Jamie Nelson Reviews

At first I was hesitant at first to take a live online prep course for the GMAT. After taking a couple "trial" classes , one being with Jamie Nelson, I decided live online was the way to go - it truly is interactive and feels just like an in-person class, but without the travel time.

Jamie's sense of humor, ability to engage the class, and her 'Jamie-isms' (metaphors for understanding concepts) stood out initially, convincing me to sign up for her class. In the long run, her passion for teaching/problem solving, commitment to her students improvement, and knack for finding a balance between addressing questions during class vs. after class ultimately reinforced that signing up for her class was a great decision.

The mix of live classes, homework, practice exams (CATS), and a personalized study plan (comes with the class) a few weeks prior to taking the GMAT was a perfect mix. Jamie made a point to focus on not just technical material (quant/verbal), but also time management, stress management, and understanding of strengths/weaknesses.

All this was critical to me not only reaching, but exceeding my stretch goal. My last practice exam I scored a 650 - which was approximately 2 weeks before my formal GMAT. My goal was a 670 and stretch goal was a 700. I ended up scoring a 740. Jamie provided me with the building blocks, structured and flexible prep work, confidence and belief that I could do it. I strongly recommend anyone looking to achieve or exceed their GMAT goals to sign-up for Jamie's class.

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When I started preparing for GMAT, I was not sure whether I should take coaching for it or not. One of my friends suggested that I should try one of the trial classes from Jamie Nelson, Manhattan Prep.I tried her class, and instantly I could connect with her teaching style. So I subscribed to the full course and I wasn't disappointed.
I gave the first CAT test(Manhattan GMAT prep test) and could score only 510, which was shocking to me. Jamie reviewed my responses and provided her feedback and told me not to worry about the score for now. Below are the key details from her feedback :-
1. Employing right strategies for particular category of questions.
2. Focussing on the classes to come and finishing assignments on time.
3. Maintaining an error log of the incorrect responses. (I cannot emphasize how important this was.)

I heartily followed these three suggestions.
I think I was good enough at Quant. But still there were valuable things I learnt in her class.Working Backwards,Testing Numbers,Plugging in smart numbers and Making an educated guess on questions when I was running out of time or not sure.
By the time I finished the course , I gave another test and score 650. I knew I was still short of my target score, mainly due to timing issues. After finishing the course in mid-November, I worked on my timing for good one and a half month. I gave a few practice tests in between and I was well with in 710-730 range. A week before my first official test I connected with Jamie again , she was kind enough to provide a Post Course Assessment on such a short notice and the areas where I could still improve.
On 17th Jan, I gave my first GMAT exam and scored a 740(Q50, V41) which till date is my highest score including any of the practice GMAT tests I had given. I highly recommend Jamie and cannot thank her enough for guiding me one step closer towards getting into my Dream Business school.
All the Best!

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I took the 9 class GMAT Prep course with Manhattan Prep in the Spring of 2018. I cannot begin to explain how helpful this course was. I ultimately raised my score over 100 points from the first test I took at the beginning of the course until I took the GMAT.

The course is very rigorous and requires a huge time commitment. I think it is smart to sign up and order the books as soon as possible before you begin the course. It would have been very helpful to have reviewed some of the basic Algebra as well as clean up my grammar before the course began.

My instructor was Jamie Nelson and she was very helpful and was always willing to answer my questions as well as everyone else's in the class. She also helped me develop a strong study plan that ultimately help me achieve my desired score. Jamie is a great teacher and I would highly recommend taking her class.

I would highly recommend this course for anyone who is trying to improve their GMAT score.

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When I first started studying for the GMAT, it was clear to me that I would do the same thing that I had done in college and that I had been quite successful with; I sat down in a quiet corner with a GMAT guide and started crunching. Unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way that that was the wrong way to approach the GMAT. Even after the third try, my highest score was a 660 and the magical 700+ score seemed far from reach.

I decided that I had to radically change the way I studied and prepared for the test. I signed up for the Manhattan Prep 9-Session Online Prep Course with Jamie Nelson and already during the first course I realized that I had had some fundamental misconceptions about the test. Jamie did a great jobs explaining how the test works and what strategies you need to use to successfully master it. Moreover, she did a fantastic job explaining all the different quant and verbal topics and concepts and thanks to her enthusiastic teaching style the classes were fun and engaging. When I entered the test center for the fourth time, I felt much better prepared and I walked out with a 730!

