My second FAILED attempt : 680

Terribly sorry I didnt update folks on my second attempt. I was too depressed with the result!

Got a 680 (Q-50, V-32) AWA 6.0.
A 30 point improvement considering. But absolutely no improvement in verbal concerns me a lot.

Key points to note:
1) I gave two practice tests very early on. One was GMATPrep1 I got a 720 and another Kaplan online test and I got 710. This was atleast 2 months before exam. I didnt give any other practice test.
2) I didn't study anything in quantitative for 2 months prior to the exam. I was only studying verbal. So, considering this the score is really really BAD.

Study Material:
I tried Kaplan notes ---> My opinion it is a serious WASTE of time and is totally not representative of actual test.
I used MGMAT all books --> By far the best notes for quant and SC. Skip the RC book. Use the CR book only for its problems. They got tons of practice problems.
I didnt use OG13 --> instead I looked through the quant problems on the GMATquantum.com. They are not significantly different from OG12. As for verbal, I have no idea of the new type of questions/
I used GMATClub tests --> I gave 8 to 9 tests. These are by far the best to improve your critical reasoning and avoiding silly mistakes and solving problems using shortcuts. Very very important for >49 performance. I wholeheartedly endorse these tests! Mind you in my first two practice tests I didnt once get 50. But in between the practice tests and exam, I only occassionally did untimed GMAT CLUB TESTS. Cause and effect reasoning shows that GMAT CLUB TESTS are partially responsible for my 50 point score.

Actual test day
Quant: I was cruising through quant. I was finding it so easy I thought I will get a low 40. I got max 1 probability question and that was very easy too. But I got a lot of simple tricky questions like those you get on MENSA tests. So, be very very careful. They are not conceptually difficult but very easy to make silly mistakes on. Quant was totally representative of OG type of problems nothing over the top out of syllabus. I finished 6 minutes before end of time.

Verbal: I was worried about quant performance and that played in my mind when I started verbal. I didn't see ANY bold faced question. In my previous attempt I saw one around the 25th question. Automatically, I realized I was doing BADLY. But I continued to persevere. I got four short passages and several RC questions on certain highlighted sections of the passage. In CR I noticed there were a lot more Strengthening questions. I think this is in line with the changes on OG I read on the MGMAT site. No bold faced CR questions probably meant I was doing badly on CR because I was breezing through SC and RC was not so tough. Anothe key point to note, there were NO questions based on IDIOMS. GMAT is tending to go towards a greater proportion of Modifier based question pool. So, another thing to note for future takers. I finished 3 minutes before end of time.

Key Takeaways:
1) Give practice tests (A lot and lot of em')
2) Learn the key trends of new OG, focus and practice on those types of questions (Bold faced, highlighted RC etc.)
3) Don't waste too much time on probability, combinations etc. It is not highly represented on new OG pattern.
3) Work on verbal section only when you are completely exhausted not when you are most active.
4) Like everyone says practice, practice and practice BUT only on GOOD material and not USELESS material.

Some key questions for those who have aced verbal: 1) On the verbal section I felt like all answers were all similar on CR and SC. Did anyone else feel this way? I can't figure whether I felt this way due to mental exhaustion or just that I didn't have the concepts right. Any suggestions on how I can improve verbal will be very much appreciated! I want to be absolutely sure I can get 80% percentile or more in verbal next attempt.

So, anyways I am still recovering from my pain and assessing the situation here whether I should put another good attempt on the GMAT and increase my verbal beyond the golden 80% or just apply with my profile. I have several key differentiators which could play to my strength.

Main problem to give GMAT again will be to learn the IR section. I have already mastered the AWA section
So, I need to give up an advantage in AWA to learn IR and focus on verbal.

I hope this helps future takers!! Cheers and good luck!