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Overall I had a great experience with Manhattan GMAT. I took a 9-week, online class with Brett Kimball, and actually enjoyed attending class sessions. He did a great job tailoring the class material to our level. I was very nervous about the "online" nature of the class beforehand, because I've never been great at learning off of a computer. However, the software MGMAT uses for the online sessions is truly fantastic, and I had no trouble remaining engaged in the course.
The course materials were incredibly comprehensive. I've heard of other people studying for the GMAT mix and matching materials from a variety of test prep companies, but I felt that I was 100% prepared with the materials that Manhattan GMAT made available.
One of the most worthwhile features of Manhattan GMAT, for me, were all the materials on the website. GMAT Navigator is a great program for answering prep questions, and the tools to analyze results/progress are really helpful. In addition, the online workshops are great for a deeper dive into a concept at your own pace. I especially liked the one for the Integrated Reasoning section. The question banks were also really helpful, as I was able to really ascertain what my mistakes were in regards to specific topics, and I was able to note what to make sure not to do when I saw those types of questions again. Finally, I found the online forum to be really helpful, especially since the instructors are very active in answering questions.
However, I feel that MGMAT could definitely improve its CAT exam experience, specifically with the Quant section. I found MGMAT's CAT exams' Quant section to be much harder than the real thing, and I ended up having a severe confidence issue with the test because of it. I probably ended up studying much harder and for the wrong topics because of the difficulty gap. I also wasn't able to practice timing properly as I was struggling so much with the difficulty level. I would have really appreciated if MGMAT would have been more upfront about the difficulty level of their exams, especially since I have heard of many people feeling the same way about their CAT Exams as I did. Otherwise, if MGMAT does not want to let its students know that its CAT exams aren't fully accurate, then they should fix the types of questions generated to make them more representative of the actual test. As a testament to this difficulty gap, my best score on a MGMAT CAT was a 720, but on the real thing I scored a 770 (which was comparable to my GMATPrep scores).
Overall, I wouldn't have been able to score as well as I did without the class and resources Manhattan GMAT provided. However, I do feel the inaccurate difficulty of Manhattan GMAT's CAT exams did hurt me in some way. Regardless, I do highly recommend Manhattan GMAT, but advise that when doing their CAT exams you keep in mind this point about difficulty.
I took the Live Online course in preparationg for my first (and only) time taking the GMAT. The class was great - the teachers were engaging and they cover a lot of material. Manhattan GMAT itself has a lot of resources on the website: PDFS, flashcards, practice exams, forums, bonus questions, etc.. They honestly had more resources than I could use and I found the books and the timed practice exams extremeley helpful. I'm very satisfied with the course and my GMAT score - I took the GMAT 3 weeks after my class ended.
Overall, definitely consider taking a course with Manhattan GMAT - it's extremeley pricey (the only reason I'm giving 4 stars instead of 5) but it's worth it in the end.
I think one sure way of getting a high score is by using Manhattan GMAT guides and regularly reading Ron Purewal's blogs. I learned a lot just by reading his blogs where he explains concepts with a lot of details.
The Manhattan GMAT books are comprehensive and I believe the verbal sections helped me a lot. I think the SC book is by far the best book in the market for cracking the SC questions in the actual exam.
The tests were pretty accurate and the explanations for the answers were useful. Though I think the tests are slightly harder than the real exam they were useful in that they motivated me to study even harder for the actual test! In the actual test I scored about 30 points more than the diagnostic test.
Manhattan GMAT offers a fantastic array of resources, programming, instructors, and encouragement. After eight practice tests fluctuating in range from 600-690 (hoping for a 700 at least), I walked into the testing center with the confidence that I knew what to do because I was prepared. I scored a 740 (Q49/V42) with perfect scores in AWA and IR and I could not be more thrilled ... it's still sinking in, to be perfectly honest.
Not only did Manhattan GMAT provide the instruction and resources for me to succeed, but I genuinely felt that by test day, I had a strong strategy on how to take the test. I learned the way to be strategic about skipping questions and understand how the test writers wrote questions that seem horrendous at face value but can easily be solved within two minutes with the right skills.
Additionally, even though I prepared with a self-guided study, any time I interacted with the instructors, I knew that they truly cared about my success on the GMAT.
I couldn't have done it without the team at Manhattan GMAT. I will recommend Manhattan GMAT to anyone preparing for business school.
The Manhattan course I took from Joe Lucero and Tom Rose was incredible! My score went from a 550 diagnostic to a 760 on test day. The strategies taught by Manhattan are simply the best. In particular, I benefitted from the timing strategy, the critical reasoning diagramming, and the number properties guides. Moreover, they give tremendous personal attention to their students. Joe Lucero helped me create a study plan for my last two weeks that I think alone boosted my score 100 points. Definitely money well spent and I would whole heartedly recommend this course to anyone considering taking the GMAT! Thank you Joe and Tom!
I think Manhattan does a really nice job. The course material is essentially exhaustive, I don't think there was anything I would have expected to cover that we didn't at least touch on in live class and wasn't fully covered in the curriculum. The course can slow down a bit at times (partially as a result of adverse selection from the type of people who takes GMAT classes) but the teachers in general did a great job coaching everything through the topics.
