Review of Manhattan GMAT

indispensable

In my MBA applications, I had a focus on my GMAT score: I got 700 and I entered the only school I applied for.

As English is not my first langage and I left school years ago, I was nervous about the goal of 700 or above that I had put on my shoulder.

Actually I registered to two preps: Manathan GMAT and Knewton, as I was too nervous.

Manathan GMAT has an amazing material with their books: outstanding; it is a lot of work to go through all of them and to retain anything but it is very useful.

I liked the class too as you are given tricks: there you are learning the GMAT langage; You learn to recognize how it works and what is the thinking pattern, why you are making so many errors: I enjoyed this part immensely and I saved a lot of study time.

The classes has brought me a lot. It is there that I understood what it is all about and I also gained confidence with my level of English: confidence is very important for this exam which is a psychological challenge more than anything else.

The teacher mastered the subject and was dedicated to the class: I have saved a lot of time learning from her. I just regretted that we didn't make more difficult problems (level above 700) but I understood that if you don't master the basis you are loosing your time and money: you have to build your strength one step at a time.

Compared to Knewton, the registered session on Internet are not good to my mind: it is not lively and I got bored after 10 minutes. That I didn't like and that's a minus for the prep. But a friend thought that Veritas was as horrible or more for the registered session. So I am guessing that there Manathan is average, where Knewton has specialised in having lively recordings.

Knewton also gives a lot of tricks: my feeling is that with Manathan - regular session - you can go to 700 but it will be hard to go over, while Knewton seems to give you the material to go over but if you don't assimilate the base properly, you won't reach 700 even, so for that I prefer Manathan GMAT: it is serious and you can go step by step, no matter what is your level at the beginning.

As a non native English speaking I definitly enjoyed Manathan GMAT as it is easy to follow.

I would have like to have a prep specifically to go over the 700: I think it is not that difficult: it was worth for me working on it with Manathan GMAT; I don't think I would have managed by myself and I would have got discouraged, not understanding why I made so many errors, especially on the verbal but also on the math part.

I am thankful for that prep: I am now where I wanted to go.

MGMAT offers thorough and comprehensive GMAT preparation

I enrolled in Manhattan GMAT's NYC Winter C 2010 9-Session Prep Course and was extremely satisfied with both the services provided by MGMAT as well as my score.

My instructor, Jonathan Schneider, was engaging, energetic, and most importantly, an awesome instructor. His grasp of the test and the material was seemingly unparalleled. Jon would consistently push students to their limits in way that everyone felt comfortable to participate and to learn. He had the command of the material to make up examples on the spot that targeted specific areas, which are tested on the GMAT. These can range from relative clauses to number properties. Jon was able to clearly and concisely review key concepts in order for the students to learn the material and do well on the test. This brings me to my next point. The goal of MGMAT is to teach the material as opposed to gaming the test with tricks/tips, which may or may not work on test day. I have found myself using the grammar learned in the class on a day to day basis. I understand this isn't the goal of the course but it helped me to A. score well on the test and B. become a more polished writer.

In addition to the weekly live in person session, MGMAT offers all of its students more tools than I believe any student can actually use in order to prepare for the GMAT. Some of these include video labs, online q banks, spreadsheets to track your progress on OG problems, 30 minute telephone tutoring sessions, calendars aimed to guide your preparation, Ipod flash cards, in class handouts, and the list goes on. This is important because everyone studies a little differently and it is great to have a bevy of resources so that each student is able to find multiple offerings to aid in his/her test prep.

The personal touch is something that set MGMAT apart in my opinion. Due to some unforeseen plans, my test date got pushed back later than I would have liked and Jon was still willing to review all of my test data and help guide my preparation during the final weeks leading up to the test.

I recommend MGMAT to all prospective students. From my experience you will have an instructor that feels vested in your success and will provide you with all the tools necessary to reach your potential.

Provides a good foundation and structure for taking the GMAT

-The courses are well organized with a syllabus distributed during the first class

-The instructor kept the class on-schedule so that we never felt as if we were rushed to cover material

-There is a large amount of homework for each week. I would definitely recommend taking the time to complete the assigned homework each week to get the most out of the course

-The course also comes with access to Manhattan GMAT's robust online resources. The one drawback is that access to the online component expires within 3 months of having completed the course

Great prep program

Manhattan GMAT offers smart instructors who know the ins and outs of the GMAT and a solid structure and timeline to prep for the exam. I took the exam before my 9 week course was over and still scored over 700. While ultimately you need to put in the time studying (regardless of which prep program you use, if any) MG teaches great tips and tricks that are helpful on the exam. I have already recommended Manhattan GMAT prep courses to my friends.

Extraordinary Experience

I had to shell out a lot of money and take a pretty serious leap of faith for the MGMAT 2-week boot camp. I think it came in at about $3k, and to be honest, the staff in the MGMAT office was not especially helpful when it came to questions over the phone. I was basically looking for guidance on the boot camp versus private tutoring and I felt like I was being responded off pre-written response cards. At the end of the day, I just checked reviews on the internet, talked to some friends, and took a gamble. It paid off.

The 2-week boot camp was co-taught by Jonathan and Hemanth. I was absolutely thrilled with both of them. They have different teaching styles, but both are extremely effective. Both were incredibly humorous, and personable. I was also blown away by how comfortable they were in the test and all of its nuances.

One of the biggest aids for me was when Jonathan offhanded remarked that all of the GMAT instructors agree that to beat the GMAT, you need to be a bit of a "GMAT nerd." And by that he meant, instead of being scared by the test, be interested in the question. Realize what they want you to think, where the traps will be, so that you become intrigued by each questions rather than paralyzed. This really worked for me...after my third CAT I went home to my fiancee and remarked - "this is really a fantastic test. I'm starting to fall in love with it." It was this attitudinal change that really took me from my starting score and vaulted me into the 700s.

Jonathan spent hours with me outside of classes, and responding to my e-mails. I just checked GMail, and we have nearly 50 e-mails back forth, half of which probably came after the course had officially ended. I also bombed the GMAT when I took it immediately after the course because my nerves got the better of me...Jonathan helped cool me down and set a plan for re-taking it. I followed his advice completely and it worked :)

The last thing I wanted to mention was how impressed I was by the MGMAT online framework. There are so many tools. I spent over 300 hours studying this summer, and still probably used less than half of their online tools. Normally I think of "online supplements" as weak marketing tools, so I didn't even pay attention to them at first. Only when our instructors started taking us through the value of the online tools, and how they enabled us to analyze our performance in each category and niche question type did my score really start to move. Knowing exactly where to focus (super specified) probably saved me dozens of hours of studying.

Overall, this was a dream experience. When the course ended I remarked to my fiancee how sad I was, because it was such a merit to be able to learn with Jonathan and Hemanth for two weeks straight. They made my days entertaining and productive. Oh well...now off to biz school :)