Here’s another “old” success story that shows just how long I’ve been doing this! 😂 Valeriya B. was an ambitious woman who works in the energy sector. She successfully applied (and was accepted!) to Columbia for her MBA. Here is her story.
[unedited]
“I started to prepare for TOEFL in December 2012. In March 2013 (my 1st test) I scored 92, even though I spent a lot of time and effort to prepare. And it was not only time-consuming, but also really challenging. Especially I “loved” the Speaking section – when my teacher announced some crazy topic about pets and started to count down 15 seconds, I felt that I’m ready to quit.
I made some research on the Internet, and found Jaime. I was not sure that she could help me to essentially increase my score, because my first teacher was highly qualified and prepared a lot of students for TOEFL. But I decided to try. In one month I scored 112!!!!! I was “beyond happy” when I saw my score. But that’s not the main part about Jaime.
I have enjoyed our classes so much that I asked her to keep them after the TOEFL test. Now we are preparing for the interviews, working on my resume and energy sector vocabulary (my field of work). She is an amazing person. I had morning classes at 8 am, and she filled me with energy me for the whole day. She is also the most organized and inspiring teacher I’ve ever had. We had about 10 classes, but thanks to the way she organized them during that single month I learned more than in the previous six.
Homework she gives requires a lot of time, but the results are incredible — I increased my Reading score from 19 to 29!!! (my dream was 25). I also got 29 on speaking and listening, and I essentially improved my writing skills. Before I started to study with Jaime I hated Independent essays and all the topics in this section. Today can easily write even about a nuclear war. Jaime is definitely the best teacher to prepare for TOEFL.”
Job: Business Development Director
TOEFL, 1st time: 92
TOEFL, after Jaime: 112 (R29; L29; S29; W25)