Manhattan Prep GRE Review

If you’re looking for a comprehensive GRE prep course, Manhattan Prep is a good choice for you. With over 70 verbal and quantitative lessons and more than 100,000 practice questions, Manhattan Prep offers the most material of any GRE prep course. In this review, we’ll dive into Manhattan Prep’s offerings to help you decide if this is the course for you.

Manhattan Prep has both an online self-directed GRE prep course and courses with live classes. They’re famous for providing a huge number of practice questions and drills. They’re also known for having small classes and top-notch tutoring. There are some negatives to Manhattan Prep, including the fact that they don’t offer refunds or score increase guarantees. But overall, Manhattan Prep is good for anyone searching for a comprehensive course.

Manhattan Prep is perfect for students who learn best in a small class with lots of hands-on instruction. Plus, this course is perfect for visual learners who enjoy watching and engaging with videos. The course is also good for students who learns best through doing practice questions—with over 100,000 questions, you won’t have to worry about running out of material.

We love Manhattan Prep’s interactive video lessons, and we like that they use humor to keep the lessons engaging. We also like that they have both practice quizzes and six full-length practice tests, and we like that they provide a huge bank of practice questions. We also like that they have both live online and in-person classes, and we like that they provide physical textbooks. Plus, we love that they offer a seven-day free trial.

Manhattan Prep is one of the only GRE prep courses that doesn’t have a score increase guarantee. They also don’t offer any refunds for their courses. We also don’t love that you have to pay a subscription for the mobile app on top of paying for the prep course.

Manhattan Prep offers plans at a wide variety of price points. If you’re looking for a self-directed course, Interact is perfect for you. Interact is entirely online, and it includes thousands of practice problems, six full-length practice tests, 77 video lessons, and video explanations for many practice problems.

Manhattan Prep provides one-month, three-month, and six-month access passes for Interact. A one-month access pass to Interact costs $299. Three months of access costs $399. Six months of access costs $499.

If you’d like to learn with a teacher, Manhattan Prep also has instructor-led plans. This includes the Complete Course, which starts at $1,399. This course features classes on both verbal and math concepts. You can take these classes in-person or online.

If you only want to take live math classes, try the GRE Just Math Course. This course starts at $799. Or, if you’d like help getting into an MBA program, try the GRE for MBA course, which starts at $1,599. This course includes nine live sections with a focus on advanced math.

In addition to the live classroom hours, all of the instructor-led courses also provide access to Manhattan Prep’s online course. You can also add on tutoring for an additional fee.

If you’re unsure if Manhattan Prep is right for you, they offer a seven-day free trial. Before you buy, be aware that Manhattan Prep doesn’t give any refunds for their courses. Because of that, you want to be sure about taking the course before you buy it.

Manhattan Prep has tons of material, both online and in the classroom, and their prices are comparable to other similar GRE courses. Manhattan Prep gives you a lot overall for your money.

Manhattan Prep’s online platform, Atlas, has a modern look and feel. However, we found Atlas to be a bit difficult to navigate at first. There’s a menu bar on the left-hand side of the screen, but it only shows symbols unless you open the menu. Until you learn what the symbols stand for, it’s a bit unwieldy to always have to open and close the menu bar. Once you learn what the symbols mean, though, it’s much easier to maneuver.

The online platform also works well on a smartphone. The platform is mobile-responsive, and you can do everything on your phone that you can do on your computer. This includes watching video lessons and doing practice drills and quizzes.

Manhattan Prep also has a mobile app that includes over 1,000 more practice questions. Be aware that you’ll have to pay a subscription for this app, though. In addition to their online materials, Manhattan Prep also offers a set of textbooks. If you’re taking a course with live classes, you’ll be sent these textbooks before your class starts.

The majority of student reviews for Manhattan Prep are positive. Many students praised their instructors in their reviews. Some students said they liked how their instructors made studying for the GRE enjoyable. Other students said they liked the strategies their instructors taught them. Some other students loved the way their instructors gave them tips for how to manage anxiety on test day.

Students also had positive things to say about Manhattan Prep’s online course. Students said the online course was interactive, fun, and incredibly helpful.

There were a few negative comments about the practice tests—some students felt that the practice tests were harder than the actual GRE. But by and large, students had mostly good things to say about Manhattan Prep and their instructors.

Overall, we found that Manhattan Prep did what it claimed to do. We found the video lessons to be easy to understand and follow, and we loved the interactive elements of them. We also liked the cartoons and jokes peppered into the videos. These little bits of fun made the videos much more engaging.

We also found the flashcard-like practice drills to be useful, although we did wish that there were explanations for how to solve the problems on the flashcards. We also thought the practice quizzes did a good job at drilling in concepts, and we liked the video explanations provided with each solution.

While it did take a little while to learn how to navigate the Atlas platform, once we did, everything was simple to use. Manhattan Prep created a course that’s designed with student engagement in mind.

Three-Step Lessons With Interactive Videos

Manhattan Prep’s online Interact course features lessons filled with useful information. The lessons are taught in an informative, interactive way. Most of Manhattan Prep’s lessons follow the same three steps: 1. Learn It, 2. Drill It, 3. Prove It.

