Finally gave my GMAT after 3 months of preparation and 3 times of postponing the exam.
Relieved to receive a 720.
Here is the plan I followed:
I took the Manhattan GMAT self study course.
Didnt follow any other books other than MGMAT and OG.
The MGMAT study organizer was too good and helped to keep me on track (I am very unorganized and a procrastinator). If it was not for the study organizer, I would still be in Page 10 of OG. I was able to see my progress clearly, how far behind I was, how much more time I needed, etc.
The MGMAT OG Tracker was very useful. I used the MGMAT OG stopwatch everytime when I did OG problems, got the excel report of the scores from the stop watch and updated the MGMAT OG Tracker. This took like 5 mins for every 30-50 problems I did.
In the end it helped me in seeing what areas I am weak in and concentrating on them. Also, using the OG Tracker, I was able to get all the incorrect problems and redo them.
Made sure to review all the problems after I finished them, BOTH the correct and incorrect ones. This gave me new insight and tips in how I could have solved a problem quickly and in a better way.
Here is what I would do if I can go back:
1. Take all the CAT exams from MGMAT and GMATPrep and any other free exam I could get hold of.
I took only 2 MGMAT CAT and 1 GMAT Prep.
MGMAT CAT 1 - 580 (just before I started preparing for the exam)
MGMAT CAT 2 - 680 (two months down the line)
GMATPrep 1 - 690 (1 week before the exam)
Taking more exams would have definitely helped me in managing the time. Even though I used the OG StopWatch to finish each problem within 2 mins, my lack of practice with actual exams messed up my time. I had to finish 10 problems in 10 mins in both my Verbal and Quants in the real exam.
2. EAT before the exam.
My exam was at noon. I woke up at 10:00, had coffee, couldnt eat anything and went to write the exam. I was fatigued by the time I finished the Quants, blanked out during the verbal and expected to see a score of 600! In the end I was relieved to see a 720 but disappointed that I didnt give my best.
Anyways, hope my experience helps some of you out there.
Good Luck to you all and a BIG THANKS to MGMAT for having a great course.