GMAT 22 Mar
Like many other posters I used Kaplan.
Diagnostic - 610
CAT 1 - 560
CAT 2 - 540
CAT 3 - 550
The Princeton Review free test online: 650
GMAT paper (25)-610
I only had two weeks to study, but managed a couple hrs a day. I was only looking for a 600 or so, so the 670 was quite a pleasant suprise.
Overall, pretty even scoring between the Quant and Verbal.
The testing center I went to was in Chicago (Lombard) and they started me as soon as I arrived. They had lockers for refreshments, headsets for quiet (I recommend them), close restroom (water in the face). They gave me 2 pencils and 6 sheets of paper. They also had me handwrite that I would not disclose test questions and the like.
That is just back ground: let you know what my center was like. I did visit it prior to ensure I knew the way and location. I arrived 45 min early and as I said, they began right away.
The two essays were very generic: I felt like it was very consistent with practice essays in any of the test prep books.
The Quant ramped up very fast. From reading the forum here, I realised that I needed to spend more time on the first questions, so by question 11 I had burned nearly 35 mins. Quest 3 was a permutation and then there were 5 or so DS questions in a row. My test had quite a few > and
I was very relieved to see some simple plug and chug ?'s in the later part of the test. I ended up finishing the Quant with 4-5 mins left for the final two questions.
The Kaplan was harder for the fact that there were more steps but they were the same difficulty rating.
The break was fast and furious, drink of Diet Pepsi, couple bites of Kit Kat.
Verbal was easier than Kap. The one big difference was the screen with the scroll-downs for RC was quite a bit narrower than in the CATs for Kaplan.
I ended up with 4 RC with 3-4 questions each. They seemed to be as hard as Kaplan in the first ten questions. I used 25 mins for the first 8 so I had to really speed up to finish on time. I guessed on two RC questions because I was pinched for time.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the forum and I will follow up if there are any questions re: my post