Ask a Manhattan Prep representative

hi -- sorry for the delay in responding to this message; i've taken some vacation time in the last couple of weeks and am now digging myself out from under a pile of professional correspondence.

there's no single answer to your question. (if there were a single answer, then we would probably just offer one product rather than the range of products that we have available!) realistically speaking, the answer depends upon a number of factors, personal as well as objective.

on the objective side:
* the split of your official scores (quant/verbal) is a factor, because our nine-session course is basically half quant and half verbal. (we don't currently offer half-courses, nor do we have any plans to offer such a product anytime in the near future.) specifically, if your scores are extremely lopsided -- to the point where you're going to need almost all of your improvement from just one side (quant or verbal) -- then that factor will tilt the balance toward private tutoring. on the other hand, if you have relatively balanced test scores and stand to gain on both sides, then the nine-session course is an especially worthwhile investment.
* your timeline is a factor, too. we are about three months away from round 2 deadlines; you are looking for an improvement of about 150 points, a rather ambitious goal for that timeframe. that sort of improvement is certainly not impossible -- we've seen it from a number of our students -- but your relatively short timeframe indicates that at least a certain amount of private tutoring would be ideal. (that's "short" relative to the goal you've set, not in absolute terms.)

on the personal side:
* you may want to take an inventory of your own motivations and determine which type of program would be most effective in motivating you. no two students are the same, so no single program is ideal in this respect. for instance, if you like the camaraderie of learning in a group setting, and if you're the type of guy who is more likely to be kept on schedule by a standing weekly appointment, then you're going to get a lot out of the nine-session course. on the other hand, if you like to work at your own pace (with guidance, of course) and would prefer to adjust your workload according to how busy/motivated you are during any given week, then private tutoring fits those criteria better.
the reason i'm emphasizing these personal aspects of your decision so much is that the nine-session course will require you to complete a lot of work on your own. we don't check homework (although we provide weekly office hours to which you can bring extra questions), so staying current with the course workload is the student's responsibility. this is definitely a course in which you have to "go out and shovel the gravel", so to speak, in order to improve, so it's important to choose a study plan and schedule to which you can -- and want to -- commit.
* there's also the issue of how much you can learn in a classroom setting versus individually. the nine-session course is an excellent deal for the money -- with the discount coupon that's available here on btg, the entire course costs only about as much as six hours of private tutoring -- but some students are much more amenable to classroom-type learning than are others. specifically, some students -- often more theoretically-minded students, who don't need as much intimate personal interaction in order to absorb concepts -- are able to retain just as much information from the classroom as from private sessions. others, especially more socially-oriented students who tend to "tune out" in group classes, find that they get the greater bang for their buck in private lessons, despite the greater cost per instructional hour. since you can structure your program as you see fit, you should think about your own learning style and deduce which of the two environments (or what mix of both) would be optimal for you.

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regarding private tutoring with me (ron), please send me a private message on this forum. my available hours are a little weird by the standards of people with normal daytime work schedules (and i have somewhat of a waitlist for private tutoring at the moment), but that's a conversation that we can have in private messaging.