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Highly recommend the Manhattan Prep 9-Session GMAT Prep Course with Jamie Nelson and Mark Sullivan. The instructor support outside of class is worth every penny.
I signed up for the February - May 2017 session with zero GMAT experience, a ~50th percentile score on a diagnostic exam taken earlier in the year, and low confidence that I could hit my lofty ~95th percentile goal in time for application season. Manhattan Prep's GMAT curriculum is comprehensive and easy to understand, and Jamie/Mark's tailored instruction made the class of 15 students feel more like a 1-on-1 setting. What really stood out about Manhattan's offering is the unexpected benefit of having 2 GMAT pros at your side through the whole journey.
Jamie, in particular, went above and beyond to support me outside of class, taking extra time to explain concepts I struggled with and build my confidence. By the end of the 9 week course, I really felt as though I had an ally and friend personally invested in my success and rooting for me to reach my goal. Jamie sent me additional problem sets and took time to ensure all my questions were addressed, even beyond the course's last session. She also sat down with me for a Post Course Assessment, which, beyond yielding a tailored study plan, really built my confidence going into my first exam in early June. I ultimately scored ~90th percentile - a bit short of my goal but a vast improvement.
Following the first exam, Jamie stewarded me through the Post Exam Assessment (PEA) process, and regularly checked in to see how things were going as I prepped for round 2 in early July. During this time, GMAC announced Order Selection - naturally Mark and Jamie weighed in on what my best approach might be and were always available to answer content related questions. With their continued support and the PEA study plan, I ultimately returned to the exam with even greater confidence and hit my 95th percentile goal.
Although a significant investment of time and money, the course materials, supportive instructors, and confidence build that this class affords will position you for success. Couldn't have done it without Manhattan - thanks, Jamie and Mark!
I took the Manhattan Prep Bootcamp with Dmitry and Liz. The course offers a quick way to improve performance on the gmat. Both Liz and Dmitry are great teachers, explaining the most straightforward and effective way to understand gmat questions, especially higher level questions. The course particularly helps students work on their development areas; Manhattan Gmat offers many practice exams, the results of which can be used to guide further study plans.
Manhattan Gmat offers the two one-on-one 30 minute sessions with the instructor, where the instructor looks at your practice test results and identifies what you need to work on. Liz reviewed my practice test results, and she told me that I needed to focus on my verbal section, and that I needed in particular to look at critical reasoning inference questions. This advice helped me properly prepare and perform my best on test day.
The materials offers by manhattan gmat are also very helpful. I particularly liked their sentence correction guide, but there are many guides available for every area of the test. These materials are invaluable for self-study, and they're available for many months after you take the course. I am very satisfied with my performance on the gmat, and I am sure that the class helped significantly.
Improvement 120 Points
Course Manhattan Prep Live Online
Instructor Ceilidh Erickson
Location Online
I recently wrapped up my GMAT experience after having taken a Manhattan Prep full online course with instructors Sergio & Ceilidh. From the very beginning, the GMAT posed as a serious obstacle to my business school plans. Before I got into the course I had attempted to self-study, picking up various second-hand study resources. This route just wasn't going to work for me: the complexity of the exam and the body of work was just too overwhelming. I finally decided to pay the money and get into the full online course. I'm so glad I did!
Right from the get-go it was evident that both Sergio and Ceilidh not only knew their stuff but also possessed the sort of teaching style that can only come from rigorous training and much time spent in a classroom. They were organized, insightful, thorough, and (perhaps most important) fun instructors. The structure of the weekly class and intense but manageable homework assignments helped to keep me on track. It was definitely a lot of work but it was well worth it. I'm perhaps most appreciative of the individual attention that Ceilidh and Sergio would give me, via out-of-class emails and the follow-up PCA/PEA. They definitely encouraged me to push myself further than I would have had I gone it alone!
If you're looking for a GMAT prep course, I'd highly recommend going with Manhattan Prep. If you can get in a course with Ceilidh and Sergio, all the better!
Nat
Improvement 40 Points
Course Manhattan Prep Manhattan GMAT 9-Session In-Person Prep Course
Instructor Reed Arnold
Location New York (Lower Manhattan), NY USA
Manhattan Prep provides an unparalleled experience. As a test taker who has worked with two different companies, I must admit that Manhattan Prep offers the most value and the best services. I enrolled in the 9-session GMAT prep course and had the pleasure of working with Reed Arnold. Reed was friendly from day 1 and somehow found a way to help me actually enjoy my 3-month study period !
Reed led classes with a unique style that incorporated humor, lessons from his past and proven best practices. Reed always paused for any questions and had an impressive way of ensuring that all students would leave each class feeling positive and confident. Even more impressive, Reed remained available at all times by keeping his promise that he would always respond to any question or urgent request for advice via email! I personally emailed Reed on a weekly basis and am very happy to report that he consistently responded with thoughtful and timely responses and extremely helpful insights. Reed truly cares about all of his students and will take time out of his day or weekend to help any student.
Working with Reed helped me move my overall GMAT score to a 680. I am very happy with this score and was able to make a massive quant jump (37 before to 47 after) because of the combination of Reed's abilities as an instructor and the high-quality/comprehensive structure of the Manhattan Prep course. I plan to take the test again on July 5th and feel confident that I am now capable of scoring even higher!
