GMAT Strategy

I just came back from taking the GMAT. I am 37 and I work full-time. I am a journalist (i.e., left-brained) and consider myself EXTREMELY BAD at math. Even so, I want to get an MBA; it's always been a dream to work in business. So I have been tackling the brutal and humiliating task of studying for the GMAT (humiliating because almost every quant. problem to me looks like this: *%$#$$##@@@@ (gibberish).

I have been studying with Kaplan since November; I took the GMAT course twice. I don't really know how many hours I have studied since November; I did not keep track. But I probably did hundreds of problems in the Kaplan and Official Guide books. I hired a tutor for about 6 hours to go over math (admittedly, even with the tutor I still did not understand some of the concepts). I spent hours memorizing formulas and learning math that, frankly, I never even learned when I was in high school.

I spent very little time on verbal (total of 6-10 hours max). And the verbal questions I tend to get wrong are the critical reasoning ones.

I took 2 weeks off work and the last 2 weeks I have been studying FULL-TIME. I did both the GMATprep tests on mba.com, as well as 3-4 Kaplan practice tests and the UPT. The last practice test score I got (last Saturday) was a 500.

ALL THAT I NEEDED TO GET TODAY WAS A 550. My school of choice would be fine with a 550 combined with my work experience. I was confident, after reading reports of people who went up points from the practice test scores, that I would get a 550-600 (100 points above my last practice test). I did everything that was recommended: 9 hours of sleep, got there early, had snacks. I was still very nervous, and I noticed that if I gave into the anxiety that my mind would start to wander and I could not focus. Nevertheless, I got through it without any timing problems.

I got a 400.

When I saw that score on the screen, I said, out loud:

OH MY FUCKING GOD.

I know. Horrible.

I actually thought during the test that I was doing great. I am shocked and appalled at my score. Now, I do not know whether my school will even take me, or whether I need to study even more and retake the test. Will studying more really take me to a 550 in the real exam? At this point I am extremely skeptical, although if you guys say yes, I would do it.

Can someone honestly tell me, I know with very limited info., whether perhaps I need to just forget about B school? Maybe I am just not cut out for this exam, or B school?