720 to 670 to 720 to 680. Retake? Advice needed

Hi, I have been registered to GMATClub since 2015 and I am very thankful for everyone here for valuable contributions and advice. I really appreciate your perspectives on the test and the business schools admissions process. GMATClub is a treasury of knowledge. I am posting from a different account for the purpose of confidentiality only.

I would be very thankful for your honest thoughts on my situation and possible advice on what to do next: both with GMAT and MBA applications.

I first took an official GMAT test at the very end of 2017 and got 720 (Q45, V42, IR 5, AWA 4.5). I prepared for about two months (1-2 hours on weekdays, 6-9 hours on weekends) by reviewing all Manhattan GMAT books (except those on Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning, as I felt that I was quite strong in those areas, even though I am not a native English speaker), doing different challenges on GMATClub, and by reviewing the quantitative part of Official Guides. I solved all quantitative problems in OGs, though I am not sure I even reviewed all of incorrect questions thoroughly. I also did questions from the 404 questions pack from GMAC. I did not have more time to prepare, as I worked in consulting and it was a very demanding job, so even finding time on weekends was a challenge.

Sure, 720 is a good score, but I thought I could do better. I booked another GMAT appointment in a month from the previous appointment, studied OGs more, and got 680, though I do not remember the exact split, except that I got 7 for IR. I then used my 720 score to apply to six top schools in the US and one in the UK (LBS). I was not invited for an interview by any of the US schools, though I thought that my profile was quite strong (top undergrad in my country with top grades, two master's degrees from top UK universities, extensive leadership experience, lots of scholarships, high-profile work experience in a very well-known international organisation and then a client-facing strategy job in a big4 international consultancy with top clients). However, I probably lacked work experience at that point (only about 2 years of work experience by matriculation). Essays were quite strong, references were excellent from direct supervisors, but not from top people in my organisations. A year later I refreshed the concepts and retook GMAT in December 2018, and got 720 again (Q45, V44, IR 5, AWA 5.5). I used that to reapply to the same US schools and LBS, and got accepted to LBS (though I could not eventually go there due to financial matters). As for the US schools, no interviews again, though I knew people from my undergrad who were accepted to the Ivy League schools with very similar profiles.

After the test I thought that I had to change my approach to the test if I wanted to get a higher score. So I decided to find time this year to study for the test by using GMATClub tests and other materials. However, I moved to a better but much more challenging job at the beginning of 2019 (a strategy and M&A manager in one of the biggest renewable energy companies in Europe), and I genuinely lacked sufficient time to study for GMAT up until the end of this year as I had to brush up on financial modelling and other work-related knowledge. So this year I booked a GMAT appointment in December and studied for the test daily from mid-November to yesterday. I reviewed Manhattan GMAT guides again, solved all hard Q problems in OG and Quantitative Guide and reviewed incorrect answers to them, and did 27 CATs from GMATClub and well as reviewed all incorrect answers to questions in them. Combined, I did about 1200 hard quantitative problems from good test providers. I thought that it would be sufficient to raise my quantitative score from 45 to 48-49, and with my Verbal score of 44, that would propel my score to 750-770. I took the GMAT yesterday, and it seems I was wrong. I scored 680 (Q42, V41, IR7, AWA probably 5.5+, but I will never know). Before the test, My GMATClub Q scores fluctuated widely (from 30 to 49), but I attributed it to the learning process, because when I finally grasped major concepts and reviewed most of my mistakes, I never scored less than 42 (and my mean in the last attempts was around 44-45). Because I thought that GMATClub tests were harder than the real ones, I expected a score of around 47-49 (and in two official GMATPrep tests that I did before the exam, my Q was 47-49 indeed).

After the official attempt I struggled to explain what happened, and I obviously was severely disappointed, but after a day of hard thoughts, I ordered ESRs and compared them. It seems that I answered only two more Verbal questions incorrect than the last time, but somehow my Analysis/critique skills went from 100% last time to 33% this time. It probably explains a drop in Verbal, as even two more incorrect questions can impact the score significantly. However, I struggle to explain what happened with the quantitative part, where I expected the most progress. Though my DS and Arithmetic scores remained more or less the same (48, 49; 48, 47 for the last two tests respectively), my PS somehow dropped from 43 to 38, and algebra/geometry from 42 to 32! What is worse, my geometry performance somehow went down from 50% to 0%! And this is despite the fact that I do new timed geometry hard questions on GMATClub with 50% accuracy, I checked it just before writing this post. Judging from ESRs, it seems that the level of questions was higher this time and I answered more hard questions correctly this time, but somehow it did not translate into a higher score, even though I answered around 12-13 out of the first 15 questions correctly. Can there be a penalty for getting 0% on geometry questions?

Anyway, I would appreciate your advice on what to do next. I obviously would like to see a score improvement after a significant amount of time that I invested into preparation, especially the last time (about 80-100 extra hours combined). And I feel that I need this higher score to become a more competitive candidate for my target schools. At the same time, I fear that my GMAT test-taking is becoming an obsessive-compulsive quest that may lead to further disappointments and wasted time rather then better GMAT results. Do you think that I should retake it? And if yes, what would you advise to move from 720 to 750-770 in my situation?

Your perspectives are welcome. Thanks.

P.S. I have an Excel file with a breakdown of my scores according to ESRs: H T T P S :// gofile DOT io /?c=m21VnD all without spaces.