My horrible 500 (30,30)

Got the surprise of my life yesterday when I saw 500 come up on the screen. 30q, 30v.

I studied my butt off for a month, and casually studied for a month before that, I am very disappointed, heartbroken if you will.

One variable is that I got laid off on thursday, and took the test saturday. I wasn't necessarily in the best frame of mind, as the layoff was completely out of the blue.

I wasn't as disappointed with the verbal as I was the quantitative. I studied Princeton book and took two Powerprep tests. First test after studying casually for a month I got a 560 but don't remember the individual scores. Took the second test a week ago and got a 570 with I think a 38q and 31v. I am not trying to get into Wharton or Harvard, just PSU's MBA or iMBA program, so a 570-600 will suffice.

So I went from a 38q to a 30q on the real test, and lost one point on verbal. I studied so hard on the math, and am completely dumbfounded as to how I did so poorly. Part of the reason was the first few math questions were a lot tougher than the first few on the PP test. For example, as the 2nd or 3rd question, I got one that I just stared at and had no idea.

(360^2)^3. So basically 360 to the 5th power. Answers were like

A.(2^5)(3^6)(5^8)
B.(2^8)(3^7)(4^5)
C.(2^7)(3^3)(5^6)

Answers like that. How do I possibly break down that question? That was nowhere to be found in my study materials.

Needless to say, I need to take the test again. 500 is unacceptable. How do I study differently?

Thanks for reading such a long post,

CB