At first I was hesitant at first to take a live online prep course for the GMAT. After taking a couple "trial" classes , one being with Jamie Nelson, I decided live online was the way to go - it truly is interactive and feels just like an in-person class, but without the travel time.

Jamie's sense of humor, ability to engage the class, and her 'Jamie-isms' (metaphors for understanding concepts) stood out initially, convincing me to sign up for her class. In the long run, her passion for teaching/problem solving, commitment to her students improvement, and knack for finding a balance between addressing questions during class vs. after class ultimately reinforced that signing up for her class was a great decision.

The mix of live classes, homework, practice exams (CATS), and a personalized study plan (comes with the class) a few weeks prior to taking the GMAT was a perfect mix. Jamie made a point to focus on not just technical material (quant/verbal), but also time management, stress management, and understanding of strengths/weaknesses.

All this was critical to me not only reaching, but exceeding my stretch goal. My last practice exam I scored a 650 - which was approximately 2 weeks before my formal GMAT. My goal was a 670 and stretch goal was a 700. I ended up scoring a 740. Jamie provided me with the building blocks, structured and flexible prep work, confidence and belief that I could do it. I strongly recommend anyone looking to achieve or exceed their GMAT goals to sign-up for Jamie's class.

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I signed up for this class at the beginning of 2019 after doing quite a bit of research on the course and the instructor, Mark Sullivan. Like many prospective GMAT takers, I had tried (and failed) the self-study route on multiple occasions. When I finally decided to get serious about taking the GMAT and going to business school, I knew that I needed professional guidance. What really sold me on Mark was the fact that according his Manhattan Prep bio, he was a self-confessed Seattle Mariners fan. As a Seattle native and long-suffering M's fan myself, I knew I had found my instructor.

All jokes aside, I realized shortly into the first in-person session that I had made the right choice. Mark has the unique ability to keep students engaged and excited about GMAT content throughout the 3-hour classes. It had been several years since I had been in a classroom environment; at first, the idea sitting through a session that long seemed daunting. But Mark breaks down each topic by using easy-to-digest examples and explanations, and I left every session feeling inspired to study on my own. My winter class had 7 students, and we were able to work with each other (without pressure) each week to tackle problems and collaborate on various subject areas.

I scored a 600 on my first practice test, which I took a week before the course started. It was demoralizing. However, Mark reassured me that my "stretch" target score of 730 was still attainable if I put in the effort. For me, the key was the way in which Mark guided our studying. Instead of assigning hundreds of practice problems, Mark showed the class how to focus on a particular set of problems and subsequently evaluate the strategies we used during the set. As a result, you learn how to identify problem types and solve them in a much more efficient manner, rather than blindly trying to solve as many questions as possible.

I never needed to cram for the test, nor did I ever feel like I was drowning in my GMAT studies. I studied for about an hour each day outside of the course--consistency is key, rather than trying to put in 4 to 6 hour days on the weekends. The course ended in early April, and I took the GMAT in mid-May. I highly recommend purchasing the add-on 1-on-1 "coaching sessions" with Mark, as those really helped me hyper-target areas of opportunity before my exam date.

In the end, I got a 740 on the GMAT, a full 140 points higher than my initial diagnostic test. Without Mark's wisdom and coaching, there's no way I would've reached my target score. For the sake of brevity, I'll finish my review by stating that this course opened up doors to MBA programs that I previously thought were closed. Thank you, Mark!

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When I started preparing for GMAT, I was not sure whether I should take coaching for it or not. One of my friends suggested that I should try one of the trial classes from Jamie Nelson, Manhattan Prep.I tried her class, and instantly I could connect with her teaching style. So I subscribed to the full course and I wasn't disappointed.
I gave the first CAT test(Manhattan GMAT prep test) and could score only 510, which was shocking to me. Jamie reviewed my responses and provided her feedback and told me not to worry about the score for now. Below are the key details from her feedback :-
1. Employing right strategies for particular category of questions.
2. Focussing on the classes to come and finishing assignments on time.
3. Maintaining an error log of the incorrect responses. (I cannot emphasize how important this was.)

I heartily followed these three suggestions.
I think I was good enough at Quant. But still there were valuable things I learnt in her class.Working Backwards,Testing Numbers,Plugging in smart numbers and Making an educated guess on questions when I was running out of time or not sure.
By the time I finished the course , I gave another test and score 650. I knew I was still short of my target score, mainly due to timing issues. After finishing the course in mid-November, I worked on my timing for good one and a half month. I gave a few practice tests in between and I was well with in 710-730 range. A week before my first official test I connected with Jamie again , she was kind enough to provide a Post Course Assessment on such a short notice and the areas where I could still improve.
On 17th Jan, I gave my first GMAT exam and scored a 740(Q50, V41) which till date is my highest score including any of the practice GMAT tests I had given. I highly recommend Jamie and cannot thank her enough for guiding me one step closer towards getting into my Dream Business school.
All the Best!

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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 took the online advanced course with Whitney and the class was super helpful! I had taken a class in the past (not advanced course though) and it was not nearly as beneficial. Whitney explains the strategy well and makes you dissect each answer choice. During the practice tests I was able to get up to a 750 (previous high of 720) and I felt much more comfortable with the Verbal section. Whitney also does a good job of mixing in group interactions so that class members can learn from each other and different styles or techniques of solving problems. She also provides some helpful spreadsheets and study tips/guides to assist with proper way to study and ensure that you become a master of each topic.

