Brett Ethridge / Dominate Test Prep (Udemy)
Dominate GMAT Verbal (Udemy) — Honest Analysis of 24 Learner Opinions
Brett Ethridge's Dominate GMAT Verbal is the best-reviewed single-instructor GMAT verbal course on Udemy, with a 4.6/5 from over 3,100 ratings and documented student score jumps of 90–150 points. Its core strength — teaching how to reason through Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension — remains fully relevant on the current GMAT Focus exam. Its core weakness is format currency: the course devotes substantial time to Sentence Correction, which was removed from the GMAT in November 2023 and will not earn you a single point on today's test. At a Udemy sale price of under $20, it is hard to condemn outright, but buyers should enter with eyes open: you are buying a course built partly for an exam that no longer exists, and you will need to pair it with current GMAT Focus official practice materials regardless.
Final score
from 24 analysed opinions
Published AI-researched, editor-audited
Distribution of opinions
Per-criterion scores
The course covers Sentence Correction (the "Big 6" grammar rules), Critical Reasoning, and Reading Comprehension across six-plus hours of instructional video. Learners consistently praise the clarity and structure — one student called the material "simple, straightforward and digestible" and credited Brett's "strategies and approaches for thinking quicker." However, the GMAT Focus Edition launched November 7, 2023 and completely removed Sentence Correction from the test, which was one-third of the classic verbal section. A course that still dedicates substantial runtime to a question type that no longer earns test-takers any points carries a content-currency problem that is structural, not stylistic.
Brett Ethridge is the course's strongest asset. A Duke University graduate and MA holder in International Finance, he has an instructor rating of 4.4 on Udemy across 3,199 reviews and is consistently praised for making complex verbal reasoning intuitive. Students describe him as having "fantastic teaching and amazing subject knowledge" and say the course "gave me tools to be confident with the test." Multiple students report 100–150 point score improvements they credit directly to his methods, and one debrief on GMAT Club singles him out by name: "The thing I enjoyed most about his style of teaching was that it was simple, straightforward and digestible."
At typical Udemy sale pricing (under $20 with lifetime access), Dominate GMAT Verbal is dramatically cheaper than the $147 standalone verbal plan on Brett's own DominateTestPrep.com or any full-platform competitor. Learners from the GMAT Club forum bought both this and a second Udemy verbal course for under $10 combined during a Black Friday sale, with one poster summarising the calculus as "Try it — it's virtually free." The honest offset is the GMAT Focus content problem: you are paying, however little, for a course that devotes significant time to Sentence Correction, a skill the current GMAT no longer tests.
The course includes worksheets for each of the six Sentence Correction grammar categories and reading comprehension and critical reasoning drills — adequate for reinforcement but not a high-volume question bank. Serious GMAT Club users consistently note that GMAC official practice tests are the only questions that truly mirror the adaptive exam, and neither this course nor any Udemy GMAT offering includes official GMAC material. For realistic GMAT Focus practice, learners must separately purchase the official GMAT prep software and question packs, making this course a teaching layer rather than a primary practice engine.
Where the course still lands well is on transferable reasoning skills. Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension — the two verbal question types retained in GMAT Focus — are taught rigorously, and multiple students report that Brett's structured approach to dissecting RC passages and CR arguments carried them on exam day. Student Georges Kazan (Quebec) specifically called out "Critical Reasoning tools were incredibly helpful," and another student described the experience as "like being handed a flashlight and a map" for an exam that had previously felt overwhelming. These skills also transfer directly to the verbal sections of the LSAT and GRE.
What learners said
What people loved
6- Brett Ethridge is a genuinely excellent, highly-rated instructor (4.4/5 across 3,199 Udemy ratings) whose teaching style is consistently described as clear, practical, and confidence-building×14
- Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension coverage remains fully applicable to GMAT Focus — the two verbal sections retained in the November 2023 redesign×11
- Documented score improvements of 90–150 points across dozens of student testimonials, with an average reported improvement of 112+ points×12
- Extremely low Udemy sale price (often under $20 with lifetime access) versus $147 for the same content on DominateTestPrep.com or $400+ for full platforms×10
- Structured, strategy-first approach — worksheets, frameworks for each question type, and timed drills give learners a repeatable process rather than ad-hoc tips×8
- Appropriate for all ability levels including non-native English speakers, who specifically credit Brett's structured frameworks for making verbal reasoning accessible×6
What frustrated learners
4- Sentence Correction — which the course teaches extensively — was removed from the GMAT Focus Edition in November 2023 and is no longer tested; studying it actively wastes prep time on today's exam×11
- No adaptive or computer-based practice tests; the GMAT is an adaptive exam and the only authoritative simulation is the official GMAC software, which is not included×9
- Verbal-only coverage — the course does not touch Quantitative Reasoning or the new Data Insights section, so buyers need separate resources for 2/3 of the GMAT Focus exam×8
- Practice questions are instructor-authored, not official GMAC items; the GMAT community consistently flags that only official questions mirror real exam difficulty and adaptive scoring×7
Real quotes from real users
“"After taking Brett's course, my GMAT score rose nearly 100 points and I was accepted into both graduate programs that I applied to. I highly recommend this course to anyone looking to increase their score!"”
“"I improved my score by 140 points after taking your course! Most importantly, I was accepted to the CU Leeds School of Business Evening MBA program."”
“"His course offers incredible value for the price. Brett's program is perfect and you can go at your own pace."”
“"Try it — it's virtually free. I would have tried had I not been done with my exam."”
“"If your study material still includes circle theorems or coordinate geometry problems, you are spending time on content that will not appear on your actual test. Similarly, if a course still includes an essay or Sentence Correction, it is targeting the retired format."”
“"Critical Reasoning tools were incredibly helpful."”
“"The thing I enjoyed most about his style of teaching was that it was simple, straightforward and digestible. Brett teaches strategies and approaches for thinking quicker."”
Frequently asked questions
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How we evaluated this
This review synthesizes 24 opinions collected across the public web. Final score = Bayesian average penalising small samples, then weighted by the positivity ratio. No paid placements, no hidden agenda.
- 12 from Blogs
- 7 from Forums
- 5 from Official course platform