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Manhattan Prep comes to search when I have a tight - 3 month timeline to prep for GMAT with a full time job. I got a raffle prize for the online session so I went with David. I am good with math but bad with verbal. David was fun, interactive and clear with his sessions. He also answered my questions with emails after class when I needed. Overall I would say he's really good. Quant probs were really easy for me so I used it simply for practice tests and validate my thinking. Verbal was the challenging part. My advice for online session is that it's only a tool to lead into the door. The only way to improve the score when one's already in 700+ club is to study and reflect, know ones weakness and go fix it.
REVIEWER IDENTITY VERIFIED by score report [?]
My GMAT preparation lasted for a full year. I took both the "Live Online" course, as well as the in-person course. I've never been very talented at taking standardized tests and I tend to get anxiety when I'm in difficult test-taking situations, so the GMAT was a continous struggle for me.
David Chong never gave up on me. David made himself available for help even after my course ended, and he also understood my weaknesses very well and helped me craft a plan to hit the 680 that I wanted.
For me, Manhattan Prep was valuable for two reasons:
1) Incredibly bright instructors who tend to be good at teaching students
2) The course syllabus curriculum
The above two points, in my opinion, are priceless and not easily substituted by Manhattan Prep's competition.
The only issue I had with Manhattan Prep was that I got the feeling that not all the instructors cared about my success at the end of the day. My online instructors, David and Mark, were the exceptions and were fantastic, passionate GMAT instructors. Thank you, David and Mark, for helping me accomplish my goal. However, with others, I remember waiting days to receive e-mail responses (and in rare cases, no response). Additionally, I remember attending a substitute in-person class taught by a guy named Matt. Matt was a fantastic instructor and even offered to send out a list of OG problems that were excellent for practicing the "smart #" strategy at the end of the class session. Why didn't my other instructor(s) offer to do that? The tips and advice varied highly among the instructors that worked with me.
Manhattan Prep is still a solid value, I am only voicing a few frustrations.
Improvement 100 Points
Course Manhattan Prep Manhattan GMAT 9-Session In-Person Prep Course
Instructor David Chong
Location San Francisco, CA USA
I highly recommend Manhattan for test prep and also David as an instructor. David is a great teacher and did a really good job of articulating and explaining how to handle every aspect of the GMAT. As a result my score went from a 620 to a 720!
Summary:
9 weeks. About 150 hours studying.
I got a 40 on the verbal, up from 34 and a 49 on the quant, up from 41. The most helpful things I learned were elimination of wrong answers, especially on the verbal and also timing. Even though I had the flu the second time I took the test timing and pacing were so helpful that I scored above 700. Overall good experience with Manhattan
Improvement 140 Points
Course Manhattan Prep Manhattan GMAT 9-Session In-Person Prep Course
Instructor David Chong
Location Washington, DC USA
I started the MGMAT 9-session course in September 2013 and took the exam in August 2014. To be frank, I didn't really start studying until ~July 2014. The punch-line is this: you MUST do the homework. While I will say I benefited from the class, I did myself a huge disservice to not put in the hours WHILE I was taking the class. That said, the MGMAT books and web system are so strong that I was able to refresh much of what was taught in the class, and advance beyond. Wait until you're in a position to truly dedicate several months, then take the course, and plan on taking the exam a few weeks later. Good luck.
