Following are few set of learnings ,which i believe can surely help in getting a score that you are aiming for.
1. Its very important to understand that GMAT is such a test , that it cant be mastered in a short period of time. If you are looking to improve your scores , you have to be prepared to put in a very well planned , very well organised and focussed effort for atleast couple of months.It does take considerable time to improve your scores.
2.Focus more on doing things right , rather than just doing things. Many a times , we tend to practice a lot , without actually paying attention on effectiveness of the practice that we are doing . Its very important that you clearly define a goal and list expected outcomes before starting any kind of practice activity and then later ensure that you meet all the goals when you finish the practice activity.
3.Distribute your GMAT practice tests evenly during your preperation. For example, if you are planning to spend 2 months for preparing for GMAT . Ensure that you spread out your tests , over a period of last six weeks.
Taking tests only in last two weeks doesnt help much. its very much necessary that you identify your weak areas in tests, work on them ..practice hard on them and then again take the tests. Hence its advisable to integrate practice tests right from the initial days of your study.
4. Since solving under time pressure is very different from solving without time pressure, ensure that every question that you practice ( OG questions or any other study material questions ) you note the time you take to practice it . Even if its first day of your preperation , ensure that you time the questions you solve .
5. While you analyse the tests and note down your mistakes. Ensure that you take all necessary steps in order to make sure that you dont repeat the same mistakes in sucessive tests .
Often we tend to take certain mistakes such as "silly" mistakes , calculation mistakes etc very lightly and think that they will get resolved just by paying more attention next time . Bus this is not as simple as it looks . In order to get rid of such mistakes you need to come up with certain fixed process to solve problems such as repeating the question in your mind after reading it and then verifying if you have understood the question correctly etc ..Once you are done with defining what suits you best, you need to keep practicing it until it gets into your sub concious mind and you start following them without concious effort.
Hope all of this helps you in some way .
Wishing you all the best !
I have taken the GMAT test twice . First time I got a score of 640 and second time a score of 660.
I am still not satisfied with my score, as i was consistently scoring 700 and above in most of the practice tests i took ( including GMAT prep tests )
Anyways its very unlikely now, that i will be taking the GMAT for the third time.
One of the possible causes for my low score could be inability to get good sleep during the night before the exam . No matter what i did , i just couldnt get good sleep ...I ended up sleeping less than 4 hours :(