I just Beat The GMAT!

Hello to all,
I am a newbie here.Thought it might help others to learn from my experience.
I took my GMAT on the 16th Nov at Mumbai Pearson Centre.I had prepared well with my mocks with the GMAC Powerprep software.Was consistently getting in the 710- 730 range.As I was made to believe by umpteen posts on the net ,I was overconfident about cracking the GMAT with a 700+.
For the AWA I prepared only 10 days back and practiced a few AOA & AOI
initially untimed to get a hang of analysing the topics .Later I did a few practice AOA and AOI but did not post anywhere online for comments.
However I memorised the Template from one of the sites and went ahead.Also made a list of common 'transition words' and qualifiers.Also made it a point to include one semi-colon, 1 apostrophe, 1 exclamation,1 hiphen and one question mark.Also tried to vary sentence length a bit and use a bit of strong vocabulary.

Fortunately on D-day I got 1 revised topic for AOA and other one was quite straightforward for AOI.I think I did the essays well , though I am keeping my fingers crossed.I used only 2 major points for the AOI and ensured that the counter-argument and rebuttal were included in the same para of contention.

For the quants section,I got a bouncer of a openingquestion , in the sense that it was my weak topic ( Inequalities).I settled down to the rhythm after an initial shaky start.At the end of the section , I felt pretty confident of the attempt.The trick I used for time management was to note down the time limit for every 5 ques on the scrap book and refer to it whenever I felt like ,to be in control.

However , for the verbal section, i did the classic mistake of taking too much time to solve the first 10 questions ,inspite of having the 5-que time tag noted down .I somehow convinced myself that everything will be alright once I crack the first 10 ques perfectly.As I crawled out of the first 10 que in about 30 minutes , I started feeling the panic.But I managed to control my urge to panic and focused on each question at time.Though at the back of my mind I was sure I was fighting a losing battle in the verbal section.I decided to maintain my calm and do some damage control and used the Process of Elimination of wrong answers to speed up my answers.I managed to answer all the questions on time,but with an element of self doubt and worry inside me .

After completing the exam,I was at my wits end whether to report score or cancel, but was still hopeful of getting a decent score of atleast 680.Amidst this confused and numbed mindset,I heard one of my other GMAT test buddy give out a low toned victory cry after reporting his score.I thought for a moment and imagined this to be a sign from God to go ahead and report.I finally pressed the Report Score button and was shocked to find a baffling 620 and a pathetic verbal of 33.

Unfortunately these scores have been forwarded to my select schools of IIM B,L ,ISB,Erasmus and Harvard.
Guys please guide me on my next step cos I am feeling lost and hopeless to have got into this bad situation and dont have much recovery time with the deadlines for apps approaching.Any positive/negative feedback is most welcome.

Did you score 33 on verbal or quant ?

I had similar experiences (especially with verbal)...the reason I replied though is one of your schools. I am also interested in Erasmus and their avg GMAT score is actually right around yours. When I posted on here confused with what to do (my score was just a bit lower than yours) I was offered the advice of taking the time to make sure the essays and rest of the app are really well done. The GMAT score is only one piece and I decided the other pieces (GPA, WE, etc...) might be enough to eliminate concerns with GMAT. I took the advice and have been working on apps and submitted them recently in hopes of an early decision for my top schools.

I am a little bit worried about being lower on the GMAT scale but think the early apps and the effort put into them should help. I know Erasmus just changed the calendar of their program and you should still be an early applicant into their program if you submitted in a month or so.

That all being said, if you think you can put the extra time into it and get a higher score, by all means go for it! A higher score will never hurt you.

I do not know of the other schools you mentioned-my only reason for the reply was Erasmus.