Selecting a GMAT course was an important decision for me. As someone who is applying to JD/MBA programs and does not have much direct business work experience (having worked primarily in government), I knew that my GMAT score needed to be top-notch in order to be competitive for the schools I'm applying to. I chose Veritas Prep because I had been told how thorough their class was, and I knew that their courses were longer and more comprehensive than comparable course offerings with other companies.
Having now completed both the Veritas Prep course as well as the actual GMAT, I am very glad that I chose Veritas. My GMAT score was above 700, which I was very happy with. Interestingly, this score is significantly better than my LSAT score in terms of percentile ranking, in spite of the fact I have never really been a "math person" and have not taken a math class since my last year in high school (in 2000- eleven years ago)!
I would credit what for me was a very successful test to a few factors: The intensity of the Veritas curriculum, the quality of my instructor (all Veritas instructors have to score at the 99th percentile to even be considered for hiring), and I guess also the fact that I did study quite hard. (The materials you get in your Veritas class are EXTREMELY comprehensive, by the way. I spent a LOT of time studying, and I still did not work through all of the materials in the books and online. You definitely get your money's worth in this regard).
The Veritas class I took (in Washington, D.C.) was taught by Eric M., and I could not have been happier with him as an instructor. Eric's approach was in-line with the Veritas model overall in that he did not believe he was there to teach us how to cram "testing tricks" into our heads for test day. Rather, he taught us how to think about and approach the various math problems and verbal exercises by teaching the fundamentals. As someone who, while not bad at math, has not taken a math course in over a decade as mentioned, this "fundamentals" approach was very useful and took away a lot of the mystique surrounding the quantitative section. That's not to say that the quantitative section was a total breeze on test day, but it did teach me how to approach problems and also not to freak out when I saw a problem that seemed like a curveball (which somehow actually seemed to happen on problem number one!). In the end, this helped me to score nearly as high on the quantitative section as on the verbal section (only one point lower, in fact).
Eric was also the type of teacher who took a huge interest in his students, checking in with each of us individually and always making himself available to meet before or after class. I was very impressed with his dedication, which was superior to what I saw in the LSAT course I previously took from a different leading test prep company.
Overall, if you are looking for an intensive test prep course which takes a non-dumbed-down, fundamentals-focused approach, I wholeheartedly recommend Veritas. You're going to spend the same amount of money as you would with one of the other established companies, but you're going to get a more thorough course, excellent test prep materials (print and online), and - in my experience - high quality instruction. read more