Manhattan Prep GMAT Course Reviews

I started a Manhattan Prep GMAT course online with Jamie Nelson in the middle of April 2021. I went into the process pretty nervous since I had taken an official exam without studying the right way back in 2019 and got a 580. My goal score was a 730 going into the class. I got there on my 1st retake of the official exam!

JAMIE WAS A ROCKSTAR!!! She taught us the tips and tricks to approach questions and really guided us throughout the process. The online course was very organized and easy to follow. If I were to do it all over again, I would 100% do this course and request Jamie specifically. If you're considering taking the class I would recommend requesting Jamie, hands down.

The only two things I would note is that I found the Manhattan exams to be MUCH HARDER than the actual. I was getting low to mid 600s on the those exams. Which is probably a good thing cause you'll find the real one easier, but that did shake my confidence a bit. I went from those scores with Manhattan to a 760 on my first official practice test. Maybe the gap is a bit more for me than others potentially.

And...only other thing I wish was different was that this class would have been live / in person. Jamie is such a great / cool person that it would have been awesome to get know her outside of Zoom :)

Thanks so much Jamie - I owe you big time!! You'll be the first email I send after (hopeful) biz school acceptances.

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As far as features that Interact provides, Navigator is an incredibly useful tool to accompany official GMAT questions. Solutions in Navigator fit in with content in the Manhattan Prep course, and help clarify the often complex solutions found in the official books.

The quant section videos do not often delve into difficult topics, but the strategy components are most helpful. The advanced quant eBook, which is included with the course, covers useful material and additional challenging practice. I found the actual GMAT's quant section to be much easier than the quant found in Interact's practice exams.

The verbal content in Interact covers tricky rules well, and quizzes you on them. Blog posts (which can also be accessed for free) cover strategy for timing, which I used when taking my exam.

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I initially requested Jeff to be my tutor after I had attended one of his free online GMAT prep hours and saw that he was strong in Quant. I was convinced that Quant was my weakness since I had a lower percentile score in Quant than Verbal. Right off the bat, he showed me how percentiles lie and recommended that I primarily focus my efforts on Verbal. He taught me how to effectively deconstruct an argument in critical reasoning questions and corrected some grammar misconceptions I had in sentence correction (i.e., adverbial vs. noun modifiers, -ing words are not all present tense). With reading comprehension, I learned to stick very closely to the text, especially for inference questions. Do not assume anything in verbal without evidence from the passage to back your conclusion!

I had considered giving up on the GMAT and MBA applications this year after taking the exam multiple times and not getting the results I wanted. With Jeff’s guidance and expertise, I found the motivation and vigor to keep going. Not only did I get the score I wanted, but I also enjoyed the process of studying for the GMAT. Highly recommend Jeff as a tutor if you are new to the GMAT or stuck in a rut but determined to reach your goal!

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Jamie Nelson is a fantastic tutor. She is caring and attentive to all your needs. While teaching a large class, she is able to provide tailored solutions to individual students in order to target their weaknesses. Jamie is also great at communication, she will make sure you reach your study goals throughout the course and after it. She helped me craft the study template that gave me a 100+ GMAT score improvement. If you are particularly struggling with Quant, Jamie would be the perfect instructor for you. The course gives you the structure you need to maintain the motivation necessary to reach your target score.

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Jamie Nelson is an incredible instructor and I am so glad that I signed up to her classes at Manhattan Prep. I finished the 9-class course feeling prepared and confident to take the actual exam, and scored a 730 on my first try two weeks later.

I was looking for courses back in March of this year with zero prior GMAT study, deciding on Manhattan Prep on the recommendation of a friend who knew I was aiming for the top schools.

The 9-class course excellently paced, with Jamie presenting each exam topic in a clear and engaging way. I was able to follow all of her explanations, even when she was going over the 700+ difficulty questions in different exam sub-sections.

She also covered the time-management and other exam techniques needed to do well in the exam, and provided ample opportunities for the class to master these skills.

