If you are considering taking the GMAT, look no further than Manhattan Prep. The coursework is clear and thorough and the instructors are helpful and generous with their time. I also greatly appreciated how they focused on test-taking strategy, including how to set up your answer sheet. As the instructor, Jeff expertly walked through complex concepts and clarified points of confusion. Even though it was a multi-person class it at points felt extremely personal and tailored to our group's needs. Plus Jeff was super accessible outside of class hours. So glad I chose Jeff and Manhattan Prep for my GMAT course.

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I had a very positive overall experience with Manhattan Prep and my specific instructor, Marcus Hedahl. I began my GMAT journey with Manhattan Prep in October 2018 when I started the in-person course. The course provided a strong foundation from which to learn the GMAT content and allowed me to better prepare myself for the official tests to come. After completing the course, I completed 3 tutoring sessions with Marcus, who was also my instructor for the course. This helped to further solidify my knowledge of the GMAT content and strategy for how to attack the test. Without the assistance that Manhattan Prep and Marcus shared with me, it would have been incredibly more difficult to experience success and achieve my 700 score.

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I decided to enroll in the course after it came highly recommended by a few colleagues. However, I was utterly disappointed by Manhattan Prep's live class for a few reasons.

Firstly, the course is unbelievable expensive (even for an undergrad the course will run you about 1000 dollars). I used a few free online trials from other companies (all of which offered their services for a fraction of the cost of Manhattan Prep) and was much happier with my free trial then I ever was with Manhattan Prep. Also, Manhattan offers no score increase guarantee at all.

The teacher was incredibly smart, but I did not see much use for his being there to be honest. There was not much teaching going on in this course. Most of the material was learned beforehand through Manhattan's Strategy Guides (Overall, those are quite helpful, even to me, and I am a visual learner). Thus, the class conisted of us solving a few problems, and the teacher going through explanations, but Manhattan Prep gives the same explanations through their learning software.

Further, I could tell the teacher did not really want to be there. He did not seem to care about his student's performance, and it was clear this was just another job for him.

Manhattan's learning software (atlas) is actually quite good due to the comprehensive syllabus, and high-quality OG explanations, however, all of this can be had for a fraction of the cost using Manhattan's cheapest offering.

Overall, I might be inclined to recommend some of Manhattan Prep's services, but definitely not the live course. It was a waste of valuable time and money.

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I first took the GMAT in 2015 after self-study only and received a 680. I was not satisfied with the score but wanted to wait until I was 100% sure I needed to attend business school before retaking. I decided to apply to b-school in 2017 and signed up to do a group prep-course from February-April 2017. The course was most helpful in that it gave me a syllabus and road-map for studying and kept me honest by assigning homework each week. The actual course was helpful for problem solving strategy but a majority of my learning came during homework time. I made it over the 700 hump and almost to my ultimate goal of 720. I ended up being accepted to all three business schools I applied to in Round 1 and don't think I could have without the course.

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This course gives you all the tools to excel on the GMAT, and I would strongly recommend this course to anyone who wants to get a 700+.

Marcus was an amazing instructor and kept the class lively for the students (which is hard to do for a 3-hour period after a long day at work). He is also incredibly smart and really knows his GMAT. I was consistently impressed with his teaching ability. The material was extensive so I felt like Manhattan GMAT gave me all the resources I could ask for in preparation for the test.

However, you can't expect to just go to class and then get a great score on the GMAT. You also have to put in a lot of work outside of the class, which Manhattan GMAT readily admits. After I took the course, I took the test for the first time and did poorly (640) although I was scoring a 700 on my practice tests. I was really upset. However, as instructed by Marcus, I set up my post-course assessment with Manhattan GMAT, which is a 45 minute phone call with a special instructor to talk about how to improve your score the next go-around. I received wonderful instruction that included a concrete study plan in preparation for the second try. One month later, I got a 720!!!

THANK YOU, MANHATTAN GMAT!

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The 9 week class is a very very good class. It is a great way to get started studying. You cover all of the basics and really entrench yourself in the studying process. The structure provided by the class set me up to continue studying for the test 5+ weeks after the class ended as you get in the happen of studying a certain amount everyday/several times a week.

One thing I will say is that when I did take the 2 free GMAT prep tests and then the actual GMAT (in addition to the 6 Manhattan practices), I did notice a pretty big difference between the two (Manhattan vs. Gmat prep).

Manhattan Quant is much more difficult and calculation driven than Gmat prep and actual gmat. This is a good thing. If you can get to a point where you are doing well on your manhattan quant sections, you will be fine on the gmat, because I found it much theory based (number properties etc.) than the manhattan tests.

On the Manhattan Verbals, I was having no problems at all (44-45s on all practices) as I got into Gmat prep and the actual gmat, my verbal score dropped 2-4 points. I'm not sure of the reason why. I did notice that some of the critical reasoning questions are structured differently in the GMAT prep/GMAT tests than in Manhattan. I think that the Manhattan tests were much more blatant about what kind of CR question you were tackling.

Ultimately between my first Manhattan practice and my last GMAT prep practice i had a 140 point difference. On test day, I screwed up verbal and ended up with a 80 point improvement.

scores:
manhattan 1: 630
manhattan 2: 690
manhattan 3: 750 (don't have breakouts now, but was getting significantly higher on verbal than math on all of these tests. Got 2 45V and 1 44).
manhattan 4: 700
manhattan 5: 720
manhattan 6: 740
gmat prep 1: 720
gmat prep 2: 750 (50Q, 42V)
Actual Gmat: 710 (46Q, 40V)
*Update Gmat 2: 730 (46Q, 44V)

(i have the breakouts of the other tests at home and can update them later)

Overall, I think Manhattan is a great course and will prepare you for the gmat, specifically the quant section.

Update: I retook the GMAT a month later and improved my verbal 4 points to get the 730 i was looking for.

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In researching GMAT courses to take, I read many reviews and talked to a few people. Most people said Manhattan GMAT was the best, and the reviews were certainly excellent. I signed up, hoping it was worth the price.

It was. MGMAT's 9-week live course isn't cheap, but it is excellent. I highly recommend it if you are serious about getting a top score (I got a 740). The written strategy guides are good, the OG Archer is a must-have resource (the other online resources are pretty good, too), and my instructor was excellent. He was funny, enthusiastic, very smart, and very able to break down complex problems into bite sized chunks.

Ultimately, your score really depends on the work you put into studying for the test. With discipline, focus, and a few months of your life dedicated to studying, you can do very well on the GMAT. But having a top notch instructor and a solid curriculum really help too. If you're serious about getting an excellent score, I highly recommend Manhattan GMAT.

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