Expediting the Manhattan GMAT Online Course- Is It Possible?

Question

As this is my first post here, I'd like to begin by saying how thankful I am to have found this site. The amount of information available is stunning and many questions I had about the GMAT have been answered in a matter of hours just from searching. That being said, I'd like some input on something . . .

I've been using the Kaplan GMAT Premier book to prep for the GMAT, but I don't feel it's as effective as I'd like. Based on my learning style, I think an online course would be a good supplement to the month of self-study I've already completed. That being said, I've been looking at two courses in particular- Knewton and Manhattan GMAT. My target date to take the GMAT is late August/early September, as I have a two week vacation in September and want to get the test out of the way so I can enjoy myself. The Knewton online class meets twice a week and will end in time for me to take the GMAT prior to vacation.

However, from researching the various programs available, I feel the Manhattan GMAT course is the best available, but unfortunately, the earliest completion date I can attain is mid-September, which does not fit my desired schedule. I called the MGMAT office yesterday and spoke with a representative to discuss options for expediting the course. She informed me it was not realistic to begin one session and switch to another session in order to "leapfrog" ahead, as I can do with Knewton. There is a fee with changing sessions and there aren't enough ongoing courses to do something like that. She did say, though, that I would have access to archived sessions of all 9 classes, so I could work ahead on my own if I wanted to.

I'd love to hear from former MGMAT students (or from the MGMAT employee that posts frequently) if it's realistic for me to think I can work ahead on my own strictly from the archived sessions. Will I still get the most out of the course by doing this? I'm very aware the material is rigorous and this would mean I'd have to devote more hours per night to studying, but I'm fine with that. Please let me know your thoughts.

-Craig

mohater · Answer

There is the self study program: https://www.manhattangmat.com/gmat-prep-self-study.cfm

bozman · Answer

mohater, I had looked at that several weeks ago and completely forgot MGMAT had it available; thanks for the reminder. It sounds like this is more or less what I'm trying to do, although I wouldn't be able to interact with an instructor during class sessions. I'm not sure how much difference that really makes anyway . . .

I'm still curious to hear from previous students if one really needs a week between class sessions or if it's realistic to complete two sessions a week.

-Craig

I'm still curious to hear from previous students if one really needs a week between class sessions or if it's realistic to complete two sessions a week.

-Craig

mohater · Answer

You'll still have office hour access to MGMAT staff. I can tell you from experience (I completed MGMAT online) most people do NOT ask questions and simply sign off at the end of a session/do not ask questions during the session. The MGMAT staff works to pull people in by asking people to chime in during the class. This nets additional participation, but like any other class room setting, most people attend and leave.

Honestly, working full time and having a family, a week was NOT enough to complete the coursework from class to class. If you don't "need" to complete all the coursework in between classes (something I would not recommend), you could do two sessions a week.

bozman · Answer

You'll still have office hour access to MGMAT staff. I can tell you from experience (I completed MGMAT online) most people do NOT ask questions and simply sign off at the end of a session/do not ask questions during the session. The MGMAT staff works to pull people in by asking people to chime in during the class. This nets additional participation, but like any other class room setting, most people attend and leave.

Honestly, working full time and having a family, a week was NOT enough to complete the coursework from class to class. If you don't "need" to complete all the coursework in between classes (something I would not recommend), you could do two sessions a week.

I appreciate the insight.

Cclay · Answer

Hi,

Thanks for considering our program! I'm glad you've already spoken with somebody in our office. You can always feel free to give us a call back if you feel you need to discuss anything further.

There has already been some good insight posted here, but I would add the following:

Based on your time-frame, the Guided Self Study would make sense. Having taken the online class, Mohater had some good points about the format. If you're not one to ask a lot of questions during class, you can definitely get by with the recordings, though as Mohater said, our instructors do make the class interactive, inviting the students to jump on the mic and answer questions or to chat in the chat window with other questions. However, as he said, you do get two half-hour one-on-one sessions with an instructor in our online classroom (so an hour of free private tutoring, basically) with the Guided Self-Study if you do have questions. (You get 9 total half-hour sessions with the full course.)

If you really do want to have the live interaction in class, I would suggest signing up for a class, and then using the class recordings you have access to (you can view all 9 as soon as you sign up) to jump ahead a little bit. In this way you'd be able to have a class, and just miss 3 or 4 live sessions (to be made up as recordings.) In other words, you would do your live session 4 and your recorded session 7 in one week, then your live session 5 and your recorded session 8 the next week, and then in the final week a live session 6 and a recorded session 9. Obviously this is not ideal, but it is possible.

In terms of timing, we do space our course out because there is a lot of work associated with it and a lot of material that needs time to sink in. I would take a look at the sample syllabus, which you can find here, and judge for yourself what you feel is possible: https://manhattangmat.com/Bigfiles/Cours ... _05_15.pdf

Please let me know if you have any further questions. If you want to give us a call back, you can always ask to speak to me directly if you like.

Best Wishes,
Caitlin Clay
Student Services Associate
Manhattan GMAT

bozman · Answer

Caitlin,

Thank you for the response. It sounds like MGMAT definitely has some options for me. I viewed the syllabus and must admit it looks like there is a great deal of work involved with the course. I'd be remiss if I said I wasn't a little worried about being able to compete all of it in 7 weeks, but I feel this is what I'll have to do with the schedule I'm trying to abide by. I'm still doing some research, but I'm going to need to make a decision between MGMAT and Knewton very soon . . .

-Craig

Cclay · Answer

Thanks, Craig!

I'm glad you feel we have options for you.

I know there is a lot of work associated with the course, but the reason for this is because we do feel that we provide you with all of the knowledge you need to succeed on the test. There is also a fair amount of triage-ing you can do in terms of workload. For example, you don't have to do every question referenced in our guides for each section, particularly if you feel that you are already grasping the concepts quite well. You can also come back to the advanced sections later, if you feel you need to move on.

Are you leaning more towards self-study or a online class?

Thanks!
Caitlin

bozman · Answer

Caitlin,

I think the Prep Plus class is what I'm looking for. I like the idea of having access to nine 3-hour class sessions, even if they're aren't live. If there's a way to apply a GMAT Club discount to the $790 package, it may be enough to make me pull the trigger . . .

-Craig

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Expediting the Manhattan GMAT Online Course- Is It Possible?

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