Here is my debrief:
Took my first GMAT in Aug 2006- scored a reasonable 660- neither good nor bad.
Spoke with a lot of people including GMATCLUBBERS and decided to retake as my target schools were among top 10. My aim was to make more than 700 and concentrate extremely hard on the apps. Well, I could now say I did the first part exactly.....
I knew verbal was always my weak part becoz 1) I am a non-native speaker and 2) I am highly impatient when it comes to RCs
I decide to beef up my verbal and also at the same time keep my math skills at the same levels. I bought the GMAX online course, which helped a lot in gaining my confidence back and a better understanding of math and verbal concepts. The
Manhattan GMAT SC is extremely well structured and many ppl have commented about its effectiveness and I will just concur and leave it at that.
As I studied in the midst of my work, I made definite improvements in verbal in that my hit rate improved pretty well. I was confident that I can make an improvement of atleast 4-5 points from my previous 34 in verbal.
The other materials I refered for verbal were most entirely from our forum.
My Math skills were kept intact by practicing the challenges...they are tough and they keep you tough ...
and finally...exam day.
I was not so stressed as I was confident I will make the 700 barrier. The AWA section was an excellent icebreaker and I wrote the two essays without much of a problem.After completing the essays up to my satisfaction, I told myself to keep my focus and avoid the silly mistakes . the Q section was basically a breeze until the 20th Q or so when some toughies came out..I realized at that point I will be getting around 48 or more. I took the break and started the verbal section. It was goiing on well and it was the RCs that came around the 14 or 15th question that got me off track. Those were extremely dry and severly tested my patience. I might have lost out a bit in there that was reflected in my verbal score.
All in all, I ended up with a 49 Q and 35 V for a 700 (92%), and I was relived and actually a bit happy too now that my dreams of making it to a top school still remains.......
My advice to you all who are trying to break the 700 barrier: BELIEVE and PERSIST. you will definitely get there and if you can keep your concentration for nearly 4 hrs, you can score even more.
All the best guys.........