My journey from 710 to 770 - lessons learnt

Hi all,

I wanted to share my GMAT experience and, more importantly, the lessons I learnt from the first take, with the GMAT club community.

What I did the first time:
* Gathered material based on the books suggested by GMATclub
* Reviewed the general guides first - Kaplan Premier
* Worked on the individual guides next - Manhattan GMAT SC, CR, RC
* Followed up with gmatclub math tests
* Practiced essays
* Took several practice tests - Manhattan GMAT and GMATPrep
* Studied intensively over the final four weeks leading up to the exam (total prep time equaled 2 months)

The result:
710 (92%ile) - Q50 (93%ile), V37 (80%ile), AWA 5.5

What went wrong:
I should probably start with why I was dissatisfied with a 710. The average of my final four practice tests, before I took the real thing, was a 760. Against some advice I received, I decided to retake the exam after I saw my score report. To be fair, the 710 will probably not have significant negative impact on my application all else being the same, but I just couldn't sleep knowing that I underachieved by 50 points.
But I digress - ok, back to what I believe I did wrong. I reviewed a lot of things that a lot of people did around the test - take coffee before/during the exam, splash water on the face during breaks, eat chocolate/energy bars/energy drinks, create a grid on the answer sheet using POE for each question, write down a lot of info for each RC....I could go on. In any case, I tried very hard to incorporate all of these into my strategy... and it didn't work for me! I realized I was running seriously short of time after about the 15th question. I concentrated so much on everything AROUND the exam that I failed to focus ON the exam, specifically the verbal portion.

What I did differently next:
* After much debate, I decided to retake the exam and re-registered
* I figured I'd already covered all the material the first time, so I mostly took it easy the first few weeks
* Knowing what I did wrong the first time, I took the last few practice exams I hadn't taken yet, applying the new "relaxed" strategy in which I noted down very little in the verbal section and let my brain process more. I did quite well, averaging scores between V41 and V45, and was finishing each of the Verbal and Quant sections with over five minutes left.
* I followed the same strategy in the real thing earlier this morning, and had about as much time left again in each section.

The result:
770 (99%ile) - Q51 (98%ile), V44 (97%ile), AWA ???

Key takeaway:
Read about what has worked for others, but only pick out what works for you. Practice what works for you. Try to finish early in even the practice exams. All of this might seem very obvious (hey, it was for me too!), but I'm a living example of what might go wrong if you try to do too much.

Please post any questions you may have. I'm happy to help.