This is my first post here, I just found this website two weeks back. I wish I would have used it more in my studying, there seems to be a lot of great information. Got a 710 two days ago, first try, and wanted to share my study methods for those still in the process.
Books:Kaplan Live Online
OG 11
OG Quantitative guide
Practice Tests:Kaplan CAT1: 630
Kaplcan CAT2: 580
GMAT Prep1: 620
GMAT Prep2: 720
Study Methods:Like many people on this board, I work full time, and found it very grueling to deal with 40+ hours of work a week plus intensive studying. For three months, I averaged 1-2 hours on weekdays, and 3-5 hours on weekends, ratcheting up the number of hours I studied towards the last couple of weeks. I focused mainly on quant because I knew verbal was my strength (as you can see by my lower math score).
The biggest key for me was consistently studying every day, and doing as many practice problems as possible. I did every single problem in the OG for both quant and verbal, and the week before the test reviewed every single question I missed or had difficulty on.
For test day, I made sure I had a solid 8 hours of sleep, a light breakfast, and a protein bar and a pack of cigarettes for the breaks. I knocked out the AWA rather easily, after not having done any studying at all for it, then ate my protein bar and got mentally psyched for the quant section. I knew this area was my weakness going into the test, so I just buckled down and made my best guesses when I knew the problem was either too difficult or would have taken me 10 minutes to solve.
The whole experience was incredibly stressful. I exercised regurlarly and ate as healthy as possible (aside from smoking

), and I remembered that its just a test and can be beaten. Now I'm trying to decide where to apply, and wondering if you vets on this board have any advice - I'm thinking UNC Kenan-Flagler as a safe bet, and then applying to top 10 like Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, as my reach schools. I have a 3.45 undergrad gpa in business admin, and 3 years work experience in the financial/mortgage industry (two of which was a management training program for HSBC before they closed down in the US).
Hope this post helps people stressed out about taking the test! As you can see from my practice scores, especially Kaplan, I never did that well prior to the actual GMAT.