score of 680. Hoping to boost my score into the 700 range, I underwent the online private GMAT tutoring with Simply Brilliant. After working with Stuart for about 3 – 4 months, I was able to improve my score to 750, which is directly attributable to Stuart’s help.
I thought Stuart was a very patient teacher and a clear communicator. His well thought out curriculum and strong teaching skills helped me understand the nuances of harder GMAT questions and concepts. As a result, I was able to fill in gaps that I previously missed during the Manhattan GMAT self study and was able to get the higher score.
My experience is the complete opposite of Leo R. who said that he had difficulty scheduling with Stuart and received no follow up. In my experience, Stuart was very flexible with scheduling and I was able to get on his calendar even with short notice. Within 24 hours after my sessions, Stuart always followed up with practice questions to reinforce the content that we covered previously.
Overall, I strongly believe that Stuart’s services rivals the big name test prep services. Did I mention that his private sessions are a fraction of the price charged by Veritas and Manhattan GMAT?
If you are looking for someone to help you get to the next level, I strongly recommend that you contact Stuart.
Place rating: 5
Los Gatos, CA
Stuart really put in the time and effort to help me focus on my weak areas and helped me improve my score by 70 points. He was very professional, an outstanding teacher and a great motivator. I definitely recommend Stuart to anyone who is looking for GMAT success!
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
I was accepted into the Tuck class of 2014 after working with Stuart to bump my score from a 690 to 760. I had actually applied to business schools two years ago and had already read through the Princeton Review and Kaplan guides quite thoroughly. I had mastered the basics except a couple areas of weakness that started to become apparent once I starting drilling for my test, which I re-​took this year. I met with Stuart to focus on those areas of weakness and he was able to give me direct feedback that helped me not only in the session but also in my own studying. Stuart was patient and had some great techniques for explaining difficult concepts. The biggest help is his ability to frame the test «tricks» which, while having little to do with everyday problem solving, are essential to master for getting a high score on the GMAT. I highly recommend Stuart to anyone who has put in a significant amount of study time on their own and are looking to break out of the inevitable «plateau» of progress to get to the next level.
Place rating: 5
Mountain View, CA
I recommend Stuart highly for anyone looking to improve their understanding and score on the GMAT. I previously took a Manhattan GMAT course online and hardly saw an improvement in my score despite putting in 15 – 20 hours of studying for many of the weeks leading up to taking the test. I was too focused on completing the problems instead of really focusing on understanding how to solve the problems first. Ultimately I was disappointed with my initial quant score and found Stuart.
Stuart took a look at my diagnostic tests and we chugged through all of my weakest topics in 3 – 4 sessions. His emphasis on understanding the problems while studying and focusing less on the time really helped me. He also helped me nail down the easy problems like negatives/​positives, digits and exponents instead of worrying about less common problems like combinatorics.
Ultimately I saw a 50 point increase in my score and higher than I was shooting for after my initial test. I saw a 12% percentile improvement on my math score. 4 point improvement on my raw quant score.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
This week I learned that I have been accepted to Wharton! I could not have tackled the GMAT without Stuart’s help. It was a challenge for me to get back up to speed on my math skills and I had attempted it with both Manhattan GMAT classes and another private tutor but nothing worked until I found Stuart and immediately things began to fall into place. I initially was hesitant to do online tutoring so I opted for in-​person sessions the first couple of times. After giving an online session a try, I realized that it actually worked well and was quite convenient. Thank you Stuart!
Place rating: 5
Los Angeles, CA
Before working with Stuart, I took a Veritas Prep Course and worked hard on homework and practice tests. The first time I took the GMAT I scored a 610. I thought I might need some extra help, so I contacted Stuart and he was a big help! I worked with him for a few 2 hour sessions and tried to apply his tips & tricks to the homework he assigned. He had some helpful slides, but none of the information was really new to me, sometimes it just takes a 1:1 touch and some patience to drive it home!
Stuart is really patient and has a good way of not making you feel bad or dumb for getting something wrong, which makes the working session a lot easier and takes some pressure off.
After a few sessions with Stuart and applying his techniques, I re-​took the GMAT today was able to bump my score up to a 680 — a 70-​point improvement! It’s a relief to be more comfortable with my score and I found Stuart’s sessions to be really helpful in getting my score to where I needed it to be. Well worth the time, money, energy.
Place rating: 2
Los Altos, CA
I worked with Stuart in a 1:1 setting and was rather disappointed in his recommendations /​advice to help me master some of the GMAT strategies (He is a former Veritas instructor, but never went to B-​School himself).
Scheduling an appointment with Stuart was also a nightmare and he strictly adheres to a 48hr no-​cancellation /​change request policy. Additionally, I was surprised that I rarely heard from him outside «classroom hours” — no check-​in emails, support links, supplemental resources, etc. During our sessions, I often found myself listening to the same strategies and tactics that are found in the official guide and used in the Veritas online course (which I was also taking simultaneously). He would literally read things out of his presentation materials and MGMAT /​OG books as if providing help and guidance along the way?!
Unfortunately, due to the lack of differentiation and cumbersome scheduling process I decided to go with a Veritas tutor who has a much more structured and programmatic approach to the GMAT and also leverages the strategies and tactics used in Veritas Prep program.
Place rating: 5
Los Angeles, CA
Before working with Stuart and in spite of having completed a 10-​week course and copious amounts of self studying, I had difficulty hitting my target range on the GMAT. I decided to look for a private tutor for some more tailored help and found Simply Brilliant’s ad on Craigslist. I had a couple in-​person sessions with Stuart and found him to be great at answering any specific math questions (he’s an applied math major from Harvard). After following his guidelines for a few months, I took the GMAT and did great. Let’s just say that my score is firmly in the zone for all the top schools.
He was also fantastic with both time-​management planning and general test-​day strategies. While these are generally regarded as being more «soft» skills, I found them both to be extremely valuable.
He has been very helpful and responsive via email even when not on the clock and without a doubt went above and beyond what was required or even expected of him. I appreciate that and would surely recommend him to someone else.
Place rating: 5
Los Angeles, CA
After taking a 6-​week online course and multiple practice exams, I was still struggling with my quantitative score and unable to break 600 or get above 40 percentile on quant on my practice exams.
Stuart’s instruction was exactly what I needed to get over this hurdle. Rather that sticking to a predetermined, one-​size-​fits-​all approach to study, together we identified my weaknesses and tailor-​made a program that would address these issues. Quickly we found that my score on practice exams jumped easily 50 points when I was able to keep my time on each question down to 2 minutes. Working off of this, we focused less on studying each concept and making sure I knew EVERYTHING, and more on tips and tools that would help me keep pace on my exam. We went over easy properties that, if I could commit to memory, would save me precious seconds on each questions. Maybe even most importantly, we looked at ways to quickly eliminate some answer possibilities on difficult questions, hopefully giving me a 50% chance of guessing the right answer and moving on, rather than wasting 4 or 5 minutes trying to answer the question as I was doing previously. For my particular situation, this was a great strategy.
This approach, coupled with a strict study regimen, of course, worked wonders. I took my test and scored a 710 — a full 130 points higher than any score I had before studying with Stuart. Not only that, but my Quant score jumped from 40th percentile to 77th percentile. Best news of all — I have recently been accepted into UCLA, a top tier school I wasn’t even planning to apply to until I was encouraged by the progress I made with Stuart.
I highly recommend Stuart as a tutor, especially if you are looking for a tutor that can customize your study to your personal strengths and weaknesses.