Graeme O'Connor
Founder of GMAT Panda. 99th percentile GMAT scorer, first-principles tutor, and MBA admissions advisor.
Bio
Founder of GMAT Panda. 99th percentile GMAT scorer, London Business School MBA alumnus (Dean's List, former Student Ambassador), 10+ years of GMAT tutoring and admissions consulting for top US and European schools.
Graeme built GMAT Panda after years of tutoring showed that many courses expect hundreds of hours of video and generic worked solutions that do not transfer when the question looks unfamiliar. On exam day, students struggle when they cannot reason through the problem in front of them. GMAT Panda teaches you to read for clues, choose a sound method, and work through problems from first principles.
His approach emphasizes translation (turning word problems into math), structured checking to catch calculation errors, and flashcards that train decisions under time pressure, not just formula recall.
Credentials
- 99th percentile GMAT scorer
- London Business School MBA (Dean's List)
- Former LBS Student Ambassador
- 10+ years of GMAT tutoring and admissions consulting
- Admissions consulting for top US and European MBA programs
Experience
- Founded GMAT Panda to teach GMAT reasoning from first principles rather than pattern memorization
- Tutored hundreds of GMAT candidates across Quant, Verbal, and Data Insights
- Advised MBA applicants on school selection, essays, and test strategy
- Post-MBA: worked as a strategy consultant for a top London-based firm, before founding MBA Backstage and then GMAT Panda
Published writing
Get Started on GMAT Quant
Practical advice on study time, foundations, word-problem translation, solution breakdowns, and timed flashcard review.
Read on mba.comFeatured quotes and appearances
“Candidates sometimes (wrongly) choose to take the GRE rather than the GMAT because they are worried about their maths skills. It's actually a big misconception that GMAT Quant is about complex maths. In reality it's about breaking problems down into small, simple steps.”
Speaking and interviews
Graeme O'Connor, founder of GMAT Panda has contributed expert commentary to GMAC and MBA.com on GMAT preparation, test choice, and Quant strategy. For speaking or media inquiries, get in touch.