DAT QVault (all sections) vs Real DAT Comparison Thread
 

Can anyone chime in on DAT Qvault scores compared to the actual DAT? Any scores you received compared alongside your actual DAT and even other prep materials would be great as well. Also, any comments or errors that you know of would be appreciated. It would be great if we could just make this into an official QVault thread for comparison purposes because I know people frequently ask. I just started today and would like to know how I'm "actually" doing.

Bio - I hear people usually score about 2 points higher than Qvault
GC - ?
OC - I saw that the first one is supposed to be easy and the rest get harder but not sure about a comparison to the actual test?
RC - I hear its easier than the actual, maybe 2-3 points lower on actual DAT
QR - ?


So I guess I'll start. I just bought it today - So far I only did 1 Bio and 1 GC and will be doing one OC, RC, and QR by the end of day and will update.

Test 1:
Bio- 18 (28/40) :(
GC - 22 (26/40)
OC - 20 (23/30)
RC - 24 (46/50)
QR - 25 (36/40)

Hey, I haven't purchased datQvault but I'm curious to know the comparison as well to see if it's worth buying. I remember reading on someone's breakdown that their ochem section is very similar to the one on the actual DAT. Also I remember last year people could submit questions to take the exams for free when datQvault was just starting out, do you know if they used those questions to make these tests or they came up with their own?

I completed most of the gen chem section on datQvault when I was a beta user, and there was a noticeable number of mistakes (wrong answers, wrong explanations). I have purchased the "new" version of datQvault, and it seems like they got rid of those mistakes, but are still using the same questions. However, datQvault seems like a great source for learning reinforcement. I would definitely recommend it especially if you weren't a beta user.

how did you scores in it compare to your actual score? and/or with other practice tests?

Bump. I've been looking for a thread like this for 2 weeks now.

I was thinking about getting datQvault but I don't wanna drop $100 if it sucks, you know what I mean? Especially if that money could've gone towards getting 7 Achiever tests instead of 3. I'd get the bio section at the very least since I've heard a lot of good things about it. But how do the other qvault sections compare to TopScore and Achiever?

If anyone has any experience with the non-bio sections, any input would be appreciated.

i bought the datqvault like 5 days before my exam date lol. i thought it was fantastic. my average scores for each section (excluding RC which i didnt use) were comparable to my real dat scores. my real bio score went up by like 2 points. i wish i had discovered it sooner. i didnt have time to do all 10 practice exams for each section.

compared to KBB/destroyer/topscore/etc. i thought it was the most comparable to the real dat in terms of question format and difficulty.

note: my real dat exam was just a little harder than datqvault exams, but i ended up getting similar scores.

also, i would still get destroyer if you are on the fence about it. i think the level of difficulty of the problems is beneficial b/c it will force you to actually read all the answer choices and think about what the question really asks.

if i had to do it all over again (thankfully i dont need to), i would use destroyer as sort of my main practice problem studying book. then the last couple weeks, i would just use datqvault/topscore for practice problems.

i know a lot of people on here go through destroyer like 3 times, but i personally think that's not a good idea. you think you are improving, but really you are just remembering the solutions from the first time you went through it. the only section i WOULD do multiple times is probably bio

haha i haven't taken my dat yet. will be taking it in june!
but i can tell it's a good source because it reinforces my learning. it helps the information to "stick" in my brain.

thanks for the response! if possible, can you post ur qvault scores for each test and then ur actual DAT?

bump- cmonnnn i know theres people out there that have used Qvault - this can be a useful thread for a lot of us !

