I took the MGMAT online course from March to June. Going into the course I had read many other companies test prep material (Kaplan, Princeton, 800scores...etc). The materials used by these other companies can't even come close to the materials provided by MGMAT. The quant section in particular was incredibly detailed and gave tons of examples that I could easily related back to when I was going through practice questions and actually taking the exam. The verbal materials were also quite strong as they spent more time focusing on increasing my speed and ensuring that I knew the material after the first read.
The instructors were also fantastic. It was clearly obvious that they were very smart guys and knew their stuff. They had no problem answer any of the questions that the class had and made the stuff we learned out of class very clear once we were in the class. The strategies I learned in this course were clearly well thought out and it was evident that they were created based on extensive research with the exam.
With that said the course was very time consuming and required a lot of work. If you feel that you did not get your money's worth with this course it is more a product of your inability to meet the work load requirements (which of course will be enormous, but you get what out what you put in). Personally I think this course was well worth the money, and I could easily justify spending twice as much.

The material is great, and the teacher Mark Porath, is masterful. He was firm and focused and yet flexible, he not only taught but also inspired.

I thought the instructor, Andrew, was pretty good. He was patient when I was completely clueless about something everyone else seemed to understand, and explained it to me. One thing I really dislike is the "pick an answer" exercises, using the cards labeled A through E and a question mark for "I have no clue." It's kind of embarrassing. The classroom is on 14th Street, next to the men's bathhouse -- kind of a transitional area and a hassle to get to if you don't live nearby. Some of the math questions were incredibly difficult (in my opinion), and that scared me so much that I was really giving it my all. In verbal, I was pretty strong already, so I kind of took that part a bit easier (a change to breathe). I give it four stars, vs. 5, because it's kind of an uncomfortable class to take: everyone else is really smart and seemingly smug; it's intimidating and the questions are so much harder than the real exams. I didn't feel happy in the classroom; I felt afraid, insecure, and stupid. But I guess the class did its job.

Manhattan GMAT's 9-session prep course was an appropriately thorough review of the material for the GMAT for working professionals considering applying to business school in the future. Dave did a great job of covering all of the topics addressed on the exam in as much detail as our class required. In particular, Dave guided us in how to study efficiently and make sure to improve our weaknesses rather than merely confirming our strengths. Overall I thought it was a great course and would definitely recommend it to others looking for a GMAT prep course.

Pro's:
- Practice problems discussed in class and detailed explanations afterward
- Dave was very accessible as a teacher and enthusiastic about the content
- 6 CAT exams that were available online for practice
- Extensive question bank and focused content capsules to zone in on problem areas
- Syllabus provided an excellent guideline to break up material / suggest timetables for studying

Con's:
- classes tended to drag a bit at times; sometimes as function of the class participation aspect
- content was helpful but not especially groundbreaking
- Manhattan GMAT books not that helpful; found official GMAT guide to be the most helpful

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.

If you?re willing to do your part----Manhattan GMAT will absolutely help you beat the GMAT. The course material that is provided covers every topic you need to know in order to do well on the test. The course is outlined in such a way that students have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the material to a great extent and to master the concepts needed to grasp the concepts being covered. The Math guides that the course offers break the seemingly impossible quant section down into different subtopics that are tackled on a weekly/bi-weekly basis generally speaking so that students can become fairly comfortable with the material being covered before moving on to the next area. The Verbal content of the course was spread fairly evenly throughout the class although, for Sentence Correction for example, students would work of Subject/Verb Agreement one week, modifiers another week, pronoun agreement another week etc. etc. Basically, the course and course materials are organized in such a way that students don't feel as overwhelmed as they otherwise might when faced with the test as a whole.

