My journey to a 780 (Q51/V45 + IR 8) on first try :)

Hi everyone!

I wanted to share my GMAT test taking experience with you all since I have benefited from looking at posts at this forum.

Background:
I was born outside the U.S. but lived in Europe for a couple of years in elementary school and have gone to high school and college here in the U.S. I have been working for a Big 4 Accounting firm in audit for a year now. I thought I was never a good standard exam take, since I remember struggling studying for SAT. But, I've always been good at math despite that I don't have a degree in math. I am planning to apply to a top tier MBA program in 2-3 years so I wanted to get GMAT out of the way, so I can focus on building my career. Below is how I studied.

Length:
I started studying in early March and took the exam today (6/30/17), so I'd say it's about four months. I didn't study everyday - I took a few days off in a row or apart during this period.

Study:
I bought the Manhattan GMAT prep books (all of them) and went through the books. I only skimmed through the math section, since I was familiar with most of the content. After going through the Manhattan books, I took the GMATPrep exam 1 and scored a 680. I targeted 780 but thought would be happy with anything above a 730. I also bought the Official Guide package including the verbal and quantitative books. I started the OG by splitting each section into 15 sets. I did one set per day (not every day though). I took the Manhattan practice tests every other weekend and scored a 660 and a 700. I went through the PowerScore Critical Reasoning guide and went through the Manhattan Sentence Correction guide thoroughly - taking notes and reviewing the day after. I also looked at the 700-800 level questions found on this forum and solved a few problems from the sections that I thought were my weak points. I also made an error log binder, and manually write all the questions I got wrong. This binder is 2 inch thick now, but I am so excited to throw this away! I wrote the source of the question, difficulty (I guessed), reason why I got it wrong, and the question & analysis. Reviewing this towards the end of my study helped a lot!
Then I took about a couple weeks off and came back to studying. My Manhattan score dropped to a 620. At this point, I finished the OG so moved on to the V and Q books. I split these books into 9 sets and took one set a day. I took my second GMATPrep practice test and scored a 760. I was surprised, but I was happy so I scheduled for my exam for two weeks after (which is today!). I purchased the two exam packs. Three days later, I took my third GMATPrep and scored a 760. A few days later, I took my fourth one and scored a 760. Q50/V41 was the score composition for all three of them. My fifth and sixth GMATPrep scores were a 740 (Q50/V40), so I thought I would get close to a 740 on my real exam.

Test day:
I was nervous during the morning, since my exam was scheduled at 2:45 pm. I ate breakfast, watched some TV shows to relax, and did some yoga. I actually arrived at the testing center an hour early (glad I did, bc the buildings were confusing and I got lost!). Taking the exam, I thought the quantitative section was easier than I thought, but the verbal was brutal. I thought I would get a 720 or 730. When I finished the score I saw was an IR score of 8 and a 780 (Q51/V45). I was surprised because I definitely made some guesses on verbal and panicked after spending too much time on this one critical reasoning question.

I think that my past four months of studying has paid off - I was skeptical towards my performance even during the exam, but I agree that practice does not betray you - it pays you back! I think that through my studying, I developed a sense of how to deal confusing problems.

So, good luck to everyone! I benefited so much from this website, when I googled all the questions I didn't understand, so definitely take advantage! Thanks for reading this!