GMAT 1st Attempt (Apr-20th,2010): 660 (q49,v33)
GMAT 2nd Attempt (July-14th,2010): 740 (q49,v41)
Studied perfectly systematically for the 1st GMAT attempt. Got nervous on test day and screwed up verbal. Took a vacation and finally decided to retake gmat. Booked the date for july 14th and started studying around june 14th. I read up manhattan verbal in a few days(I'm very lazy, completely ad-hoc schedule) and gave 4
MGMAT tests (1 on wed, 1 on sun for 2 weeks). Thats it. "The" day arrived and I was extremely calm (unlike the first time around), and managed sitting for those excruciating 4 hours and got 740.
So if any re-taker is reading this! Don't listen to GMACs recommendation that retaking does not improve score, (statistically speaking as GMAC says).
FYI, studying materials used (along with my judgment on them)
1. Princeton Review (Started off with this book. Very elementary. Probably not worth your time)
2. Kaplan Advanced (Not worth it. Neither did I learn much from it nor was it advanced)
3. Manhattan verbal guides (THE BEST!!! MUST-HAVE. Unfortunately, I got my hands on them only after the 1st GMAT attempt)
4.
OG-12 and
OG Verbal Review (Nice question bank. Quant is easy and unlike real gmat questions, but verbal is perfect. Learnt a plethora of concepts.)
Tests taken (before GMAT 1st attempt):
1. Princeton Review (waste of time)
2. Kaplan (SCs too easy, RCs too convoluted. Did 2 tests and stopped)
3. GmatPrep (Gets you a feel of the real gmat. I felt that quant level is probably similar to the real gmat and that the verbal level in the real gmat is a tad higher. All-in-all decent tests and you can probably take them twice)
Tests taken (before GMAT 2nd attempt):
Only
MGMAT tests - 4 out of the 6 available (awesome tests, maths level is a little higher than the real gmat, meaning good practice for the real thing. Verbal is pretty similar to the real gmat, although SCs may be a little easier.
MGMAT tests gave me the most accurate predicted score. Two thumbs up Manhattan!)
All the best!!
All Future gmat takers, be calm and you WILL get your target score!