I took this class in the spring at their flagship location. My goal with taking the course was to structure my studying and break it up into manageable parts rather than going it alone and not having a sense of what I needed to cover and stagnating.

My effort in studying for the GMAT consisted of two parts. The first, where I attended all 9 sessions and completed all basic and advanced homework. And the second, the end of the course and month afterwards before the exam, where I did additional studying using the Official Guide and Manhattan GMAT practice exams.

In the first segment, I think the course was really key for me in the way I mentioned above - it provided the structure to get me through all the material and broke my studying down into pieces.

Specifically:

-The 9 live classes: For me, this was necessary to move myself along the process.

The instruction was helpful - Steven taught both Manhattan GMAT methods as well as personal tips and insights. The instruction on Quant was very helpful. On Verbal, I found the MGMAT methodologies less useful and I think Steven did as well because he didn't strongly recommend that we use them and his deviation from some of the materials was actually very helpful. I appreciated this flexibility. All in all, I felt, throughout the whole process, that my instructor was an expert and knew the material backwards and forwards.

The materials provided - the subject area books are great - they provide both depth and breadth and achieve the right level of detail and complexity. They served really well as the place to 'learn' the material. Later, when practicing and reinforcing, I primarily used the Official Guide, coming back to the subject area books as needed.

In the second part of my studying, towards the end of the classes and afterwards, I really focused on practicing problems and taking exams. For this, I found the Manhattan GMAT practice exams and the ability to go to their center to take them, especially crucial. For several weeks, I would go to the center every Saturday and take a full exam. Not only are MGMAT's exams very good quality, simulating the actual test day experience is key and was one of the main value adds of the course to me.

If I have any criticisms of the course, I would say that for me personally, I probably could have use a more custom experience. Although historically a stronger quantitative test taker, for the GMAT I found that I put 95% of my effort into Quant and that Verbal came easier. As a result, I probably would have benefited from a Quant focused course. I think that a lot of native/fluent English speakers find themselves in this situation and as such, I think Manhattan GMAT would do well by creating this kind of class. I also found the Quant section on their practice exams to be a little bit too difficult, and not in a way that was beneficial. The practice exams you get from the actual GMAC are more representative.

Overall, however, I am extremely satisfied with my experience and would definitely a. do it the same way if i had to do it again and b. recommend Manhattan GMAT to others. I have not taken any other company's courses but based on what I've heard, I feel comfortable saying this is one of, if not the, best prep companies out there.

Read More

I took my diagnostic in June and scored a 600. I was ambitious about a good score, and I had to do it in about 2 months amidst a very heavy workload. I needed a good coach and that's when I enrolled in the Manhattan GMAT 9 session course.

First of all, this is a very detailed and demanding course. From the first look at its curriculum it was pretty clear to me that this company knew the art and science of turning a novice into a master on this exam. The material is exhaustive and intuitive - it really captures the naunces of the varied thought processes that different people follow while solving a problem, and then tells you how to hone your unique way of thinking. I found that particularly helpful as most people have a particular style of doing things, and some approaches resonate with that style while some don’t.

The classroom course does not take the traditional theory-to-questions approach. Mind it that you would be expected to do the formal studying yourself. The classroom sessions explore the theoretical aspects of the course mainly through carefully chosen questions that well-exemplify the concepts involved.
Personally, I liked this approach as concepts are presented and learned un-detached from the contexts and situations where they'll be applied to, and are thus easier to remember.

The course is ultimately about honing your intuitions to razor-sharpness and set you up with a viable plan on how you're going to attempt your exam. The best thing - there's always a plenty of help available around for whatever you might need it.

My instructor was not only a master of the subject but also very involved with my success. He gave me some very good advice with some unique problems that was keeping my score low in the exam while I was coming out with flying colours while attempting practice problems. I finally took the exam on 8th of September and scored a 730.

I would highly recommended score for anyone seeking to score a 700+. And lastly, there's a lot of free stuff that'll come along with the any course - classroom or self study. They conduct a lot of free sessions, not just on GMAT but the whole application process. It's expensive, but totally worth the money!

Read More

My pre-class scores were below 600, so needless to say I had a lot of work ahead of me. My goal was to clear 700. The course with David Braslow was great for reviewing and re-learning a lot of the concepts (math in particular), but make sure you're willing to practice, as the amount of material can be overwhelming.

If you're like me and really need to go through all of the strategy guides to re-learn the math, practice problems are the best way to burn those concepts into your memory (something I failed to do the first time around). I tried learning as much as I could in the 9 week session, but I don't think I practiced enough, and I was still prone to making careless mistakes. My first test scored a 640, I was disappointed. I started private tutoring sessions with Kate McKeon to refine my skills, learn my weaknesses, and give me areas for focus. After a few sessions with Kate, I was back up above 700 on my practice tests, and I ended up with a 760 on my 2nd official attempt.

Highly recommend the instructors at Manhattan GMAT, especially for personalized sessions. They won't tell you what you want to hear. If you're weak in a particular area, they'll let you know! Better to have that honest feedback upfront than to be disillusioned by a few successful practice tests.

Rather than familiarity with concepts, try to master what you can before you even step into the test room.

Read More

Hi eveyrone,

I recently used Manhattan GMAT and had a great experience. The company's material is very applicable to the test, and the OG Archer is a great way to identify area where you need to improve.

My instructor, Jihae, was very good. She was engaging and did a great job connecting with the students despite the class starting after a full work day.

