I did a TON of research into prep classes and ultimately decided with Manhattan Prep. For me, I knew I needed an in-person/structured format to keep me on track. I am very happy I did. When I took an MP diagnostic, I got a very upsetting score of 520. How would I ever improve to my goal of 700+?? Thankfully I took my class with Kim Cabot!

Thoughts on Manhattan Prep: the materials they provide are second to none. With the 9-session prep course, you get all their books, full suite of tests, and interactive lessons/OG answer bank. I was referencing these materials for months after the course and found them to be invaluable learning and practice tools. Be warned, their tests (particularly Quant and IR) are much more difficult than GMAT Prep in my opinion, likely by design. In addition, they offer phone support: end of class review/personal study plan + retake advice.

Thoughts on my instructor, Kim Cabot: very engaging and SO knowledgeable. If I didn't have an instructor like Kim, I likely would have psyched myself out of taking the test long ago. Not only did she teach the technical skills in an engaging manner, but also the tips & tricks of being a GMAT boss that were only provided in the context of a classroom — such as when it came to timing, proving to be invaluable. She brought insight to both core sections very well, helping emphasize the importance of verbal even when we (the students) were all so focused on quant. She was also very accessible and personable.

In the end, I got a 760. For a score like this, definitely be prepared to put in the work. Overall, though, I definitely recommend Manhattan!

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I took Ryan's in-person class in Downtown San Francisco (Financial District), and it was entirely worth the value. My score went up over 100 points from my initial practice test. The strategies are invaluable, and the homework assignments logically map out the material. The strategy guides allow you to focus on individual weaknesses in addition to the homework. I was focused more upon improving my raw quant score, but I definitely benefited from the verbal prep as well. I think there is a benefit to meeting in person, but I could also see the value from an online course. Highly recommend!

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Joe did an excellent job making the teaching engaging and interesting. He has great analogies to bring to life some very complicated topics. The course has a logical progression and each session did a great job of building on foundational topics before introducing more advanced material. I scored a 600 on my first practice test, which I knew was well below my potential. By the end of the course I was scoring in the 680's and felt very happy with the progress. After some post-course work and support from Joe by email, I was able to hit my goal >700 with a 710 on test day.

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My GMAT study experience with Isaac Puglia and the Manhattan Prep Course materials was fantastic. In addition to refreshing myself on long forgotten quantitative and verbal materials, Isaac was able to help me create a test taking strategy that proved to be very beneficial as I achieved my goal score. From my time with Isaac, I learned that reaching your target GMAT score was about more than simply memorizing the materials and method for each style of problem. Instead, you must also strategically work your way through the test in order to properly allocate time and mental resources for challenging problems at the end of each section. I was able to learn tricks that allowed me to speed through average difficulty problems and bank myself more time to finish each section strong. Isaac was very engaging throughout the process and I would highly recommend his services and the Manhattan program as a whole to any potential GMAT test takers.

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Course Material and Content
Let me start by saying that I highly recommend his course. I needed help primarily with the verbal section as I am a non-native English speaker. The course starts with fundamentals and gradually builds upon them. The Navigator tool and in-depth review of mock tests are extremely useful as they inform you very precisely of the areas where you are lagging behind.

Instructor
Kim Cabot needs no introduction as is evident from already existing reviews of hers. She has a great understanding of GMAT questions and knows exactly what to look for in the responses. In Quants, some of the tricks she mentioned in the classes provided me with an alternate way of solving problems. With regards to the verbal section, I found her structured approach to problem solving extremely useful. Very soon you realize that GMAT verbal section is a test less of English proficiency but more of eliminating wrong choices as quickly as possible. The most remarkable attribute of her instruction is that it instills in you a belief that a good score can be achieved with smart work and meticulous error logging.

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The Manhattan Prep course is an organized, in-depth study program that does an amazing job of preparing students for the test. They not only teach the content but also emphasize learning and test-taking strategies, which are crucial to success and not easy to learn through the test prep books alone. Would highly recommend Isaac as an instructor. In more detail:

The Materials: As part of the class, you receive all of the manhattan prep subject books, as well as the official guide. You also have access to all of Manhattan Prep's online resources.

