Things I do -
1) Not trying to solve every new question that shows up on the GMAT Club forum. Just stick to high quality books and material (
OG, Manhattan guides, Total GMAT Math, etc) and forget the rest. Once you have covered all of this, you should be set for a Q40 - 44 level. Only after you are 100% confident that you know everything in these books should you move on to other sources. I try to use the forums only sparingly - to ask questions, to answer a few and then to look up explanations by Bunuel, IanStewart and a few others. I am not saying saying that the forums are not a good source of information - it is a wonderful source of really good questions and explanations. But there is so much information out there that it overwhelms you and you really need to sort out the quality stuff from all the noise to derive complete value.
2) I still continue playing tennis, cooking my food, hitting the gym, meeting up with friends. But within limits. I may have not crossed the 700 mark yet, but I am fairly certain I will this time around and I don't think I need to sacrifice everything in order to do it. In fact I think it will be counter productive.
3) One more thing - I never sit at my study table if I am not working on my GMAT. I like to think of that seat as the GMAT seat. When I am on that seat, I don's surf, chat, Facebook, dilly dally or do anything that is not related to the GMAT. That particular seat is not for anything BUT GMAT study/exams. Once I am done, I get up and leave.
4) Also, I never study in buses, trains, coffee shops, etc. I don't want any distractions when I am studying.
NShock wrote:
Regarding the practice tests, I took them spreadout over time. I took more towards the final weeks leading up to the exam. The thing that I found strange is that my scores were very inconsistent (with the exception of them being in the 600-670 range).
When I took my practice exams the first time around, I was scoring between 670-700. I was (falsely) hoping to clear 700. As expected, I got a 680. I think too much variation in scores is a bad sign and it becomes tough to attribute the variance to any one factor. You then end up leaving it to chance.
NShock wrote:
Good advise on channeling the feelings of disappointment and using those to fuel my desire to do better next time. The thing that behooves me the most is that I feel like I can get a high score. I even feel like I can break the 700 mark if I can really put together a solid performance.
At the end of the day, feeling frustrated, disappointed or let down does not really get us the 700 score, now does it?