EMPOWERgmat Full Training

After graduating from college in the Spring of 2018, I knew that I wanted to get a master's degree from a top 20 business school. For that, taking the GMAT was a must. I purchased the official guide, read some basics about the test, and decided to take a practice test to see where I was and to try to structure a study plan accordingly. I scored 520 on my first practice test. I spent the following month practicing with questions from the official guide and took another practice test. This time I got a 610, which gave me very high hopes, given that I had improved by 90 points in just one month.

At that point, I kept solving problems from the official guide and also supplemented my studies with some YouTube videos and other online content. I took a 3rd practice test and got a 580, which was a little discouraging. Long story short, I kept studying with the OG and with some free online material for 3 months and took 3 practice tests during that time. While I felt that I had learned a lot, that knowledge wasn't translating into a higher score: I was stuck at 590-610.

One day I decided to look into GMAT prep courses and read reviews on the different forums. Most of the courses I was seeing were very expensive and I knew I just couldn’t afford to spend several thousand dollars on my prep at the moment. I stumbled upon EMPOWERgmat and was impressed with what I read about it. I used the 1-hour trial and emailed Rich, asking for advice on which plan was the most appropriate for me.

I bought the course and went through it in about 3 months. I took my first official GMAT and got a 670. I studied for an extra month and retook the test, getting a 690 (Q46 V38). Even though that score was a little under the 700 mark, I decided to keep it.

What makes this course great? Its practical approach. Instead of focusing on hard-to-explain, complicated ideas and methods, this course focuses on teaching you the easiest and most efficient way to get questions right. On the quantitative side, Rich shows you how to approach and solve problems in practical ways that keep the math simple, maximize your time, and limit your room for error. On the verbal side, Max shows you how to tackle the 3 type of verbal questions in the easiest way possible, again, without having to memorize any complex grammar rules or ideas. Also, you can always contact Rich for advice and trust that he will reply the same day with personalized insights. Overall, this course will teach you everything you need to crush the GMAT.

Once you buy the course, take what Rich and Max teach you to heart. Look to apply all the tactics and strategies, especially Triaging. Some of these ideas you will learn might seem weird and you will be tempted to avoid them. However, you should make it a point to use them every time an opportunity arises. In the end, you will see great results.

I started my initial GMAT preparation in August 2018. For two months, I followed the Manhattan Prep guides and the official guide, trying to solve all the questions they had. With this initial prep and two official GMAT mocks taken, I scheduled the official test for mid-November. Since this was my first take at the GMAT, I was not much aware of strategies and just carried my own timing strategy and practice as the sole weapons for the test. As a result, I went to the test unprepared and nervous, even after a lot of practice and hard work put in. Quant section timed out before I could answer the final question, final score was 660(Q43,V38), and I came out of the test center disappointed. But as soon as I reached home, I decided to give it another shot, this time with full preparation. Bought the ESR and did some analysis to conclude that while I had the basic understanding of all the concepts tested on the GMAT, I lacked certain key strategies to nail them in time on the test. That's when I decided to go for an online prep course.
While most of the courses offered concept based knowledge which I wasn't looking for at that point, I came across EmpowerGMAT on one of the GMAT forums. As one of its posts said, the course syllabus was based on GMAT strategies and it offered one day trial. I immediately signed in to check it out. As I went through the syllabus I realized that this course offered exactly what I was looking for: strategy based approach to "Assassin the GMAT". Took the one month course and rescheduled my second GMAT for a week after the end of the course. The best part about EmpowerGMAT was that it not only helped me understand easy and effective ways to tackle three different types of questions, but also gave me the confidence to Triage the type of questions that when solved, would harm my timing on the real test, but when skipped, would not hurt my score.
And then came the D-day. Rich's podcasts helped me deal well with the test anxiety and I reached the test center on time. Without any delay I finished all the formalities and sat for the retake with a better focus and higher confidence. And then those 3 and a half stressful hours ended with a 710(Q45,V41) on the screen. Thanks to EmpowerGMAT.
I would recommend this course to any test taker who has basic understanding of the concepts and is looking for some strong strategies to deal with the GMAT. Plus they always have these amazing offers, which make them value for money. EmpowerGMAT does what it claims.

Based on a recommendation from a friend, I used empowerGMAT when preparing for my GMAT. I purchased the 3 month subscriptions(including practice tests) and completed the 2 month recommended syllabus. I found the empower videos to be incredibly helpful and the way the course was structured truly built foundational capabilities before advancing on - helping you to understand how the questions work before reviewing the math equations and concepts. The videos were interactive and often provided multiple ways of solving the problem - much more thorough than what I believe you can get from other programs out there. After getting a 640 on my first practice test, I got a 710 on the GMAT and did not take it more than once. I definitely credit my success to the empower program!

EMPOWERGmat was just the course I needed in order to push my score to the coveted 700+ range. I began studying in October 2018 with Magoosh videos , MGMAT quant books, and OG practice questions. After 6 months of studying with those methods I simply wasn't improving. My practice tests were scoring 630-650 before and were stuck at 650 even after 6 months of studying. I posted on the forum about my struggle and what might be a better method and Rich, the quant instructor from EMPOWER responded with ideas that were helpful. Ultimately, I am so grateful that I posted on the forum and heeded his advice because EMPOWERGmat was perfect for my mindset and for honing the skills to a fine point.

In regard to quant studies, like many people I was always good at math but not necessarily the logic behind the math. I could solve a problem but didn't always know why I could solve a problem. Other resources I used spent a great deal of time on the raw math, memorizing formulas, preparing for every scenario, and it just wasn't working for me. EMPOWER on the other hand teaches the distinction that the GMAT isn't about raw math, but rather the logic behind the math ie critical thinking. The videos Rich provided, especially those walking through OG practice questions were invaluable. Also, the strategies involved in the EMPOWER method are not necessarily unique to the course, but, from my experience, the clarity with which they are discussed and the breadth of problems they are useful for was far greater than other resources.

Verbal was a strong point of mine before EMPOWER, but I still had fine tuning to do. Once again, EMPOWER succeeded in teaching how to approach the test tactically and logically rather than just with memorization or brute force. The strategies applied to the verbal portion were superior to other resources I used and, although there isn't one thing that specifically sticks out, the verbal teaching as a whole was incredibly useful in making that leap necessary to reach 700.

Altogether, EMPOWERGmat suited my way of thinking and taught me how to approach the GMAT not as just a list of formulas, grammar rules, etc, but rather as exactly what it is, a critical thinking test. My final practice test was a 740 and although I didn't reach that level on test day (influenza A will do that to you) my 700 score more than fulfills the score needed for my online MBA.

Thanks to the entire EMPOWERGmat team, and thank you to Rich and Max specifically!

After a bit more of studying the GMAT I finally achieved the +700 (720 q50v38) I was aiming for. I would like to share my experience with you, so can see that at the end of the day hard work pays off.

My journey with the GMAT began around May 2018 when I took the decision of pursuing an MBA a bit more serious, so I bought in the Facebook marketplace a second hand collection of the Manhattan preparation guide + GMAT 2016 Guide. A few weeks afterwards I purchased the OG 2019 as well.

I took the first test and I scored around the 550?s. I began to work with the guide, self-preparing myself, and went through some of the exercises of the OG. I quickly realized that the task was not as easy as I thought so again decided to go for the Veritas prep course. This course took place during the weekends (3-4 hours Saturday & another 3-4 hours Sunday). One month after the course I was scoring in the 650?s-670?s reaching a max of 690 in one of the GMAT CAT. I decided to book the exam for October (gave myself 2 months after the course to practice). The exam went completely wrong, I was not prepared to handle such a monster and got stuck in several question. I guessed the last 7 questions in Q and probably the last 5 in V. The result was a 640 q45. I am a very stubborn person so I decided to retake it one month after (with no change in the study plan) since I believed that as one of the top engineers on his graduation, the results, especially in Q, didn’t reflect the really. Should not be a surprise if I tell you that I got a 640 again in this try.

By this time I was very disappointed and thought that the GMAT was not for me. I went through a process of reflection and the conclusion was that I was not understanding the exam and my method of study and the methods I was taught were not working for me. That’s when, through a friend that is preparing the GMAT as well, I found out about EMPOWERGMAT. The price was much lower than what I had paid before (from 4 figures to 90 per month wtf), they had a so-called BOOST program that roughly lasts a month, a guarantee of 70 points if you are at or above 640 and the flexibility of learning whenever you want since the classes are already recorded and are uploaded to a platform. I had a 50% offer and the 640+70 (710) + the 1 month Boost fitted my plans so went for it. What I discovered changed my perception of the exam, made really visible to me the mistakes I had been doing and really made me see the GMAT from another view. I don’t want to make it very long but the key points for me were:

- Flexibility on taking the classes: I took the classes after work, with them didn’t have to stress of whether I had to be in time for the class to begin. I just had to turn on the computer and select the next class
- I was afraid that the videos would be very generic and that the content would not be a quality one. NO. Explanations were EXTREMELY clear (I am a nonnative English speaker as you could have probably notice from my grammar). I would divide the content in two parts
o Basic knowledge: Basic math/Verbal/Thinks you need in order to do the exam. Having this you may go up to a 670 but it’s very difficult to cross that line.
o Strategy: EmpowerGMAT strategies for the test, identify complex question, how to guess, how to save time, how to face the exam. If you are looking for a +700 you need to EXCEL this section. Its simple, you may think in some cases that it’s crazy (why would you skip a question????) but if you follow their advice 100% you will get the +700. This strategies help you save time (using the answers in your advantage for example) or be 100% sure of your answer in DS questions.
- Lot of exercises & examples. From basic to advance. Not only focusing in the super complicate 3 shape geometry question. Let’s begin with the basics and build from there.
- Personal advice: How should you face the day of the exam, what you need to have with you, things that will make you live easier.

After 1 month of study I began to score in the official test around 710 (760 the second time I took them) and around 670 the Manhattan one (I found the Q part of this one’s very challenging in terms of time).

I followed all the EmpowerGMAT advice the day before and the day of the exam and for the first time I went to the Pearson Center confident that I could beat the GMAT. I began with the Q section this time and?.got stuck in the first question. It was extremely simple, so simple that I doubted myself. I spent there 3-4 minutes instead of skipping it and I paid for this in the rest of the Q section. There was also another breaking point when I got a very simple question (around the 20-21 question) that I could not understand. I knew that one cost me a lot of points. The verbal section when alright, I followed all the strategies I was taught, focused on ready, used the 5 second preview in SC & identified the conclusion & missing information of each CR question. When I got press the submit button in the AWA (I hate that the scores are shown right afterwards and no intermediate screen btw) I though my score would be between 680 and 700. And it was! In only one month of study I went from 640 to 690 q47. My scored had improved three points. I had mixed feelings by this time, on one side I really began to enjoy the exam (it was more like a game by this moment) and on the other I didn’t break the 700 barrier. I know that having a 7 in the first digit of the GMAT is very important both to apply for M7 but also to apply certain job positions afterwards. I had to break that barrier and for the first time I felt like I could do it.

I was contacted the day after the exam by EmpowerGMAT to understand how I performed. I explained my situation and they offered a free one month extension of the program, they
also gave me some tips that were crucial based on my ESR and the feedback I gave to them. I want to highlight that the feedback was given by Rich, CEO of the company and the person you hear teaching the videos. I studied for 1.5 month more, take 3 more cats scoring in all three 710 (Kaplan) and went to the exam.

The night before I visualized myself getting the score I wanted. I had studied for more than 6 month and in 24 hours I was going to receive the score I was expecting. I had become an assassin for the GMAT, this was no longer an exam, and it was a fight. A fight in which my opponent would try to trick me in every question and would try to block me from achieving my objective. Luckily I was up for the challenge, I let me tell you something I was really enjoying it.

I went to the exam with my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and the woman from reception (after so many times) already recognized me. I winked and she and I told her that luckily today was the last time she would see me. Got assigned locker number 10, a sign of how much I was going to excel this day. When I sat on my computer I faced my opponent, I was very excited about this final battle. I went quickly through the screens and began the exam. I got a difficult first question in Q, I stared at it, 3 equations, 3 variables. Difficult to solve. I identified the pattern in 10 seconds, took another 10 seconds to solve it. In 45 seconds I got the first tricky question solved. The GMAT would have got to step up his game if it thought I was going to trap me this time. I followed all EMPOWERGMAT advice this time. I got some crazy difficult questions this time but I skipped them I also got again a question I knew was going to mean a lot of point. This time I used EmpowerGMAT techniques in DS and I was 100% of my answer. I finished the section with 30 seconds left in the clock. I thought that either I had done pretty well or I bombed the Q section. The verbal section went very well, this time I was much more structure and the first 3 quarters went very good. Unfortunately by the end of the third I got a very difficult text, to be fair, I got a bit stuck but manager to get over it. I had to solve the last 10 question in an average of 1 minute. I thought I got a bold question by the end of the exam so I thought I was not doing so badly. After the break did the IR & Awa and was again ready to press the final button before getting the score. I look at the computer and knew this would be the first time I was going to enter that room. I enjoyed the trip but it was time to close a chapter. I closed my eyes and clicked on the button. 720 Q50 V38. I made it.

I decided to purchase an EMPOWERgmat subscription because I was hitting a wall with my studying. I had taken a few practice tests from a different company and found that I was scoring below 600, even after weeks of studying. A few posts on reddit kept pushing me to use a subscription service, and based on the experiences people had written about, I had a feeling that EMPOWERgmat would be right for me. I was 100% correct about that. Even though I barely missed the mark of a 700 by getting a 690, this was a high enough score to meet my original goals. I also had a lot of challenges along the way, and I’m proud of this accomplishment considering my circumstances.

EMPOWERgmat gives you the tools and allows you to develop the skills you need to get 700+ on the GMAT. Plain and simple. If you put the work in over 3 months, consistently studying about 2 hours a day and about 4 on weekends, I’d say that would be sufficient to get to your goal, assuming you have a starting point similar to mine. Whether you already have a high baseline (>600), or you’re struggling with your practice tests (<600), EMPOWERgmat will give you the building blocks necessary to achieve your desired score. It will take you longer, however, to recover from your initial score to get to your desired score. You can expect to spend even more hours studying if you’re trying to fill knowledge gaps that others have already mastered.

The name EMPOWERgmat is apt because you will feel empowered as you proceed through the course. Rich has a particular way of motivating you during his video lessons. Max is also very good and I particularly like the way the Verbal training is laid out. Reading from a textbook and working practice problems is mandatory, but video lessons walk you through the ways that the test is designed to trick you. The GMAT is about separating those who are lazy and unwilling to perform the hard work necessary to achieve a high score, and those who are systematic, patient, and confident in their ability to parse through seemingly impossible questions. Even if you are faced with a question that is at the upper limit or on the outskirts of your ability, EMPOWERgmat will teach you exactly what to do with such questions.

The EMPOWERgmat website is not state-of-the-art, but it’s more than enough to get the job done. You’ll be spending the majority of your time on the modules that are already in place, giving you more than enough material to chew on as you prepare. Some people rely on trackers and tools and other ways to measure their progress and stay motivated. My singular motivation was the business school of my dreams and the career that awaits me on the other side of it. You can use EMPOWERgmat with confidence, knowing that regardless of your motivation and goals, their people, website, and methods will equip you with everything you need to succeed.

I started studying for the GMAT by buying the OG. I took the diagnostic and realised I need to do a lot of work on my quant. I spent a couple of weeks working my way through the Manhattan Foundation of Math book before taking my first official practice test on the 3rd of November. I scored a 600 (Q32, V40). I was aiming to get a 690 before Christmas, so I had a lot of work to do.

I spent two days evaluating online courses before settling on EmpowerGMAT. I chose this course for a few reasons - I liked the instruction style, and I really liked the fact that they used official problems (with video solutions). A couple of the other online courses I'd sampled used their own questions and they differed significantly from what I'd seen in the OG. I also wanted a course that covered both Verbal and Quant - although I was much stronger at Verbal, I also recognised that a few extra points here could really boost my overall score.

I settled into a rhythm working through the Empower course. It contains a mix of strategy (how to approach the GMAT, when to dump questions etc.) and content (the quant fundamentals, in particular, were helpful). I really enjoyed Rich's teaching style and appreciated the sense of humour and encouragement. Studying for the GMAT is a long grind that will take more than 100 hours... you've got to be able to keep it light!

The syllabus and content are really excellent and that's what matters. If I had any areas for improvement it would be in the software, which I found a little buggy at times (particularly the Mistake Tracker). But without a doubt, the course was an amazing investment for me - especially when you compare the price to some of the other courses.

I sat the GMAT just before Christmas and ended up with a 730. According to the dashboard I completed 95% of the Empower course - it was definitely worth it!

I took the GMAT a total of 4 times over a period of 6 months.
In my first 3 attempts, I scored 680 consistently (1st: Q47,V36, 2nd: Q49,V33, 3rd: Q47,V38)
In my final attempt, I scored 740 (Q50, V41).

In my first GMAT attempt, in trying to save on preparation costs, I only utilised books and online adaptive tests to prepare for the exam, and both resources were by Princeton Review and mba.com. However, after completing my the first attempt, I felt that I did not have good time management and there were topics in which I had a weak understanding. Thus, I turned to GMAT club forums to find out about other resources that would better prepare me for the GMAT. It was through the forums and the regular GMAT club emails that I came across empowerGMAT.

The aspects of the empowerGMAT that helped me the most are listed below:

1. Improved my Time Management

The GMAT is not just about getting questions right; it is about getting the 'easier' questions right within a time limit. empowerGMAT helped me understand the value of each question type, especially for the Quans section. In having a better feel of the type of questions that would help me score well, I was better able to prioritise my time during the exam.


Besides understanding the value of question types, the course taught me quick tricks to shorten my math calculations as well as how to exploit the format of the GMAT. For instance, the concept of testing values from the answer options helped to save me time from calculating long, arduous mental sums.

2. Provided Good Training to Strengthen Foundational Knowledge

empowerGMAT teaches you the fundamental concepts needed for the various sections in the GMAT. It does so with easy-to-follow videos and guided examples. It also structures your learning process and helps you to keep track of the progress you make.

3. Provided Tips on how to be a GMAT Assassin (stuff beyond the content)

Something that I valued the most from empowerGMAT were the tips given beyond the content of the actual GMAT. It provided tips on how to psychologically prepare yourself for test day. I continued to hone these skills with each GMAT attempt. Furthermore, the staff at empowerGMAT are highly supportive. After each GMAT attempt, they checked on how I did, offered a free extension to my empowerGMAT subscription, and helped me to analyse my weaknesses after I bought the Enhanced Report.

These helped to provide me with realistic training and it better prepared me for the actual GMAT.

As the title suggests, I took the GMAT just two weeks after learning what this test is all about. And on my first try, I beat the GMAT with a score of 720. So yes, this is possible, but I would advise against trying this at home. Those were two weeks of very intense studying for 10+ hours a day. Not many people can afford to spare this much time on prepping and have the resilience to study for this long.

On my first day of prepping I took a "cold call" practice test and scored 660 on it. Everything after that can be considered an improvement of this score. My initial verbal score was significantly higher than my quant score, so I focused first and foremost on improving my quant results.

I spent the next four days revising high school algebra and geometry, which I had completely forgotten at the time. Then came the time to choose a GMAT course. I took free trials of several different courses and evaluated them during my fifth day.

In the end, I chose EMPOWERgmat for several reasons. Not only was it one of the most affordable courses on the web, but it also focused on really beating the GMAT, not just studying for it. Moreover, something about how Rich explains things, his charisma, really clicked with me.

Unlike other courses, EMPOWERgmat doesn't just prepare you for the questions but tries to use every trick in the book to help you get the right answers effectively and efficiently. For the quant section this mainly revolves around three Empower tactics: Test It, Test The Answers, and Triage. These tactics are very simple, yet extremely helpful for saving time on the test.

After 8 more days of preparation with EMPOWERgmat, I felt confident enough to take the real test and wasn’t disappointed with the result. I became the GMAT Assassin that Rich and Max promised I’d be.

I have always abhorred standardized tests. When I realized I would have to actually study for the GMAT to apply to MSc Finance programs, I was not happy to say the least. From my initial research, I ended up getting all the Manhattan Prep books for learning the material and decided to self-study. The Manhattan Prep books, with the OG books, led me to get a 620. I was happy with my Quant score (I started from way lower), but my Verbal score disappointed me mainly because I thought I had a decent grasp on the material.

I was aiming for at least a 650 or above so I knew I would have to take the GMAT again. Since I had gone through everything I could on my own, the idea of a class or course started to sound better. I was looking for two things in a course, cost and quality. After some research, I decided to sign-up for EMPOWERgmat for $85 for the first month through a promo. I also picked up the Official CAT 3&4 pack for a discounted price through them.

EMPOWERgmat as a course focuses on strategy more than textbook style material teaching. It is my opinion that while knowing the material is important, strategy plays a HUGE part in doing well on the GMAT. The course taught me things about the test that I would have never found out on my own. For Quant, the best advice the course gave me is to dump the really difficult questions. I straight-up axed at least 3 questions on the Quant because I knew even if I would get them correct, it would take up 3 mins or more. Not only did this give me more time on the rest of the gettable questions, but also allowed me to actually finish the questions at the end of the section with sufficient time.

The Verbal section is where the strategy and technique I learned really pulled through. I honestly think the SC, RC, and CR modules in the course taught me more than the books considered as the best for this section. The way you do questions in the Verbal section almost becomes tactical and leaves you feeling that you actually selected the correct answer. The video lessons are great and the instructors are fantastic.

This is advice for people looking to retake this exam. If you have been focusing solely on the learning the material and have not found success, it is time to focus on strategy. I was offered a 70 point guarantee over my initial 620 and I got a 690!

When I started studying for the GMAT, I had my eyes set on a top 50 business school. For my desired program I needed a score around the 60th percentile (about 610) to be considered a competitive applicant. After a couple months of using Kaplan book resources and the two practice CATs available on mba.com I took my first GMAT in October of 2018. I was devastated when I walked away with a score of 540 (Q35 V28). With only a month before applications were due, I knew I would have to try again.

I quickly began researching various GMAT prep companies. I only had a month of study available to me so I was looking for something affordable with no long-term commitments. I found empowerGMAT through the forums and heard great things about their service. Empower GMAT offers a monthly subscription service and had a convenient one-month study plan carefully designed for people (like myself) in a time crunch so I decide to get started studying again. Here’s my review of their service:

Customer Service 10/10: Before I had even purchased the empowerGMAT subscription, I had reached out to their customer service team to learn more about their score improvement guarantee. Their response was insanely quick, I don’t even think an hour had passed before they got back with me in each case. Not only did they reassure me on the structure of their score improvement guarantee, but they also offered me extremely valuable guidance on how to proceed in improving my score (based on the official score report I sent them from my first GMAT). Of all the GMAT prep companies I interacted with, empowerGMAT is by far the most professional and responsive. They truly care about helping you improve your performance.

Content 10/10: The course content consists of a syllabus that guides you through training exercising on various GMAT topics. EmpowerGMAT offers a handful of different syllabi options to match the amount of time you have to study, including a one month option for people like me who are in a rush. Although, it does appear that a 3-month study plan is this most popular option. Overall, the syllabus keeps you on pace to meet your study goals ? no thinking required!

The typical format is to watch instructional videos by Rich for the quant section and Max for the verbal section. The lessons include a few practice problems and quizzes to help with retention of the material. The course then allows for you to take quizzes based on the official guides (this requires you to have the official guide to get the questions) and offers video explanations for the solutions of each problem.

