I would highly recommend this course to others. After having taken the Manhattan GMAT 9-Session Prep Course, I surpassed my goal GMAT score. The instructor was entertaining, the lessons were challenging yet understandable, and the course provided the perfect amount of structure. Furthermore, Manhattan GMAT provides its students with many resources to encourage success on the GMAT as well as during the business school application process in general.

After scoring a 500 on my first practice test at the start of the course, I didn't think I would score into the 700s on test. The instructors are excellent; they are there for you all the time. The curriculum is solid, and the supplementary material supports the class time perfectly. I would HIGHLY recommend this course to anyone looking to break into the 700s and beyond! After 2 months with Manhattan GMAT, my score catapulted from a 500 to a 760!

My GMAT score improved dramatically! From my first practice test (score in the mid-500s) to my eventual score of 680, the journey was challenging but incredible rewarding. My instructor Jonathan was flawless, and quite possibly the most intuitive teacher I've ever had. I have nothing but great things to say about Manhattan GMAT!

I took the Manhattan GMAT course prior to taking the GMAT for the first time, and even after 9 weeks of diligently following the course syllabus, I didn't feel prepared for the test. The class simply did not provide me enough time to focus on my weakest areas. So before taking my next GMAT, I opted to get a tutor (Marc Fienberg) to focus solely on the math section. Marc quickly zeroed in on my strengths and capabilities and offered tailored instruction and advice accordingly. I would highly recommend a tutor (and Marc) to any student who is very strong in one area but weaker in another. This way, you don't waste your time covering material that you already perform well on.

I would imagine that the 9-session course is great for people who need to brush up on basic math skills and are weaker in verbal and need to learn certain tricks and tips to bring up their verbal scores. Personally, I have a fairly strong command of math principles, but struggled to apply them appropriately to questions in a 2 minute time frame. I also have very strong verbal skills. Consequently, taking a survey course (and thinking that would get me the score I wanted), was a complete waste of time. If you're very strong in math or verbal, I would highly recommend self-directed study rather than wasting your time covering topics that are already a strength for you.

If you elect to study on your own, I would highly recommend the ManhattanGMAT materials. The study guides are very helpful, and the online CAT tests are great (and you have 5 or 6 of them to practice on).

I had a very positive experience using Manhattan GMAT. To start, the prep materials that come with the course are far better than anything else I've seen on the market. This is especially true for the access to the variety of online resources. In addition to the high quality of materials, I found all of the teachers at Manhattan GMAT to be very knowledgeable and most important willing to help - including answering personal emails etc even after my course had ended. I also found the post exam assessment (I took the GMAT a total of two times) to be extremely helpful and an integral reason why I was able to reach my target score of 750 on my 2nd attempt. I have nothing but good things to say about this course and would argue that it is the most thorough and effective course offered in NYC. If you take this course and put the effort into it that exam prep requires I don't see how your score could not improve!

Note that Dan also teaches regular classes but I opted for the private tutoring due to my unpredictable work schedule.

Dan is the best teacher I have ever had in my entire academic life. Through high school and college I've never had such a great teacher. I recommend him 100%

It goes without say that Dan is brilliant but what is exceptional about Dan is that he is also a great teacher. A lot of times a smart person doesn't always make a great teacher because they have a hard time understanding how you can not understand something that to them is so simple. This is NOT the case with Dan. He was super patient and was able to help me through every hard problem. He is such a great and experienced teacher that he was able to find exactly what I wasn't understanding and break down the problem to teach me the fundamentals that I probably never properly learned in high school.

Dan has an amazing background including having spent some time as a school teacher and it shows. It's one thing to be able to ace the GMAT it's another to have the skills to teach. Dan has both.

There need to be more teachers like Dan.

With Dan's help my score went up about 200 points and I broke 700.

I was at first hesitant about joining Manhattan GMAT's online-based classroom. Now that it's over, I can't find enough positive things to say about it. The online classroom surpassed my expectations. I was not only engaged by my instructors' teaching, wit, and humor (shout out to Stacey Koprince and Patrick Tyrell), but I truly felt like they valued me as an aspiring MBA candidate and wanted me to succeed.

The curriculum resources are also outstanding. MGMAT's focus on teaching content instead of test-taking tricks really helped me to feel confident going in to the test. In particular, I found their books on sentence correction and quant to be the most beneficial. I often viewed my verbal skills as a liability, but I scored in the 99th percentile on the verbal section on a couple practice exams to give you an indication. Their practice CATS were also instrumental to my score increase, because it imitated the actual test so well, but the most useful resources to me was OG Archer. The explanations to the official guide problems in OG Archer are in depth and actually useful, unlike the official GMAC explanations.

