GMAT Strategy

I'm using this entry as a blog for my GMAT journey.

Background:

Engineering background, with about 7 years of work experience. It's been a while since I had taken any sort of exams and especially any work that dealt with low level high school math or argumentative reading/writing.

Deciding that an MBA from a top school is in my future, I took the Kaplan diagnostic test last summer only get shocked with a score of 480.

I decided to sign up for the Kaplan 8 week course however after the second week of the course I got extremely busy at work where I was driving weekly to a client site in another state. This was a 3 hour drive one way and thus cause me to miss a few classes. I tried driving back home to attend class and drive back but it was killer trying to keep with work and studying for the GMAT.
Anyways, I attended the classes as best as possible and completed the assignments and practice exams. I don't remember the exact scores from my practice exams but they were in the 580-640 range and this was after not finishing all of the questions (typically 5-10 questions unfinished). I guess coming from an engineering background I have a habit of trying to be a problem solver and stick with things untill a solution is found. I also knew that the Kaplan practice exams are typically harder than than the real GMAT so I wasn't worried as much. The main thing that was killing me was not finishing all of the questions. I did manage to average my time on the questions and they were about 2.5 mins on quants and about 2 mins on verbal. I always felt that if I had 30 more mins on on each, I could get them all right! I knew I had to concentrate on timing and finish all of the questions or be subjected to a big scoring penalty. So I reviewed my Kaplan online quizes and practice exams and took more practice exams trying to focus on timing. I always ended up not finishing all of the questions (typically 5-10 unfinished). By this time I had picked a test date and it was quickly approaching.

I got a good night's rest the night before the exam, arrived at the exam place early and took the exam. I thought I did the AWA fairly well as I was able to use Kaplan's 3 example and 1 counterexample outline for both tests. I took the break and got snacks and went back to tackle the "real" test. Started the quant fairly well.. got bogged down on some problems and spent too much time on a few. I ended up guessing on a about 3-4 questions and didnt even get to the last 4-5 questions. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy about that and promised myself to move faster on the Verbal section. Took the second break... got some snack and frapuccino that i brought with me. I kept going over the math problems that I got bogged down in my head during the break and I ended up going back in to the exam room 30-60 seconds later than the allotted break time. This only enhanced the "I need to hurry" panic mentality that set in. So on to the Verbal section.. started well with some SC as I'm pretty good with SC.. but then got bogged down with some RC and CR questions. Spent too much time on some and I ended up guessing on the last 3-4 questions.

I was pretty numb after finishing and contemplated cancelling my scores.. I was pretty sure it wasnt going to be good. Then I figured that if had performed similar to what I performed on the Kaplan tests, I should have a higher score. (goal was a 700 or higher). After a long contemplation I decided to score my exam and I got what I feared.... a 600 (37Q 52%, 35V 75%).

I felt like a complete idiot. I had wasted all that time and money on Kaplan for a score that wasnt close to what I wanted. I had an idea of what were my main weaknesses (timing) but didnt spend time improving on them. I knew my scores probably weren't going to be good but scored the exam anyway (thinking about the $250 bucks going down the drain).


Present:
Currntly in a new job where I don't travel and have more time, I find myself back to grind to get this GMAT monkey off my back. I have spent the last 3 weeks reviewing OG11 and Powerscore CR Bible and Sackman's Math Bible and making and reviewing flashcards. I took a GMATPrep and got a 610, again with not finishing the last 8 questions. Timing is killing me again. After a few days, I retook the GMATprep Quant again focusing on timing.. finished by guessing on last 4 questions. I reviewed some timing suggestions on here and took the Verbal with using the timing strategy of writing down the time right after you finish a question... managed to finish all of the questions with 1 min to spare. That method seems to help speed you up even though it may seem counterintuitive since you are spending a second or two writing down the time... I ended up with a 710 on the 2nd GMATprep. I had a few repeat questions, although some of them were worded the same but asked for different things.

So overall I think I know the content fairly well but my speed needs improvement. I also need to make a solid study plan that concentrates on my weaknesses and stick to it.

Also, logging my progress here and getting any feedback will be very helpfull in keeping me on track. Reading some of other progressive posts has been very inspirational.