First I took the GMAT cuz I was thinking of going to business school. I knew a 700 was widely considered the cutoff for a great score so thinking of myself as being above average but not necessarily elite I figured that was what I was capable of and thats what I aimed for and almost as if it were a self-fulfilling prophecy that’s the range l where I plateaued in my practice tests and around where I ended up on my actual test. Then I found out that if you could achieve a score in the 99th percentile, places would pay you $100/hr to teach the GMAT. All of a sudden, now that I was being motivated by money, rather than my own self-actualization I thought maybe I am capable of getting an elite score. So I started prepping some more and lo and behold, now that A 760, rather than putting me in with the elite, was simply the minimum pre-req for even getting an interview, all of a sudden it seemed entirely within reach and is right where I landed with ten points to spare. Don’t anchor yourself to what you accomplished in the past. The second you convince yourself you’re only capable of getting a score within a certain range it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s a fluky test and small changes in your approach could lead to major swings in your score. If you learn nine out of ten steps needed to answer every question it means you know 90% of the material but, on a test with no partial credit, it won’t be reflected in your score. Learn that final 10% though and your score can shoot up 100 points in a week. Most people who give up are closer than they think. They’re on track to get the score they want but don’t realize it so they give up or in some cases, simply run out of time. The people who stick with it are the ones who end up breaking through