My Short Story:
I had taken GMAT before (4 years ago) and scored 710, but lack of International experience and an OK GMAT score didn't help me get into the top B-schools I was aiming for. I guess I was just trying my luck in few top B-schools then. Although I had good acads and a very good work-ex, but I was told that international experience was something that I was lacking. So, I came to UK and have been working here since.

GMAT story:

Material Referred:
OG 12/Verbal Review/Quant Review
Manhattan SC/CR/RC
Manhattan Number Properties/Word Translation
GMATClub Maths tests
Kaplan Advanced

Test Results:
MGMAT 1 (10th Oct) - 710
MGMAT 2 (17th Oct) - 690
MGMAT 3 (24th Oct) - 720
MGMAT 4 (1st Nov) - 710
MGMAT 5 (8th Nov) - 750
MGMAT 6 (13th Nov) - 780
GMATPrep v1 - Test 1 - 710
GMATPrep v1 - Test 2 - 720
Powerprep 1 - 760
Powerprep 2 - 730
GMATPrep v2 (12th Nov) - Test 1 - 750 (Q50, V41)
GMATPrep v2 (15th Nov) - Test 2 - 750 (Q50, V42)
ACTUAL GMAT (16th Nov) - 740 (Q49, V41), AWA 6.0

AWA: Didn't look at it much except for the last 2 days. From my previous GMAT experience, I had some idea of how much prep is needed for this section. Notes from chineseburned did help though. The template was really useful.

Test Day Experience
The week before the test, I gave 4 tests (MGMAT 5,6 and the 2 GMATPrep tests). The scores looked really promising and I was hoping to score around 750, so I went into the test with some confidence.
Went there early enough to complete the check-in procedure with some time to spare. The test center had some issues with the palm scan/fingerprint device and they mentioned that it was good that I came early for the test. They logged me in 10-15 minutes before the scheduled start time.

I started with AWA. The argument was full of flaws and the issue wasn't that tough either. I organized my thoughts for about 2 minutes and started typing frantically. I think I wrote more than 500 words for each of my essays.

A break of 8 minutes. I raised my hand and noone noticed. I waved several times and finally got some attention from the lady. More than a minute wasted. Ate my nutbar and had some Getorade and I was back to attack the Maths.

The Math section wasn't quite like how I expected it. I was consistently scoring 50 in GMATPrep, but these questions were a bit more tricky than I expected and the nerves don't help when the first 5 questions are this difficult. In another situation, I could have solved all of them in no time, but I was feeling the pressure and I think thats when I did some silly errors and hence a drop in Quant score. As the section went by, I started feeling more and more confident and I was cruising through them. In the end, I had 12 minutes to finish my last question. I solved it but waited for 5-7 minutes just to give my brains a bit of extra resting time.

Going into Verbal I decided not to think much about Quant and approach each question as if I was playing baseball. If you keep thinking how you did on your previous shot, you won't be able to hit the next ball as well. So concentration is the key on verbal. I distinctly remember that I did a huge mistake in my previous GMAT of not concentrating enough in verbal section and I ended up atleast 20 short of what I was expecting. This time I was on high alert throughout the test and gave all the questions my best shot (Trying to hit a home run on every pitch).
I realised I wasn't doing bad when I saw a bold faced CR very soon on the test (Q14). After that I came across one of the toughest RCs, short but so technical that even my engineering background was no match for it. I somehow managed to finish it and the rest of it was not too bad. Finished the last Q with about 6 minutes to spare, filled some questionnaire and got the score 740!! Sigh of relief.. Was expecting 750 like my GMATPrep scores but can't complain with this score.

The GMATClub forum has been of immense help for my preparation. Although I did my preparation in 2 months, I did follow the forum for all the inspiration and help with questions.
Please feel free if you have any queries. I'll be glad to assist.

All the best to all !!

ADDITIONAL HELPFUL INFO: (I will keep adding to this as and when I remember something useful)
SENTENCE CORRECTION
1. Manhattan SC is the best book available in market - No doubt - But remember that you can't do with only reading this once. During my prep, I had to revise this book 3 times. I made notes of each chapter to fit on 1 sheet of paper and that helped me revise these chapters towards the end.

