DAT Done 12/11/12

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ekephant

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I know there are already a ton of breakdowns out there with similar information, but hopefully someone will find this useful and maybe even inspirational.

PAT 25 (99.0%)
QR 21 (96.4%)
RC 22 (84.4%)
BIO 20 (88.0%)
GC 23 (95.4%)
OC 24 (95.7%)
TS 22 (95.6%)
AA 22 (97.0%)


Background:
Recent graduate from a California University and have taken all pre-requisite classes at one point during my undergraduate career. Graduated with a bachelor's degree in Public Health with a not too stellar GPA of 2.99. Extra curricular activities include shadowing/working at 2 dental offices (one for 10 weeks and another for over 2 years); spent two weeks shadowing and assisting dentists providing dental care overseas (Global Dental Brigade); board member of my pre-dental organization on campus; board member of another campus organization oriented around community service and health care for underserved/poverty-stricken communities around the local county; spent 2 summers as a volunteer for my university's freshmen orientation program; and in my spare time I enjoy photography, playing guitar, and working out. I plan on applying early for the 2013 cycle, and intend on strengthening my GPA with a few informal post-bacc classes. DAT study time was about 2.5 months.

Thoughts going into the test:
I was incredibly nervous and tried my best to calm myself by playing guitar and working out the morning of my test. I even made a playlist to pump myself up on the way to my testing center. Once I got there, the proctor was very friendly; however, she specifically told me that I wasn't allowed to write anything on my laminated sheets during the tutorial or 15 minute break.

Thoughts during the test:
Halfway into the biology section I started to freak out because I had to mark so many. Gchem and ochem were easy enough and I went back to do the questions I had marked for bio. I ended up with a few minutes to spare, which I used to make my grids for the PAT section. I also ended the PAT section early so that I could prepare my laminated sheets for RC and QR. At almost every section after natural sciences, I had to keep myself from thinking back about all of the bio questions that I had trouble with. The key here was to focus on each current section. There was no way for me to change answers for a previous section, and all I could do was work my best on the section I was currently on.

Below are the resources I used worth noting for each section of the DAT:

Biology:
Cliffs AP Biology: I read this book at least twice. The first time just going through it quickly and trying to remember the main points; the second time really trying to memorize most of the details of each topic. Definitely an easy read and a great summary of each section.
Campbell's Biology: I was able to borrow this from my local library and I used it to supplement any of the topics that I was unsure of after reading Cliff's AP Bio. Definitely worth a look for a better understanding of cellular respiration, photosynthesis, mitosis/meiosis, and embryonic development.
Khan Academy YouTube Channel: This is an awesome resource if you are a visual learner. Definitely goes as in-depth as Campbell's. Just need to know exactly what you are searching for, as there is no outline or anything. Great as a supplementary resource.
CrashCourse YouTube Channel: This is a fairly new YouTube channel and is great for basic summaries. If Khan Academy is similar in information to Campbell's, this is similar to Cliff's AP Bio. Definitely entertaining and the playlist is similar in fashion to Cliff's AP Bio. I can tell that this channel is geared towards students reviewing AP Biology.
DAT Destroyer: Went over this twice. The explanations are great and includes a lot of basic information as well as material not covered in Cliff's.
Wikipedia: Used this for looking up random material from Destroyer or any of my practice tests.
Other Notes: This section is very broad and even though I had studied multiple resources, I still had to mark many of the questions that I got on the actual DAT. I did however get a couple of questions that I would not have known if I did not read some sections of Campbell's Biology. If I had more time I would have definitely read more of that book. While it is not as easy to read as Cliff's, it does provide information that Cliff's does not, which may or may not be on your test. I will admit, there were a lot of things that I studied that was not tested on, but it's always better to be prepared. You just need to be selective on which topics you feel you need a better understanding of.

General Chemistry/Organic Chemistry:
Chad's Videos: Really easy to understand and the quizzes are similar to the difficulty of the actual DAT. I bought the 30 day subscription and found that it was all I needed. I took thorough notes for each video and went back to specific videos if I had any questions.
DAT Destroyer: Great for practicing everything you learned from Chad's videos. I would recommend watching all of Chad's chemistry videos before attempting the chemistry sections of the Destroyer. It does include a few reactions that Chad does not go over, but you can easily Google them and take note of it when you run into them. These questions are much harder than the actual exam, but if you know how to do them all you will do great.

