740 (49Q 42V)...glad to see the back side of that...

Just sat for my 1st try today...

The scores broke out as:
49 Q (90th percentile)
42 V (95th percentile)
740 total (98th percentile)

My practice scores were:

Kaplan CAT #1 550 (26Q, 37V)
GMATPrep #1 700 (43Q, 41V)
GMATPrep #2 710 (44Q, 44V)

As far as my preparation, I started about six weeks ago with the Kaplan Premier book, followed by the GMAC Verbal and Math guides. I had the 11th ed. OG and the Kaplan Math workbook, but I didn't complete them before I had to sit for the GMAT.

My observations:
AWA was more straightforward than I expected; maybe I just got lucky with the topics.

Quant was a nightmare, as this is my weak point. I felt like I was guessing on 50% of the questions past #10. I'm stunned that I did as well as I did.

Verbal is very similar to the OG. The RCs are perhaps a little bit more complex. SC is my weak spot, but as others on the board have observed, it seems a little bit more shaded toward clarity and conciseness as opposed to probing your grammatical skills. CR very similar to OG.

Bottom line: I'm stunned but very happy. Obviously, I'm flabbergasted at my success on the quant; perhaps the hardest ones were experimentals or maybe I just guessed well. I expected to do a little better than I did on the verbal, but I'm happy with the result.

My advice:

1) Kaplan Premier and Math are excellent prep if you are weak or rusty on quant. The math review in the back of the Kaplan Premier book is worth the price of the Kaplan book alone.

2) OG verbal is the best way to prepare for the verbal, especially the CR and RC questions. I found the Kaplan verbal questions to be ambiguous, either because they are trying to be harder or because they can't write these questions as well as GMAC.

3) Most important: do the GMATPrep tests. The nature of the CAT is that it will quickly take you to your level of discomfort and keep you there. No matter how badly you think you are doing on the real test, you are scoring much better than you think. Manage your time, guess on a question or two to get your time to questions ratio back in line if you have to.

Like I said, I'm a little dumbfounded at my scores, but very happy. I was looking to apply to MS program at a solid state school, and I was shooting for a 650. I don't think this changes where I'll apply, but it doesn't hurt.

Hope this helps, good luck to everyone on GMATClub...