Quick Summary:
Best in-person GMAT prep course in Chicago…read more Dan is awesome.
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Lots and lots of detail:
Teaching: 10/10
Dan. Bartz. I owe a LOT to him. He was a huge part in the 90pt increase from my first attempt to my second attempt.* He scored in the 99th percentile (several times), so yes, he's insanely smart. As a teacher, top notch scores will only get you half way to five stars. Dan's personality gets him the rest of the way and more. During my prep, I asked a lot of basic questions (trust me), but Dan always had a patient and thorough response. In class, he aimed for true comprehension. No matter how complex or simple, if we weren't getting it, he found another way to teach the concept or open up the problem. He was very conscious of varied learning styles and backgrounds in the room and made an effort to find opportunities to tailor a message.
In addition to being incredibly approachable, Dan is very engaging. The Manhattan classes have a card system so all students "poll in" an answer to questions (makes sense since you can't skip an answer on test day!). He'd use this and other techniques to get the class involved. This engagement really helped keep my energy up and stay mentally present for three hours after a full day of work. He was available at any point during the course or while studying after the course ended. He wanted to help us succeed and whatever he could do to help, he would.
Did I mention he's just a really nice guy? He's just a really nice guy.
As we approached the end of the course, everyone had different time lines. Some were ready to face the GMAT monster. I was not. I met with Dan to create a personalized game plan for life-after-Manhattan. He went over my strengths and weaknesses and we created an outline for what turned out to be four more weeks of studying. I was planning on evenly studying Q/V and focusing on my weaknesses within those topics, but Dan suggested that I be more in the 75/25 range. It paid off! After sitting the test a second time, I maintained my Verbal percentage from the first try, but increased my Quant percentage by 37 percentage points. My overall score went up 90 points! Dan's guidance heading into the homestretch was priceless. I honestly don't think I could have cracked 700 without it.
*I'm sure someone out there would want me to say that this isn't guaranteed, and no, I don't work for Manhattan GMAT.
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Materials: 10/10
Studying for the GMAT is intense, but the order and depth of the materials broke down the concepts into digestible segments. You could all but feel the building blocks stacking as you worked through the books. The syllabus was also a godsend. I thrive on structure and deadlines (I realize that makes me sound super awesome); free form studying is not for me. The detailed syllabus kept me on task and progressing logically for nearly over months.
The 14 or so books are great. Some thick, some thin. Some you'll use once, others replace your best friend (don't worry, your real best friend will forgive you). Each major concept has its own book, and you work from basic concepts to full-blown convoluted and mean GMAT questions on each topic. The syllabus ties it all together and tells you where to go and when. Then the online resources tell you if you should go back and review anything in particular.
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Online Resources: 9/10
Manhattan GMAT has all the resources you'd expect (practice questions, CATs, videos, etc.). The OG Archer is a really great tool. Even with Dan's urging in class, I really only started using it after my class but I wish I would have taken advantage of the Archer sooner. The analyses available for both the Archer and practice tests were very insightful and helped me focus my attention on what mattered.
I gave the Online Resources a 9/10 since there were a few quirks in the system, specifically in the OG Archer, that I found clunky and a bit annoying. To really work on a specific area (number properties, anyone?), there are some focused sets of questions organized by topic. Once you've started in one of these sets, clicking next will give you the next problem in the OG, not the next question in the focused set. I ended up opening a browser tab with the list of questions in the focused set, and a second tab with the OG up. Also, as you are clicking next or loading a new question, the full page reloads and scrolls you back up to the top so you have to scroll down again. Both are minor annoyances, but when you're trying to make the most out of limited study time, it would be really helpful to move through the Archer smoothly.
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My brief history with the GMAT (for credibility, I guess):
12/12-4/13: Took an in-person course with a company in Chicago
4/13: Official GMAT (low 600s)
10/13: Demo'ed a class with another company; wasn't feeling it
10/13: Demo'ed a class with Manhattan GMAT; felt it
10/13-1/14: Took an in-person class in Chicago
1/14: Official GMAT (low 700s)