I think the Manhattan GMAT course was extremely helpful in preparing me for the test. The instructor calls on everyone in the class to be sure no one person takes over the course and others don't fall behind.

I think the course structure was logically organized. I found the online content to be extremely helpful in terms of studying independently, improving your weak areas, or catching up on a missed class. I just wish I knew about all the resources earlier!

You should definitely use the office hours each week. While sometimes they can be challenging to schedule, they are very helpful to get the most out of your homework as the classes are already packed with content. Additionally, you can save the work from the office hours and review it later. You can also send the questions you want to go over in order to get the most out of the office hours and fit more in.

I shopped around before selecting my GMAT course and I am glad I finally selected Manhattan GMAT. If you are disciplined, fairly smart and capable of putting into practice what these guys teach you then you will get a great score. Attending the course doesn't circumvent any of the hard work you must put in (in your own time) but it does mean the work you do will the efficient. The books they provide are great, but attending the course in tandem really helps the key concepts anchor in you mind.
Not cheap, but if you are serious about scoring highly then it's worth it.

MGMAT is fantastic. The material is taught in a very intuitive way. There are clear steps in this course. It is very structured to take you from the lowest levels up to the highest rung. It gives you a clear plan to get you where you need to go (as long as you are fully willing to put in the work.) The practice questions are very similar to the actual GMAT questions. One of the cooler parts of this course is the "OG Archer" which is an online tool you use to record and analyze your strengths and weaknesses. It charts your progress and shows you where you need to focus.

When I first took my diagnostic test, I scored a 600. After attending all 9 sections, and relearning all the math I forgot in high school, I was able to raise my score 100+ points. Not only did my instructor explain the content in an easy to understand manner, he provided key insights into the test itself based on his personal experience. I would say the greatest score boosters came in the form of analyzing critical reasoning questions on verbal and learning how to effectively structure word translation problems on the math.

Even though I exceeded my target score of 700+, I plan on taking the test again in May to see if I can crack 750. It's an ambitious goal, I know, but if I can boost my quant score to the level of my verbal score, I think that will do it.

Jonathan is a brilliant mind and talented educator. Great course. Highly recommended!

Manhattan GMAT is really a first-class organization from top to bottom. A little bit about my history with the organization and then some of the highlights: I took a course back in summer of 2011 and took the GMAT once after the course and got a 660. I was disappointed in the result, but decided to step away and return to the GMAT in early 2012, when I signed up for a discounted 9-week course as a second-time student. Took the test 4 days ago and got a 740. Needless to say, I am pleased with the outcome.

A few highlights about the organization:

* Customer Service is Incredible: Every time I call this Company, someone very nice answers and helps me through whatever issue I have. I've almost never experienced such consistency with another Company.

* Online Platform: The whole OG Archer online question bank, Eluminate platform, and general "onlinenness" of the business is first-rate. I loved doing questions on the Archer so I could track progress and time, and I utilized a lot of the Thursdays with Ron.

* Charismatic and Nice Teachers: Really sets them apart, the fact that they screen teachers so heavily to get ones that are charismatic, that are smart, that are genuinely nice, and that really care how you do.

* Plethora of Prep Programs outside of the 9-week Course: I took advantage of everything I could. Thursdays with Ron. The Quest for 750 Workshops. I thought the fact that I had all of this at my fingertips was great, and as a 9-week student I got discounts.

* Overall Just Caring How You Do: I felt like the "discounted" nature of my second course showed they cared about MY outcome. They cared what I got. Plus, they have so many 1-on-1 assessments to really prep you for test day.

Overall, I am glad I never have to take the GMAT again (it's been a long 4 months), but if I had to do it all over again there is no doubt I would use Manhattan GMAT. I have already referred multiple friends. Hope this Helps and Good Luck!

The Manhattan GMAT 9-Session Prep Course drastically improved my test score and helped me achieve my goals for the GMAT. The course gave me excellent structure for studying for the test, the proper tools to study and critical strategies for solving all of the problems on the test. My instructor was smart and engaged the class well in discussions, providing simple and effective explanations for all of our work while teaching us to think about how to handle the problems.

The volume of information in the class and textbooks means that taking this course is a serious commitment. I spent at least 5 hours a week studying and reading the materials for the week's classes. With thousands of pages in review content, there is plenty of material to cover. The course will not teach you everything you need to know in the classroom. You will absolutely need to put in the time and effort to study.

The instructor that taught my course was fantastic and did a great job engaging with the class and working through problems thoroughly. He helped teach us multiple ways to attack and solve all of the different types of quantitative and verbal problems, which helped us understand the different ways to approach problems. He focused on helping us understand how to approach problems and identify methods to solve them instead of focusing on the different individual steps. While the work was sometimes tedious (I lost track of how many times I wrote AD BCE to begin working on Data Sufficiency problems), the detailed reviews and analysis of real GMAT questions helped me to quickly identify how to approach each problem. After reviewing the material on my own and doing many practice exams and questions, I was very comfortable taking the test on the day of my exam.