Both Rich and Max are great instructors for the video lessons. That is, they are clear and concise in their explanations. They don’t waste your time by explaining long, complicated equations and rules for each question. And to top it all off, they both have a solid sense a humor ? making the videos entertaining to watch. I never really had a dreaded feeling of studying with empowerGMAT.

Strategy 10/10: Being in a massive time crunch, I was focused more on a strategy to squeeze out as many points as possible rather than learn content. The empowerGMAT tactics both Rich and Max teach you are absolutely INCREDIBLE. Once you practice their strategy and learn to apply it to GMAT problems, the CATs become magically that much easier. And if you’re like me, and have a pacing problem, applying their strategies will certainly help you to pick up the pace. Not only do you learn strategies for each section, but Rich also offers strategies on how to handle stress and fatigue during the exam.

Quant & Verbal 10/10: Being a native English speaker, I naturally geared myself more towards the quant modules. Not having taken a math class in over two years, I found the quant modules by Rich to be very clear and concise in conveying what you need to know. They even offered a review module for those like me who might need to brush up on some of the basic math skills taught back in high school.

As a native English speaker, I found the verbal modules to be easy to follow. I was particularly bad at sentence correction on my last exam and focused by studies around that. Max does a great job conveying the information you need to know without throwing a whole lot of grammar jargon at you ? something I would imagine that non-English speakers would really appreciate.

Conclusion: Overall, I would have to strongly recommend empowerGMAT for anyone looking to boost their score, particularly for those in a serious time crunch like myself. I took my second GMAT in November of 2018 less than a month after the first and made a 100 point improvement to score a 640 (Q42 V35) and walked away with a score higher than what I needed to be competitive for my desired program. I did nothing more on the second exam than apply the empowerGMAT tactics and instruction that I learned through the course. I have strong confidence, that if I had more time to study, I would have no problem scoring 700+ with empowerGMAT’s service.

I had given the GMAT twice before each time scoring less than my target score of 700+. Both times, I had tried using different strategies, practicing with Official Guides, GMATPrep mocks and Veritas books. Self-study just wasn't working and I wasn't able to figure out why.

I, then, decided to take an online course and chose EmpowerGMAT, quite honestly, because it was among the cheapest ones I could find and I needed a short guarantee program since deadlines for the second round were coming closer. I wasn't too skeptical since the Empower program had really good reviews and I had seen Rich's comment on GMAT forums to believe that the program would be helpful in achieving my goals. And I was proven right.

The program is structured extremely well and questions are present with gradual difficulty levels which helped me gain confidence over the topics. Rich and Max's videos were really well thought-out and they basically not only teach you everything you need to know but also tricks and exam strategies which are extremely helpful during the actual exam. In particular, I used to always try to answer every question and used to end up missing out on the questions at the end of each section. Empower's pacing strategy and how to skip questions completely changed the way I approached the exam. For the verbal section, my weakest section was SC and the Empower Concept videos helped improve my SC to the level that I barely used to get any SC wrong in the practise tests. Even their simple motivational podcasts and general exam strategies were so great.

They also provide a lot of extra resources as well like the GMATPrep Exams at a discounted price and a phone call with a counselor to review your essays.

Overall, the EmpowerGMAT course is the best decision I made regarding my GMAT. I would genuinely recommend this program to everyone, especially retakers. Also, a big thumbs up to their customer support team!

When I started the process to apply to business school, I originally thought the GMAT would be the easiest portion due to my background as a CFA and Investment advisory. However on my first attempt I scored a 650 and realized that I would probably need to prepare before I took an actual attempt. I found EMPOWERgmat online and heard great reviews, so I jumped in and followed the course format. Since I had a limited time of 1-2 months, I took the fast track course and spent 2-3 hours every day. The tricks and practice they provide really gave me an edge in increasing my score. I ended up getting a 690 on my actual try, even though I had achieved a 720 on a practice exam. Regardless, this score was above the average of what I needed and am more than happy with the outcome.

I started my GMAT studying about 6 months ago and wasted a lot of time with an expensive tutor and going about studying with no plan. My first test in August was a disaster. I got a 610 and I was SO upset.

I took about a month break and had to get surgery. I wanted to reset and figure out my new plan.
I started doing some research on what online program/tutoring to do going forward as I wasn’t going back to spending 150 plus on a tutoring session. I landed on EmpowerGMAT. Fast forward to Oct 1. I made my game plan, an attack strategy of sorts. I was going to follow Empower’s one-month guide to studying and take the test Oct 30th.

I 100000 % made the right call.

I am not going to lie and say I just did it causally and everything worked out, I straight up GRINDED for four weeks everyday. I spent hours day in and day out working through all of their lessons. It was 100 dollars for the month and the best money I have ever spent. I learned so much more from those videos than I ever did with any other material/tactic. They had advice and guidance I had never come across before and it was working. My CAT’s and practice problems were showing the results I wanted. I scored a 730 on my next CAT about 2 weeks into the month. I felt stronger than ever answering every type of question. You know in school when you finally understand a subject or piece of material and then afterwards you could nail it every time? That’s how I finally felt; it was all clicking. The lessons and practice problems were helpful and to the point. Yesterday, I took my second (and final!!) test. I scored a 710 and couldn’t be happier. I attribute so much of my success to EmpowerGMAT. If you are willing to do the lessons and take the time, it will improve your score?no DOUBT.

6/23/18 - Official GMAT #1 - 580 - Q44 - V26
10/1/18 - Official GMAT #2 - 670 - Q45 - V37

I owe my 90 point increase entirely to EMPOWERgmat.

I self-studied for 1 month and got a 580. I was miserable and I wasn't sure if I could beat the GMAT. I took the month of July off from studying as I decided what my new approach would be. I knew I learned best through instructional videos. I don't like in-class instruction and I wanted it to be self-paced. Another big thing is PRICE. The GMAT exam is expensive enough, I didn't want to spend $1000 on a class - that's outrageous and unnecessary. Then I found EMPOWERgmat. I went through their trial period and I knew within a few minutes that this was the class for me. You pay $99 a month so if you can finish the whole online course in one month then you save money!

It took me two months to complete the entire Score Booster EMPOWERgmat course. I started studying on August 1st, 2018 and my GMAT retake was scheduled for October 1st, 2018. I do work full time and I honestly wasn't as diligent as I could have been. Had I studied more consistently (as opposed to just utilizing my weekends) I could have gotten a 700+.

Rich and Max's videos were amazing and they teach you everything you need to know. They taught me that the "trap" answers that always got me are actually punishment answers because I was doing something wrong. They also told me I can SKIP certain questions. I was shocked by that and I found it difficult in the beginning to skip hard/time consuming questions. Once I started skipping 3-4 questions in both Quant and 2-3 in Verbal, my practice scores shot up to 690. Now, given my goal sore of 650, I didn't focus as much on the Quant section because I was always within a range of 44-46, which was fine for me. What I needed to focus on was the Verbal section and the strategies for solving each type of problem. The strategies I learned from EMPOWERgmat were critical in improving my verbal score by 11 points! Only in the one week before my exam did I do official GMAT questions outside of those presented in the EMPOWERgmat course. So, as I said, if you put in more practice than I did, you can get a 700+ with the strategies taught to you by EMPOWERgmat.

Quant: Rich's videos helped me sooo much with pacing. I always ran out of time during my practice exams so I always got a bunch of questions wrong at the end. And the questions at the end are almost always GETABLE. The GMAT puts them there to reward the people who are doing well on time. Also, I was finally getting number property and overlapping set questions correct thanks to the strategies that Rich taught. If you struggle in math, Rich will teach you all the basics and then the tricks to make you better.

Verbal: Max taught me strategies I never knew I needed. I thought I could get by on Verbal because its just reading words. Nope. I needed those strategies in order to get an 11 point increase in my verbal score. After watching all the verbal section videos, SC was finally easy, I was able to knock out the 3 wrong answer types on CR, and RC was actually simple if you spend more time reading the passage! I hated the Verbal section of the GMAT, it was never my strong suit. But Max's videos were so amazing that I started to enjoy some of the questions because for the first time, I KNEW I was choosing the correct answer, I wasn't just guessing between 2-3 answers. The most important thing I learn from Max is how to choose the right answer when you've narrowed it down to two answers. That strategy helped me the most because I always got it down to a 50/50 shot, but I always chose wrong.

Overall, EMPOWERgmat is the best course out there. It's inexpensive compared to others, it's self-paced, and they provide so many other benefits with the class (they set you up with an advisor, they have an option for a 30 min phone call with a pro to look at your admissions essays/profile, you can get GMAT official exams at a discounted price). EMPOWERgmat is the best bang for your buck. The team is incredibly helpful and I've already recommended the course o multiple friends and colleagues who want to take the beast that is the GMAT. You won't regret choosing EMPOWERgmat. Start with their free trial, I promise you will like it.

Good luck and happy studies!

Everyone I knew was recommending a private tutor, but I was worried about both the price and the inability to move completely at my own pace. I am super super happy I stumbled on EMPOWERgmat. I went from a 630 to a 710 after working with them, and saw an incredible improvement in my Verbal score (from 82nd percentile to 98th!).

Verbal: I really enjoyed Max's videos on the verbal section. The dude knows this part of the exam inside and out, and through his videos, he gives you great insight into how he approaches each question and arrives at the right answer. I had worked with other prep books before so it took a little time for me to be completely won over by the new approach, but it really worked wonders. When it came to Verbal, I just tried to pretend I was Max and approach each question exactly as he would. In fact, the process became quite fun as I began to see the little tricks and stumbling blocks the test writers like to throw at us. I found his SC approach the most helpful, and improved greatly. Before Empower, I was having a ton of problems with SC and didn't know why! I learned quickly I was focusing on all the wrong things.

Quant: While I really enjoyed Rick's videos and approach as well, I didn't see the improvement I was hoping for in the quant section, and I'm still not sure why. I went from a 38 to a 42, but that still left me in the 43%, which for me was quite disappointing, as I don't consider myself to be bad at math. Rick is an absolute master at the quant section and while studying, I felt like I was picking up a ton of knowledge and techniques that would help me. However, I continued to struggle with Quant through my CATs and finally, on my official exam. When I was looking for a program to sign up with, many people recommended EMPOWER explicitly for the quant. Again, while I felt like I was learning a ton with Rick's videos, I am nervous to personally recommend this section, as I didn't see much improvement. However, I think with a little more time and review, I could have been much more successful with the guidance and help of Rick.

Overall: Studying and eventually taking the GMAT is a real pain, especially when so many of us already have pretty full schedules. I found working with videos much more effective than books as they do a better job of drawing in and holding your attention. EMPOWER's videos are all carefully thought out, and engaging enough that you aren't desperately trying to not fall asleep. The syllabus is also laid out in a way that takes the guess work out of planning your study schedule. I would feel more than comfortable recommending these guys to anyone. They are damn good at what they do and clearly take their work very seriously. Keep calm and Empower On.

Empowergmat helped me boost my score by 40 points in a less than a month. I had given the GMAT twice before, each time getting the same score despite using different tactics and extensively practicing with the Official guides and official mocks. I switched to Empower for my third attempt because after my 2nd one i realised that self-study was not working for me and i really needed a game- changing strategy as i was looking a score boost of a minimum 40 points.

I chose the Empower 1 month plan after reading so many positive reviews about them on gmat forums. I honestly was skeptical because i hadn't heard of any friends or colleagues use the platform before. But as soon as i started with the trial, i was convinced of the simplicity and effective approach followed. The concept videos are structured in a very thoughtful manner and makes every topic seem easy and intuitive. My ESRs from the previous attempts had indicated that my weakest area in verbal was SC so i was primarily focused on improving my SC sccuracy. I would recommend anyone who shares the same weakness to watch their SC concept videos atleast twice to etch them in your mind. My verbal score jumped from 35 in the last two attempts to 41 with just 3 weeks of prep.

I also really liked the mini clinics to teach quant formulae and the podcasts to boost confidence before every mock. Would definitely recommend the software especially for retakers who have tried to get the desired score in conventional ways and failed. Lastly, i haven't seen a more proactive customer support in any professional service i have ever taken. The response time in under 30 mins for any questions and they go out of their way to provide you with all the help they can.

Empowergmat helped me boost my score by 40 points in a less than a month. I had given the GMAT twice before, each time getting the same score despite using different tactics and extensively practicing with the Official guides and official mocks. I switched to Empower for my third attempt because after my 2nd one i realised that self-study was not working for me and i really needed a game- changing strategy as i was looking a score boost of a minimum 40 points.

I chose the Empower 1 month plan after reading so many positive reviews about them on gmat forums. I honestly was skeptical because i hadn't heard of any friends or colleagues use the platform before. But as soon as i started with the trial, i was convinced of the simplicity and effective approach followed. The concept videos are structured in a very thoughtful manner and makes every topic seem easy and intuitive. My ESRs from the previous attempts had indicated that my weakest area in verbal was SC so i was primarily focused on improving my SC sccuracy. I would recommend anyone who shares the same weakness to watch their SC concept videos atleast twice to etch them in your mind. My verbal score jumped from 35 in the last two attempts to 41 with just 3 weeks of prep.

I also really liked the mini clinics to teach quant formulae and the podcasts to boost confidence before every mock. Would definitely recommend the software especially for retakers who have tried to get the desired score in conventional ways and failed. Lastly, i haven't seen a more proactive customer support in any professional service i have ever taken. The response time in under 30 mins for any questions and they go out of their way to provide you with all the help they can.

I relied exclusively on EmpowerGMAT for my test prep, and it paid off. The platform provides study guides to users who want a structured study plan, but also allows flexibility to users who want to focus their study time on particular weak areas (for example, I focused 100% of my study efforts on Quant b/c I didn't need the help on Verbal.) The practice problems and accompanying video lessons provide clear and easy-to-follow guidance for answering each question, and the quizzes leverage the GMAT Official Guide, so you can be confident your practicing on problems that closely mimic the real thing.

Throughout the "mini lessons," Rich acknowledges that there are multiple ways to solve a problem, but shows you the best (i.e. fastest) way to solve them, and gives you clear guidance for employing those strategies wherever possible to pick up valuable seconds/minutes on Test Day. He also shares strategic insight into how the test works and what the test-makers are really looking for, which helped me get more comfortable with triaging questions and drastically improved my time management.

The people at EmpowerGMAT are really helpful and proactive in ensuring you're satisfied with your test prep materials. When my first attempt at the test didn't go the way I'd hoped, they were quick to offer me a month of complimentary access, and Rich provided his feedback on my Enhanced Score Report to help me focus my study efforts prior to my next attempt. I was regularly impressed by the value I got from EmpowerGMAT, and at a price point far below what many of the leading test prep courses charge, it is undoubtedly worth the money. I highly recommend.

My first ever practice gmat without any studying I scored a 680 and was really stuck at 680 for a while, with my quant score always bringing me down. After 2.5 months of studying, my math knowledge was where it needed to be, but I didn't have a good strategy to tackle the section. I stumbled upon EmpowerGmat while looking for resources and was drawn to the 30 day Quant Booster. I loved the videos, the structured approach and checklist of things to do. It was helpful for me to have a set list of tasks that I had to accomplish in a given timeline. It made studying feel much more guided and gave me a tangible goal.

What I learned most from EmpowerGMAT was strategy on how to complete the test, and it applied to every section, not just Quant. I had triage techniques, frameworks for timing and pacing myself, and learned more about how to skip a question and move on to another to still get a high score. At the end, my final gmat score was a 720 which is exactly where I wanted it.

I would definitely recommend EmpowerGMAT for anyone looking for structured approach to studying. It will not substitute coming up with your own general strategy and approach (no gmat prep site should), but it is a fantastic way to hone in concepts you're less comfortable with, and provides a lot of helpful problem sets for you to work through. You can use it in the beginning of your studies, or if you're stuck months into studying.

Thanks Empower for the help!

After taking the GMAT for the first time last December, I felt like even though I had a solid foundation for the material, my approach still needed a little work. I had already gone through the video lessons offered through Magoosh and learned the Quant basics in the Target Test Prep course leading up to my first attempt. I came away from my first test feeling alright, but like there had to be a better approach to the questions. I emailed Rich directly and asked him for some insight. He was glad to look over my enhanced score report and offer his thoughts on moving forward from there. He had mentioned the Test It method, and it definitely sparked my interest. I ended up going through the all of the lessons on the Test It and Test the Answer approach and review lessons offered through Empower a few times and ended up coming out of my second attempt 20 points higher! So much for not being able to improve an already over 700 score. I could not have done it without Empower's approach to questions. I was able to triage every question right away and get through the entire test. Thanks Rich!

I loved EMPOWERgmat for many reasons. First, the quality of the practices and the explanation videos was incredible. The software really encouraged you to work through problems on your own first, and then giving you an in-depth explanation, which I feel is the best way to learn. It's also easy to customize this course for yourself. You click through the videos and you can focus more on what works for you and less on what you don't need as much help with. Lastly, whenever I had a question or an issue, the people at EMPOWER were extremely responsive and helpful. Overall, I highly recommend this course! I bumped up my score by almost 100 points using the tactics from EMPOWERgmat and I'm positive that everyone would experience similar results!

After a 610 on January 26th 2018, I have decided to purchase a month of the Empower Gmat course. Before, I did just the OG exercises, but they clearly weren't enough for me, since they only gave me the basics of the Gmat, not the answers to the most difficult questions.
Result after just than a month: 670 Q46 V34, and I am aware that my score could have been even higher. Max and Rich teaching method is incredibly easy but very effective: many small lessons with exercises in between. My passion for mathematics brought me to enjoy more the quant part than the verbal one, even though I had the most important increase in V from 28 to 34.

Highly recommended.

P.S.: their slogan "Gmat assasins aren't born, they are made" is not just a slogan but a lesson to keep in mind while preparing for the Gmat.

Giorgio Pagani
Milan, Italy

I absolutely loved using this tool and felt that is properly prepared me for the GMAT! I ended up getting a score that was 750+ and attribute a lot of that to EMPOWERgmat approach.

The on-demand videos were engaging, informative, and taught me how to properly take the test (not just simply do math or sentence construction). The approach to teaching the content was organized and followed a logical approach that empowered me to grasp key concepts, practice doing problems, and receive almost instant feedback. The overall tone of the entire tool is casual enough to make you feel engaged, not intimidated, but the content demonstrates absolutely expertise and masterly of the GMAT. Additionally, I liked the recommendations that Rich makes about how to take the test well - the preparation meant that I felt cool, calm, and collected when I took the test.

I had studied the GMAT curriculum from a coaching institute earlier and that too for about 3 months. But when I started with the mocks, it got difficult for me to finish on time especially in the Verbal section as I always ended up missing questions. Also, in Quants my scaled score was completely stuck on a 42 out of 60. No matter how much I practiced, there wasn't any improvement somehow, barely a point or so. In my mocks I was always in the range of 550-600. I gave my GMAT and scored a 560. I knew no way to push my score as I had pretty much exhausted the Manhattan mocks and practiced from Official GMAT Prep, Veritas and sources. That's when I read about EmpowerGMAT online and enrolled for just a month as the college application deadlines were around the corner.

I must say EMPOWER has been my savior. Rich and Max taught me different ways to attack questions and how to save time. TEST IT technique in Quants worked wonders for me and my Quants score got pushed up. This technique actually helped me solve questions in less than a minute and earlier similar questions took at least 2 mins. TRIAGE technique has been a marvel. My score got pushed from a 560 to 650, all thanks to EMPOWER. The team is way quick with their reverts, whenever I had some issue or doubts, I mailed it to the team and got a revert in maximum 2 hours. This course is MUST for anyone aspiring for a high GMAT score! Kudos!

EMPOWERgmat is the best GMAT prep service I have used. Prior to using EMPOWER's services I have scored a 710 on the GMAT. After receiving admission to INSEAD and having some extra time on my hands I decided to give the GMAT another shot to boost my resume.

Overall, I spent two weeks with the program and focused on both the quant and verbal portions of the course. The main advantage that EMPOWER offers that other providers such as Magoosh and egmat (I have used them both prior) do not are the test taking strategies. While the test taking strategies seem very intuitive and obvious, it provides the test taker with a framework and guideline to follow during the last 10 questions on Quant or last 15 on Verbal when the test taker's brain becomes mush and can no longer function. The GMAT is not only a skill best test ( it is to a point) but also a logic and organization test. At the 700+ level, the test taker who can maintain confidence and poise during the exam will reach his or her dream score (of course, accounting for the +/- 30 point variability).

Overall, this course is great and I am glad I found it.

I am very happy with the training I received from EMPOWERGmat. The best thing about the course is that it is very structured. It has the flexibility that allows you to adjust the pace according to where you stand in your GMAT prep. the recommended duration for the curse is 3 months, however since I wanted to take the GMAT in March, it only gave me 7 weeks to prepare. this meant that I had to study more than what the course duration suggested, however i was able to do that because I was able to dedicate more time, and because i was strong in quant in general.

The strategies taught, especially in quant really enabled me to score higher in quant. In Verbal my weakest section was SC. I really like how EMPOWER Gmat has simplified the SC especially when compared to other test prep companies. Instead of the complicated terminologies used by other test prep companies, which are in line with what OG also uses, the strategy EMPOWER uses really helped me to identify errors in SC much more accurately and faster.

EMPOWER is wayyy cheaper than the competitors, and provide techniques that TRULY help.

After about 1,5 month of thorough studying (Manhattan booklets, OG's) I took the GMAT. Real bummer, I scored a 530 (needed at least a 600). It was obvious that my approach wasn't effective at all, so I began to look for other online prep companies. I came across EMPOWERgmat. What I liked at first is that you can try it out for 24 hours and after that you pay a monthly fee of $99,- and that's it - you get acces to all the content and you can choose your x month study plan. I only had about a month so I chose the 1 month study plan. The content is simply great. EMPOWERgmat got the GMAT all figured out and knows exactly how it works. They arranged the topics in such order that you're optimally prepared upon test day. They have mini clinic videos - explaining the best techniques and tactics for a particular subject. Furthermore they back-up every question with a short, but powerful explanation video. For me it was almost fun, preparing for the GMAT this way, since I knew that everything I was doing, was the right thing at the right time. The support team is awesome as well. Whenever you have a question they almost immediately reply.

In my month of preparation with EMPOWERgmat I only got to finish about 40% of the content, but still got up 110 points - I mean that's just amazing. I firmly believe that if one completes all the content from EMPOWERgmat (preferably in a 3 month study plan - this gives you a life besides the GMAT), the 700 is an easy target.

I would recommend everyone to go with EMPOWERgmat, they are great!

I signed up to the EmpowerGMAT course after doing some research on the online courses available that could be completed in one month.

I had already taken the GMAT with some preparation but unfortunately it didn't go as planned. I got a 600 Q38V34. My scores from practice tests were much better so I was really angry. The EmpowerGMAT course made me realize that if I wanted to improve in one month I had to focus on the most frequently tested areas.

Quant: My situation in quant was a bit atypical. I was REALLY good at some complex subjects such as probability, combinations, multi shaped geometry and overlapping sets. But I was failing at subjects such as remainders and percentages. If you don't know it yet you will learn it in your Empower course: some subjects are worth little points and some other are worth a lot. I was good at the ones that were worth less so I had to focus on getting those easier problems correct first. Rich's approach helped me in two fundamental ways: firstly, Test It works wonders on A LOT of problems and secondly, you should prioritize some type of questions over others. I'll tell you this now: focus on getting insanely good at Test It. My score in Quant wasn't great but I truly believe that Test It is the right approach for non-math guys like me.

