I took my GMAT yesterday and scored 650 (Q47 V33). (Little disappointed with my score as I aimed for >680)

Some of the posts in this section mentioned that, the actual GMAT exam will have at least 4-5 questions repeated or very similar to those from the official guide/GMATPrep. I warn you that it is not true (At least now, it might have happened earlier). I found not a single question similar to or anywhere closer to those from the guide/GMATPrep.

I unnecessarily spent too much time on the Guide/GMAtPrep than is actually needed, aiming to fish those 4-5 questions in each section.

I prepared for GMAT for about 45 days. I bought the following books.

1) Official Guide
2) Kaplan GMAT
3) Princeton Review
4) McMillan GMAT

I started with the official guide and did a quick walk through. Then took the Kaplan and finished it in a week. Third, I took the princeton, but as many people already said in this forum, it was very basic. (But the Quant session explanation is good in PR; He gives some nice short cuts to solve problems without going through the regular formula; But the Joe Bloggs technique he mentions will not work at all in real GMAT, according to my experience). I did not spend anytime on the 4th book.

Of these 45 days, I spent nearly 30 days on the OG/GMATPrep. I solved each and every problem, more than once; One week before the exam, I was almost in a state to tell the answer to any question from my memory without needing a pen/paper.

These are some of my observations during the exam:

1) Quant session was very easy. Questions were very basic.
2) By the time I reached the Verbal session, I was exhausted very much. I advise the members to carry enough eatables and have it during the breaks.
3) The official Guide mentioned that I would get two 5-minute breaks. But now they give two 10-minute breaks.

What country / city did you write the exam in?

Im due to write the exam on Feb 17th in Toronto Canada. Ive been preparing for the last 8+ months on a wide variety of material.

Im currently concentrating on the Manhattan GMAT books on my last leg toward my first write. What material did you find to be the best relating to your write?

Ohh, i couldnt agree more that the questions in the gmatprep and OG questions will even resemble the ones on the real exam. One question to pose though, if a question tests the concept perfectly, why retire it? I believe some of the questions in the OG and gmatprep were 'retired' because some of them are poorly written. Just an observation.