5/22 scores:
Bio- 18 (28/40)
GC - 22 (26/40)
OC - 20 (23/30)
RC - 24 (46/50)
QR - 25 (36/40)

5/23 scores:
BIO - 18
GC - 19
OC - 22
RC - 22
QR - 20

5/24 scores:
BIO - 19
GC - 20
OC - 20
RC - 20
QR - 23


I really hope Qvault isnt easier for any sections or else im really screwed because i need to my scores up to 22s :scared:
really hoping for some opinions/comparisons from some folk out there

DATQVAULT SCORES:

BIO test 1-5: 18,18,18,16,18 (real dat 20)

GC test 1-4: 18,19,20,22 (real dat 22)

OC test 1-6: 19,17,22,20,19,20 (real dat 21)

Math test 1-3: 25,21,21 (real dat 23)

RC (n/a): did not use at all

AA (real dat) : 22

How soon is your test? I only ask because it seems to me that you are taking practice tests too quick instead of learning from your mistakes. I think instead of taking a full set of the tests each day you should slow down and study in between them and then use Qvault to check if you're really improving. Just a thought...

u sir just made my mother***** day!...i feel better about my qvault scores...i hope the program wasnt changed around since you took it and hopefully my scores are as reflective as yours turned out for you...thanks for posting!

my test is june 8...i review each section after taking it and then go over the solutions again at night or the next day too...kinda cramming now...im doing some review tomorrow and then another qvault set on saturday followed by more review....im also making a Word file of any important bio and chem notes, as well as writing problems down that i had trouble with in a separate notebook to take a look at as well....are you saying that based on my decline in scores :-/ ...i think many have been getting harder and that was kinda confirmed when i looked at the graph of other users' scores as well...i hope im right though.....i feel like the bio review will be the biggest boost for my qvault scores....most my errors in gc and oc are things i havent seen before (like many questions about crystals or lab techniques) or stupid mistakes

I am planning on doing Qvault as well. My test is on June first but I am thinking about postponing the date about a week. I finished Chem sections of destroyer multiple times and Bio section almost twice.
First two TS on topscore, I got both 20 and 20. I am just hoping doing qvault would increase my number on topscore...

By the way, I took Bio#1 and Orgo #1 for free and got 19, and 26. It seems like bio is on par with destroyer and way more easier on orgo section. Can't say nothing about chem but I would go over during the weekend and find out.

yea i saw some people said the first ochem was really easy so i was a little distraught after i only got a 20 :( ...afterwards i got a 22 and a 20 again so its got me a little worried...what were your bio and ochem top score scores? keep us posted with ur qvault scores etc!

Nice, i feel a little better

what have you been scoring like in qvault and any other practice tests?

I took the first qvault test, 24 gchem, 20 bio, 19 ochem

Okay I just purchased Qvault and finished rest of science sections.
This is what I got

BS/Chem/Ochem
19/24/24

I see that I have to work more on biology... The biology questions on Qvault seems like more random + indepth compare to Kaplan and topscore.

The Ochem number is from like two weeks ago that I took for free. I took Dr.Romano's class past few months and I think his lectures + awesome notes prepared me well. It seems like these orgo questions are way more easy compare to topscore and destroyer and even Kaplan subject tests.

I wasn't expectin 24 on chem section because I thoguht to my self these questions are pretty random and the wording of the qeustions were little tricky. I guess doing destroyer multiple times and going over Kaplan subject tests really did help.

But, I heard the first tests are the easiest and it gets harder as it goes. I will update my scores more during the weekend... my plan is to finish up to test #4 by Sunday.

I just bought datQvault last week and so far i have taken three tests and i think the questions are pretty similar to the real DAT. i wont know until june 19th tho. But on my first three tests i got:
BS/Chem/Ochem:
1)19/20/21
2) 22/19/24
3) 19/ 21/20

I dont remember all my dat qvault scores because the orgo and gen chem isn't saved any more ( was a beta user) but bio was saved. The bio was excellent I used that with kaplan and cliffs. I didn't do any of destroyer bio I focused on Datqvault and revied the sections I was weak on
BIO
1-18
2-19
3-19
4-20
5-19
6-20
7-20
8-23
9-17
10-19

Gen chem
I don't remember but I know I stayed around a 17-20 I got a 23 on one practice test. Mostly around 19's and 20's

Orgo
Crazy range from 15-23 there was still some errors in some and some test were just super hard and one was easy mostly around a 20.

They were good practice but Chads videos and quizes were a better representation of DAT questions but I still strongly recomend Datqvault orgo and gen chem. Again good practice and it is DAT material but some questions aren't as straight forward as The DAT questions. Overall Datqvault is slightly harder than the DAT

Real scores
BIO-20
Gchem-21
Orgo-23

I don't think I did any of the reading or Math.

