GMAT Strategy

This is my 3rd & final attempt at GMAT and I really need some tips from you guyz to
help me achieve a 700+. Sorry about the detailed post, but I wanted to include all the statistics so that you can support me with the correct guidance.

1st Attempt :
Preparation:
-OG Verbal Review: (Section-%accuracy)-->No thorough Analysis of questions
CR-84.14%
SC-64.8%
RC-70.47%

-OG 11: (Section-%accuracy)-->Decent analysis of wrong questions
CR(Last 100 questions)-74%
SC(Last 100 questions)-70%
RC(Last 18 passages)- 74%
-Manhattan SC
- Studied Sahil’s Grammar Notes on the day before the exam
- Some strategies for solving Quant quickly

Pratice Tests before 1st attempt:
-GMATPrep1:590 (Q45 V27); Randomly guessed last 5 in Q & last 11 in V
-Kaplan 1 : 570 (Q38 V31); Randomly guessed last 10 in Q & last 8 in V
-GMATPrep 2:640(Q47 V30); Finished Q on time; Last 12 in V random guesses
-Kaplan 3 : 560 (Q38 V28); Randomly guessed last 4 in Q & last 9 in V
-MGMAT(Free):590 (Q41 V31); Stopped keeping track of random guesses
-GMAT Prep1: 630 (Q47 V30)

1st Attempt at GMAT (14 Oct ‘08): Cancelled score….was not feeling too well during the test, head was drilling & could not even read the Q’s ( I think my BP went really low drastically)

2nd Attempt:
Preparation (Back on track after a 10day break):
By this time I had realized that SC was my major weakness, so started voraciously reading a lot of strategies related to SC-Manhattan SC again, Sahil’s Grammar Notes in detail,Spidey’s GMAT Notes,etc. This time around I concentrated on learning the various strategies rather than practice with a major focus on SC. Besides OG 10 SC all the practice I did was during the tests.

OG 10 in consultation with Manhattan SC- 76% (Accuracy)

Practic Tests before 2nd attempt:
-PowerPrep1(Before re-beginning my prep):650 (Q48 V31);
During & after Prep:
-MGMAT(Free)- Verbal 34 (My best Verbal score till date)
-MGMAT 1- Quant-40 (Worst ever)
-MGMAT 2-600 (Q42 V32); Randomly guessed last 10 in Q
-MGMAT 3-620 (Q39 V35); Randomly guessed last 11 in Q
-MGMAT 4-630 (Q43 V33)
-GMATPrep2-650 (Q44 V35); Randomly guessed 4 RC questions + last 4 in V
-MGMAT 5-590 (Q42 V31); 2 days prior to the exam

2nd attempt at GMAT (8 Dec ’08): Miserable 520 (Q41 V21)
Got about 4-5 P&C and probability questions on my Quant. I thought I was doing really well. However could not attempt the last 4 questions. (I know this is a really really BIG mistake).
By the time I reached the verbal section. I was short of gas. I dint want to get worked up about what happened previously & ended up marking the answers pretty casually with a blind guess on the last 5 questions in Verbal.


Learnings from the 2 failed attempts:
1. Need to pay a lot of emphasis on speed
2. Focus on solving & analysing a lot of Q’s in addition to practice tests.
3. Should take all the practice tests under real test conditions (including AWA’s )
4. Need a good 8-9 hrs night’s sleep prior to the test.

Implementation of the learnings : (Re-preparation start date: 7 June’09)

1.Need to pay a lot of emphasis on speed & 2. Focus on solving & analysing a lot of Q’s in addition to practice tests.
I solved the entire OG 11 excluding PS under timed conditions averaging at around 1.7 mins /Question.

Hit Rate:
DS: 85.8%
SC: 74.6%
CR: 91.94%
RC: 86.5%

In addition to this I analysed each & every Question (right & wrong) in SC & DS.
All wrongs in CR
P.S: I did the analysis after solving the entire OG. I don’t know if this was a mistake I committed.

3.Should take all the practice tests under real test conditions (including AWA’s ):
After implementing all the above for 1 month I took my 1st practice test (GMAT Prep-1) on 11 July
Reflections:
Guessed last 7 Q’s in Quant due to lack of time.
Guessed last 8 Q’s in verbal due to lack of time. Marked the 41st but did not hit the confirm button on intention – contrary to wot is mentioned in one of the posts it was not counted. I was assessed only for 40 questions in verbal

Result: 620 (Q44 V31)
Quant: 14 wrong PS: 8; DS: 7
Verbal:17 wrong SC: 7 CR: 7 RC:3

On resolving (just prior to analyzing the wrong Questions)

Quant: 7 wrong PS: 4 DS:2
Verbal: 11 wrong SC: 6 CR: 2 RC: Dint resolve

The score came to me as a real disappointment as this is much lower (especially Quant) than what I scored in some of the practice tests prior to my 1st two attempts. Looks like practice is making me imperfect . During the 1st two attempts my focus was on learning all the strategies & concepts through the various resources available on BeattheGMAT resource directory & Manhattan SC. My primary focus has & had always been SC.

This time around I thought I would focus majorly on practicing in addition to a brushing up the strategy guides which i will be doing a little later.

4.Need a good 8-9 hrs night’s sleep prior to the test.
My target Test date is 19 August & I will not schedule my test at 9am again. Both the times I could not sleep all night on account of anxiety.
Also i will make sure i relax on the last 3 days of the test without trying to go over much material/Questions.