In Learn It, you’ll watch a video taught by a GRE instructor. All of Manhattan Prep’s instructors are top GRE scorers, and most of them are great at explaining concepts in a way that’s easy to follow. They also include some humorous bits, like cartoons or jokes from the instructor. If you miss something while you’re watching, transcripts are available with each video.

The video will typically start with the instructor going through the concept at hand while notes appear on the screen. Then, you’ll answer a few questions. Being able to interact with the video keeps you from losing your focus, and it helps cement the concepts you’re learning.

After finishing Learn It, you’ll move onto Drill It. Here, you’ll practice the skills you just learned with flashcard-like questions. You can keep drilling until you’re sure you’ve got the skill down—there’s no limit to the questions.

When you feel ready, you can move onto the last step: Prove It. Here, you’ll take a quiz to show your skills. These quizzes are usually about 10 questions long. After you finish the quiz, you can watch video explanations for how to solve each question.

There are three levels in the Interact course, and each level has about 30 lessons in it. About half the lessons are verbal and half are quantitative. Once you master all of the lessons in level one, you’ll take a practice exam. Then, you’ll be able to go onto level two. After you pass that level, you’ll finish the course with level three.

Over 100,000 Practice Questions

Between their practice drills and practice quizzes, Manhattan Prep has over 100,000 practice questions. This is by far the most of any GRE prep course—most other courses have between 1,000 to 5,000 questions. It’s almost impossible to do all of Manhattan Prep’s practice questions, and so you can rest assured you won’t run out of material.

Six Full-Length Practice Tests

Manhattan Prep offers six full-length practice exams. These exams use computer adaptive technology like the real GRE. Many students feel that the test is at about the same level of difficulty as the GRE. You can do one of these exams for free during your free trial, so you’ll be able to get a sense of what the exams are like before you commit to paying for the course.

Small Classes with Knowledgeable Instructors

Manhattan Prep has won praise from former students for their in-person classes. Manhattan Prep’s course instructors are all top GRE scorers who are incredibly knowledgeable about the test. Manhattan Prep also keeps their classes small, so you’re guaranteed to have a lot of time to interact with your instructor. Classes are offered both in-person and online. If you miss a class, you can catch up by watching an online video lesson.

Physical Textbooks

If you’re doing one of Manhattan Prep’s courses with live classes, you’ll be sent a set of physical textbooks. You’ll get four textbooks—a math strategies book, a vocab strategies book, The 5-Lb.Book of Practice Problems, and The Official Guide to the GRE General Test. These textbooks are good supplements, and they’re also great for those who like working with physical study materials.

Seven-Day Free Trial and Free Content

If you’d like to test Manhattan Prep out before buying it, sign up for their seven-day free trial. During the free trial, you’ll get access to all of Manhattan Prep’s online lessons. You’ll also be able to do one practice test. Plus, you’ll be able to use Manhattan Prep’s online flashcards.

If you’re interested in trying out a class, Manhattan Prep regularly offers free online trial classes. They have both 90-minute and three-hour classes. Both of these classes give you a good sense of what it’s like to take a Manhattan Prep class.

In addition to all this, Manhattan Prep also has a blog filled with great tips. This includes everything from how to create an online GRE study group to GRE vocab hacks.

Mobile App With Supplemental Content

Along with their online course, Manhattan Prep also has a mobile app with more content. The app has over 1,000 practice questions and six quizzes to test your knowledge. There are also over 800 drills to try, and there are 500 vocab flashcards. If you like studying while on the go, this app is great for you.

The one downside to the app is you’ll have to pay for a subscription to it. The mobile app costs $14.99 per month—or, you can pay $99 and get a year of access.

Private Tutoring

If you’d like to work one-on-one with an instructor, Manhattan Prep offers a highly-rated tutoring service with 99th-percentile scoring instructors. You’ll be able to completely customize your learning and work one-on-one with a knowledgeable tutor. If you’re someone who likes personalized lessons, this is perfect for you.

No Refund Policy

Manhattan Prep doesn’t offer any sort of refund policy with their courses—once you buy the course, you’re committed. Because of that, you’ll want to be positive the course is right for you before you buy it. Be sure to take advantage of the seven-day trial, the free class, and all the free content on their website.

No Score Increase Guarantee

Many other GRE prep courses give you your money back if your GRE score doesn’t increase after doing their course. But Manhattan Prep doesn’t offer this kind of guarantee with their course. They’re one of the only major prep courses that doesn’t have a score increase guarantee.

More Expensive Tutoring

Manhattan Prep also has some of the most expensive tutoring prices on the market. Their tutors start at $245 per hour. In comparison, Princeton Review’s tutoring starts at $156 per hour.

Manhattan Prep offers an interactive and engaging online course with tons of practice materials. Plus, they provide top-notch live classes with instructors who earn high praise from their students. There are some downsides to Manhattan Prep, including their lack of a score increase guarantee. But overall, Manhattan Prep’s online and live courses are great for students who want to ace the GRE.