770 on first attempt, a pleasant surprise

This post is going to be a long one, so I have divided it in sections. If you would rather just see what resources I used and tips, go to the last part

Background:
I am an IT engineer from India with more than 9 years of experience. Most of my experience has been on the technical side. I was an above average student in school and college but not extra-ordinary. I decided to go for GMAT in June 2016 after coming back to India after long time abroad. I had not given any competitive exam in last nine years though whenever I have given one in past, results have been pretty good. I believe in strong preparation and hence, did not rush with it.
Target was to score 700+. I took my GMAT on 25th Jan and scored 770 (Q50, V46, IR 8)

Preparation:
When I started of, I was out of touch with maths and English grammar, so I decided to take coaching classes (Dilip Oak’s Academy in Pune (those in India might know this))
I took weekend course for 3 months because I work on weekdays. Did not study much in 3 months (July to Sept) other than attending the coaching class.
Started actual study in October. For next 3 months (Oct – Dec) I was doing 2 – 2.5 hrs study in morning and around 3 hours study in the evening for weekdays and around 6 hours on weekends. In these months I solved the problems from books given by coaching class with verbal on weekdays and quant on weekends. Did not focus on IR much as I considered it to be similar to quant (big mistake)
I also went through VeritasPrep videos from youtube. Though looking back, I don’t think they were that useful, they did help me avoid burnout (watching videos for 2-3 hours is much easier than solving problems). For SC I used Manhattan Prep GMAT SC book and it is pretty good.
By end of Dec, I already knew what my weak points were: in quant I had trouble with permutation, combination and probability and in verbal it was SC.
By this time, I was under the impression that I can do good in quant and need to focus exclusively on verbal SC ( I already knew I am good at CR and could handle RC)
However, on 1st Jan I came across this post on GMAT Club (https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-ps-ques ... 27957.html) and tried to solve few 700 level questions and barely had 50% accuracy rate and I was easily taking over 2:30 minutes to solve these.
So, this is when I decided to change my study plan and also timing. I started studying at night from 9 -9:30 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. with half hour break in between for weekdays. This timing also helped me train myself to study and solve problems 3-4 hours continuously after coming back from work.
I solved 700 level questions from link above, around 30-40 per day. I ended up solving at-least first page of individual types. I also used GMAT club math book (https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-math-bo ... 30609.html)
Took GMATPrep full length test on 8th Jan (my first full length test). Scored 750 (Q49, V42) but got only 1 (yes just 1) in IR. This is when I realized that I also need to focus on IR. For next few days, solved IR questions from GMATPill (https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-t ... -reasoning). They don’t show you correct answers for all questions for free, but for me just able to practice was enough.
Took another practice test on 14th Jan from VeritasPrep (710, Q50, V37). Decided here to focus on verbal sc.
Went through Manhattan Prep GMAT SC book once again and took 3rd practice test on 17th Jan and scored 680 (Economist GMAT Tutor Q51, V34, IR5). I took this test late at night and hence, was expecting a little less score but 680 was a letdown.
Decided not to do anything on IR anymore and focus exclusively on SC. This is where I found (https://gmatclub.com/forum/e-gmat-s-all ... 68892.html). Went through all topics and took notes.
I had also ordered Kaplan 800 book but I would not recommend it. Questions were a bit too easy.
Took 3 days off from work so I had 21st Jan to 25th Jan off. In these last 4 days I took 3 additional practice tests (MGMAT (730), Kaplan GMAT Test (720) and GMATPrep second test (750))
Did some random practice, went through sample AWA (https://gmatclub.com/forum/awa-compilat ... 74-80.html) and (https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-get-6 ... 64327.html)
I did not study idioms, though I have been using english in profession setting for 9 years so I am already aware of most commonly used idioms.

Test day:
Couldn’t sleep till 6 a.m. because I was too excited. I was fairly confident of reaching my target of 700. I had taken 14:30 appointment was GMAT as I wanted to revise important things before going to exam.
Finally forced myself to sleep at 6 and woke up at 10 a.m. Freshened up, revised and after light breakfast/lunch, went to test center at 1:40 p.m.
Test center staff was helpful. He took all our details (palm prints, photo etc.). He informed us about test format etc. and also specifically told us that though breaks are 8 minute long, try to be back at your desks in 6 minutes because you are not allowed to re-start your exam without giving palm prints again and before examiner logs in.
AWA and IR sections went well, Quant section was fair but didn’t think it was as good as practice tests. Initial verbal section was pretty good. But then I got a couple of difficult SCs and had a minor panic attack on question 21 of SC. I thought I am going to screw this section up and just like Emonomist GMAT exam, score below 700. Somehow I persevered and managed to keep my focus. At the end of test, I was a bit anxious to get to the score screen and when I saw my score, I couldn’t believe it. I am very happy

