how can I get 680 from 580?

[dippradhan]

Back ground: I am a s/w engineer , a non-native English speaker and I have 7 years work experience.
Started preparing GMAT in Dec 2010. My GMAT prep score was 540 with little preparation. I never crossed 30 in Verbal. My Quant varied between 43-48. One week before actual GMAT test I scored 660 (without writing Easy). I took the exam and scored 580.
My feeling during Exam: Quant: I wish I could have solved easier questions accurately instead of trying to solve harder problems. I spend too much time (more than 3 minutes) in some of the Quant question. Though I finished the test on time, I felt to rush and finish some of the problems in between.
Verbal:
SC: I was not 100% sure about the SC questions. I have completed all the Official guide SC problems. I was rereading the sentence couple of times and was not able figure out what GMAT might be testing. I have studied MGMAT SC guide and do know most of the rule, but I find it hard to apply these rules during an exam. I have similar feelings during Practice exams.
CR problems: I was very confident on this section. I solved all the CR from OG and GMAT prep. During exam, I felt lack of confidence while answering CR questions. I had to reread the premise twice to understand the argument.
RC: I was no doing good in this section even before exam. I read the entire passage and understand the main point but I do terribly on Inference question or the question that ask for role playing (what was the role of this section etc). During exam, I was no sure about my answer choices.
My target is to be confident while answering SC and RC questions. What should I do other than practicing OG question within a time limit? My target score: 680.
Thanks for your help.

[StaceyKoprince]

Take a look at this article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

First, you mention timing problems, so pay particular attention to the Time Management section. Next, you ask what you can do beyond practicing OG questions. There's a LOT you can do. Look at the How To Study section of the above article. Most of your learning comes from your analysis of the problems AFTER you finish doing them. You don't learn a ton while you're actually doing them.

You may have already realized this, but your 660 score was likely somewhat artificially inflated because you skipped the essays... so next time, do the essays! Always take practice tests under official conditions.

The article I linked at the top has links to a number of additional articles. Start to work your way through those and then come back here to ask more questions or to seek additional advice. :)