I found that putting in the effort yielded a significant improvement in my score. The course provided me with the tools and strategies that I needed to succeed on the GMAT. However, I did need to put in a lot of time and effort on my own to supplement the classroom work. If you are looking for a course where you can sit in a room, be spoon-fed content and then take the test immediately after, this is not the right course for you. If you are a highly-motivated self-starter who will put in the time and effort to study and want smart, engaging teachers who will help take you from a great score to an outstanding score, Manhattan GMAT is the place to go. My score rose from below the average grade of accepted students at the top business schools to above it thanks to this course.

ManhattanGMAT is excellent! I started my 9-session class in January with Hemanth as my instructor. He was an excellent instructor and went through everything thoroughly.

My quant improved a ton - in my diagnostic exam, I took 10 minutes over the 75 minute time limit to finish the quant sections and only got a 43Q (70th percentile). On test day I got a 49Q (85th percentile)! MGMAT is known for extremely difficult quant problems, especially at the 700+ level.

My verbal did not improve from my diagnostic exam. (I am a native speaker). In my diagnostic exam I got a 41V but on test day I got a 37V. I am not sure why this is as I have scored at least a 38V or higher on all of my practice tests. I do wish that the MGMAT verbal guides had multiple choice questions in the back (to simulate test questions) instead of the short answer questions that they currently have.

In total:
GMAT Diagnostic Exam: 700 (43Q 41V)
Test Day: 710 (49Q 37V)
+10 Points

In addition to the class syllabus, the class provides what is called a "study organizer", which details the exact problems that you need to do for homework for every day of the 9 week class. The study organizer includes what is assigned in the syllabus, as well as additional problems. I would say that I averaged about 25 hours of work a week on this course (3 hrs class + 21 hrs HW). It is a ton of work, but it is great!

The NYC location also provides a testing center that is pretty warm, but good for taking practice exams and studying.

A serious suggestion: The practice exams really need to be improved.
1. At the higher levels (700+), the quant portion of the MGMAT CAT exam will give you 3-4 probability / combinatorics questions. In reality you may see 1-2 of these problems on exam day.
2. The verbal portion of the MGMAT CAT exams will front-load the RC and CR questions, and you will usually finish all of the RC questions at around question 25-30. In reality it is more spread out. This is important for timing. You may find yourself finishing early on the CAT exams because the last 5-6 questions are SC questions, but on test day you may not have enough time if your verbal section ends with 4-5 RC or CR questions.
3. If you are a high scorer (700+), the later CAT exams will give you more 600-700 level questions, since you would have exhausted all of the 700 level questions in MGMAT's question bank. For example, I scored 700+ in my 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th CAT exams. In my 6th CAT exam, the last 13 questions in my verbal section were of 600-700 level. I got them all right, and I got an inflated score. In reality, the questions will be about 700+ level difficulty if you are scoring this high.

If MGMAT's CAT Exams are the best on the market (besides GMATPrep), then I really don't want to think about how bad CAT Exams from other providers are.

I thought Veritas did a very good job at preparing you for the exam. The books were very helpful. You need to be willing to put the time in as most of the learning happens on your own through the materials rather than in the classroom setting. That is where you should be fine tuning concepts and not learning them for the first time.

I do wish there was more emphasis placed on the problems as I felt there was a lot of theory and test taking strategies being taught. Though those are helpful, when you only have 8 classes, I would prefer an onslaught of problem reviews.

All that being said, I would most certainly recommend Veritas.. especially over something like a Kaplan - I did not have a very good experience with one of their products.

I believe that the content of this course is incredible. However, throughout the 9 weeks I constantly felt like I was drowning in the material. Homework took over 20 hours week after week (sometimes even 30 hours or more). Having said that, if you take homework seriously you should see a great score increase. In my case the increase was 50 points from CAT1 to CAT3.


My instructor was not stellar, he knew the material but it was apparent that he was new and has not found his groove for teaching the class. I took a make up class with another instructor and it was a night and day difference. So I decided to use up all of my make up classes with this man. I think I saw a huge improvement in my quant score because of this instructor. He was INCREDIBLE!

Couple of areas of improvement:
1) bring back office hours! students should have time to ask specific questions. the classroom is not a good platform for that as time is stretched there as is.
2) Have us take one CAT exam during week 5. Currently as is we end up taking 2 CATs within 2 weeks... kind of silly if you ask me.
3) Consider giving an extra week for students to catch up.

Some great things about the class:
1) It is very structured... the content is great and if you follow their study plan you will do great.
2) The Online Labs are priceless... make sure you take the time to do them
3) DS strategy has helped me a great deal.
4) Some instructors are truly gifted when it comes to teaching

I was very pleased with my final score and the improvement I'd made on the score I got at the beginning of the course. Classes were always fun. My instructor was very engaging and energetic. The materials were thorough and to the point. There are definitely no short cuts; you have to put in the time. But I actually enjoyed taking the 9 week prep class and studying for the exam. It was less daunting to prep as part of the course rather than solo.