My instructor Andrew Mara was phenomenal. He broke down complex math/verbal concepts to the very basics so that my classmates and I could better understand the tougher material that we covered. He was always engaging (which is saying something considering we aren't covering very interesting stuff when we?re talking about the GMAT) and he was always willing to answer any and all questions from the class. He gave me advice that was probably the most important piece of information I received when preparing for the GMAT: "Finish the Test." With his help, I came to face the fact that if you can?t answer it within a certain amount of time on the GMAT (i.e. 2 mins for math questions) you need to make your best guess (quickly!!!) and move on. Literally with this advice and the material that we covered in the course that helped shore up my foundation in math which was shaky at best---I saw my score increase over 160 points from my first practice CAT with Manhattan GMAT to the actual exam. In closing---this company knows the GMAT. They give you everything you need do well on the test if you are willing to use the tools they provide and put your best foot forward. The Official Guide Companion and the bright yellow stopwatch and towards the end of my prep period the dry erase board they provide all helped me a great deal. You cannot ask for much more than you get with Manhattan GMAT.

I had a great experience with Manhattan GMAT - Prior to the course I had a GMAT score of 650, and MGMAT helped propel me to reach 700.

The instructor, Erica Lee, was wonderful. Furthermore, the online tools were extremely useful and complimented to the lessons taught in class.

MGMAT is especially helpful with preparing for the quantitative section of the GMAT as the course not only teaches the underlying math, but also the various and quickest approaches to solving the problems.

In comparison to my previous GMAT course that led me to a score of 650 (I won't mention the name of the provider of that course), the course taught by Manhattan GMAT is vastly superior.

The best part about this course was the quality of the instructor. He was enthusiastic and very knowledgeable. Having a boring instructor could have made taking this prep course terrible, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The materials given to you at the beginning are great guides. The practice problems are helpful. I think the best book is the new Official Guide Quantitative Solutions book which provides an in-depth guide to every solution. Also, I found Manhattan Gmat's online materials to be helpful- in the "forum", students copy/paste questions from practice exams, and the questions are answered by staff.

That being said, I didn't improve my score at all. I took the exam 3 times- 2 of the times, I scored lower than my original score (BEFORE taking the course), and the 3rd time I scored the same as my original score. I found there to be a pretty large discrepancy between my verbal score when I did Manhattan Gmat problems and when I took the actual exams (I scored significantly lower on the actual exam). So... overall, I thought the quality of the course was great, but I didn't end up improving at all.

I had a great experience with Manhattan GMAT. I credit my teacher, Erica Lee and MGMAT's prep materials and website for my success. The biggest factor to improving my score 120 points (from the first practice test I took), was Erica. Her classes were dynamic and quite engaging considering the subject. Erica was able to boil down the concepts required for the test to their fundamental pieces and then helped us combine our new skills and knowledge to solve increasingly difficult problems.

Additionally, I never ran out of practice problems and practice tests. MGMAT's printed materials, while very expensive, proved valuable as I had the opportunity to practice each skill over and over again. The website and the MGMAT practice tests were another significant asset.

Without MGMAT and especially Erica, I don't think I would have gotten into one of my top choice schools.

This course was a 9 week course. Each week, the instructor focused on a couple of different topics that come up often on the test (ie. Reading comp & geometry) and potential pitfalls of students. Basically, the class is a review session of the homework for that week. The syllabus breaks down the course into more manageable practice sets (but it's a lot of work). You have to do the work to get the most out of the classes. But I liked Manhattan GMAT because they were very flexible about making up classes, scheduling practice exams and using the facilities. They are really nice to their students.

The instructor obviously had a lot of years of teaching experience. Answered questions solidly and knew what she was talking about, earned the class' respect. Made class after work amusing and engaging. She was also a really nice person which was a bonus.

MGMAT's class is fantastic. Ian helped me get my math to an acceptable level (42), while imparting the advanced tricks that helped me to squeeze every last point out of the verbal section (44). I actually looked forward to going to class, and Ian was always organized and ready to go.

