I started my GMAT journey in the summer of 2019. I took a practice test and scored a 640-- I wasn't sweating it because I had been out of school for a few years and I knew I could brush up on the quant rather quickly (or so I thought). Just for reference, I have a masters degree in chemical engineering.
Kaplan
I signed up for private tutoring with Kaplan online 10 hour course. I watched some of the lessons, but quickly got bored. They were slow.. I did not feel my tutor was very helpful and about halfway through I started searching for alternatives. (I've had good luck with Kaplan for LSAT (scoring a 167) but this does not seem to be their strength).

In Person tutoring
I did two months of in-person tutoring and was able to increase from 640 practice tests to a 690 real GMAT test. I took the GMAT 3 times (690,Cancelled,690) and wasn't making much progress. I was having timing issues in the quant section (either too fast or too slow). I often panicked when I got to a quant problem that I felt I should know, but couldnt think how to solve. I was frustrated with this tutor (who also crossed some professional boundaries) because usually standardized tests are a strength of mine, but the GMAT was winning.

Manhattan Prep Advanced online course

This is where Mark comes in, after 3 attempts at the GMAT, I was willing to try something new. I signed up for the advanced online class through Manhattan prep. I typically stay away from online group study classes because it's easy for me to get distracted completely defeating the point..

Mark's advanced online class was excellent. It skips the basics and jumps right into how to increase your score. He keeps everyone engaged by "cold calling" which kept me from playing on my phone and I learned a lot from my classmates. What I learned especially on verbal was that while I may have gotten the right answer, it wasn't necessarily always for the right reasons!
I also challenged myself to make sure I did ALL the homework in between the lessons. I really enjoyed the Manhattan prep video lessons that they had on topics. I watched all of them multiple times. However, my mistake here was that I did not do all the practice tests. Therefore I still struggled with timing and test stress when I took my 4th GMAT a month after the class finished.
My score improved (finally!) to a 710 (Q44, V44). My verbal score benefited the most from the advanced online class and I went from a 40 to a 44.

Mark Sullivan Private Tutoring
I was happier with the 710, but still not satisfied. I really felt I had more I could do on the quant. I reached out to Mark to see if he was available to help me while I prep for my 5th and final GMAT about a month later. Luckily he was and we got started right away.
Working with Mark for private tutoring after the Advanced Online class was absolutely the right choice for me. I had the strong base (from doing all the homework) and I knew how he taught. We were able to build on that really quickly and I improved every tutoring session. He had me practice every day on timing and I did regular practice tests. The private tutoring was great because then we could really expand on my unique questions.

Thanks to Mark I had a 40 point improvement in my GMAT score!

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I found this course to be a worthwhile investment. I signed up primarily for accountability, but I also found the content and strategies very helpful. Jeff is a very good instructor - from a teaching perspective, as strong as any college professor I have experienced. To learn the test and stay motivated/accountable, this course is worth the cost and time commitment.

My quant did not improve significantly throughout the course but I owe this to a lack of studying on my part. Jeff provided us with intuitive explanations of tough math problems, but I did not invest the time on my own to master them. I think a bit more time could have been devoted in the course to reviewing the signals/triggers for certain patterns/tells in quant problems, but there is a certain point where you just need to teach yourself the content if it's been a while since you have memorized basic math.

The focus on timing and strategic approach to taking the test was very valuable. The "Yellow Pad" timing method is extremely helpful and I used it religiously during my exam. This course taught me that getting a handle on timing and the related nuances of an adaptive model is half the battle.

Overall, very pleased. Would recommend to a friend - particularly someone who is very committed to attending business school.

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The Manhattan Prep online course I took was taught by Emily Madan. She was very detail-oriented, insightful and all around helpful in my GMAT pursuit. I started the class in August of this year and studied/did homework religiously. My original score was a 610 and quant was my biggest weak point. Emily was great in every class and always challenged us. The format is typically a topic from a combination of verbal/quant/IR and then example questions on that topic. She gave us plenty of strategies to use on test day. I would highly recommend using Emily to anyone wanting to improve their scores. I went from a 610 to a 690. It took me 4 months of hard studying and it definitely paid off. I would recommend Manhattan Prep/Emily to anyone looking to strengthen GMAT scores.

