Bobby Umar, the instructor for Veritas in Toronto, ON was the best instructor I have ever had. The reason can be captured by the three F's. He was fun, funny, and fantastic. When I took the course he would have these funny greetings at the beginning of each class to capture your attention and get you fired up for class. He was very enthusiastic about the subjects that he taught, and you can tell that he was very knowledgeable about the subjects, thus making him a fantastic teacher. He always answered your question, and he would confirm that he answered your question before moving on. He would explain things as many times as you need until you understand the concept or how he arrived at the answer through a logical process. He believes there are no stupid questions. He would have multiple ways or methods to demonstrate how to solve a question which makes it easy for the students to understand. The overall experience was fun, because Bobby is very personable, more like your friend than your instructor and he tries to make the course tailored to the students by consistently asking for feedback from the students. He would also help the students create a study plan to help them succeed. One bonus thing that he does which is really beneficial to the future MBA students is that every class he would take 5-10 minutes to talk a bit about his MBA experience ie application process, his co-op experience, networking, leadership, and more. At the end you can tell he puts 110% effort into each class to help nurture and prepare students to successfully challenge the GMAT. I do not believe any other instructor would give you free additional valuable information related to MBA life for candidates. If you are taking the course in Toronto, I suggest asking for Bobby Umar as the instructor, if you want to learn and succeed.
To be objective every course must have something that the student doesn't like. Veritas has the longest course out there, and I thought it would be great if they extended the course and made it even longer. The course acted as my motivation to study and to meet people to form study group, which was what Bobby encouraged, and he would offer additional help in person at these study group meetings outside of class. The other thing was that I am not a very out spoken person, and am uncomfortable in giving answers out in class, but Bobby really engages the students and has a genuine desire to help the students, thus he ask students randomly to give their answers out in class. It was uncomfortable at first, but at the end you learn a lot more through active participation, and you get to hear what other students are thinking of and how they solve the problems, thus more knowledge/tools to add to your databank.
Overall, my evaluation of Veritas, and the instructor Bobby Umar was outstanding. They have many resources from online self help to actually speaking to a person on the phone to get instant help on math problems or verbal problems or generally anything, as well as several simulated practice exams. The course covers everything, from basic to advance, even essay writing skills. Classes were at a convenient location downtown, close to transit system. When I had class, we had a boardroom with water/coffee, and a great view on the 27th floor. If I were to give a grade, I would say the experience was 10/10. I have not taken the GMAT yet, cause I want to improve my time and maximize my score, but I feel I have all the tools to achieve my goal. I am still studying with the other students in the class. If you work hard you can get 600+, because my score jumped 70 points from the initial practice test after 2 weeks, and I went into the course without any math knowledge or grammar. I feel I should share my experience with other GMAT warriors so they have more options. I know some instructors are terrible and you learn nothing, especially the instructors who don't speak english very well. This is only one review, but you should look at other Veritas review, and see if the reviews are consistent. I really enjoyed the course. Thanks Bobby, and Veritas!!
Yuen Seto, CMA read more