Manhattan Prep GMAT Course Reviews

5 stars for Manhattan Prep and their great instructor team! I took a course with Sergio Frisoli in Boston's Back Bay center in the winter of 2016 and found the content and instruction to be incredibly helpful in preparing for the GMAT. My instructor, Sergio, was thoughtful, patient, and attentive to our class's various strengths and development areas. He always stayed after class for individual questions and offered advice and coaching after the course was over. I would highly recommend Manhattan Prep (and particularly Sergio) gearing up for the GMAT! Now on the other side of the GMAT and MBA application process, I'm confident it was worth the investment.

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I was advised by a friend who had taken the Manhattan Prep course to take the in-person course if I wanted to best prepare for taking the GMAT. I took one practice GMAT prior to starting the course and was around a 530-540, significantly lower than what I needed. The Manhattan course and my instructor, Keith Blume, gave me the necessary tools to bring that score all the up to a 700 which was where I needed to be for the programs I was applying to. Included in my course fee was a number of guidebooks and practice manuals that gave me the tools necessary to work on my own. In each class session, Keith was able to cover a wealth of material and provide tips that weren't exactly covered in any of the guidebooks. There was a syllabus given out at the beginning of class that I was diligent in keeping up with. Throughout the course, we took practice test which I slowly saw my score rise and plateau at a point lower than where I wanted to be. Due to scheduling conflicts, at the end of the course I had 4 weeks to prepare for my GMAT. Keith prepared a study plan for me that got me ready in the 4-week time frame. The study plan worked! I felt comfortable going into the test and received the score that I wanted. Needless to say, Manhattan Prep and Keith were invaluable in my preparation. I would recommend this course to anyone looking to prepare for the GMAT!

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I was very lucky to have studied with Keith from Chicago. I initially met Keith through the Manhattan GMAT class pack in which he was the instructor, and later took a few private classes with him to improve my understanding.

Overall, Keith is a very efficient and to-the-point instructor. I was quite confident in math but was making unnecessary mistakes so Keith pinpointed it to exactly where it was and provided CUSTOMIZED study plans for me based on my goal and schedule. As for verbal, he was instrumental in teaching me how to read and answer the question.

My first practice test was in the 600, and with the help of Keith and many hours of hard work, I increased a score of 100+. I would highly recommend Keith to any student who would like to learn and achieve a good score.

Manhattan GMAT also offers one of the best online platforms. It syncs up with the book and the explanations really helped me understand why an answer was right, and better yet, why other answers were wrong. In addition, you can use the report feature to see your overall performance and area of improvement. I would recommend taking a GMAT course with Keith through Manhattan. Thank you Keith!

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Manhattan Prep provided me with everything I needed to get my target GMAT score. First and foremost, Marcus was a great teacher. He made class engaging, challenging, and worth your time for students of all levels. He also provided some really useful study tips and techniques -
such as tracking questions missed - that helped me to use my independent study time efficiently.
Following the Manhattan Prep's syllabus/study plan and taking their online practice tests made it really clear what I needed to do to prepare. By the time test day came around, I felt confident that I had done everything I could to be ready. I only had to take the GMAT once to get my target score of 730.
Finally, the free one-on-one consultation with a Manhattan Prep tutor after the class finished but before the GMAT was really helpful for developing a final-stretch study plan and giving me a confidence boost going into the test.
Would highly recommend Marcus and Manhattan Prep!

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I studied for the GMAT in 2017 with a private tutoring package for 20 hours. Gregg Lachow was my tutor, and we met exclusively online via Blackboard. I wound up scoring a 760, up from a 630 MPrep CAT before the sessions began and an official test score of 710 back in 2013. I had four scores in the low 700s in official tests during my MPrep course before I scored the 760.

Private tutoring worked for me because I had a few specific problem areas with the format (timing, test anxiety, rushing) and content (quant and main idea questions in verbal). Every tutor is different, so I can only speak to my experience with Gregg and the MPrep materials.

I used MPrep study guides including "Foundations", the scratch pad, Interact, and all six of the online CAT. I also used the OG, "Verbal/Quant Review," GMAT Prep, GMAT Focus (a sort of online simulation of the quant section), and the GMAT Club forums. So I pretty much availed myself of every scrap of prep material out there in the world. In total, I probably studied for a few hundred hours over the course of eight months on top of applications/work. Manhattan Prep practice and CAT problems for quant were more difficult/discouraging than those I faced on test day and its verbal problems slightly easier. I think that the most helpful guides for me were the "Foundations of Math" and the "Sentence Correction" guide. Overall, the CAT scores did roughly track to my actual performance although I think that the GMAT Prep ones were more lifelike. Interact is fairly useful for getting the big ideas and practicing the common problems, but it may not be the level of detail needed to score in the 99th percentile.

We began the tutoring sessions by reviewing my study habits, target score/timeline, prior performance, and test-taking habits. I liked the overall organization of the entire study background/plan/schedule/notes in a single shared Google doc.

With Gregg, I covered each section/topic of the GMAT over the course of about a dozen 30min-1.5hr sessions. Each session was recorded and saved, so I could concentrate on the material and not obsessive note-taking. After each session, I would watch the video and jot down the key takeaways. I was skeptical of online tutoring at first, but I'm glad I signed up for them just for the recordings. They were invaluable.

Gregg is a wiz: he knows the test inside and out and can walk you through tough questions with aplomb. He's good at making sure you nail the execution (process, process, process) rather than rush to the right answer, even for areas of relative strength. He breaks down the test into the smallest pieces (from fully understanding the question to jotting down the givens and understanding how the test makes problems hard). He not only teaches the concepts, but also explains how the test can complicate those simple concepts with traps. If you find yourself falling for "the right answer," then Gregg can help you correct these ingrained habits. He also can translate "GMAT-speak"–the sometimes overly-specific and non-everyday meanings of keywords–into ordinary English. And he excels at forcing you to take a step back and approach the test and each question in the right mental/emotional/intellectual way.

