Avi Gutman Reviews

Avi was incredibly fast at understanding where my thinking was lacking and how I could apply tricks to overcome my shortfalls. By teaching me some tips and tricks for both the Quant and Verbal sections, I was able to increase my score from a 580 to a 640 in less than 4 weeks. If you want a quick increase Manhattan Prep private tutoring is amazing and if you just need a few tutoring hours they can help you set up your study schedule so you are not wasting your time on questions that rarely appear on the actual test. The wealth of knowledge that Avi and the rest of his team have is incredibly valuable and they give you the confidence to perform very well on the test day. I was able to get into both Canada's top MBA programs thanks to Avi's help. Also, Avi does not baby his students so you will be held accountable while getting tons of constructive feedback and he will know if you don't complete your homework between sessions. This helped me really get the most of the 10 hours we had together, HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

Read More

Hi, I took the course here and while the instructor was great and was the only best thing about the course, the course in itself wasnt too helpful. The basics covered are yes helpful, but the basics can only bring one to a certain score, and for me this course barely helped me cross a 600. It is very overpriced, I would recommend buying the verbal books but thats about it. Their quant material, as compared to the quant material of other online courses, is very, very basic in the least. The end of chapter questions are no where near the testing standards. Their 6 practice CATs are good, but other than that, I found the course lacked in preparing one in terms of the difficulty of the GMAT. The instructor is great in that he is so helpful in helping you understand everything about the GMAT, including relaxation tips, mental strategies but I wish I had rather heard those helpful tips without the >$1500 price tag. The instructor is the best thing about the course, and is one of the most helpful resources, but the course on the other hand, is too basic.

Read More

Avi was a phenomenal instructor. I had 4 sessions of private tutoring with him and within those sessions he diagnosed why my score wasn't improving and gave me tips on how to increase my overall score. I ended up seeing an improvement that I didn't think was possible in the short amount of time I had to prepare. My score went up 70 points since my last test attempt, and 100 points overall since the first time I attempted the test.

Avi convinced me that I had the skills necessary to get the score I wanted on the test, and that I just had to get my confidence up to match my skills. Without his guidance and belief in me it would have been a much longer and more painful road to the GMAT score that I wanted.

Read More

Took Avi Gutman's class - great teacher and very engaging. You have to be fully involved in the classroom discussion to make the most of the course, but if you do so, your score will definitely improve.

MGMAT's quant strategy guides are super helpful; in my opinion, the Number Properties guide really is the best of them all. Put simply, I would not have obtained my quant score of 50 without this guide. The GMAT is all about thinking logically and using quick tricks wherever possible - MGMAT's Number Properties guide really knocks it out of the park in this regard.

The verbal strategy guides are also very useful; I have found the CR strategy guide to best most effective in raising my verbal score. While I am no expert at CR, MGMAT's CR guide lays out an extremely effective framework for approaching each CR question type. It took a lot of practice to get used to this framework, but the extra boost to my verbal score (42) was worth all the trouble.

MGMAT also helped me tremendously with my timing issues, a very important part of this test.

Advice for prospective students: Take your MGMAT CAT scores with a grain of salt. I will note that the MGMAT quant section is much tougher than that in the actual exam (this is why I am giving Quant 4 stars). While over-preparation is obviously better than under-preparation, MGMAT runs the risk of demoralizing students into not taking the test. I recommend MGMAT re-calibrate the difficulty level of its CAT quant questions.

Thank you MGMAT for getting me to my dream score!

Read More

I really enjoyed this class with Avi. He's very engaging in the classroom, and teaches a lot of tricks on how to solve math problems in creative and efficient ways. He also helped me mentally prepare for the GMAT, so that when I walked into the testing room, I was the calmest person there. Verbal is not stressed in the class, but Avi requires that students watch the online tutorials before coming to class, so that he can focus his class time on extra tips one couldn't get in those online videos. However, this class only works if you're willing to put in the effort and study on your own

Read More

While the cost of Manhattan's prep course is is among the highest, it was exactly what I was looking for. Beyond providing an organized structure to study for the GMAT, the course provides multiple strategies to tackle problems to accommodate personal strengths and weaknesses, analytics to assess areas of improvement, and holistic guidance on how to study, manage time, and approach exam day. It's a complete package.

