How Much Will I Improve?

Well, that depends an awful lot on you. I mean, if you start at a 172 I can guarantee you won’t improve by 10 points. But you might improve by 8! If you start at 165, you certainly won’t see 20 points of improvement, but if you start at 155 you might!

With the online model, there’s no way for me to know exactly how much my students are improving—I can’t make anyone take timed practice tests, and I can’t make anyone use our test grader, so I cannot know exactly what’s happening with everyone’s scores. 

When I used to teach live in-person courses, I had more control over practice tests, and I did a summer-long study of all my students. During that term, my students (about 200 people) improved by an average of just under 12 points. That average includes those who improved by 26 points and those who improved by 3, so it’s not perfectly useful as a barometer for your expectations.

Still, for most people, 10-12 points of improvement is a reasonable, achievable goal. Remember that, just like going to the gym, your results will vary with your input—including your aptitude, wherewithal, flexibility, focus and work habits.

You can think of it like this: If you go to a gym and do the hard work well under the instruction of a knowledgeable coach, you can expect big gains. If you don’t do the work yourself, though?

Well, you’ll never get any stronger by watching your coach lift weights.