The Manhattan Prep course material pack provides a concise and comprehensive coverage of the various exam areas. It is complete with helpful explanations on each topic and practice question that guides the reader through the thought process of tackling questions in a time-efficient manner.

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MAN! Where to begin.. My GMAT journey took about 8 months from my first practice test. Initially, I struggled getting over the mental hump to really commit to studying for this test, which meant hanging up distractions for a bit. I took my first 'cold' GMAT in late October, 2020, and after scoring in the high 500's, I knew I needed outside help if I was going to get into my top schools. The first thing I did was go to my local Barnes and Noble store and picked up the latest GMAT Official Guide hoping I could get away with drilling practice questions over and over again. I did this for a while, an hour or two a day for a few weeks before I took my second Practice GMAT and scored LOWER! My quant scores were high, but my verbal scores fell, and I felt that is where I needed the most help. Feeling defeated, I ended up asking my peers of their methods, and that is when I started looking into Manhattan Prep. I would like to preface that my quant scores were strong, and I could manage a lot of 700+ level questions, but in contrast, my verbal needed a lot of work. What I was searching for was something that could sharpen my quant skills and possibly accelerate my timing, but most importantly, I needed a foundation for verbal.

I ended up enrolling in the 9-session Manhattan Prep course with Mr. Vollmer in November, and I got exactly that. The classes were fun, the classmates were engaging, and Mr. Vollmer made the whole experience really great. I was able to ask all the questions I wanted and I learned a lot from my classmates asking questions as well. I was very detailed in my note taking, and I concluded the course feeling very good about the foundation I had in verbal.

Immediately after the conclusion of the course, I took my first real Official GMAT Online. I do not recommend the online version, as my computer crashed while they were trying to send the test over and I ended up taking it 2 hours after my scheduled time and doing horribly. I took this hit as a growing experience because I knew that the computer issues were a huge reason for my poor mindset going into it. Obviously, this was probably an anomaly, and I am sure this is typically a great way to take the test; I just had some bad luck.

I studied a few more weeks, and took the test in person, I ended up scoring in the low 600's, and this was my lowest point in this whole process. I had put in the time, I have taken the course, and I studied for weeks after the conclusion of the course only to score far less than what I expected of myself and what my practice tests suggested I could get to.

"Just one more time" is what I told myself. I studied relentlessly for an extra couple months, doing well over 1,000 practice questions between GMAT Practices tests, tests and questions provided by Manhattan Prep, and the Wiley site that you get access too if you have the Official GMAT Guide. FINALLY in the last week of April, I took my last test. I ended up scoring in the high 600's which was where I needed to be to get into my first choice program at UofM Ross. It was with a lot of perseverance, a killer application/essays, an excellent recommendation, and a GMAT score that fell within the school's range, I was able to be admitted.

In conclusion, I would not have scored as high as I did if it wasn't for Manhattan Prep and Mr. Vollmer helping me get the basics down for verbal. I would highly recommend them. What worked best for me is knowing what my strengths and weaknesses are before enrolling, and really focusing on where I needed help. Mr. Vollmer got me there and I am beyond thankful for the opportunity to pursue a Masters Degree at Ross, and I couldn't have done it without his engaging lessons!

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I studied for about 4-5 months on my own using other study materials and got a 640, but after the 9 week course and using the Manhattan material I ended up with a 710 (70 point increase!). I especially liked the structured class setup where each week there would be assigned reading and practice problems followed up by a 3-hour class where we would go over strategies and problem types that corresponded with the homework. The test is so much about strategy and my instructor, Jamie Nelson, was awesome in helping to identify the problem types and apply the different strategies to correctly answer the questions. She also provided super helpful input after each of the practice tests to help me figure out what I was getting wrong and where I should be directing my time and resources. At the end of the program, she provided an even better breakdown of where to spend the next couple weeks before my test. For anyone looking for a solid structured study plan and an insightful instructor, I would highly recommend Manhattan GMAT and Jamie Nelson.

