Manhattan Prep GMAT Course Reviews

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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In my opinion, the course is not necessary to supplement the books. If you're pretty competent in math and verbal, the books itself were good enough. I didn't gain much additional help from attending the course because you end up being part of a larger group and the skill level varies widely, especially for those that require more basic brush up after more than 5 years post-college. I finished all 10 books before the course started and it was good at my own pace. The course is good to provide structure if you don't have the self-motivation or willpower to stay on a strict regimen. Otherwise, my instructor was Joe Martin and he was very energetic even during a weekday evening session and he explained what we should prioritize if we asked questions about things that had a 1% chance of showing up. That helped because I was going to take the test within a couple of months and I wasn't looking to learn every nitty gritty detail but just what I needed to get above 700. The first time I took it, I got a 700 (Q48/V38)... second time was 720 (Q49/V39). I didn't practice as much as I wanted to between the second and first time because work got in the way, but I did do a post-GMAT Manhattan Prep consultation and the consultant gave me a few tips that must've helped push me to my threshold of acceptable. Overall, the course helps give structure but the books provided 80% of what I needed to know along with the OG books.

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I started my gmat preparation with an official test, scored 680 in first attempt. I checked which areas needed improvement and use the Manhattan preparation material for studying those topics. The material helped me clear my doubts and helped me improve in the areas where I struggled with the first test. It easily helped me score 720 in my gmat exam and thus, I will recommend it to everyone. I studied quant word problems which helped me in understanding Statistics, Number System and Geometry. The verbal material was also very detailed and helped me in improving my score in Critical Reasoning and Sentence Correction.

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Ron Purewal of Manhattan GMAT is the only verbal and Quant instructor who can make the learning of both sections pretty easy. I had to put a lot of work just to understand the GMAT exam I never had a great standardized candidates. Nine-week course that is very helpful. I found the lesson to learn exactly how the test should be approached helpful. Teachers to concentrate on strategy, not content. I insist syllabus close to all, but a class session. Even nine weeks, I have not, after my practice GMAT scores improve, in fact, my best was to take the exam before my course.

After the end of the course, my coach and my willingness to continue to work together to identify strengths and weaknesses. I have proven the point where I feel comfortable about 10 weeks after the exam gradual improvement. I scored my best practice test above 50 points.

Everyone learns different, so I can not speak for other people, but the GMAT certainly need time to gradually adapt. I learned in class is good because it forces me to keep up with homework. If you are in the process of investment use, you will follow the rich syllabus and practice practice practice questions!

Finally, do not panic, IR MPrep the problem if you do not get good grades. They are ridiculous effort to do my practice test is to get a 3, I actually got to test 7. I did not review one week IR until the official tests.

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I approached studying for the GMAT pretty seriously. I've never been a great standardized test taker so I had to put in a lot of work just to understand the GMAT. The 9-week course was very helpful for just that. I found the in-class sessions useful for learning exactly how the test should be approached. The instructor focused on strategy rather than content. I stuck to the syllabus closely and went to all but one in-class session. Even after the 9 weeks I still hadn't improved on my practice GMAT scores, in fact my best score was the test I took before the course.

After the course my instructor was willing to continue working with me to identify strengths and weaknesses. I gradually improved on practice tests to the point where I felt comfortable ~10 weeks later to take the test. I scored 50 points above my best practice test.

Everyone learns differently so I won't speak for everyone else but the GMAT definitely takes time to get comfortable with. I learn well in-class because it forces me to keep up with the homework. If you invest in the course, you'd be well off to follow the syllabus and practice practice practice problems!

Lastly, don't freak out if you don't score well on MPrep's IR problems. They are ridiculously hard and best I got on practice test was a 3 and I got a 7 on the actual test. I didn't review IR until week of official test.

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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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