Scored 750 on the GMAT! (Q51,V40)

Hey folks! I just came back from the center and my score is 750! (Q51,V40)
I would like to thank all the wonderful people who contribute to this community!

The materials I used were:
*Manhattan SC for Sentence Correction.
*PowerScore CR Bible
*OG 13th edition ( Quant+Verbal)
*VeritasPrep Sentence correction and AWA&IR
*100 most difficult PS, DS, SC, CR problems from GMATCLUB

I prepared for the GMAT in two months. I didn't have really have much of a problem with quant, since I used to prep for CAT (An Indian entrance test). The only qualm was DS. I worked hard, and frankly I had a lot of fun studying DS! I basically did the OG+100 most difficult questions from GMATCLUB to tackle it, and by test date I was pretty confident about it.

Verbal was my weaker area. I read in a lot of threads that SC could be easily conquered, so after much delay, about a month before the exam date, I went ahead and purchased the Manhattan SC guide. It's a great book if read thoroughly, and it also provides access to six CAT's which is an added bonus! I slowly slowly became better at SC, and I started scoring >=39 on Verbal! (Initially I used to score 34)
I personally feel that RC is something that a book cannot teach you, so I didn't really stress much about it! I didn't have much issues with RC.
About just 10 days prior to the exam, I took a MGMAT prep test and scored 690, and upon reviewing my mistakes I realized that my CR was weak!
So I had to patch it in 10 days, because for me, Verbal was the make or break! So I quickly got hold of PowerScore CR bible, and things changed!
I became many shades better at CR in about a week! The book is truly amazing and a MUST for anyone who wishes to do well in CR!

I would exhort all readers who are due to give GMAT in the future to maintain an error log, and REVIEW it before giving the exam.
It allows you to patch your weaker areas and makes you more alert on as to where you might go wrong!

Another tip would be to always work on your mistakes and weaker areas; This will certainly yield awesome results!

Test day experience:

I reached the center 30 mins prior to my appointment time. Center was fully crowded. I was given the rules to read, which I went through. My name was called, and I did the vein scan and photograph formality. Tucked my stuff in the locker, took my earplugs and the laminated booklet and pens and went inside. (BTW Not even handkerchiefs are allowed). Selected my five schools. Breezed through the AWA; I suck at IR because I didn't really prepare much(Wasn't much worried about it) and I answered it to the best of my capacity. Took the first optional break. Ran out, had a small sandwich and half a chocolate, and drank some juice and used the restroom. Checked back in, and the quant instructions appeared. I let the screen stay for the minute provided to read the instructions so that I calm down. Started with quant. It went smooth till Q.15 which was a tough DS problem which would have compromised my timing. Cracked it (I guess ) and moved on; It's very important to keep moving and not get stuck. Finished quant in 73 mins. Took optional break 2. Went out, had another sandwich, more chocolate, some Gatorade and water, used the restroom again. Went back in. This is where it began to go wrong. My timing screwed up BIGTIME in verbal; At about Q.15 I had 38 mins left ( I should have been at Q.19/Q.20) and I realized that doom was impending. Quickly moved on, and increased my mental pace. I thought I was royally screwed, but somehow I didn't panic at all, and kept my cool. I knew that I had to complete the Verbal section. With about 15 mins remaining, I was around Q.27 (Should have been here at around 22 mins) and I wanted to pee real bad ; I became super focused and quickly attacked CR and SC questions (My Manhattan practice and PowerScore knowledge came to rescue); SC and CR I attacked with intuition backed by knowledge in order to make up for lost time. I had 2 mins remaining and 3 questions to go. Did SC in 30 secs. Last two were CR; Did Q.40 in 45 secs and Q.41 in 45 secs! ( I was just happy to finish the section)

I was expecting 680(Due to shoddy verbal experience)

But I suppose the practice paid off.
It took a week for the score to sink in! :D



My prep scores were:

GMATPrep1:730
GMATPrep2:750
MGMAT1: 670 ( )
MGMAT2:720
MGMAT3: 690
PrincetonReview: 640(Weird)

Don't let one practice test bog you down ( I personally got very depressed seeing the 640)

And keep practicing quality stuff in a TIMED manner for quant, I repeat, WATCH THE CLOCK!

Miscellaneous tips:

* I do yoga and meditation daily, which helps me keep my cool in the most demanding situations. It REALLY helped during the Verbal botch up. PM me if you'd like to know more about yoga or meditation.
*I watched some TED talks which are really cool and sort of relevant if you wish to keep your equanimity and confidence intact during your prep and test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc

I wish all the future test takers all the best!
And many many kudos to all who knowingly or unknowingly contributed to my success on the GMAT!


UPDATE: Got the score report in 5 days(Weird). AWA 6.0!