I studied 2 months and ONLY scored 470 (Q29/V26)

Hi everybody,

I took the gmat last Friday and scored 470 points. What a disappointment.

Maybe a little bit more information about me in general and how I approached the test first:

I do have a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and therefore I am used to numbers and math in general. I am also quite comfortable with english as a foreign language. Nevertheless I said to myself that I need to study a lot because I wanted to reach at least (!) 600 points. I started studying in January and worked on the math section for about a month and then I continued with the verbal section. I used the official GMAT Guide (12th Edition) and did all the questions in the book. Before that I had worked through the entire Kaplan GMAT Premier book and also did all the excercises.

On the practice tests I scored:

GMAT1.: 510
GMAT2: 540
KAPLAN: 600

(always beeing at an avrg of 35-40 quant and a less in verbal)

I had difficulties with the timing at first, but then went through the tests at an average speed making a stretegic guess every once in a while but not that often on the other hand.

Then there was the testday...:

I worked my way through the essays and took the first break to relax a bit. Because I knew it's going to be tough now. Then there was the math section at first. The problem? I don't know ... I had the first strategic guess maybe on question no 8?! So in my opinion after 7 right ones. This should be okay I thought and moved on. I guessed 5 maybe, not random guesses, altogether. And maybe did some other questions wrong. But I didnt feel bad about it because the practice tests went the same way.

After the break the verbal section went more or less the same way. But I have to admit that this section was harder than usual on the practice tests. At least it felt like it. I have some problems with the sentence correction questions but I tried before the test to keep up with some of the typical errors I overlooked normally and worked my way through that section on testday. Again, I was making a few strategic guesses here (preferrebly on SC questions) but had no time problems in the end. So I thought it was alright.

Then I submitted my score .... ya, nothing to add. 470 made me feel so bad I dont even know what to do now. Is there any BIG mistake I made in preparation or during the test? Do you guys have some recommendations for me??? I need to improve that's for sure, but how? I need to get above 600 points next time. But this experience didn't give me self confidence for the next try at all.

Thanks for your help!