Manhattan Prep GMAT Course Reviews

I recently took my GMAT for the first time, and was very pleased to have received what I consider a very good score(770). Although I have no prior experience taking the GMAT, and therefore no real "benchmark" to compare to, I am certain that the instruction I received from Manhattan GMAT was instrumental in allowing me to achieve such a result.

I think the bulk of Manhattan GMAT's success stems from their uncompromising focus on teaching. Indeed, it is very well advertised that ALL of Manhattan GMAT's instructors have scored in the 99th percentile of the GMAT. Less touted, however, is the rigorous selection and training process, all of which further refines the class of potential instructors. The result is a very concentrated group of uniquely qualified, extremely capable teachers. My course was no exception, and, despite a class with a diversity of scores, I feel that the whole class was able to receive the resources and instruction necessary to improve dramatically.

While teaching is, in my opinion, the most important aspect of the Manhattan GMAT experience, it is certainly not the only advantage offered to students. In particular, the depth of available resources is a HUGE part of--as would be said in the business world--the "value proposition" that is offered to customers. Manhattan GMAT has truly applied itself to deconstructing and dissecting the GMAT content and structure and, as a student, this seemingly unlimited set of information is made fully available. This is ironically both overwhelming and comforting at the same time; the depth and breadth of resources are initially very daunting, but it is refreshing to know that the team at Manhattan GMAT has exhaustively investigated and optimized every facet of the GMAT.

Finally, there are a few intangibles that I believe make Manhattan GMAT a very worthwhile experience. Firstly, students are provided with a definite approach--a "roadmap" as it is termed by Manhattan GMAT--that is pretty much guaranteed to ensure score maximization. In addition, I really appreciated the extra "office hours" and after class sessions with instructors. Moreover, included in the class are tools that helped me to develop a personal GMAT "gameplan," which really helped me approach the test in a very methodical way. The one-on-one 30-minute review of my personal testing history, included with the class, was also VERY helpful. With regard to the online class, the environment was very similar to, if not better than, an in-person, location based classroom approach. Having TWO instructors really is a bonus!

All in all, I am thrilled with my Manhattan GMAT experience. As others have mentioned, there are some small things that I would like to see improved(i.e the CAT is not as accurate as I thought it would be), but it is hard to argue that Manhattan GMAT is not extremely effective at its core purpose: to maximize students' GMAT scores. Like anything worth fighting for in life, mastering the GMAT will likely take dedication, hard work, and the right approach. I trusted Manhattan GMAT to guide my approach, and, fortunately, I haven't had to look back since.

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I chose to use a prep course because I only had one shot at the GMAT before applying R1. I needed the rigor of a study schedule and accountability of classes (and money!) to force me to study.

My instructor was engaging and had been with MGMAT for awhile meaning he was excellent at addressing questions and leveraging different thought processes in the class to help us all learn. Example - I have a strong quant background (engineer) and he would call on me to answer a question when he knew I didn't have the right answer. This forced me to think through my process out-loud and learn where I went wrong.

Verbal prep helped me significantly with Reading Comprehension - my weakest area. I needed to speed up and the structure of how to read and answer questions was invaluable.

The online tools were probably the most helpful for me. Being able to track specific types of questions I was getting right and wrong along with time was key in my final week of self-guided study before the test.

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I had never taken the GMAT before I took the Live Online course from Manhattan GMAT but my score from my practice test went to my actual GMAT went up 130 points.

The course provides great structure each week with a ton of problems/strategy guides to work through. There is a lot of homework each week but I don't really see how you could do well on the GMAT without doing a lot of problems and taking the time to really learn the math concepts. You will never run out of material from Manhattan to do, there are tons of problems provided and CAT practice tests. The problems provided all seem pretty similar to the actual questions on the test. The strategy guides are great at explaining concepts, especially sentence correction and quant.

One of the best things about the course is OG Archer which lets you track every OG problem you do. This makes it so easy to verify strengths and weaknesses so you can use your study time better. The CAT exams also have great stats on how you did and you can aggregate your data for multiple exams to get a good understanding of where you stand.

The classes themselves were basically just going through the material you did for homework and providing a few extra tips and strategy clarifications. I felt it mostly just keep me honest about getting all the homework done and served as reassurance each week that I was on the right track. The instructors were great and I assume all Manhattan's instructors probably are. They were always available outside of class to answer any extra questions.

Would definitely recommend this course. Great structure for your GMAT studying and provides all the materials/books you could possibly need.

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I took the 9 week course and studied very intensely for a month after the course. I got a 540 on the actual GMAT exam because I scored well in the math with a 44. I started with a 37 on practice tests in math so I believe that Manhattan had good math strategy. However, Manhattan really lacks in the verbal section so I am going to look for another company before I retake the GMAT.

My verbal score on their exams really fluctuated with the highest being a 37 and on the actual exam I got a 21. Their SC section was good but just knowing that is not enough to bring up your verbal score.

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If you are a beginner in quant like I was, go for Manhattan GMAT - their strategy books are hugely helpful and give you a roadmap to learn what you need to knew. The online CAT assessments helped me identify my target areas. When I had a case of text anxiety and didn't do as well on my first exam, they did a one hour session with me to reset my study plan for the next exam. This really helped me zone in on why I didn't perform as well as I expected to on test day. They recommended I start taking tests in less comfortable atmospheres since test day would be a new environment and it really worked! I was very happy with my final score - 690 - which was my target score.

