Manhattan Prep GMAT Course Reviews

I was very happy with the outcome of my second GMAT test. I took the 9-week course with Kay Christensen, who was a fantastic instructor. The class was somewhat large (~15 students), which made the class somewhat slower than I would have liked, but I think the late spring / summer months tend to be busier. Ultimately, the score you get is up to you. I spent nine weeks taking the course and another roughly seven weeks of very intense self-studying before I felt I was ready to take the test. The course gives great foundational knowledge and a schedule to work off of, but much of the work takes place after the course. I did take the official GMAT about three weeks after the end of my course, but that was intentional so that I would get used to the environment. That helped, as I felt much calmer during my second test.

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Taking a Manhattan Prep GMAT course is the best decision I've made thus far in my MBA journey. Isaac is a fantastic teacher and truly understands the needs of each student and strives to help everyone achieve their desired score. In about 3 months I went from 550 on my first practice test to 750 on test day.

I can't overstate how much the class and Isaac helped my GMAT score. Isaac was helpful with everything from test strategies and techniques to motivation and study tips. He is sharp and engaging and always explains problems in multiple ways so that each student can find the technique that works best for him or her.

Thanks, Isaac!

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Pros: The instructor did a very good job of focusing on the foundational concepts. Almost as important, he did a nice job instructing students on how to identify shortcuts and common traps, which led to big time savings. The instructor approached teaching in a thoughtful way that made it easier to power through the 3-hour long classes.

Cons: There seemed to only be two types of question during the class - extremely basic or complex. This led to a gap in learning where one second you would feel confident and the next not, but you do not know where the drop off occurred. This could may also be seen as a pro, but the Manhattan practice GMATs were significantly more difficult than the actual test/GMAC practice tests. I saw minimal improvement with the Manhattan tests from the beginning to the end of the class, but saw a huge improvement when I began taking the tests administered by the actual GMAC. The post-course assessment (homework once you're done with the class) was largely pointless, which I believe is a missed opportunity. They assign an overbearing number of questions from the very simple to extremely complex and don't give you mush of a roadmap on what to focus on 1st, 2nd, etc.

Biggest place to improve: It would be nice to have a class with a quant focus and a class with a verbal focus (but both of which cover in less detail the other subject matter).

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FULL DISCLOSURE:

I'm writing this article because I'm appalled to see the little reviews that Ron has on this tutor section. He runs an entire segment 'Thursdays with Ron' on Manhattan's website which is completely free. I don't know if the company pays him to do this, but it appears that he has either volunteered or he was hand selected to run the recurring series every week. Regardless, I can tell that he puts a lot of heart and effort into this free public segment so as a big THANK YOU, I am writing this review hoping that he gets a chance to view my appreciation.

Let me just start off by saying that I'm an older candidate (late twenties/early thirties) and when I first started GMAT Prep, I did not remember that a triangle is 180 degrees nor did I remember the definition of a Prime Number. I spent a lot of time reading through the Manhattan GMAT book series, consuming over a month's work as I wasted time learning idioms and technical terms of the English language. Although I must be fair and disclose that English is my first language, I was never a great writer nor was I ever a good standardized test taker. B/A student throughout most of high school and a C student in college.

After spending 1+ month reading through the Manhattan GMAT series, I scored a 560 on the MGMAT diagnostic exam. I then went through all of OG 2015 problems, watched some Veritas & GMAT Pill videos to score a miserable 560 on my first GMAT exam. I then began to realize I was memorizing certain math formulas, idioms, verbal techniques/shortcuts, things to look for throughout SC/CR/RC instead of UNDERSTANDING the actual material. The biggest change in my score happened when I stopped learning shortcuts/patterns that a lot of other prep companies teach, but instead followed Ron's method by doing a full dive into the material, fully grasping the concepts -- what I would call "rolling in the mud."

Well to make a long story even longer, Ron helped me truly understand CR/RC/SC, fundamentals of quant, and how number properties truly work. I think I started GMAT Prep with a high 20 Verbal score and on test day, I ended up scoring a 96% percentile on CR, but RC dragged down my overall score as I'm notorious for making careless mistakes in that arena.

I will fill out a more detailed debrief later on when I retake the GMAT a third time for a more (hopefully) accurate score as I was hitting around 730-760 on the GMAT Prep software. I only had 2 hours of sleep this time around, but still managed to score a 680, which was well over a 200+ improvement from when I first began my studies. Ron, you are THE MAN. Thank you once again for everything you do.

