GMAT Strategy

I scored a 590 in my first practice test with MGMAT after learning the fundamentals for a couple of months. This is a big improvement from my previous two GMAT exam scores - 490 and 480 - which were more than a year ago. In verbal, I am very happy to see a score of 29 from 17 (and even 13 in the second GMAT attempt!). In quant, I have always been in the 42 - 45 range. And this time also I scored 44. My target score is Q49+/V39+. I have one month more for practice (booked the test on July 29th) and I need some help on how to improve the score.
The problems I feel I face while giving an exam are:
1. Mental fatigue and the urge to take a break- Not able to focus continuously for 3 hours. This is not the case when I practice, as I take lot of breaks in between and almost all the time practice without time constraint.
2. Do not have time or speed to think how a quant problem can be done by logic or lateral thinking, which is not the case when practicing. I instead try to solve the problem by the regular convention which mostly involves algebra and intensive calculations. Something that is instinctive irrespective of how I practice.
3. The pressure of 'What if I screw this test' - I had already given the GMAT twice so I have kept this as my last option.
I want to improve and get a score of at least 670+ in the actual GMAT. Please help. I hope I am not too late in devising a strategy to perform well in the exam.

Hi,

To hit your target score, you're going to have to change how your practicing. Your verbal target score will absolutely require a change in perspective. From what I've learned in my course:

1) mental fatigue can be improved with a number of physical and psychological tactics (breakfast, snacks/drinks during the breaks, posture, breathing, etc. - there's a real science to all of this that takes some practice)
2) the "math" way of doing things will sometimes cost you too much time, which results in feeling rushed, guessing on the end, lower scores, etc., so you have to learn number properties, patterns, other ways to do math, etc.
3) business schools really don't care if you take the gmat a few times, so stay focused on your goal. Stay focused on the question in front of you and do what must be done to nail each section.

-Josh

Thanks a lot Josh.

mental fatigue can be improved with a number of physical and psychological tactics (breakfast, snacks/drinks during the breaks, posture, breathing, etc. - there's a real science to all of this that takes some practice)

Could you please provide some tips on these?

I face another major problem - I get distracted once I go beyond a time limit. I can't focus for longer duration. So I'll have to focus on concentrating on the question instead of just focusing on the question. This reduces my efficiency to a great extent as I progress in the test and a lot of time is wasted in doing so. How can I over come this?