2. Do not rely completely on Manhattan book for SC. I believe that GMATPrep questions were way more tricky and difficult to crack than the MGMAT SC I saw on their tests. I found on this forum a document containing all the GMATPrep SC questions (186 of them). If you can do all of those without breaking a sweat, you are well and truly prepared for the real challenge.

READING COMPREHENSION
There is no magic involved in solving RC questions. The key is to read everything carefully but with an eye to the structure of the passage and getting under the skin of the author. This is easier to say than to implement, but I found careful reading and trying to relate everything you read with previous sentences helps alot.

CRITICAL REASONING
Although Manhattan CR is useful to identify the argument structure and give you some guidelines as to what to expect in wrong answer choices, you cannot go far without enough practice. You need to actually go deep into each argument and understand every word being said. You should always be on a look out for boundary words, percentages, and treat each sentence with a critical and suspecting eye. Its more like an investigation rather than anything else.

QUANT
I always thought I was good at Math, infact, at my last GMAT attempt I scored 51, but my skills became really rusty with time and I struggled with it a bit.
1. OG is a good book to begin with but no match to actual GMAT.
2. GMATClub Math tests are really helpful if you really want to score high on the test, i.e 49 or above.
3. Books like Kaplan Advanced are no match for actual GMAT Quant.
4. I found Manhattan books quite useful, especially Number Properties and Word Translation to brush up your skills.

Excellent! Congrats. That score along with your international experience should give you great edge (compared to your last apps) this time around.
Nice debrief! +1
_________________

Rule #76: No excuses. Play like a champion!

congrats n gud luck 4 ur app!!

Thanks Rux10/srivicool.

@lotussun: I did have to slog a lot in these 2 months. My Math skills had become really rusty and in general I believe Math is becoming more and more challenging in GMAT.
Also, being a non-native English speaker, I had to work really hard on my Sentence correction.
All in all, I think I used to study 3-4 hours everyday, squeezing time before and after my office hours. Weekends about 6-7 hours a day (but that was usually accompanied by a full length test).

Another coincidence: We both are into ERP and almost have same Work-ex. .. Is the ERP S or O?
Hello my alter-ego !!
Are you applying this year or waiting for R1 of next year?

Got my AWA score today. Scored 6 - Thanks chineseburned and GMATClub again.

Hey mattapraveen, here is the link for GMATPrep SC questions : download/file.php?id=12128
My suggestion is that you try these only after finishing your GMATPrep tests, so leave a day at least in the end to review these questions.

Hi sv6,

I think the GMAT CR questions were almost same difficulty level as GMATPrep. Although I heard that some of them can get really complex, but I was lucky I didn't find any that was particularly challenging in the actual GMAT.
I was sceptical about CR initially, but slowly gained more and more confidence as I had a strategy in place to attack every question type.

Books like Manhattan CR and Powerscore CR can help not only in learning the basics but also in developing pattern recognition. You don't need to follow every word from these books as they may or may not work for you. For instance, Manhattan CR asks you to create a diagram for all CR stems. I found it useful, but too time consuming to actually do it everytime.

Some Questions were lengthier than others but I didn't notice that. When you are taking the GMAT, the only thing on your mind should be to hit a home run and not bother about the pace and swing of the ball. Shorter Questions can sometimes be much more difficult than the longer ones. So don't judge them by their size.
If you read slowly and carefully, then one reading should see you through the question.

Yes, GMATPrep v1 is he older version of GMATPrep. And I think the reason I scored lower on these 2 compared to the GMATPrep v2, was underestimating their difficulty level after taking few MGMATs. GMATPrep Qs may appear simpler but are far more deceptive than any other exams. After these tests, I was much more cautious in my approach.

At the core, they are all follow the same set of patterns. The difficulty lies in recognising those pattern, IMO.
So, yes the patterns I encountered were familiar. No surprises there.

Thanks..One more thing , I found that in GMAT prep v1 , practice questions are same as GMAT prep 2 ..did you also observe the same..Just want to make sure that I am using the correct version..