Great option for those who need that last push

OVERALL: I recommend a private tutor if you're trying to get a top-percentile score, because you'll be able to go over topics that you just wouldn't have time for in a class. It is a much more expensive option, but if you are in a time-crunch I recommend it.

RESULTS: I hired a private tutor after taking the Manhattan Prep 9-week course. I got a 710 after taking the course, but wanted to get a higher score. I took the exam again after a few weeks with my tutor and got a 720. After another few weeks of working with my tutor, I got a 750.

PREPARATION: I had taken the exam once as well as taken a Manhattan Prep course, so I was familiar with the exam by this point. Similar to the class, this requires you to put in a lot of work outside of the sessions you have with your tutor.

RESOURCES: The Manhattan Prep portal is very easy and straightforward to use. You can set up and take infinite quizzes online and even specify them to subjects you want to test. My instructor would put together a plan for the week as well as assign me relevant problems to go through and then we would address them at our next session. My tutor also worked with me to set up an error log (which I blew off during the class). My one big regret is that I wasn't keeping an error log all along! It was SO helpful and really helped us hone down what subjects I was weak in.

COURSE SET UP: The best thing about having a private tutor is that it's flexible and that you can jump around doing whatever subject is relevant for you. I met with my tutor maybe once or twice a week for 2 hours at a time.

INSTRUCTOR: My instructor was incredibly helpful. I really don't think I could have gotten my score without him. He also really helped me narrow down what I needed to do to get to the score I wanted and he was very honest with me on what I needed to work on.

CLASSES: I'm not sure if every instructor does it the same (I assume not!) but at least for my sessions, my tutor and I would make a list of goals, go through problems, talk through problems, then log errors in the error log and write reflections on what we learned (the overarching lessons).