I got lucky on verbal, no other way to but it. I consistently scored in low 40's on practice tests. Also, I was unable to tell the difference between the "easy" and "hard" questions, which may have helped me not get psyched out.
I'm guessing that I lost the most verbal points on SC's, because I was always stronger at CR and RC. I studied consistently for just under a month during my lunch breaks and evening hours, and I tried to split my time evenly between Quant and Verbal.
I found the
OG to be particularly helpful for verbal because timing was not an issue for me (unlike quant). I've read great things about
Manhattan GMAT SC, but I've never read it myself. I also used Kaplan 800.
In quant, I know I could have done better. I am naturally strong at math and I struggled with careless errors, timing, and falling for GMAT traps during my practices. I found it particularly difficult to master timing because I knew I would only be seeing tough questions, but the
OG had a random mix. I used Kaplan 800, to focus on hard stuff, but I found it wasn't enough and I needed to use the
OG to get more realistic questions. I improved my timing by doing short bursts of 10 to 30 questions at a time and aiming for an average of 1 minute a question. This may have been too extreme, as I finished the quant section with 10 mins remaining and I know I screwed up because of my need for speed.
In general, I read through the Princeton Review for tips, which I found great for verbal, but somewhat silly for quant. I also thing that PR has great AWA strategies, but I won't know until I get my AWA score.
One thing I think I did wisely, was plan my GMAC practice tests very carefully. I took one 1/3 of the way into my studying and the second 2/3 of the way in. I took them very seriously, in a quiet room with no interruptions, and I did the essays too. I did the free practice tests from Knewton, Kaplan, and PR too, but not as strictly test day like.
I was unsure how I would react to the pressure on the real test day. I took it at 8am on monday, so I went to sleep really early Sunday night and tossed and turned the entire night. In the morning, I had no appetite and an upset stomach (prob stressed induced) I forced down part of a corn muffin and raspberry snapple on the way in. I arrived an hour early, tired, hungry (but no appetite - awful feeling), and an unsettled stomach. I was way too early and I had to wait around for a half an hour. The check-in/security process was long, painstaking, and nerve-racking, but once I started typing the essays, I forgot about everything but the GMAT.