My Story: 650 - 750 :)

Hello Guys,
I had a GMAT retake today and Iam glad to share that I have managed to pull up my score from 650 to a good 750..IN A MONTH'S TIME
I wanted to share my experience of the THE DAY and the preparation for managing the score that I did...
First score (650) break up Q48 V26..I have to acknowledge that although I was scoring 700 in my prep tests consistently...i was never an active participant in the process of preparation...and after the test I realized how lucky I was to have scored 650..
After getting the score, I was down but not out..I decided to give it a better shot with an aim of 700+..
I picked up Sahil's SC notes and Manhattan SC guide, spent a couple of days with them and started solving questions religiously from every quarter possible (1000 SC, CAT papers (CAT is the toughest Indian Management admission test))..i made sure that I participated actively in the GMAT club forum..once I started helping others out, I began realizing that I was internalizing the concepts of SC and they came back to me more smoothly than before..Hence I would say clearing doubts in this forum is the single most important thing that I did during this period..
For CR - I referred to Powerscore, 1000CR, Verbal workbook + cleared doubts on this forum
For RC - I referred to CAT papers and 1000 RC
For quant - After the test, I made sure I solved as many tests as possible for Quant..for I used to make run over mistakes in quant..Over a period of time, i grew confident of my answers..so i spent 1% time on quant..

What was I scoring in the prep tests:
Took 5 tests during this 1 month period and their scores are as below

Kaplan - 730
Manhattan test from site - 690
Manhattan test from site - 730
GMAT prep test (1 week from the site) - 770
GMAT prep test ( a day before the test) - 750

THE DAY experience:
Analytical writing - Good
High strung during the break - dint know how to get to rid of it (unfortunately a non-smoker)
carried the nervousness to the seat..
Quant - first 10 mostly right...from then on I started screwing up the answers..for every 3 question was turning out to be a rudimentary level problem..so my overconfidence in quant pulled me down obviously..
High strung during the break again..may be some hormones were fighting amongst themselves to flow out..
Verbal - questions followed a cycle, 3-4 SC, 2 CR and then a RC..

I had clicked on 'Report the score button' in no time..so when I looked at my score on the next screen..the first thought that came to my mind was " Whether I have reported the score".. I reconfirmed with the administrator as to whether I actually reported the score..I hope this has happened with other people..otherwise I would be taken aback for reporting the scene..

TAKEAWAYS from my preparation that I hope could be helpful for some one atleast..

1. GMAT is not tough..one needs to follow the rules cited in the books religiously...internalize the concepts...refer more than one source for each part of each section (just to reassure yourself that you are no loser and that you have got the concept fully)

2. SC - perhaps the most tricky section of the lot..I followed Sahil's notes and Manhattan SC religiously and made sure I applied all the concepts, every bit of it religiously.. It helped me to choose between the 2 options after a round of elimination with confidence.. After Manhattan SC I was doing 7/10 in 1000 SC doc and used to eliminate 3/5 options all the times..it used to come down to a choice between the left over ones.. and I believe 700 above scores are made by choosing between the left over options confidently..

One strategy that I devised for myself was: While reading the question get the subject and the intended tense of the sentence..it would almost always help in eliminating 3/5 options...

3. CR - Understanding the question in your way, may be putting it down in your own way(I used to do it), and prephasing the answer was my mantra for CR...it worked from start till the end..the only place I used to flounder was choosing between 2 left over options and for this I religiously rechecked the answer explanations of all the sources that I had referred to..over time..i started choosing confidently between two choices..

4. RC - General outline of the paragraphs (in a series) and putting the general purpose of the passage before looking at the questions helped me answer the RC questions better... I believe one has to be an active reader for doing well in RC..then if one follows a particular method then one is bound to do well.. I would say I did well, because I used to read the passage actively and used to look for important points in the passages..I may have been spending a minute more on each of the passages but it helped me in getting to the answer options quickly, as I used to have the answer more or less in my mind while I had read the passage..

5 Quant - Avoid silly mistakes and more practice was my mantra..I never really prepared for Quant, so cannot offer any takeaways on Quant..but I could be held as example for a case of 'avoid being overconfident' as I was scoring 51 in most of my tests and scored 49 in the actual test..and that I would say is a crime..


Please let me know..if someone has any questions..I owe a lot to this group..



PS : Wohoooo it took 45 minutes to put my thoughts down...so havent scanned the content for any possible errors in language and grammar..
One additional takeaway for me from GMAT preparation was that I now concentrate on my grammar all the time..I have started correcting myself every now and then...and that I believe is a good thing that one could take away moving forward in life..even if this should come to us naturally after our schooling....