My GMAT preparation lasted for a full year. I took both the "Live Online" course, as well as the in-person course. I've never been very talented at taking standardized tests and I tend to get anxiety when I'm in difficult test-taking situations, so the GMAT was a continous struggle for me.

David Chong never gave up on me. David made himself available for help even after my course ended, and he also understood my weaknesses very well and helped me craft a plan to hit the 680 that I wanted.

For me, Manhattan Prep was valuable for two reasons:
1) Incredibly bright instructors who tend to be good at teaching students
2) The course syllabus curriculum

The above two points, in my opinion, are priceless and not easily substituted by Manhattan Prep's competition.

The only issue I had with Manhattan Prep was that I got the feeling that not all the instructors cared about my success at the end of the day. My online instructors, David and Mark, were the exceptions and were fantastic, passionate GMAT instructors. Thank you, David and Mark, for helping me accomplish my goal. However, with others, I remember waiting days to receive e-mail responses (and in rare cases, no response). Additionally, I remember attending a substitute in-person class taught by a guy named Matt. Matt was a fantastic instructor and even offered to send out a list of OG problems that were excellent for practicing the "smart #" strategy at the end of the class session. Why didn't my other instructor(s) offer to do that? The tips and advice varied highly among the instructors that worked with me.

Manhattan Prep is still a solid value, I am only voicing a few frustrations.

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I completed the 9 week Manhattan prep in person class with Dan Bartz in the first quarter of 2016. First off Dan is an amazing person and a great teacher. He was willing to go above and beyond to help me reach my goal.

The Manhattan books were really useful and I found the explanations in the Navigator to be insightful (for the most part). At first I didn't see the value in the strategy supplements, but after going through them I really was able to see the gains that I wanted.

Going through the GMAT process is a miserable, but Manhattan Prep helped me get through the process and break the 700 threshold.

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I cannot highly enough recommend Logan Thompson as a GMAT adviser / Manhattan teacher. He is patient, thoughtful in tailoring in each class to student needs, and is genuinely and earnestly there to support you. Here is my story:

I decided to take a Manhattan course after base-lining around a 720, but had reservations about how expensive the class was and whether a 'general' gmat class would help someone who already was doing well. Logan helped address these concerns when I talked with him, and from the very first class through my own GMAT (well after the class) applied his background in mindfulness and the Manhattan network to answer a steady stream of questions -- form grappling with understanding the theory behind tricky problems to helping me study more effectively. Even with a range of skill levels and even English proficiency in the class, each day was carefully and thoughtfully tailored to student needs.

What set Logan apart from another excellent teacher was his integration of mindfulness into the classroom. Rather than reducing the content we could cover, taking 10 minutes each class to learn about and practice applying mindfulness in a GMAT and high pressure environment helped the class stay more focused and more quickly move through questions. Hopefully his lesson designs will be adopted by Manhattan more broadly as there sounds to be wide interest, but regardless, no one will do it better than Logan.

I sat for the GMAT this past weekend, and scored a 780. If you are uncertain whether to take a class with Manhattan, talk to Logan who will happily skip any sales and cut straight and honestly to helping you think about your needs and options. But if you do take a Manhattan GMAT class, do so with Logan.

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I did a TON of research into prep classes and ultimately decided with Manhattan Prep. For me, I knew I needed an in-person/structured format to keep me on track. I am very happy I did. When I took an MP diagnostic, I got a very upsetting score of 520. How would I ever improve to my goal of 700+?? Thankfully I took my class with Kim Cabot!

Thoughts on Manhattan Prep: the materials they provide are second to none. With the 9-session prep course, you get all their books, full suite of tests, and interactive lessons/OG answer bank. I was referencing these materials for months after the course and found them to be invaluable learning and practice tools. Be warned, their tests (particularly Quant and IR) are much more difficult than GMAT Prep in my opinion, likely by design. In addition, they offer phone support: end of class review/personal study plan + retake advice.

Thoughts on my instructor, Kim Cabot: very engaging and SO knowledgeable. If I didn't have an instructor like Kim, I likely would have psyched myself out of taking the test long ago. Not only did she teach the technical skills in an engaging manner, but also the tips & tricks of being a GMAT boss that were only provided in the context of a classroom — such as when it came to timing, proving to be invaluable. She brought insight to both core sections very well, helping emphasize the importance of verbal even when we (the students) were all so focused on quant. She was also very accessible and personable.

In the end, I got a 760. For a score like this, definitely be prepared to put in the work. Overall, though, I definitely recommend Manhattan!

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I took Ryan's in-person class in Downtown San Francisco (Financial District), and it was entirely worth the value. My score went up over 100 points from my initial practice test. The strategies are invaluable, and the homework assignments logically map out the material. The strategy guides allow you to focus on individual weaknesses in addition to the homework. I was focused more upon improving my raw quant score, but I definitely benefited from the verbal prep as well. I think there is a benefit to meeting in person, but I could also see the value from an online course. Highly recommend!

