System Overload

So I knew the GMAT was going to be tough, but I thought " Hey, I passed all my CPA exams on the first try.  I can do this."  As you can see from my previously mentioned study schedule, I was hardcore. I knew I wanted to be at a top ranked school so I was willing to devote any and all time necessary to get me there.  When I first started studying, I was confident:

I was taking a GMAT class and was killing the practice problems in the beginning, but as the class progressed, the problems stopped being polite and started getting real.  I was still doing pretty well, but on some of the sentence correction and some of the more complex math problems, I started to get frustrated:

At times, me and my study buddies would debate over why questions were right or wrong and we would try to defend our wrong answers.  I learned that this was the wrong way to approach the exam.  You are playing their game and learning their language.  The sooner you realize this, the easier it is to progress and increase your score.  You can't argue with the GMAT exam so it's pointless.  You just have to understand their theory and their tricks.  99% of the time, they will be right so just learn their ways.  I hate to be a conformist since I was such a rebellious child, but there is no compromise with the GMAT.

Another lesson I learned, if you have a day where stuff is not clicking, take a break.  There is no point in beating yourself up and pushing yourself to work if you continuously get problems wrong; it just means you've hit system overload, all your RAM is used up and you need to shut down and restart on another day.  I pushed hard, but if I hit this point, it was time to hit the beach or time to start a How I Met Your Mother marathon. During this study period, there are going to be times of great depression because you will be studying and all your friends will be partying.  Just remember: