Manhattan GMAT and Stacey Koprince at MGMAT = Excellent Resources for the GMAT

Hi,

As I benefited from other users' reviews, I would like to pay the favour forward and write my own review of the GMAT Prep companies that I used and specifically of Manhattan GMAT.

First, the Manhattan GMAT (MGMAT) Strategy guides are the best resources to study from, regardless of your preparation level and of your knowledge. These books have provided me with the foundations for all of the concepts tested on the GMAT. The material is comprehensive and covers everything. The end of chapter problems in the strategy guides not only allow you to practice what you have learned but also provide you with the confidence that you need in your studies. I went over these guides many times until I understood all of the concepts well.

Second, the MGMAT CATs are the most accurate tests and the most representative of the actual GMAT compared to the other available resources. I have done practice tests from Veritas, Knewton, and GMAT Prep. The Math is harder on the MGMAT CATs than on the actual GMAT. For the Verbal section, I read a lot online that MGMAT CAT Verbal part is easier than the actual GMAT Verbal part. I do not agree with this assessment. The actual GMAT Verbal may seem harder due to the additional stress associated with the actual test experience. I definitely recommend the MGMAT CATs as practice to anyone who is aiming for high 600s or 700s score.

Third, Stacey Koprince at MGMAT is an excellent teacher and a great motivator. When Stacey stresses in online forums and to her personal clients to do ALL parts of the GMAT CAT when practising at home, she is spot on. One of the main things that I changed and that as a result helped me improve my score by 30 points (670 to 700) was the stamina that I built by doing the AWA and IR sections every time I did a practice test. Furthermore, Stacey is excellent at identifying the weaknesses of students. Each one of us knows what his/her weaknesses are but we sometimes attribute greater weight to improving certain weaknesses while completely ignoring other weaknesses. For example, I was always keen on practising Math question in order to improve my Math knowledge. However, to do well on the GMAT is to learn when to skip a question that tests an acknowledged weakness of yours in order to save time and preserve your mental energy for the questions when the GMAT actually tests your stronger areas. Stacey drilled this point in me and she was right in doing so. For example, I am much stronger in Verbal (hitting 90% plus in practice tests) than in Math. On the actual GMAT, I got this crazy combinatorics problem. I remembered Stacey's advice at that point and simply guessed on the question. This in turn helped me focus my mental energy and my time on the remaining Math questions and on the Verbal part.

Finally, my greatest improvement had been in Sentence Correction (SC). I feel like once you have a good grasp on the rules tested, it actually becomes fun to solve SC questions on the GMAT. As is widely agreed on the GMAT online forums, MGMAT SC guide is an amazing tool to use to improve your SC performance. The book organizes the information in a very elegant way and the end of chapter problems are really good practice. However, Knewton's SC lessons are very very good as well. If you study SC from MGMAT and Knewton then you'll for sure be hitting over 90% in Verbal provided that your CR and RC are decent (70% to 80%).

I owe Stacey Koprince and Manhattan GMAT a lot. They were tremendously helpful and really aim on developing personable relationships with their clients. I asked Stacey to call me for a few minutes before I started the GMAT and hearing her confidence-instilling words really helped me focus my attention on doing well in the test.

Thanks Stacey and Thanks Manhattan GMAT!

Good luck to Everyone!