From 660 to 710

Hello guys,
I re-took my GMAT today and got 710 (Q50-95%, V35-77%). First time I took GMAT in Aug, 2005 and scored merely 660 (Q51-99%, V27-47%). I am happy that I crossed 700 mark but I am little disappointed as I was expecting a little more in Verbal.
In the 1st attempt, I scored 6.0 in AWA.

Some of my practice scores were: for the 2nd attempt-

1. PR1: 720 (Q51, V38)
2. PR2: 640 (Q46, V49): Dont know what went wrong with Quant.
3. PR3: 720 (Q48, V42)
4. Kaplan CD1: 640 (Q50, V36)
5. GMATPrep1: 760 (Q49, V44)
6. GMATPrep2: 760 (Q49, V44) : 2-days before GMAT.

Anyway, I guess I am done now -- though I am debating whether to try one more time. I was expecting more in 750 range this time. And as far as I have heard, a score of 750 is required for going into top consultancy firms. Probably Paul can help me with this -- any suggestions?

My background: I did my undergrad from IT-BHU in India with B.Tech in Electronics Engg and then did my MS in UMass, Amherst in US. I have been working for the past 3.25 years in semiconductor industry (microprocessor design engineer). I do have a wide variety of extra-curricular experince such as volunteer for Meals on Wheels for over a year, teach Math to high school students, captaines Volley Ball team etc. I am planning to apply for Fall 2007, though I thought I can apply for Fall 2006 (its kind of too late now).

My test experience:

AWA: I got wasy Analysis of Issue topic (On making public service mandatory) and a decent Analysis of Argument question. I finished each of these with 5-minutes to spare.

Quantitative: I started with a very easy %age question and then a series of medium tough DS questions (perhaps I got 1 wrong here). I got few inequlity questions, but didnt get any Permutation/Combination problems. I found Math very-very easy as compared to my 1st attempt. I finished my Math with 15 miuntes to spare.
Here, I must mention the GMAT CHalleneges this site host. It really prepares one for the toughest possible questions. If one can get more than 80% consistently in these tests, 90% and more is almost a guarantee in GMAT.

Verbal: It started with 4-SC questions. I found the first 3-4 questions difficult and this is where I probably made 2-mistakes. Anyway, after this I found pretty tough CR's -- convoluted ones with ambiguous answer choices. RCs were not that tough. Anyway I got done with Verbal with 2-minutes to spare. I thought I did in Verbal and thats why I was expecting a little more.


I really enjoyed participating in forums here. I didnt write much, but I had a good time participating in Verbal forum. Thanks to everyone who answered my queries.

Thanks to Paul for maintaining such a useful website.

I will hang aound here -- if anyone has any question, I will more than happy to answer.