Berenson's start was inauspicious. Years later she would exclaim "how I hated that school for the first few months!". She wasn't interested in the gymnastics work, as the exercises made her "ache all over". Early on, just standing erect for five minutes forced her to lie down, and she found she had to study lying on her back. She decided to give the exercises a "fair trial", and she saw improvement in three months. By the end of the year, she was doing the prescribed two hours a day of exercise and felt much better. Her brother was disappointed to hear that she had not returned to the Conservatory but did not fully comprehend how much she had improved at the gymnastics school. Berenson decided to enroll at the school for a second year.