Avi's approach to instructing is engaging and reflective of the class' needs. There isn't a session that goes by where he doesn't ask for feedback and updates on students' individual progress. While he's efficient in covering content, he is also willing to slow down and tailor his delivery for students when asked. He's friendly, patient, and responsive to emails if students have questions outside of class. Definitely recommended as an instructor.

Read More

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.

Read More

Before I dive into my personal story, if you don't want to read the entire review, I will say this right off the bat: Avi is an INCREDIBLE teacher, he is literally the definition of what a perfect, ideal teacher should be.
My story:
I researched online to find a tutor in Toronto with amazing reviews, and found Avi. I approached Avi four weeks before my exam, to inquire about his tutoring availability and rates, and gave him a brief explanation of my situation; I wasn't scoring where I wanted to be in my practice tests, so I figured a few tutoring sessions with the right instructor would help to boost my score. After explaining my situation to Avi, however, he did not encourage me to get tutoring sessions with him (he did not try to sell his tutoring at all, which I found to be very honest and genuine), instead, he made me realize that there was no rush to be done with the GMAT in the time period I was expecting to be, and told me he thought I would benefit more from enrolling in his 9-session course (much cheaper than private tutoring!), which covers the entire GMAT content. I decided to take Avi's expert advice, and enrolled in his course. This was an AMAZING decision! Avi is all of the things an ideal teacher should be: patient, extremely intelligent (goes without saying he knows the content inside and out), caring, devoted, thoughtful, funny!, did I say patient?, very calming and reassuring whenever you are in doubt or stressing, and he is extremely effective at explaining things in detail, he breaks every concept down so much so that everyone is able to understand even the most complex concepts and problems. It's absolutely incredible how simple he makes everything seem! Every time I would email Avi with a question or letting him know I am stressed out about my upcoming exam, etc., as soon as I’d read the first line or two of his email, I would IMMEDIATELY feel calm and reassured, he is truly a fantastic therapist, and always knows what to say to calm students down, while providing great advice with a sound plan of action. For anyone considering it but not sure if it is worth it: IT IS! Plus, with the cost of the course comes the 10-volume Manhattan book series, and access to all of Manhattan’s online services, including 6 practice CATs.
Thank you, Avi, for being an amazing teacher and therapist!!!

Read More

This course was well worth the money because the instructor, Avi Gutman, was fantastic. He encourages students to approach GMAT problems, mainly quant, in a way that it is less algebraic and more real world application. His tricks and strategies for solving complex quant problems improved my score by at least 40 points and gave me more time to answer problems that I struggle on. I would recommend this course, and recommend Avi, for anyone looking to improve their score or who has plateaued with the textbook methods for solving GMAT problems. He also does a good job with mentally preparing to face the GMAT on the day of the exam.

Read More

Before I chose which GMAT course to take, I solicited advice from friends, forums and I also audited several classes around the Toronto area. Each company covers the requisite topics, has roughly the same lesson plans, and provides students with similar video/textbook/practice test packages. What set Manhattan GMAT apart from the pack was Avi Gutman. In the first class alone, Avi blew me away with his test-taking expertise and unique teaching methods.

Avi doesn't waste class time repeating the video lessons or reading from the textbook. Instead, he shows you the underlying concept behind seemingly unrelated problems, and then teaches you simple techniques that can then be applied to the entire problem family. He also shows you multiple approaches for tackling each question, which is critical for deeper understanding.


Before I started this class, I was scoring in the mid 600s range. After Avi's class, I managed to score a 770 on my first try. Even after class ended, Avi would reliably reply to my emails, answering my questions and assuaging my concerns. His commitment to his students is unparalleled, and it was a pleasure being in Avi's class.

Read More