Staggering 120 Pt difference b/w Actual & Mock Tests!

GMAT right now is a work in progress for me, but I wanted to share my experience for re-assurance that I am on the right track and for any valuable suggestions/tips that may prove crucial for my next attempt.

First Attempt - Test Center

I started studying back in September, 2021. During my first phase of studies, after a brush-up of the basic concepts I focused solely on the official guide. In hindsight I now realize that the preparation strategy was extremely inefficient. About a month into my prep I scored 690 (Q46, V38) on my first official mock, under realistic circumstances. I guess I got carried away with that score and booked the actual test for the end of October. Before the test date I decided to give three more official mocks and the scores ranged between 660 and 710, with most of the variation coming from the quant section. It was obviously a terrible idea to waste most of my official mocks like that.
The actual test did not go well and I scored a 600 (Q44, V28, IR 4). I was extremely surprised, not so much with my quant score because I knew I had a lot of work to do with Quant. But in my 4 official mocks leading up to the exam, my Verbal scores were 38, 38, 40, 41, in that order. At the time, I thought I was making significant progress in Verbal owing mostly to GMAT Ninja's videos on YouTube and then practicing the same with OG question sets online.

I was pretty sure that it was just an off day. I ordered an ESR but I don't think it really told me anything special. My performance had dropped in almost all aspects, with no real outlier. Nevertheless, I decided to take a break from GMAT altogether for more than a month. I was also sure test anxiety had a decent part to play, as I was put off by the test center environment and was continually distracted by other test takers during my Verbal section (My Verbal section coincided with their AWA, and all I could hear was the sound of furious keystrokes). I decided that I was never going to return to a test center, and my next attempt had to be online.

Second Attempt - Online

In mid Dec, 21 I started with e-gmat's quant course, studying a couple of hours each day. I always felt I had a lot of holes I needed to plug in my Quant concept knowledge and the course provided just that. I also felt that the verbal course wasn't helping me much so I dropped it halfway. After a few months of staying away from OG & Mocks, I finally gave another official mock test on 29 Mar 2022 and scored a 740 (Q49, V41). I then gave my last remaining mock after a few days to make sure I was ready for my next attempt. This time I scored a 710 (Q47, V40). I wasn't fazed much as a glitch in quant section had messed up the question numbers, making me skip the final two questions. I was starting to feel confident again so booked my online test. To my surprise, the score did not improve by much. It was a 620 (Q44, V31, IR8, AW6).

Thoughts

To my mind the only reason that explains the huge discrepancies in my scores is test anxiety. I wasn't sure about this during my first attempt, but during my second attempt I noticed a few particular things that did not go the same way as they usually do during the mock tests -

1. I started with the Verbal section, but I felt as if I was unable to absorb information that I was reading. I was having to re-read quite frequently. I felt the most extreme effects of this on the RC passages.
2. Process of Elimination was gone. I was hardly eliminating the answers but falling back to selecting the one I thought was right.
3. During my recent mock tests, I had run out of time on the final few questions as I was taking enough time to be sure of my answers. This time I finished both the sections with a couple of minutes to spare. I had somehow talked myself into believing that getting answers quick was more important than getting them right (sigh)
4. The actual test felt harder than official mocks, with a lot of new question types especially on Quant. Now I am not sure if this was actually true or if I just felt it because I could not focus.

Next Steps

My test experiences have been disheartening but I am not giving up, not one bit. From my first day of prep, I have always felt that I can do well on the GMAT and have always enjoyed the variety, trickery & inventiveness of the questions. My performance on mock tests, which I have always attempted in a state of 'relaxed focus' has been close to my target score of 730+. Surely it is just a matter of time.

I have run out of all official mock tests and most of the 2022 OG, and my prep strategy right now is basically to do all the following things I did not do earlier -

1. Extensive use of GMAT Club - Especially the Forum quiz, as it gives the option to attempt questions from older official guides and GMAT prep questions that I never saw on the mocks. I've been doing timed practice sets for a few weeks and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I believe regularly attempting 600-700 level practice sets will help me cement techniques for each question type and improve my speed & efficiency, so that the same process can happen subconsciously on the actual test. Also, the answer explanations by most experts are much richer than in the official guide.
2. Maintaining an Error Log - Shifting my prep entirely to GMAT club means that I have a detailed error log without having to fiddle with excel sheets.
3. Manhattan Mock tests and GMAT Club Quant CATs - The only decent options left since I've run out of official mocks. Also, I like the fact that the quant on these CATs is presumably harder.
4. Mindfulness Meditation - This is something that has been recommended by a lot of people and I am willing to give it a try. I've started using Waking Up by Sam Harris (He offers a free easy scholarship to anyone who can't pay)
5. Aiming for a Relaxed attempt - My previous attempts have been a couple of weeks before my targeted application deadlines, and I think that has contributed to unnecessary pressure during the test. I am now making sure that I give my next attempts a good few months before application deadlines, with a mindset that I can always retake and that it's not 'now or never'.