From 590 to 710 (Q50, V38), Target Achieved

Yesterday, on my second attempt, I crossed my target score of 700 and put an end to my GMAT writing career.
Thanks to all of those on this forum who answered my questions and to those who posted their questions.

Here is my debrief:
First attempt was in Aug and ended up with a miserable 590(Q42, V32). I decided to take some time to prepare and get back to the basics, for I realized that GMAT can kick you butt if you don't grasp the basics.

Material Used:
OG11
Quant and Verbal Supplements
LSAT material for RC and CR
PowerScore CR Bible
RC1000, CR1000
GMATPREP SC and Brutal SC documents
GMATPREP and GMATFocus
GMATCLUB tests

Quant
Primarily used Gmatclub tests and GMAT Focus for practice. GMATFocus is a bit expensive, but I would highly recommend if you want to see the same problem types as the real test. Took the GMATPREP tests four times before the real test.
In my opinion, OG11 is just the starting point, and one has to practice Quant under timed conditions and this is where GMATClub and GMATFocus help tremendously.

Sentence Correction
SC on the GMAT is on a different level compared to OG and GMATPREP. Be sure to start with the basics and practice a lot. MGMAT SC bible is one of the better books for the basics. But, the way verbal is getting harder and harder these days, I believe we would have to supplement with another English sentence book that is more thorough.
Reviewed GMATPrep SC document and Brutal SC's on the days before the test.

RC and CR
Despite what others have said here before, I feel that one can improve RC performance drastically. I used LSAT RCs for practice and once you are able to score reasonably well on the LSAT RC's (60-70%), GMAT RC's will be a lot easier. I went from 50% accuracy to 90% accuracy after using LSAT RCs. Be sure to practice active reading and be super focused on the passage. One needs to also be able to recognize the changes in context and tone of the sentences. This is where GMAT catches a lot of people. For CR, I started with Powerscore bible that helps you with identifying question and answer types.

Practice Scores
GMATPREP1 #1 - 710
GMATPREP1 #2 - 750
GMATPREP2 #1 - 750
GMATPREP2 #2 - 760
Several GMATClub tests all in the 23-27 range

Test Day
Some of the Quant questions rattled me. I saw question types on the test that I never saw in any of the practices. There was this nasty geometry one that was a combination of rectangle, isosceles triangle and parallelogram areas type question.
But, at the same time there were also questions that weren't much different from GMATPREP and GMATFocus. One of the good things that I did on the Quant was to be in control of the time. The penalty for unanswered questions is quite severe, I had learnt this the hard way in my first attempt. So make sure to answer them all.

For sure, there are going to be questions that you cannot solve in 2 minutes and as a result you have to pick your battles with GMAT. There were a couple of times that I had no clue how to approach and I ended up making educated guesses and moved on.

As with many other folks, verbal is the challenging part for me. And GMAT put me through hell me on verbal section. I saw the 700 goal turning into a mirage on a couple of questions. Picking the right answer for some of the SC's and RC's was like pulling teeth. Finally, I had to answer the last 10 questions in under 10 minutes and this is where all the practice helps you.

After the last question, I sat there for a few minutes considering whether I should cancel the score, because I was convinced I had screwed up my verbal. I am glad I didn't

Final Notes to Test Takers
Learn your basics and practice rigorously
Familiarize yourself with the question types and answers, especially on the CR
Pick your battles. Don't spend too much time on any one question