After struggling with the GMAT for a year and not moving past the mid-600s, I decided to sign up for a Manhattan GMAT live class. Some people I know who previously took the class spoke very highly of the course. Ceilidh Erickson was the instructor and she was amazing.

She not only did a great job of teaching the basic skills and formulas but also taught us how to think and attack each question logically. During class, she addressed everyone?s needs and she was great at telling how people were dealing with the material. She showed different logical techniques which helped save time, eliminate answers, and guess and move on. These techniques are what she uses on the test such as spending the first few seconds with the pen down on quant and crossing off extreme answers on the RC section. These techniques are KEY when solving the tougher questions because the test is adaptive. When we did practice questions, she showed us multiple ways to solve a problem and this helped add to the arsenal of methods to use during the actual test so you don?t get stuck.

After the course, I wanted to work on a few specific areas and set some hours for tutoring with Ceilidh to make sure I would surpass the 700 level. I debated on spending the money but decided to go for it because in the end, it?s a small investment for the future. We spent about 3 hours going through my weaknesses to sure those up and she showed me some new techniques and ways to think about solving problems before I actually put pen to paper. After another month of studying, I was testing above the 700 level and booked the test.

I highly recommend taking either the class or tutoring with Ceilidh. I honestly don?t think I would have achieved the score I got without her. It?s and no regrets decision and well worth the money, time, and energy. Even after the class and tutoring when I was studying on my own, she was always available to answer questions.

On the first attempt, I scored 710 on the GMAT but I felt it wasn't enough for the schools I was aiming for. In order to address my weaknesses in specific areas and strengthen my concepts, I opted for the 10 hour private tutoring session by Manhattan Prep. My instructor Josh understood my strengths and weaknesses from day 1 itself and provided me with the best strategies to go forward with during preparation and while giving the exam. The approach he suggested me to use while solving critical reasoning questions made a lot of difference in my verbal score. He also helped me understand the concepts in quant that I was struggling with such as divisibility and number properties by giving me ample number of difficult problems to solve. The Manhattan Prep Strategy Guide books and the practice exams were extremely helpful as well in understanding concepts especially sentence correction rules though the quant section on the practice exams was a little tougher and can demoralize oneself at times. But all in all it the course is an excellent way to give yourself that push and reach higher scores.

While the cost of Manhattan's prep course is is among the highest, it was exactly what I was looking for. Beyond providing an organized structure to study for the GMAT, the course provides multiple strategies to tackle problems to accommodate personal strengths and weaknesses, analytics to assess areas of improvement, and holistic guidance on how to study, manage time, and approach exam day. It's a complete package.

Avi's approach to instructing is engaging and reflective of the class' needs. There isn't a session that goes by where he doesn't ask for feedback and updates on students' individual progress. While he's efficient in covering content, he also willing to slow down and tailor his delivery for students when asked. He's friendly, patient, and responsive to emails if you students have questions outside of class. Definitely recommended as an instructor.

I would highly recommend Manhattan Prep for GMAT prep and Isaac Puglia as an instructor. I subscribed to his teaching method and exceeded my score goals in a timely manner.

I took this course without having taken the GMAT before. I didn't know anything about the format of the exam or the questions when I started it. With this in mind, I had high expectations. From the very beginning, Dan and Chris were thorough and methodical in their approach. The first week consisted of explaining the entire format of the test, how each section is scored, how we should structure our study time, and the logic behind the syllabus. I found this very useful because from the outset I was able to develop a long term plan of how I could tackle the various components of the exam.

Personally, I struggled the most with the math at first. I found the study guides somewhat useful for reviewing the basic math skills that I hadn't used in a while (exponent rules, geometry, etc). That being said, the most useful tool was access to the GMAT Navigator. This tool in conjunction with the Official Guide helped me brush up on my math skills and get my timing down to the second. The verbal lessons provided were also very useful. Dan and Chris broke down the thought process behind each question and this helped me form a consistent method of attack on the tricky CR Q's.

The Post Course Assessment was arguably the most helpful component. After you take 3 practice exams and complete the course, you are scheduled a 30 minute one-on-one session with an instructor. I did mine with Chris and he helped me target exactly what the pain points were, develop a study plan leading up to test day, and give me strategies to use as I studied. The PCA was critical to my success on the exam.

Finally, I should say that I found the MPREP practice exams significantly harder than the actual GMAT and the GMAC practice tests. This is a good thing. While I was quite frustrated throughout the course, my lower scores on the MPREP tests made me keep pushing myself. In the end I beat my target score on the real exam by 10 points! Huge thank you to Dan and Chris for an excellent course.