One thing in particular I liked was the results-oriented approach. I personally tend to prefer the algebraic approach to problems, but they consistently pushed us to recognize when back-end tactics would be faster. I never fully mastered that skill set but it definitely helped with my timing.
I had a great experience using MGMAT's online 9 week course. Even though my class was virtual, I still felt that there was a sense of community in the classroom and that my teachers were invested in my success. I found the problems in class and the discussions to be very helpful, and the homework to be a good use of my time. The online practice tests and the analysis provided were the most useful tools in my preparation. I was able to track my progress and see what types of problems I consistently got right and wrong. On test day, I felt nervous but confident and saw how my hard work had paid off!
When I took the GMAT in 2006, I thought a single volume, all-in-one book was enough. And it was enough, at least to get a 710.
Fast forward to 2012. My previous score had expired, so I needed to retake the test. What I felt I lacked in my previous attempt was a focus on concepts, instead of just "tricks". Manhattan GMAT seemed to advertise more than any other prep program that it was "concept-focused". Not only was this true, but I think it had the perfect balance of concepts with strategies ("tricks") to make it the perfect prep program. Full disclosure: I consistently scored very high on the Verbal section, so I completely blew off studying the Verbal strategy guides and focused solely on the Quant section. I'm sure the Verbal was just as good, though. :)
I recently took my GMAT for the first time, and was very pleased to have received what I consider a very good score(770). Although I have no prior experience taking the GMAT, and therefore no real "benchmark" to compare to, I am certain that the instruction I received from Manhattan GMAT was instrumental in allowing me to achieve such a result.
I think the bulk of Manhattan GMAT's success stems from their uncompromising focus on teaching. Indeed, it is very well advertised that ALL of Manhattan GMAT's instructors have scored in the 99th percentile of the GMAT. Less touted, however, is the rigorous selection and training process, all of which further refines the class of potential instructors. The result is a very concentrated group of uniquely qualified, extremely capable teachers. My course was no exception, and, despite a class with a diversity of scores, I feel that the whole class was able to receive the resources and instruction necessary to improve dramatically.
While teaching is, in my opinion, the most important aspect of the Manhattan GMAT experience, it is certainly not the only advantage offered to students. In particular, the depth of available resources is a HUGE part of--as would be said in the business world--the "value proposition" that is offered to customers. Manhattan GMAT has truly applied itself to deconstructing and dissecting the GMAT content and structure and, as a student, this seemingly unlimited set of information is made fully available. This is ironically both overwhelming and comforting at the same time; the depth and breadth of resources are initially very daunting, but it is refreshing to know that the team at Manhattan GMAT has exhaustively investigated and optimized every facet of the GMAT.
Finally, there are a few intangibles that I believe make Manhattan GMAT a very worthwhile experience. Firstly, students are provided with a definite approach--a "roadmap" as it is termed by Manhattan GMAT--that is pretty much guaranteed to ensure score maximization. In addition, I really appreciated the extra "office hours" and after class sessions with instructors. Moreover, included in the class are tools that helped me to develop a personal GMAT "gameplan," which really helped me approach the test in a very methodical way. The one-on-one 30-minute review of my personal testing history, included with the class, was also VERY helpful. With regard to the online class, the environment was very similar to, if not better than, an in-person, location based classroom approach. Having TWO instructors really is a bonus!
All in all, I am thrilled with my Manhattan GMAT experience. As others have mentioned, there are some small things that I would like to see improved(i.e the CAT is not as accurate as I thought it would be), but it is hard to argue that Manhattan GMAT is not extremely effective at its core purpose: to maximize students' GMAT scores. Like anything worth fighting for in life, mastering the GMAT will likely take dedication, hard work, and the right approach. I trusted Manhattan GMAT to guide my approach, and, fortunately, I haven't had to look back since.
I had never taken the GMAT before I took the Live Online course from Manhattan GMAT but my score from my practice test went to my actual GMAT went up 130 points.
The course provides great structure each week with a ton of problems/strategy guides to work through. There is a lot of homework each week but I don't really see how you could do well on the GMAT without doing a lot of problems and taking the time to really learn the math concepts. You will never run out of material from Manhattan to do, there are tons of problems provided and CAT practice tests. The problems provided all seem pretty similar to the actual questions on the test. The strategy guides are great at explaining concepts, especially sentence correction and quant.
One of the best things about the course is OG Archer which lets you track every OG problem you do. This makes it so easy to verify strengths and weaknesses so you can use your study time better. The CAT exams also have great stats on how you did and you can aggregate your data for multiple exams to get a good understanding of where you stand.
The classes themselves were basically just going through the material you did for homework and providing a few extra tips and strategy clarifications. I felt it mostly just keep me honest about getting all the homework done and served as reassurance each week that I was on the right track. The instructors were great and I assume all Manhattan's instructors probably are. They were always available outside of class to answer any extra questions.
Would definitely recommend this course. Great structure for your GMAT studying and provides all the materials/books you could possibly need.