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This is almost exclusively Quant review, as I spent little time studying verbal.

Overall quant improvement: 41 to 49 in about 125 hours of work.

Pros:
-Trust: Reason I chose MGMAT is that they're a trusted resource. There're so many new companies that're entering the GMAT resource scene and I didn't want to dedicate an hour to studying poorly. MGMAT has been around for a long time and this trust paid off.
-Basics: Awesome math fundamentals guides. I needed help with that and the lessons/exercises were great.
-Rubric: I needed guidance on what to study when. The interact rubric provided exactly that: what to read, what exercises to do, what further reading and exercises you can do if you need more help with a specific subject.
-"Navigator" - This is the error log, timer, and answers to OG questions they provide you. This was an amazing tool that I didn't know about before I bought Interact, but was essential to my improvement.
-App: great resource for more math exercises and questions similar to OG.

Cons:
-2019 Q/V OG revew are not in the MGMAT navigator.
-Expensive
-No specific guidance. I think tutors can be helpful if you need guidance, I did fine without that by using these forums to help guide my focus once I plateaued.

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I could not recommend James Brock more highly as a GMAT tutor. I can confidently say I would never have achieved my target score without him. When I first started out with him I was scoring around 500 and over the course of several months he helped lift my up to my eventual goal of 670.

James' process driven approach to teaching the GMAT was the only reason I was able to lift my score up so significantly. The GMAT is a test that you can achieve the score you want with enough work and the right tools. James Brock is the best - make sure you request him.

If you have concerns about living in a different timezone to your tutor, you don't need to. I live in Melbourne, Australia and James was incredibly flexible with early mornings and late nights his time to work in with my schedule.

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Ryan was a great instructor who made Saturday morning classes lively (not an easy thing to do) with his passion for helping students improve their GMAT scores and reach their potential. On my first practice test, I was in the 600 range and by the end Ryan helped me raise my score by more than one hundred points. His dedication and willingness to answer questions at any time through email or in class was most helpful. He is more than willing to spend time after class to help you understand a problem or explain a topic in more detail. I highly recommend Manhattan Prep.

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Avi was incredibly fast at understanding where my thinking was lacking and how I could apply tricks to overcome my shortfalls. By teaching me some tips and tricks for both the Quant and Verbal sections, I was able to increase my score from a 580 to a 640 in less than 4 weeks. If you want a quick increase Manhattan Prep private tutoring is amazing and if you just need a few tutoring hours they can help you set up your study schedule so you are not wasting your time on questions that rarely appear on the actual test. The wealth of knowledge that Avi and the rest of his team have is incredibly valuable and they give you the confidence to perform very well on the test day. I was able to get into both Canada's top MBA programs thanks to Avi's help. Also, Avi does not baby his students so you will be held accountable while getting tons of constructive feedback and he will know if you don't complete your homework between sessions. This helped me really get the most of the 10 hours we had together, HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

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I sometimes feel intimidated when I see other reviews for others that are scoring 750+. I hope to score 700+ on my retake in a few weeks, but I am very happy with the score that I received. I am not a brilliant student, nor am I naturally gifted with numbers, I just worked as hard as I could with the Manhattan Prep program. I want to be clear, without Manhattan Prep, and specifically Elaine Loh, there is NO WAY that I would have scored as well as I did.

As the title states, I first scored a 520 on a practice test in December 2018 with a different GMAT test prep company. I used that particular program consistently from October-December of 2018, and I was crushed that I could only score a 520. At that point, I decided that I needed to get serious, and I started the Manhattan Prep instructor led course.

I was skeptical that using a Manhattan Prep instructor led course could really help since I had been working so hard with the other GMAT program. I was completely wrong. The Manhattan Prep materials are simply the best that you can get. I’ve used some different materials from other prep courses, and they were pretty good. However, the Manhattan Prep strategy guides are clearly better than the competition. The online content, including the GMAT Navigator, is phenomenal and certainly worth the money spent. The strategy guides are comprehensive, easy to read, and effective. The course syllabus provided the exact type of structure that I needed to prepare for the GMAT.

However, I think the real difference was the course led by Elaine Loh. I can’t say enough good things about the actual course. When I was taking the class, I had confidence knowing that who I was working with actually scored in the 99th percentile. Elaine was fun, charismatic, and most importantly, she was genuine in wanting to help us score as high as possible. She really took the time to make sure that we understood the material. She taught the class in such a way that I could actually recall specific moments while I was taking the GMAT. I know it sounds weird, but I was actually singing our “peanut butter” words song under my breath while doing the verbal section. My wife laughs at me when I randomly say “when in doubt, get the pronoun out!” And lastly, I specifically recall Elaine telling us to “WORK IT OUT” when doing data sufficiency questions.

Elaine not only taught us the appropriate content, but also the strategy behind the questions---I think this is the real difference between high scores and mediocre scores. She taught us different ways to approach questions, and made sure we understood WHY we worked problems the way that we did. Knowing content will only take you so far with the GMAT. After completing the course and actually taking the test, I’m convinced that anyone can score above a 650 with the right preparation.

In closing, I want to thank Elaine Loh and the Manhattan Prep team for helping me to score as well as I did. This sounds dramatic, and maybe it is, but her course really helped me get closer to my dreams. For 3 long months, I had serious doubts about whether I could make it in business school. I could only see myself working in sales for the rest of my career. However, with Elaine’s help and Manhattan Prep, I can not only say that I WILL go to business school, but I also have a good chance of going to legitimate top business school. Thank you Elaine!

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