Thanks for the support
mike - You're probably right. I'm a night owl (9am test time) and only got 4ish hours of REM sleep the night before the test.
redfield - I'm thinking I'll reread the LSAT materials + take 3-4
MGMAT tests + 4 GMATPREP
rich - I'd rate myself as a fairly intriguing candidate who has underperformed against perceived potential, hence the B-school route. (Pros: Intl. Work Experience, Unusual Applicant Bucket, Languages, Graduated in 2.5 years w/ a 3.8 GPA, Oddball ECs (Oddball as being a private ski instructor for Chinese Private Equity MDs in Japan), Neutral: Interesting Work Experience offset by mediocre performance review (Currently switching to rectify - mainly due to factors beyond my control), M7 Legacy, Tier 2 Undergrad; Cons: Non-Asia related ECs, belong to the two most OVER REPRESENTED ethnic groups sans Indian IT). I plan on working 1.5-2 more years to bulk out my work experience/secure a strong recommendation and definitely plan on using a consultant as I lack the time to waste futzing around.
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)? I did not, which was probably a mistake in hindsight. I'm a strong academic writer and have a masters degree in statistics, so tack this one up to hubris
2) Did you take them at home? 50/50. The one thing I DID like about the real deal was taking the test with noise cancelling earmuffs.
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT? Hell no. I'd typically take the tests between 2pm-9pm, but was forced to schedule the GMAT for 9AM.
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? Guilty as charged. I struggle with perfectionist anxiety issues, so I had a tendency to solve a question, pause the test, and then check GMATCLUB for the OA Explanation to justify my answer. My first answer was typically correct 90% of the time, but old habits die hard. With that said, I had 18 minutes left on the Quant section when I had 2 questions left/20 minutes left on the Verbal section before the last 3 part long RC passage, so slow pacing wasn't an issue.
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you ever seen any questions BEFORE you took a CAT? I only noticed this on the 7th
MGMAT CAT. I have a photographic memory, so there were situations where I'd remember both my old skeletal sketch and the physical location of the correct answer. Likewise, there were also situations where I noticed overlap between the GMAT Toolkit question bank and the practice CATs, particularly with 700+ DS.
ajitesh - Noted. I agree that "live fire" practice is probably the way to go at this juncture.