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My GMAT journey began in earnest in December 2020 and ended with a 730/48Q/42V/6IR/6AWA in late May 2021. I used a combination of self-study and MGMAT's 9-session prep course (online). Jamie taught a great course and really made herself available to an unexpected extent. Her explanations were concise and helpful, she taught according to a consistent narrative (specifically for timing and strategy), and kept the online course on-track without too many sidebars from the peanut gallery.

I started off the course feeling very far-removed from my last academic quant course and a bit shaky on the basics. Conversely, I started off strong in verbal and my score hovered consistently in the 42-48V range.

Keeping an error log, drilling the basics before tackling timed sets, and practicing timing on CATs all helped me reach my score goal. A word of caution - MGMAT CATs "feel" different than the real deal: the quant is more involved and wordier and the verbal doesn't exactly match the style of the verbal questions on the official tests. That being said, the MGMAT CATs in conjunction with the official practice CATs really helped me manage my timing, practice strategies, and taught me to manage my nerves.

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Let me start off by saying that Jamie is an absolutely incredible instructor. She is able to distill and convey complicated information in a way that is both engaging and easy to comprehend. I don’t know how she does it, but Jamie somehow makes a virtual classroom with students at various skill levels seem as if the entire course were customized especially for you and your individual needs.

Prior to taking the course, I had been doing self-guided study for a few months but had not seen any meaningful progress in my performance. I had scored a 650 on the mba.com practice test, but like many MBA hopefuls, I was aiming to score in the 700+ range. Through the course, I learned more efficient study frameworks, test taking strategies and how to tackle thornier subjects and question types. Jamie was an enormous help through the whole process and a wonderful coach. For example, after each of my practice tests throughout the course, Jamie provided personalized analysis and in-depth feedback on where I was losing points and what tweaks I could make in my approach in order to see the results I was looking for. Her insights were spot-on, and with some fine-tuning I was able to reach the 700 score I was shooting for.

In short, this course is an incredible resource for those prepping for the GMAT, regardless of your current skill level. Jamie is a pro at helping her students reach their full potential and giving them the tools and confidence to succeed.

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This course is honestly great. You can take it as quickly or as slowly as you like as there are no live classes. Everything is pre-recorded and interactive so tailored to your strengths and weaknesses. It's also divided up into many sub-sections within Verbal, Quand, and IR. This means that you have the possibility to focus on just certain bits of the GMAT (even though I would recommend going through the whole course. I completed it in 4 weeks but I must honestly say that this was working at least 3 hours a day. I wish I had had more time to fully enjoy this course and do it over 3 months. It would have allowed me to practice more and use some of the extra resources that Manhattan Prep offers as part of the course (extra practice questions etc). I did however add 110 points to my previous score so I was very satisfied.
There are 6 CAT exams which are really useful to get used to the exam and also to see how you improve as you complete the course. One great thing as well, is that they have articles on time management which I found really useful because they give you special techniques of how to keep track of time as you do the exam (this is something I really struggled with initially), and how to use your whiteboard in the most efficient way given the time constraints.
Quant: I learnt some great techniques to go faster and how to recognise specific types of questions and strategies to go about them. MPrep Interact also often provides different strategies and let's you choose which one you prefer because it acknowledges the fact that we don't all go about math problems in the same way.
Verbal: I thought verbal was the best section of this course so if you're looking to improve your verbal score then I'd really recommend this MPrep Interact. It goes through everything you need to know for SC and RC but more importantly it has helped me recognise when the GMAT tries to catch you out, especially on the toughest questions which I found were in the CR section of the exam.
Overall I highly recommend this course, especially if like me you like to organise your studying with your own schedule and take more or less time depending on which sections of the exam you wish to focus on. I wouldn't recommend it however if you're looking to do it in just a few weeks like me, it's possible but really not much fun! If you're not an organised person, then maybe courses with actual live tutors would be more suited. I didn't buy the paper books, just the online PDFs that are included for free and that was fine! They're really useful (unlike the OG book that really is not enough to do well on the exam!)

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