I wish I had known about Manhattan Prep and Jamie's course from the beginning; this would have saved me a lot of time and stress. However, I hope that this review will help others avoid the mistakes I've made. Take a course for the GMAT, it makes a huge difference and is definitely worth the money. In particular Jamie's course!

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Before taking the Manhattan Prep online course, I believed that I was disciplined enough to take the self-study route. Though I diligently studied through the OG, Manhattan Prep Study Guides, and the GMATClub resources, I felt that I hadn't actually learned anything. This culminated in scoring a 550 on the GMAT after a year's worth of study.

I chose to pay for a prep course to help focus my studies and also decided that an online course would be best. The online course provided me with flexibility, since I travel frequently, and also allowed me to pick a highly rated instructor, and after doing some research, I chose to enroll in Jamie Nelson's online class.

I would highly recommend taking an online course with Jamie Nelson. Not only did she translate the study guides into layman's terms, she provided tips and tricks that she had accumulated over her time spent teaching the GMAT. Jamie's "Jamieisms" provided shortcuts to common quant and verbal questions, helping me to save on precious time.

More importantly than her teaching ability, Jamie was always available outside of class hours to help. I was weak in specific topics within the quant section, so I would reach out to Jamie for advice; she was ready to forward drill sheets and class notes from her other classes so that I could bolster my learning.

I believe that the online prep course provided me a stable foundation to build my understanding of the GMAT. I began with a 550 on a Manhattan Prep GMAT and ended with a 700 on the official GMAT. To everyone reading this post, I can't recommend the course more. I wish everyone luck in their journey!

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This course is everything you need to accomplish your GMAT goals. I would say the only thing that is tough is getting through a three hour online class in one sitting. If you see this as being a potential problem for you, don't panic - do these two things and you should be good: (1) pick a good time slot during the week that you will be able to consistently make and a time that you won't generally be extremely tired during (also, don't overthink this, you'll be fine if you are internally committed) and (2) pick a great teacher like Jamie that will make the three hour class as exciting as it is informative. Manhattan Prep actually allows you to test out teachers (the first session is free) which is great because it's is very important to like your teacher - nine 3-hour sessions lay ahead of you (but again, don't overthink it). Would I recommend this course, absolutely. The course material is great and does a good job of steering you toward what you need to focus on.

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I’ve never been very good at standardized tests. For me, the GMAT was the most intimidating part of the business school application process, and it almost kept me from even applying. My biggest takeaway from this experience: don’t give up hope if you get one bad score! Fully explore your options – if the regular class/online sessions aren’t enough for you, consider working with a tutor for several sessions (it really does help you go from knowing a subject well to complete mastery of that subject!). For me, it was definitely worth the investment.

As I was starting out, several colleagues recommended that I try Manhattan Prep based on their positive experiences with the program. Being someone who wanted to do a self-study program vs. a classroom program (just my personal preference), I decided to purchase the Interact package. Overall, I thought the Interact package was very well done – it’s engaging, covers a lot of ground, and really teaches you the fundamentals of how to approach each type of problem. Over the course of the program, I got to the point where I was scoring pretty consistently in the 680-710 range on the MPrep and GMAC practice tests, and since my goal was to score 700, I felt like I was in a good position to take the actual test.

I ended up getting a 650 on my first actual test. It was pretty demoralizing. I decided to take MPrep up on their offer for the Post Exam Assessment (with Jamie Nelson) and had really good results so booked two more sessions (I was matched with Eric Garthoffner).

Jamie Nelson: I had a wonderful experience with Jamie on my post-exam assessment. She did a ton of homework beforehand, and closely went through each of my practice tests (and my enhanced score report) to really get a sense of the areas in which I was struggling. She picked up on errors I was making on a consistent basis that I never would have realized on my own. We then dissected each of these problem types and she provided customized problem sets to work on these weak areas. I saw improvements in my next practice test and decided to invest in several more sessions.