SO many great things to say about Manhattan Prep. First, it's worth noting that I raised my score from 650 to 750 within 30 days after taking the intensive, twice-per-week online class with instructors Reed and Jayson (who are both awesome and hilarious dudes). I don't think that my case should be the expected case, however I also don't think that it is totally unrealistic to target a major boost in your score if you simply stay the path with Manhattan. The first thing we were told is that if you master the subject matter, you can achieve a 650, however to get a 750, you must master the strategies - this couldn't be more true, and this will really only come with practice and diligence. That said, Manhattan delivers a program that focuses on both of these items. I highly highly highly recommend Manhattan Prep for the GMAT.

I am so glad to be able to write this. It has been a long yet rewarding 10 months. After 1st gmat fail (420), I used Mprep self- interact and improved and got (500) in my 2nd time. I came across a website and the author shared his experiences of taking the Gmat 5 times and the final push was having a great tutor. At first, I was hesitated because I had a poor in person tutor before my 1st gmat and got a 420. I asked myself, am I going to try an online tutor? That was the best decision of my whole gmat journey and worth every penny. I was paired with Mark Sullivan for a post exam assessment and his positive tone and enthusiasm about GMAT were exactly what I needed after my 2nd attempt. Therefore, I asked him if he could private tutor me.

Mark was very diligent and knowledgeable. I told him about my bad experiences with my previous tutor so he quickly shared his tutoring way with me. Mark couldn?t tutor me in July because of his previous engagement, but he clearly wrote down assignments and articles for me before our 1st session in August so that I can start preparing. I knew then that I picked the right tutor.

Mark and I had 6 sessions together, he was always on time and wouldn?t mind staying a few extra mins if I have questions at the end. During our sessions, he was always positive and encouraged me all the time. That was very important to me because I have felt quite beating down after 7 months of rigorously studying. During our sessions, Mark focused on strategies that will help me improve my score, he taught me very useful skills such as how to correctly review error log, gave me drill sheets that will improve certain content area, assign readings that help me with mental strength in preparation for the gmat (gmat is such a mental game in a way), timed set to stimulate exam mode, creating goals for each session and each prep test, etc,.. Mark was very knowledgeable and always willing to answer my questions.

In addition to his tactics on the strategies, Mark?s positivism and encouragement made a HUGE difference on me. GMAT journey could be very lonely and under pressure, having Mark always on my side and showed me support was very crucial to my mental strength. He did not only teach me the skills but he taught me the importance of belief and positivism. I recalled I got a 570 on my last gmat prep 10 days before my 3rd attempt. I immediately sent an email to Mark with all my analysis and asked him should I postpone my exam since I only got a 570. He replied me within hours and said that he think I should go for it because I can and said the prep result was a reference only. We then had our last session, and he sent me 2 more encouraging emails prior to the BIG day and asked me to have confidence walking into that exam room because he knew that I can do this.

My goal was to get a 600 and I ended up getting a 670 (Q 44 V 38)! From 420-670, and I can?t thank Mark enough for teaching me the right way to deal with the Gmat and for believing me all the ways even when I doubt myself! If you are thinking of a tutor, Mark is definitely the right guy! Thank you Mark from the bottom of my heart.

Whitney was a fantastic instructor and was readily available both in and out of the classroom. Moreover, it was clear she really enjoyed teaching the course and brought a lot of energy into every lesson. The overall course was easy to follow and well organized. I was especially impressed with their online portal which contained a myriad of resources, particularly the practice exams. In addition to learning about the exam question types and how to best tackle them, I think the most important aspects of the course were the strategies involved in taking the GMAT. I was very happy with the results of the course, and I am so thankful to have found them!

I took the ManhattanPrep classes early in 2016 and high recommend the course. The classes and material were great and helped me study to take the GMAT and get a score over 700. The books and online material are very streamlined so you study in the most efficient manner and don't waste time learning or doing things that won't help. Our instructor, Christine, was a lot of fun. Make no mistake though, the study and homework workload is heavy. I'd say 10-20 hrs per week.

Signing up for 10 hours with a Manhattan Prep private tutor also gets you all of their books, the Official Guide, 6 CATs, interactive online classes, and the secretly important GMAT Navigator question analyzer. Each of those elements is extremely helpful.

In addition to being the man, Jayson Beatty was extremely helpful in nailing down the tough concepts and providing strategy and feedback. He helped to prioritize my focus and time and guided me to a good score on the GMAT (770). I give Jayson the highest praise.

