Park Jae-hyuk is a seasoned journalist who has provided comprehensive coverage of South Korea's corporate dynamics, economic policies, industry challenges and the global positioning of Korean companies. Based on the articles he has written since joining The Korea Times in 2016, his investigative approach has helped readers understand corporate governance, economic trends and business strategies shaping South Korea’s economy.
INTERVIEW Math guru making another Korean wave
Global Math Monster Representative Director Lee Sang Kyu, center, poses with CEO Lim Jong-hoon, left, and marketing manager Park Joo-hyung at the company’s office in Seoul, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
By Park Jae-hyuk
Global Math Monster revolutionizes GMAT preparation
By Park Jae-hyuk
Those seeking to enter business schools in the United States and Europe may think answering every question of the Graduate Management Admission Test’s (GMAT) quantitative section is impossible.
As the section requires examinees to solve 37 math questions in 75 minutes, non-native English speakers may spend their time translating English text into their own languages.
Lee Sang-kyu, head of Global Math Monster, offers optimum solutions for such test takers.
He developed an exclusive way of solving GMAT’s math questions that allows most of his students to achieve perfect scores on the quantitative section of the test even before he established the startup.
His students in Korea, whose number reaches 30,000, include chaebol heirs, journalists and social influencers. Seven in 10 GMAT examinees here learned from him. They could make up for their low scores in other sections that require English abilities.
As his students recognized their teacher’s competitiveness, the Korean math guru decided to pass on his know-how to test takers in other countries.
For this, Lee established the startup in 2015, after joining hands with CEO Lim Jong-hoon, who was in charge of marketing at global enterprises, including AIG Korea, LINA Life Insurance Company of Korea and Procter & Gamble Korea.
“My lecture is about competitiveness in content and approaches,” Lee told The Korea Times. “We have 100,000 questions in our database. Also, we perfectly analyze the logic of GMAT math, compared to our rivals.”
He said test takers using his approach will be able to secure extra time during the test.
The Seoul-based firm’s online learning platform, Math Revolution, obtained 4.9 points out of 5.0 from users of GMAT Club, the largest community of GMAT examinees worldwide. Their score is the highest among those of platforms listed on GMAT Club website.
Its reputation proves test takers around the world are satisfied with the e-learning provider.
“The number of Korean test takers is 2,500 a year on average, while that of test takers worldwide amounts to 250,000,” Lim said. “We wanted to teach what we know globally being 100 times larger than the number we have in Korea.”
As the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development has acknowledged Global Math Monster’s business value, the company started receiving government support last year.
Trial and error
However, it was not an easy task for the Korean company to teach the foreign-run test to foreigners.
“Compared to people in other countries Koreans tend to be good at math, so we had to spend some time on finding an optimal way of teaching foreign students,” Lim said. “Plus, we faced other difficulties, such as improving our brand awareness, marketing and fundraising.”
Lee, who tapped into the U.S. market in 2006 and 2009, said the country disliked e-learning at the time, unlike Korea.
“Most companies were focusing on offline lectures and books,” he said. “Their online learning content featured repetition in their books.”
Fortunately for Lee, the rise of YouTube brought new opportunities, as test takers worldwide became used to e-learning.
After launching the startup, the company filmed Lee lecturing with an electronic blackboard. The video clips could be dubbed into English, as native English speakers recorded their voices. Since then, the content has begun attracting global test takers.
Another Korean wave
Global Math Monster aims to be the first Korean company to achieve success in the global market with math.
“As Korean-made songs and movies did, teaching the American-made test can have market competitiveness,” Lee said. “Our platform’s name, Math Revolution, refers to not only our approach to math questions, but also our way of expanding our presence globally.”
Based on Korea’s private education infrastructure, Global Math Monster is set to expand its business into other U.S.-made tests, such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT).
Lee said the company will provide online courses for the GRE math section within the first half this year.
In addition, Global Math Monster has carried out regional marketing campaigns aiming at large markets.
The company plans to hold seminars and special offline lectures in India, which has the third-most GMAT test takers. Lee has already delivered offline lectures in the U.S. to attract test takers in the world’s largest market. The firm is also considering opening a Chinese website, which has the second-most GMAT test takers.
According to Lim, people in 175 countries have visited the website of Math Revolution, and test takers in 70 countries have actually paid for online courses. He said the company has posted 20 million won ($18,000) in monthly sales on average.