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The Manhattan GMAT Live Online course was excellent. Ryan Wessel and David Chong were really good instructors. I raised my GMAT score by 100 points (from 620 to 720) by taking the class. The class was given once a week for 9 weeks.
The most helpful lectures were on the subjects of:
- Sentence correction
- Data sufficiency
- Reading comprehension
The recorded labs offered had some of the most insightful tips and shortcuts I learned throughout all my time studying for the course. The information given in the labs was extremely relevant for test day; the labs taught things such as timing strategy, shortcuts to data sufficiency questions, etc.

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I've been struggling with the GMAT since I started in 2007. I took Kaplan paid over $5000, got a private tutor and did the whole course. The result on the official test was a 480 in 2008. Discouraged I gave up trying to take the GMAT. I hated the damn thing.

But about 1.5 years later I realized I needed to ask the GMAT out on another date. So I signed up for MGMAT. Again same story my diagnostic showed me scoring around 490, so I was kind of hoping for a miracle from my instructor and course. I worked really hard, did everything I could possibly do to get my goal of 660 or higher. I finally take the test and this time score lower than my first test, receiving a score of 470.

Now you can imagine how I felt. I just wasn't good at the GMAT. So discouraged again I contemplated giving up on going to business school. A month later without studying I took a practice cat exam at got a 530. So I'm thinking to myself, okay maybe their is hope. This motivates me to retake MGMAT, but this time online from 9:30-11:30. I work really hard and on my 5th session I'm like what the heck I got $250 to blow let me take the GMAT. So the weekend before Fourth of July, I take the test and get a 570. I'm like wow, I'm amazing.

So I finish the remaining of my course and decide in a few months I might try to retake it again or just apply to a dungeon business school. I continue to work hard and start reviewing my material over and over again. I decide that my score wasn't good enough to go to a top business school, so i promised my self i would take GMAT one last time. I schedule my test for sept 29th, which gave me a month to tweak my skills. I take practice test after practice test and I'm no where I need to be. I can't even break 600. The last practice GMAT prep test I take gets me a score of 530. This is one week going into the exam. But I told myself I worked too hard to not break a 660. So the day of my test, I tell myself to put it all on the line. I take the quant and it’s very difficult, I'm like great here comes another 500. I take the verbal and I feel better. Than it comes down to accepting my score. I hit yes and than the score appears. The score was kind of blurry because I had tears in my eyes. Here I am a grown adult tearing on my score. I got a 680, with a 50 on my quant. I'm like are u kidding me. I still feel like my official score will come back and say “sorry we made a mistake". It's just a relief to have closure. The scary part is I got in the 64% in verbal, a few more questions correct on that section I could of broken 700.

I promise I'm not thinking of taking the test again. But I can tell you with experience if I can go from a 470- 680, than anyone can be taught the GMAT. The structure that MGMAT has is not like no other. Everything you need to obtain a 800 is in the MGMAT curriculum. From the CAT Tests, detailed workbooks and forums, MGMAT does wonders. It just requires sacrifice and dedication.

If anyone needs any guidance please contact me, I want to pay it forward to anyone that wants hope. I'm sure some of you might think that my story is impossible. I'm just like you guys, seeing is believing. So i've attached a picture of my latest score report. Again, i'm more than happy to help anyone.

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The course focused more on verbal which I would have preferred Verbal since I feel that Quantitative is easier to teach oneself and I struggle in verbal. We did cover Sentence Correction in full detail. I wish more time was spent on CR and RC.

The instructor did a great job at being available before class to answer questions that I had. He also would respond to my questions by e-mail very quickly and even has followed up after the class. My favorite part of the class was the powerpoint slides with different problems as each one would be completely different and we'd learn how to approach them.

Overall, I feel that the class sometimes moved too slow. It may have been that no one completed the homework assignments so the instructor had to go over things that they should have read so class went by really slowly as students would ask questions pertaining to that. My score did not go up at all even though I completed all of my homework assignments, read all of the chapters, and did more than the expected practice CAT exams. I'm not sure what went wrong as I did everything to get a score increase.

I would recommend Brett as an instructor.

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This was my worst tutor I've had in my life. My parents told me to keep giving her a chance since I had already moved to the city where she was located for her tutoring services so I continued with her and trusted her as she instructed me to do.

After every tutoring session, I didn't feel any better about anything that she tried to teach me. Maybe because she went over problems that she already had me do and I told her I had already figured them out? If I had to choose what she was better at, I would say Verbal but she chooses to do Quant no matter what you want to do.

Not only did she not teach me the material, my score continued to drop and then she blamed me for the drop and said it was stress even though I felt calm during the exams. She did not focus on my weaknesses which is what I wanted to do. She also lowered my self-esteem during tutoring sessions, something that should never be done by a tutor.

I would not recommend this tutor to a friend OR stranger. This was not worth $1500.

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I was not excited about ponying up the cash but I am so glad I did. I was dragging my feet on the GMAT and this course a) got my butt in gear, b) made me familiar with each topic, c) broke down the importance of each area and d) made me familiar with test taking strategies. I took the class with Steven Jupiter who was fantastic and very no-nonsense (good approach to have for the GMAT!).

Steven was good for both topics but my main weakness was in verbal (Reading comp and critical reasoning) and he totally nailed it for me. I don’t know how else to explain it except that I went to his class, did some practice sets, and that was that.

Regarding Manhattan GMAT in general: I appreciated that they had simulated testing rooms, too, and a seemingly unlimited amount of resources. My only advice would be to grab the "road to the GMAT" at the very beginning of the course - it can assist in providing study tips. Again, can't say how much this was worth it - I went from a 680 to 750.

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