580 to 700 in 45 days

HI all

First of all a huge thanks to Gmat club for showing me hope when the chips were down!!

I took my first attempt at Gmat on Sep, 29 and got 580, though i had 740 in prep2 and was consistently touching above 700 in prep tests.I was very disappointed and then joined Gmat club and started following success stories of 100 point jump and all. Started studying seriously post Oct 30th after Metallica perfomed in India.
2nd attempt-Dec 15th-700!!

I wish to give back a gew tips to a club that helped me immensely:

1. Quality vs quantity is very important-Second time around I spent considerable time on any verbal question that i got wrong, searched threads on Gmat club and manhattan and kept a soft copy of the same as a report.

2. Maintained a hard copy of an error log book for both quant and verbal and revised and understood my mistakes.

3. Worked atleast 4 hours every day for 45 days, I am very skeptical of posts where people score 700 plus with a couple of weeks prep and studying 2 hours a day, i suggest you give everything you have!!

4. Dont' believe anyone who tells you cannot achieve it,after my first attempt a teacher of verbal told me that its out of my reach, that i am past my age to crack a tough test like Gmat, that i should be happy if i touched 600, but i worked very hard, not to prove him wrong, but i because i wanted to do well

5. Strategise: Gmat is not pure skill on verbal or quant section, you have to manage the test. I practiced SC a lot, understood all the concepts, practiced RC and CR but fot the test my strategy was: Crack SC in under a minute, Spend time on RC and go to and fro from a quesion to answer to get it right and for CR if i did not get the answer in 2 mins i guessed and moved on or if after reading twice i found it incomprehensible i took my best guess and moved on.

6.There is a way to use the ear plugs-and if you dont ask how to use those with max effectiveness , chances are the administrator won't tell you

7. Spend time with your ownself-create your own space where even if you are not studying you say positive things to yourself, enjoy the fight, dream of cracking it and then get going, dont waste anytime, dont justify watching some football or a movie or a drink( though i did a few times:))Give it your best shot!! and you will be surprised at what you can achieve!!

Thanks a lot Gmat club and all those members who achieved miracles and inspired many more to emulate!!

Wish all of you the very best,

Rohit

If you can't then you must!!