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I signed up for the 9 week group classes and had a great experience. Mark was both knowledgeable and cared about our personal success taking the GMAT. I cannot speak to how Manhattan compares to other programs as it's the only one I've done, but the 9 week program includes a lot of "bonus" resources that I found essential when prepping for my test.

The sheer number of people that use Manhattan means they have a huge pool of data with which to generate learnings and for you to compare yourself to in your practice exams. This means their grading is more accurate which then helps you figure out where you should be focusing your study time.

After you complete the course Manhattan provides an hour long one on one session with one of their counselors to identify your weak points (based on your practice tests) and create a study plan for you based on your test date. I found this to be a big time saver when I was studying as I could drive home the sections I needed help with. After your first exam, if you plan to retake the test, Manhattan also includes a follow up one on one to figure out what went wrong (or right) and how you can improve your score. This last session proved crucial as I was able to improve my score from a 660 to a target 700.

Overall I would highly recommend Manhattan prep's 9 week course. The money I spent was well worth the score I got and the weekly meetings helped me stay on track when studying. The content is thorough and from what I hear, it's the best of all the prep programs. Good luck!

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Without this course I would not have achieved the results that I was looking for. Avi not only helps you absorb GMAT but content but also helps you implement the best test-taking strategies. There are no tricks or gimmicks with him, it just comes down to seeing things in a different, simpler, and all around more elegant way. This holds true for both Verbal or Quant. My turning point in the course was when Avi challenged us to ask ourselves under what conditions we would "enjoy" writing the test. This led to us asking ourselves, with his prompting, whether we were working as analysts trying to solve questions in the most menial ways or as potential managers who rely on "reasoning". After all, as Avi would tell you the GMAT is neither a math nor an English test, it's a test of reasoning. Without him, I would not have had the confidence to improve my score from a 610 to a 730. I would highly recommend taking his in-person course or specifically requesting his help online.

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Jamie was a terrific tutor who really tailored her approach. I was having trouble with probabilities but was strong in algebra, and she worked with me to funnel my algebra strength to decode probability. Equally important, she made me confident in my general test-taking strategy so even if I was stumped by one question, I could deploy smart strategies to make an educated guess and move on. I took both the class and some private tutoring with Jamie. Highly recommend private tutoring with Jamie if you can swing it - great results at a faster speed. I got a score in the 700s.

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I got the Manhattan Prep Private Tutoring session because I had heard Manhattan Prep was the best from a friend (books, Interact courses, 6 CATs, and the Navigator question analysis were free with 10 hours of tutoring), and that a shared classroom could sometimes progress slowly (or conversely, move on before one is ready to). While I can't speak to the shared classrooms firsthand, I can say it is hard to imagine a set of resources that would be more conducive to success than the set Manhattan Prep provides. My work schedule made regularity a challenge, but Jayson Beatty (my tutor for 10 hours) was extremely flexible and helpful. Deeply learning the content is ultimately up to yourself, but I could take any questions on hard concepts or test strategy to Jayson to get an expert opinion. He was also excellent at identifying my areas of opportunity, i.e. I was taking too long on trigonometric PS problems, or whatever, and providing a smart person's perspective on how to overcome it.

Ultimately, it was up to me to motivate myself to do the work and make sure I deeply understood all the content and concepts that are tested. Solely knowing how to execute the solving process (how to do prime factoring, combinatorics, etc.) will get you a fine score, but being conceptually fluent--understanding the "why" and "how" to each topic--is what helped me the most, and Manhattan Prep's books, CATs, and tutor gave me the resources most helpful at getting there.

Comparing Manhattan Prep versus the real GMAT and the Official GMAT CATs, Manhattan Prep was more difficult on Quant. This is a good thing. They are great at blending concepts from across the GMAT spectrum into a single problem. I also was always pressed for time during the MGMAT CATs, and finished Quant on the official CATs and the real test ~7 minutes early, giving me extra time to be certain on the last ~1/3 of the test.

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I took the GMAT in January without having ever studied to get an idea of where I would land. First time around, 710. I was happy with this score but decided I wanted to put some time in to improve my score and make myself a more attractive applicant to MBA programs.

Having crossed 700, I called Manhattan Prep on the recommendation of a friend to get some guidance on what might be the best studying option for me, and they told me that based on my current performance, and my goal, private tutoring would be the way to go. So I got matched up with Paul Fisher in Ann Arbor (I was still studying at UM) and we did 10 hours in total of one on one tutoring spread over a few months. He was extremely helpful in identifying my shortfalls and then working through advanced techniques with me to improve in those areas. I would do practice work or exams on my own in between sessions (Manhattan provides an extensive array of materials as part of the tutoring package), and then we would go over my mistakes as well as cover the general curriculum that Manhattan Prep provides as part of the tutoring service.

I took the exam again in March, and was extremely pleased my new result, 770. Thank you Paul and Manhattan Prep!

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