I was very happy with my experience with Manhattan Prep and my instructor Abby. I took a practice GMAT test cold before the course and got a 580. Flash forward to 3 months later after I completed the course, I walked out of the testing center beaming with a 730 score, hitting my target. Abby kept her classes engaging, and really got to know her students. I personally really appreciated her continuous involvement in my studying even after the course had ended (I took the GMAT about a month after the course was over). She was the perfect combination of encouraging and realism when we discussed my goals. She gave me great insight on ways to improve my school beyond what the Manhattan syllabus regimented as my goal was to achieve a score competitive enough for top business school.
Instructor aside, I found all the tools provided by Manhattan Prep to be very helpful. My personal favorite thing about the program is that their practice exams are harder than the actual GMAT, which made my feel more at ease when taking the actual exam.
Overall I would definitely say they are worth the investment!

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I took the 9 week course which was offered on site at my workplace. My first practice CAT I got a 650 on, with no prior experience. The class gave me a study plan and motivated me to study and devote time to the GMAT. The class material was concise and very useful. Joe, my instructor, was passionate about teaching, and made the dry subject matter interesting and fun. The homework was time consuming, but it was designed to be so in order to get you in the rhythm of studying and to teach you all the relevant concepts. Joe strongly encouraged participation in class, and pushed us to set up study groups, which helped you become even more invested in the journey. After the class ended, there was still an abundance of free resources available from Manhattan Prep, from post course/exam tutoring sessions to the online Interact courses. I felt like Manhattan Prep was there with me every step of the way. I would recommend it for anyone who wants a structured plan to study for the GMAT while having some fun along the way.

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I took the Manhattan Prep GMAT prep 9-session class summer with David Mahler in New York City. I did well on my first attempt and even better on my second attempt.

The Manhattan GMAT classes/books helped me improve in those specific areas. Personally, I am a strong quantitative person but not so much on the verbal side. I had many difficulties in sentence correction and critical reasoning before I took the class. I practiced a lot of questions in the section books. The Manhattan Prep online portal is also particularly helpful in terms of taking mock exams.

I strongly recommend anybody who wants to improve greatly on their GMAT scores to take the class.

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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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Before I dive into my personal story, if you don't want to read the entire review, I will say this right off the bat: Avi is an INCREDIBLE teacher, he is literally the definition of what a perfect, ideal teacher should be.
My story:
I researched online to find a tutor in Toronto with amazing reviews, and found Avi. I approached Avi four weeks before my exam, to inquire about his tutoring availability and rates, and gave him a brief explanation of my situation; I wasn't scoring where I wanted to be in my practice tests, so I figured a few tutoring sessions with the right instructor would help to boost my score. After explaining my situation to Avi, however, he did not encourage me to get tutoring sessions with him (he did not try to sell his tutoring at all, which I found to be very honest and genuine), instead, he made me realize that there was no rush to be done with the GMAT in the time period I was expecting to be, and told me he thought I would benefit more from enrolling in his 9-session course (much cheaper than private tutoring!), which covers the entire GMAT content. I decided to take Avi's expert advice, and enrolled in his course. This was an AMAZING decision! Avi is all of the things an ideal teacher should be: patient, extremely intelligent (goes without saying he knows the content inside and out), caring, devoted, thoughtful, funny!, did I say patient?, very calming and reassuring whenever you are in doubt or stressing, and he is extremely effective at explaining things in detail, he breaks every concept down so much so that everyone is able to understand even the most complex concepts and problems. It's absolutely incredible how simple he makes everything seem! Every time I would email Avi with a question or letting him know I am stressed out about my upcoming exam, etc., as soon as I’d read the first line or two of his email, I would IMMEDIATELY feel calm and reassured, he is truly a fantastic therapist, and always knows what to say to calm students down, while providing great advice with a sound plan of action. For anyone considering it but not sure if it is worth it: IT IS! Plus, with the cost of the course comes the 10-volume Manhattan book series, and access to all of Manhattan’s online services, including 6 practice CATs.
Thank you, Avi, for being an amazing teacher and therapist!!!

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Not to sound like a broken record, but your success with Manhattan Prep GMAT depends on how much work you put into it. I mean, real work. I think that the best part of the prep course is actually the strategy guide set. The set, along with the syllabus, are great for those who need a bit of guidance when it comes to studying. The actual in-class course is really for those who need to an extra push. I recommend that you follow the syllabus 100%. Take the practice exams when they're scheduled. I didn't do this, and ultimately paid for it. Create an error log from day 1. I also didn't do this initially and, well, I also paid for this. Follow the guides, put in the work, and the results will come.

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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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I was really happy with Manhattan Prep's 9-Session Prep Course for the GMAT--I enjoyed the studying journey (as much as you can) and was thrilled with the results. My instructor was Isaac Puglia. There were about 20 other students enrolled in this class, and we met every Tuesday night for three hours.

Before enrolling, I was worried that I would be too tired after work to get the most out of the three-hour sessions. Isaac, however, was a great instructor and made each session engaging no matter how tired I was.

The three-hour sessions, instruction from Isaac, homework, and practice exams gave me the confidence, know-how and mental-stamina to increase my GMAT score by 110 points.

Specifically, the sessions gave me the tips and tricks on how to tackle each question type on the GMAT. The homework/curriculum from Manhattan Prep allowed me to master these skills. The practice exams helped me build stamina for the actual exam and gave me a sense when I was ready to take the real test. I also loved Manhattan's Prep online study portal--the portal kept me on track, and it was reassuring to have this resource always at my disposal. And finally, Isaac was a great instructor. He genuinely believed you could succeed, making all the difference in getting the results you wanted.

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I was prepping for the GMAT and felt overwhelmed by the different number of ways that I could tackle the exam. I saw countless books and free plans on line and attempted first to plan on my own. What I was missing, though, was advice on overall structure. I decided to enroll in the Manhattan Prep course.

From the onset, the class itself was incredibly organized. We had a game plan for material and strategy to cover each week, had clearly outlined homework to complete, and had milestones and check-ins to make sure we were progressing according to our plans.

Isaac in particular was a very strong instructor. He has a unique ability to keep the class going through all of the material but also makes sure that each question is answered and that each student is comfortable with the pace. He always stayed after class to make sure everyone had the info they needed and he always wrote back to emails when I had specific questions about my test timing.

I increased my score a huge amount and I owe a lot of that to Isaac and Manhattan Prep!

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I had 6 weeks to prep for the GMAT and started completely cold. I had not studied at all nor did I know anything about the GMAT test format or questions. My first practice test I scored in the 500s. After working with Brian Birdwell with Manhattan Prep in Portland OR, I scored a 710 on my GMAT. I would not have been prepared without Brian. He formulates a lesson plan that is tailored to the student and knows the tricks and methods of the GMAT test forwards and back. I felt completely prepared with Brian's help. He was flexible with scheduling and has years of experience with the GMAT having taken it many times himself. Between Brian and the Manhattan online resources I felt completely prepared. I would recommend Brian to anyone in the area!

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