The Classes: One class a week for nine weeks. 8-10 hours of homework each week. I found the weekly cadence to be very helpful. Classes begin with a short review of previous material then move forward to new content.

Other Students: High caliber driven, intelligent professionals.

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I took the 9-week Manhattan Prep course for the GMAT with Isaac and was very happy with the experience and results. Besides the useful techniques and strategies I learned in class, Isaac was very responsive and helpful as I had questions prior to and following my test day. He really helped me hone my strategy, which had a huge impact on my score. Manhattan has a number of great resources (practice tests, blogs, etc.) and can cater to people of all backgrounds. You really don't need to use anything else. Overall, it was a very satisfying experience. I would recommend!

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As context, I took the GMAT about a month ago for the first time and scored 690 (44 Q, 40 V). I was particularly bummed about my Quant subscore, feeling that this was a poor reflection on my actual quantitative abilities. I decided to retake the GMAT 19 days after my first attempt, and figured I'd cram as much quant practice during those 2+ weeks as possible to bump this score up.

Having not done any GMAT tutoring previously (I only used a mix of OG, GMATPrep online tests/questions, Magoosh), in a mild freakout 5 days before my test I decided to schedule a 1.5 hour tutoring session with ManhattanGMAT to see if I could make any small quick wins prior to the upcoming retake.

Though pricey (almost $400 for 1.5 hours), this tutoring session with Isaac was 100% worth it. Isaac walked me through a number of problem types I missed on previous practice tests, diagnosed my test-taking issue (I was not allocating my time smartly for the 75 hours on each section), and provided me ample follow-up practice areas to make sure I had enough fodder for honing in on what we practiced.

On the test retake day, I was surprised by how easy the quant section felt this time around. I walked into my pre-Verbal break knowing I crushed the section.

And crushed it I did! Jumped my Q from 44 (54%ile) to 50 (87%). I highly doubt I would have been able to rock this high of a score had I not scheduled this tutoring session.

The cost may seem steep for such a short period of time, but at the end of the day, it's a drop in the bucket relative to the overall cost (and benefit) of a great MBA. And in many cases, a great GMAT score can make all the difference in terms of getting admitted.

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I came into the class confident in my ability to master the principles of the test but frustrated, like many, with my inability to cope with the fast pace and stress of the adaptive test.

Isaac thoroughly and patiently taught us the necessary strategies to confidently determine the path forward to cracking a problem in a way that simplified them and made them all feel approachable, causing my score to jump dramatically.

If I could do it all again I would have supplemented the class with a little bit of tutoring (expensive, I know). There were things I felt great at and when we focused on them I felt like we were dwelling and others that I had trouble with that I felt like we were speeding through. This is the pitfall of a class and I felt like I would have benefitted from having someone else who was aware of where I needed work to push me there.

Even so, the class provides tools for you to identify and work on your own weaknesses and Isaac made himself very available outside of class to talk and give advice.

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What you need to succeed on the GMAT are an endless supply of questions and a recording engine to tell you what subject matters you need practice in. Manhattan provides both of those things in spades. I probably did hundreds of questions over the last month of my studying and barely made a dent in their question banks. With the analytics tool, I could see exactly which subjects I needed to drill on and which ones I could ease up on.

While the course itself was nothing unexpected (from a content perspective), the real value in taking the in-person course comes from being able to email a real person at all hours and get a personalized response to your question. I made a personalized study plan which really brought my score up after the course was finished.

One caveat, the classes tend to go at the pace of the average student which can slow you down or speed you up depending on the class. I was fortunate to have a very dedicated class with lots of sharp students but classes that I substituted were not as fast paced. Props to Isaac (the instructor) for adapting to the speed of our course.

Highly recommended especially for the sheer volume of resources you have at your disposal.

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