Verbal: I'm not a native speaker but since the beginning I was better at the verbal section than the quant one. It came more naturally and I found it much easier. My lowest verbal score was actually in my first GMAT (V34), I remember finding that exam extremely difficult, much more than what I had seen at the CATs. I was already really good at CR and RC without taking notes so I didn't follow Max's advice in that aspect, but mainly because I had very little time to get good at doing that. My weakness in verbal came from SC so I followed Max's advice thoroughly and I saw a really good improvement. Once again, Empower is focused on teaching you the most common type of questions. It was the same for SC, they helped me realize that the mistakes are usually the same, you just need to get rid of all the fillers.

Overall I consider it a very good and focused course. I came with some background since I had bought and read all the Manhattan Guides before doing the Empower Course but you could totally get a good score by only following this course. The only reason I'm not giving them 5 stars is because the web page course interface could be better. Apart from that they know what they are doing and they will teach you what you need to know to succeed, nothing more and nothing less.

I am not a native speaker and I am currently completing my graduate studies.

I am writing this review today because I truly am grateful to the guys over at EMPOWERGmat for the service they provide: I could score in the 96th percentile while prepping for a relatively short period of time (1 month and a half, averaging a couple of hours a day) and without too much of a hassle, and for an affordable price. I know this might sound like I'm marketing for them, but the truth is they are so great I decided to write this review. My reccomendation is to try the course as they offer long-ish free trial periods, and check by yourself if it the course will work out for you. I'm sure it will.

The EMPOWERGmat course is GOLD. It consists of video-lesson in which an instructor speaks, and you are only shown a pad onto which he writes down calculations / formulas / important data. They are all very direct and simple (The solution to a Quant exercise averages around 2 minutes, and I think all of the theory lessons don't add up to more than a few hours). The various arguments are split in lessons + exercises made up by the company in order to show specific patterns/tricks + solutions to Official Guide exercises using the EMPOWER approach. The Quant and Verbal are teacher by 2 different tutors. Quant part tutor is almost funny, definitely not heavy to follow, and very clear. Verbal can be a little bit more tedious, but it will give you anything you need to beat the test.

Why is this course different from the other I've checked out? Because it's totally, entirely, nonsense free. It's not one of those courses that make up weird, twisted arguments only to push you to purchase more tests / questions / books. These guys only give you exactly what you need in order to score a very, very good score. Quant covers all of the arguments that show up on the test and actually matter. I'll give you one example: standard deviation. You will never, never, never be asked to calculate the standard deviation formula on the GMAT. You just won't, it's impossible. You are only required to understand the concept, so why would you fill your brain up with that formula? Plus, the sad truth is that the 700-800 level questions idea is nonsense. In order to hit a very high score (think 90-95 percentile) you only need to be consistent with questions of Medium level from the OG, plus figuring out some of the Hard ones. That's it. No need for difficult things, just practice long enough to become consistent: after a while you will feel like the problems are all the same, you will see patterns / where the tentmakers are trying to trick you without even thinking about it. That's the secret to the GMAT: it's really similar to solving a bunch of medium questions and some hard ones, taking the OG questions as a reference.. Worked out for me. Verbal gives you an approach that can help you figure out most of the questions. If you are somewhat good by yourself, you will be able to consistently hit 90-95 percentile just practicing with a couple dozens of questions.

I was initially drawn to Empower GMAT because of a review - the poster had gone from a 490 to a 770 in 3 months. Since I couldn't ignore the effectiveness demonstrated in that story, I decided to see whether this improvement was representative of their other clients. Not only was Empower very positively mentioned on the forums, but it also included 1, 2, and 3 month study plans so they can be used to fit most time frames.

After signing up for the free trial, I was sold. Empower focuses on a fundamental aspect of the GMAT: it is, categorically speaking, predictable. As such, Rich and Max present the course in a way that capitalizes off of that. Although there is no substitute for knowing the GMAT's curriculum, which Rich and Max cover in its entirety, the GMAT's underlying theory is relatively rudimentary, and so tactics and strategy reign supreme. Rich's strategy game is insane. He will tell you which questions to dump, which questions don't count, and which questions your absolutely must get right. He will teach you how to guess properly, how to manage your time, and even how to get over a 700 while only focusing on 75% of the questions you see on test day. By the end of the course, you will experience such an intimate understanding of the GMAT and its underlying structure that come test day, you will go in there knowing exactly what to expect and how to get what you want.

Empower not only emphasizes strategy above all else, but also only focuses on official GMAT questions. A huge pet peeve of mine is when test prep companies try to focus on their own "in-house" made questions rather than just use the most accurate resource available: questions made by GMAC. I can guarantee you that test prep companies who make their own questions do not spend $2000-$3000 per question like GMAC does. You might not see a difference as a beginner, but once you get used to GMAC official questions and then start doing third-party questions, you will notice that they have a different feel to them. With Empower, you focus your efforts where they are most effective: questions made by the test maker.

In terms of customer service, I was always - without fail - taken care of within 2 hours of submitting a ticket or a request. Because Empower is a small company, I tended to deal with the same people and it is just refreshing to not have to constantly explain your situation to whoever your case has been passed on to. With that in mind, I felt that Empower's staff were truly invested in my success and in my experience using their website. In short, if you need anything done, or have a question, you can get a response fairly quickly and it will be from someone who sincerely wants you to succeed.

Finally, looking at the price tag for some of these other courses, Empower's course offers incredible value. The videos are focused, engaging, and entertaining and give you what you need without focusing on adding unnecessary production value that will ultimately come out of your pocket.

Whether you are an experienced test taker or have never taken a standardized test before, Empower will definitely add to your arsenal as you prepare for the GMAT. I would definitely recommend this course!

I applied to Master Programs in Business School in Europe and needed to score at least 600 points. After I did some review in math concepts, I took a practice test and scored 570. It was really shocking for me as I only had 2 months left until the application deadline and really needed to score above 600 on my first try.

At first, I thought that I could master the GMAT with the OG alone but after my second practice test, which I scored even lower (540), I asked a friend who recently did his GMAT for help. He recommended EMPOWERgmat as this course took him to his target score. I gave it a try and really can't thank the EMPOWER guys enough! Their approach is so much better than studying math formulas and rules all day long. They teach you very powerful tactics to beat this test without the need to learn all the math and verbal rules you otherwise would have to learn. Furthermore, for me, it was very helpful to have a study plan and to know what to learn and practice next.

In the actual test, I was still very nervous and not sure whether I learned enough to get my target score but in some situations, I heard Rich or Max speaking in my head and reminding me about all the approaches and tactics I learned during their lessons. This made me feel more comfortable and I was rewarded with a score of 630 in the end. I didn't even imagine to score over 600, so this score was a huge surprise for me and a reward for the skills and tactics I learned during the EMPOWER online training.

All in all, I can unconditionally recommend the EMPOWERgmat training to anyone who wants to reach their target score in minimum time with a really efficient approach. I don't which score I would have scored without the EMPOWER training but honestly, I don't even want to know that.

My experience: I studied for & took the GMAT in 2014 shortly after taking the LSAT. I received a 700 thanks to a really high verbal score (48/ 99th percentile) but low quant (37/ 34rd percentile).

I ended up pursuing an early career Masters in Management rather than the joint MBA+JD I was originally planning on. Last fall I started thinking about eventually applying for an MBA (in 2020) and was at a time in life it seemed more convenient to study for and take the GMAT (no big moves, no big job changes, etc.).

So I retook an exam to see what stuck from 2014 - I think I scored around a 650. I knew I wanted 700+ so decided to read through Manhattan Guides. However, I didn't feel they really improved my math skills. It required memorizing a lot of formulas and I'm more of a common sense test taker (would rather use logic to solve problems rather than relying on memorization - I'm not great at memorizing). After reading reviews I decided to use EmpowerGMAT because it seemed to include a lot of test taking strategies.

It fulfilled all my expectations! It was super helpful. I did the first section and then some parts of the remaining sections. I found the strategies most helpful (e.g. eliminating answers, testing the answers, etc.).

My GMAT score ended up 710 (47 verbal, 41 quant) which I am happy with for the amount of time I put in. I think if you actually did all of the EmpowerGMAT modules you would be in a really good position for 750+.

As far as ROI on time spent goes, I think EmpowerGMAT is great. It provides test taking strategies that will immediately bump your score, and also a great breakdown of concepts tested on the GMAT. I was also impressed with their verbal - I think it would be good for studying for the LSAT reading comprehension actually! Additionally, the fact the materials are online helps a lot with being able to study anytime (I travel for work so this was nice). And the checklist / progress dashboard is pretty motivating. Finally, they are available if you have any problems or questions. Great program!

When I decided to apply to an MSc Management course at one of the top universities in Europe I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me. This work included studying for and taking the GMAT. I looked around online, seeking advice. To be honest, I didn't know where to start.
Then I came across some forums advocating the EMPOWERgmat program. They offer a free trial, so I thought why not?
That trial turned into 3 months hard studying and following the curriculum carefully laid out by EMPOWERgmat.
The teaching style of both Rich (Quant), and Max (Verbal) ensure no stone is left unturned, and I my confidence grew as I progressed with the course.
In the end, I got 640 in the exam and accepted to the course I desired. I cannot thank the guys at EMPOWERgmat enough for the role they played, and I highly, highly recommend them to anyone embarking on the same journey I did!

Already having a good score, I wanted to reach the 700 threshold; after reviewing several online GMAT courses I chose Empower GMAT's program because its course could be customizable for the duration of study and I only needed to refine my verbal skills. It turned out to be a good decision as the author of the verbal section did an excellent job of simplifying the learning curve all the while giving out out the tricks of the trade especially regarding the SC and CR sections. For people having more than 3 months time to prepare for the test, the course is very rich in material and would be ideal for first timers especially.

The first time I took the GMAT I only self studied using the GMAT official guide and I was able to get a respectable 670 (Q49 V33). My main weakness was the way I approached quant (too much complex maths and I wasn't fast/efficient enough on most standardized questions), and on the verbal side I lacked a proper strategy (I had the bad habit of not properly eliminating answers and just selecting the one I though that fitted the best)

EMPOWER was a huge game changer. I knew that for my second try I had to take a good, structured course that would go through all the core content and specially teach strategy regarding elimination of wrong answers.

EMPOWER definitely excels at this last topic: its triage tips, and strategies specially for sentence correction, allowed me to improve 30 points (all in verbal, going from V33 to V37)

I would definitely recommend this course to anyone. The only positive criticism that i have is that I believe it lacks a bit more difficult excercises (700+) on the quant side.

Thank you very much EMPOWER for my 700 GMAT which has allowed me to gain admissions at Kellogg, INSEAD and LBS!

I am so lucky I came across EMPOWERgmat. I actually signed up to the course mostly because I thought the price point was more reasonable than some of the alternatives, but in the end it was so good that I would have paid anything! Here I will provide some highlights from the course and the main reasons why I would 100% recommend it to anyone preparing to take the GMAT. (I will include more details of my personal experience in the Share Your Experience thread; in short, I went from 500 to 700 in my practice CATs, but score was 650 on the day due to some very stupid timing mistakes).

STRUCTURE
First of all, the structure of the course is excellent; I was able to break the 12 week study plan into clear, achievable goals for each week; a typical week would involved completion of a Quant module (ie. Algebra), completion of a Verbal module (ie. Reading Comprehension), a couple of mini courses on strategy or tactics, and then some practice quizzes. Even as the weeks closed in I didn't feel overwhelmed, because I was following the curriculum and I felt confident that I would have covered everything I needed to know by Test Day. (They have also designed study plans for 8 weeks and 4 weeks, where I assume curriculum is cut back or condensed).

TEACHING
The other amazing thing, was that when I sat down to do a module, for example, 'Algebra', it wasn't at all overwhelming; the module was broken up into clear classes, where Rich would take you quickly through the concepts and then work with you through lots of example questions. Same with Max on the Verbal side. I was very weak in Quant when I started, and the answer explanations in the OG would often just leave me confused and frustrated, but Rich's explanations are so simple and clear. He also has a positive yet pragmatic attitude, which I really enjoyed.

APPROACH
I also really love that this course is specifically designed around beating the GMAT. It's not about improving your maths skills or your English grammar - all of those things are only focused on in as far as they can help boost your GMAT score. There is a lot of focus on clever strategy and tactics. The Test It tactic and Data Sufficiency process completely changed Quant for me, and even in Verbal, where I was already strong, I saw my score go up several points once Max explained the wrong answer types to look out for and little tactics like the 'The Opposite Test' in Critical Reasoning. I think this element of the course is worth its weight in gold and really sets this course apart from others.

ENJOYMENT
Perhaps this is the most important element. I had thought that studying for the GMAT would just be this necessary yet unpleasant task that I would have to endure for a couple of months. I imagined that I would dread every evening and weekend that I had set aside for studying. However, I was pleasantly surprised when this was not the case at all! I know it might sound crazy, but I actually even looked forward to working on an EMPOWER Quant module after dinner. I think it's because there are so many quizzes built into the curriculum, so the study is very interactive and you're constantly getting feedback.

I am usually not one for the gushing review, but I honestly cannot recommend this course highly enough. If you are preparing to take the GMAT, take this course!

(As an additional note/brag, I completed this three months of study while working full-time and parenting a 1 year old child, so I was only getting in an average of 10-12 hours of study a week).

In September I sat the first time for the GMAT exam with an effort of about two months training. I received a 560 and was very disappointed. Therefore, I wrote a post in a forum and received an answer by Rich Cohen. Rich told me exactly what my issue was without even telling me about EMPOWERgmat.
Nevertheless, for my second prep time I started informing myself about GMAT courses and chose EMPOWERgmat because of the positive feedback by people who took the test a second and third time.

I soon realized that Rich Cohen is the founder of EMPOWERgmat and started asking him further questions via e-mail. Rich replied always in about 1-3 hours. Amazing to have the GMAT assassin himself answering your questions within hours. Rich is very direct and tells you if you are doing totally wrong. He is really pushing you to stand up and do what it needs to become a GMAT assassin. Maybe some people find that offensive, nevertheless I think it helps a lot!

The course itself is very well structured. You start learning using techniques instead of math (or in combination with math). This totally changed my view on the GMAT math section and helped me to get faster and more accurate. The verbal part of EMPOWERgmat is made by Max. His approaches to solve CR questions and RC questions are just amazing. I also really liked that the transcripts of his videos are available. This allowed me to learn in the library without the need to wear my headphones for hours. Unfortunately, I did not improve my verbal that much (from V32 to V33) but I think with more practice in the EMPOWERgmat techniques, I would have improved my verbal part significantly as well. My math score was improved my 10 points (from Q36 to Q46), what I think is amazing for that time and the fact that I was not able to finish the course.

Beside the approaches for math and verbal, EMPOWERgmat includes very useful tactics and information about the test and the preparation for the test itself. I bought myself headphones and pencils that are like the original GMAT headphones and pencils. I really enjoyed the GMAT podcasts, especially the ones for the last days before the official exam.

Learning for another 2,5 months was tough. I had to start writing my bachelors thesis in that time, preparing for internship applications, taking classes in university and working nearly full-time. Nevertheless, EMPOWERgmat made it possible to improve myself by 80 points and receive a 640! I did not even have the time to finish the course (progress: about 45%). I am pretty sure by completing the course and having more time for preparation than I had during the 2.5 months, a near to 700 or 700+ score would definitely be possible coming from 460.
I would highly recommend EMPOWERgmat to everyone!

When I started my GMAT preparation, I was studying by myself. I used to solve questions posted in forums, downloaded free material, going through discussions for explanations, etc. Doing this by myself did not give me a structured approach to the GMAT. Learning for the exam seemed a daunting task. I wasted few months doing this, and I didn't see any improvement in my score. An expert suggested taking the Empower course and after reading some reviews I decided to do so. Looking back, I would say this was a step in the right direction.

This course helps beginners get the right foundation as well as for retakers. I was strong in Quant but not in Verbal, so at first I planned to use the course for Verbal. Listening to Max's explanations for Verbal OG questions seemed so simple. This was a huge confidence boost. I imitated his approach towards SC and RC questions. The SC 5 second rule, and RC Ladder and reading pace improved my accuracy to 90%. I listened to his explanations for all the OG questions and read the solutions in OG as well. I got accustomed to official questions and was able to quickly identify any question that didn't seem official. During the exam, I was so confident in SC, which was a horrible nightmare a few months back, that I completed the questions in a minute and was able to easily eliminate the wrong answers. In RC, the approaches seemed very simple but they were the most effective. But due to some unfortunate circumstances, I did not score well in verbal on the final exam, but that does not discourage me to give these guys a shout out.

At first, I wasn't focusing on the Quant as I was pretty comfortable, but then I thought let me check it out. Rich's explanation and the tips he gives at the end of every explanation are terrific. As he mentions, Test it and Test the answers can be applied to most of the questions. I was stuck at Q48 for a long time, but after combining Empower tactics and my math skills I was able to reach Q50.

By listening to their explanations carefully and practicing those tactics, the GMAT will be a breeze. If anyone is looking for a structured, an effective and simple approach to tackle questions, these guys are the best.

Empower was far-and-away the best tool I used for my GMAT prep. They provide hundreds of instructional videos and use only real, retired gmat problems. They know the test better than anyone I have come in contact with and what really sets them apart is their strategy to "beat the gmat."

The Empower team has analyzed the gmat and has found ways to crack the test, so that you can achieve your highest score. I know this is probably cliche and many companies claim to have a "leg up" on all the competition, but I think Empower truly is the best. I took a course with another test-prep company and studied for about 4 months and got a 660. This was a disappointment because I got a 620 on the diagnostic test.

With empower I studied for about a month and a half and got over the "plateau" that everyone seems to face at some point in their studies. I ended up getting a 710 after using Empower. Additionally, the staff was very prompt in their replies to questions. The company is smaller than the goliath companies such as Kaplan and Manhattan, which works to your (the student) advantage.

10/10 recommend Empower.

I took GMAT two times, one in 14 September the second in 3 November. I prepared only using Official Guide for the first one, I got 700, but I aimed higher than that, since I will apply for scholarships too, so I registered for another test. I took 2 weeks break after the first one and decided to prepare more systematically for the second test. I searched for the courses, check the prices, took some trial courses and decided to register for EMPOWERgmat since it seems most logical to me taking into account price and quality. I had only one month to prepare and being able to register for only a month was very convenient for me. I was good at quant, I got 49 in the first trial, so I did not use EMPOWERgmat for quant. I increased my verbal score from 36 to 40 thanks to EMPOWERgmat's tricks. I watched the videos for RC, CR and SC in verbal section and solved the practice questions. The course helped me to be familiar about all verbal question types in GMAT and also taught me how to approach them. Practice questions after each video of a certain type of question helped me to comprehend the concept. I really enjoyed EMPOWERgmat, it is very effective. After you got prepared with this course, you will not be surprised by any question on the actual test. I recommend it to anyone who aims to increase his/her verbal score. I scored 730 on the second try thanks to it.

I decided to take the GMAT in the end of September. After doing some research on the best study tools, I heard about EmpowerGMAT and I'm so glad I checked it out. Not only are they a whole lot cheaper than most of the study services (only $99 a month with unlimited access to all of the study materials), but they teach you a ton of great tricks.

I signed up to take the test on November 7th, and started my subscription in the beginning of October, giving me about 5 weeks to study. I ended up not really studying for 2 of those weeks due to a natural disaster happening in my town, but that's another story. I ended up only studying hard for about 3 weeks. My score went from a 630 to a 730 on test day, just with the help Empower gave me. I didn't use any other study materials or programs.

Some of the things I liked about Empower:
-You can go at your own pace. Some of the modules/lessons I already knew really well, so I just skipped them. It's that easy. Or, you can redo modules as many times as you need to.
-Great little tricks. They taught me a few tricks in both quant and verbal that could apply to many different problems, and were super easy to learn. These were a big reason for my score increase.
-It's cost effective. You pay by the month (I think there is actually a two week extension option as well) so you don't pay more than you need to. For me, I didn't want to study for 3 months, and a lot of other services only have like $500-$1000 intensive long programs. So it can work for anyone with any type of study needs.
-There are a TON of lessons and resources on the site. I barely even scratched the surface. Basically any part of the test or topic on the test, there were a ton of lessons and practice problems and tips. And you can do them in any order you want.

I was looking for a low-cost option as I was not set on taking the GMAT or applying to business school. I stumbled upon EMPOWER after a bit of Google searching and pulled the trigger because it was a great price point compared to other more established prep services. I was immediately impressed with EMPOWER's candid approach to GMAT prep. This service is geared towards one thing: getting you a 700+ on the test. Below are some thoughts I had as I went through the curriculum.

Style: I loved EMPOWER's straightforward approach. In the quant videos, Rich is very direct about what's important and what's not. He gives little tidbits about the architecture of the test that are very helpful in juicing points that other test-takers may miss. Alongside giving a great understanding of how the test works, the video lessons are very effective in teaching the concepts. Most of the quant section relies on math you've learned at some point in the past, so a succinct refresher is all that's needed, and Rich's videos are great at that. They mix in quiz questions along the way to ensure you're getting it. On the verbal side, the sentence correction modules really help in identifying what to look for and how to eliminate wrong answers. I found that I could often get the right answer (even when it sounded weird) by using the EMPOWER rules to eliminate wrong answers. Very helpful.

Accessibility: I had a few "freak out" moments during my studying where I needed some feedback to get me refocused and reoriented. Most of those moments were on weekends and I was very impressed with Rich's accessibility. He personally responded to me quickly even on Saturdays and Sundays.

Overall: I can't imagine there's a better value out there. EMPOWER gives you the tools to succeed and the confidence to understand the test for what it is. Highly recommended as a comprehensive yet succinct and efficient prep course.

- The prep overall: really liked the fact that both teachers seem to know everything about the GMAT. You can tell they have been doing this for quite a while and will give you priceless advises on which strategy to go with and how the GMAT functions.
I think that is a real game changer, more than just working on math/verbal skills, understanding what the makers want from you and how they design each question.

- The quant section is extremely helpful, you will get all the essential things you need to know for test day. You will realise that the amount of quant formulas/data/rules to know by heart on test day is actually not that bad at all, Rich is very good at focusing on the essential and will give you tips you might not be able to get anywhere else. This prep made me realise you don't have to be a math genius to succeed in this test it's all about strategy and practice.

- The verbal section: From a non native english speaker's point of view I would have appreciated maybe a more complete verbal section. I found the content pretty light overall on basic grammar/tenses rules, but these are pretty easy to find online anyway so I wouldn't say that was a big issue.
On the other hand as with the quant section the verbal one is more focused on strategy on how to approach the questions and how to understand the GMAT standards.

What I really liked about EMPOWERgmat is that they keep everything to the essentials. Learn what they tell you to and beat the GMAT it's that simple. unlike many prep who will make you drown under useless information/data/books...

If you don't want to waste you time and money I would definitely recommend this prep, I only had one month available, never took the GMAT before and ended up with a more than decent score of 650.

As someone who just graduated from college, I did not want to pay thousands of dollars for a GMAT course if there was a similar alternative for a better price. This is exactly why I ended up choosing the Empower course to prepare for the GMAT. To give some background, I graduated from an Ivy League University as a student-athlete with a liberal arts degree. I ended up taking a job at a top-tier private equity firm out of college, but wanted to take the GMAT in my first few months out of college just so I could have the score in my back pocket for five years.

Because I was just starting a new job full-time, I wanted to be able to prepare for the test on my own time. I really liked the Empower course because they teach you how to attack each question and exploit its weaknesses. This aggressive test-taking style appealed to me as it kept everything exciting and engaging. The video lessons are very clear and thorough, making sure you understand each little step on the way to choosing your final answer.

On my initial diagnostic test that I took without any preparation I scored a 540. My goal, like many GMAT test-takers, was a 700+. After 3 months of preparation with the Empower course I was able to score a 710 on the first try. I firmly believe that anyone who works diligently to truly understand every lesson in the Empower course should be able to attain a 700 or higher. The Empower course gives you the blue-print, all you have to do is follow all their advice!