Eric Garthoffner: I spent around 4 hours with Eric over two sessions. He really transformed my approach to studying for the quant section. We spent a lot of time on strategy (both test prep and actual test day strategies), and on pattern recognition / short-cut application. Like Jamie, Eric was very good at identifying areas where I was struggling and created a customized study plan to help me improve in my weak areas. I gained a ton of confidence on the quant and significantly improved my timing.

Overall, I had a great experience with both Jamie and Eric. The sessions were very complementary to the other MPrep materials and helped me power through that last mile. Importantly, both Jamie and Eric were great motivators and taught me how to approach and study for problems in a more effective way. Based on my experience, the extra tutoring is well worth the investment if you don’t quite get your target score initially. I ended up getting into two top-five business schools in round one, and could not have done that without the help of MPrep (or Jamie and Eric).

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I took an in-person course with Jamie Nelson, and I highly recommend her class to anyone considering taking the GMAT! Jamie is very engaging, and you can tell that she has many years of experience helping students master the GMAT.

The in-person class was definitely beneficial for me, as I was working full time while trying to prepare for the GMAT. Committing to a Manhattan Prep course helped me to develop a prep routine. I attended the three-hour class once a week and followed the assigned homework very closely. Jamie provided supplemental resources for my weakest content areas to help me master the basics.

When you sign up for the Manhattan Prep In-Person Class, you receive a ton of useful prep resources: Manhattan prep strategy guides, the most recent Official GMAT Guide, access to pre-recorded online lessons, 6 MGMAT practice exams, and the list goes on. Additionally, once you have completed the prep course, Manhattan Prep offers a one-on-one post course assessment meeting with an instructor to outline a custom study plan for you to follow from the time the course ends until your test day.

Ultimately, I was able to improve my score by more than 200 points (from my first practice test to the actual exam) and couldn’t be happier! Manhattan GMAT Prep classes are definitely worth the investment.

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Highly recommend the Manhattan Prep 9-Session GMAT Prep Course with Jamie Nelson and Mark Sullivan. The instructor support outside of class is worth every penny.

I signed up for the February - May 2017 session with zero GMAT experience, a ~50th percentile score on a diagnostic exam taken earlier in the year, and low confidence that I could hit my lofty ~95th percentile goal in time for application season. Manhattan Prep's GMAT curriculum is comprehensive and easy to understand, and Jamie/Mark's tailored instruction made the class of 15 students feel more like a 1-on-1 setting. What really stood out about Manhattan's offering is the unexpected benefit of having 2 GMAT pros at your side through the whole journey.

Jamie, in particular, went above and beyond to support me outside of class, taking extra time to explain concepts I struggled with and build my confidence. By the end of the 9 week course, I really felt as though I had an ally and friend personally invested in my success and rooting for me to reach my goal. Jamie sent me additional problem sets and took time to ensure all my questions were addressed, even beyond the course's last session. She also sat down with me for a Post Course Assessment, which, beyond yielding a tailored study plan, really built my confidence going into my first exam in early June. I ultimately scored ~90th percentile - a bit short of my goal but a vast improvement.

Following the first exam, Jamie stewarded me through the Post Exam Assessment (PEA) process, and regularly checked in to see how things were going as I prepped for round 2 in early July. During this time, GMAC announced Order Selection - naturally Mark and Jamie weighed in on what my best approach might be and were always available to answer content related questions. With their continued support and the PEA study plan, I ultimately returned to the exam with even greater confidence and hit my 95th percentile goal.

Although a significant investment of time and money, the course materials, supportive instructors, and confidence build that this class affords will position you for success. Couldn't have done it without Manhattan - thanks, Jamie and Mark!

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I took the 9-session GMAT prep course in early 2016. I had never taken any GMAT practice tests or anything. I had no idea about the format of the test or event that it was computer-adaptive. This course is well worth the money. If you are actually serious about taking the GMAT and are going to be willing to put in the time and effort, I would recommend it. Yes, there is a lot of homework each week, and it requires some discipline to work through 10-15 hrs per week, but it's worth it. Jamie was a great instructor and had a bunch of tricks that made the test much more manageable. The first test I took at the beginning of the course, I got a 540. A few weeks after the course ended I got a 700 on the real test, which I was happy with. It is possible to work your way up from a low score using this course. Highly recommended.

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