I just Beat The GMAT!

First and foremost, I wanted to extend my gratitude to the creators of this forum and to all of its participants. Although only a silent follower, I referred to this site throughout my learning process, each time learning new tips and tricks to better prepare me for the exam. Most of all, it really helped to motivate me and build my confidence. You wouldn't believe what role your confidence level plays on how well you do.
I told myself that once I was done with the exam I would post my score and let people know how I prepared myself for the big day.
My final score was 700 (46 quant, 40 verbal). I took the exam today (16th of September, 2010).
I took a Kaplan prep course starting June 1 and ending September 1, 2010. The course takes you through the Kaplan book and OG. The books we were given were the Kaplan Guide from 2005 and the Official Guide published in 2009. The course included weekly classes (4.5 hours each) in quant and verbal (first month or so - 2 classes per week, one of each).
The course can help if you are someone like me who does better working through a program rather than on your own. I had a really great quant teacher - I was very rusty (high school level) and needed to work hard during the course. Verbal was easier since I started with a better than average level of English. The tips and rules we got for sentence correction during the course were hard to follow and pretty useless. In the end of the day, I relied on intuition on all verbal questions rather than anything taught in class. We received lots of homework during these months and towards the end were also expected to complete 1 or 2 exams a week (needed to free up 2 hours a day to complete the homework. I usually did most of the work over the weekend).
I scored 600 (q 41, v32) on the GMAT PREP 1 exam I took during the first week of the course. I took the same exam midway and improved my score to 660 (q44, v36) (I recall only getting a few of the same questions I got on the first exam).
I took about 4 weeks off of work (this could have easily been cut down to only 2 or 2.5 weeks since I was not planning my time effectively during the first week and a half). In any case, you should take the time off from work and completely disconnect yourself from it if you want to really focus. I tried to do one exam every day during this time.
I took 7 Kaplan exams through the last few weeks of August and first two weeks of September. The quant was a bit more difficult than the real thing and the verbal was around the hardest level you could get on GMAT Prep. These were my scores:
Diagnostic (NOT A CAT) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Q* 45 40 51 39 40 41 47 47
V 36 36 31 39 30 34 38 38
Final 680 630 680 630 600 630 680 690

* For some weird reason Kaplan scores are out of 56 and not 51. I think their method of translating scores is screwy, to say the least.
You can see that my grades were not consistent with each other and I was getting very frustrated especially after getting the result of the 4th Kaplan exam. I read around and saw that most people say their final GMAT grade was 70-100 points higher than the Kaplan average. I tend to agree.
The Kaplan exams have a diagnostic feature that shows you how much time you spent on each question and if you changed the answer from wrong to write of vice versa. I also took a Manhattan GMAT free test and I found it much better diagnostic-wise: It shows you exactly what difficulty level the question was and how your wrong/right answer affected the score you got. I got a 690 on the test (q43, v40).
If you have a choice, I would opt for the Manhattan practice tests rather than the Kaplans.
I also took the POWER Prep exam - took them a few times and scored between 700 - 760.
Except for one essay on each subject we had to hand in during the course, I didn't touch the issue of essay writing until the end of the course. Only during the last 4 exams (2 Kaplans, one GMAT Prep and one POWER Prep) did I add another hour and really sit and write each of the essays. I worked using a type of skeleton we were taught during the course were you only need to add 2 negative and 2 positive arguments on each issue. I will only know how well they prepared me in a few weeks time.
Test day was a stressful, to say the least. I learnt throughout my test taking that I tend to do better if I get into a state of deep concentration, so I was sure to shut my phone and stay away from any distractions. I found the testing facility comfortable and quite enough. When you complete the exam, they have you answer a survey regarding your background - I took almost no note of what they asked because I only wanted to get my grade.
I left with a big smile on my face.

Congratulations!

I'd also like to recommend a very useful tool that provides tips and is a good refresher to take before the exam - The MGMAT flash cards -

https://www.manhattangmat.com/gmat-flashcards.cfm

Nir[

Nirp,

I am taking my GMAT in a months time and have done Kaplan course as well..did you see any similar questions for Math on the actual test?

I am working on OG as well..is it true that some of the questions on actual test are very similar to the OG math questions?

Any tips you can provide would be very helpful

Hi spayal,

Hard to say. I think the quant is closer to the OG, not sure, anyways I saw some similarity to the GPrep. In any case the questions are of course not 1:1 to anything you have seen (don't forget there is also a pilot section). I think the Kaplan questions are good to sharpen your skills, especially since a few months will pass from the end of your course until the date of the exam.

I think you should try to hit OG first - the test takers wrote the book, and Kaplan as well if time permits.

GOOD LUCK!