I was really pleased with my decision to go with Manhattan. The online course fit my need to do the course in the midst of a cross-country move and the fact that the courses are recorded made it easy to go back and watch. I did the bulk of my preparation after the course was over ;)

I was most impressed by Manhattan's offer of a free hour-long consultation after you take the exam and are not happy with your score. They are truly committed to their students' success.

The two things that would make the course even better is if they offered their individual coaching session discount to group class participants after their class was finished (not just during) and integrated the practice test and practice problem logs.

Overall though, very pleased and will continue to recommend it.

Read More

I took the Manhattan GMAT 9-week course and I definitely recommend it to others who want do their best. After taking the course I scored 740. Avi, my instructor was really great. He knew how to tailor the course to what students were struggling with and identified the things that could take their scores to the next level. He was also really supportive after the course had ended which was really helpful when I was actually taking the exam. I've already recommended this to some of my friends because I'm convinced that the course is a much more efficient way to study!

Read More

I had a great experience with MGMAT. My instructor, Ron, was great at teaching a class with people with different needs and at different levels. He focused on the strategies needed to conquer the test and left it to us to work on the content that gave us difficulty outside of the classroom. Ron teaches in a uniquely memorable way. While you are taking the test, you will actually hear him asking you "the three questions" to determine whether or not you should stop working on a problem and move on. I would absolutely recommend MGMAT to a friend taking the exam.

Read More

The Manhattan GMAT curriculum and teachers were phenomenally important to my success and score improvement on the GMAT. I found the teachers friendly and engaging, the curriculum interactive and a really great foundation for my GMAT studies. I'm thrilled with the experience I had at Manhattan GMAT! I found that my score improved by 80 points from a prior exam where I had only self-studied. Manhattan GMAT was well worth the investment in time and money. The course helped me to focus on the right study areas and the diagnostic tools helped me to determine where I could gain the most improvements.

Read More

I had the best experience with MGMAT and specifically my tutor Avi Gutman. I took both the prep class and added some private tutoring in lead up to my writing date.

I had written the GMAT once before and scored high 600s - but needed to break 700+. I had a miserable experience studying the first time.

Avi made the process interesting and engaging, and I actually understood the underlying themes and concepts - rather than being tied to formulas and cue cards! It was a great process, from registry to the end. Avi was super invested in each of the students in our prep class - he really made sure that you understood and were able to independently problem solve. He always stayed to answer any questions and responded to emails so patiently. Well worth the time and $.

I wrote recently and got my target score- just as planned! And I was easily the most relaxed kid in the test room. Can't recommend him and MGMAT enough.

Read More

Hi
I have used private tutor from Manhattan in London. I am quite good in math but did poorly in verbal. After a few unsuccessful attempt I decided to give it a final try. My tutor is Marcus and he is really passionate and helpful. I had 5 hours total with him and we went through all the basic verbal principals. I think most importantly he guided me to develop an efficient game plan and directed me the areas to focus. I think all the drills and practice I did is quite helpful.

I think if you need some help in verbal, the Manhattan strategy book is critical but the private tutor is helpful in helping you identify your weaknesses. In the end I didn't do as well as I prepared, but I am fine with what I got 710 (Q51, V34) and very pleased with MGM's help.

Read More

I highly recommend the full set of Manhattan GMAT self-study materials, as well as MGMAT tutors. In particular, MGMAT helped me raise my quant score significantly thanks to its difficult Quant sections on its online CAT exams.

After several months of intense self-study using prep materials from other providers, I first took the GMAT in March 2013 and scored a 700. I debated sticking with the score, my quant/verbal split was very skewed (63rd percentile quant/93rd percentile verbal), and I felt that with more effort/dedication through a structured prep program I could bring up my quant score.

Initially I enrolled in a full 9 week MGMAT course, however when I took a diagnostic test and discussed the results with my instructor, he recommended I consider tutoring instead and focus on quant alone (since my verbal score was already high). MGMAT allowed me to transfer my course credit with relatively little hassle, and I met for ~5 hours of tutoring spread over 2 months.

My tutor did a great job working through difficult problems with me, helping me develop strategic approaches to test-taking, and analyzing the results of my practice tests to give me personalized feedback and problem sets based on my weaknesses. In particular, my tutor helped me understand the importance of time management on the Quant section, and gave me several useful strategies to improve in this respect.

I retook the GMAT in Aug. 2013 and scored a 760, with an 81st percentile quant/99th percentile verbal split. I think my improvement from a good to great score is a result that speaks for itself in terms of the quality of MGMAT materials and instruction. Thanks Manhattan GMAT!

Read More

I could not have been happier with my experience with Manhattan GMAT! Not only because of the outcome -- I scored a 740 (49Q/42V) -- but also because of the experience. Manhattan GMAT made studying for the GMAT far less painful than I thought it could be. Definitely worth the price premium. Manhattan GMAT's core strengths are the quality of its instructors, curriculum & content, and resources.

