I am very very happy with what MGMAT offers. I just got a 710
and I am satisfied with my score.

My fundamentals were strengthened after taking Ron Purewal's 9 week training, and I then went from 640 to 710 because of
1. the advanced DS + advanced SC workshops from Daniel Patinkin and Emily Sledge,
2. Ron's "Thu with Ron" which they give away for free !!

My confidence got a real boost after the advanced workshops because they teach you how to tackle hard problems and that makes the 600 level questions look easy.

MGMAT offers a complete package and I never looked at any other material - the strategy guides are excellent for strengthening your fundamentals, the instructors are top class, and the customer service is awesome. They really take care of students. I am also glad I got two 180 day extensions for online resources. I took the training months before and wasn't able to take the test immediately, so I had to delay taking the test and those extensions were very valuable.

Trust me ... If you really want to crack that 700 barrier you have to go with MGMAT.

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I would like to highly recommend the Manhattan GMAT preparatory material as well as Kevin Shen for individual tutoring sessions to people looking to achieve a top GMAT score!

I was looking for a course because I wanted to improve my score as I was aiming to get a place in a top 10 business school. Initially I used another supplier so after an extensive research, I decided to go with the Manhattan GMAT self-guided study.

MGMAT provided me with extensive material on Quant and Verbal that helped me build a strong knowledge base for the exam.

Furthermore I cannot stress enough the value Kevin Shen, my instructor, provided in helping me achieve my target score. His help was critical in helping me improve my score in the range I was aiming for. Kevin has the ability to identify your areas of improvement not only in terms of knowledge but in terms of test-taking strategies. This in my opinion is very important for success in the GMAT!

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I took the Fall 2011 nine week MGMAT class in Evanston, IL. A room booked in the Hotel Orrignton, Evanston, IL was used for the class. Our tutor was Viren Tellis, a Kellogg JD-MBA student. He was smart, with a good sense of humor.

Who am I?
I am a mechanical engineer, working in the software development area in an US company. I have a Masters from an US university. I obtained 550 in my first GMAT and currently preparing for my second GMAT. Although I believe the review has nothing to do with my score, I wanted to disclose my score before you spend your time reading the review.

Why MGMAT?
I choose the MGMAT because all the online review for the MGMAT courses and books were excellent!

When I went to take the sample Kaplan course, I was informed that shooting for 700 is not necessary! Be practical and shoot for 650+. On the contrary MGMAT did not limit the target, rather focused on content. The feedback I got from GMAT Club forum resonated with my findings.

Although I did not research much about Veritas, I felt two study sessions per week would be too much for me. I prefer studying on my own rather than sitting in a classroom.

How did the course go?
Once the class started, it went fast! I was having hard time to keep up with the home work. There was a scheduling conflict for room and we got an one week of break. I was able to finish all the homework up to that point and started working on the foundation of verbal book. When the course ended, I had about 90% content covered.

We were instructed to take an exam three weeks after the course. I did so. But I took a different route during my practice after the course. The rest is history.

Debrief

How was the Instructor?
The instructor Viren Tellis was energetic, smart and funny. He would not move on to the next topic until everyone in the class understood it. He used make funny mnemonics to help us remember rules, tricks etc.

What did I like about MGMAT?
+ Content based learning

+ Access to great books, both online and offline, online video labs, online recordings of class

+ Access to online tools: OG Archer, Online Exam and assessment, question bank, forum, online classroom, weekly half hour of personalized phone help

+ Great tutors: covers a good amount of material and questions in class

+ Post exam evaluation was very good to identify my problems and get going accordingly

What could be improved?
Although I listed a ton of issues, these are just suggestions for improvement. If I researched correctly, the MGMAT content, tools and methods are superior than any other test company out there. I would strongly recommend MGMAT to the future GMAT test takers.

- MGMAT says that the course requires about 15 hours of reading every week. I spent about 20 hrs/week, but had hard time finishing it. Specially if you are working full time, it is more so.

I was creating notes during my reading, slowing me down. However, I would argue that note taking is good for you.

One class was rescheduled due to the availability of the room. This provided a great break to catch up with the home work. I wish there were one more break! This kind of break should be included in the course.

- The course is not tailored to fit a particular need. I am pretty solid at Math. But I was just sitting there doing the simple drills that did not help me much.

To solve the problem MGMAT can introduce three variants of the course: a) Math Emphasized b) Verbal Emphasized c) Same weight on both (i.e. current offering). A pre-assessment can be done online to categorize and suggest the student with better offering customized for him/her.

- The CAT assessment could be enhanced by using the graphical tool available for OG Archer. The textual representation is hard to read and categorize.

The article on practice test evaluation points out five areas to focus on during the analysis.

I. 50+%, Correct timing
II. 50-%, Correct timing
III. 50-%, Fast
IV. 50+%, Slow
V. 50-%, Slow


- The OG Archer graphical tool is great but not available for OG 11, OG 10 etc.

Moreover, the OG archer does not show the difficulty level on the chart. It would be better if the Y-axis showed the difficulty from 200 to 800 and the size of the bubble as the %right.

- No audio material is available. This could be helpful for commuters.

- The online interface is not very user friendly. It took me a lot of time to get used to it.

Any other advice for prospective students?
- Do you research. Take the sample classes offered by different companies. Read reviews. Seek for help in GMAT Club. Find out what’s best for you before you decide.

- Take notes and do it with your own hand. The notes created by other people don’t help you much. Notes that you wrote yourself recalls the memory much better than any other notes.

- If you choose MGMAT, make room for at least 20 hrs of time per week for the home work.

- Finish the foundation book(s) BEFORE the courses begin. You won’t have time to read it during the course. If your foundation is not brushed up, the course content will be a waste.