PAT:
Crack the DAT, PAT Ace Edition (10-test): Definitely similar to the actual DAT. Great practice and probably a bit more difficult. My practice test results were as follows: 18/20/22/22/25/23/22/23/24/25.
DAT Achiever (3-test): This was a bit harder than CDP. The pixelated-fashion of the angles and the keyhole questions were much more similar to the actual DAT. While CDP is great, it does not test much on proportions. The paper folding was also much harder on Achiever than DAT, but is great preparation for the actual DAT.
Other Notes: For the TFE section, it was helpful for me to look at the two given views, and then all of the answers before actually trying to figure out what the object looked like. Just remember the rules while you are forming the object in your head: solid lines represent protruding surfaces and dotted lines are surfaces located somewhere behind the view you are given. For hole punching, if you learn the lines of symmetry method (found on youtube) you will be able to go through this section quickly without any mistakes. I also used the tally method for cube counting. I originally did my practice tests by counting each cube, but as I was getting closer to my test date I was able to distinguish what each type of cube looked like and did not have to waste time counting. This was immensely helpful on the actual DAT. In my opinion, all of the hole punching and cube counting questions are basically freebies.

Reading Comprehension:
TopScore: The passages and questions were similar in difficulty to the actual DAT. Great for practicing timing.
DAT Achiever (3-test): The questions were much more difficult than the actual DAT, and asked too many inference/application questions. Although you may be asked to infer something on the DAT, it will not be nearly as frequent as it is in Achiever.
Other Notes: I used a modified version of VicViper's RC strategy. I numbered my laminated sheet with 3 columns from 1-50 skipping a line between each question. After quickly writing key words/notes for each question, I read the passage in its entirety without going back and forth answering each question as the answers appeared. Instead, I marked which paragraph each question appeared in or even wrote the answer down if the question was simple. I then answered all questions once the passage was complete and had a couple of minutes per passage to search-and-destroy if I didn't get an answer in the first read. I tried my best to use only 20 minutes per passage.

Quantitative Reasoning:
Chad's Videos: Great and easy to understand, especially permutations and combinations.
Math Destroyer: I think it covers all types of questions that could possibly be asked on the DAT.
Other Notes: The questions are relatively simple, the hardest part of this section is the amount of time allowed and the fact that it is the last section of the DAT. Try not to make any simple mistakes, as this will take a toll on your score, especially since there is not much time to review your answers. You need to practice doing questions quickly and accurately. If you must use the on-screen calculator, which I did on many of the questions, I recommend you simplify everything as much as you can on paper before you use the calculator. The numbers are usually simple and will make it easier and less time-consuming. If you are stuck on a question, mark it and move on. You want to get all the easy ones first, and then move onto the harder questions.

Thoughts on practice tests:
TopScore: I ran this using Windows XP with Parallels on my MacBook. A few of the questions didn't show up properly, but I still think it was worth it. The difficulty of the questions were more comparable to the DAT than Achiever, and I liked the fact that the solutions provided for Biology included citations from Campbell's. I ended up with AAs of 18-20.
DAT Achiever (3-test subscription): Definitely harder than the DAT, but really not by too much. I honestly think the most beneficial part of the Achiever tests were the PAT sections. Ended up with AA's of 17-18.
Other Notes: Make sure you go back to your practice tests and know how to do each type of problem that you didn't know how to do. Remember that practice tests are for learning and they do not determine what you will get on the actual DAT.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to SDN members for posting helpful breakdowns and for quickly answering any of my questions on the forum.

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Great scores, be proud!

I'm a little confused about your RC strategy - did you look at all of the questions, then jump into the reading?

Thanks. For each passage, I read the questions first and took note of what the questions were asking before reading the passage.
 
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Halfway into the biology section I started to freak out because I had to mark so many. Gchem and ochem were easy enough and I went back to do the questions I had marked for bio.

I also was freaked out with the bio questions. If I had to do it again, I'd do GChem & Orgo 1st then go to bio (since I'm better at GC & OC).

Congrats on the great scores!
 
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