All of the resources MGMAT provides can be extremely helpful if you invest in using them. Having a GMAT resource like Jayson is most helpful if you work on problems and concepts the rest of the week and come with questions. Having 1000s of pages is only helpful if you read them with focus and don't let yourself ignore things that you don't understand. Overall, Manhattan Prep gives you everything you could need to get a great score, and it's up to you to make the most of it. Manhattan Prep GMAT was absolutely fantastic for me, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

I took the GMAT class with Eric Caballero as highly recommended by my friend, who scored 750+. The first class I had with Eric, I realized he is AWESOME! Not only he was able to explain questions clearly, he taught the strategy of solving questions given limited time. Plus, he is very nice and has good humor.

When I took my first mock test (un-timed) before the class, I scored 700+, however it took me more than twice of the time allowed to finish it. After taking the class with Eric and finishing homework assigned, I was able to solve most questions within suggested time. A month after I finished the class, I was able to score 750+ on my official test. Kudos to Manhattan Prep and Eric!

I would suggest Manhattan prep and Eric to anyone who wants to crack the GMAT and avoid lengthy preparation time.

Manhattan Prep is the way to go for GMAT. I bought Manhattan GMAT books after reading their excellent review online; however, I was still lost after reading through all the books. I then signed up for 9 week course online with Manhattan Prep and that was definitely money well spent. The classes are incredibly helpful and both of my instructors, Ryan Jacobs and Paul Fisher, were really knowledgeable and approachable. They teach you so many tricks that you would never learn by just reading the books.

After taking the classes, I found that I was still struggling with CR and certain areas of quant. I then took 4 private lessons with Ryan that essentially helped me to cross the 700 mark.

Ryan is an awesome teacher who genuinely cares for his students and is always available to answer questions, even when he is on vacation. If you are struggling with GMAT in general, I suggest signing up for classes with Manhattan prep. However, if there are specific areas that need work, I would sign up for private lessons (they are expensive, but so worth it) with Ryan.

A big thank you to Manhattan Prep and Ryan Jacobs!

My score: 710 (48 Quant, 39 Verbal)

I am so lucky to have been able to get into Stacey Koprince and Reed Arnold's class. They co-taught, and to my luck, I got the best of both worlds with both of their perspectives on questions and answers. They really went above and beyond what I expected from a course. Their support continued even after the course was over. They assured me that they would be there to help me anytime I had any questions. They obviously care about their students and it's obvious by the way they offer so much support even when they're not going to make anything extra from doing so. Most importantly, they instilled confidence and helped me rid my test anxiety and panic. I ultimately picked them because I read so many positive reviews about them, and the reviews were right. I hadn't heard of Reed Arnold, but I will say that he was SO HELPFUL in my process to learning. I would even e-mail sometimes at 2am and he would still respond to try and help me with problems!!! Seriously, what a guy. What I loved most about their teaching style is they will not just spoon feed you answers. They will guide you in the right direction and let you know if you're doing well or if you could change a few things. This was extremely helpful since it helped me to remember everything they helped me with.

Anyhow, I had first used The Economist online prep course and it was by far the worst investment of money and time I've ever made. I went with them because it was half the price of other courses. BAD DECISION. After 2 months of that and not improving my practice scores at all (580) I decided enough was enough. Most of my friends who scored well recommended Manhattan Prep so I went with it. BEST DECISION. Honestly, after 4 weeks, my score went up 50 points, and by the time I took my test, I had improved from 580 to 670 48Q/34V. Although not the score I was hoping for, it was my first time taking the test and I'm confident I'll get a 700 my second time around.

If you are going back and forth and are not sure which instructor to choose (I'm sure there are many great instructors), Stacey Koprince and/or Reed Arnold. I'm dead serious. Best instructors I've ever had. They balance humor, participation, don't waste time, and are very easy to understand. I'll be honest, I took some trial courses with other instructors and I just couldn't stand the way they talked.

I took the prep course with Kimberly, and I really enjoyed my experience. She's very passionate about teaching the class and extremely knowledgeable as well. What I enjoyed most was her unique approach to solving quantitative problems. For example, while she would show us how to solve problems the "traditional" way, she would often point out a simpler solution that relied more on common sense thinking and less on calculation. I also really enjoyed her strategies around timing and pacing- from how to set up your scratch paper to benchmarks you should be following to make sure you're going to finish the exam on time. I think these small details were responsible for that +20 point boost I got on test day.

Manhattan Prep also has a ton of additional resources on their online student portal. My only gripe would be that it's very overwhelming and not presented in the most intuitive way. My favorite resource was the sentence correction book. While the classroom sessions do delve into the basics of sentence correction, this book is an absolute must to master all the nuances.

