Scored 590 on First Attempt...Goal 630+ on February 18th

Hey guys,

So I recently took the GMAT, on February 1st to be specific, and scored a pretty disappointing 590 (36Q,35V). I'm looking to apply to MSF programs and have a majority of my application done, all that remains is to report a GMAT score. I have scheduled a retake for February 18th, as application deadlines are approaching. My target score is a 630+, and I was looking for some tips from anybody who's willing to help. Below I will describe my situation, which study materials I'm using, practice exam scores, and how I felt during the exam.

To start off, I graduated in December 2016 with my Bachelors in Finance from a Big 10 school. My goal now is to pursue an MSF program, or an MMS program when it comes to Duke. My GPA is decent, but my essays, LOR's, EC, and volunteer work are pretty solid. The GMAT is the one thing where I believe if I can pull off a decent score, I can make a compelling case for myself to Ad Coms.

I purchased the most recent MGMAT series in November, along with the 2017 OG books. These have been the material I've been using to study ever since then. Although I ordered these books in early November and was able to put in about 2 hours per day every few days, there would be random gaps of 4-5 days up until I graduated where I didn't study for the GMAT, as I was taking a heavy workload at school and finals were getting near. After I graduated in late December, started January 1st, I was able to study 4.5-6 hours a day 6 days a week, giving myself one day to relax, usually on Friday's. I felt the studying was coming along pretty well, and I will post below my practice exam scores for the 4 tests I took in this span.

1. GMAT Prep 1- 460 30Q 23 V (November 4th). This was before I even knew how to really solve a DS problem at all, and was definitely a wake up call. (Only did Quant and Verbal here.)

2. GMAT Prep 1 (Retake)- 530 35Q 28V 4 IR (December 6th). I remember seeing 3 repeats in Quant and 3 in Verbal. What I realized here was that I was making many silly mistakes in Quant and going way too fast, as I finished with 9 minutes left. (Did AWA,IR,Quant,Verbal)

3. GMAT Prep 2- 590 39Q 33V 5 IR (January 16th). I could see myself getting close to my goal and felt the studying was definitely paying off. Once again, I went back over my Quant questions and saw 4-5 silly mistakes that if I spent 30 seconds longer on, I would've seen. Verbal I remember rushing towards the end as I got "excited" to see my score, and getting 5/7 of the last questions incorrect. (Did AWA,IR,Quant,and Verbal).

4. GMAT Prep 2 (Retake)- 670 47Q 35V 5IR (January 29th). Wow. This was definitely exciting and sent my confidence through the roof. I remember seeing 5 repeats on Quant, 2 of which I remembered the answer to, but the other 3 I had to solve, as I didn't remember the answer. Verbal I saw 3 repeats, none to which I remembered the answer from beforehand. I once again for 4/6 of the last questions wrong in Verbal, and in Quant I made it a point beforehand to eliminate silly mistakes and take my time. I went back and saw 4 of the 13 i got incorrect were still pretty silly mistakes, but I was improving. (Did AWA, IR, Quant, and Verbal).

Then came test day. Since the beginning of my study, I tracked my exact time spent studying and 141 hours and 02 minutes later, I felt somewhat confident, but also felt the nerves kicking in on my way to the testing center. I got there, set everything up, and I'm ready to go. First I see AWA, and I fly through it with ease. Next comes IR, which I felt was relatively easier compared to the GMAT prep exams. After this, I opt to take my break, not because I'm tired, but because I've made it a habit to go wash my face with cold water during my breaks, and eat a few almonds along with drinking some Powerade. I come back, feeling ready to go, though now I start thinking about how big this exam is and I start letting it get to me. I hit start, and the first question I see is stats. Yes! probably my strongest point, along with Number Properties. I fly through that and hit next, then see a Geometry question about the area of a circle. Oh no. My weakest point, an area where I didn't spend much time on. Geometry is my weakest point, though I feel somewhat comfortable with Coordinates and Polygons (to an extent). Circles, Cylinders, Cones, and finding Volume/Surface area were areas I spent nearly no time on, and decided I would use these questions as my "guess and move on" questions. I make an educated guess and move on, but next comes a sequence question. I was always a big hit or miss with sequences, as sometimes it would click for me as soon as I read it. Not this time. I realized that I didn't know how to set this up, and got nervous, as in my head I knew the first 10-12 questions were huge. I remember making another guess and moving on, then from there I'm not sure what went wrong, but saw that by the end, the questions were way too easy, a level which I'd warm up with at home. I knew right then that the Quant didn't go so great, but was hoping for around a 40.

Next came Verbal. I went through the same process in my break, and began verbal. When it comes to Verbal, I've always felt really comfortable with SC and I'm able to usually hit a 90-95% hit rate on Easy questions, 75-80% on Moderate, and about 65% on the Harder ones. RC is an area where I usually don't feel like I'm doing so great, but on my practice tests I'd get around 11/12 out of about 14. CR is funny, as when I do practice problems, my rate correct is always around 80-90% for Easy and Moderate, and around 70% for Hard. I remember feeling alright during the Verbal part, but my mind kept on going back to the Quant section, and I would get annoyed and just wanted to be done with the exam. I remember looking around the room when I had about 15 questions left and seeing that there was only one person left taking an exam, as all the people in there taking Nursing exams had finished and were gone. I remember for some odd reason feeling a sense of "okay lets hurry up and finish" and getting a RC passage in my last 10 questions, which I just flew through. I finished the exam and hit submit, answered the necessary questions, and then came my score

-590 36Q,35V,6 IR.

Wow. I felt awful. I was so disappointed the whole way home, and even the rest of that night. The 35V was reasonable, but a 36Q? Unacceptable. I knew it was a combination of performing poorly in the beginning, feeling nervous, and definitely a decent amount of silly mistakes incorporated in there. Though I accepted my score, I immediately signed up for another exam on February 18th. I purchased an Enhanced Score Report a couple days ago and will attach that here.

I'm restarting my studying today and am willing to put 4-6 hours a day, and that is the plan. I'm ordering Gmat Prep Exams 3 and 4, and will take on this Saturday (February 11th), and one next Thursday (February 16th). I know my weak points for Quant are the areas of Geometry that I mentioned, Digits & Decimals to an extent, Exponents & Roots, and certain types of Formulas and Sequences. Statistics and Number properties are my strong points, as I feel extremely confident when I see them that I'll get them right, as long as I don't make a silly mistake. The Number properties and Word Problems books I have covered, except for Combinatorics, which I didn't put much time toward as I read they aren't tested very often. The most basic ones I can do, but I usually guess on the moderate and harder ones after eliminating answers that I know are incorrect. Also, I definitely feel a lot more comfortable with DS than I do with PS questions.

If you guys could help out and give me some tips, that would be great.

Thanks