I just Beat The GMAT!

Some background about me - I am a Chemical Engineer & working in the US for about 17 years. Given the current stage of my career, I felt that a part-time program is the best choice for me.

I took the GMAT on March 23rd & scored 660 (Q48; V32). To be honest, I was a tad disappointed as I was targeting a 700+. More so, I was disappointed with my performance in Verbal - primarily, because I am pretty strong in CR & reasonable in SC / RC. Also, I had scored V34 and V37 in my practice tests. My sincere thanks to BB, Bunuel, Stacey, Mitch Hunt, Beat the GMAT Club, expert contributors....you folks are just awesome.

Given the pretty darn long break from academics, I had to brush up my rather rusty Quant and verbal skills. Add to it the fact that I was very poor in Geometry & Counting / Probability. Rather than dive into GMAT preparation, I decided to spend some time learning about these topics. I used the books by Art of Problem Solving and watched some videos on Khan Academy.

Early on as I was browsing Amazon for reasonable GMAT preparation guides, I came across a few books & read the reviews. One reviewer's name kept popping up -BB's - my hats off to BB. Based on BB's reviews, I zeroed on Manhattan GMAT & Veritas. I decided to go with Manhattan (no strong reason to have dropped out Veritas). That was the beginning of my long journey. At this stage, I read about the Beat the GMAT Club. Promptly, I signed up for the GMAT Question of the Day and Beat the GMAT 60 day study guide.

Resources:
Quant - Manhattan GMAT.
Advanced Quant by Manhattan - this is an absolute gem. I used a lot of their strategies on the actual GMAT.
Critical Reasoning - Power Score Bible
SC, RC - Manhattan & Aristotle
GMAT Question of the Day & Beat the GMAT - I solve the questions even now.

Test day:"¨AWA was a breeze. Thanks to Chineseburned's tips.
IR - followed Stacey's tips on a target score of 50th percentile plus and thus conserved my energy for Quant / Verbal.
Quant - The very first problem was a curve-ball. I spent nearly 3 mins trying to figure out the equations. I decided to bite the bullet, checked the answer choices, used some strategies (including elimination and plugging answer choices after zeroing down on 2 choices) and solved it in 30 secs or less. I am pretty sure that I nailed that question. Bottom line....leave your ego outside the test center and do not be embarrassed to plug-in the answer choices. Thanks to Mitch Hunt (GMATGuruNY)...his strategies paid off....read below in the tips section.
Verbal - I messed up big time. I guess - I let my guard down, rushed through the first few questions (fear of time limit) and realized a bit late during the test that I had to slow down - by that time, the damage had been done. As you have heard from quite a few folks, pay special attention to the first few questions.

Some tips:
There was an article about why the concepts on PS, DS, SC, AWA etc. in the GMAT are tested for the MBA program - not sure if this article was written by an expert from Knewton or Veritas or Manhattan. I strongly recommend that you read this article early in your preparation. It provides a very good perspective of the GMAT & helps you in channeling your mindset.
Take practice tests & try out different strategies during these tests. For example, I had read a lot about time management a few days before the test (had read them earlier but had not paid much attention to it - big mistake!!!). Day before the actual test, I took the GMAT Prep Test 2 in the morning (another big mistake, but at the same time, it helped me in eliminating this strategy for Quant on the actual test) and scored a 610 (pathetic score in Quant; V37). I had essentially rushed through the paper & finished well in time. I had paid for it in terms of silly mistakes. I freaked out & took only the Quant section again in the night - just to convince myself. The questions were different this time around. If I remember it correctly, I I had only one repeat question and got a decent score - Q46 - enough to have a good night sleep just before the test.
Time management is critical - pay special attention to this. Read Stacey's article on Time management several times & make sure that you try out different strategies. I attribute my poor score in Verbal to poor time management. I went too fast; realized it in the middle of the test. By that time, the damage had been done.
If you are getting very easy questions during the test, that is a sign that you need to slow down & pay attention.
Thanks to Mitch Hunt ([email protected])...Read every solution of his pertaining to solving problems. If you have noticed, he does not hesitate to plug-in the answer choices. Initially, this approach was counterintuitive to me - given my engineering background. Nevertheless, I added this to my arsenal of strategies. Lo & behold, after the first question in the actual test, I thanked him numerous times soon after the test.
Advanced Quant by Manhattan GMAT - In my opinion, this book is a game changer. It taught me different strategies - both in PS & DS. One of the tips to solve DS is to strip down the prompt to the bare minimum - this exposes the answer very quickly. Also, read Stacey's tips on DS.
Pay special attention to units (km, cm, etc). One problem involved exponents, km and cm in the same problem.
Check out the writing pad & pen. Cannot emphasize it enough. Thanks to BB. I checked it early on. In spite of that, I hit into snags during the IR section. I could not even see the ink on the pad and it got very frustrating. Same issue during Verbal - was nerve racking especially during RC notes taking - but I do not attribute this to my poor verbal score. Remember that these pads are recycled (the testing center wipes out the pad with a liquid). Unfortunately, the board, at times, is not completely dry & it bites you.
Remember, what matters is the state of your mind on the D-Day. Try to simulate it as much as possible. If you plan on drinking any of the energy drinks on the test day, try it out before your test day.

congrats and thanks for the amazing insights...