My final advice would be to take as many practices tests as possible. Manhattan provides 6 CATs, but I used free tests from Kaplan, Veritas, and the official GMAT to as well to improve my timing and pacing instincts and to diversify my prep. In my experience, the scores I got from Manhattan CATs were much lower than my official score (my highest Manhattan CAT was 700 and I was plateauing at that). So don't feel you need to hit your target score before taking the real thing. You may be pleasantly surprised on test day :)

This was my first tutor-pupil relationship, ever. I found Joe to be flexible and responsive - both of which are supremely important in a work-GMAT balancing act. He knows his stuff inside and out, and is a great guy. I took a diagnostic completely cold and scored a 610; I ended up with a 720 on GMAT #1. Highly recommend.

Thanks, Joe and Manhattan Prep!

I took David Mahler's GMAT class over the summer. The 9 week session was particularly helpful as they identified my weaknesses and helped me improve in those specific areas. I did well on my first attempt and even better on my second attempt.

Strongly Recommended!

Before I dive into my personal story, if you don't want to read the entire review, I will say this right off the bat: Avi is an INCREDIBLE teacher, he is literally the definition of what a perfect, ideal teacher should be.
My story:
I researched online to find a tutor in Toronto with amazing reviews, and found Avi. I approached Avi four weeks before my exam, to inquire about his tutoring availability and rates, and gave him a brief explanation of my situation; I wasn't scoring where I wanted to be in my practice tests, so I figured a few tutoring sessions with the right instructor would help to boost my score. After explaining my situation to Avi, however, he did not encourage me to get tutoring sessions with him (he did not try to sell his tutoring at all, which I found to be very honest and genuine), instead, he made me realize that there was no rush to be done with the GMAT in the time period I was expecting to be, and told me he thought I would benefit more from enrolling in his 9-session course (much cheaper than private tutoring!), which covers the entire GMAT content. I decided to take Avi's expert advice, and enrolled in his course. This was an AMAZING decision! Avi is all of the things an ideal teacher should be: patient, extremely intelligent (goes without saying he knows the content inside and out), caring, devoted, thoughtful, funny!, did I say patient?, very calming and reassuring whenever you are in doubt or stressing, and he is extremely effective at explaining things in detail, he breaks every concept down so much so that everyone is able to understand even the most complex concepts and problems. It's absolutely incredible how simple he makes everything seem! Every time I would email Avi with a question or letting him know I am stressed out about my upcoming exam, etc., as soon as I?d read the first line or two of his email, I would IMMEDIATELY feel calm and reassured, he is truly a fantastic therapist, and always knows what to say to calm students down, while providing great advice with a sound plan of action. For anyone considering it but not sure if it is worth it: IT IS! Plus, with the cost of the course comes the 10-volume Manhattan book series, and access to all of Manhattan?s online services, including 6 practice CATs.
Thank you, Avi, for being an amazing teacher and therapist!!!

Also, the company itself is awesome, they are very dedicated to their students, and they offer plenty of useful resources for students.

Dmitry Farber was an exemplary tutor. He was very flexible with his schedule, and extremely well-prepared for our sessions, such that if I didn't have any specific material that I wanted to review, he was prepared with a full lesson as a backup. He is the absolute KING of metaphors, and you'll realize this if you work with him. But more importantly, he was incredibly understanding, has unlimited patience, and truly cares about drilling the knowledge into his students, rather than showcasing his intelligence. Meanwhile, it was obvious in our sessions that he is brilliant, but able to break down complex concepts in the simplest of ways to understand. I was unique in that I was ALMOST at the score I wanted when I first met with Dmitry, but he was able to give me 750+ score level advice and guidance, put together a study plan for me, and give me the tools so that in the end I was able to score above my initial target score. I would highly recommend Dmitry to anyone considering a private tutor, and I only wish I'd started working with him earlier. He's not only an outstanding tutor, but a great guy who cared about my success almost as much as I did.

Trust me, paying that $250/hour for Chelsey, especially if you are just under 50 points away from your goal score, is totally worth it. I was struggling with quant - pretty much scored the same every practice exam for 2 months, then 3 hours with Chelsey, my score went up 50 points (in quant alone) within 3 weeks.

Chelsey zeros in on both your strengths and weaknesses and designs a study plan specific to your needs. I think she pretty much knows every single GMAT problem out there and can pick out specific problems that you need to practice. She's practical and to the point. I also feel that Chelsey sincerely cares about her students!

I loved everything about my Manhattan Prep experience - the printed materials, the online courses, the online forums, the instruction, the customer service, and the private tutoring.

It's perfect for someone with a solid foundation in verbal/quant - the course teaches you how to tackle the GMAT questions in a smart way that suits you. But the class only works if you actually do the homework as they are assigned - if you don't do the practice exams/the HW assignments, the class is not going to help you.

I like the online materials because if you've missed something in class or didn't understand something, the online videos teach you the same thing.

My instructor also stayed after class all the time to answer questions.