If you are considering a GMAT program to help you achieve the score that you want, I recommend MGMAT.

Pro
+Amazing instructors! I absolutely loved my instructor, Jonathan Schneider. He leads teacher recruiting so he's very aware of not only various learning styles but also various teaching styles. Though the class had about 20 people per session, he was able to understand each individual's pace and content mastery. When he realized, for example, that I was doing many of the quant questions quickly, he immediately suggested I ask human resources to add the Advanced Quant book to my Student Center and to start doing those in class. He constantly reminded me that he thought I could do really well on the exam when we realized that my biggest problem was timing rather than content mastery. His faith in my potential performance and being constantly available on email as I continued studying on my own was remarkable. I still go to Jonathan for advice! Definitely recommend Manhattan GMAT for being able to address and "troubleshoot" almost any type of initial test taking style until one attains mastery.

Con
+That said, you definitely have to be proactive to get the most out of your class. Do your homework! And as you start preparing on your own after the class is over, do a lot more questions, really take advantage of the free 30 minutes post-course assessment (30 minutes with a tutor to go over whatever you want), keep in touch with your instructor, take advantage of the analytical writing assessment GMAT write, and free CATs!

Like many others who have written, I have to give a shout out to Gregg Lachow. His class goes beyond teaching the material and provides useful, concrete test-taking strategies from day one.

I took the Manhattan GMAT class on a recommendation and would suggest it to anyone else who wants to make sure they cover their bases before taking the test. The ability to join classes on other days to cover the week's material makes life so much easier if your work schedule is unpredictable.

Hi,

As I benefited from other users' reviews, I would like to pay the favour forward and write my own review of the GMAT Prep companies that I used and specifically of Manhattan GMAT.

First, the Manhattan GMAT (MGMAT) Strategy guides are the best resources to study from, regardless of your preparation level and of your knowledge. These books have provided me with the foundations for all of the concepts tested on the GMAT. The material is comprehensive and covers everything. The end of chapter problems in the strategy guides not only allow you to practice what you have learned but also provide you with the confidence that you need in your studies. I went over these guides many times until I understood all of the concepts well.

Second, the MGMAT CATs are the most accurate tests and the most representative of the actual GMAT compared to the other available resources. I have done practice tests from Veritas, Knewton, and GMAT Prep. The Math is harder on the MGMAT CATs than on the actual GMAT. For the Verbal section, I read a lot online that MGMAT CAT Verbal part is easier than the actual GMAT Verbal part. I do not agree with this assessment. The actual GMAT Verbal may seem harder due to the additional stress associated with the actual test experience. I definitely recommend the MGMAT CATs as practice to anyone who is aiming for high 600s or 700s score.

Third, Stacey Koprince at MGMAT is an excellent teacher and a great motivator. When Stacey stresses in online forums and to her personal clients to do ALL parts of the GMAT CAT when practising at home, she is spot on. One of the main things that I changed and that as a result helped me improve my score by 30 points (670 to 700) was the stamina that I built by doing the AWA and IR sections every time I did a practice test. Furthermore, Stacey is excellent at identifying the weaknesses of students. Each one of us knows what his/her weaknesses are but we sometimes attribute greater weight to improving certain weaknesses while completely ignoring other weaknesses. For example, I was always keen on practising Math question in order to improve my Math knowledge. However, to do well on the GMAT is to learn when to skip a question that tests an acknowledged weakness of yours in order to save time and preserve your mental energy for the questions when the GMAT actually tests your stronger areas. Stacey drilled this point in me and she was right in doing so. For example, I am much stronger in Verbal (hitting 90% plus in practice tests) than in Math. On the actual GMAT, I got this crazy combinatorics problem. I remembered Stacey's advice at that point and simply guessed on the question. This in turn helped me focus my mental energy and my time on the remaining Math questions and on the Verbal part.

Finally, my greatest improvement had been in Sentence Correction (SC). I feel like once you have a good grasp on the rules tested, it actually becomes fun to solve SC questions on the GMAT. As is widely agreed on the GMAT online forums, MGMAT SC guide is an amazing tool to use to improve your SC performance. The book organizes the information in a very elegant way and the end of chapter problems are really good practice. However, Knewton's SC lessons are very very good as well. If you study SC from MGMAT and Knewton then you'll for sure be hitting over 90% in Verbal provided that your CR and RC are decent (70% to 80%).