Improvement 80 Points
Course Manhattan Prep Manhattan GMAT 9-Session In-Person Prep Course
Instructor Jonathan Schneider
Location Seattle, WA USA
I completed a 9 week course with Manhattan Prep in April and am very happy with the results! During the length of the course, we went from an overview of each section to detailed strategies to break down and attack each question type. Further we learned how to develop and implement a strategy to use on test day, which helped me to relax and perform at my best on the quant section.
I found both the in-person courses (where you are able to ask your instructors questions, get their in person advice on content, and work through exercises to improve your skills) and the pre-recorded video lessons (focused on teaching MPrep's strategies for each question type) to make a huge difference for me. The only complaint I have is the technology for the in person class, as it feels a bit outdated and I had trouble getting my microphone to function properly for the first few classes.
Overall I would highly recommend the course to anyone needing a high score for top schools, as they truly teach content and strategies that you can't track down on your own and that make a huge difference on test day!
coming form a non traditional background, I decided to use manhattan gmat at my friends' recommendation. When I first took the practice test, I ended up getting a score in the 500s. However, after I studied for 2 weeks with manhattan gmat, I ended up getting 760. it is a great course and I didn't even watch any videos - just reading the books and the practice tests were plenty. I highly recommend manhattan gmat to anyone taking the gmat. the drastic improvement was something experienced by all my friends who ended up taking the gmat to apply to business school. can't recommend it enough
Improvement 70 Points
Course Manhattan Prep Manhattan GMAT 9-Session In-Person Prep Course
Instructor Marcus Hedahl
Location Washington, DC USA
I had a highly positive experience taking a GMAT prep class at Manhattan Prep on Wednesday evenings from March to May 2017. I came in with little familiarity with the GMAT's format as well as a poor understanding of the level of effort necessary to prepare for the exam. Manhattan Prep did a fantastic job of acclimating me to the exam's content and providing excellent resources for preparation.
The most impressive part of the class was, however, the instructor, Marcus Hedahl. Marcus has an exceptional grasp of the GMAT's topics and does a great job of coaching students through the content effectively. Even more impressive, Marcus brings energy and engagement to the class despite its three-hour runtime at the end of the workday. There was never a dull moment over the course of the nine-week class.
Marcus helped me better understand what score range I could reach by test day. Initially, I was happy with the 80th percentile I was getting on Verbal in practice exams, but Marcus encouraged me to push for the high 90th percentile. After putting in additional work on Reading Comp and Critical Reasoning, my Verbal score on test day (44) definitely went a long way in bringing my total score up into the 700s.
I was also really pleased with the wide array of resources- both online and printed- that Manhattan Prep included in their 9-week class. In the final weeks leading up to test day, I used the online video lessons to refresh on earlier topics. I also used topic-specific practice question sets to drill hard on weak points.
Thanks to Manhattan Prep's first-rate instruction and excellent resources, I went from prep scores in the mid-600s to a 730 on test day.
Improvement N/A
Course Manhattan Prep Manhattan GMAT 9-Session In-Person Prep Course
Instructor Ceilidh Erickson
Location Munich, Germany
I took the two month course and I can recommend it to anyone who would like to achieve a 700+ GMAT score. The structure of how the course is set up (3h session once week + c. 12h homework per week) forces you to stay disciplined. In addition to drilling through the basics I learned advanced test taking strategies that came in very handy during the test. The instructors are top notch and they created an environment where people could participate in a way that made the course a lot of fun. In addition, they were highly responsive and available when needed to answer any questions that I had. Thanks again Ceilidh and Sergio!
Improvement 90 Points
Course Manhattan Prep Manhattan GMAT 9-Session In-Person Prep Course
Instructor David Mahler
Location New York (Manhattan), NY USA
This course was a great starting point to getting me kicked off on my GMAT prep. You go through all the content and get familiarized with all the different types of questions, guided by an instructor who knows the best techniques and teaches you how to approach the exam both from a holistic viewpoint (timing, mindset, scoring system, etc) and a sectioned viewpoint (specific question-type techniques).
I found that ultimately, my score only got better the more I practiced on my own and the more practice tests I took. This course was super important in guiding my approach and ensuring I was tackling questions and problems the right way.
Improvement 40 Points
Course Manhattan Prep Manhattan GMAT Private Tutoring
Instructor Keith Blume
Location Chicago-N. LaSalle, IL USA
Despite a lot of serious studying on my own, my previous attempt to crack 700 was unsuccessful, but I couldn't pinpoint why. I had a few visits with Keith, each of which were excellent in two different ways:
First, Keith had no issue narrowing in on my areas of weakness, and he provided highly focused and specific tips on how I could improve. The advice he provided was actionable both while studying and while taking the test.
Second, Keith's calm attitude and demeanor allowed me to believe that the test was not as daunting and intimidating as I'd made it out to be in my own head. He had a highly effective way of boosting my confidence so that when I went into the test, I felt that, as long as I trusted my studying and remembered the advice Keith had provided, I would do well.
Ultimately, with Keith's help, my score increased from a 690 to a 730 - a score I was absolutely thrilled to include on my business school applications. I should also note that Keith is very friendly, very accommodating and communicative, but still ensures that meetings are efficient so that all relevant material can be covered within the allotted time.