Resources used:
Dilip Oak’s Academy (good if you are starting from scratch)
VeritasPrep videos on youtube (good.. but I forgot almost everything from those videos)
Manhattan Prep GMAT SC book (Recommended for SC)
Kaplan 800 (Not recommended)
https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-ps-ques ... 27957.html (must to get good score in quant)
https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-math-bo ... 30609.html (one stop shop for all the necessary formulas. Good for last minute revision)
https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-t ... -reasoning (Good for IR practice. Definitely helped me improve my IR score)
https://gmatclub.com/forum/e-gmat-s-all ... 68892.html (Very short to the point PDFs. Good for quick reference)
https://gmatclub.com/forum/awa-compilat ... 74-80.html and https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-get-6 ... 64327.html (These are the only two things I used for AWA and I practiced AWA only on practice tests. Will let you know if this was enough based on my AWA score EDIT: Scored 5 on AWA)
Had I scored below 700, my plan was to get official GMAT guide and solve the entire book in a month or so and retake GMAT on 4th March

Practice tests:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/all-gmat-cat ... 77460.html
1) GMATPrep test 1 (Q49, V42, IR 1) 750
2) Veritas Prep GMAT (Q50, V37) 710
3) Economist (Q51, V34, IR 5) 680
4) Manhattan GMAT 720
5) Kaplan GMAT 730
6) GMAT Prep test 2 (Q50, V42, IR 5) 750

Tips:
Plan your preparation: I have read in couple of forums that GMAT preparation is a marathon and not sprint. I would say it really depends on person. Looking back, I think I could have studied harder right from start and could have taken the test in 2 months instead of 4 month preparation. Keep some days off to avoid burnout
Set your target: Set the target which you think is achievable and stick to it. I had already decided that I wanted to score 700+ and I was ready to give as much time required for this as possible. Unless you are in rush, do not attempt GMAT if you feel you are not well prepared to achieve your target
Practice: Practice as many 700 level questions as you can. Don’t worry much if your accuracy is low in the beginning or if you take more that 2:30 minutes.
Blindspots: You don’t have to be 100% confident about every area of quant or verbal but make sure you know at-least the basics. e.g. I could never get comfortable with 700 level permutation, combination, probability and SC questions but could correctly solve 600 level questions for them.
You can be fairly certain that in quant that questions from same area won't come one after another. But for verbal, you need a little bit of luck for that to happen.
Accuracy: Same as above, in GMAT you can get upto 25% questions wrong and still score above 700. What you need to make sure is that you don’t get questions wrong one after another. Hence, in exam, make sure that you solve questions from your area of strength accurately, even if they take a little more time, then you can afford to miss a question from your area of weakness.
Timing: For quant, I would say that it is ok to take about 4 minutes for 1 or 2 questions. But where you take this long is important. In my opinion, if question is in first 20, you are confident that giving more time will give you correct answer and you have more than 1.5 minute per question left, give more time.
Do not waste your time if you absolutely don’t understand the question or have no clue how to solve it.
In my case I took more time when I got arithmetic wrong in one question. I knew that giving more time here would give me correct answer
For verbal, give more time for your weak areas. I took fairly more time to solve SC part of the test than CR or RC. However, for verbal also make sure that you keep atleast 3 to 5 minutes for last 2-3 questions as it could be a one last RC.
Most important section for timing and most difficult for me was IR. You have to solve 12 questions with 2-3 subquestions each. My strategy for practice tests was to simply skip the question if I am not able to understand it and/or if it is taking me long time to solve. In actual GMAT, I did not face any issue.
Practice tests: Give as many practice tests as possible. Take 2-3 tests in last week of your preparation. This helps in making gmat test a routine. I would strongly recommend GMATPrep tests as I actually found those and actual GMAT to be a bit easier than other practice tests. However, on GMATPrep tests, it is quite likely that you would get some problems which you have already solved. Hence, make sure that your score reflects this as well.
Notes: Take notes. i.e. make a 1 or 2 page document of things that you keep forgetting (my notes were like ‘because of modifies verb, due to modifies noun’ etc.). Go through this document on exam day.
On the day of exam: Check ID requirements for your country before leaving your home. Make sure your have the required ID and a copy of this ID with you. Test center here in Pune asked us to provide our own copy of ID. If at all possible, visit the center once before actual test day to avoid last minutes issues while locating the center. Give enough time to reach the test center. I was at test center 50 minutes before actual exam. If slots are available, examiner might start your exam early. You can ask for ear plugs if required. During practice tests I had used earplugs and in exam center there was slight hum of the A.C. so I asked for earplugs there and was promptly provided a pair. Keep a light sweater with you if you are sensitive to cold. Avoid eating during your breaks but this is upto you. Don’t use full length of the break. Be at your desk atleast 2 minutes early. You can use break between IR and Quant to write down some formulas which you might forget under pressure on rough sheets provided.