I owe Stacey Koprince and Manhattan GMAT a lot. They were tremendously helpful and really aim on developing personable relationships with their clients. I asked Stacey to call me for a few minutes before I started the GMAT and hearing her confidence-instilling words really helped me focus my attention on doing well in the test.

Thanks Stacey and Thanks Manhattan GMAT!

Good luck to Everyone!

I had a very positive experience with my Manhattan GMAT course. Faruk was an excellent teacher, the course was comprehensive, and the tips that I learned definitely contributed positively to my GMAT score. The course is only as good as the effort that you put into it, but if you are willing to put in the effort, it is a good way to study for the test.

I really enjoyed the Manhattan's 9-week online course. The online format saved me a Sunday morning commute. I streamed the lectures from my laptop to my TV, so I was able to comfortably watch lectures in my living room

My teachers, Emily and Stephanie, were engaging, knowledgeable, and responsive to questions. The lectures and strategy guides were clear, concise, and effective in reinforcing key content and testing strategies. Homework assignments were well-designed to reinforce the lectures. Finally, the online tools, specifically OG Archer, were extremely helpful in helping me to diagnose my weaknesses and strengthen those areas with extra practice.

I hit my target score (well, minus 10) on the first go. I'm going to try Manhattan LSAT in a few weeks as well, and I'm looking forward to it.

Hello,
I have been a MGMAT student and loved loved loved them.

I took the online course and although it was very valuable, I don't recommend it. Now that I know, here is how I would of approached it:

Getting the material (for sure), and doing the self study. The books are awesome.
Taking one or two tutoring sessions with Stacey (the best of the best of the best).

During the online course, we were not reviewing the material, most of the time, we were just doing problems, they have a lot of resources to approach the problems (the labs) and more interactive (Thursdays with Ron), I honestly thought $1500 to do problems online did not work for me. I was aiming for 700+ and I found the level of the online was targeted more to average GMAT scores, the explanations were slow and very detailed, I am a quick learner, I was bored most of the time during the sessions.

Just a note, I still put in a lot of hours to self-study so really get the books, read them and attend Thursdays with Ron.

After the course, my scores were not picking up so I did 2 private tutoring sessions with Stacey, simply put, Stacey Koprince is the best instructor out there, she is always available, you can ask her whatever you want and she knows it all (no kidding, I don't know how she does that). Stacey helped me tremendously shape my strategy and I went from 520 to scoring 710/720 on CATs. Private tutoring is overly priced but I think it was worth it. I wish I did it before.

So if you are starting off, get the resources, try one CAT, read all the books and then take one or two sessions with Stacey and do the other CATs.

Good luck, hope it is helpful.

Manhattan GMAT's 9 session prep course got me, a verbally oriented kid with mediocre math skills, ready to tackle the gmat. Their emphasis on how to do the quantitative section, especially the data sufficiency, truly helped me succeed during the course. What stuck me was the fact that they geared the course toward high achievers and got you to the point where you were able to effectively do 700 level questions within minutes; showing the tricks and shortcuts that would save valuable time. The homework assignments as well as the questions in the books and online had the feel of real GMAT questions, and, I often found, were significantly harder than what I encountered on the test. Overall, I highly recommend them.

I took the Manhattan GMAT course last Fall even after many of my friends told me it was a complete waste of time if you were already pushing 710+.
What I found pretty much confirmed that. Although the course was useful in getting me to study a specific chapter and do all the practice OG problems on that subject every week, I quickly found that the majority of the rest of my class was struggling to break 500. Students in the course with me would routinely give up on questions halfway through class and doze off, and other than me and 1 other student, not a single student did any of the assigned homework.
The instructor, instead of targeting the people who actually have a chance to succeed in life, started explaining solutions by saying..."oh lets just do it the simple way by plugging in numbers instead of the real solution b/c its toooo complicated" and really pandering to the people trying to break 500.
The course moves along very quickly, and I don't think it covered enough 700+ math questions. If you are trying to get into a top 5 school, don't bother with the course. if you want to get into iowa state's mba program - this is probably the course for you.

the one redeeming thing that manhattan has to offer is the advanced quant book - i highly urge you to buy it and use it to prepare for quant after you have the basics down.

