Tired of endlessly studying...

I had similar trouble breaking the 600 barrier some time back now im stuck with breaking the 650 barrier, but i can share my experience. The key is to review the break down of your mistakes and work specifically on those areas..

I was consistently scoring a 590, and i realized that i was making very specific mistakes eg. in CR and RC i had an issue with the inferenc question, i reviewed the basics and immediately saw my score jump... similarly i had issues with absolute value basics etc. in Quant and i practiced 700+ level problems and followed bunuel on the forum.. that will really help you gain a perspective on solving..

Stress management:
you need to be very very VERY wary of your state of mind while attempting the test, its all mere trickery and time management. I was able to consistently break the 600 barrier the moment i realised i was stressing unnecessarily on the exam. I was thinking about the type of questions, the amount of time i had spent on a question and probably gotten wrong etc. ALL unnecessary. The key is to focus on the one question that you are facing! and just aiming to hammer it into the ground the best you can. If you cant solve it in 2 minutes or even 3, rest assured its not meant to be, try to look at the options at hand take your pick and move on.

On time management:
you need to have a plan and strategy in mind when approaching the questions.. personally this is something i am still working on. while everyone says that the first few questions are the most important (and i do agree) you need to balance your time evenly. too much time spent early can result in a lot of random guessing at the end.. For this i have been repeatedly practicing on full sections managing my time on a 25:20:20:10 split on the quant (i am still perfecting this, so this isnt a golden rule and may not necessarily work for you!!)

Finally you need to tell yourself its just an exam, there are far more difficult things you may have done in your actual life, draw some inspiration from this and build your confidence!! (i ran a half marathon last weekend.. and i can tell you it is a tough one!!)

GO FOR GOLD!! and beat that GMAT!!

Awesome response, Arjun206!

Stormgal, it looks like you have a great academic (and overall) background, and I'm certain that you have the ability to get a 650 on the GMAT. I obviously don't know very much about you, but I have a feeling that Arjun206 is 100% correct to emphasize the stress and timing issues. If you have a tendency to get stubborn on questions (spending three minutes or more on a single question, even if you feel lost), that can absolutely destroy your score. You'll start to feel rushed, and then you'll start to make careless errors that you wouldn't normally make, and you might be forced into some blind guessing at the end of the section. The adaptive algorithm really punishes you for those careless errors--you can be great at math, but if you make, say, four or five "unforced" errors per test, your score will be far lower than you deserve.

And remember that you can miss tons of questions--especially on quant--and still get an excellent GMAT score. Your score mostly depends on which questions you miss, not necessarily on how many you miss. So concentrate on eliminating mistakes on the questions that are relatively easy for you, and try to let the tougher ones go. The truly difficult questions won't prevent you from getting a 650. Just focus on your execution (be careful with your calculations, make sure that you re-read the questions carefully, watch diligently for traps) on the topics that you understand, and I'm confident that your score will improve.

I hope this helps!

It seems as if you've been improving time and time again! Use this as positive momentum to breakdown your mistakes in what you've been struggling with. Focus on what you are having trouble with, spend extra time on the nature of those questions while still reviewing what you're confident in. I agree with arjun206. If you spend too much time in the beginning you will feel rushed and will begin to make mindless mistakes towards the end of the exam. Good luck!!

Lets form a group and track the performance on daily basis. I am also in the same boat, but i think we can improve.

I could suggest some free resources and see if they suit your style...

GMAT pill - https://www.youtube.com/user/gmatpill

Thursdays with ron - https://www.manhattangmat.com/thursdays-with-ron.cfm

Free video solutions from OG 12,13,quant review etc

https://www.gmatquantum.com/

If my post helped click +1 kudos