This document presents research on evaluating the stiffness of reinforced concrete beams before and after retrofitting with external steel reinforcement. Twelve concrete beams measuring 15x15x100 cm were tested under flexural loading. Beams were retrofitted by adding external steel bars and confinement to the bottom and sides. Stiffness was calculated before cracking at 1000kg load and after cracking at 3000kg load. Results found the average stiffness decreased by 31.11-0.58% before cracking but increased by 1.8-59.72% after cracking for retrofitted beams compared to unretrofitted beams. Retrofitting with external steel reinforcement and confinement thus improved beam stiffness after the onset of cracking.