My GMAT journey from 580 to 720 -- THANKS to Alex Cotton, Jen Schumacher, and Charles Bibilos

My GMAT experience has been a steep journey with a lot of hurdles. At one point, the GMAT had successfully broken me down and left me feeling unconfident. I had never taken a standardized test growing up, and so when I scored 580 (Q42, V27) on my initial GMAT exam, I was highly disappointed and almost gave up. I had already tried another test prep company, and I wasn’t sure if I had reached my ceiling. I took a break from GMAT for several months. However, during that time, I casually searched online for help, and that’s when I stumbled upon GMAT Ninja. They immediately stood out to me in comparison to other test prep companies. The GMAT Ninja reviews from all the students were inspiring; their one-on-one tutoring structure was well-served for my needs; their Youtube videos had unique teaching methods that made it easy for me to understand each topic. And so, I finally decided to reach out to Charles from GMAT Ninja, and he paired me with Alex Cotton.

Alex was excellent from Day one. Before our first session, he asked me for my enhanced score report to evaluate my profile. In our first two hours weekly session, we aligned on our target score of 720 and created a road map. Alex was super organized. He would cover a quant and verbal topic in each session and then assign me 15 hours of homework covering those topics. He also shared a homework tracker to capture each set's time taken and questions missed. He would review the tracker before our weekly meeting and then spend time at the start of each session to cover key missed questions to address potential learning gaps. Lastly, Alex would always emphasize practicing each set with exam-like intensity and focus, which I found extremely helpful on the actual exam day.

Alex and I both realized that I had a steep hill to climb as my target score was V41 (vs. V27 base score). As such, we allocated ~60% of our time to it. For Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning, Alex significantly improved my efficiency and accuracy by teaching me to read with purpose and identify the heart of each passage. For Sentence Correction, he taught me all the major grammar rules tested, how to determine the errors in each sentence, and how to look for meaning.

Regarding Quant, Alex quickly identified which topics I needed to spend more time on and had countless GMAT Ninja study materials and sets for me to go through every week. I loved Alex’s approach as he taught me how to tackle each question efficiently and accurately by planning a path/approach before attempting to solve it. He also knew when to increase the difficulty level of all the sets based on my weekly progression. After working on several sets and reviewing them with him, I was surprised at the improvement in my Quant score on the practice exam. Alex’s teaching method gave me the confidence to score well on Quant.

I wrote my actual GMAT exam after ~4 months of tutoring and ended up with 680 (Q48, V35). I improved my score by 100 points, but that wasn’t enough for Alex and me. We wanted to achieve our goal of 720. Once again, Alex was quick to identify that my skills and content knowledge were already strong. He recommended that I get help from Jen Schumacher on test and performance anxiety in parallel to our tutoring sessions. Jen and I met four times before my final GMAT attempt, and I believe that it was the best decision I made. She taught me mindfulness, breathing techniques, mantras, and visualization to practice during study sessions and on exam day. Not only did I find them practical for GMAT, but they also helped me in my everyday life.

~2 months after my 680 GMAT attempt, I wrote another exam and ended up scoring 720 (Q49, V41).

Overall, the GMAT Ninja team is fantastic. They take the time to understand you as a person and test-taker. They cater to your individual needs, support you throughout the process, and make you feel like family. The team applies a holistic approach by focusing on content knowledge and skills, studying and test-taking habits, and mental performance. Lastly, when things get tough (which they will), and you start to lose confidence, they are there to lift you and make you realize your true potential.

To anyone who feels discouraged and defeated by GMAT, remember, if I can do it, then so can you. Don’t lose hope, and don’t let GMAT define you. Create a plan, stay consistent, and keep fighting until you win. If you choose to get help from GMAT Ninja in your journey, then I am certain that you will get your dream score. Good Luck!!!