I started out preparing for the GMAT being self-guided, but when I got my first results from taking the exam I was quite dissatisfied. I looked around and liked what I saw from the review of EMPOWERgmat. My quant was already strong, but the additional techniques I picked up from Rich helped quite a bit. My verbal score was really what struggled during the first exam and the techniques that Max will teach you worked very well for me! I didn't have a ton of time to prepare (less than 3 months) for my next exam, so I expect that my score would have been even higher had I taken more time to hone my skills and improve the speed at which I process the verbal problems. Overall, I would recommend EMPOWERgmat with flying colors, since you get a discount on the OG test materials and they are willing to refund you if you do not jump up more than 70 points, a pretty awesome deal! The EMPOWER team was also very friendly and reached out to me a number of times to make sure I felt comfortable before the exam and with my score after the exam.

I graduated college in May of this year and my first day of work was not until September 18th, so I chose to spend a month of my free time being productive and working toward my future by taking the GMAT. I chose EMPOWERgmat based on a friend's recommendation, and I am very pleased with the outcome.

The program is extremely cheap compared to Kaplan, Princeton Review, etc. and also seemed to be the most flexible option. I really valued how the subscription came with a ton of content and allowed me to move at my own pace. I was still able to enjoy the summer on days where I had plans, and when I was less occupied, I could put in a solid amount of work all at once. I valued that aspect of not being tied down to a set schedule during a carefree period of time in my life. For the same reasons, I believe this course to be an optimal choice for any working professional looking to study for the GMAT outside of work, or any undergrad student looking to study during the semester.

The material offered by the course was fantastic in my opinion. The instructional videos did a really good job of reinforcing tricks and tips associated with every type of question in both the quant and verbal sections. The videos and associated practice questions are then supplemented with more material from a GMAT prep book that can be purchased online for about $20.

They recommend that you use the program for a full three months to completely master the material, and I think I would have done better had I followed that suggestion. However, their strategies are very easy to pick up and I was able to take their unique strategies and apply them on my exam to get the score I am happy with. I have since recommended this program to anyone I know thinking about taking the GMAT.

I joined EMPOWERgmat after self-studying with the Manhattan prep books and seeing no improvement in my CAT score week after week. What I found in EMPOWERgmat was everything that I was missing from books and from a self-studying approach. Not only was the video format one I found really useful, but having Rich and Max offering insightful tips and Brian answering my questions via email really provided a personalized approach.

I studied for the GMAT over the course of 2-3 months, and continued to score around 640/650 week after week, scoring 670 on my last two CATs. Somehow, by employing all the EMPOWERgmat tactics, I was able to reach my goal and score 700 on my real exam! This is definitely not something I could have done without using the EMPOWER approach to the test.

I would say that the most value in the EMPOWER course is how my view of the GMAT changed. I was able to realize that I was not studying for a test, but rather training for one, and that this exam was very different to the ones I had completed in the past. Getting used to triaging answers and dropping super hard questions was a tactic that took me a while to get used to, but ultimately led to my success. From just reading books it was unclear to me that the hard questions were worth few to no points and I needed to focus on the easy and medium topics, but this insight proved critical to joining the 700 club.

My experience with EMPOWERgmat was extremely positive and I will be recommending it to all who ask. The price is amazing for the content, insight, and support offered. I would never even consider taking a huge $1000+ course after seeing how powerful EMPOWERgmat is. Thank you to all the team - I couldn't have done it without you!

I've tried various study methods (MGMAT, private tutor, etc) and EmpowerGMAT was a great method to help me refine my learning skills in the final stages of my GMAT journey. The course content is focused on best practices and approaches to answering the question in the most straightforward way possible. For example, no crazy math techniques are necessary - the videos will show you the simplest ("oh, duh!") approach to beat the question, explained in a step-by-step sequence. This approach was refreshingly different from other methods and classes I have taken prior to discovering Empower. I highly recommend this program for students at any point of their GMAT journey.

Empower GMAT is a fantastic course to help you learn strategies and break 700 on the GMAT. It helped me go from a 640 to a 750 on my official GMAT! The videos by Rich and Max are helpful and teach you not only how to answer the specific questions at hand, but also how to apply the strategies they use to other questions. The price is very fair for the material you gain access to and the monthly charge will help keep you motivated to not let your access go to waste. Plus, the discounts you receive on official GMAT practice exams are not offered anywhere else!

The customer service at Empower is also top notch! They answer questions quickly and even forward them to Rich/Max when needed. Rich reached out to me personally to help me strategize and fix my weak areas after my first GMAT attempt and it helped me tremendously - I don't think you'd get that level of service in many other places.

You definitely need to be motivated to use Empower. You have to devote time to taking the lessons and doing the practice problems. If you do, Empower will help you get the score you deserve. Hundreds of videos of practice questions and lessons with material straight from the OG are available with expert advice. If you devote the time and energy into Empower, you can break 700!

As most students soon learn, taking the GMAT isn't like prepping for any other standardized test for graduate school. In fact, since the GMAT is one of the main MBA application components within an applicant's control, students, like myself, realize the importance of maximizing their GMAT score. To do so, I would recommend no other course than EmpowerGMAT.

I enrolled in the EmpowerGMAT course after failing to improve my practice test scores for months, and while pleased with the low cost of the course, was skeptical of spending so much on 'just a test'. Every cent was worth it, in my mind. Empower has a detailed checklist of how to go through a 1-month, 2-month or 3-month course of study. I used the 3-month checklist and it ensured my 700+ score.

The resources provided by Empower are key. Their problem explanations were very helpful and focused a lot on OG content. Their laser-like focus on official materials helped a lot, too! The instructors are obviously very talented and are excellent communicators.

However, what secured by 700+ score was the unique strategy employed by Empower. Their in-house strategies are unparalleled in the GMAT world, and after trying out several other resources, I saw my practice test scores improve only have trained with Rich at Empower.

Before starting my GMAT process, I was hoping for a 650+. Training with Empower gave me the skills and practice schedule necessary to score 700+. If I can do it, you can use Empower to get the score you need.

Hi guys,

I know a lot of you are struggling to get a good GMAT score, and trust me, I know the pain. I have lost hair, gave up on my routine and missed out on life so much because of GMAT, but now I won't give the exam again!

I gave the first GMAT in Dec 2016 and got a 660 because I was super anxious. I even gave up on GMAT for a long time, and then in March I took a date randomly for August. I had studied so much in the past that I didn't know what I knew and I didn't. I had tried EmpowerGMAT before and what I truly love about them is the simplicity of their course. These guys don't tell you that GMAT is the end of the world or that you need to be a nerd to get what you are looking for, but rather they tell you the right things and you know they are right because their approach not only works on their own content, but also works on every question of the Official stuff, which is the basis for their entire course.

I have written cheesy emails to these guys just because of the sort of cool culture they have, and the value they have added in my life. To be honest, this time I did just one mock and didn't even complete my official stuff, but I completed their course(apart from the mocks- I don't recommend doing this though!) and went to take the exam. What changed this time was my mindset, I believed in myself, I knew what the GMAT would test me, and how I need to be calm while taking the exam.

Lastly, I don't think my score is that great, but I still feel that what they have collated is actually good for anyone who intends to get the right advice.

P. S. I have gone through 3 other courses (E-GMAT, Economist, Edushastra), but the reality is that all of them have no standing in front of EmpowerGMAT.

EMPOWERgmat was a phenomenal study tool and is a must have for anyone who really wants to dominate the GMAT with a very high score. My Expectations for a course were as follows
(1)A course which had detailed strategies on how to tackle the quant and verbal sections of the gmat
(2)A course which provided a wide database of questions for extra practice
(3)A course which could also teach all the test takers on how to make educated guesses to achieve a maximum score
Empower GMAT personally scored on all the fronts as I could see my score on the diagnostic tests improve progressively as I had studied through the modules
The support staff too is extremely helpful and you can hope to expect a quick revert on any of the doubts you may have regarding the problems
The pricing too is extremely attractive - do give this course a shot

I wanted to share my experience with the Gmat preparaton, I hope this can serve to the community.
In my first attempt in the gmat I got 650 (Q50V27), my mother tongue is Spanish and I started learning English a little late. In my first attempt I studied the books of Manhattan, the Official Guide, and private classes; All this built my theoretical knowledge very well. My first simulations were in the 650 range, so a 650 on my first try was logical. After the test I felt a little worried because I knew I could do better, but I did not know how. I did well in SC, but I was slow to solve CR and RC.
On my second attempt I got 690 (Q50V32). After my first attempt I went to get help on the forums, and I found Rich's comments. Which at first seemed acidic to me, but now I have to accept that he was right. My preparation for the second attempt was with some more private lessons. I read a lot of "The Economist", I solved more official exercises. And I enrolled in his Empowergmat Verbal course. I have to admit that Empowergmat's approach gave me a better perspective to solve the exercises. I did some more simulations, which continued in the 650 range, but I felt more confident this time. Then I stopped performing simulations; and focused on speed and understanding the logic of the question, rather than understanding word for word exercises. I finally got 690 on my second attempt. This time, after the exam, I did not feel worried given I knew I could have had a better result and that it was basically with more practice. However in my schedule I had already decided to give the Gmat on that date.
I just have to thank the EmpowerGmat team, they certainly gave me confidence and a good approach to take the exam. This time the Gmat episode was finished and I have to continue with the following parts of the application.

I decided to take the GMAT for fun/sport after growing restless at my job as an attorney at a large US-based litigation firm. Without much direction or focus, my initial approach to GMAT prep was to review the official guide and tinker with some practice problems in my spare time. In hindsight, it's almost comical to think of how naive my initial approach was in so many respects. Here are a few notable challenges that I faced but wholly underestimated:

1) young attorneys at big law firms have almost zero spare time to study for the GMAT

2) first-time fathers that come home from work to crying infants have even less

3) lawyers don't do math

I don't specifically recall my score on the first GMAT practice test I attempted, only that is was abysmal. After taking that first practice test, Problem #3 became readily apparent. I hadn't taken a math class since high school, and it would be generous to say my skills were "rusty." Still, in light of problems #1 and #2, I continued to struggle through the Official Guide for a few weeks and showed up almost completely unprepared for an official GMAT in November 2016. Not surprisingly, I bombed the quant section, scoring an overall 680 (Q42 V41).

After my first disappointing attempt, I gave up on the GMAT for several months following the birth of my first child. After some reflection, I assessed my weaknesses and decided to attempt the GMAT again in May 2017. At this point, I had even less spare time for study, but I had a sense of what the GMAT expected. Even though I only reviewed the official guide in preparation for my first GMAT, the questions hit me directly between the eyes. There were very few surprises. I struggled with timing and content on the quant section so much so that I was unable to complete the last several questions. It became painfully obvious that I needed to modify my approach if I wanted to score over 700 on the GMAT. I needed to have an analytical framework for the questions that kept hitting me right between the eyes on the GMAT. As any self-respecting millennial would do, I turned to google for the counsel and searched for of a complete test prep program that could provide me with a defined study plan, strategy tips, and an overview of basic quant skills.

If you're reading this, you likely already know that many test prep programs claim sole possession of the "700+ Secret Formula." Full disclosure: I was first drawn to the EMPOWERgmat primarily because it offered a free 1-hour trial. Price and fear of commitment were my primary motivators. I didn't have time for a classroom prep setting, and I didn't want to pay for any online program without trying it first. So I enrolled in the free 1-hour trial offered by EMPOWER and immediately I was hooked. The quant instructor, Rich, who refers to himself as a GMAT assassin, narrates each of the lessons with on-screen instruction. Rich loves the GMAT and I love him for it! Or maybe Rich hates the GMAT so much that he has dedicated his life to training others to assassinate it. Either way, his enthusiasm is infectious. For the first time since beginning my GMAT prep, I was actually having fun and approaching my study as a sport (#goals).

Rich's fundamental outlook toward the GMAT quant section is that you don't have to be a math major to beat the GMAT. "OK, Rich, I'm listening." (See Problem #3.) Instead, Rich proposes a pragmatic approach to each type of GMAT problem that is more based on logic than on being a human calculator. (Very encouraging for the non-human-calculators among us.) Rich's instructional videos are full of tips, strategies, and nuggets of wisdom for each topic in the GMAT quant section. My favorite nuggets are those related to convoluted story problems. Rich dissects the story problems and diagrams the moving parts, making them easily digestible. At the risk of sounding like a total nerd/fanboy, some of Rich's diagrams are so elegant that they're worthy of framing!

I followed the EMPOWERgmat program as prescribed. Within a month, I was confident in my approach to every conceivable GMAT quant problem. I took the GMAT again in July 2017 and scored 740. My quant score jumped from 42 to 47. Q47 is certainly not in the human calculator range, but it represented a substantial improvement for me, especially given my limited spare-time budget.

**The EMPOWER program also offers a complete menu of verbal, IR, and AWA instruction, but, to be fair, I didn't necessarily utilize all of that content. The verbal content I did utilize was presented in a user friendly format just like the quant. I'm sure the verbal content on EMPOWER is great, but I dedicated the majority of my study to the quant section.

In sum, I would recommend EMPOWERgmat to any would-be GMAT assassins. I did all of my study in one month after work and on weekends while juggling a new baby. It cost me less than 100 bucks. Can't beat that! Here are my improvement numbers as a testimony to the strengths of the program:

NOVEMBER 2016: total 680 (Q42 V41) (IR 7.0; AWA 6.0)

JULY 2017: total 740 (Q47 V45) (IR 8.0; AWA 6.0)

As a non-native speaker, honestly I didn't think of Empower GMAT as the best choice when I considered which course to take. Then the 70-point guarantee of the course draw my attention. Although at the end of the course, I am not qualified for the score policy, I was still happy to ?absorb? so many valuable lessons that the course delivered. I chose to gradually study each lesson, adopt suggested strategies if necessary and practice as much as possible in 1-month duration. You know what, I used to think that I don’t need to study Quant, because my Q score was pretty cool already. However, applying 2 methods of Rich, I could finish the Quant session with 15 minutes remained and my accuracy level stayed the same. Regarding Verbal, I love the way Max explained in details every OG questions and built the habit of identifying what type of errors in each wrong options. I cannot describe how I am proud of myself when I applied that habit to every single question, I was able to find out which option is tempting and to explain why that tempting one is just a runner-up.
Last but not least, thank you, Brian and Tom, for your assistance emails whenever I had concerns, from technical problems to academic and strategic questions.
Thank you! :-)

After two big box curriculums (in-person and online) with very little progress, I didn't know what to do. I was working against a very crunched timeframe and was in desperate need of a fresh perspective. As a poor standardized test taker, I found that the EMPOWER modules finally taught me about what the test is trying to test. I found myself getting a grasp on feeling comfortable that I would be familiar with each question type and I would have different approaches to solve problems, even if it just came down to my guessing strategy. Along with great content, Rich (the instructor) does a great job of weaving some short clips outside of content that keeps you engaged and feeling ready for the big day.

I regret having spent so much money with big box providers before EMPOWER only to find myself buried in 20 lbs of books feeling lost and overwhelmed. EMPOWER is by far the most cost-effective GMAT prep program.

I'm a non-native English speaker. I have took other prep courses, but what they really teach you is how to answer a problem. Given the time constraint and competitiveness, how to solve a problem is not the only thing you needed, you need some tricks to get ahead of others. It's like any other game that you play. If you just know how to play a game, only that doesn't get you anywhere, but you also need to know how to tackle it wisely. That's exactly what EMPower teaches you. It's really worth it. It doesn't matter what prep course you follow; this is a must for you if you want to learn some tricks and tips. It's worth every penny.

I signed on with EMPOWERgmat after a disappointing 650 on my 1st attempt at the GMAT. Rich did an analysis of my ESR and gave me a recommended study plan that I followed. The course has a high focus on tactics and logic whilst providing me with the foundations necessary to tackle all the concepts that the exam threw at me.

I've never been great at math, but the way it was taught by Rich made it extremely simple. There are multiple ways of solving certain problems, but Rich shows you how to figure out the best (and most efficient) way to approach even the most complicated prompts. After going through the Empower modules, I was confident that even if I was given an unfamiliar question, I'd know the best tactic and method to approach the question. Rich was also always ready to answer emails and provide me with feedback whenever I had questions about my progress. Overall I loved the EMPOWER approach to the Quantitative part of the test.

The Verbal part of the course is pure gold. My Verbal score improvement was from the 50-60th percentile till the 90th percentile in my final score. After going through the Empower modules, I scored a perfect 51 on RC in every mock and on the official exam. My SC improved from the 40th percentile to the 90th. Max doesn't just teach you how to get the right answer, he shows you what to look for in the answer prompt and how to easily identify and eliminate wrong answers. Overall, I found that the Verbal section in the actual GMAT was an absolute breeze and I finished it with almost 10 mins left on the clock.

I would like to add a special mention to the support and advisor team from EMPOWERgmat as well. Brian & Stacy were amazing at getting back to me, answering problems and sorting out whatever issues I had. I don't think there was a single instance where they took more than a few hours to get back to me and solve my queries.

Overall, the entire team at EMPOWERgmat is as invested in your success as you are. If you have any doubts whatsoever about the GMAT, then just sign up with them and don't look back. They'll get you to the score you need.

Empower GMAT is great for people who are just starting to prepare for the test and for those who are preparing for a while and are unable to move forward and improve. The last score I got was 680 and I was unsure what else can I do to improve my score. I read all the books advised and practiced as much as I could, but my score stayed the same.
I found Empower GMAT when I was looking for a good Math course. My Verbal score I thought was good enough, so I mainly was concerned about Math. I decided to try and never regretted it. What I liked about the course:
- It seems very fun and easy; sometimes I didn’t feel like I was studying.
- It seems very personal; the instructors give you advices not only about the academics, but what to do before the exam and how to make sure you will get the best scores. You can always email them and generally they seem like good guys.
- You are given only information you need, nothing else. Pretty much, it’s all the info in one place.
- The course is very strategic, you are given strategies and tactics on how to do the best you can. Using those tactics really helps.

I guess the only thing I regret about is that I hadn’t found this course earlier; maybe I would not spend all this time reading through millions of books and articles and trying to find the best solutions. It would save a lot of time.

EmpowerGMAT is the way to go to improve your score quickly or over a longer period of time.
For me, I was in a time crunch and only had a few weeks to study and improve my score. Now it may not seem like the best score to some, but for me I knew I needed to get a 600-score to be considered for some of the better MBA programs.
I had taken the GMAT twice, scored a 530 and a 540, without really studying and was confused about how I should approach studying. My main problem was the Quant section where I was scoring in the low 20's percentile. I studied for 3.5 weeks primarily focusing on the Quant section as I was in the 75th percentile for verbal and it really paid off. The thing that helped the most was how to approach data sufficiency questions and the simplicity Rich used in the videos to explain formulas, tactics, strategies etc. I ended up with a 610 which was awesome considering this was the only studying I had ever done for the GMAT.
Rich and Max will go over any type of question in Quant and Verbal and explain exactly the fastest and easiest ways to overcome easy and tough questions!
I would definitely recommend this course to anyone, even if you want a lower score or a 700+ score.

Hello,

I am using Empower GMAT course while preparing for the GMAT test. While I am using this course in conjunction with MGMAT books and some other materials too, I really like this course the best, as I feel that it suits my learning temparament.

I am easily distracted and very lazy, also studing in the evenings after a long and stressful work day makes it very hard for me to get in the groove to study.

Enough on my ramblings... now on to the course review.
The conversational style of videos and the engaging voice of the instructors jolts me to actually learn something instead of passively going through the motions. Having said that, i feel that the videos have very basic content but high on strategies, be it triage, test it etc.. I feel that we do need additional materials for concept and then fine tune our preparation with strategies explained in the videos.

There are little nuggets of wisdom scattered throughout the course warning us on the mistakes that a test taker does. I find this extremely helpful. I feel as if someone is holding my hand and already pre- warning me on the errors I am about to make.

The other thing which I feel is working for me is witnessing an expert walk through the steps and thought process of the questions.

Overall I am loving the course, I hope this will help me while I actually take the test.

Bottom line: the EMPOWERgmat is a cut above in tactics, skills, strategy, and confidence building for maximum impact in a compact timeframe. Try it for a month; I doubt you will be disappointed.

The GMAT is one of the most important choices in life for many, including myself, as it carries so much weight for MBA applications. But the GMAT preparation industry is saturated with high opacity around the true value behind a service’s offering. The costs can be exorbitant and I have firsthand experienced an ineffective large retail course wherein I poured thousands of dollars and more than 200 hours of study.

As a means of background, I am a French-American male who graduated in finance with summa cum laude honors in 2010. After working during more than 5.5 years in corporate finance, business analysis, and strategic marketing throughout Asia I decided to pursue the GMAT in the path to business school. Even though I have historically been a poor standardized test taker (questioning the validity of such exams altogether), I do strive to take measured, sound, and serious decisions based on available information and exert persistent effort to yield desired outcomes. In doing so, I often rely on recommendations and referrals as a short cut to discovering quality in making decisions. As such, I took up a trusted friend’s suggestion for a certain online module who had scored a 700.

I spent 6 months studying (May-November 2016) with the online prep class featuring software that predicted a score of 630-700 after gruelingly answering thousands of questions and going through all of the content lessons. However, the predictive models weren’t reflective of my real performance as my CAT scores were falling in the mid to upper 500?s. An anecdote to underscore my experience: I spent many dozens of hours studying three-dimensional geometry in the large retail course’s software and I only came across 1 such question in the two real-life tests. The same can be said for combinations, probability, two-rate problems, etc. This is indicative of the misinformation and flawed understanding of how the GMAT algorithm and scoring work by some (many) prep companies, rendering courses less effective and putting many at a disadvantage.

In my last-minute frustration, I conducted desk research to seek out if any other solutions existed. Thanks to the reviews left by several students on sites like Beat the GMAT, I fortuitously learned about EMPOWERgmat. The comments all seemed promising, so I had a first 1-hour free perusal and was immediately impressed by the curriculum and the affordability (the cheapest among competitors that I’d seen). The videos were vibrant - showing how to approach problems, take notes, stay organized, and strategically guess where needed. Unfortunately, it was only several days before my first test attempt so I had little time to absorb the lessons and correct my issues. Not surprisingly, my first official score was a 530, which I smartly canceled thanks to EMPOWERgmat’s optimal game theory-like test-taking strategy.

I was spurred to immediately reach out to the EMPOWERgmat team and explain my situation, which turns out to be not such an uncommon one ? there are a number of students who go through retail courses with lackluster results in their first GMAT test and search for alternatives. EMPOWERgmat’s client service team, particularly Brian Michaels, is absolutely outstanding. The team is extremely responsive, attentive, and sympathetic to the client’s needs and difficulties. From the first interaction, I was put at ease with their no nonsense, straightforward, positive, and encouraging style of engagement. It was revealed to me that the test is a measure of skills and training as opposed to capability and hours of study per se. This was insight I hadn't come across anywhere else, as it's based on proprietary analysis. After exchanging several emails, I decided to reschedule and undertake study with their curriculum.

I had to untangle all of my bad habits with a wholesale recalibration of the way I thought about the test. This was not always easy, but EMPOWERgmat made it as painless as possible with the strong energy from the videos and an airtight system. After a short 1.5 months, I managed to improve my score +70 points to a 600 in time for Round 2 deadlines of different MBA programs. While that does not sound significant, it very much is to me. The score puts me in the 600+ range that is the minimum baseline for top programs and was the highest performance in any CAT or real-life exam I had taken (the highest percentile on any standardized test in fact).

