Ultra is live as of this morning. The terms in one sentence: $1,599 for six months, every Pro surface included, and an absolute 715+ score floor for every Ultra customer — no diagnostic threshold, no fine print on which baselines qualify. This is the tier we have been hinting at since the November guarantee post and the year-end letter. Here are the full terms.
The four tiers, now
Ultra is not a longer Pro. It is the same 180-day window as Pro 6-month, against the same engine, with the same Mock and analytics surfaces. The $900 difference is the per-candidate work that makes the score floor a contract we can stand behind plus the 24/7 expert chat and the weekly review surfaces below.
Two tracks, on Ultra
The Improvement Guarantee that has carried every Pro tier since November still applies on Ultra, with the same diagnostic-banded lift. Ultra adds a second track on top of it: an absolute 715+ floor that applies to every Ultra customer, regardless of starting band. Whichever bar is harder for the candidate's situation is the one we are on the line for.
| Diagnostic score | Improvement Guarantee (Pro & Ultra) | Ultra 715+ Floor |
|---|---|---|
| 205–505 | +110 → 615 | 715+ |
| 515–555 | +80 → 635 | 715+ |
| 565–605 | +60 → 665 | 715+ |
| 615–645 | +50 → 695 | 715+ |
| 655–675 | +40 → 715 | 715+ |
| 685–705 | +30 → 735 | 715+ |
| 715–745 | +20 → 765 | 715+ |
A candidate starting in the 565–605 band sees the Improvement Guarantee promise +60 (an exit at 665) and the Ultra Floor promise 715+. The harder bar is the Floor; that is the one Ultra is on the line for. A candidate starting in the 715–745 band sees the Improvement Guarantee promise +20 (exit at 765) and the Floor promise 715+. The harder bar there is the Improvement Guarantee. The contract is whichever bar applies to the candidate's situation.
Eligibility, in full
The eligibility floor scales the November Pro contract to the six-month Ultra window.
- Baseline official GMAT Focus score forwarded within thirty days of the Ultra window opening. Ultra anchors the floor against the candidate's last live test, not an internal diagnostic.
- Full Brightroom diagnostic completed within the first two weeks. This anchors the engine.
- Three full-length Mock Exams completed inside the window, distributed across the 180 days — minimum six weeks between consecutive mocks. We added the distribution rule on Ultra because three mocks stacked in the final week is a worse rehearsal than three spaced across the run.
- At least 60 hours of adaptive practice across the window. The engine logs hours; the candidate does not self-report.
Candidates who hit all four thresholds and miss their floor trigger the remedy. Candidates who do not hit the thresholds do not — because the guarantee is a claim about what happens when the method is used as designed.
The remedy
One mechanism, written into the contract: the Ultra plan renews for another six months at no charge. The engine keeps running, the candidate keeps practicing, the next mock sits, the next live test gets prepared for. There is no second invoice and no clawback of access. The renewal is automatic against the candidate's account once the official score lands.
The renewal applies equally whether the candidate triggered the Improvement Guarantee or the 715+ Floor. Whichever bar applied to the candidate's situation, the remedy is the same six-month free continuation.
Why no refund pathway
Two reasons we wrote the remedy as renewal rather than refund.
First, a candidate who completes eligibility and misses the floor is almost always a candidate the engine's analytics surface can identify a gap for in the following window. Continued access is the path that materially closes that gap. A refund pays the candidate out but leaves the score where it is, which is usually not what the candidate actually wants. A candidate who wanted out would not have signed up to Ultra in the first place.
Second, incentive alignment. The renewal mechanic keeps us on the hook for delivering the score the next window, not just for refunding the last one. The contract holds us to the outcome — getting the candidate to 715 — not to a money-back gesture that nominally squares the books without solving the problem.
What is in Ultra that is not in Pro
Three deliverables, none of which are exotic.
24/7 live expert chat. An Ultra candidate can message a GMAT expert at any hour. The chat surface answers stuck-point questions in plain English, walks the hardest items in the candidate's history, and flags pacing patterns to the team's weekly reviewer.
Personalised weekly review. A member of the team reads each Ultra candidate's session density, mastery-vector trajectory, pacing pattern, and recent Mock results once a week. If the trajectory drifts from what the eligibility floor needs, the candidate gets a one-page note suggesting a specific adjustment.
Priority access to new surfaces. Section Analytics, currently in private alpha, opens to all Ultra candidates this morning — ahead of the broader Pro opt-in later this year. Any future surface ships to Ultra at least four weeks before it opens to the rest of Pro.
Who can sign up
Ultra is available today at /pricing. The diagnostic remains free and is the recommended starting point. Existing Pro subscribers can upgrade to Ultra at any point in their cycle; the unused days of the existing Pro plan are credited against the Ultra invoice at the Pro tier's per-day rate.
We will write a note when the first Ultra cohort completes its window — by the autumn. The terms in this post are what we will be measuring against.
— Nicola & Joel