Manhattan GMAT 9-Session Prep Course Review

After having MGMAT recommended to me by several friends and family members who were accepted to top business schools, when the time came, I naturally chose MGMAT myself, and registered for a 9-Session course in Silicon Valley. Although I have a solid academic record and did my undergraduate studies at a top university, I've always been weak at standardized tests, especially computer adaptive ones (I've also taken the GRE) and especially on the quantitative sections. To cut to the case, I started with a diagnostic test score of only 510, but scored a 740 on the actual GMAT I took one week after the course ended. That's an increase of 230 points. The course materials are very thorough. In fact a lot of the advanced sections are not really needed if your goal is only to achieve a 700+ score (as opposed to a 750+). My instructor was very intelligent and knew the material extremely well. A MGMAT course is not cheap, but once you start the course you quickly realize you really are getting your money's worth, in terms of the quality of the course materials (i.e. the strategy guides and class lecture content) and the quality of the instructors (mine had multiple perfect 800 scores under his belt). The online tools are also top-notch. I found the O.G. Archer tool and the study organizer spreadsheet to be very useful. MGMAT also offers 6 high-quality practice CATs. I actually found the two free practice CATs from the GMAC's GMATPrep software to be too a bit too easy compared to the actual exam, and the MGMAT CAT to be closer in difficulty to the real thing. In fact on the most recent MGMAT practice CAT I took before taking the real exam, I got a Q47/V45/740. On the real exam I scored a Q46/V46/740, so it was a very good predictor of my real score. The course is fairly intense (there is a lot of homework and lots of supplemental material if you have time for it), but if you put in the time and effort, in my opinion MGMAT is probably the best GMAT prep company you can choose to help you reach your score goals. I haven't taken a GMAT prep course with a competing company, but I did take a GRE prep course several years ago with Princeton Review, and in my opinion the quality of MGMAT is higher in all respects. Anyway, much thanks again to Manhattan GMAT and to Ron for helping me get a great score.