(I) Instructors: Probably Manhattan GMATs greatest asset. I worked with 3 instructors in person (2 taught my course, 1 was my tutor). I also had limited exposure to an additional 4 instructors (online advanced workshops). I can't say enough good things about each and every one of them. The teachers all utilize the same curriculum, of course. But rather than the instructors having to adjust their personality to the course, they can adjust the course to their personality. Perhaps it is because the instructors are encouraged to make the class their own that the classes are so effective and engaging. For example, two of my instructors could not have been more different: one was extremely energetic and informal, encouraging people to shout out answers to his questions; the other was quiet and more formal, asking that we raise our hands with questions/answers. And yet I learned just as much from one as the other! I suspect that, because each instructor was able to stay true to his own personality, each was as effective as possible.
What also struck me about the instructors was their passion - both for teaching and for their students' success. They were willing to go the extra mile for their students. Finally, the typical 'generic' adjectives apply to the instructors - smart, personable, well-spoken, creative, able to think on their feet, etc.

(II) Curriculum and content: they know the ins & outs of the GMAT better than gmac itself! Well, that's an exaggeration, but you get my point. MGMAT's question banks are completely on-target and mimic the real GMAT questions extremely well. Moreover, after completing the course, I was not only prepared to take the GMAT, but I was also a more educated person. (e.g. I now use the words "less" and "fewer" correctly).

(III) Resources: The books themselves are great, and they are only the tip of the iceberg. My favorites: additional question banks. OG Stopwatch (such a simple concept, and yet such a useful tool). I was also extremely impressed with MGMAT's online platform - the virtual workshops were far more engaging than I thought they would be (what's great is that they staff 2 instructors to 1 online session: one teaches while the other answers questions).
I will say, the sheer quantity of resources started to feel overwhelming at times. No matter how much I prepped, there was always more available for me to do. Listen to the instructors - go for quality over quantity.

---------------------------------

*Note that I took Manhattan GMAT's boot camp. The boot camp is the same curriculum as the regular course, but is on a condensed timeline - it meets every weekday for two weeks and has two instructors that tag-team teach it. I chose the boot camp because it was the only option that met the needs of my schedule. After the boot camp, I spent a number of weeks self-studying, with a few supplemental private tutoring sessions.

If you're taking the boot camp, here is what I would recommend:
-Before the class begins, brush up on your fundamentals of math and get familiar with the exam/materials. The class is a whirlwind two-weeks. Spend that time learning the MGMAT material, not re-learning how to do long division or reading about what a computer adaptive test is.
-When you register for the course, you will be scheduled to take practice exams each weekend. Though that's what the instructors recommend, you are not required to take the exams on this schedule - do what's right for you.

---------------------------------

Good luck!

Read More

I've seen the MGMAT books before but I wanted to learn some actual test strategies to hit the 99th percentile. I'm very glad I took the 9-week course under an amazing instructor, Ron Purewal. My score on the GMAT after this course was 760, from an initial mock test score of 670.

Quant: I'm a techie, so I'm used to writing complex equations, doing in-the-air math and spending long hours on tough problems. Unlearning these habits for the GMAT was the most helpful part of this course. After some initial resistance and disastrous mock tests, I understood Ron's emphasis on finding alternate techniques and using common sense in Quant. In every class, once a problem's time was up, Ron would stress stopping work on the problem and actually putting the pen down. This is probably the hardest part for techies - accepting that the problem just beat you. But with Ron enforcing this strategy in every class, I acquired this habit and my quant scores started going up in my mock tests. Ron also teaches several alternatives to algebra to unblock you, these come extremely handy on the actual test.

Verbal: I was terrified of CR questions, I always seemed to get these wrong. Again, Ron's techniques of summarizing the arguments and real-world thinking helped enormously here. After a while, CR became all about common sense and real-world reasoning. Sentence Correction gets easier as you go through the 9 weeks, tougher topics like Modifiers come up later in the course. But it's enough to just practice the topics covered in each class and focus on SC strategy and timing. My only concern was RC, which gets only two classes in the course. While passage-reading techniques, timing and question types were covered, I had to rely on some external resources, like blogs, to recognize the question types and eliminate bad answers.

Mock tests: Very very useful in getting used to the test format. I took 8 MGMAT + 2 GMATPrep tests, one each weekend. The assessment summaries tell you where you're getting better, and where you need to improve. Definitely do the AWA and IR sections to build stamina, the Verbal is a lot tougher then since you're sapped by then (just like the real GMAT).

Takeaways: Rely on Ron to teach you the right techniques for all the problem types, interact as much as you can in his class. Break the bad habits and apply Ron's techniques to practice problems. The strategy guides (especially SC) give you all the necessary content. But the practice is really up to you. Apart from the official OG and guides, I used the MGMAT Question banks, the 494 additional questions from GMATPrep. Also, watch "Thursdays with Ron" for the tough topics. Above all, enjoy the GMAT prep and the test becomes a lot easier.

Read More

MGMAT is fantastic -- lessons and instructors are excellent. I found the online resources (+ Thursdays w/ Ron) to be essential to my prep process.

Most of all, Ron Purewal is simply phenomenal, but you already knew that.

Highly recommend!

edit: wondering why the review form mandates 100 words when business schools seek concise and to-the-point writing, and presumably, writers of these reviews plan to attend business school one day. Feels like I just identified a structural problem in the process. And now I'm going to write a few more words so that I can get to the required minimum word count.

Read More