Need Advice: Best GMAT Prep Course - Toronto

Question

Has anyone taken any gmat prep course in Toronto? I have been studying for the past month and a half, and realized I have somewhat wasted my time as my performance on the OG12 questions is nowhere near where I need it to be, and my timing is way off as well. I didn't want to do this, but I think I may need to resort to a live prep course.

My issue is this: MBA deadlines are beginning of October for round 1.

Ideally, I would like to have at least a month before that to write my essays and get my references lined up.

This leaves me with about a month and a half to write the GMAT.

Most prep courses are once a week over the course of 2 months... so I may need to find an "accelerated" course that will offer 2 classes a week over the span of a month.

Either that, or I may opt to apply in round 2, although I would strongly prefer not to have to do this.

Any recommendations as to which prep course to take?

Thanks for the advice.

nevergiveup · Answer

If you want to take prep course in Toronto, you can try New Oriental in Chinatown area. Not the one in Scarbough, but the rather old one. Or, otherwise, you can try knewton or manhattan gmat online course. Those are pretty helpful too.

Blayze · Answer

manhattan gmat's live course seems to be popular here, anyone have any experience with it?

It's 2 months, one class a week, $1500 canadian.

mohater · Answer

I was very happy with MGMAT, but you for every hour in the classroom, you should be spending ~3 hours studying. It is CRUCIAL to get through and understand all of the material (if you need that extra help).

Have you taken any practice exams yet to gauge yourself? You might not need a class if you're already proficient. Self studying might suffice.

Blayze · Answer

I'm trying to find a decent practice exam to gauge myself... but I don't want to waste one of the two gmatprep exams. I was told by peers to save the 2 tests till the very end. Is there any other practice test to gauge my ability that you would recommend?

The reason why I think I'm behind where I need to be (I need at least 700), is because I started working thru the OG12, and found that I was taking ages to get the problem solving questions done (average 3 minutes per question). In terms of scoring, for the problem solving, I'm getting between 80-90% of the questions right, however its taking way too long and I can't see myself getting it down to less than 2 minutes per question without help. In data sufficiency, once I get beyond the first 100 questions, I'm scoring about 70% correct, which is terrible, and I'm still taking over 3 minutes per question.

This was the reason for my panic... I grossly underestimated how long it would take for me to prepare and the difficulty of the questions. I kind of assumed I would just read the material and automatically get 700 because I am used to taking MC tests (Completed CFA) and have a sound finance background. I deserve what I'm going thru for underestimating, so rather than risk submitting a sub-700 score to the top 5 schools, I'm debating waiting till round two and taking a course to solidify my chances of scoring 700+.

Prior to OG12, all I did was the Kaplan Premiere book, which I found much easier than the OG.

Thanks for your thoughts.

bb · Answer

Have you seen this thread: gmat-prep-courses-classes-reviews-ratings-and-comparison-78451.html?

Blayze · Answer

Thanks BB, that was very helpful. Sounds like the consensus is the Manhattan Gmat course is the best there is.

peterj · Answer

I can recommend a course with Admit Master, I've taken it some time ago and got 710 on the first attempt, sent them a couple of my friends and they all got good scores.

Really liked their teaching style, the fact that they used real questions, and a very personal approach - meeting with the instructor 1 on 1 really helped me move along, and this was part of a standard package. Have only good things to say.

kjarrah · Answer

One word for you, Admit Master!

I took the GMAT Mastery Program classes in Jan. 2015. Here are a few points about these classes that, hopefully, will help others to choose what is best for their buck:

1. Class Size: Small, consists of a maximum 12 highly professional/educated individuals. There was an interview prior my registration for these classes, done by the instructor, to make sure the classes maintain their highest level of quality.

2. Course Martial: Very well organized in my (and my classmates') opinion. There is fair mixture of math and verbal with an emphasis on theory, followed by real GMAT questions. This not only helped to practice newly discussed theories, but also helped to retain them by using them on the actual questions.

3. Class Discussions: Class discussions were extremely important and were highly encouraged. I found them very helpful in my learning.

4. Instructor: My instructor, Sergey, was a very knowledgeable, approachable, and charismatic individual. No single questions were remained unanswered during or after the classes. He was always available to help student on different topic, from GMAT problems and concepts to MBA schools and post MBA careers; he was always available to listen, answer, and guide. In my opinion he really took each student's success very serious and personal.

Overall, it worth every penny and beyond. I did my research, and lots of it indeed, prior to signing up for Admit Master classes; and it proved to be a very good choice!

bb · Answer

Wow! Old discussion. We have some new resources... You can find the course reviews here: https://gmatclub.com/reviews/?fl=menu Overview of GMAT Courses is here: best-gmat-courses-169396.html?fl=menu

sspady · Answer

Wow. Thank you for keeping this post alive. I was looking to take a course in Toronto for a while now, and there aren't any good resources that review courses in the the 4th biggest city in North America! I wish GMAT club had a dedicated page with good reviews of local Toronto courses.

The "verified" reviews are pretty useless, as they list mostly companies who don't even offer courses here, and a couple American companies that do, don't have offices in the city so there is noone to talk to. If I want to make an investment in a course, it's not just about the money, I want to make sure that the courses really will help me as a lot in my MBA application hinges on the GMAT score.

Anyway, I may be spending way too much time picking a course, but I actually visited all major local GMAT schools and I think I've made my decision. Won't write about it until completing the course, so will keep you posted!

bb · Answer

Hi. Thank you for your feedback and look forward to hearing from you once you take the course. By the way, I see Veritas Prep has a course in Toronto https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#-gmat-prep-courses/

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