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Fedor Sergeev

Fedor Sergeev
is our
February 2008
Student of the Month

Fedor Sergeev:

Our student of the month for February 2008 is Fedor Sergeev, who was chosen for his spirit and perseverance in achieving his aims. Fedor got a fantastic 113 on the TOEFL, but Fedor is not our typical student of the month-not chosen for just and outstandingly TOEFL score. Instead we chose Fedor because he picks a goal and had the strength to really work to achieve it.

Fedor's background wouldn't normally push him towards study in the US . He graduated with honors from the Institute of Asian and African Studies on Moscow State University , and also attended National Taiwan Normal University , where he got a certificate in Chinese. He now works as the deputy director general for foreign-economic activities for a small company called Mercury Ltd. In this position he built the entire system of international ties from the very beginning. He manages all negotiations, contracts, foreign orders and logistics, during which he speaks English and Mandarin.

Despite his educational and career focus on China though, Fedor turned his eyes Westward towards an MBA.

First he had to master the TOEFL, and Fedor's attack on this test is indicative of his style. He credits his 113 TOEFL score to attending Pericles iBT-TOEFL training course and taking individual tutorials from our professors to create what he terms "a hefty prep program." But more importantly he credits his success to working hard to get the skills to pass this test. He said his achievement is due to speaking English 9 hours a day for the past 20 months. Because his work isn't entirely in English, he also had to speak English at home to do this. He recommends tying to maintain an entirely English environment at home, including corresponding with American pen pals and gaining as much information as possible in foreign languages. His advice to test takers: "Speak English, think English, live English."

After mastering the TOEFL now Fedor is focusing those formidable powers of concentration on the GMAT. He says that his Pericles GMAT course helped greatly, as he "was quite a humanitarian in the first place." He has taken the test a few times, not always with the greatest results, but scoring 610 in his latest attempt. While this is within the range to apply to many business schools, Fedor is currently taking advantage of Pericles free repeat policy to take the GMAT course once more in the hopes of raising that score to his goal of 670. Fedor states about himself: "I do not give up."

And that's just it-Fedor doesn't give up, and because of this we are quite convinced that he will succeed in getting his target 670 score and in getting into a good US MBA program. Fedor hasn't chosen his school yet, but he says he wants to enter a "decent US B-School which has strong traditions of leadership and integrity."

Congratulations Fedor. Keep up the good work and we are sure you will meet your goal!