I've always been a silent reader of forums, but I actually need some major help now. Here's my situation:
First round of studying:
Books & materials used: EmpowerGMAT and
OG books
Practice tests: (all taken at the library at various times of the day, no breaks, no pausing, no eating/drinking)
GMAT Official Prep Exam 1: 08/07/2018 440 (Q27, V24, I5)
GMAT Official Prep Exam 2: 10/20/2018 550 (Q34, V32, I4)
GMAT Official Prep Exam 3: 11/03/18 560 (Q31, V36, I4)
GMAT Official Prep Exam 4: 11/09/18 600 (Q42, V32, I2)
Length of study: studied for 2.5 months (roughly 10-15 hours a week)
General strategy: Went through Empower modules every week in stages, but didn't time myself. I definitely rushed the last two stages (4 and 5) in order to take the exam. I think my biggest issue during all practice exams and the real one was timing. I wasn't very good at keeping track of time and would spend a lot of time on questions I didn't know. I also didn't prep for IR or AWA at all.
Real GMAT: 11/20/18 510 (Q37, V23, I3, AWA5.5) (should have canceled, but had a major family emergency come up literally right after I left the test center and honestly forgot about my test score until I picked studying back up)
Now let's talk about the real issue...round 2.
Books & materials used: EmpowerGMAT and
OG books and SO much gmatclub
Practice tests: (all taken at the library at various times of the day, no breaks, no pausing, no eating/drinking)
3/3/19 560 (V32, Q35) - Veritas
3/30/19 610 (V35, Q39, I8) - GMAT Official Prep 1 (no AWA)
Took a break from taking exams, but instead studied material and did timed practice sets of questions from
OG, utilized the "quiz" sets from empowerGMAT interface and actually timed myself
6/29/19 640 (V34, Q45, I8) - GMAT Official Prep 2 (no AWA)
7/06/19 660 (V39, Q43, I5) - GMAT Official Prep 3 (8am to simulate test day, with AWA)
7/13/19 690 (V39, Q45, I7) - GMAT Official Prep 4 (8am to simulate test day, with AWA)
Length of study: studied 15-20 hours a week very consistently in May and June
General strategy: I retook the Empower course, but this time with a different mindset. I used the course to train myself to be able to sit and concentrate for longer periods of time. I also used the course to work on my timing issues and I thought I greatly improved. I felt really good about my practice exam scores (although, I'm started to doubt if they're inflated because I reset the official GMAT practice exams...I don't think I recalled even one question during the whole process, but it's still possible that that might have been the issue). I created mistake trackers, and I wrote down for every question why I got it right and why I got it wrong. I did daily reading comprehension passages (2-3 a day). I actually studied for IR and AWA as well. I focused on my weaker areas towards the end (sentence correction for verbal and geometry/probability/combinations/counting/sets/series for Quant)
Real GMAT 2: 7/16/19 550 (V29, Q40?? - I cancelled the score immediately and don't remember what Q was)
So that's where I'm at now. I was planning on applying R1, not anymore. I'm not sure if I should just give it a break...or if this was some sort of fluke and I should just invest in the
gmatclub tests/question bank and give it my all for a month and do a retake. I thought I knew I could do it, but I'm starting to feel like I really can't. That 550 was such a shock.
Side-note: I do feel like my mental health has a huge play in my entire GMAT journey, a little personal, but I do know that's something I've been actively trying to deal with for the past year, more so in the past 2 months.
Thanks for reading! Please be nice, I already have been beating myself up about the 550 since 12pm today. I'll take any constructive criticism. I'm looking forward to reading some really good advice.