DONE with DAT! 8/17 Words of advice

[caligirlie]

Hello all,

Just took the DAT today (after only 3 hours of sleep - due to nervousness) and here are my scores!

SCORES PERCENTILES
PAT 20 96.7
QR 21 93.8
RC 20 71.4
Bio 21 93.8
Chem 22 92.0
Ochem 24 95.5
Total Sci 22 97.1
TOTAL 22 97.3

PREPARATION: I studied for 6 weeks, 7-9 hours per day, for 6-7 days per week – I basically treated it like a job. I'm not one of those really good test-taker types, I just put ALOT of hours in because I knew I had to in order to do well.

RC: I was shocked by my reading comp score... I had the 3 passages on Mg, herbs, and hormones. I thought they were really hard. On Topscore and Kaplan I was scoring 21-23. During the real DAT I was feeling really discouraged right off the bat...I was very unsure about my answers and couldn't seem to locate them in the passage. Still, I recommend my strategy of NOT reading the entire passage first. Read the 1st Q, then scan the passage and cross your fingers you find it fast, then move on to the 2nd Q, etc. If the Qs are about tone or summary sentences then you do have to scan the entire thing but try to do it fast. I think my biggest mistake here was confidence. Have confidence and focus on speed but also accuracy. Another thing, sit somewhat away from the desk so you have a WIDER VIEW of the passage and can better capture phrases/words. This kinda messed me up because at home my monitor is 2 feet away, but at the test center it was 1 foot way.

PAT: I did PAT practices tests from the Kaplan Blue book w/CD (Avg 20), Barrons, Topscore (Avg 21), DAT Achiever (Avg 17-18), and Ace the DAT (Avg 18). I think ALL PAT practice exams are great because they really expose you to difference patterns and shapes and help you better decipher new shapes. Keep practicing lots of problems. For Angles, I think Ace the DAT is worth it because the angles are so hard (1 degree difference) that they scare the crap out of you so you won't be as shocked on test day (real test much easier than Ace the Dat on angles). Rip a small corner off your paper and fold it to try to fit into the general angle size of the problem and use it to narrow down choices when you are stuck. I did this on 5/15 problems on the real DAT. Apertures - easier than practics PATs, TFE - same level, Angles - harder, Hole Punch - easier, Cubes - had 6 figures but always easy for me, Patterns - decent. All sections were easier than DAT Achiever except for angles.... I did each DAT Achiever test 3 times (first time timed, after that not timed, then timed again).

QR: Stupid guy next to meet was sniffling and snorting and it really threw me off. The noise reduction headphones couldn't drown him out it was SO loud! Anyway, keep yourself calm at all costs. Move fast. Know Celcius to Farenheit conversions. Keep your math neat. I got sloppy and had to redo calcs a few times...ran out of time. Didn't know about 4-5 problems and randomly guessed (marked them of course to go over them at the end)....definitely know when to skip problems that are likely going to take too much time.

Bio: I studied the Kalplan Blue book, my Bio I and II notes, my Anatomy class notes, Princeton Review MCAT book from a friend, and my Physiology notes. I was seriously braindead on this section because I didn't sleep much the night before. I thought it was really easy and was surprised I didn't get a better score. I had 16 minutes left at the end of the Sciences and wish I had gone over my answers - If you have time left over I STRONGLY advise you to go over your answers, but also leave yourself at least a 5 min break before the PAT. Stretch, eat some rasberries (they are energizing), say a prayer.

Gen Chem: Avg score on practice tests was a 17. I thought it was fairly easy - used Kaplan Blue Book and Princeton MCAT Book. Actually the whole way through the sciences I felt all the questions were very fair. Practice lots of problems so you know how to work them out. My strategy was to review the material and do as many practice problems as possible - this leaves you ready to tackle different versions of a problem. Definitely know acid-base chemistry, strengths of acids and bases, atomic radii stuff.

OChem: I taught Ochem for 1 year so this went pretty well. I actually didn't think I was very prepared for it (avg 18 on practice tests) but it turned out to be pretty easy – MUCH easier than practice exams… at least my version was. Know your COOH derivatives. If you don't know what a COOH is you need to study. I don’t think you need to memorize every reaction or make extensive reaction sheets. I just made a quick and dirty reaction sheet.

Week before test: Read the Kaplan blue book - one science section PER day. Ex: Mon read all Ochem, Tues read all Bio, Wed read all Gen chem. Remember this is REVIEWING - don't read every sentence. Review your "review sheets." Everytime I had a hard problem/something I didn't know I wrote it down on a paper called "review sheets".. and had one for each science section. I reviewed all of these the night before the test. Also, do PAT each day for the last 3-4 days before the test (not necessarily timed, but review old problems, or redo ones you've already done). Try to do a QR the day before the test - keeps you active/fast/focused. RC practice 1-2 days before the test (in addition to all the practice you’ve been doing over the past several weeks).

Overall advice: Be sure to integrate doing practice problems/test problems with reviewing material. It has been proven that doing test problems increases scores more than reviewing (assuming you know the material pretty well). I probably reviewed my science material 5 times before the test (over the course of 6 weeks). If you are scoring below an 18 or 19 on any section, be sure to practice more of that section to get your scores up to a 19 or 20. Don't neglect sections that you are doing poorly on just to escape them. I think studying can be done in 4 weeks if you are really effective in how you spend your time. I gave myself 2 extra weeks because I couldn't risk not doing well. First 3 weeks of studying: Did 1 full practice exam per week, interspersed with practice sections and lots of reviewing; Second 3 weeks of studying: Did 2 practice exams per week, interspersed with even more practice sections and more "quick and dirty" reviewing.

Stay hydrated the day of your test, eat something like an egg sandwich for breakfast to keep you energized, and def get a good night's rest before the exam. If you put the time in you will do just fine. Believe in yourself. Do lots of problems. Confidence is key! You don't have to be a genius to do well on this - I'm not!

GOOD LUCK!

[isd121]

Originally Posted by caligirlie

don't have to be a genius to do well on this - I'm not!

You are a genius
got above 20 in all sections.
Good job

[huskerslp]

Great job on the DATs. I think we took the same test from what I was reading from your comments on RC and math. I wished I had bought Ace the DATs for the angles sections. I usually made perfect scores on topscore and the Kaplan tests, but I know I had to have missed more than 3/4ths of that particular section.

[joonkimdds]

Ur score is godly...
U should make a new religion and claim that u r the GOD. -_-;

[786mine]

You did good, good luck. I will be taking mine in a few weeks. Just finished with 8 credits of biology over summer III, and will be starting for the DAT. Not too stressed, I think I will go well.

Thanks for the write up. A quick question tho, in the reading part, is there a Control-F (search) function?

[caligirlie]

Originally Posted by 786mine

You did good, good luck. I will be taking mine in a few weeks. Just finished with 8 credits of biology over summer III, and will be starting for the DAT. Not too stressed, I think I will go well.

Thanks for the write up. A quick question tho, in the reading part, is there a Control-F (search) function?

No search function... that would be too easy!

[786mine]

Originally Posted by caligirlie

No search function... that would be too easy!

Right and we (americans) prefer life the hard way right ? (j/k)

[SteakNature]

Well Done caligirl!
We had similar scores.

Wish you all the best luck for your interviews (your invitations may already be on their way )

[Kunsan]

Excellent

[Lostinbul]

Great job!