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I worked with Reed at Manhattan Prep NYC from May-August 2019. I came in to tutoring scoring around 560-610 on a few practice GMATs I had taken. In September, I ended up scoring a 710 (45Q, 41V)! Reed's patience, clever strategies/tricks and expertise were a critical part of my GMAT journey. I am by no means a natural test taker, but with persistence and Reed's guidance I was able to exceed my target score. Not only is he fun to work with, but he is great at tailoring each lesson exactly to what you need (sometimes he knew what I needed better than I did) for both Quant and Verbal. I highly recommend working with Reed if you are looking to improve you GMAT score. I can genuinely say that not only did his expertise greatly help my score but also that I looked forward to every session! It's been a pleasure.

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After talking with friends and co-workers and reading reviews online about available GMAT prep courses, I decided to take the Manhattan Prep Online Course. I particularly wanted to take the course with Jamie because of all the great reviews I had read about her. Having completed the course, I believe that those reviews were definitely warranted. Jamie is a great instructor – knowledgeable, friendly, and engaging. Throughout the course she offered very helpful advice on timing and strategies, and her many “Jamie-isms” really helped ingrain the concepts being taught. Jamie was also very responsive outside of class if I had questions or concerns. She provided detailed feedback after each CAT and put together a personalized study plan during the Post-Course Assessment that I think really enabled me to optimize my final phase of studying before I took the GMAT.

In terms of the overall course, I think the classes were very well structured, and I appreciated the wealth of available resources. The course includes access to the Manhattan Prep strategy guides, along with great tools such as Navigator, Interact Videos, and the Manhattan Prep GMAT app. There is a lot of homework before each class, but I appreciated the homework in part because it helped me keep a good study schedule.

If you decide to take this course (which I would highly recommend), one thing you should note is that Manhattan Prep’s CAT exams are generally harder than the actual GMAT, so you shouldn’t be too discouraged when you take them. Since I was used to the CAT exams, I was much more comfortable when I finally took the real GMAT.

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I highly recommend private tutoring with Joshua Braslow. After scoring 650 (Q: 42 / V: 37) on my first attempt I signed up for private tutoring with Joshua and retook the GMAT after three private tutoring sessions (~4 weeks). On my second attempt, I accomplished my goal and scored 710 (Q:46 / V: 41). Joshua helped identify strengths/weaknesses and targeted strategic areas for improvement to help me raise my score in a short amount of time. In the tutoring sessions, Joshua coached me on content as well as strategy and I felt well-prepared during my second GMAT attempt. Could not have achieved the score I was hoping for as quickly as I was able to without Joshua's help. I highly recommend using Joshua regardless of where you stand in your studies. He will help set goals and provide useful insights that will help you accomplish those goals.

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After about 5 years away from school and looking for a career shift, I chose to take the Manhattan Prep 9-class in person course in preparation for the GMAT. After graduating from school in 2014 I took the GMAT as a baseline with the anticipation that I may want to go to business school in the future: I scored a 630. For the next five years I spent zero time thinking about the GMAT, although I did work in a field that is fairly quant heavy. That should give a fair amount of background on where I stood going into the MP course. I chose to take the in person course based on the consideration that a set curriculum and a sense of accountability to show up to class each week would help me study more. I think this was the right choice for me.

The course itself was presented in a manner that made it comprehensible for anyone with even a minimal mathematics background. The structure of the course is such that it builds on itself week by week and homework is meant to introduce concepts that would be expounded upon in the next class. I found the course to be critical to my performance on the exam in such that all concepts for answering questions, strategies, and problem type were discussed at nearly all levels of difficulty in class. The course follows a basic outline: present a concept, work through an easy version of the problem as a class, work on a harder version alone, mix in that concept with others in a problem set. I found this manner of learning to be helpful and allowed time for recalling mathematical processes learned years ago.