The most valuable asset, for me at least, was the FREE MGMAT post exam assessment. My test scores were as follows:

MGMAT Diag: 630

MGMAT 1: 730

MGMAT 2: 670

MGMAT 3: 690

MGMAT 4: 680

MBA.com 1: 720

MBA.com 2: 730

My goal was a 700, but I scored only a 620 when I took the test in July. After the test, I used Manhattan GMAT's post exam assessment. I spoke to Eric, and, after reviewing my file, he identified areas he felt I should focus and pointed out that I may have burnt myself out or that I perhaps rushed through problems on test day.

After speaking with Eric, I took a week off, relaxed and refocused for my exam in three weeks.

I scored a 710 (47Q, 40V) and am pleased with my performace.

Thank you Manhattan GMAT!

Sam

Read More

I highly recommend the Manhattan GMAT 9-Session Prep Course for anyone studying for the GMAT. The course provides a comprehensive overview of the all content on the GMAT, focusing specifically on the content and test-taking strategies that I believe are the difference between a mediocre and a great test score. Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, the Manhattan GMAT course instills in you the confidence that is so important for success on the day of the actual test.

I am a lawyer and have not had much math in my daily life since high school. Of course quant was a big concern of mine. Manhattan GMAT's content-based approach and repetitive drilling helped me tremendously. My instructor Kate McKeon was also a huge help in this regard. She made the class fun and kept the atmosphere light, all the while challenging us to master a combination of the most tested and difficult content. In addition to helping me nail down the content, she taught me not to sweat the small stuff and what areas to focus on for test day. This relaxed approach kept everything in perspective as I prepared for the real test.

After scoring a 560 on my first practice test, I ended up scoring a 720 on the real thing and was thrilled. I am certain that without Manhattan GMAT I would not have achieved such a satisfactory result.

Read More

Working with a Manhattan GMAT tutor was fantastic. I had access to the full series of Manhattan GMAT courses as well as one-on-one sessions with a tutor. Manhattan GMAT teaches the methodology needed to master the GMAT and its instructors are patient, knowledgeable, and capable of explaining both material and approach.

Manhattan GMAT books are very good at breaking down all of the material in particular types of questions. The books give sample questions to practice with and MGMAT even has detailed explanations for the "real GMAT" questions from the MBA official guide books. For those answers alone the company is worth using.

If you are serious about the GMAT, Manhattan GMAT will give you the tools and support to succeed. I definitely recommend Manhattan GMAT!

Read More

Great course! My instructor was hilarious and made the class engaging and fun. Because I travel during the week for work, I initially wasn't too excited about taking a weekend class - I was already very busy! However, taking this class turned out to be a very rewarding experience. The instructors are intelligent, personable and funny. It was a very comfortable environment in the classroom.

Heading into this class I wasn't too confident that I could leave with the score I wanted, but by the end, I was ready to just take the exam because I had done so much prep. The prep does a great job preparing you for the actual exam.

I'm not a natural standardized test taker, but this class made taking the GMAT manageable and even fun! :)

Read More

The smartest decision I ever made. The bootcamp was a challenge because it was a lot of material in a tight period, but worked best for me as I invested my summer vacation into completing it, and there was a lot of work offline, but it paid off.

Going from a 500 range score to a 700 range score was exactly what I needed to supplement my profile. And as an international student it helped a lot with getting into the right mentality to play the GMAT game and not just "memorize and ace" exams as we were typically taught, but learning how the components work and the strategy to throw questions that just don't work to invest time on others was a big takeaway. The analytics were also impeccable at focusing on weaknesses and observing my own trends with time and questions to build an internal awareness of how "I" functioned in a test.

Read More

I first found out about Manhattan GMAT from a co-worker/friend of mine who had just gotten a full ride to Columbia Business School. She told me it was hands down the best course around, and that was all the proof I needed (the fact that she got a 730 helped too).

I actually took the course twice. the first time I was pretty swamped at work and didn't have time to keep up with the pretty demanding workload of the course (about 8-12 hours of work a week). Before I knew it 8 weeks had passed and the course was over. I didn't even bother to take any more practice tests because i knew I hadn't taken the course seriously. This course is great but you only get out of it, what you put in.

Fast forward a year later, and I hear that the GMAT is changing in June, so I take the plunge, sign up to take the course again and register to take the GMAT the last week in May (about a week after my final Manhattan GMAT class). This time around i buckled down, stopped going out on weekends, and kept up with the course curriculum. Needless to say, this dedication paid dividends! I ended up getting 10 points above my target score and got a 730 on the GMAT.

The course is great because of how thorough the materials are and how charismatic the teachers are. They take something that should be boring and mundane, and make it fairly enjoyable. The math section of their practice test is a little more difficult than the actual GMAT, and I think this is due to the difficulty level increasing much more quickly on the Manhattan GMAT exams then on the real GMAT. This could be considered a good thing though, because it forces you to really work on your time management, an essential skill for getting a good score on the GMAT.

Regardless, I definitely recommend Manhattan GMAT to anyone really looking to get a good score on the exam. Just remember that there are no tricks or shortcuts, the more you put into the course, the more you'll get out of it!

Read More

Overall, I was not impressed with the "in-person" course. Would have preferred to simply buy the materials and study on my own. Instructor gave majority of focus to quant. This was my weaker subject so I preferred this imbalance. However, his quant focus began at a high level and was often difficult to follow. He showed "his" methods which were very interested and "speedy" but were difficult to apply to many problems aside from the examples used in class. He was VERY smart, though.

Very disappointed with the course. Obviously I would not recommend it. I wish that the course had been more helpful. The course skipped so many fundamentals and focused on problem specific tactics that I did not find it very beneficial on test day. I really benefited form the text materials and from the practice tests that MGMAT has online. I spent approx 15 hrs per week studying.

Read More