- Take the time to familiarize yourself with the online resources. They have great resources but poorly organized.

- Replace the CR book with the PowerScore CR bible. Although the MGMAT CR book is good, PowerScore CR is much better. Please note that the course is synchronized with the book so it may cause a bit of disorientation. Rest of the materials are of excellent quality.

- Do not look for any other materials/books out there. I have tried plenty. Stick to MGMAT, stick to OG and you will be almost there.

- Use the half an hour phone session offered every week. I did not use it much. But realized it could be helpful.


Good luck!

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I took the GMAT for the first time two weeks ago. I took the Manhattan GMAT course with Tom Rose and Mike Kim. The course was great, and MGMAT was my main (basically my only) source of study material and practice exams.

I completed the exam on June 14th and received 750 - 98% overall (47V - 99%, 47Q - 78%), 5.5 writing. I gained about 5 points in my verbal score and 25 points in quant compared to the early practice exams (not only MGMATs). I took an online course beginning in January (with Tom Rose and Mike Kim), and the Live Online Advanced Workshop more recently. I worked through the MGMAT math books extensively, and that made all the difference.

In the MGMAT course, Tom and Mike were able to thoroughly explain every question we faced. What I loved about MGMAT was that they taught us the actual concepts, in a simple, easy-to-digest manner. No tricks to "beat the exam". I am now much more capable of doing basic math in my head. I can do quick calculations and estimations with no calculator, and I've found that helpful in other area of life as well. The online format is great and easy to get used to. I really liked that I could ask question to one instructor via text and not hold up the rest of the class. I was definitely more willing to ask "stupid" questions, and this ensured I didn't miss anything.

The test went pretty well. I got a bit nervous and made some timing mistakes. I could have used an extra minute for my second essay, and mistakenly thought I had one quant question left when I actually had two. I took too long on the second to last one and ended up completely missing the last. I didn't even have time to put in a random guess. I think that is what made me miss the 80% percentile in quant. Rookie mistake. Verbal was fine, though a bit harder than MGMAT practice exams. I remember very clearly more questions where I was stuck on one of two choices, than I do with most MGMAT exams. This is especially true for the questions regarding the purpose of a passage. Usually I finish the verbal section with 15 minutes to spare, and this time I had only 3 or 4 minutes.

Day of the exam I felt really well prepared. The questions I faced were extremely similar to the MGMAT practice exams. Much more so than the Knewton or Kaplan tests (both of which I tried once). My scores were even closer by MGMAT then by GMAT Prep, which is the official practice exam; however, I think this is partially because I was getting nervous the two days before my exam, when I took the GMAP Prep tests. My course ended in March, but I wasn't able to study from then until after May, due to work and finishing school. Access to all the online materials closes after three months, but I emailed MGMAT, and they extended it for free. I then spent the first two weeks of June in focused prep, every night. Ended up working for me, though I probably could have done better timing-wise (and with much less stress) if I did the work as MGMAT recommended.

All in all, great course. Worth every penny.

Now let's see about getting into a decent business school...

MGMAT - thanks for everything. I will certainly be recommending you guys in the future.

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I took the MGMAT virtual 9 week course, and it was pretty good. It is mainly to solidify your core skills needed to pass the exam. The extra material they give you is good. I was pleasantly surprised at how learning in the virtual world was just as effective as a classroom setting. I liked the fact that I could wake up Saturday morning, stay in my sleeping clothes, and lounge in front of my computer while I took the class. It is interactive where as you get a microphone and have messaging capabilities. The only thing that is not as good as the classroom would be the actual person-to-person contact. Of course that is better, but the virtual way was not bad at all.

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I highly recommend Manhattan GMAT on-line course. It is live and taught by the teachers who scored in the 99th percentile. In addition, MGMAT puts all of the instructors through a 100-hour training program, so they definitely come prepared for the course. I took the on-line course with MGMAT in winter, and I must say that I was very impressed with the quality of the material offered and the instructors (we had 2). The good thing about the on-line course is that you can take in while at home in your bed :) and you can ask questions live (they provide the headphones with microphone). The class is highly interactive, so you will not be bored at all.
I am not affiliated in any way with MGMAT. I'm just a big fan of their teaching model and the quality of the materials. If you are interested, I've dug out a free virtual preview class posting on their web-site. The event is happening tomorrow, so you can sign up for the preview of their on-line class today and see what their program is all about tomorrow :) .

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Today is my last MGMAT class. Good course, and instructor Josh Braslow was excellent. He has 8 years of GMAT teaching experience and very well versed in all GMAT subject matter. He is also very good at keeping everyone in the class engaged. There are 9 class sessions, 9 online lab classes. One thing I liked was the ability to watch recorded sessions of any classes you miss. You also get a weekly 30 min session of free phone tutoring. The recordings are from the online class, and the material is pretty much the same. If anyone is considering the online class, I would also recommend it. I live an hour from the MGMAT center, and if I were to do it again, I would consider taking the online one.
I took a Princeton Review practice test last year and got a 550 without ever looking at a gmat question or having an idea of what was on the test. My first MGMAT score was 610. Second was 650, and third 680. I'm doing really bad on the quant. I got a 61%/96% on my last test. My test is scheduled 3 days from now. Wish me luck!
Anyone with questions about the course, instructor or books, please feel free to ask.

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I am currently enrolled in a Manhattan GMAT course (NYC), and I'm very pleased with it. The office is great, they treat their students very well, the technology is top-notch (new laptops with WiFi connections), and the teachers are _excellent_.

The workload is HEAVY, but of course you shouldn't spend all of that money to go and slack off. The homework is a very important part of the course, and they expect you to do it, no excuses.

I don't know if it is a fluke, but after two lessons my practice exam scores went up 40 points. We'll see...

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