GMAT... From 600 to 730

To briefly introduce myself, I am a 23 year old white male. I went to a so-so public university and decided that I should take the GMAT sometime soon after graduation given that I was still in the "studying zone" and not yet swamped by work. I didn't have a clear idea of when or where I wanted to go, but I knew that an MBA was in the future.

I studied on and off for the majority of 2009, but most of my study time was wasted on bad material (I didn't come across this website until mid-summer!) After performing well on several MGMAT practice tests (700+) and scoring in the high 600s on the GMAT prep tests, I was confident in my ability and signed up to take the test in early October. Long story short, I was completely unprepared. I did much worse than I ever expected given my practice exam scores. The biggest reason? I never opened up an Official Guide book! I went through all the gmatclub tests and mgmat tests but I never learned the basics or became acclimated to the test lingo.

The day after receiving a 600, I bought the OG12 and then took 2 months off to clear my head. I began to study briefly again in January, and by March I once again felt confident. I had already gone through the OG once, and I made sure I did so again (People always express how important the Official Guide book is and I can honestly say it is completely TRUE). With summer right around the corner, I signed up to take the test in late April and for 4 weeks straight I did nothing but work, eat, and study, taking the gmat prep practice tests 2 weeks before my exam and again several days before (I stopped taking the mgmat practice exams, I believe these are a waste of time).

The test seemed fairly easy, I even felt that I had performed poorly on the Quant given how I was answering questions. In retrospect, these questions seemed easy because I had spent so much time understanding the basics of the math. I felt the verbal went very well. The questions seemed to be getting more difficult which I took as a good sign. (Don't forgot that there are "experimental" questions that can pop up any place any time and of any difficulty level, so its not a good idea to worry about these things although its almost impossible not to).

As I waited for my score to pop up, I was praying for at least a 650 (I really thought I had bombed the Q). To my surprise, I saw a 730, 49Q and 40V (96 percentile).

I can honestly tell anyone reading this that I never expected a score that high. I am decent in math but by no means a genius. In fact, I was one of the people on this forum looking at everyone scoring 700s and wondering how the h#!! are these people scoring so well!

The test was 3 days ago and I still feel like I'm dreaming. Hard work pays off and if you take the time and don't stray away from your study schedule anything is possible.

For studying I truly gained the most out of the OG12, Manhattan SC Guide, and of course the gmatclub tests & forum.

Good luck All!