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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.
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
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+.
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.
I highly recommend Manhattan GMAT on-line course. It is live and taught by the teachers who scored in the 99th percentile. In addition, MGMAT puts all of the instructors through a 100-hour training program, so they definitely come prepared for the course. I took the on-line course with MGMAT in winter, and I must say that I was very impressed with the quality of the material offered and the instructors (we had 2). The good thing about the on-line course is that you can take in while at home in your bed :) and you can ask questions live (they provide the headphones with microphone). The class is highly interactive, so you will not be bored at all.
I am not affiliated in any way with MGMAT. I'm just a big fan of their teaching model and the quality of the materials. If you are interested, I've dug out a free virtual preview class posting on their web-site. The event is happening tomorrow, so you can sign up for the preview of their on-line class today and see what their program is all about tomorrow :) .
