Manhattan Prep GMAT Course Reviews

The MGMAT self study and single topic focused books are great. My biggest weakness has always been the SC & RC. With the help of the resources I was able to turn a 32-38 average verbal score to a 36-44 range on my practice tests. Unfortunately I underperformed during the actual test due to heavy construction on the roof of the building making it hard to concentrate, but the books were great and definitely helped. I would go as far to say the SC book is a must have for any one that is not in the top %ile for verbal. My only complaint would be the online question banks that you receive access to should be larger.

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I am very very happy with what MGMAT offers. I just got a 710
and I am satisfied with my score.

My fundamentals were strengthened after taking Ron Purewal's 9 week training, and I then went from 640 to 710 because of
1. the advanced DS + advanced SC workshops from Daniel Patinkin and Emily Sledge,
2. Ron's "Thu with Ron" which they give away for free !!

My confidence got a real boost after the advanced workshops because they teach you how to tackle hard problems and that makes the 600 level questions look easy.

MGMAT offers a complete package and I never looked at any other material - the strategy guides are excellent for strengthening your fundamentals, the instructors are top class, and the customer service is awesome. They really take care of students. I am also glad I got two 180 day extensions for online resources. I took the training months before and wasn't able to take the test immediately, so I had to delay taking the test and those extensions were very valuable.

Trust me ... If you really want to crack that 700 barrier you have to go with MGMAT.

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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.

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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

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I would like to highly recommend the Manhattan GMAT preparatory material as well as Kevin Shen for individual tutoring sessions to people looking to achieve a top GMAT score!

I was looking for a course because I wanted to improve my score as I was aiming to get a place in a top 10 business school. Initially I used another supplier so after an extensive research, I decided to go with the Manhattan GMAT self-guided study.

MGMAT provided me with extensive material on Quant and Verbal that helped me build a strong knowledge base for the exam.

Furthermore I cannot stress enough the value Kevin Shen, my instructor, provided in helping me achieve my target score. His help was critical in helping me improve my score in the range I was aiming for. Kevin has the ability to identify your areas of improvement not only in terms of knowledge but in terms of test-taking strategies. This in my opinion is very important for success in the GMAT!

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I took the Fall 2011 nine week MGMAT class in Evanston, IL. A room booked in the Hotel Orrignton, Evanston, IL was used for the class. Our tutor was Viren Tellis, a Kellogg JD-MBA student. He was smart, with a good sense of humor.

Who am I?
I am a mechanical engineer, working in the software development area in an US company. I have a Masters from an US university. I obtained 550 in my first GMAT and currently preparing for my second GMAT. Although I believe the review has nothing to do with my score, I wanted to disclose my score before you spend your time reading the review.

Why MGMAT?
I choose the MGMAT because all the online review for the MGMAT courses and books were excellent!

When I went to take the sample Kaplan course, I was informed that shooting for 700 is not necessary! Be practical and shoot for 650+. On the contrary MGMAT did not limit the target, rather focused on content. The feedback I got from GMAT Club forum resonated with my findings.

Although I did not research much about Veritas, I felt two study sessions per week would be too much for me. I prefer studying on my own rather than sitting in a classroom.

How did the course go?
Once the class started, it went fast! I was having hard time to keep up with the home work. There was a scheduling conflict for room and we got an one week of break. I was able to finish all the homework up to that point and started working on the foundation of verbal book. When the course ended, I had about 90% content covered.

We were instructed to take an exam three weeks after the course. I did so. But I took a different route during my practice after the course. The rest is history.

Debrief

How was the Instructor?
The instructor Viren Tellis was energetic, smart and funny. He would not move on to the next topic until everyone in the class understood it. He used make funny mnemonics to help us remember rules, tricks etc.