As for the homework/workload, it is paced at a fair clip but not breakneck speed. I spent about 10 hours a week on homework and performed one 4 hour practice test every 2-4 weeks. The course uses a MP website to direct tasks, readings, problem sets, etc. This clearly set out study plan helped keep me on track and direct my studying. I found this program to be most useful in that it set foundations and built upon concepts learned earlier in the course. One final product that MP offers is interactice videos that explain different concepts/strategies. This was particularly helpful to review as a refresher after finishing the course and just before sitting for the exam.

Finally, my instructor, Jeff, was phenomenal for a variety of reasons. Principally, his presentation of concepts was articulate and easily understood by all members of the class. It was clear based on the variety of backgrounds of my classmates that we were not all starting at the same level. Jeff understood this and was skilled in presenting the material and answering questions in a manner everyone understood. Jeff was always available to help after class or through email. Many times I emailed Jeff with a problem or concept I was struggling on and would have a video back from him talking through the problem within 24 hours. I would recommend him to anyone.

I ended up taking the exam once and scored a 720 (48Q, 41V). I took this improvement from a 630 years ago in large part to be due to the MP curriculum and the instruction and availability of Jeff.

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I took both the in-person 9 week course as well as a few supplemental in-person tutoring sessions with Dave Mahler (instructor for both).

The course was a great introduction to the proper approach to each section and topic matters as well as best practices. The books are well-written and there is a wide range of basic through advanced material for everyone. Dave did a great job managing students' different levels of comfort with each topic and is a very engaging teacher. He cuts through a lot of the BS and makes sure that his students are focusing their time on the most important topics. Dave was also generous with his time, both before and after class as well as offering to answer one off questions or review practice test scores with all his students via email. My score went from an initial 660 up to 700 following the class when I had to take some time off from studying due to work commitments.

I engaged Dave for some top-up tutoring a few weeks later and he helped me diagnose a few key process areas that were deflating my score as well as teaching me new techniques to help with problematic content areas. He was also great about providing tailored follow-up problems that helped reinforce the areas covered each session for extra practice. Following a few one on one sessions with him I was able to bump my score to 740 and couldn't be happier with my decision to use MGMAT for my prep.

From the instructors to the online portal for tracking assignments and all of the excellent content, Manhattan Prep definitely went the extra mile to help its students succeed.

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The first time that I took the MPrep GMAT course, I made significant progress during the course but was unable to find the time to study after the course ends (it is recommended that you self-study for 2-6 weeks after the course concludes). I took the Manhattan Prep class again roughly a year later and saw even greater benefit from the course given a starting knowledge base. I found there to be great benefit to the in-person course (particularly with my instructor, Jeff Volmer) to pick up small tips and tricks that added small bumps to my score (accumulating 10 points here and there adds up). Jeff was helpful during class, outside of class, and even after the course concluded. The quality of the Manhattan Prep resources was instrumental to helping me achieve my goal GMAT score.

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I've been working with Mark ever since I enrolled in his Advanced Course back in October 2018. At that point, my sister had already taken a regular course with him and suggested that I enroll in the Advanced Course to see if I could raise my score to the 700+ level. I'm not a great test taker and I think timing in the GMAT is especially difficult, but - after his Advanced Course and several private tutoring sessions - Mark really helped me get to the 700+ I was hoping for.

Mark is a GMAT expert (he'll be able to walk you through the best way to solve any problem you throw at him), but he's also excellent at helping you maximize your study time -- he really makes an effort to identify the areas of improvement that will help you achieve the largest score improvement on the test. In particular, I think the private tutoring sessions were especially helpful because Mark and I were able to look into my weak areas much more closely (i.e. advanced absolute value, inequalities, or geometry concepts that I was too shy to ask in class). He was also able to show me quant problem shortcuts that were tailored to my specific weaknesses and create a personalized study plan that allowed me to efficiently tackle low-hanging fruit given my tight timeline. And while the private tutoring sessions are a little pricey, Mark is willing to work with whatever budget you may have. In the end, I'm extremely glad that I decided to work with Mark and I thought the Advanced Course/private tutoring sessions were absolutely worth it.

My GMAT journey was not an easy one for me (scoring a 670, then a 680 in which my verbal and quant scores essentially flipped), but I'm glad I didn't give up. Seeking the right kind of help can really make all the difference and I think Mark was key throughout my whole process.

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