Took the GMAT today -- 770

Hey all,

It's finally done. I got a 770.

Quant : 50 (95 percentile)
Verbal: 45 (99 percentile)
Total : 770 (99 percentile)

I was aiming for a 780, so although I am happy with the score, I am also a little disappointed. The silver lining though is that it's still a 99 percentile score.

I wasn't totally well rested as I was studying until 10 PM last night, and as a result I did tend to zone out every once in a while during the test. I have a feeling I could have got 10 more points had I been in a more alert mental state.

I thought I had done really well on the Quant and not so good on the verbal, but from the scores it seems it was exactly the opposite.

The AWA-Issue topic was not exactly to my liking and I barely managed to proofread the section before the section ended. The AWA-Argument essay topic was easier and I got more time to re-read what I had wrote.

The quant section was definitely tougher than the PowerPrep tests and the PS questions were tougher than in the OG however DS questions were of the same level as the last 100 in the OG (and easier than many of the toughest questions in the OG). I would say the quant difficulty level was about the same as that of Kaplan's quant section. There were a couple simple probability questions (one in DS) and probably one permutation/comb problem but I am not sure about it. One or two of the geometry questions were moderately hard.

I feel if I were better rested I would have done slightly better on quant. I was taking too long to do simple questions and even longer to recheck the answers.

The verbal section about the same difficulty level as the PP tests. My second question was a RC passage and that did seem to throw me offbalance as I spent too much time trying to make sure that I understood the passage so that I don't screw up on the initial questions.
I was seriously pressed for time, as I had 12 questions remaining and only 16 minutes at the end. I started to panic, but was able to gather myself and then focused on answering all questions (and esp SC questions) very quickly. That worked and eventually I ended up with one minute remaining at the end of the section. I thought I hadn't done very well, but the score surprised me.

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Preparation Strategy
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I went through the Kaplan 2004 GMAT book and CD completely (except for the AWA section). I solved the last 35 to 50% of the problems of all five sections in the OG. I took a couple PR tests and both the PP tests along with the 4 Kaplan Full Tests. In addition to these I took a few diagnostic tests.

A couple days before the test I tried to do the Kaplan 800 book, but I didn't have enough time. In retrospect, I don't think it made much of a difference in my score and it would have just helped to relax a bit more before the test. If you are shooting for a 780 or higher than the book can be helpful in that it might help you solve that one extremely tough question at the end of the test. So unless you have finished going through all other material, don't touch this book.

Here are the scores, I got in the various tests that I took in the order that I attempted them (first to last):

PP1: Q 43(75%) V 46(99%) Total: 720(92%)
PR Online: Q 51 V 36 Total: 720
KaplanDia: Q 45(94%) V 43(96%) Total: 700(95%)
Kaplan FT1:Q 50 V 31 Total: 620(81%)
Kaplan FT2:Q 50 V 39 Total: 700(95%)
PP2: Q 50(97%) V 44(97%) Total: 770(99%)
Kaplan FT3:Q 50 V 38 Total: 690(94%)
Kaplan FT4:Q 41 V 36 Total: 640(85%)
PR FT2 :Q 44 V 45 Total: 710

Obviously the PP tests are the most representative of the actual GMAT. One word of advice: Don't take any Kaplan test in the three days preceding the GMAT - if you get a really low score like I did (640) it will needlessly cause you heartburn and distract you from what needs to be done.

I was on vacation for 10 days before the test and devoted about 8 hours every day to GMAT preparation. Before that I must have studied for about 8 weeks with an average of 8 hours per week or slightly less than that.

If you guys have any specific questions I will be more than willing to answer them. I gained from the experiences written on GMAT club forums and from the math challenges. Kudos to the GMAT club team for maintaining this very useful site.