Deciding between Manhattan prep courses

[EmilyS44]

Hi Stacey,

I attended the GMAT vs. GRE seminar this week, (thank you-very helpful!) As I mentioned in that seminar, I took the GMAT in May and ended with a big quant vs. verbal split, and am starting up again with the hopes of increasing my quant score.

I took a full course with another company earlier this year, and am now looking into materials from Manhattan. I'm thinking about the self-study programs, 'Interact', the Self study toolkit or just the books/online, but was hoping for some guidance as to which program is the best fit for me. (I know that there is definitely benefit to taking a complete class, but as I have already paid for a full course and know the basics, was hoping that some of the other study options could be as effective.)

I am looking to focus primarily on quant, so am looking for additional quant problems and strategy techniques, and am hoping to get a better understanding of my strengths and weakness to be able to study most efficiently. I know that my timing is definitely something to focus on as well. I read over your article regarding time management, tracking, and benchmarking, all techniques that will definitely be beneficial to bring into my studying.

Do you have suggestions as to which type of course would be able to best fit my needs? Thanks in advance!

Emily

[StaceyKoprince]

Hello! Happy to see you following up here. :)

In the past, what has worked best for you when studying? Do you like to have someone with whom you can discuss / to whom you can ask questions? Do you prefer to study on your own? Do you work well with and learn from fellow students?

In addition, what has been your history with standardized tests? When you took the SAT, were your issues more with the underlying content (eg, formulas and math rules) or more with how that content is applied to test-format questions (which is a different level of learning)? How easy or hard do you find it to teach yourself the fundamental content vs. the test-taking stuff?

Do you still want to study verbal some, but just not as much as quant? Or do you want to do only quant?

Take a look at this article:
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

In terms of taking one of our classes, I think the main benefit is in the "2nd level" stuff described in that article - that's what we concentrate on in class. The class is 50/50 Q/V, though, so you may not need half of that program (unless you do want to study some verbal).

The Interact program would give you a lot of that (without the ability to ask questions, because you aren't attending live classes) and you could choose to do a Quant-only version of that program.

I'm going to guess that your issues are more with second level just because that's true for most people. If so, I think the debate is between Interact and a live class. Decide whether you want to do quant only or full and then compare the prices of the options. (If you do quant only, then Q-only Interact will probably be more attractive than paying for a class. If you want both, then you may be willing to pay the additional amount for a live class / teacher. Or not - depends on your budget. :)

Let me know know what you're thinking.