How I increased my score from 350 to 580 in 4 weeks

Hi everyone!

After hitting my goal score on the GMAT and being accepted into my Master’s program of choice, I thought I would share my story in case it can give hope to anyone who may be in the same boat as I was only some weeks ago

First attempt (December 13th): 350, Q6, V29
Second attempt (January 15th): 580, Q36, V34


Background info:
I am a non-native English speaker but I have always been a natural with languages and have been exposed to English since childhood. On the other hand, mathematics have never been my strength. My Bachelor’s degree was in International Business and Management, but I struggled with economics and accounting classes. The Marketing Master’s program I wanted to enroll in demanded a minimum GMAT score of 550 for the verbal and quantitative parts combined.



Details:
September 2020:
Not knowing where to begin with the preparation, I found a GMAT preparation course offered in my city (value of 610$ USD). The overall course consisted of a 4-week Verbal course and a 6-week quantitative course. From September to December, I prepared with the material from that course and the OG guide. In the original mock-exams I scored in between 400 and 500 depending on how lucky I was that day. However these scores are not accurate as I took long breaks between sections, looked at my notes occasionally, etc.

December 13th, 2020:
I attempted the GMAT online and scored 350 (!!!). I expected that in the worst case scenario, I would score a 450. I felt so defeated. I found the actual GMAT to be much harder than the mock-exams especially due to my pacing issue in the Quant section. I tried to solve every question, sometimes spending 5 minutes on a question that I still could not figure out in the end. Furthermore, I could not believe that after spending around 600$ and three months studying, I had not made any significant improvement.

December 15th, 2020:
After dusting myself off and accepting my failure, I started to look online for a new strategy as what I had done so far was not working. I ended up finding the EMPOWERgmat website and signed up for the 1 hour free trial. After looking around and seeing the Total Score Booster plan, I figured I had nothing to lose and signed up.

From December 15th to January 14th:
I put myself on an intense schedule due to my application deadline being so close. Each day I put in between 6 and 9 hours, except for Christmas day. I managed to go through around 75% of the Total Score Booster plan. I did not take any mock exams during that time as I wanted to focus on learning the material/strategies. I made sure to drink a lot of water, eat healthy, sleep 8-9 hours every night, stay active during my breaks and still make time for some social time.

January 15th, 2021:
Tried the GMAT a second time. To my surprise, I ended up scoring 580!



Overall thoughts:
After spending 3 months taking a local GMAT course that treated the GMAT as a math test, I failed miserably on my first attempt (350, Q6, V29). After completing 75% of the Total Score Booster plan in 4 weeks, my score went up 230 points on my second GMAT attempt (580, Q36, V34).

EMPOWERgmat's approach to the GMAT was like a breath of fresh air after 3 months of trying to learn complicated math concepts with another company and doing random GMAT problems without knowing what I was doing. EMPOWERgmat helped me change my mindset regarding the GMAT; it helped me see that it should not be approached as a math test. It also helped me become confident in dumping questions which I felt were too hard for me. Moreover, the plan was so motivating for me. Every day I was looking forward to what I was going to learn that day instead of dreading studying aimlessly all day. Almost every day I was having "aha" moments; it's like everything started to make sense.

While my first score was very low, the improvement that I made in 4 weeks with EMPOWERgmat makes me think that if someone was to follow the 3-month plan, they could achieve incredible results! And for anyone who is feeling hopeless, there is hope! You just have to dedicate yourself and trust the process of following a structured study plan!

I honestly can’t recommend EMPOWERgmat enough