The materials are also well done and very useful. There is a large volume of material to review, and that leads me to one caution for future students: You have to work at this class. I spent 10-15 hours per week reviewing and doing practice problems. Do not expect the three hours per week of class to help you at all, unless you go home and put your time in. With plenty of work, the class will help you refine your technique, timing, and brush up on any deficient content areas. If you need help with the Verbal section in particular, I would suggest enrolling with Ian. He also teaches LSAT, and it shows in his mastery of the GMAT verbal. I scored in the 99%ile in the verbal on both SAT and ACT, but I found Ian's help invaluable in posting a good verbal score on the GMAT. Good luck!

The GMAT and I were never meant to be friends. I am not a standardized test taker; I have the 520 GMAT score where I panicked during the math section to prove it. I was lucky enough to take the Manhattan GMAT course not once but twice because I was determined to get a 700. Thanks to Ron's engaging teaching style, enthusiasm for the GMAT and patience for many questions combined with Manhattan GMAT's excellent course materials, I was finally about to get that dream score. I have recommended Manhattan GMAT to anyone willing to listen. It is absolutely worth the investment for anyone who does not excel at standardized tests. It's a no-brainer.

I took one in Jun 2010, I am going to take GMAT in Nov so I don't have results yet however the experience has been great. The instructor put his full efforts in showing us all the tricks and tips to watch out for twists in questions. The class was very conveniently located and was very decent. The material however is the best part of the course. MGMAT provides you the best books, online resources and class room trainig. The books are very well written and the online resources are very useful. They provide you good techniques to save time and answer intelligently.


I would recommend this to working professionals who have less time to prepare but want to score high to get into decent school

I've encountered many teachers and tutors throughout my schooling and Ron is by far the best. No joke!

During my sessions with Ron I learned more valuable information and techniques than any course or self study program. Ron was able to diagnose my problems with the GMAT during our very first session by just watching how I solved the problems and seeing which problems I typically missed. The way that he is different from other instructors is that other instructors would have looked at my weaknesses and just told me to do more problems in those areas and go back and re-read the concepts in the workbooks. Instead, Ron gave me new techniques/tips to apply in those weak areas but more importantly he stressed his TAKEAWAY philosophy (just search the forum for takeaways)

Additional things I learned were a throwaway list, time management, alternative quant solving techniques, DS techniques, CR techniques, test day stress management, etc. For someone like me who had plateaued, Ron's help was helpful in taking me to the next level.

Also, as others have mentioned, he creates a comfortable setting in which its more of a dialogue than getting lectured at. He is simply awesome! Try to take a class with him and/or private tutoring.

Manhattan GMAT provided an excellent course in all areas (math, verbal, and writing) and I highly recommend it to any students who are taking the GMAT.

The course has 9, in-depth sessions with homework that allows the student to really learn the material and understand what the GMAT is after The goal of the course is to teach the students how to solve the problems with the appropriate methods. At the same time, the course teaches techniques for guessing correctly at problems that may be too tough and understanding where the GMAT is actually trying to trick you.

The teachers are all AMAZING and have scored in the 99th percentile. Their interview process is quite rigorous, and they get are compensated quite well, so their incentives are aligned. Manhattan GMAT really spares no expense in making sure its students get the best possible education.

My teacher, Ron Purewal, was excellent. He covered all the material needed and also made learning a very down to earth and fun experience. He was able to take problems are really help all the student's understand while also implementing a test-like atmosphere at times with timed answers. If you ever had any questions, he was always available to answer. The best thing about Ron is that he understands how people learn, so he is well suited to teach students.

After my course was I over, I spent about 6 more weeks studying for the test per the course material and recommended review. I found the online material (for post-course studying) very, very helpful. It allowed me to thoroughly practice on various sections that I felt weak on and had clear explanations for why I got an answer wrong.

I highly recommend the Manhattan GMAT course. Everyone I know who has achieved the highest scores did it through this course!

I?ve had 3 different tutors, so I think I can offer a unique perspective because I?ve seen what others have to offer. I know that many people have already said great things about Ron and I agree with them . What makes Ron so good?

He knows his material, and not just his material but theories, ideas, and methods that go far beyond the material.

