As context, I took the GMAT about a month ago for the first time and scored 690 (44 Q, 40 V). I was particularly bummed about my Quant subscore, feeling that this was a poor reflection on my actual quantitative abilities. I decided to retake the GMAT 19 days after my first attempt, and figured I'd cram as much quant practice during those 2+ weeks as possible to bump this score up.

Having not done any GMAT tutoring previously (I only used a mix of OG, GMATPrep online tests/questions, Magoosh), in a mild freakout 5 days before my test I decided to schedule a 1.5 hour tutoring session with ManhattanGMAT to see if I could make any small quick wins prior to the upcoming retake.

Though pricey (almost $400 for 1.5 hours), this tutoring session with Isaac was 100% worth it. Isaac walked me through a number of problem types I missed on previous practice tests, diagnosed my test-taking issue (I was not allocating my time smartly for the 75 hours on each section), and provided me ample follow-up practice areas to make sure I had enough fodder for honing in on what we practiced.

On the test retake day, I was surprised by how easy the quant section felt this time around. I walked into my pre-Verbal break knowing I crushed the section.

And crushed it I did! Jumped my Q from 44 (54%ile) to 50 (87%). I highly doubt I would have been able to rock this high of a score had I not scheduled this tutoring session.

The cost may seem steep for such a short period of time, but at the end of the day, it's a drop in the bucket relative to the overall cost (and benefit) of a great MBA. And in many cases, a great GMAT score can make all the difference in terms of getting admitted.

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I had 6 weeks to prep for the GMAT and started completely cold. I had not studied at all nor did I know anything about the GMAT test format or questions. My first practice test I scored in the 500s. After working with Brian Birdwell with Manhattan Prep in Portland OR, I scored a 710 on my GMAT. I would not have been prepared without Brian. He formulates a lesson plan that is tailored to the student and knows the tricks and methods of the GMAT test forwards and back. I felt completely prepared with Brian's help. He was flexible with scheduling and has years of experience with the GMAT having taken it many times himself. Between Brian and the Manhattan online resources I felt completely prepared. I would recommend Brian to anyone in the area!

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The private tutoring ultimately depends on the tutor.

My first time around with MGMAT, I had a private tutor that seemed disinterested, was hard to schedule with, and never really came up with a lesson/study plan. I ultimately scored in the mid-600s

After about a year break, I decided to take another stab at taking the GMAT. I contacted MGMAT to see if I can get my subscription extended another 2 months because I wanted to use their online resources. I was not expecting to use another tutor because of my poor experience the first time around. MGMAT informed me that I was entitled to a post exam session with a more experienced tutor. I decided to take see what would come of it.

I was put in touch with Dan, and our free session went fine and he saw some gaps and identified points of interest. Since I had 2 hours from my initial package left over, I decided to use those hours with Dan and purchased an additional 2 hours. In the span of 8 weeks, Dan and I had 4 sessions together. It was very easy to communicate and schedule meetings with him. Also, he came up with great examples to help me understand concepts. I was able to bump my score 70 points and into the low 700 area.

What surprised me the most was how helpful my sessions with Dan were even though they were online. My first tutor's sessions were all in person and it seemed to be more difficult.

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Marc is awesome. I worked very closely with Marc Fienberg doing the MGMAT private tutoring and it was a huge help to my score (630 to 700+). If it weren't for Marc, I would not have gotten into my dream MBA program.

Background: I took the typical MGMAT nine-week course, did all of the homework and materials, reviewed everything for a three months after the course ended, but still could not get my score consistently above a 630, primarily due to struggling with Quant. It was very frustrating because I was not seeing an improvement in my scores after a lot of work much work so I turned to private tutoring.

Right away, I felt confident and more efficient when I started working with Marc. We came up with a personalized study plan. Marc is extremely friendly and great to work with, he makes you feel comfortable when learning and that will boost your confidence immediately. We would have sessions once or twice per week over the course a few months and we covered everything from high level strategy, test taking tips, and of course, covering lots and lots of practice problems. The most important thing that Marc was able to teach me was HOW to take the test - time management, strategic skipping (especially on Quant), etc. - these things take time to learn but once you get better at taking the test your score will improve. Marc also gives you lots and lots of little tricks so that you start seeing patterns in certain quant problems - you start recognizing "the tricks" to certain problems so you know how to solve them immediately. These are things you cannot get from just taking the typical class. Once I got good at this after lots of hard work and repetition, my score improved from the 630 level to 700+.

Bottom line: Although it was a lot of additional time and effort, it was well worth the investment. If you are struggling with the GMAT, I guarantee Marc can help you drastically improve your score.

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I signed up for MGMAT’s private tutoring services after failing 10-20 point short of breaking the 700 mark. Since I have gone through most of the materials and tests myself and consider myself pretty well-versed at them, I was looking for guidance more on my approach and mindset than the actual content.

On our first session, Sarah stated a very important point that shifted my mindset. She mentioned that GMAT emphasizes on one’s decision making skills as much as it does an individual’s knowledge on the materials. GMAT is a test against perfectionist; to do well on the test, one has to be able to give up questions, the same way a good executive decline projects with only average return, and make educated guess, as what business owners do daily. This has a profound impact on my approach to the test – instead of thinking giving up/ guessing questions as a last resort, I now think of that as one of my testing strategies to preserve my mental energy for other questions.

Another great point that Sarah made was on my problem solving approach in quant. She mentioned GMAT wants us to simplify problems and to break them down, not to make things bigger. Therefore, think factorization, not multiplication. This single twist in my approach has helped me in numerous questions, especially in DS.

On top of that, Sarah taught me some techniques on making an educated guess. And it is also helpful to go through my approach on each question with her, so that she she can pinpoint any concept mistakes or point out ways to fine tune my approach.

Overall, I believe working with Sarah is significant in raising my score through the 700 mark. I will definitely recommend her to anyone looking into GMAT private tutoring.

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Keith helped me increase my GMAT score by 90 points, from 640 to 730. We focused mostly on math but that seemed to be his greatest strength. His teaching style covers both basic lectures and question and answer formats but he also approaches the test in an abstract way as well, showing how each math topic relates to other math topics and how to quickly assess a problem and identify the steps needed to solve it. Because the GMAT only allows about 2 minutes per problem, speed as well as accuracy is incredibly important. Keith helped me tremendously on my timing. I was finishing tests either guessing the last 7 questions or sometimes even finishing the test with 5 minutes extra and my quant score was very poor. Almost every problem we did together was timed, no matter how hard it was. He also helped me identify lost cause problems, or problems that are so complicated and time consuming that is best to guess an answer and then move forward to the next question. Because of Keith my quant increased 40 to 48 and my verbal increased by 4 points from 38 to 42 and I was able to apply to a much higher caliber of schools due to my new increased score.

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I took about 5 sessions of private tutoring with Manhattan GMAT. My tutor was helpful, but to really get your score up, I think you would need a great deal of tutoring, much of the session is going over strategy and score trends, kind of annoying when you are paying so much per hour, and my score actually went down after I started with the tutor. The tutoring was in math, and although I felt that it was helpful, it was not that helpful and the tutor Mark did not always show the fastest way to solve the problem, like the 3-4-5 triangle, etc. Not a total waste but not for the faint of heart with their wallet.

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