I just Beat The GMAT!

Its amazing to be writing my story here on BTG. I have not been an active member in terms of posts...but have definitely loved reading the many posts and articles here. So thank you Eric for setting this up and to everybody who contributes here.

I'll try and go over my journey beginning to end so that you can get complete picture.

The BEGINNING ....710
I gave a GMATPrep test before any kind of preparation. 710 meant i did not have to start from scratch. However, it helped me identify those topics which came naturally and those that were problematic for me. For example, I found I was weak in Verbal, particularly SC. In Quant DS was weaker than PS for me. Having understood my strengths and weaknesses I chalked out a plan to work on my weaknesses.

Material Used...
1. OG12
2. MGMAT SC
3. 1000 series documents

Practice Tests
1. GMATPrep
2. MGMAT tests

The Prep....50 days
I purchased the aforementioned books and started working on them.... I also subscribed to the "60 Day GMAT Study Guide" of BTG. As I said I wanted to concentrate on my weaknesses so didnot get into the trouble of buying a lot of books or courses.
Quant....
Since all the topics of Quant were not really new to me, I did not have to learn anything new. I just concentrated on practicing the OG and try to minimize my mistakes. MGMAT weekly challenge problems ( My mentor gave me a set of past questions that he had found) were very good to sharpen the mind on more difficult problems especially in the case of DS which was a problem for me. After finishing the OG quant in a week i did not touch quant again because i wanted to focus on Verbal
Verbal....
In verbal I found that because I had a habit reading all sorts of books and magazines I had an innate intuition as to what sounded right and what did not. However, I couldnot exactly point out what or why this was so. MGMAT SC helped me work on this and fine tune my intuition to better attack SC. It is definetely a great book to learn all the rules. I was careful, however, not to be caught up in technical grammar and to focus more on usage than on fancy definitions. This helped to save time and energy. I practiced 1000SC rigorously as well although I was not able to complete more than 500-600 I focussed more on reviewing what I had done.
For CR and RC I looked at 1000CR and 1000RC because all u can do is practice for this. In the end, these areas come down to logic which no one can really teach you.

Practice Tests...
I relied on MGMAT to get rid of complacency as I always found them harder, GMATPrep was closer to the actual CAT.

One important thing that worked for me was that I did not even think of booking my exam till I had started to consistently get 750-780 in my practice tests. This helped because I could keep working without getting pressured

Mental Preparation....
Once I was nearing the end of my prep I started working on myself mentally. I worked on not letting minor setbacks affect my overall performance. Also, I worked to forget about the result and believe in myself. The helpful words of my mentor greatly helped my composure and ultimately in my success.

The best advice is to look at GMAT as any other event in life which is affected by 2 phenomenon- the concept of Karma and Destiny. Wise men say that you should work without thinking of the reward. This because u can only work or do your Karma, but it is not until your Karma and your Destiny match up that you will get a desired result. You can only do Karma so that you are ready for your Destiny when it comes. All this might sound too spiritual or hi-fi but it worked to calm me down and concentrate on what I could control and not what I could not.

D-Day (Victory Day ) ....
Woke up around 9. Just had a simple breakfast of bread and eggs and relaxed without thinking of my exam. Packed an apple and chocolates and a bottle of water(not required because they provided it). Reached well before time with my father (which helped because I did not have to drive plus the conversation kept me distracted). Just before the exam I was getting a bout of anxiety (the checkin process is very long) but I managed to calm myself by using my aforementioned techniques plus some stress relaxation techniques given by MGMAT that i found posted on BTG (someone please post the link). The checkin process was otherwise smooth and I dived into the exam.
AWA ----
I had never practised this but had gone through the material about this. I stuck to what I had read and finished well in time.

Quant ----
Breezed through although there were a few minor hiccups.

Verbal ---
Lost a lot of time on the beginning few questions but i didnot let it fluster and pressed on. Nearing the end was getting exhausted and sleepy. Checked the time and decided it was more important to revive myself and come back fresh than to press on and spoil the remaining questions. So I took a break.....came back fresh and finished the rest with 5 minutes to spare....

In the end, I believe it was the mental conditioning that truly helped me to cross the final mile and get where I did.....

I think I have gone on long enough.....

P.S. I cannot stress the role of my family and mentors enough who kept me going even though I was on the verge of giving up a number of times. They gave me the strength and confidence to do this...thanks a lot