Thank you so much for the info! and nice scores :)

so you'd say wording of the problem on the actual DAT is more straightforward than the ones from datqvault? I find some qvault and destroyer questions confusing..

Okay I have done two more science sections #2 and #3
It seems like questions are getting harder
Bio/Chem/Ochem
#2 20/19/21
#3 19/24/22


For the test#2 I took the test right after I took a nap, and my head wasn't just working on Gchem :(

thanks for the post! do you know if the changed the tests around or anything since you took it though? did you find the formatting/wording of the questions to be similar to the DAT?

looks like ur in pretty great shape! esp judging my everyone elses scores and ur topscore scores..u still taking it june 1st?

thanks, I am going to take my final(#3) topscore tomorrow morning and decide from there.
Hope it comes out alright, otherwise I have to pospone the date :(

How's your results coming out? and studying?

*

ive been doing review the past 4 days so hopefully ill see an increase in some scores..ill be taking another qvault tomorrow and will update...i think you should be good ..a 20 topscore score sounds pretty golden depending on what kinda score youre trying to get anyway...good luck!

thanks...any comments on the bio compared to DAT question format/wording or content? also, did the type of questions in qvault RC match up to the DAT's?

Wait you can get 12 questions wrong and still got a 18 in bio? is this for real? is the scaling going to be like this on the real test? How many questions can we get wrong in gen chem/ochem to get a 20?

i hope its somewhat correct, but it varies for every test....i think this is the only released scale and i believe its pretty dated...it has 28 right as a 17 :/ http://www.ada.org/sections/educatio...mate_score.pdf

That is actually pretty lenient don't you think? Why are you upset? lol

So how do you calculate the percentile? Do I just divide the number of questions I get right by the total number of questions?

thanks

percentile means you're above that percent of people nationwide. 99% means you're top 1%

Percentile depends on which version you take; it's just a number indicating how well you did compare to other people who took the same version of DAT.

If it says 92%, you did better than 92 people if 100 people took the same version.


And, I just took Qvault#4
Bio/Gchem/Ochem
18/26/22

I thought I did better on Bio this time, but picked bunch of wrong answers:(
Gchem #4 test seems like it's more focused on concepts rather than calculation.(easy calculation)
Ochem#4 was hard... some of the qeustions that I never seen before.

Not exactly its for that one version there are many given throughout the year! But if u don't know how good a 20, or 24 isnt something wrong

Go get Ada 2007 test it has all yr answers

u guys taking qvault...do u jump from bio right to GC then to OC ...and THEN check over your answers (to make it more realistic)....or do u do bio, then go over it...GC, then go over it etc? ....ive been doing the latter but was consider going straight through, but think ill get tempted to look at what i got wrong after submitting answers because the score for the section comes up right away...would think i wouldnt be focused on the next section and wondering what i got wrong etc lol..

Qvault 4
Bio 22
GC 24
OC 22

i dont what it is but i felt LEAST confident after all 3 of these sections more than any others probably, yet they were my highest scores...do u guys feel like u just get lucky sometimes? or maybe are we actually using our knowledge toward eliminating wrong answers and taking the educated guess? lol idk but i feel like i got lucky on many through all 3 so i dont feel THAT good...and

@dental13 - that orgo section did seem harder than the others..there were a few questions where i was just like wtf is that?!
did you agree with the answer for orgo test 4, #2? i would think that big base that they say is the answer would give the Hoffman product, yet its giving Zaitsev? also, #19 i feel like there should have been a Hoffman answer choice

EDIT: just finished for the day with testing...ahh now onto doing 1/4 of destroyer till midnight
Qvault 4
Bio 22
GC 24
OC 22
PAT w/ CDP 24
RC w/ CDR 19
QR 24

pretty happy with todays scores though :) now to stay consistent and execute on the DAT though lol

I got that question wrong also, but I think it might have to do with the conjugation

oooo possibly...because of the ring ...hmm..wish it would state that in the explanation if thats the case.....any idea why theres no Hoffman product in 19?

