I gave Manhattan GMAT a shot due to a recommendation from a friend. He told me that it would be a lot of time, a lot of work, and a lot of sacrifice. He was right.

Starting the first day, the instructor said "say bye to all of your friends and loved ones for the next 10 weeks." The classes, homework assignments, online lectures, practice exams, and self preparation definitely took up all of my weekday evenings and virtually all of my weekends. Then again, I am not the brainiac type who can just eat things up in the first review. I'm the "normal" type of person who needs to read things twice (or even 3 times) to fully understand the concepts.

The instructor was very knowledgeable about the actual material (which they give you a LOT of... more than you can actually finish during the 10 week course). What really impressed me was that when he answered questions, he would tell his answer and break down how people usually come to the wrong conclusions. This was true for both the quant and verbal examples. Also, when doing examples in class, he made a point to show us the trickiest ones, or the ones that a majority of people get wrong. By doing this, we are keen on looking out for these “pitfalls” during the real test.

Side note: This course is NOT for the faint of heart (i.e. the ones who take things personally when they get the wrong answer, or are embarrassed when they say the wrong thing in class). In my opinion, by putting your pride aside, having an open mind, and being a sponge in class, you can more readily grasp the important techniques they are trying to impart. Ok, back to the review.

Manhattan GMAT makes you take a practice exam before starting the course, and then throughout the 9 weeks, you take several practice tests at specific time periods. It was no surprise that my first few practice tests were lower than initial one since I was still adapting to their style. After practicing their methods (a lot), I started to see an increase. At the end of the class, the instructor uses your test results and comes up with a “self study guide” that is tailored to your time frame (i.e. the time between the last day of class and your actual test), your strengths, and your weaknesses. What I appreciated here was that my instructor was still VERY accessible via phone or email even though the course was over.

One of the downsides about Manhattan GMAT is that after the last class, they give you the aforementioned study guide, but beyond that, you are left to your own devices. The things you study (Word Properties, Sentence Correction, Critical Reasoning, Geometry, etc.), the amount you study for, when you take your left over practice exams… all of that is up to you. If you are the type of person who can set a schedule and stay by it, then you’re OK. If you’re the type who cannot, then you may need extra motivation from somewhere. Things get even less structured when you have to take the test the second time because you must wait an entire month before you can get after it again. My schedule was like this: Last day of class, 2 weeks of study, GMAT #1, 1 month of study, GMAT #2, Have a drink (because you deserve it).

In the end, the course was a LOT of work. I kept an open mind, put in my time, and I squeezed all I could out of the 10 weeks + 1 month… in the end, I got accepted to a Top 5 business school.

I highly recommend Manhattan GMAT if you are gunning for a top tier school and have the time, energy, and motivation to devote to the exam. It’s not cheap, but worth every dime.

Good luck!

If you're serious about a great score, you need to take an in-person course taught by none other than Ron Purewal. I went from a diagnostic score of 530 to an amazing 720! If I can do it, you can too! He really makes sure you're getting good value for the huge dent they put in your wallet.

I also utilized their one-on-one phone sessions and received some of the most useful feedback in the process. "Thursdays with Ron" videos are also a great supplement to your studies too.

The only thing that sucked was that they ran out of supplies (examination booklet, headsets, MBA books, etc) and didn't get them to me until halfway through the course.

This course really whipped me into shape for the big test. I loved the strategy guides and the lessons were very interactive. Most helpful pieces: Number Property Strategy Guide, Timing Lab, Data Sufficiency strategies (mostly in class), and the instructor office hours. I got a 730 on the first try and I felt like I could scored even higher if I took it again.

The balance between verbal and math is perfect, there are more resources than you know what to do with, and the teachers are incredible. If you miss something, you can go online and listen to the class again.

The online resources and endless, from extra practice work to online demonstrations, to forums about troublesome material.

Ron Purewal was my instructor in San Francisco and I literally don't think I have ever met a more intelligent person that also has such an innate teaching ability.

You get every penny's worth of your money for this course and I can't recommend it highly enough.