What did I like about MGMAT?
+ Content based learning

+ Access to great books, both online and offline, online video labs, online recordings of class

+ Access to online tools: OG Archer, Online Exam and assessment, question bank, forum, online classroom, weekly half hour of personalized phone help

+ Great tutors: covers a good amount of material and questions in class

+ Post exam evaluation was very good to identify my problems and get going accordingly

What could be improved?
Although I listed a ton of issues, these are just suggestions for improvement. If I researched correctly, the MGMAT content, tools and methods are superior than any other test company out there. I would strongly recommend MGMAT to the future GMAT test takers.

- MGMAT says that the course requires about 15 hours of reading every week. I spent about 20 hrs/week, but had hard time finishing it. Specially if you are working full time, it is more so.

I was creating notes during my reading, slowing me down. However, I would argue that note taking is good for you.

One class was rescheduled due to the availability of the room. This provided a great break to catch up with the home work. I wish there were one more break! This kind of break should be included in the course.

- The course is not tailored to fit a particular need. I am pretty solid at Math. But I was just sitting there doing the simple drills that did not help me much.

To solve the problem MGMAT can introduce three variants of the course: a) Math Emphasized b) Verbal Emphasized c) Same weight on both (i.e. current offering). A pre-assessment can be done online to categorize and suggest the student with better offering customized for him/her.

- The CAT assessment could be enhanced by using the graphical tool available for OG Archer. The textual representation is hard to read and categorize.

The article on practice test evaluation points out five areas to focus on during the analysis.

I. 50+%, Correct timing
II. 50-%, Correct timing
III. 50-%, Fast
IV. 50+%, Slow
V. 50-%, Slow


- The OG Archer graphical tool is great but not available for OG 11, OG 10 etc.

Moreover, the OG archer does not show the difficulty level on the chart. It would be better if the Y-axis showed the difficulty from 200 to 800 and the size of the bubble as the %right.

- No audio material is available. This could be helpful for commuters.

- The online interface is not very user friendly. It took me a lot of time to get used to it.

Any other advice for prospective students?
- Do you research. Take the sample classes offered by different companies. Read reviews. Seek for help in GMAT Club. Find out what’s best for you before you decide.

- Take notes and do it with your own hand. The notes created by other people don’t help you much. Notes that you wrote yourself recalls the memory much better than any other notes.

- If you choose MGMAT, make room for at least 20 hrs of time per week for the home work.

- Finish the foundation book(s) BEFORE the courses begin. You won’t have time to read it during the course. If your foundation is not brushed up, the course content will be a waste.

- Take the time to familiarize yourself with the online resources. They have great resources but poorly organized.

- Replace the CR book with the PowerScore CR bible. Although the MGMAT CR book is good, PowerScore CR is much better. Please note that the course is synchronized with the book so it may cause a bit of disorientation. Rest of the materials are of excellent quality.

- Do not look for any other materials/books out there. I have tried plenty. Stick to MGMAT, stick to OG and you will be almost there.

- Use the half an hour phone session offered every week. I did not use it much. But realized it could be helpful.


Good luck!

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I took the GMAT for the first time two weeks ago. I took the Manhattan GMAT course with Tom Rose and Mike Kim. The course was great, and MGMAT was my main (basically my only) source of study material and practice exams.

I completed the exam on June 14th and received 750 - 98% overall (47V - 99%, 47Q - 78%), 5.5 writing. I gained about 5 points in my verbal score and 25 points in quant compared to the early practice exams (not only MGMATs). I took an online course beginning in January (with Tom Rose and Mike Kim), and the Live Online Advanced Workshop more recently. I worked through the MGMAT math books extensively, and that made all the difference.

In the MGMAT course, Tom and Mike were able to thoroughly explain every question we faced. What I loved about MGMAT was that they taught us the actual concepts, in a simple, easy-to-digest manner. No tricks to "beat the exam". I am now much more capable of doing basic math in my head. I can do quick calculations and estimations with no calculator, and I've found that helpful in other area of life as well. The online format is great and easy to get used to. I really liked that I could ask question to one instructor via text and not hold up the rest of the class. I was definitely more willing to ask "stupid" questions, and this ensured I didn't miss anything.