So in short, the EMPOWERgmat was a lifesaver and I should have used it from the onset. Doing so would have saved me many hours of frustration and most likely allowed me to earn an even better score. My candid advice would be to carve out a solid 3-months of committed study to get the most impact (from any program for that matter).

I unreservedly recommend EMPOWERgmat and sincerely hope the program helps other students the same way it worked wonders for me. Good luck!

I am a 21-year-old student from Italy, currently attending Bocconi University. Since I want to do my MSc abroad, I decided to take the GMAT.
My first score, due to poor math knowledge and language barriers was poor: 540
My target was a 650+ score, so I decided to sign up for an online course, EmpowerGMAT.
Some friends who already took the GMAT told me about it, but to be honest, since the course is much less expensive than the other courses, I was skeptical.

I approached the online course and started listening to the video lessons and completing the many exercises provided with the course.
After just a few days I realized that my overall knowledge was improving:
The Math course (by Rich) is a direct approach to kill every exercise, focused on knowing the fundamental formulas and distinguish the questions one need to answer correctly from those that can be dumped with no effect on the score. In this way, the student needs to know only a few basic formulas and is able to go through the Quant section without rushing, since he is educated to dump some non-important questions.
The Verbal course (by Max) provides for basic grammar knowledge, but its power stays in the tips and tricks provided to answer every question (or at least to make an educated guess) in no-time. This direct approach allows non-natives (like me) to score high without the need to know every single English grammar rule.
The IR and AWA courses, since these sections do not affect the overall score, are really concise but helpful to develop a successful mind pattern and tactic.

The course is really interesting and not excessively or unnecessarily long, and leaves to the student the freedom to choose when to take it, in how much time, and what lessons to take (it also presents tailor-made study plans).

After concluding the course in a month I approached Test Day feeling relaxed and prepared: I was able to raise my score to a 680!! (Q:44 V:40 IR:8 AWA:5)

To conclude, the course, integrated with the official GMAT book, is extremely helpful to improve the score of every student, native or non-native, math genius or bad at math.
Each section is successfully broken down and analyzed, and the mix of basic knowledge and tricks provided is a must have to kill the GMAT.
I recommend the course without any doubt to all.

I just retook my GMAT on the 28th of Dec and managed to get a score of 690 (Q44 and V41). This was a noticeable improvement from my previous GMAT scores of 530 (before EMPOWER) and 640.

EMPOEWRgmat materials were superbly written and executed, especially on Quant. Prior to EMPOWER, I was stuck with a sub-30 Q score and using the module, I managed to learn that quant is actually not that hard, and quite fun. My verbal score also improved as I practiced hard to solve that tricky modifier error on SC or applying the CR box during CR questions, and this boosted my score from 35 to 44. In Indonesia, the trend is that people’s quant scores are generally much higher than that of verbal. So my higher than average verbal score is kind of an anomaly, all thanks to EMPOWER. Oh and the Triage? I wonder what I would get had I not learned about Triage from Rich and Max.

As a final note, we do not have the luxury of abundance of GMAT prep companies in Indonesia, most relying on traditional pen-and-paper teaching method. But we know from EMPOWER that this method is incredibly flawed especially when dealing with a rigorous 4.5-hour computer based test, testing both your stamina and mental strength. I’ve taken the liberty to recommend Empower to my Indonesian cohorts who are looking to ace the GMAT for their MBA journeys. A friend managed to improve her score from 500s to 680 and another friend improved from 640 to 690. The way we say it in Indonesia: EMPOWERgmat mantap!

I recently took my GMAT and got a 710(Q49, V38). I did not have a lot of preparation time and I was looking around to see the best bang for the buck in terms of preparation. I am happy I went with EmpowerGMAT. There are a couple of things I really liked about these guys. When it comes to GMAT TACTICS these guys are the BEST. If you are keen on learning your math(formula statistics) or verbal fundamentals(grammar, tense etc) there are a lot of OTHER online and offline resources. But when it comes to test taking strategies and help drilling them EmpowerGMAT is the best in my opinion. The lessons are fairly bite sized and is engaging, and you dont get bored unlike other online study material. I did pick up a couple of books including the Manhattan series and Powerprep series, but felt that those did not add much value. If you are looking for a score jump.. have less time or dont have much interest/money to spend for prep classes I would say definitely go with EMPOWER.

Background

GMAT Score: 700, Q46, V40, AWA 5.0, IR 6
Nationality: American
Undergrad Degree: Business Admin, regional school 10,000+ students
Graduate Degree: MBA, regional school 15,000+ students
Profession: Auditor/CPA
Materials Used: 2017 Official Guide, 4 Official GMAT prep tests

My GMAT Experience

I have taken the GMAT twice. My first test experience was in 2012. I scored a 580 after studying for maybe 20 hours with a generic GMAT test prep book (I’m not sure what company produced it). I was aiming for anything over a 500 so I could gain admission to my local university’s MBA program. My goal was to get a graduate degree and become a CPA. I was not aiming to attend a top business school.

Fast forward to September 2016, I started studying for the GMAT so that I could apply to PhD programs for Fall 2017 admission. I took an official GMAT practice test before I started studying and scored a 610 (Q40, V34), I began studying on my own, thinking I could power through the GMAT using the same strategy I used for the CPA exam: complete thousands of practice questions. After two weeks of this I realized this strategy would not get me to a 700+ score.

Next, I signed up for the beatthegmat.com?s 60-day study guide. I worked through all of the Quant days, then I took another official practice test. I scored a 630 (Q43, V34) and saw my Quant score increase by 3 points. I knew I needed a better method of studying. Specifically, I wanted a GMAT prep course that would teach me the strategy needed to beat the GMAT.

I read hundreds of reviews, forum posts, and anything that I thought would help me find what I was looking for in a GMAT prep course. A major deterrent to the big name GMAT prep courses was the cost. I was not willing to hand over the kind of money these courses demanded because the results I saw from reviewers did not convince me the courses would take me to the 700+ level.

Then, I saw one review of the EMPOWERgmat course. It was the first review that I read that offered a glimpse of what I wanted in my GMAT prep course, test strategy. I read through more reviews and visited the website. I was sold on two major points: 1. The number of reviews with 700+ scores, and 2. The price.

I signed up for EMPOWERgmat’s course on October 7th and had already scheduled my GMAT exam for November 19th. I got to work immediately watching videos and working through the problems in the 2017 Official Guide, even though I had already worked through all of the Quant practice problems.

I devoted an hour before work and 3-4 hours after work on the weekdays and 4-8 hours a day on Saturday and Sunday. I completed all of the EMPOWERgmat required videos in the order contained in the 1-month study guide. My only deviation from the study guide was the practice exams. I took a total of 4 practice exams and did not work through the AWA essay or Integrated Reasoning on any of the exams. I did this because it was hard for me to devote 4 hours straight to a practice exam and I was more concerned with working through the practice problems and videos.

I took my third official practice exam and scored a 650 (Q45, V34). I took my fourth official practice exam and scored a 680 (Q43, V40) two weeks before my exam date. I did not take the 5th and 6th recommended exams because I wanted to devote more time to the practice problems and videos.

Test Day

I sat for my exam on Saturday, November 19th at 8:00am. I took all of Rich’s advice on test day except for winking at a test center employee, that’s only because I can’t pull off a convincing wink without looking creepy. I chewed cinnamon gum, took both of my breaks, did push-ups, ate a protein bar, and drank Gatorade. I even took a 5 second pause during the Verbal section when I felt I was losing focus.

Overall, I felt absolutely prepared for everything I saw on the exam. Even without practicing the AWA and IR sections, I felt prepared for these sections.

In the Quant and Verbal section, I used Test It, Test the Answers, and Triage. Honestly, I did not see a question that I had not prepared for. EMPOWERgmat gave me the edge I needed on test day.

The time between the end of the Verbal section and the reveal of my score was the most painful part of the test. Once I saw the 700 on the screen, I felt an immense wave of relief and elation. I walked out of the test center knowing that I could have not achieved my score without EMPOWERgmat.

Summary of the EMPOWERgmat Course

Pros
? Self-paced
? Cost ? I only paid $188 for two months
? Quant Material ? Teaches strategy first and math second, teaches the best way to answer questions, teaches you how to identify what is being asked, covers important and not so important questions, videos for every question in the official guides, Rich demonstrates enthusiasm in every video and he wants you to succeed, I looked forward to the Quant videos
? Verbal Material ? Teaches you how to identify the question, teaches you how to identify wrong answers, teaches you how to read the RC and CR passages, teaches you how to spot sentence correction errors, videos for every question in the official guides

Cons
? One section of videos did not load correctly for me (this has since been fixed)
? The Verbal practice questions at the introduction of new sections used a timer. This caused me to focus on the clock and not on learning how to use what I had just learned in Max’s videos.
? The methods for tackling RC and CR questions slowed me down and did not work well for me (I mastered SC questions, though)

Conclusion

I would recommend EMPOWERgmat to anyone that is serious about achieving a high score on the GMAT. It helped me achieve the GMAT score I needed to be taken seriously by PhD admissions committees.

The EMPOWERgmat class is amazing! It focuses more on strategy and approach than plain concept. This is great for someone like me who already has a solid score before the retake. I think the foundations/ theoretical concepts cover in the course is just enough for you to perform well on the exam without giving you too much of a headache that you become discouraged and don't want to study anymore.

I have taken other prep courses before (Magoosh, eGMAT, Manhattan) and I have to say that this course is the best one in enabling me to achieve my 730 (Q49 V41). In addition, EMPOWERgmat also offers a MBA application adivs0ry service that I didn't get to take advantage of (already accepted to INSEAD).

Before you proceed to read my review of EMPOWERgmat (EG), I think you should know that I am a bit of a perfectionist. For me to give anything a perfect rating, the product/service should be absolutely flawless, be able to tick every single item on my checklist AND probably have some additional noteworthy benefits (yes, I'm fun at parties). Therefore, kindly exercise discretion.

The good:

1. Tone
An informal tone of instruction is used throughout. It’s conversational and feels like you’re listening to a real person and not a robot with a gun to its head. It's important that the tone doesn't bore you as you're likely going to be viewing these videos for several hours at a stretch.

2. Test-oriented approach
The course is full of strategies such as taking the best guess, solving problems by plugging the answer choices in etc. It does not overly emphasize theoretical/conceptual learning. While this keeps the preparation process light, it is a double-edged sword as I'll explain later.

3. Podcasts / pep-talks
Anecdotal and motivational podcasts by Rich (one of the instructors) are scattered throughout the course. They address issues such as mindset during the journey, confidence on test-day etc. I found these to be quite helpful, and again, they make the whole experience a little more personal.

4. Pricing
I did more than my fair share of research before choosing EG and I can safely conclude that it is one of the most reasonably priced courses available. The price of the flagship 3-month course includes that of all 6 Official GMAC CATs. However, you could also choose to pay just for the course. This is not an option on many other online courses that are available.

5. Score guarantees/policies*
I'm glad that I didn't have to use it, but, they offer a 60-pt score improvement guarantee for non-first time test-takers with scores up to 650. This is among the best in the market. They even offer one hour of professional admissions counseling (worth 250$) for free, to those who improve their score by 60 pts or more. Overall, their policies are not only lucrative, but also fair.

The bad:

1. Not much emphasis on theoretical understanding
This is the other edge of the sword. There are no ?concept-videos? and the material does not delve into theory such as properties, special cases etc.
While this approach might be sufficient for some, others looking for better understanding at a conceptual level might find it lacking. This is especially true when it comes to DS, as at higher levels, it tests the thoroughness of your understanding of the most basic concepts. There’s no doubt that most of these questions can be answered by good ol? methods such as plugging-in numerical values, trial and error etc., (methods emphasized by EG) but, these approaches are not foolproof and especially so if you don’t know what kind of values to use for testing. I found that my theoretical knowledge bailed me out in many such cases. But hey, that’s just me.

2. Not many options for customization
It’s been designed almost as a one-size-fits-all programme. You could probably ask for assistance in designing a schedule or something. However, it’s not something that I tried.

Other things to be noted:
-I would not advocate blindly following the course to achieve your target score. You might have to modify it according to your needs. For example: Although EG advocates taking tests at uniform time intervals, I took most of my practice tests after I was done with the course, as I felt the latter approach would be more effective.
-EG reflects teaching methodologies used in the U.S. You might have been taught some of these things differently.
-I found Rich’s explanations (Quant) to be more lucid than those of Max (Verbal). Hence, the discrepancy in the ratings.

Other things that really worked for me:
-I was consistent in my preparation. It is worth noting that the intensity of my preparation was augmented by the fact that at the time I was (and in fact, still am) jobless. Help.
-I took full-length mocks and I took them seriously. In total, I took about 7-full length mocks. I bombed on one of the tests because I was really nervous and didn’t manage my time well. The experience actually helped me avoid that scenario on test-day.
-I booked the test ONLY once I felt completely ready. This meant that since I hit my target score on my last mock, I booked the next available slot, which was in about 3 days. If your situation allows for something like this, I would totally recommend it.
-I supplemented EG with other study material. This not only allowed me to fill those ?theory gaps? that I was talking about, but also helped me lower my cost of preparation considerably. In addition to the course, I only bought one Official GMAC test pack. I was able to squeeze out 5 CATs from that and the free Test Prep software. For the other CATs, I used Manhattan and Veritas. GMATclub also has some amazing tests. I should also mention that some of E-GMAT’s free stuff is simply top notch.
-And finally, I maintained a detailed error-log throughout my prep. The postmortem of each of my practice CATs was as thorough as possibly could be. I don’t think I can stress on the importance of this enough. You can use the error log that comes with this course or one that you get off the internet, but DO IT. Record every question you get wrong and also the action that you need to take to avoid repeating it. You HAVE to identify your weak areas, consciously work on improving them and then take the next test. Unless you’re doing that, you’re wasting your practice tests.

Anyways, I’m done with my rant. Hope this helps and Godspeed!

*at the time of my purchase

So I bought EMPOWERgmat's On Demand course after a google search led me to their site. I really did not do a lot of research into various options beforehand but I knew I had seen prices for prep courses that were WAY above theirs and they seemed to have good stats so I jumped right in.

Before the course I had done no GMAT preparation. I tested in the 99th percentile on both the ACT and SAT before college. I have a finance degree but am honestly not any sort of quantitative whiz. In fact, as you'll see, it is a weak point of mine. I followed the course exactly as they suggested, except for taking my first official GMAT after 9 weeks of study time. My first "cold" practice test score was a 630 (38Q, 38V). My first official GMAT score was a 710 (47Q, 40V, 8 IR, 6 AWA) and three weeks later my second official score was a 740 (48Q, 45V, 7IR, 6 AWA).

The course is set up to work with the Official Guide, and I truly feel like that is the best way to do it. While other sources of questions can be very helpful, they are, by definition, not official. By becoming flawless at the official questions I think you can get a very high score because you get a good sense of how the test writers think. That said, I would like to point on my only real CONS of the course: The lower number of practice questions, and the lack of "hard" (700+) questions. As many people are aware I'm sure, the first half of the OG questions are pretty much softballs. There are some harder questions towards the end but to really see a wide breadth of questions and be prepared for everything you may need more practice questions.

See, in my opinion, there is a good case for both sides of the argument regarding practice questions. On one side, a person could argue that by really breaking down each OG question and understanding the core concept frontwards and backwards then you don't NEED hundreds more practice questions. This is the approach EMPOWER takes, and I agree somewhat. However, personally I needed a bit more to feel truly prepared, especially on the Quant side. The other side of this argument is that by seeing many questions you will be prepared for the various ways the GMAC can phrase questions. I mean, it's a standardized test. There are only so many concepts. BUT they can get VERY crafty in the ways they test these concepts (Ridiculous geometry DS questions just testing that a triangle as 180 degrees anyone?) In the end, I can only say that where you fall in this debate is going to be particular to your specific situation and personality. While it may be a small con, it should not inherently be a reason you choose not to take the course.

The way Max and Rich (the video commentators) break down questions is great. They take a very common-sense approach that I think is helpful for a large number of people. The quant videos really teach you to not get bogged down in the technicality and theory of some of the questions and to instead think of them in a simple, approachable way. I believe there is merit to understanding the underlying theory TO A POINT, but on test day if something isn't clicking it is SO nice to be able to approach problems from various sides. Also, the verbal videos are interesting to watch as well. They break down all the types of questions and give some great insight on how to narrow down choices. Honestly realizing that in most cases all 4 of the wrong answers are GLARINGLY wrong on the verbal side is why I was able to score 99th percentile. Max helped me to approach it this way.

Also of note is the attention paid to strategy, timing, triage, and mistake evaluation within the course. This is truly what sets apart the good test takers from the elite ones. The course's approach is to NAIL all of the easy questions, that way when you are presented with a crazy 700+ level question that you know is either A) going to take a long time to finish, or B) something you know you will probably get wrong you can DUMP IT. This is a huge weight lifted off your shoulders and a tremendous help to time management as well.

Lastly, my advisor (Brian) was a tremendous help to my success. He talked me off the ledge a few times, kept me focused, and was a calm voice of reason in the crazy tempest that is test prepping. If the course's other advisors are half as good as him then they are in a great place.

In conclusion, I give EMPOWER a resounding "yes" recommendation and urge everyone to give them a try. Their approach is a bit different than the Manhattan and Veritas type companies out there and I truly believe they are onto something. My score and many others like me is a testament to that.

After reading through several 700+ debriefs, I noticed the use of online platforms as a common trend. I isolated three companies as contenders: EMPOWER, e-GMAT, and Magoosh. EMPOWER caught my eye because during practice I had often noticed Rich’s solutions as unique. Many of the experts on GMAT Club tend to provide solutions that are crisp, precise, and efficient. However, most rely on relatively arcane mathematical principles that, in my opinion, are dangerous to rely on in the test day environment. Rich’s solutions, in contrast, focused on identifying the underlying patterns upon which individual questions were structured. Quite frankly, I chose EMPOWER because it seemed to offer an approach that significantly contrasted with my approach at the time.

As I progressed through Rich’s lessons I was surprised by the comparative lack of specific content: ?But if I don’t know both formulas for three-overlapping-sets problems how can I make sure I get it right??? However, I took the leap of faith and obediently incorporated every single strategy into my prep. Boom. Q47. In about three weeks using EMPOWER I had roughly doubled my incremental progress. Unfortunately my test day came slightly too soon. I am convinced that if I had another week or two using EMPOWER, I could have hit Q50. EMPOWER is powerful because it first teaches you that the GMAT is not a math test. Then it teaches you how to ruthlessly exploit that fact.

Furthermore, EMPOWER’s support team is almost as valuable as the content itself (you’re my boy Brian). My basic questions were answered in hours with paragraphs of specific, relevant information that I could tell were personally written. The same goes for Rich, the founder, who took the time to personally answer several of my questions. As I continued with my studies it became apparent that the EMPOWER team was genuinely interested in my personal success. If you are studying alone like I was, and you are tired about venting to your friends and family about GMAT stuff, then this support structure will become very valuable.

5/5 stars. Do it.

Before I started the EMPOWERgmat course, I thought I'd hit my ceiling with my 660 score. I'd studied for my first attempt for six months using another self-paced program that was math-intensive and explained every little math concept that could possible show up on the exam. While I believe that program was a great math refresher, it didn't necessarily help me attain all of the skills I needed to solve GMAT quant questions quickly and efficiently. That's where EMPOWERgmat came in! After my first attempt, I took a couple of months off from studying then signed up for EMPOWERgmat and scheduled my second attempt at the exam for exactly one month later. I knew immediately that Rich's videos were exactly what I needed to improve my quant score. I learned so many math shortcuts throughout the course and learned to recognize GMAT quant and verbal patterns because the course uses OFFICIAL GMAT MATERIAL every step of the way. This is absolutely crucial and is missing from most other prep courses.

While I was already strong in verbal, using Max's methods I was able to increase my verbal score by a few points, which had a huge impact on my overall score. Again, using official content is critical to pattern recognition throughout the exam.

After one month with EMPOWERgmat, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw 720 (47Q, 42V) come up on the screen of my official exam. I highly recommend this course for anyone who tried studying either on her/his own or through another course and didn't achieve the results she/he wanted. Rich and Max are surprisingly motivating and definitely know what they're talking about.

In late June of 2016, I started the EMPOWERgmat full plan after scoring a 670 Q44/V38 in July 2015. In my first round with the GMAT, I self-studied with some hand-me-down Manhattan Prep strategy guides and the 13th Ed Official Guide. It was a decent foundation, but I lacked the finer points (e.g. timing and triage) required to hit my goal score (>700).

After reading many positive reviews about EMPOWERgmat’s course, particularly its TEST IT, TEST THE ANSWER, and TRIAGE tactics, I decided to enroll. At $349 for 3 months with GMAT Prep Exam Packs 1 and 2 ($100 value) included, it was a steal. Regardless of which prep material I chose, I would have purchased the exam packs, so that made EMPOWERgmat’s course $249 for 3 months in my opinion. Even better.

I spent 87 days and ~200 hours on prep (I tracked everything). The course allowed me to understand how the exam worked and how to train/practice/instill the right habits to succeed on test day. The biggest difference that I noticed on test day was the absence of anxiety/pressure to answer every question correctly. If I spent too much time on a question, I triaged it. I came across a multi-shape geometry question and ditched it immediately. I applied Test It at least a dozen times. On Verbal, I knew how to read each CR answer with intense skepticism. It was much easier to eliminate answers after watching Max's videos. I felt so prepared and confident.

Thank you Rich, Max, and the rest of the EMPOWERgmat staff for putting together this material. I am applying to business schools in 2017 for Fall 2018 matriculation. I am happy to know that the GMAT aspect of my profile is done.

EMPOWERgmat was a phenomenal study tool that I credit with being able to achieve my target score of 720. I had originally scored 580 on my first practice exam and then spent the next month studying with the Manhattan books. However, a month later when I took another practice exam my score wasn't even above 650. Recognizing I needed a new study strategy, I searched for a different alternative and was advised to try out EMPOWERgmat. I found that the video style (which is similar to Khan Academy) allowed me to move quickly through my areas of strength and focus more on my areas of weakness. Rich's solutions also showed you how to solve the question in the quickest way - not the standard "algebraic" solution, etc. As I already had most of the basic quant/verbal content down, EMPOWERgmat's focus on the STRATEGY of how to attack exam questions was exactly what I needed to boost my score. The challenge for me was timing and how to get through questions quickly. EMPOWERgmat gave me the tools I needed to be successful. With only 3 weeks of using EMPOWERgmat, I boosted my practice score up to a 740. On test day, I came out with a 720, which was still in my target range. EMPOWERgmat gave me the tricks and confidence I needed to be successful, while also providing the material in an engaging format. The team was very responsive if I ever had questions or requests and the course was very reasonably priced. I can't recommend it enough!

First of all, let me introduce myself: I am a 21 year old, Italian student of Economics and Finance at Bocconi University, located in Milan. I have scored 8/9 on the IELTS, but in no way did I feel confident about the verbal section of the GMAT before starting the course taught by EMPOWERgmat, as I am not a native English speaker. This alone should be a testament to the effectiveness of EMPOWERgmat.

Before signing up for the course, I had taken a CAT and scored 550. Six weeks later, on my official test day, I scored 760 (49,45). What I believe sets EMPOWERgmat apart is the fact that it's a course focusing on the method and mindset to beat the GMAT, rather than just giving you math or grammar knowledge. Anybody could do that, but few can teach a way to treat the test like a true challenge and give practical tips to overcome any kind of obstacle that may come in your way. The GMAT is a standardised test, and EMPOWERgmat will help you interiorise all its features so that when it's finally game day there will be no surprises.