I am indebted to the Manhattan GMAT team for the wonderful resources, program, instructors, and encouragement. After eight practice tests fluctuating in range from 600-690 (hoping for a 700 at least), I walked into the testing center with the confidence that I knew what to do because I was prepared by the best. I scored a 740 (49Q/42V) with perfect scores in AWA and IR and I could not be more thrilled ... it's still sinking in, to be perfectly honest.

The instructors and resources provided from Manhattan GMAT teach you not only how to work the problems, but how to be strategic about taking the test. By the time test day rolled around, I felt confident in my timing and strategy for success. I also felt that Manhattan GMAT gave me a good understanding of how the test-writers actually write the GMAT and the best ways to go about solving what seem to be very difficult problems.

Thank you to Stacey for the great advice in the forum and Tony for my office hours session - I couldn't have done it without them. Even with doing the self-guided version, any time I worked one-on-one with an instructor, I truly felt they really wanted to see me succeed. I would recommend Manhattan GMAT to anyone preparing for business school.

My experience at Manhattan GMAT was incredibly positive.

First and foremost, I strongly recommend taking the full 9-week course with Jonathan Schneider, who was a fantastic instructor. He is very smart, genuinely cares about his students, and will go out of his way to provide specific study planning for your individual needs. Most importantly, he is an excellent teacher who consistently found entertaining and effective methods of teaching challenging material while keeping our class' attention. He followed up with me after I took the exam several weeks after the course ended to see how it went and provided personalized advice as to how to proceed.

The format of the course is very structured, and Manhattan GMAT will provide you with an overwhelming amount of materials a few weeks before you begin. Despite the volume of information, it is relatively easy to identify what resources will help you improve and eliminate your weak points.

I went to the course seeking to improve my Quant score, which was very low, and paid little attention to improving my Verbal score, which was already near the top of the range. However, after taking the course, I improved in both areas and saw a 100 point increase in my total score.

Overall, I highly recommend investing your time and money in the course, especially if you are able to enroll in a class taught by Jonathan Schneider.

My tutor was awesome. I'm really happy after spending 6 hours with him. I was scoring in the 640-690 range before meeting with my tutor. I knew I needed to work on Quant, as that was my main weakness. I was scoring in the roughly 50th percentile, while my verbal was upwards of 90th. I was able to improve a lot of basic skills just by talking through the difficult quant sections and problems, particularly percents.
Ultimately, after a few hours I was able to bring my quant score up to a solid 44. Not the most incredible showing, but I don't have a quant background and this was about as far as I felt I could go with a tutor. My overall score didn't change, but my quant skills went up and I intend to take the GMAT again.
So, my view is this: the Manhattan books are great and second to none, but only do tutoring if you have a solid base or feel you learn better with 1:1 attention. The tutoring helped mostly with tweaking my understanding of the process -- not actually teaching me the basics. If you have a strong base, I'd recommend tutoring or a class through Manhattan!

The nine week course with Manhattan was great as a comprehensive overview of all things GMAT. My instructor, Joe, was engaging, bright, funny, and very approachable which seems to the be hallmark of Manhattan teachers nation wide. Each class is effectively split into two halves, verbal and quant (not surprisingly) which is great if you need to brush up on all your skills but superfluous if you are already strong in one area. I will say the greatest value from Manhattan was not so much the classroom but rather the materials. OG Archer, the study guides, and the special sections are top notch and will give you every resource you will need to conquer the GMAT. That being said, the hard work after the class is over is entirely up to you. If you have the time, motivation, and commitment necessary to get to a 700+ score, the tools offered by Manhattan will get you there, but the class alone is unlikely to spring board you into the 99th percentile.

Personally, I would say the class gave me about a 90 point jump in raw score (started in the low 600's) but the rest was earned through good old fashioned studying.

The downside to having so much material available to you is that it can be overwhelming at times and Manhattan does not do a good job at giving you a complete inventory of what is offered. Certain tips for studying and test taking are buried in the GMAT roadmap, and I didn't discover them until after the course was completed. In addition, they have some hidden resources (advanced quant workbook for instance) that you have to "qualify" for before they will grant you access. I understand not wanting people to tackle the hardest material before learning the basics but I found it silly they were blocking off material you had already paid for and will eventually need.

Overall, they provide a great service for people who need a way to structure their GMAT studying and/or who are looking for a crash course covering all things GMAT. Although they are not cheap, they provide tremendous value if you come ready to work.