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I had two courses with Manhattan GMAT. The first one was the online course with Stacey Koprince. Before the course, I took the GMAT and scored 550 - I quickly realized that I had been out of school for quite some time! My goal was to learn the basics and get introduced to the GMAT through that course, and it was an excellent introduction for me.
After the course, I studied for a couple of months. At that point, I could score about 600. I knew that I needed a customized classes, so I had about ten sessions with Stacey and eventually scored a 690! I think this score would not have been possible for me without Stacey for a couple of reasons:
1. Expertise - she knows in an out of the world of GMAT. She has seen all sort of questions, and as soon as she looks at one, she knows the common traps.
2. Dedication - the private tutoring is hourly and is expensive. Stacey was beyond generous with her time with me, and I cannot thank her enough for that. She made sure that my questions are answered in each session before we ended our class. Also, she responded to my lengthy emails all the time, and she provided very detailed answers.
3. Flexible teaching style - I enjoyed Stacey's teaching styles because I think that she is very flexible to my needs. Her articles are amazing sources of insights about everything related to the GMAT.
She went above and beyond what I had paid to make sure that I have gotten the value out of my classes. She checked upon me between our classes and gave me motivation and positive energy when I was stressed and tired. Overall, an excellent instructor who truly cares about her students' success.

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As I began the MBA application process, I wanted to get a good jumpstart on my GMAT studies. I decided to sign up for Manhattan Prep’s live class in Santa Monica. I tested out the online classes but it wasn’t for me. I signed up for a weekday night class with Elaine Loh and I was not disappointed. Elaine was a great instructor. She really knows her stuff and brings tons of excitement and energy to the classroom. This is especially important when you are covering a dull topic at 9:00 at night after a long day of work. Elaine was also very willing to help outside of the classroom and was very responsive to any email questions or concerns I had. The live classes and assigned homework also force you to stay on track while studying. In order to get the most out of the class, I recommend doing the assigned homework and coming to class prepared and with questions. In the end, the classes do a great job of laying out the core concepts and strategies to help you succeed on the test. For anyone looking at options for GMAT prep, I would definitely recommend the Manhattan Prep Live class with Elaine Loh.

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I initially studied independently using Kaplan and empower Gmat, but after about 120 hours of studying and one GMAT test I scored a 680. I took some time off and decided to take Manhattan GMAT. Right of the bat I really liked their approach. The live classes, the learning while doing reinforced by rigorous studying. My professor was very accessible and really helpful with questions. After completing the course in 4.5 weeks and about 10 days of additionally studying I took the GMAT and crushed it. My timing was on point for all sections and I scored a 710. They also have given me a post exam assessment which gave me a plan for my time before the next exam I take. Reed was extremely helpful at times during the class and after. His methodology was really good and rarely did I just get an answer to my question. It usually was a question to my question which would allow my to understand the why of the issue. This was a huge plus. Another huge plus is the performance tracking system they offer not only for the CAT's but also for all the practice questions you do. If you time yourself for each question and record your response you can then visually see what topics or areas you need to work on and which ones are really strong.

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I did a 9-week GMAT prep course in person and highly recommend it to anybody who's on the fence about taking an in-person class. I also hit the jackpot with Ryan Jacobs as an instructor. He's extremely good, he handles a class of mixed abilities very well, and I really felt that he added a ton of value beyond what you can get from self-study using all the Manhattan GMAT materials. Definitely worth the (quite high) expense of the class, and it paid dividends in the score I ended up getting. Manhattan also offers other services beyond the 9-week course -- you can schedule a "Post-Course Assessment" and create a post-course self-study plan leading up to your test date. I found all the materials, services, and classes extremely helpful.

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I paid for both a Kaplan course (2015) and a Manhattan course (2016) to prepare for the GMAT. I ended up not utilizing the Kaplan course in 2015 and it took me a year to choose Manhattan. Part of the reason I never used Kaplan materials is because of the more rigid structure with a time limit of being able to access online resources. I needed flexibility and Manhattan provided just that! With thin, content-driven strategy guide books that I could shove in my computer bag Monday morning before flying to a client and read on the plane or at my hotel room, Manhattan provided a high-quality curriculum based on learning fundamentals. Manhattan also allows you to access online resources for much longer than Kaplan. I do think Manhattan's practice CAT exams are more difficult than the actual GMAT, they helped me prepare for the real test, which I only had to take one time to obtain an excellent score. Jayson and Gerald from Manhattan were also great - they helped me solidify and test what I was learning in the course material throughout the week and humanized the GMAT prep experience with fun stories and great tips. Thanks, Manhattan Prep!

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I took Manhattan Prep's GMAT courses last year. The syllabus was very well designed and the instructor, Jonathan Schneider, was extremely skilled and up-to-date on the latest GMAT trends/topics/question types. Coming from Engineering background, my biggest weakness was in Verbal section, for which the combination of Manhattan's text books and CAT exams and Jonathan's instructions were extremely helpful. From information on the algorithm that Official GMAT uses to calculate the score, to common mistakes that people make in different question types, to smallest details on how to physically and mentally prepare for the exam, you can ask or email Jonathan whatever you want and he's always there to answer with tremendous resourcefulness and patience, even far after you're done with classes. Two month after I finished my classes I got 710 in my first official GMAT try. I build upon the solid verbal foundation that Jonathan and Manhattan's classes had created in me to study more, and eventually in my third try I got 760 (99th percentile) with a verbal score of 44 (98th) percentile. I highly recommend Manhattan and especially Jonathan's classes to whoever is shooting for a 700+ or score.

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