Clearly, the course doesn't "only" give such practical tips. In fact, from the get-go, you can shape your studying program and decide its duration based on your necessities. There will be lessons refreshing some basic math and geometry concepts that you probably haven't seen since high school as well as crucial lectures for non-native speakers on how to crush the verbal. Throughout all these learning experiences the teachers will always try to make you deeply understand the forma-mentis you need to have in approaching this test, and I believe that this mindset will be useful also for future challenges!

I am truly glad I gave this course a shot, and I strongly recommend you do too.

After taking a three year hiatus from my Manhattan GMAT course, i did not want to spend a lot of money on another course and signed up with Magoosh, while Magoosh was good, when I finally took the GMAT, I got a 640. Determined to do better, I signed up with EMPOWERgmat, and I made the right decision. They do a fantastic job teaching GMAT test-taking STRATEGY in addition to the concepts. I only used the score booster program as I had a limited time to study and had already done some previous test prep. I saw my score quickly improve practice test, after practice test, and ultimately finished with a 710! Stacy was particularly helpful and responded quickly to any concerns or questions I had. I could not recommend this program more!

My GMAT journey has been crazy long - 8 years. After spending a few weeks on Khan Academy covering all the math I'd scoffed at in K-12, I stumbled upon EmpowerGMAT. Wow.

Quant + General advice: Rich’s enthusiasm is infectious. All of the seemingly crazy stuff Rich says simply works. I live in the middle of nowhere, far, far from the US, and I found a way to get myself a Costco pack of Trident Cinnamon gum. I even winked at some creepy rando at the testing center (who then followed me halfway home but that’s not for here). Purposely guessed on 3 questions because they were too hard. Also, the fact that Rich and Max’s voices didn’t put me to sleep is huge. They really make you want to annihilate the GMAT. For some reason, MGMAT and Magoosh made the GMAT look like the Lannister clan on Captagon. Ain’t nobody got time for that!

Verbal: People often have a hard time improving Reading Comprehension. I used to skim the passages because I jus t don’t care enough about algae (or my $250 fee, time, ?effort?). DON?T SKIM. ?Empower reading? is totally a thing. Max's strategies for killing CR and SC are also on point.

Both sections are a work of art - watch the videos, do the drills, take the quizzes. It just works. Rinse and repeat (you always pick up something new from the videos). EmpowerGMAT uses real GMAT questions from the OGs ? this is rare ? and absolutely destroys them. Confidence is such a huge part of the GMAT experience and these guys will instill ?rational confidence? in you. You will feel confident because you know how GMAT questions are written, why they’re written a certain way, and what you can do to eviscerate each question. They even teach you how to make educated guesses.

Beautiful lifesaver. Worth so much more than $99.

Summary of my background:
20-year old Swedish third-year BSc student with a major in finance.
No relevant work experience except for the occasional part-time bank job.
Final GMAT-score: 740(Q49V42) IR8, AWA 4.5
Approx 120-130 total hours of studying during a 2-month period.

During mid-June this summer I decided to take the GMAT in late August. I started to work through questions in the OG and thought I did quite well, so I set my target score at 730. After studying 3-4 weeks I started doing prep tests. My first three prep tests were 2 MGMAT and 1 Veritas, my scores were 670, 650 and 650 (with Q44-47 and V32-36). After studying for 1? more weeks I did my first official prep test and ended up with a 680 (Q48V35).

At this point I started getting frustrated with my inability to break the 700-barrier and getting closer to my 730-target. I had approx. 5 weeks until my actual exam and I had no strategy on how to tackle the harder questions, which often ended up with me trying to get to the answer for 4 minutes and then just pick an answer in pure frustration.

So, with exactly 31 days left until the exam, I started looking for a quick way to boost my score beyond the 700-barrier. The offers from the big companies like MGMAT and Kaplan didn’t excite me at all, just seemed to be a lot of literature for a lot of money and so I kept on looking. Finally, I found EmpowerGMAT and bought a one-month subscription for 99$. This is probably one of the best decisions I have ever made.

At first I was skeptical, Max and Rich (the tutors at Empower) claimed they had shortcuts and methods for all type of questions and that I would be able to improve my score just by applying their methods. This couldn’t be true, could it?

The EmpowerGMAT course offers what they call Empower tactics for all categories, and when these tactics are applied in the right way they are crazy effective. I worked through the majority of verbal videos and some of the quant videos during 2 weeks of intense studying (20h/week) and on the first prep test immediately afterwards I scored 730 (Q50V39). I couldn’t believe it, a 50 score improvement in 2 weeks just by applying the Empower tactics in the right way.
I worked through the rest of the course in about one week and scored 730 (Q49V40) and 720 (Q48V40) on my two remaining official tests (bought 2 additional).

I cannot emphasize enough how much EmpowerGMAT’s structured way of solving the questions helped me to improve from the 650-680 range into 730 level and beyond. I used the Empower tactics on all kinds of questions, but I really would like to make a special case for the SC and CR tactics. If you’re struggling with SC and/or CR, I would 110 % recommend you take the Empower course. I went from guessing in mid-level SC questions to actually have a structured method of beating awkward 700+ SC with a reasonable amount of effort. And after applying the Empower CR tactics, the CR questions was no longer a match.

The course includes a lot of different material. Besides from videos that show how to address and attack all kinds of problems, there’s also videos and podcasts dedicated to explaining how the test works, what mistakes other test-takers do, how to prepare for test day as well as critical dos and don?ts.

Three days before the exam I decided to not study at all, and instead I went listened to the Empower podcasts, where they talk about everything from what mindset you should have to what to eat during test day.

The day before and the morning of test day, I did exactly everything Empower taught me to (except for the gum-chewing part, didn’t really want to take the risk of being caught). I arrived at the test center, did all the security procedures, and went in for the exam. AWA and IR felt good. I got a little stressed out mid-quant and messed up some questions, but I took a short break (20 seconds), followed all the steps that Rich taught me during the last 20 questions and went out with the feeling that I did okay. During the verbal I could actually hear Max’s voice telling me how to address each single question and most of the questions felt like child’s play.

I actually couldn’t breathe when I saw the 740 on my screen. Even though my target was 730, I don’t think I ever really believed that it was possible to go beyond 710-720. I went out, got my score report and when I got home I wrote to the empower administration and thanked them.

740 would not have been possible without the help of EmpowerGMAT.

The criteria which any test preparatory course should ideally meet should basically address following needs
(1)Provide students with plethora of questions to ensure student is adequately prepared to solve all the tough questions which he will encounter on the exam
(2)Have analytics to show areas of strengths and weakness
(3)Provide explanations to questions in a lucid manner to ensure easy comprehension
(4)Address the aspect of affordability

In all the aspects I quite frankly believe EMPOWERGMAT truly stands out as a fantastic course for preparing for the gmat exam
Not only does the course address all the aspects mentioned above - It truly stands out as a top quality course since you never feel overwhelmed/bogged down by the content
The video explanations which accompany the questions help you stay sharp and focused
Moreover the course provides an explanation for every problem in the Official guide and it is compatible with whichever version of the OG you are using (OG 13 onwards)
The Test preparatory software also teaches the students how to make educated guesses which is an important aspect since it may not be possible to solve all the problems in available time limit in the GMAT Exam
I am truly impressed with all the features include the billing (You basically pay for the time you require the course) - Empowergmat offers a free 24 trial period and you can reach out to the staff any time you want to address all your concerns
Do sign up for the course if you are serious on boosting the score

I like that the online course is structured around official problems. While other courses offer only general content for GMAT, this course offers not only great content but also useful tactics and strategies. The CR method and tips for reading comprehension really help me focus on the important parts in the questions. Getting the gist of any passage is really the key. Rich will show you how to do that. For quant, the foundation of this course is solid. I would recommend anyone starting the GMAT journey to take this course. Don't wait until you have wasted official problems. You will not regret joining this course. By the way, unlike customer support at OP, the customer support (Stacey Wilson) at Empower is very caring and helpful.

After self-prep with the Manhattan book series, I was pretty excited to get a 680 on my first try. But ultimately I knew I needed to break 700 to be considered competitive for a top 20 b-school. I loved EMPOWERgmat because it did just that. I spent one month with the course, self paced and online. The videos and test tricks for success were all geared towards thinking like a test maker and being a strategic test taker. With the mindset and approach they offered, the test actually became less scary and more like a fun puzzle to solve (call me a nerd but it's true!).

I think it's a great value for the content they provide. Lot's of supplemental guides, resources, and support. And their team really cares about your success. Doesn't feel like a big prep company trying to just make money. I appreciated how personal and passionate they are the success of their students.

So if you are self-motivated and ready to take your score to the next level, DEFINITELY give it a shot!

I wanted to say a few words about EMPOWERgmat as it played a huge role in my 740!

First of all, I had originally used a competitor's large volume set to get a lot of basics down in quant and verbal. These certainly helped but required a lot of focus and commitment. Not everyone wants to lock themselves in a room and read to themselves for 100 hours!

Enter EMPOWERgmat. When I was done with my books, I felt like I needed a little more help-- a guiding voice. I took advantage of a promotion that included the free official GMAT Prep CAT packs and knew that, if the course wasn't for me, I had those in my pocket. But, by going through EG's videos and tutorials, especially subjects like "Triage" and the "CR Box", my "inner test voice" was transformed. No longer was I just reading questions and talking to myself for 2 minutes. I had an internal plan for each question. EMPOWER taught me what questions to ask myself when reading and evaluating a problem.

To summarize, I highly recommend EMPOWERgmat!

P.S. They autobill your CC for convenience, and I actually forgot to cancel my subscription after already taking the test. Emailed their customer service about it, and they responded within hours that I would be refunded. Very helpful.

I highly recommend Empower for their generosity and support.

My story is a bit harsh and no iam not a 700er. But i exactly knew what i want and how iam going to go about it.

Disgracefully iam a 3 time GMAT appearee, if it is a word.

But yes all the 2 times i scored very dismal and had to take it 3 times.

All i can say about empower is that, odds were stacked against me, i had already missed so many deadlines and scholarship deadlines and my third chance was the last.

But never in the course of ups and downs Empower let me down. They always were there to help me out and give encouragement.

I improved to a degree of 80 points and scored 640. I never wanted a 700, cz i believed in my profile and strong story telling. I just had to get myself into a list of probables and then my experience will take it from there.

The same happened, i applied in 2 schools Imperial and CASS. Got through both of them and scored a scholarship in one of them.

I thanks entire Empower team for the support and love they have given me.

I definitely recommend for Empower and their methods are accurate and can be practiced and honed.

Thanks

Umang

Before I start with my review, I should provide some background. I dived into GMAT prep without really understanding what kind of animal GMAT is and I mainly just prepared with set of Manhattan GMAT books, thinking that studying up from books would be enough. My target score was what everyone wants, a 700. I first attempted GMAT in March 2015, with nearly disastrous consequences: Q 37, V38, IR:2, AWA: 5.5. Total 620.

As you can see, my primary weakness was quant. TBH, I suck at quant. Dejected after the result, I decided to go for an online course. Another popular course had a special going on and was relatively cheaper after going through various reviews, I signed up for the said test prep. I was primarily focused on quant and barely even touched verbal during my prep second time around. I attempted the GMAT again in October 2015 and got the following result: Total 640, V42, Q35, IR4, AWA 6. While my score went up by 20 points, my quant actually WENT DOWN by 2 points while my verbal shot up 4 points ? and I hadn’t even touched verbal!

After preparing for nearly 6 months, I was toroughly dejected and ready to give up on the GMAT but I decided to give it one final shot and started looking for courses again. Because I wanted to send in my applications before the deadlines, that meant I only had a month to prepare and attempt my GMAT again. I signed up with EmpowerGMAT and I’m glad I did. The strategies and tips that Rich teaches helped me be more confident during the test. Rich’s tips on triaging questions are spot on and by triaging questions, I was able to finish the test in time and without panicking through it. Having EmpowerGMAT by your side is like having your personal coach beside you; they teach, coach, motivate, strategize and root for you. Unlike other courses which focus primarily on theoretical and conceptual understanding of GMAT content, EmpowerGMAT teaches you the things you need to know to beat the exam. Like another reviewer has mentioned, after preparing with Empower you almost feel like Neo in The Matrix ? you’re ready for the things you know and ready to swiftly put away things you don’t.

While theoretical and deep conceptual understanding is great if you are writing a thesis, for the GMAT you need to be prepared with strategies to tackle the exam and this is exactly what EmpowerGMAT teaches you. Nothing more, nothing less, no BS ? just what you need to know to beat this exam, grab a great score and move on to applications and move on with your life.
In the end, my score after EmpowerGMAT isn’t particularly spectacular, but it is my highest yet:

Total 650
Quant: 40
Verbal: 40
IR: 5
AWA 6.0

? an improvement of only 10 points. BUT, my quantitative jumped by 5 POINTS from my previous attempt! In a month, my quant jumped 5 points and I got the highest IR and total score I have ever gotten. I must mention that I primarily prepared quant with Empower and barely touched verbal ? and the 2-point drop in my verbal score from my previous attempt was caused not by Empower but rather by fatigue and sciatica from a disc bulge that distracted me during the verbal part of the exam. If not for the verbal drop ? I’m pretty sure I’d have scored 670-680.

My only regret is that I could prepare with Empower only for a month. I wish I had spent more time preparing with Empower instead of wasting numerous months with other test prep methods. Had I prepared with Empower for 3 months for so, I probably could've gotten the 700 I desired. Nevertheless, my score after EmpowerGMAT combined with my applications got me into IE, ESADE and SDA Bocconi.

In the end, if you wish to be a scholar of the GMAT, you can choose whichever course you like. But if you want to beat the GMAT, grab a great score and move on to admission applications ? EmpowerGMAT is the course to go for.

I decided to give EmpowerGmat ago after failing to reach 700 target after 3 tests, with the goal of getting V35-36 at least ( I got V31 the in the 3th test). I used the Verbal Booster course because I have no problem in Quant; however, the course does include some lessons and tips about how to maximize your Quant score.

This course is actually for those who want to take the test in a short time. I completed it within 1 month, and then took the test and got 710, with Verbal score of V35. Here are some of my reviews:

- Tips and podcasts from Rich and Brian: There are many tips in the course. I just did some of them, and found all useful. I chewed gums during the test (if you do so, remember to follow his tip about how to avoid being caught) and saw that I could concentrate even in the end of Verbal section. In previous tests, I used Red Bull with the hope to stay alert at the end of the test, but it turned out that the drink harmed me. Brian (the supporter via email) recommended that I get rid of it. I followed all advice and they worked like a charm. Also, Rich told learners to wink at someone at the test center to gain the confidence and get refreshed. At first, I thought this tip is somewhat ridiculous, but after I tried to imagine the situation in my mind, I realized it actually worked. During the test days, although I did not actually do so, imagining how I am cool when winking at the female proctor really boosted my confidence. This course also includes many podcasts, and listening to them also helped me understand how the GMAT test works and have an appropriate strategy.

- SC: I used to follow the meaning-based approach of E-Gmat when working with SC questions. It is really good, but it took me a lot of time for each question (1m30s-40s on average). EMPOWERGmat’s approach is to split and eliminate 2-3 choices using grammar, and then use the meaning or grammar to get to the final choice. Some grammar errors are so easy to be spotted, but I had not known before (for example: there must be a comma ?,? before ?which?). I combined the approach of both E=Gmat and EMPOWERGmat and thus was able to decrease significantly the time for each SC question (1m15s or even less). The accuracy rate did not decrease, and I had much more time for CR and RC.

- CR and RC: I did not really focus on CR and RC lessons in EMPOWERGmat’s course. The reason was that I did not have many problems in finding the correct answers, but because of time constraint, I had not performed well on both parts. After I decreased time in SC questions, I had more to allocate to CR and RC, and all went fine.

- Course’s price: if you want to take the test in 1 month and do not want to spend a lot of money on prep courses, this Booster course is what you need. Just finish it within 1 month, and the price for 1-month-subscription cannot be beaten.

- Some Cons: It is not economical for those who study for a long time because they have to pay for subscription each month. Also, grammar lessons about SC mostly provide tips for spotting the error. If you are still weak in basic grammar such as sentence structure, tenses, etc. you should go to Manhattan or E-Gmat.

P/s: After getting V35 and 710 overall in the 4th test in Jan 2016, I continued to take the test in March and got 760 (V42). Although I did not extend EMPOWERGmat subscription, I think what I had learned in 1 month did help a lot in the 5th test.

EmpowerGMAT helps you so much with the strategic/tactical aspect of the GMAT.
When I started studying for the GMAT I used the Manhattan Prep books to brush up my basics. It helped me quite a bit, however, my score improvements remained small. In my first cold attempt at the GMAT prep test I scored a 590. After studying with the Manhattan books, I scored a 620. I knew I had to change something in my practice methodology.

I needed someone to tell me how to approach problems. I needed strategy for certain problem types. Especially, however, I needed help in Quant. I decided to go with Empower since their tutor Rich is highly active here in the forums and already helped me out with some problems. Also, their monthly payment option is great to talor exactly to your needs without having to pay "dead months".

I could not have made a better decision. Rich is extremely motivational and modules do not just tell you the basics and concepts (they do that as well), but most importantly, they show you how to tackle the problems. Before starting Empower I was actually quite scared and frustrated because of reaching a plateau. After starting Empower, after one day, I knew, something had changed. I had my drive back, even with problems I couldn't solve, I didn't feel completely lost anymore. I always had an approach ready. I had tactics for easy problems as well as difficult problems. For any kind of problem I had a tactic, even if it was to take and educated guess. That way, I never felt lost anymore.

Another great aspect of Empower is that they teach you how the GMAT works. This is extremely underrated. It shows you which questions count and which ones do not. I have yet to come to another company that teaches you that. It is EXTREMELY helpful, especially, since it lets you skip too difficult questions with ease because you know they do not count.

In regards to the modules, both Quant and Verbal are great, however, I feel, that the Quant module is definitely a tad better. This is not because Verbal is poor but more because the Quant module is just absolutely amazing. Also, since I pretty much started with a Verbal score of 39 it was actually harder for them to improve my Verbal score. So here my opinion could definitely be subjective. I feel like their Verbal module is more tailorded towards beginners while their Quant definitely helps you out a lot when you already have a high level.

To conclude, I would definitely recommend Empower when you have the basics but still struggle with the questions (most likely because of strategy). If you want the full Gmat preparation package, I would recommend buying the complete Manhattan series for basics and the Empower course for the tactics and strategies to KILL the Gmat.

EmpowerGMAT was very different from the other GMAT prep companies and materials. They were the only company that I research that used videos as the basis of their lessons and taught directly from official questions. I had originally taken the GMAT with the help of the OG13 guide and the Manhattan books. These materials are perfectly sufficient if you have an obvious weakness in a particular subject area or deficiency in knowledge.

My weakness was in test taking strategy and stamina. EmpowerGMAT has several modules in which they address strategies to deal with limited time, how to guess on difficult questions, and how to approach a particular question based on the type. After learning and implementing these strategies I was able to score a 730 and place myself in a great position to apply for top business schools. Thank you Empower!

My new GMAT score is a 30-point improvement over my previous highest. Over the last couple of years I struggled a lot on the GMAT, but only after meeting EMPOWER GMAT did my struggles stop. Many of those stories and reviews I've read on EMPOWER GMAT's website would come true during my final preparation and on Test Day. In short Rich and Max are brilliant!

Rich: his overall advice are spot on and his Quant approach brilliant. His Quant approach should be only approach you take. His style is perfectly crisp.

Max: his verbal lessons not only helped me tackle the V problems but also helped me improve in my overall V skillset - and that skillset is a must in everyday business writing within and beyond the GMAT.

I have an unusual work schedule, so I needed an online course. I have always naturally performed well on standardized tests, but I needed to absolutely kill the GMAT. I spent substantial time researching various options, initially focused on big-name prep companies. I even briefly considered paying $$$ for a private tutor.

I landed on EmpowerGMAT for three reasons:

1.) They advertised producing the most 700+ scores. I read in some forums that the big-name prep companies were geared to bringing an average test taker (550- 600) up to a respectable score (660 - 680). That wasn't going to cut it for me.

2.) Number one rated review program by GMATClub. I try to take ratings with a grain of salt, but in this case it lent a little credibility to the claim stated above.

3.) I liked the idea of pay-as-you-go for $99 /mo., compared to the lump-sum for ~$1200 that other companies charge. I figured, "What's the risk?" I didn't like I could cancel and hire Manhattan Prep or some such name-brand. $99 was a very reasonable wager compared to >$1000.

I completed the full program over ~3.5 months, totaling <$400 in costs for the prep course. I think results speak for them-self (1st time taking the actual GMAT):

770 (99%) / Q50 (88%) / V47 (99%) / IR 8 (82%) / AWA 5.5 (81%)

The course strategies work if you dedicate the time. I really liked some of the podcast lessons, which include some quirky little tid-bits that are not covered in other programs (i.e. strategically planning your breaks, studying with gum, etc.). I used all of it. Some of it seemed a tad bit corny, but I went with it anyway, and all I can say is I am very satisfied with the overall outcome.

Nonetheless, I do have a few minor recommendations to consider in addition, for anyone really aiming for a monster score.

Overall --

I'm not sure if Empower is still recommending purchasing the Manhattan Prep Practice CATs (... at the time I signed up, GMAC had not released CAT Pack 2), but don't waste your time with them. Stick to the Official GMAC Practice CATs. If it's not an official question, it's NOT an official question.


Quant --

If you're particularly strong in math, definitely consult the Official Guide solutions in addition to the Empower Video Solution. Particularly for some DS questions, algebraically combining the two facts can be faster than using Test It (i.e. when Test It values are not obvious). Other times Test It dominates -- it depends. At the end of the day, seeing multiple perspectives provides more options, so diversify.


Verbal --

1.) I can't over-emphasize the value I obtained from Empower Strategies on RC & CR -- most notably, approaching reading passages with genuine interest & slowing my reading pace. Slowing down was completely contradictory to other guides, but it works! Another guide I read even recommended taking a speed-reading course!

2.) While I definitely found a lot of value in the Empower SC tactic, I did find the grammar review in the SC error type break-down to be a little high-level for my particular style of learning. It was a reasonable summary, but I found it to be more based on on heuristics than hard & fast grammar rules. I'm more of a concepts person than a memorization person, so I didn't personally take to this section naturally. I found value in reviewing the GMAT Club Grammar Book that was provided as optional review. The Grammar Book was recommended primarily for non-English speakers, but I found value even as a native English speaker. Doing so, I managed a perfect score on SC, which definitely contributed to my high Verbal score.

3.) The AWA section is near the end of the Empower program. I'd recommend jumping ahead & completing this one module in the course. It doesn't build on previous knowledge, so it can be taken at any point. And the sooner you take it, the more opportunity you'll have to practice the Empower AWA strategy on Practice CATS.

That's about it, otherwise, I just used the Empower Tactics & worked all the practice problems in the course, and took all 6 Official GMAC CATs.

I knew I had very very limited time to prepare for the GMAT, so I looked not for a prep course that covered as much as possible, but one that is as effective as possible. I have not used other courses, so I cannot compare, but I feel EMPOWERgmat is just what I was looking for and enabled me to score 760 (Q51, V41) on my first try in well under 100 hours of preparation.
I must say that it’s always about the fit (same as choosing which MBA program to apply for). I have always been good at basic math and my English is quite good for a non-native speaker, so I didn’t need something that spent too much time covering those. EMPOWER did taught me that basic math is all I needed for the GMAT and that you don’t need to know every word in the passage. The course gave me all the tools I needed to answer all CR and RC questions correctly in my final two practice CATs (I only took 3 in total).
On a side note, their service is great, their people always upbeat. This won’t increase your GMAT score, but to me it’s an indicator of a good business and a good product.