The test went pretty well. I got a bit nervous and made some timing mistakes. I could have used an extra minute for my second essay, and mistakenly thought I had one quant question left when I actually had two. I took too long on the second to last one and ended up completely missing the last. I didn't even have time to put in a random guess. I think that is what made me miss the 80% percentile in quant. Rookie mistake. Verbal was fine, though a bit harder than MGMAT practice exams. I remember very clearly more questions where I was stuck on one of two choices, than I do with most MGMAT exams. This is especially true for the questions regarding the purpose of a passage. Usually I finish the verbal section with 15 minutes to spare, and this time I had only 3 or 4 minutes.

Day of the exam I felt really well prepared. The questions I faced were extremely similar to the MGMAT practice exams. Much more so than the Knewton or Kaplan tests (both of which I tried once). My scores were even closer by MGMAT then by GMAT Prep, which is the official practice exam; however, I think this is partially because I was getting nervous the two days before my exam, when I took the GMAP Prep tests. My course ended in March, but I wasn't able to study from then until after May, due to work and finishing school. Access to all the online materials closes after three months, but I emailed MGMAT, and they extended it for free. I then spent the first two weeks of June in focused prep, every night. Ended up working for me, though I probably could have done better timing-wise (and with much less stress) if I did the work as MGMAT recommended.

All in all, great course. Worth every penny.

Now let's see about getting into a decent business school...

MGMAT - thanks for everything. I will certainly be recommending you guys in the future.

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I'm currently enrolled in the full in-person 9-week MGMAT course and all I can say is that the course is very demanding. As you may already know, your GMAT score will inevitably reflect what you put in.

As far as the two courses go, I feel as if Knewton and MGMAT use different teaching methodologies; albeit, both are highly structured ways of prepping. MGMAT is more old-school: here's 10 books, study organizer, stopwatch, now it's up to you. Knewton claims of it's "smarter and revolutionary" way of prepping: adaptive without any traditional resources i.e. books)

So it's ultimately up to what your study habits are. If you're like me who find it hard to self-motivate and self-study, then either prep is ideal. I would suggest that if you're going to spend $1000 then you should aim to get the best of both worlds. Get all the Manhattan guides, OG, OG Quant, OG Verbal (they offer the package on the MGMAT site for like $280?) and also sign up for Knewton $690. Yes, there will be a lot of overlap but I think it's a smart way to reinforce concepts :-D

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I think the perceptions will vary from one person to another in choosing a course - live online course, classroom teaching ..etc. On the other hand, there are quite a few who will NOT prefer a course at all.

I took the Manhattan live online course (don't ask me why -:)). So my comments

1. You must have already heard this - Some of the Manhattan study guides are exceptional - Sentence Correction, Number properties, Word translations Equations, Inequalities & VICs. Even if you don't take the course, you may need these guides (if you weak in certain areas such as Sentence Correction).

2. The main purpose of any online course or classroom coaching in general is to make any person preparing for the GMAT systematic. There is some homework given, you know what you need to do each week. Manhattan mainly focuses on completing the official guide. Study Guides
separate question types of OG according to each topic, which makes it easy to understand our weakness, clear, our basics etc.

3. There are other things given along with the course.
Math Challenge set
Official Guide general, OG Verbal, OG math,
Labs
Practice exams - Cambridge review - 3, Manhattan GMAT - 3

4. Instructors are good, polite and patient.

I think I have said more than required -:). Any course is another good helper aid in getting us closer to our target score. Bottom-line, it depends a lot on how you prepare and how much you practice if you want to reach a score of 700+ or 750+.

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I took the MGMAT virtual 9 week course, and it was pretty good. It is mainly to solidify your core skills needed to pass the exam. The extra material they give you is good. I was pleasantly surprised at how learning in the virtual world was just as effective as a classroom setting. I liked the fact that I could wake up Saturday morning, stay in my sleeping clothes, and lounge in front of my computer while I took the class. It is interactive where as you get a microphone and have messaging capabilities. The only thing that is not as good as the classroom would be the actual person-to-person contact. Of course that is better, but the virtual way was not bad at all.

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