According to chad

.. with a secondary halide it's not so clear cut. For some secondary halides, the major product is the Anti-Zaitsev product while for other secondary halides it is the Zaitsev product. Ultimately for secondary halides it is difficult to formulate a steadfast rule. Nevertheless some professors and textbooks will oversimplify the situation and state that you always get the Anti-Zaitsev product when using a bulky base. It's not technically true but you will come across this teaching on a fairly regular basis. Sorry for the confusion. It's my sincere hope that you won't be asked this on the actual DAT or MCAT with all the confusion that surrounds this issue...
from ***********.com/showthread.php?3210-Anti-Zaitsev-rule-in-E2-with-bulky-base

But in this case, there was no Hofmann product as an answer and the main purpose of the problem is to test the antiperiplanar so yeah

it's *********** where those asterisks are..

ahh i hope i dont get that...i noticed that little last sentence at the end of 19 which i guess basically says what you were just saying...otherwise from taht i dont totally understand the answer and the whole anti thing? i dont think i ever even came across anti-periplanar anything before so i dont know what it even is :/

I posted a comparison on my thread after I took the dat! here you go :
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=918090

I don't have the statistics but the qvault is pretty much the same as the real test. I got an average of 21-22 for qvault and my actual score was 23. So, it may be due to the fact that I did not focus too much on the qvault than in the test. However, the variety of topic for qvault is amazing and the level of in-depth is fantastic. I would say it s the best material I had so far. Destroyer is the second because it is more in-depth. Don't rely on CTD, it has too many mistakes and irrelevant to the test

Here is my breakdown if you need reference http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=910704

thanks! heres the numbers for anyone else interested:

qvault breakdowns:

bio exams 1-10:
17
18
17
18
18
18
17
20
18
18

Chem breakdown:

1-9 (didnt do the last one)
20
19
21
20
19
19
20
20
20

Orgo chem:
1-6

18
21
20
19
19
21

QR:
20
20
20
19

Rc

46/50
46/50
(definitely easier than the real dat!)

and his actual:
Scores:
Rc: 21
Qr: 18
Pat: 20
Bio: 26
Gc: 25
OC: 23
Ts: 25
AA: 23

thanks! good to see most people are scoring higher on the actual DAT..im starting to feel more confident ...so u feel like the material was well represented on qvault? how about format of questions and difficulty?

5/30 Qvault 5:
BIO: 20
GC: 22
OC: 19 ...this orgo section was a damn struggle for me

Had a request via PM from someone that I post my DAT Qvault scores, so here we go (only used it for Bio):

Test #, number/40, estimated score
1 - 28/40 - 18
2 - 30/40 - 19
3 - 33/40 - 20
4 - 33/40 - 20
5 - 35/40 - 22
6 - 27/40 - 18 (got tired I think, haha)
7 - 34/40 - 21
8 - 33/40 - 20
9 - 33/40 - 20
10- 31/40 - 19

Took the DAT for the 2nd time in Oct 2011, and made a 22 on Bio. The first time I took it I did not use qvault and made an 18. The biggest difference between my two tests was really pounding the questions I missed over and over until I knew them (used Anki flashcard system for this, and read cliffs like 4-5 times rather than just twice).

Overall I liked Qvault for Bio. Nothing is going to 100% emulate the Bio section DAT in my opinion (at least no source that I ever encountered did), just because there is such a breadth of knowledge from which they can pull questions...but I felt like Qvault did a really great job of emulating the type of delivery that you can expect, and their content was pretty darn helpful too. I would definitely encourage anyone who needs help in bio to use the resource.

Best of luck!

scores test #1
 

So I took the first qVault test

Bio- 20
GChem- 24
OChem-19
RC- 22
QR-23

Do you guys think i'm in good shape? I plan on buying the full 10 test edition, with 3 weeks remaining until my real test date.

Do you guys think it's better to buy datqvault or Achiever? Does datqvault have the same setup as a regular practice test?

I would buy dayqvault and achiever. If your short on cash but have lots of time I would do Datqvault (more practice). If your test is around the corner I would do achiever for the practice but achiever is way way harder than the real dat.