For context, I am a military veteran who had taken in-person prep courses prior to using EMPOWER GMAT. I had been attempting to raise my score for roughly 4 months before I started using EMPOWER.

I can now report that EMPOWER Prep has helped me move from a 540 to a 690! Any amount of in-person prep or even private tutoring cannot compare to the tactical approach EMPOWER takes. The online curriculum is demanding and you do need to put in additional prep outside of the tutorials, but the instruction is above the best. Rich and Max take a systematic approach to question type and wrong answer analysis that cannot be beat.

Not only is the instruction top notch, but the customer service provided by the EMPOWER Support Team was unmatched by even the largest test prep companies. After they reached out to me, I was able to provide detailed feedback of my weaker areas and they replied within 24 hours with detailed guidance and additional instruction options for me to make the most of my prep.

Overall, this is a phenomenal program!!! Easily customizable with multiple curricula to chose from and a multitude of resources, all at a fair price point.

Well, this is my turn to share some thoughts about what took me to 700 score in GMAT. I just would like to say that this journey was stressful and interesting, sometimes depressing but always exciting! Thanks to EMPOWERgmat and their team, especially Brian, who supported me a lot during my preparation phase.
First of all, I did appreciate the style of the lessons. Video format is MUCH MORE helpful than a classical text lesson. I understood that finding a proper answer is only a half of the deal - another one is HOW exactly you go through the process, and EMPOWERgmat is great in setting you on the right trail. The material is given in a consistent and concise way, without some additional burdensome information which was there when I tried other courses. So, video video and video! I am not kidding ? you’ll feel the difference! Possibly there are some similar resources which do the same, I don't even exclude that there are some free resources in YouTube or elsewhere, but consistency is the MUST! Therefore, guys, you just take this course and you have all you need in one place. That is very important! Even if I say that there are no exaggerated loads of materials - this is widely enough to achieve what you really need - boost your GMAT score. And EMPOWERgmat creators put in there so many efforts ? you’ll be amazed! After all, it’s worth paying a bit, not really a fortune.
Now I’ll tell you some history. My first attempt in Feb 2016 was 600 (43, 29) and I didn't practice seriously - just re-read some formulas and got the overall idea what GMAT is. It was quite arrogant from my side or better to say ignorant. I just couldn't imagine what specifically one could practice on verbal if he/she already speaks and reads English^)) My score proved how wrong I was! Nevertheless, I decided not to retake and went to Indonesia where ancient scent of local magic whispered to me that I should retake. While being there I registered for the test and started reading some verbal related materials. I must admit that the resources I used were somehow boring, uninformative, unappealing and finally useless. Well, I did practice maybe 3 weeks or so but, again, my next score proved that I did something wrong. I got 560 with quant and verbal even weaker than before! I don't exclude that ancient scent of Indonesian magic had something to do there but all that was about the same thing - lack of consistency. I was so angry, frustrated and disappointed! It hit my self-esteem a lot! I said to myself that I need to improve seriously and that jokes are over and that I should start serious games. I started researching. I remember I noticed a post from a guy who wrote about EMPOWERgmat and how helpful it was especially in boosting his verbal skills since he had applied mathematics background. That guy was also from Ukraine and I thought that possibly our hurdles in English must be the same or it was just the feeling of brotherhood, doesn't matter. I decided to boost my GMAT and I picked EMPOWERgmat for the job.
I had already applied to my schools with 600 and was anxious to retake as soon as possible so my task was a bit more complicated (you may notice how many strategic faults I committed). So this time I started practicing like crazy and right from the gate I was surprised how I enjoyed the process. Actually GMAT is all about processes at which your skills are tested. Somehow you should learn to enjoy what you are doing since this takes quite a considerable part of your life. First I tried an assault and now can say: never take GMAT by assault.
The interesting thing is that I committed there one more serious mistake. And I paid for it! Exactly 250 USD))) My third attempt, after completing almost 100% of the course, was 550!!! I can’t express how shocked I was! And at this point Brian from EMPOWERgmat team helped me a lot! He was able to set my mind to win and persuaded me to go on. Thanks a lot, Brian! The EMPOWERgmat gave me one month of complementary use after I had failed and supported during 17 days which separated my third test from the forth one. To be frank, the mistake was to go and take the test right after so intense practicing. Now I understand that I just couldn’t get higher score with the head packed with all the things I learned ? I needed some time to put everything in order. Brian let me understand that and he also gave me the feeling that I was ready BUT had to consider the whole thing under a slightly different angle. So I used the course for some rehearsal and some practicing. No major efforts during this period ? just concentrating on the future result (which was also awaited by my preferred school as 600 appeared to be too low, of course!).
You may imagine the stress I had the test day after all the previous bad steps I had already made. When 700(47 38) appeared on my screen it was so fantastic! Here I would add that I took only one practice exam before the last official test and also scored 700(49 35). It means that math in the course was very very helpful while my target improvement was obviously verbal.
Now I hope that my school will be finally happy with my score and as I’ve finished my GMAT story I hope that other test takers won’t repeat the same silly mistakes. Take GMAT seriously and you will be rewarded! And EMPOWERgmat is here to help you! In my case it was only one month during which I passed almost the whole course but it was not a good idea at all. I’d say 3 months would be just great and thus the score might be much better than mine. Yet, I was pleased by friendly feedback I got from Brian when I dropped a note that I finally could beat the GMAT.
It is a bit long post ? the point is to prevent people from the mistakes I did. You better go to the right place and start right preparation. You’ll see the difference! I am ready to provide more details in case someone would be interested in (structure of the course, video modules, error log sheets, grammar and math rules etc.).
My guess is that even without summing up you understand my point. The only thing I would like to emphasize is that you won’t be disappointed if you finally choose EMPOWERgmat even after other courses that you eventually have already tried. Good luck to everyone and know that if one can do it being 33 y.o. and unorganized then you’ll do it for sure!

I work with empower GMAT for one month to bost my GMAT Scoore (EmporwerGmat Score Booster)

I must say that firstly I was somewhat reluctant with this type of as I already have taken others, but afterwards, I felt it was a great help.

The course helps you not only to clarify your concepts avoiding silly mistakes but also to follow the right strategy on the exam day.

Your capabilities will be leverage granting your acceptance to your dream school. In the end, the solution was always with you.

I definitely recommend the Score Booster from EmpowerGMAT. I hope you also enjoy!

I've tried other GMAT prep courses such as Magoosh and several other trial versions from other companies. This course was the best for me because it focused on what I needed to know and didn't spend a lot of time teaching the nitty-gritty details that take lots of time. I had 2 months to prep and I was able to get the score I needed. My practice test scores improved every time. It was a big focus and strategy in the section on triage was really helpful to help Focus my time where I needed on the test. Overall this course was great for me and I would recommend it for anyone wanting to boost their score and improve their strategy.

EmpowerGMAT was pivotal in improving my strategy for GMAT. This exam is not all about what you know. Strategy is extremely important. EmpowerGMAT is exceptional in the strategy game.

I started my GMAT journey using another prep company and was fortunate to also get free access to EmpowerGMAT for a month before my exam. Before EmpowerGMAT I was scoring about 600 on my practice CAT’s. I used their guidance and was able to score 700 (Q49, V35) on the GMAT.

I highly recommend this program not only for GMAT preparation but also for the exceptional customer service. In the days before and after my exam Brian, my EmpowerGMAT advisor was very helpful and prompt in all his communications with me. His advice was very helpful in getting me to shed those test day nerves.

To provide a little background on myself, I have always been pretty good on standardized testing, achieving high scores on SAT, etc. However, when I took my first CAT completely cold as a diagnostic, I was nervous when I saw my score in the lower 600s. I had hoped to score a minimum of 720 to make me a competitive applicant for the top 10 or so MBA programs. It was around this time that I heard about the EmpowerGMAT course from various reviews on BeatTheGMAT and other sites. I checked out the site and did their 24 free trial and loved it. It was exactly what I needed.

EmpowerGMAT provided me the structure and blueprint to become a GMAT Assassin, I just needed to follow along and put in the time. Well thanks to the awesome videos and study sheets I ended up scoring a 740 (Q48/V44) on my first testing day. I enjoyed Rich's teaching style, and could literally hear him in my head on test day, "If it seems too easy, prove it. Put it all on the paper and prove it to yourself." Well this idea alone saved me from getting 2-3 easy questions wrong on test day, which would have destroyed my already borderline quant score!

Finally, I am not sure what it was about reviewing through EmpowerGMAT, but when I sat for the actual exam it actually seemed too easy. I thought for sure I was getting crushed and it was going to be an embarrassing score, but was happily surprised with my 740.

EmpowerGMAT truly prepared me; definitely the best $300 I ever spent!

I cannot be more thankful for the course. Rich was tremendous in giving quant feedback and this is by far the best ROI GMAT solution out there. I didn't have the money to afford a more expensive program. I did not really utilize the verbal, but I know that this program has helped a couple of my friends with the verbal. Trust me if you want to increase your Quant this is the #1 program. I used others sources. Amazing experience and I got into my dream MBA school!!!

Look, taking the GMAT isn't fun and neither is studying for it. Here's why I liked EMPOWER:

VALUE:
I've read a fair amount about the diminishing returns of more expensive, more hands-on tutoring for standardized tests and I'm a firm believer in self-study for these sorts of things. I don't want to fork over thousands of dollars for a class or tutor if I can get roughly the same results on my own time at a fraction of the price. EMPOWER was $99/month, which is extremely fair.

RESULTS:
Before starting EMPOWER I took a practice CAT to see how I would do and scored a 650. I took a real GMAT about 2 months into using the course and scored a 660, and then took the GMAT for a second time after a month of relaxing and another month of studying just the areas that I was weak in and scored a 700.

SELF-PACING:
I studied when I could and where I could: sometimes consistently, sometimes in spurts, sometimes at my office, sometimes in my bed. It was all on my terms.

PERSONALITY:
EMPOWER did a good job of transforming GMAT questions from a chore into a challenge. The people coaching you through the strategy and tricks of the test really make it seem like a game and tap into your competitive side.

Like I said, taking the GMAT isn't fun and studying for it isn't either, however, EMPOWER was fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone hoping to prepare as best they can. Paradoxically, I'm thankful that I never have to use EMPOWER again, and that's because of how good it was; it helped me get the score I wanted and now the GMAT is behind me and business school awaits.

This course was a gamechanger for me. I began my studies some time in mid-December with the Kaplan Premier book. After 3 or 4 days I realised it wasn't going to cut it for me. Upon my friend's advice, I bought the Manhattan books as well as the Foundation for GMAT Math book that they make (highly recommend to begin your studies with this book if you have any doubts about your math skills). After finishing the math books (I initially did not intend to study Verbal) I posted in the GMATclub forum asking for direction (where to from here?). Rich, Empower co-founder/math instructor, was the only person to respond to my message. I took a practice CAT, as he suggested, and scored a 680 but genuinely felt very flustered. The Math section in particular did not fill me with confidence. Long story short, I ended up trying the Empower course. It's cheaper than most of the other courses so I thought "what the heck, why not?". This was a great, great decision.

This course is priceless. So priceless that I kept my subscription going for a third month despite the fact that I had completed the course. The Quant part of this course is immense. The Verbal may help some people (prior to the course I only had an issue with SC. After one month of this course I hit 730 in a practice CAT. After about 14 weeks of studying I scored a 760 on my official GMAT (First try). I don't really know what else I can say about this course because words don't do it justice. Thank you Empower

I am an African American female working in advertising who was having a ton of trouble making progress on the GMAT while trying to self study. I used the Manhattan GMAT books and the Official Guide for self study and no matter how much I studied I could barely crack a 500, after a month of studying. Then while at a BBQ a woman raved about EmpowerGMAT and how she did the 3 month study plan and got a 660.

I figure what could I lose if I tried. EmpowerGMAT was very affordable. $99 a month and instead of overwhelming me with information it more so taught me the strategy on how to take the test and how to "PUT EVERYTHING ON THE PAD." I found tactics that considerably helped me improve my QUANT and VERBAL scores and let me know when to dump questions but more so than anything it provided me with some serious confidence. EmpowerGMAT got me to the low 600s. Once I finished the course I got a tutor to help me with my problem areas to take me over my hump.

I convinced a friend of mine to use EmpowerGMAT and he was able to get over 650. We both struggled initially and EmpowerGMAT just helped us gain the tactics that we needed to be GMAT ninjas. I am very satisfied with my experience.

I am now on my way to a Top 12 MBA program and I couldn't be happier.

The Empower GMAT course provides excellent test taking tips from timing to understanding which questions to dump to which questions will occur most frequently on the test. Even with knowledge on how to work each problem, Empower GMAT provides excellent test day tactics and strategies that will get your score to the next level. I was able to boost my score from 700 to 730 largely from their TEST IT methodology that I found to be highly effective. Empower GMAT is able to differentiate itself from its competitors through these tactics and makes it a great tool to have in your arsenal with tackling the GMAT. I strongly recommend to all test takers.

Overall courses are really helpful, and there are some great lessons on psychology of GMAT and facts, that are important to BEAT THE GMAT. A lot of useful strategies and ideas to use on the day of the exam. Tricks and techniques that can boost your score in several days!

Moreover, the support team is a great example of how the team should work! Every member will be able to ask a piece of advice from anyone, who works in EmpowerGMAT. In my opinion, EmpowerGMAT team values clients and is happy to help you with any difficulties you may face.

I studied extensively for the GMAT using The Economist GMAT Tutor. I found the course quite thick with detail and theory, which I thought was extremely useful. The course has alot of practice questions and long answer explanations. However, my GMAT exam was very disappointing (590) despite having scored always above 650 in the CAT of the course. I was quite frustrated and decided to let go.

Several months later, I decided to give it another try. I was about to start studying again with the same prep course, but then thought that it was probably not suitable for me. There are so many prep course out there, so I thought changing might be a good idea.

I came to know about the EMPOWERgmat course on this blog, and registered for a free trial of the course. I found it so simple and straightforward in the beginning that I thought it was useless. The way Rich and Max (the two professors of the course) show you how to solve problems seemed too easy and poor in theoretical background (the same impression I got when I downloaded all the EMPOWER study material). But THAT was exactly the key! Thanks to the EMPOWER course I came to understand that the GMAT is actually quite easy and straightforward once you master a couple of tricks, and that too much theory is actually counterproductive. The course teaches you the few theoretical fundamentals, and really focuses on answering strategy. This helped me overcome my main mistake which was to answer questions using a theory-based approach (which comes from my background in Engineering), and significantly improved my pacing throught the exam.

In sum, I was really amazed by how my perception of the GMAT changed after taking the course. I highly recommend it to anybody willing to beat the GMAT.

Hey folks!

about two months ago I wrote the GMAT after learning with the Empowergmat 3 month prep course. Retrospectively, I can say that the prep course offered a great foundation for successfully taking the Gmat exam. This is attributable to two main aspects of the Empowergmat curriculum that really helped me out.

Firstly, the two tutors - Rich and Max - know what they're talking about. They have a thorough understanding of the essentials that are key in order to be successful in the quantitative and verbal part. Surely, you'll have to invest a lot of time and energy into the learning process but Rich and Max do a good job in setting the right direction during this process.

Secondly, Rich and Max help you to think outside the box when it comes to acing the Gmat on test day. This is done by providing various drills and podcasts about how to prepare both physically and mentally for test day (eating the right stuff, battling fatigue, etc.). In addition, it's very refreshing to listen to them after a long reading comprehension or quant drill.

All in all, I can say that the Empowergmat course was the right choice for me as it offered a lot of helpful insights for an awesome price!

Good look to all future test takers!

By way of introduction, I had scored a 720 (Q50, V36, IR7, AWA6) on my first, completely self-prep attempt. I obtained an improved score of 760 (Q50, V42, IR8) in my retake after using EmpowerGMAT’s Online Course.

If I had to summarize EmpowerGMAT’s incredible value proposition in an elevator pitch, it would comprise:
1) From (but not solely limited to) a GMAT strategy standpoint, it is an indispensable asset to have in your repertoire of tools, either as a first-time test taker or a retaker. The tactics taught, and the pedagogy used, proved to be extremely valuable during game day.

2) Incredible support system. The pressure is real, and having a receptive point of contact at the other end with rational responses went a long way in not only solving my queries, but also calming my nerves. EmpowerGMAT always kept its channels of communication open and responded promptly.

3) Tremendous value for money vis-?-vis other alternatives available at the time, and in all likelihood, even at the time of your reading this review! Plus, their score guarantee was also the most robust and comprehensive that I could find then. Jump in now, before it decides to hike its rates.

As an engineering graduate with a fairly decent handle on the English language, my first attempt was purely self-prep. I had used the OG 13, taken any and all of the free mock tests made available by different test providers that I could find, and the Official GMAT Practice Tests. Only when I gave the exam and received my score of 720 ? I was admittedly disappointed ? did I begin realizing that knowledge and good pacing alone aren’t enough to break the upper 700?s. I knew I had left marks on the table, and that I was capable of scoring higher. Where do I turn to? My study material was exhausted, and there was little I could gain by going over the concepts again. Purchasing new mock tests was an option, but I had realized that my approach had been largely the same, and repeating the same approach with new mock tests would yield little incremental benefit. Clearly, I needed to change my approach and strategy towards answering the various types of questions.

Herein, EmpowerGMAT emerged as the clear-cut front-runner after a lot of research and comparison. The more I delved deeper into its program, the more I began loving what I saw. From a free trial of its course offerings which gave me some inkling of its tactical approach towards the GMAT (if you are still on the fence about going for it, I would recommend their 5-day trial), to their Score Booster plans which methodically outlined the core areas needed for a score boost, backed by their money-back guarantee ? for me, this was a clear win-win situation. Boost my score, or get my money back. Why not?
What made it even more perfect, was that the online material is self-paced and split in great detail among the sections and topics ? perfectly matching my learning style, wherein I could ramp up the pace and attack what sections needed most attention. Surprisingly, while I had initially planned to just focus on the Verbal Score Booster plan, I ended up devouring the entire collection of videos in about a month, so addictive were the lessons and the pedagogy used! With each video, each set of questions on their platform; I found my confidence levels increasing, realizing how silly I was to have given the exam without the right tactical strategies in place. And boy, did these work on game-day!

The laser focus on the ?right? difficulty (and topics) of questions to go for, the right approach and tactics to use to efficiently solve for each question type, the logic behind the GMAT, what it tests and why, its scoring algorithm, and the motivational podcasts and anecdotes ? all of these gave me valuable skills, and put me in the right mindset to deploy them. EmpowerGMAT helped me transition from a stubborn quant nerd (how I realize I was, in retrospect) to a calm, composed GMAT reasoner, who could reason his way through each type of question and have a set of tools to apply to each.

I would go so far as to say that given EmpowerGMAT’s focus on each and every aspect of the GMAT experience, from broader brush strokes such as topic coverage, to minutiae such as test-day tactics, all you need to score well on the GMAT are EmpowerGMAT and the OG.

After scoring well below my target score on my first and second attempts (I had taken a review course and self-studied the second time), i decided to give Empower a try after reading many positive testimonials. I decided to dedicate 1 month to re-studying for the exam. I followed Empower's refresher curriculum. I very much enjoyed the flexibility and breadth that the review program offered. Empower taught me invaluable techniques and strategies with which to attack the gmat. Going into test day i had a high level of confidence in my ability to hit my target score. After taking the exam i was very pleased to see i got a 710, with 99th percentile in verbal. I owe it to Empower Gmat for the well-thought out and efficient review course.

Rich and Max are great tutors to have on your journey to beating the GMAT. All of the tutorials are well explained and detailed.

This course is completely self study and you have the option to shorten or lengthen your study plan based on how much time you have until you take your official GMAT. This course will give you video lectures on key quantitative and verbal techniques and will immediately quiz you on the lessons learned in your next tutorial. At the end of every week or two you will complete a practice exam (These are not included but for $50 you can get 6 from MGMAT) to get a baseline of where you're at and then Rich and Max go over more learning modules to help you dominate this exam.

You should keep this review in context since I've only been using the program for about a month and I have yet to take an official GMAT. However, if you follow the instructions and stay diligent with your studying then there is no excuse for you not to crush the GMAT.

Hello fellow GMAT takers,

Like most of you, I struggled when I first started studying for the GMAT. I wanted a good score so I paid for an expensive online course, bought a ton of books and was discouraged when I wasn't seeing the results I wanted. I scored a 590 on my first official exam and that just simply was not good enough for me. Then I came across EMPOWERgmat.

With the help of EMPOWERgmat, my score jumped to a 650 and I improved my quant from a 42 to a 47 (a score I never thought was possible).

I am a visual person, so for me the way EMPOWERgmat explains each problem and shows you how to work it out (in the most time efficient way) was super helpful. I also learned a lot of shortcuts. There were entire quant concepts that I felt comfortable solving before I started EMPOWERgmat, but come to find out EMPOWERgmat solves them quicker and easier.

One element that I was surprised to learn from EMPOWERgmat was test strategy. Going into the test I thought I had to solve every problem and that each problem was "worth" about the same. Wrong. EMPOWERgmat explains which problems are put in the test to trick you up, waste your clock and frustrate you. Those problems you are supposed to skip. Yes, skip. Make an educated guess and skip. The concept of this floored me but they were right. Controlling your test "tilt" is super key and EMPOWERgmat helps you manage it.

Bottom line, there are many many GMAT products out there, trust me I tried a ton, but EMPOWERgmat was my ticket into my top grad program and it can be yours too.

Good luck!!!

I had used Manhattan Prep, but EMPOWERgmat is what pushed me over the top. The 2 month study guide was perfect for me. Rich and Max are really engaging and listening to them really built my confidence. I truly believed I was going to become a GMAT Assassin and crush the test if I just used their easy to follow strategies. Two strategies in particular, TEST IT and TRIAGE made all the difference in the world. To be honest, I should've received a higher score. I felt discouraged because the questions felt so easy to me and I took that to mean I wasn't doing so well on the test.

The thing I like the most was the entire test-taking approach. The content was great, but how to actually approach the GMAT - I don't think there's a better program out there for that. For the first time I stopped trying to spend time on EVERY single question. If it was too hard or I knew I would spend 3 minutes to figure it out, I dropped it. Rich and Max were so ingrained into my head I was laughing at questions on the real thing because I knew exactly what they would say. Their delivery really made the course fun, and I am sad I found out about their platform late in the game.

Oww what an amazing path we did together.
i was a retaker with 590 v26Q44 score previously and i had only 06 weeks to have a least 650
due to application constraint.
For my first attempt i only used Manhantan books. 02 days after official test, i started again
with well know books (Veritas, Princeton, ...). 02 weeks after i score 590 on the mock, i was so disappointed.
i started looking for a real SOLUTION, which means for me affordable and efficient as i had only 04 weeks left at that time.
in 20 min i decided to take EMPOWERGMAT. why? $85 / per month was excatly what i needed in term of time and was affordable.
And it had 5/5 reviews on gmatclub. so why not? i mean at that point i didn't have anything else as solution.
The EMPOWERGMAT tatics helped so much on quant and the 5s scan on SC really help me on the verbal section.
I will always remember Rich final podcast before the exam: i won't tell you good luck because there is nothing about luck on this exam
put everything down on the pad, work of each point, dump any nasty or crazy question.
During the exam, i was calm,confident. I dumped 3 - 4 crazy questions on the quant session and had 49.
On the verbal, the 5s scan helped so much when i was out of time on the SC. I had a small passage on last 10 questions, i was running out of time
in the past i would have skimmed but i didn't this time, thanks to Max advice. And it gaves me confidence to dump 2 CR questions which was my weakness any way.

