Jamie Nelson is an incredible instructor and I am so glad that I signed up to her classes at Manhattan Prep. I finished the 9-class course feeling prepared and confident to take the actual exam, and scored a 730 on my first try two weeks later.

I was looking for courses back in March of this year with zero prior GMAT study, deciding on Manhattan Prep on the recommendation of a friend who knew I was aiming for the top schools.

The 9-class course excellently paced, with Jamie presenting each exam topic in a clear and engaging way. I was able to follow all of her explanations, even when she was going over the 700+ difficulty questions in different exam sub-sections.

She also covered the time-management and other exam techniques needed to do well in the exam, and provided ample opportunities for the class to master these skills.

The Manhattan Prep course material pack provides a concise and comprehensive coverage of the various exam areas. It is complete with helpful explanations on each topic and practice question that guides the reader through the thought process of tackling questions in a time-efficient manner.

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I signed up for MGMAT’s private tutoring services after failing 10-20 point short of breaking the 700 mark. Since I have gone through most of the materials and tests myself and consider myself pretty well-versed at them, I was looking for guidance more on my approach and mindset than the actual content.

On our first session, Sarah stated a very important point that shifted my mindset. She mentioned that GMAT emphasizes on one’s decision making skills as much as it does an individual’s knowledge on the materials. GMAT is a test against perfectionist; to do well on the test, one has to be able to give up questions, the same way a good executive decline projects with only average return, and make educated guess, as what business owners do daily. This has a profound impact on my approach to the test – instead of thinking giving up/ guessing questions as a last resort, I now think of that as one of my testing strategies to preserve my mental energy for other questions.

Another great point that Sarah made was on my problem solving approach in quant. She mentioned GMAT wants us to simplify problems and to break them down, not to make things bigger. Therefore, think factorization, not multiplication. This single twist in my approach has helped me in numerous questions, especially in DS.

On top of that, Sarah taught me some techniques on making an educated guess. And it is also helpful to go through my approach on each question with her, so that she she can pinpoint any concept mistakes or point out ways to fine tune my approach.

Overall, I believe working with Sarah is significant in raising my score through the 700 mark. I will definitely recommend her to anyone looking into GMAT private tutoring.

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