Besides having excellent credentials, he?s been teaching standardized testing for years, and I?m talking over a decade or more. He takes a holistic approach to studying. I don?t know of any other teachers who can talk about the Stanislavsky method and the biological effects of stress and how all of it can be related to GMAT studying.

He makes even the complex simple by offering easy-to-grasp analogies and explanations

If you want a good example of this, you can check out his Thursdays with Ron video where he explains factors. He gives a good story to help understand the concept by using the story of two robbers.

He simplifies and streamlines

If there?s a more effective way than formulas and textbook methods, he?ll show you. At the same time, he won?t dismiss other methods. He?s not trying to replace tools in your tool box. He?s trying to give you a wider variety.

He?ll tell you directly if you?re wasting your time on a certain method or theory

I memorized a lot of formulas and Ron would tell me whether it was useful or simply a waste of time. If you look on a lot of the forums, you?ll find that many times people are using overly complex theories to solve problems, and if you?re doing this, Ron will tell you.

He focuses on the essentials

If you?re spending time learning something that isn?t going to help you on the test, he?ll tell you.

He has a philosophy

He has a method and an overall set of ideas that guide him and if anyone?s ever taught professionally, they?ll understand how important this is and how the best teachers have this.

He'll refocus your attention

There are many times where one may be doing a problem and wonder, ?Is this a 700 level problem?? Ron will tell you that it's not the level, but what you take away or learn from a problem that's important.

He?s responsive and explains everything until it?s understood

Anytime I had a question, he always responded in a timely manner with an excellent detailed response.

The first two hours with Ron was worth more than all the time I spent with 3 different tutors. That?s no exaggeration.

You can get a good idea of his teaching style if you see some of the Thursdays with Ron videos on MGMAT, but I will say that you should bear in mind that he?s working in a small time frame with a high number of students so if he moves a little quick, realize that in a tutoring session, this won?t happen. He always gives good explanations and is extremely responsive even when you email him. I think his active role and thorough answers in other forums such as this one should demonstrate his dedication and interest in helping people. I?ve never seen Ron give a short, general explanation to a specific question. You?ll know what I mean if you look at his posts. I always search for his posts either here or on the MGMAT site because I know that he'll provide a thorough answer.

Even if you don?t have the $1,000 to spend on tutoring, I?d say that if you want to self-study, you should definitely try to find $430 to invest in a two hour session with Ron. I know that $430 is almost the cost of enrollment for some prep companies, but Ron can easily save you time and wasted effort by telling you exactly what you should and shouldn?t be focusing on. There are a lot of excellent forums and websites that offer study tips and information, but it can be difficult to navigate the massive amount of info floating around. By learning from Ron, you?re gaining so much more than quant or verbal knowledge ? you?re gaining an overall understanding of the GMAT and the best methods to effectively study for it.

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 :)

I just got out of the 9 week prep class and it was absolutely worth every penny. The material was not just about tricks for taking the test, but Manhattan GMAT coursework and classes actually taught you the material tested on the exam in only 9 weeks. If you are serious about getting a good score and improving, the resources are at your service at Manhattan GMAT. I would highly recommend this course.

I initially took the GMAT without any formal test prep company. I just studied from the Cracking the Princeton Review book and ended up with a 640...After this I enrolled with Manhattan GMAT. The instructor was very friendly and knowledgeable on the material. The course initially brushed up on basic topics and then dove into more advanced concepts. The material taught and resources used are top notch - especially would recommend the Sentence Correction, Word Translation, and Number Properties guides. However, simply taking the course itself is not enough. I found that even after I finished the course, my practice scores were not improving significantly (hovering between 640 - 670). It was only after I practiced through the Origina Guide questions (both 12th ed and the Review books) that I found my score increase substantially (720-760 range). Ultimately, I did find the course useful from a theory perspective, but you will need to put in a lot of additional effort to iron out the concepts and use them in a time effective manner on the real test. Was happy with the final outcome, 740!