Taking EMPOWERGMAT was a very smart decision and i don't regret any of dollars paid for that course;it was worth it.

May be in the next coming months or years i will retake the GMAT just to be in the 700 club, but 680 was what i needed for my applications
PS: Engineer, non-native.

In 2015, I gave my GMAT 4 times. ANd I took two different courses before enrolling for EmpowerGMAT

- 1st attempt I used GMATPill and scored 600
- 2nd attempt I used eGMAT and scored 590
- 3rd attempt I just focused on OG guide and scored 640
- 4th attempt I used EMPOWERGmat and scored 710

I would like to specially thank Rich from EMPOWERGMAT for reaching out to me after my failed third attempt. His insight into the ESR report was very helpful as it helped me decide my next steps. He recommended that I change my approach for Quant and SC which I did with the help of EMPOWER total booster course. The concepts tested on the GMAT are all basic ones.

It all depends on how you use your resources (time, mental energy and your skills) wisely. Throughout the course both Rich and Max do a good job on emphasizing what is really required to do well on the GMAT. And the best part was I got a response from Rich within 24 hours for any questions whether it was related to strategy or content etc.

After spending two months with the course I was able to change my approach for Quant - using simple neat tactics such as using numbers to solve problems, working with answers to solve questions, dumping question that was either difficult or questions Rich asked us to dump questions. The last one is very very effective because it saves a ton of time for other questions that really matter. During my actual GMAT, I followed this advice during the Math and Verbal sections. This definitely helping during my Verbal section as I was mentally drained out.

For Verbal, Max's approach for solving SC problems was very helpful - start by glancing the answer choice to get an idea on the concept tested, read the question carefully and cross out answers. Before the course I used to take more than 1.45mins to answer SC question, but with the new approach I was able to solve SC questions within 1.15 mins. I would definitely recommend working with Rich and Max through their EMPOWERGMAT course. It is worth it.

I believe EMPOWERgmat was the key piece to me earning my 700. They have a score booster curriculum for those who feel their GMAT abilities have hit a ceiling. This is exactly what I needed. I really liked that they took all the GMAT study plan strategizing out of my hands; their syllabus is easy-to-follow, and as long as you just do what they tell you, your score WILL improve. Rich and Max bring a lot of enthusiasm to their instructional videos, making long study sessions easier to endure. They evoke the "athletic coach persona" and communicate the GMAT concepts and strategies in a way that really motivates you to crush the test. I noticed occasional misspellings in the practice problems in their videos and minor bugs in their online platform (as of 01/16/2016, it looks like they completely revamped and upgraded their platform!), but these small issues never got in the way of my studying. Their website may not have the shiny production value of the large, established test prep companies (i.e. Manhattan GMAT), but it's the value of the content that counts, and EMPOWERgmat delivers.

The most important thing I learned from EMPOWERgmat was to alter my approach and mindset - it's not about how much content you know, it's almost ALL about strategy. Once you nail the concepts down, you have to realize that the GMAT will reward those who treat the test like a business situation. To specify, you have limited resources (time), and the GMAT will reward (with a high score) those who maximize the utility of their limited resources (spending time on problems you know how to solve and/or strategically guessing versus spending all your time on difficult problems that don't count much towards your score anyway). This fundamental shift in mentality completely freed me to not get bogged down in the concepts I didn't know or with which I was not comfortable. EMPOWERgmat hammers this perspective into all of their instruction so that it becomes second nature. This is what paved the way for me to earn that 700. For anyone looking to boost their score or take a high-quality course from the comfort of their home, I highly recommend this course!

I had used flashier, more expensive on-demand, multi-media GMAT prep courses the year before and had not really found a huge amount of success with them. EmpowerGMAT was recommended to me by a friend who had significantly improved his GMAT score and has since made it into a top B-school. I was immediately impressed by the simple format, clear instruction style, focus on practical tactics as well as actual knowledge. The explanations of why the B-schools actually care about the GMAT were so helpful as it finally put this pretty beastly test into some context. At least I understood why I was being put under intense time pressure in the quant section and why certain approaches were more important than others. Prior to this explanation it had just felt as though the schools were being sadistic for the sake of it. After all, I am good at maths and yet they seem to care so much about this one, single test. Grr. Although I ultimately made a silly schoolboy error on the quant section on test day (ran out of time - Doh!) I did raise my overall score and rate the EmpowerGMAT course very highly. Their customer service has also been exemplary and when I needed them they were prompt, polite and very helpful.

I used EMPOWERgmat to help prepare for my 2nd crack at the GMAT. I scored 700 on my first try, but I knew I could do better on the Verbal section. I'm happy I found EMPOWER because their "Score Booster" programs provided just what I needed. The videos on the site cover all the details, without wasting any time. RIch and Max do a great job of breaking down the material and providing tips on how to best approach problems. One of my favorite aspects of the EMPOWER experience is that Rich and Max will always let you know which questions are "worth points." This made me realize that in the past I had put much time and effort into problems that were not necessarily as "important."

Their approach to SC helped me realize just how logical that section is and I began treating those questions with the same confidence I approached the Quant questions. In the past, timing was an issue for me on the Verbal section and I found the RC and CR EMPOWER tactics to be extremely helpful in my time management efforts. Come test day I was able to attack the passages with confidence and use proper note taking strategies to cut down my time spent on each question.

My Verbal score increased from a 37 to a 46 in just 2 months! My goal was to keep my Quant score (49) right where it was and to improve my Verbal score and that's just what I did in 2 short months using EMPOWER. It had been almost 4 months since my first GMAT attempt so I found the Quant Score Booster to be helpful in refreshing my Quant skills to get back to where I was originally. I 100% recommend EMPOWER for all retesters who are committed to improving their score and just need some guidance along the way!

EMPOWERgmat really helped me organize my approach to the GMAT. After self-studying for about a month and a half, I used the EMPOWERgmat Score Booster to inject some purpose into my studying. The course provided me with new, simple techniques for both verbal and quant and allowed me to develop an effective strategy for each question type. I started to understand how the test makers were thinking and I was able to identify the difficult questions that were not worth worrying about. If you are seeing minimal improvement with self-study or other courses, I highly recommend making the switch. The course simply gets to the point and allowed me the confidence to score a 730 on my first attempt.

I had taken a course prior through another reputable company and that was great. It set the foundation for me but I needed something else to give me that final push. That's where Empower came in.

I think what sets Empower apart is they have a great support system in case you have questions and their material really reflects that they understand the test and want to give you every piece of advice to help you ace it, from your mindset going in, even to miscellaneous things like what you should eat or small tricks you can do.

Through Empower I was able to push my score from 710 to 740 and make no mistake, those last 30 points are very difficult to achieve.

Overall, a strong score is always dependent on your work ethic first. No course by itself will help you achieve your goals without it, but having Empower did everything outside of that to guide me there. Thank you!

Most likely, I do not fit the profile of a lot of GMATers out there: My wife and I just had our first child when I started studying, I was running a de novo business AND I have been out of school for 10 years. I was short on sleep and did not have the luxury of dedicating time to a classroom course.

To sum up my experience with EMPOWER: Excellent. Rich and Max really try to get everyone to understand not just the concepts, but HOW THE EXAM WORKS and HOW TO BEAT IT.

Highly Recommend If: you are budget conscious; do not have the luxury of time to devote to a classroom setting; you have a good baseline to work with.

A very surprising aspect of EMPOWER: the staff and Rich are very engaged.
When you watch the lessons and listen to the podcasts and you hear Rich say, "email me - I want to hear about your GMAT experience" he absolutely means it. As an example: I was scheduled to take the GMAT in September. My infant son had not slept at all the evening before the exam. I went into the testing center on fumes. I BOMBED the verbal. My raw verbal was a full 10 points lower and my GMAT score was 100 points lower than my last two CATs.

I emailed Rich and shared my experience with him. Over the course of 1 day and several emails, Rich spent time trying to dissect if there was more to my poor performance than a lack of sleep. He loaded me up with a few tweaks to the Empower tactics, reinforced some others and off I went to my 720.

In fairness, I did need to employ another course to supplement my verbal. However, the tips and methods Max teaches in Empower are very helpful. ?Patterns Patterns Patterns?
I would generally suggest to supplement the Empower course with a question bank outside of the OG with good explanations. Rich and Max do a great job articulating the concepts, but I still needed additional questions to practice on.

I do want to thank Rich and the Empower team. I appreciate your support and hope to hear about many more Empower success stories.

Before using EMPOWERgmat's course I was using another online course that is very well known for its good quant explanations for over 6 months. I took the GMAT three times, but never scored higher than 570, whilst I needed to score at least 600. I explained Rich from EMPOWERgmat my tactics and he quickly gave me motivating feedback. During the entire course Rich and his team will boost your confidence that you need during your test. Some questions are just too hard to answer correctly and they distract you from answering other, easier questions correctly. EMPOWERgmat taught me that not every question matters and I listened to them, as I did not have anything to lose. During my GMAT quant I triaged (strategically guessed) four of the harder questions and I told myself they were too hard to actually count. Eventually I scored 48 on the quant section, an amazing increase from the 39 I scored on my previous GMAT and no I do not consider myself a maths genius, but more the opposite! I was even more impressed that I saw my score boost by this much in only one month time. Thanks EMPOWERgmat for the insights and the great and fun explanations. I am more than satisfied with my 610 score!

I was able to improve from a 580 to 720 (Q47 V41 AWA6 IR7) after just two months with Empower! I did use another test prep company right before Empower, but I really believe the tactics and tricks Empower teaches are worth preaching and their methods are refreshingly different. On test day, knowing when to trash a question was absolute key during the quant section.

I took a GMATprep practice test 2 weeks before my exam date and I got a 660. I was so disappointed and almost lost hope that I could obtain my dream score. But I tried my hardest anyway and what I think made the biggest difference was focusing on the verbal section. The same amount of points in verbal meant so much more than the same amount of points in quant. That was something I never would've realized without Empower. I should probably mention my quant score only improved 3 points since day 1! Without Empower I wouldn't even know how to study smart and use my time efficiently.

Now I am able to apply to my target schools knowing that my GMAT will not be the reason I do not get in.

I used EMPOWERgmat a little bit before taking the GMAT the first time and I scored 640 - on par with my discipline and practice. I felt embarrassed by this score so I decided to actually follow the ScoreBooster module for Quant and Verbal. I studied for about 3 months consistently by going through each module outlined in the ScoreBooster packet.

My strength was not Quant, so that's where I focused most of my time initially. However, the more I focused my practice time on Quant, the more frustrated I became as my practice test scores were flat in the mid-600s. I decided to take Brian's advice from the EMPOWERgmat team and focus on Verbal.

Max's modules in Verbal were super helpful to exploit my strengths in Verbal. I revisited my past practice tests and realized how weak I was on CR prompts, so that's where I focused my study time. Amazingly, my scores improved. I stopped worrying about all the math formulas and instead focused all my time on CR prompts and SC tactics.

It all came together when I took a practice exam a week before the GMAT. I totally fumbled the Quant section in that practice exam, I was ~10 minutes behind pace and ended up racing through the last 15 questions, just clicking-through on most. I thought that low 600s was inevitable given how poor the Quant section went for me. I put myself back together during the 8 minute break and knew I had to just crush Verbal. So I did - all that practice really paid off. I submitted the last question and thought I would be lucky to get mid 600s. My score: 700. I was shocked! How could that be given how badly the Quant section went? I scored 99th percentile in Verbal. All that focus on Verbal redeemed my score and helped me feel much more confident.

So I took the GMAT the next week with the same approach - do the best I can on Quant, stay on pace to avoid the anxiety of rushing, and then just freaking attack Verbal like a rabid lawyer. I got a 710 and feel happy with that...

EMPOWERgmat's approach to Verbal was crucial for me. If you struggle with Quant or are just average at it like me, then I recommend doing the Verbal ScoreBooster. Exploit your strengths, and you'll achieve a higher score faster. Worked for me.

I decided to go with empower because of its affordable price, the score booster method which allows you to skip most quant fundamentals, and the various advice and strategies used to work around certain questions and save precious time for the questions that do matter.

For the Quant part, I feel that EmpowerGMAT will definitely be more helpful for people that already have a good grasp of the fundamentals but do want that extra boost by adding efficient strategies to their arsenal, such as the art of triaging and test it methods that must become like reflexes. While those strategies may feel at first counter-intuitive, I do feel that they are much more effective than focusing solely on extremely hard quant questions such as the ones you can find on GMATClub

The Verbal part is extremely useful; I would probably recommend EmpowerGMAT just for their advice on RC which will help you achieve easily 100% accuracy on any level questions. The CR methods are broken down to very simple concepts that are easy to apply and clearly show you which topics are worth more of your time. The SC part focuses less on remembering many complex grammatical rules, and is more oriented towards simple things to look out for, as well as clearing out obvious mistakes in wrong answer choices.

Unfortunately, I failed the official exam a couple of days after finishing the course. I scored a 640 while I was aiming for a 690, which I consistently got on CAT’s at home. I was extremely stressed, especially on the quant part and to my surprise the verbal was a complete disaster.

I rescheduled an exam for the next month, and sent an email to EmpowerGMAT in order to explain what happened.

I got in touch with Brian, who was extremely helpful in identifying the factors that led to the scores I kept getting, and just as I suspected myself, I was not correctly applying the strategies given by EmpowerGMAT. Furthermore, my knowledge of the material was not really an issue, and thus more practice questions were not going to help me much.
Brian also wrote me a detailed email that outlined exactly what strategies I absolutely had to implement on the test day. I felt that this email as probably the most helpful advice EmpowerGMAT gave me.

I only had enough time to test them on one GMATprep CAT before the real exam. I got a 710, breaking through the 700 barrier for the first time.
The next morning, I focused as much as possible on implementing the tactics that had worked the day before. I couldn’t believe the score that showed up: 740, ranking in the 97th percentile.

Those tactics helped me achieve a score that many, including myself, have only dreamed about.

I would highly recommend EmpowerGMAT, especially to the people that feel like they are beginning to stall and don’t gain any more points by doing additional practice questions. I would also encourage people to contact them directly and tell them about your particular issues or situation, the EmpowerGMAT team is extremely kind, helpful, and comprehensive.

I stumbled upon empowergmat via their 5 days for 5$ event that they had back in June 2015 and wanted to try the course out as I was looking for study tips and tricks to improve from my 690 in my 2nd GMAT attempt. I wanted to reach 730+ but had already exhausted all the available resources. I enrolled myself for the 5$ event and I was surprised to see the the depth and clarity in their verbal video tutorials by Max and the follow up questions not only cemented what you learned in theory but also taught you about the common traps. After the first day itself I enrolled myself for 1 month and as they provide a month to month billing (highly transparent and helpful for short term commitment that I was looking for!), it proved to the boost that I needed to push my score from 690 to 750 in 1 month.

Max's appraoch to CR completely changed my thought process and it made me more confident of dealing with 700+ level questions. The SC approach was straightforward without the use of unnecessary grammatical jargons. RC was taught with an eye out for achieving maximum accuracy while not going abvoe the average time per question.

Rich's test it and triage approaches in quant not only helped me in undertsanding the various time saving strategies, these also helped me in understanding the mind of the test maker at GMAC.

All these strategies worked wonders for me in the actual GMAT and I was able to clearly see why the incorrect answers were incorrect. Once i had this undertsanding, i was more confident with my answers.

I would definitely recommend EMPOWERGMAT to retakers who are looking at a highly compressed preparation schedule that will give them amazing results.

My first attempt was in mid-July 2015 and scored a miserable 580 Q39 V31. I was stunned with my quant score as I have never scored this low during my mock tests.

Luckily, however, I came across to the EMPOWERgmat course, which, I think, is the BEST available course so far. The studying process with the program is efficient and gives you the tips and knowledge that you will use during both preparation period and the actual exam. More importantly, Rich’s videos are so much fun as well. He is the real GMAT assassin!

Following two months of preparation (70% of the time spent on Quant section and the remaining on Verbal), I showed up at the test center. The AWA section and integrated reasoning went OKAY and then when I moved to the quant section I felt way more confident and followed Rich’s instructions. I completely failed in the verbal section as my RC skills are very low and was so frustrated that expected the exact same score as before. Anyways, I finished the test and the score popped up: 650 Q47 V32. Improved my quant score by 8 points and verbal ? by 1 point only.

Even though it is just the beginning of my GMAT journey and 650 is not a good score at all, I wanted to share this experience with you. This 70 points improvement would have been IMPOSSIBLE without EMPOWERgmat. The next 70 points improvement will come from the stress management during the exam and from more preparation for the verbal section.

Good luck to you all!

EMPOWERgmat helped me earn 740, the 97th percentile.

On my first GMAT Prep test I scored a 520, and although I was kind of terrified, I learned that that was actually better than the average starting score, which made me feel a lot better. I set about following the 3 month study plan with an obsession. I think the thing that made the biggest difference is understanding that to get good at answering GMAT questions, and working the adaptive CAT, you have to build specialized skills.

Here are the skills from the course, and my own reflections that enabled me to get a 740:
+Double check - Especially on the questions you know you can do. Early on, I missed way too many questions I because I made stupid, idiot mistakes. Rather than just hitting my head against the desk, I reflected on what bad habits were causing those mistakes. Before you click ?next?, double check.
+The test measures thoroughness. If the question says, n > 2, don’t just think 3, consider 2.1.
+Attention to detail - When you read a question, read it carefully enough to catch exactly what it’s asking for because they’ve got a brutal punisher answer waiting for you otherwise
+Spotting the gaps - This is especially helpful in CR, and DS. In Empower, they teach about the 3 common flaws/assumptions: 1-No other factors, 2-Success, 3-Relevance. In every CR argument, you can count on at least one of them, and you’ll know how to answer every assumption, strengthen, weaken, and evaluate the argument question. In DS, knowing what’s missing makes finding the right answer a lot more direct, and sort of takes the mystery out of it.
+Being in control when you read - It's way to easy to race through the content as you read, but I'm sure you noticed that when you don't race, you're far more accurate. For me at least, it was night and day. The only way to perform at my best is to read with careful, slow, high engagement.

You should also follow EMPOWERgmat's rules to picking your best score really carefully. That changed everything for me. I owe EMPOWERgmat everything for sharing this strategy, and I hope that others can benefit from the system the same way I did. The course did it all. It teaches the content, the tactics, and the x-factors, and for a fraction of the price of other courses.

Taking EMPOWERgmat is like leasing a Rolls Royce for $99 month. It feels like it's too good to be true, but it's the real deal. You'd have to be nuts to take another course.

I came across Empowergmat here on the forums and since my verbal and math skills were stagnating around the 33/42 mark I felt like giving them a try.

I only took the course for one month as a way to prepare for my official Gmat that was creeping closer each day but I learned so many techniques and ways to think about the test!

I especially loved the verbal modules as the key techniques and understandings I derived from the course quickly got my verbal from a 33 to the 40 range. I also really liked the Little things that they added, such as how you should view the test and what really matters.

All in all i am extremely happy about the experience and feel that it would have taken a lot longer time to reach the 700 level (even more to get a 720) without the use of Empowergmat.

Thank you Max & Rich for your teachings!

I started studying alone for GMAT in November 2014 using the Official Guide books, the Manhattan Prep Tests and Kaplan 800. At that time, I was scoring around 590 level, which was good considering that I had just started studying for GMAT and I did not have any previous encounter with that type of math or verbal questions. I studied for approximately 5 months but I wasn't making any notable progress. While I was strong on Verbal, my Quant skills suffered considerably (they were hoovering at the 39 level while Verbal was at approximately at 34). It was then when I decided to seek for help.
I decided to try EmpowerGMAT because I needed help with the Quant Section before anything else and I had read many good things in the forums about Rich, the math tutor of empowerGMAT. This course was also one of the cheapest to buy out there.
The entire course is comprised of modules that teach you tactics and strategies for every single part of the exam by solving real GMAT questions. You will learn methods that will help you solve Quant questions very easily, methods that will help you divide long RC passages to smaller segments, tricks to identify wrong answers in CR and many others. EmpowerGMAT teaches you the tricks to solve certain questions that they seemed hard before, and how to avoid lengthy calculations that eat away your remaining time.
Overall, the course is great, the whole team is very helpful and they try hard to answer any questions you might have as soon as possible. In my opinion, the one thing that made all the difference in increasing my score 70 points was that Rich and Max not only teach you how to solve these questions the easiest way possible, but they also teach you how the GMAT works and how it awards or punishes the test taker.
I totally recommend this course to anyone who wants to take the GMAT, give it a go and you won't regret it.

I decided to try Empower after one of my friends, who had just started business school, recommended it to me. I was at first a bit skeptical of just having online classes, but they give you a lot of guidance (1-month plan, 3-month plans) to keep you on your feet. I had already spent time studying, so I knew all the rules, but Empower strategies really pushed me to process the questions more efficiently - particularly the confidence to dump hard math questions. I could envision Rich's voice encouraging me to skip a question when I was on the exam, which I had previously never been able to do. The videos were engaging and easy to follow and I really wish I had started with Empower from the beginning of my studies. Great program!

EMPOWERgmat is crazy powerful. I was languishing in the low 600s for about 4 months and was starting to get really discouraged. Two of my friends at work recommended EMPOWERgmat and I signed up. The reason they recommended the course is because it emphasizes the things that lead to points. For example, yes the course covers all of the rules you need for SCs, but it shows you how to attack the questions in a way that make it so cut and dry. I especially loved the tactics on the verbal side of the course, which is exactly where I needed help. I was able to go from a V33 to a V44 in about 6 weeks, which if I had known were possible I would have signed up for EMPOWERgmat from the start.

If you are shopping for courses TAKE EMPOWERGMAT! You'll learn how to beat the GMAT and be a trained tactician.

I decided I wanted to take the GMAT earlier this year and did a TON of research of self-study guides. I borrowed some books from friends, had some Manhattan prep stuff and tried to teach myself the content and familiarize myself with some math I hadn't done in YEARS. I took multiple practice CAT's and scored nothing higher than 700. With an average of around 680. I went into the real GMAT not very confident of hitting my 730 target score. I walked out with a 680 and very discouraged. I knew that to get different results I had to change how I studied. I looked over Magoosh, e-gmat, and EmpowerGMAT. After browsing forums and looking at the course overview I signed up for Empower. It was the best decision I made in my GMAT studies. I knew I wanted to take the GMAT again in around 30 days. I went through the entire Empower course in that time. There 1 month plan was a great help and I was able to pace myself through all of the modules. I had to put a lot of time in, but I was fully prepared to do so!

I begin to learn some of Empower's exclusive tactics, Rich and Max explained things clearly and concisely, and gave me such confidence. They have some great insights in how to BEAT the GMAT. And by that I don't mean get all the questions right, I mean information on how questions are composed and how the scoring works which allowed me to understand where I should be focusing. Their Quant is OUTSTANDING. Although I only scored a 44Q on test day, my 2 practice CAT's leading up to my real exam I scored 48Q on both. I didn't have a good performance on the day with Q, but that was down to me. Rich had given me the tools. Verbal was an area I knew I could improve. I felt VERY strong at RC, but SC was an area I knew I could improve a lot. Empower's SC is underrated. I read very few people telling me Empower's SC was good when I was doing my research. But it just clicked for me! I NAILED the verbal on test day and got a 47 (99th percentile) to score 730 Overall (96th percentile). I could not have done it with Empower. If you put the time in, they will give you the tools to ROCK the GMAT.

I feel like I could retake the exam and score 750+, but I have the score I need right now and will be evaluating my options for B-School!