From 550 to 680 with Mike

My GMAT journey started in February 2023. After getting familiar with the exam formalities, I bought several guides (the newest OGs (also verbal and quant) and the Kaplan Guide). I faced several difficulties to begin with. First, as a non-native speaker, I had troubles reading complex GMAT passages in a short amount of time and understanding them on a "between the lines"-level. Second, I missed the year in high school where most of the math basics needed for the GMAT were taught, so I had to start from scratch with quant. And finally, taken the first two difficulties together, I obviously did not have the language skills to understand English math expressions.

After a few weeks of studying the basics, working my way through the guides and reading English fiction books and articles (the New Yorker, the Guardian, National Geographic, etc.), I took the first mock exam (btw: for your own good, please DO NOT WASTE THIS VALUABLE RESOURCE!). I scored a 460. One week later, I scored 370 points. Something was wrong, although I studied 6 to 8 hours a day. I knew that I needed guidance to get a grasp of the problem.

I knew GMATNinja through their helpful YouTube videos and GMAT Club posts. I contacted them, but, as they are quite booked, the next free spot opened at the end of April. I continued studying and had my first appointment with Mike via GoogleMeet on April, 27th. In the meantime my mock exam scores improved quite a bit (590, 610, 610). Mike had looked at my attempts in advance and was perfectly prepared. We talked about my approach so far, my goals and worked on a plan on how to achieve them. Also, he provided advice on how to make the most of the remaining material and mock exams. He was very understanding, calm and I always felt like I was in good hands. We went through the quant questions I did wrong during my mock exams and discovered that a lot of them were manageable for me. His expertise put everything into perspective and made me feel more secure. For example, he told me to focus on the easy and medium questions and to let the hard ones go to avoid loosing too much time. Also, he told me to stop investing those endless hours and instead to focus on quality, not quantity. During the classes, we mainly focused on improving my quant scores, because they can be improved more easily in a short amount of time. During the lessons, Mikes explanations were super helpful and I learned a great deal.

I took the first official exam on May 1st, because I did not want to risk it all on one attempt on May 18th. I scored a 550 (Q: 37, V: 28) mostly because I had no time left on verbal and hurried through the last 10 questions and was very worried. But I trusted the process and kept up my pace and work. On the fifth mock exam I scored a 620. My quant score went up and my verbal score stayed solid.

Mike urged me to take things easy during the last days before the exam. On my second attempt, I scored an unbelievable 680 (V: 40, Q: 43). I am still super grateful for the helpful advice, Mikes dedication, patience and support and I would recommend GMATNinja tutoring any time - it is worth every cent.

Also as a hint: Plan your exam early enough! My second attempt had to be revised separately and it took them two weeks. Even when he wasn't my tutor anymore, Mike, and also Charles, provided me with support regarding the revision from GMAC.