Although he's stronger in verbal, especially sentence correction, for quant he excelled at showing me how to spot common traps and tricks that I couldn't via independent study, explaining the intricacies of CAT scoring and how they relate to skipping/timing, and providing tactics for every single problem type (not just DS/PS, but rate/work vs. geometry vs. statistics, etc.). If you have nailed quant, then I'd say he would make an excellent standalone verbal tutor as well, with perfect SC accuracy and an eagle eye for RC/CR pitfalls.

All in all, he both prepared and coached me to perform at my peak level on test day. I definitely recommend him as a tutor because I wouldn't have hit my score without him.

The folks who work in the offices are friendly, and the customer service is excellent. The website is somewhat confusing to navigate because there is so much content, but overall has amazing resources and no downtime. They even threw in GMAT Navigator (OG answer guide) for free, which was nice.

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I got my target score of 720+ thanks to Manhattan Prep, and highly recommend the MP program to anyone who is seriously considering applying to a top b-school. I say this for a few reasons:
1) The resources and course content are unparalleled, and very well structured. You start the process by taking a practice test that immediately pin-points your strengths vs areas that may need improvement, and then track your progress by taking more exams throughout the course.
2) The content is carefully curated, and is structured in a way that makes the classes effective without being overwhelming. The MP problem sets enable you to absorb content in the most efficient way.
3) The online interface is well designed and easy to use. Whenever I saw other interfaces friends were using, I was always thankful I decided on MP.
4) The instructor that I had (David Mahler) was amazing. He was intelligent, personable, always prepared, and a great teacher. He was diligent in answering emails, and always made himself available to students.
5) On top of the classes, Manhattan Prep offered a ton of events with top MBA programs which really helps when you get to the application stage.

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I had never done a standardized test similar the GMAT before I decided to undergo a gruesome GMAT training for my business school application. Needless to say I felt daunted from the get go. Compound that with a busy work schedule and being out of school for quite a few years, I really needed some proper guide to prepare for the GMAT.
After scouring the internet for reviews of GMAT training courses, I eventually settled for MGMAT’s 9 weeks live online course. I chose the program mainly because I needed a structured study schedule that would instill discipline to my routine. Long story short, the course worked and I was able to get my grades to 700+.
My class was Saturday noon and the entire class consisted of 5 students. Chris Peckover was our instructor. Chris was very patient with us and really made an effort to break down the teachings to us in a simple yet entertaining manner. As a math geek, Chris was also the most alive when we went over the quant materials. Over the 2+ months that I attended the classes, I can definitely feel the value adds from taking the classes. For example, in doing the quant questions, Chris taught us quite a few short cuts and neat tricks which I found useful on the exam, though I underestimated the values of such when I originally learned them in class.
My message for people reading reviews, trying to decide whether to attend such class is this: if you have a busy life and are in need of quick and efficient ways to prepare for the GMAT in a disciplined manner, I would recommend the 9 weeks online class. The classes is a great source for you to get your scores up to 700+ by undergoing a structured routine and taking advantage of your instructor’s expertise. The interactive classes are, in my opinion, better than self-study classes because you get to experience the instructors, which are MGMAT’s (and Veritas’s) best resources.

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Manhattan Prep was a huge factor in my success on the GMAT! Our instructor Paul was fantastic -- not only was he a knowledgeable and skilled teacher, but he was also funny and engaging. With the tips and tricks I learned from this class and the accompanying materials, I was able to bring my score up roughly 100 points in a short period of time, and achieve my goal score. The books for the course are an incredible resource and easy to follow, then the in-person class helps solidify all of the lessons and illustrate short-cuts to take on the test. I recommend that everyone choose Manhattan Prep for their exam preparation; you won't be disappointed!

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After struggling with the GMAT for several months, I finally convinced myself to look for a tutor. I had already done a lot of independent studying with the Manhattan Prep materials which were great for getting me acquainted with the test structure and reviewing basic concepts, but I just didn’t feel like I was making the progress I needed to on my own. I was really hesitant at first to seek out a tutor because 1) I had never worked with a tutor before for anything and 2) half of my battle with the GMAT was pure anxiety over how important this test was for getting into business school on top of the normal test anxiety I was used to. I knew a tutor might help me to understand the test better, but I wasn’t sure they’d be able to do much beyond that.

I ended up meeting with Dan Bartz. Dan was AWESOME. Not only did he help me understand the structure of the test and the value of the different strategies that Manhattan Prep highlights, but he was also able to help me understand when and how to use them based on my personal strengths and weaknesses. He was incredibly patient and reassuring throughout the whole process and gave me strategies for dealing with my test anxiety. He also developed a really detailed and efficient study plan to help me do focused studying that fit in with my work schedule and more importantly, helped me to develop good test habits. He completely reengineered my study approach and within a few weeks things just finally started to click. I only met with him twice and it made a HUGE difference. I can’t say enough good things about this experience. Ended up only having to take the official test once. Beat my target score - Highly recommend.

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Manhattan is one of the best Quant resources to practice with. The self study basics kit had the tricky questions of the GMAT pinned down. Learning the question patterns helped me recognize question traps on the GMAT. Very good practice resource especially for those aiming to score 700+.

The verbal review of Manhattan was also above average. However, it may not be as detailed as the math sections.

I recommend the Manhattan self prep for those targeting Gmat scores above 700. Also, the self study tool is helpful in tracking progress and mistakes throughout the review process. If you are an independent and disciplined individual, self study prep would be perfect for you! It is cheaper, but just as effective.

Good luck!

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