700+ score is not difficult to get...take care of...

Hello Everyone,
my GMAT score:720 - Q:50, V:36. Overall percentile:94. I am waiting for official score.
I started preparing for GMAT 2 months back.
Kaplan Test 1 before preparation: 640
Books used:
SC - Manahattan - must have for non-native folks
CR - Powerscore - very good for basics and understanding different question types
Kaplan 800 - verbal is good, not just for the questions but also the explanation it provides. PS and DS are ok
OG 12 - revised 2 times
Practice test scores:
Manhattan - 690 - Math paper is unrealistic from GMAT perspective. Time consuming questions and 95% of them were 700-800 category as per them
GMAT prep1:700 (Q:49, V:37)
GMAT prep2:710 (Q:50, V:36)
So much so on the books and the score I got.

Now the most important elements to get 700+
1. My test center was in another city (Lausanne) and I live in Geneva. I went to check the test center just 1 day before the exam date (15 Dec 2011). 2 reasons - avoid last minute tension and second avoid last day study. Go out, eat out, get tired and sleep well. There was a guy who reached the center at 6:30 am for 8:30 am check in because he too was coming from Geneva and had not checked the center before. Imagine, this guy woke up at 4am.
2. take at least 2 days off from office before the exam date
3. I took public transport to reach the test center. Of course the public transport is outstanding in Switzerland but my logic was simple. See people talking, smiling and it takes your mind off the exam. You are in better shape than sitting in a cab and thinking about the exam
4. BE SUPER CONFIDENT, after all you have prepared for the exam
5. DO NOT make mistake in the 1st 2 questions. Else you are doomed. 1st qs is medium level implying 600+ level and if you are wrong, then you are playing catching game
6. Stay relaxed, things are different in actual GMAT center from home or coaching class exam center. There you have to scan your hand, at times it doesn't work 4-5 times, there may be noise because of work going around or because your neighbor has never used keyboard, etc. If you are not used to using ear plugs, then you have write test in that noise. In addition, the exam lasts for around 4 hours, add another 1.5 hours when you started from home. So, basically 6.5 hours with little food, smoke, etc. It is the not the level of questions but the overall set up which leads to lesser score as compared to what each one of us are capable of.
7. Build yourself against such atrocities. Write your test after coming back from office or after a class. Increase your concentration level by doing CR and RC test while your parents are watching TV and top of it - ALWAYS KEEP A WATCH. ALWAYS. It is a magic pill that all star players take to reach top - ask Djoker/Nadal/Fed/Murray
9. Read OG explanation. It gives you insight into GMAT's way of thinking.
I wish you all luck and success. Attached are some "good" notes.

Neon

let me be the first to congratulate you on a great score.

are you applying for 2012 admissions? what are your top choices?

cheers

A Swiss recommending that everyone should have a watch.....


Excellent score, congrats!

Thx Sanjuro, I am a private banker and am planning to do masters in wealth management.
thx unforeseen.

congrates. Good luck for your application part.
Please share your verbal strategy

I see a lot of tests referenced in your SC questions.
What was the source of your SC practise ?

Thanks everyone.
verbal strategy:
Manhattan SC -
completed it twice,
did all questions in exercise
since you do not have answer choices, you have to reconstruct the sentence on your own - use this strategy while doing OG questions. do not read options. Very quickly your score in SC will jump from 6 to at least 10 out of 13
RC
-Did OG once, found it quite simple, but my strategy is to always read the full passage, skip data and lengthy names, make a one liner "takeaway" for each passage
-start answering questions
-Kaplan 800 has very good RC passages but very few
CR
-Powerscore bible to build concepts
-did OG twice and always looked at explanation
-did Kaplan 800 once
-like RC, solved CR while I was dead tired, or family members watching idiot box and timed it. This helped me because unfortunately on the day of the exam there was construction work going on on floor above ours and it took off my precious 300 seconds before I got my concentration back.
cheers and all the best to you all.

Congrats on an awsome score!! All the best with your applications...and thanks for the tips..!
Relaxation during exams...that has to be a thesis subject for someone in pschycology..!!

the material posted as test comes from various sources but not OG.