Short Intro
I actually wrote a 2,500 word review in which I cover where to start, valuable GMAT resources, and more details about myself and my Manhattan Prep experience. Unfortunately, Yelp doesn't allow me to publish a review that long. At the end of this shorter version, I'll share a link for the full review.
My final score:
24/11/2015: V 44 98%, Q 49 78%, AWA 6 91%, IR 6 67%
Total: 750 98%.
Why Manhattan Prep?
Instructors
Manhattan Prep only hires instructors who scored at least on the 99th percentile and have ample teaching experience, teaching classes or as private tutors. Manhattan Prep's high hiring standards guarantee that you will have an exceptional teacher. In fact my teachers, Isaac for the GMAT and David for the GRE, were comparable to the best teachers I've had both in high school and in college. This is relevant for the live course, although not so much for the online self-paced version.
My teachers not only were great during their respective classes, but also were accessible and responsive after finishing my courses. For example, after completing a Manhattan Prep practice exam, I would write to Isaac and he would get back to me within a day with a detailed analysis of my exam. Additionally, I would often send a question with a solution I didn't understand to either Isaac or David, and they would reply with a detailed explanation within a day.
Resources
The books are fantastic. They cover all the GMAT sections and topics from the basics all the way to the advanced problems and strategies. The Sentence Correction guide is probably the best guide out there. I also found the Advanced Quant book, which is not included in the live course, very useful in my final push. There is one area of improvement though: Manhattan should give you the option to opt for a Kindle version of their books when you buy the live or online self-paced courses. The physical books are bulky and the electronic version that Manhattan Prep gives you works with Adobe Digital Editions, which pales in comparison to the Kindle reader application.
Apart from the books, Manhattan Prep gives you a problem by topic guide that was invaluable in my later studies. The guide breaks down the official guide's problems by topic, so if you want to focus on geometry, for example, the topic guide lists all the geometry problems in the official guide.
Furthermore, the GMAT Navigator was a key part of my study workflow. The navigator is an online tool in which you enter a problem number, your answer, and the time it took you to solve the problem. You can then see the correct answer and explanations for why the right answer is right, and why the wrong answers are wrong. You even get video explanations for some questions. Additionally, the navigator keeps track of your timing and performance, providing useful analytics for later on. It's sort of an error log, but not a substitute for one. I wish Manhattan Prep would release the navigator as a standalone app with error logging capabilities. It would be very useful! Maybe I should just code something like it... Moving on!
Manhattan Prep has six practice exams that are very similar to the real GMAT exam. After you finish an exam, you can access answer explanations and an Assessment Report with useful data, such as timing per question and right and wrong answers by difficulty and topic. The Assessment Report will help you improve your timing strategy and identify and focus in your weak areas. Essentially, the Assessment Report from your Manhattan Prep exams will guide your study plan. Because the GMAT Prep software doesn't provide this data, the Manhattan Prep exams with the Assessment Report analytics are far more useful.
Conclusion
In the end, unless you are willing to put in the time and effort to achieve your target score, it doesn't matter if you choose Manhattan Prep or Patito Prep (In Mexico, we use the "Patito" brand whenever we want to imply that something is cheap and of low quality). You are the most important element in your own success. I owe my success to Manhattan Prep's resources and teachers, my classmates, coaching from my tutor in Mexico, my supportive wife and, above all, my unrelenting desire to beat the GMAT.
PS
You can reach my full review on this link: http://bit.ly/1U69vf8
I am slowly writing a blog post about my MBA application experience. I will cover the study techniques that ended up being the most helpful for my final score, my essay writing struggles and approaches, and my interview preparation strategy. If you are interested in reading about my experience, go to this link: http://bit.ly/1pt0XSY, which will redirect you to the future post about it. Your click will motivate me to write faster. Thanks for reading! read more
