Well it's been a long road and I feel like the world has been lifted from my shoulders. I took the GMAT for the first time 4/8/06. See my post from that day here:
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... highlight=
I was bummed that I didn't hit 700 that time (as I am now) but hey 670 is good enough for me.
The first test my study habits weren't great. I had given myself only about 5 weeks to study, of which the first half were strictly verbal because I have always been traditionally great at math. Bad move. I started doing my practice tests and was doing horrible on the math. Spent the last few weeks doing the math and taking a couple more practice tests. I really only studied with
OG 11 and Princeton Review books.
GMAT Prep1: 650
GMAT Prep2: 650
Kaplan CD: 650
Princeton Review: 710
I put those scores into the estimator here and thought I was a shoe-in for a 700. I took the exam and got a 630 (Q41 V36), 6.0 AWA.
After the 4/8/06 disappointment, I immediately signed up for a month later. I started studying immediately and found I was way to burnt out to keep studying. I had to reschedule for another month or so later. I took two weeks off and made an
error log and made sure I had every question right. I felt fine with my Verbal since it was already high so spent the rest of the next two months mostly studying the Math. With about two weeks left, I started redoing the PowerPrep software every few days (just the quant) and looking at my incorrect answers. From there, I did about 6 or 7 pages of
OG 10 math every day from the beginning of the book to the end. Yes some of these questions are easy, but if there are any in there that give you trouble, make sure you can do them before you move onto the hard stuff.
About the test today:
AWA was cake. I got a 6.0 last time and if it was possible, I would have gotten a 7.0 this time. I absolutely nailed it.
Quant was rough, but not as rough as test 1. LOTS of number theory, 1 combination, several geometry, no XY axis problems, I got like 5 questions on sequences for some reason which I found kinda odd.
Verbal was okay, I thought I did decent.
I was happy to see the 670 and that I increased my score but silently let down because I didn't get the 700.
Overall my experience was a long and stressful one. If I could do anything over, I would have given myself maybe an extra month to study, and I would have done the challenges on this site. I didn't do them because I didn't have enough time, but should have because everyone talks so highly of them.
Now its to the application process. Applying to UCLA, UNC, Texas at Austin, and might try a reach school like Harvard.
Thanks for the help guys!! GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!!