Bombed GMAT TWICE, with a flip-flop in scoring!

Hi all,

I wanted to share my experience with the GMAT, with the goal of establishing my next course of action (i.e., burn my books or give it another go).

First, I've been studying for the GMAT for almost a year now. During this time I've completed an in-person Manhattan Prep course, Magoosh's premium course, and countless Manhattan and GMAT Prep practice tests. I even had a tutor session with a Manhattan tutor, but decided not to continue because I thought the cost was too high. For most of this time, I had an unpredictable work schedule, which meant that I could only dedicate ~1 hour of study time during the weekdays. I would try to supplement with longer study periods (~4-6 hours) on the weekends. I'm no longer working and have spent the past month preparing full-time for the GMAT, which I took for the second time today.

I scored a 640 on my first test this past May. Q, V, and IR were 47, 31, and 7, respectively. I felt good during Q and completely crashed during the last 1/3 of V. Prior to this test, I had been scoring in the mid-40s on Q and mid- to high-30s on V on all of my practice tests. I did find that I scored lower in Q on Manhattan CATs than on GMAT Prep practice tests.

I took two months off after my first attempt and started to prepare again in late-July / early-August. I spent the vast majority of my time trying to improve verbal, since this was my main weakness. I purchased the GMAT Prep Exam Pack 1 and scored a 650 in late August ( 41 Q / 39 V) and a 710 on September 5 (48Q / 39V). I also re-took several Manhattan and GMAT Prep exams in which my scores typically varied between 630-710. My Quant scores were always in the low- to mid-40s and my verbal scores were always in the mid- to high-30s.

The last week before my second attempt, I took 4 more practice tests, including one on the day before my exam. At this point I was a little burnt out, but I made sure to relax the night before my exam.

Today I scored a 620, 20 points lower than my first attempt. I chose the Q / V/ IR / AWA order because I wanted to be fresh for quant and not too burnt out for verbal. My score was 36 Q / 38 V / 8 IR. I did not report my score so I don't know what I got on AWA, although I consistently scored a 5 on GMAT Write's software.

What the &#*$!!!! Maybe I was tired or maybe my Q foundation is shaky, but I am beyond frustrated with this exam. I was not only getting extremely simple / easy quant questions this morning, but also felt that ratio of PS / DS questions was very, very heavily skewed toward DS- also, I have always done better on DS.

I am a native english speaker, but have always been a slow reader; therefore, timing has always been a factor for me. I fell behind initially this morning because I wanted to make sure I got the first ~10 questions right, but I think this strategy could have backfired. I am always rushed on verbal and had to guess on the last 2-3 questions.

I don't want to quit, but this test is driving me insane. My initial reaction was to immediately reschedule another test (there's an opening in 2 days), but I don't want to make the same mistake twice. Any insights, advice, feedback, or strategies for next steps would be greatly appreciated as I have come to value the great amount of user input and knowledge on this forum.

Thanks for the time and best of luck on your journey!

R