- Joined
- Aug 18, 2012
- Messages
- 70
- Reaction score
- 0
I'm so glad I finished the DAT! As always, I thank SDN wholeheartedly for all your help and support through my period of languish.
Bit of background: I'm a current undergrad entering junior year. My current GPA isn't super high ~3.5 overall, but I'm hoping to bring it up some more before I apply next cycle. I'm definitely not super smart; but I always believe that it's 90% effort and 10% talent. I took biochem prior to taking this exam, so it might have helped.
On the real exam, I breezed through the Natural Sciences. Finished with 30 min left. Spent 20 min casually checking over my answers, grew bored, and ended the section with 10 min left. However, on the PAT, it was much tougher, so I spent the whole time. Same with RC. However, for the first passage (which was about gastrointestinal disease), I finished it in 15 min. The next 2 passages were considerably more difficult, however. Finally for QR, I finished it quickly with 15 left, and then spent the remainder of the time checking my answers.
Here are my scores:
PAT - 23 (94.7)
QR - 24 (98.4)
RC - 22 (85.9)
Bio - 22 (95.8)
GC - 28 (99.0)
OC - 29 (99.3)
TS - 25 (99.3)
AA - 25 (99.8)
Breakdown:
Studying period: 3.25 months (13 weeks) along with part-time work and volunteering/shadowing at a dental clinic. Spent 350-400 hours. On average, spent about 4-5 hours studying each day.
Materials Used + Other Resources/Tactics:
1. Kaplan Blue Book + Study Guide + 3 Workshops Online + Diagnostic Test + Online Test
2. Cliffnotes AP Biology + CD
3. DAT Destroyer
4. Math Destroyer
5. datQvault
6. Crack DAT PAT
7. DAT Achiever
8. KBB and Cliffnotes Flashcards
9. Personal Bio Flashcards
10. Handwritten Notes
Thoughts on such materials:
1. Kaplan Blue Book - Good as an introductory book. It's not any more helpful than that. I went through this book quite quickly and took the practice test in the back and online. The study guide was decent in covering a vast scope of material, but still lacked depth and detail. The workshops were good at refreshing some of GC.
Here are my scores:
Diagnostic Test: PAT 15, QR 19, RC 19, Bio 15, GC 19, OC 16, TS 17
Book test: PAT 21, QR 17, RC 21, Bio 16, GC 17, OC 18
Online Test: No scores are shown. Too many typos. Good for practice, however.
2. Cliffnotes AP Bio - Excellent! Highly recommended! As many have said, Cliffnotes covers way too many details on plants and hardly any on anatomy and physiology. Might be best to supplement this with other sources, such as DAT Destroyer (which I'll go into next).
I went over this book once and took extensive notes in my notebook. In addition, I used the CD and did all the practice tests, which helped me quickly review my bio.
3. DAT Destroyer - Great tool for preparing for the DAT! I must say, however, that the DAT Destroyer is overkill for GC and OC, but nevertheless, the problems are great practice!
I went over this book 3 times from front to back and took extensive notes.
4. Math Destroyer - Great for working on your timing on the math section!
I finished all 13 sections and went over them again before the exam. I also wrote down any formulae that I wasn't sure about. A tip I suggest is to write down the formulae during your 15-min tutorial (assuming that the center allows such "cheat notes")
5. datQvault - Overall a useful resource that is more reflective of the difficulty of the actual exam, especially the bio! I also felt that datQvault's GC and OC were quite representative of the test questions I saw. However, the RC was too long and not representative of the actual exam. There are usually only 9-15 paragraphs on the real exam, not 20+. Additionally, the QR was way too easy compared to the real DAT.
I finished all 2000+ problems and saved any questions that I wasn't sure. Before the exam, I went over the saved questions. In addition, I did all the unsaved questions. Of course, I took extensive notes again.
All scores (in order):
QR: 27/26/30/27/30/26/30/27/23/24 - Avg: 27.0
RC: 22/22/21/21/21 - Avg: 21.4
Bio: 19/18/19/22/22/18/20/22/20/22 - Avg: 20.2
GC: 22/29/22/29/26/19/20/26/18/24 - Avg: 23.5
OC: 26/24/22/21/24/21/20/21/21/24 - Avg: 22.4
6. Crack DAT PAT - I bought the 10-test version but only finished 9. Overall, I felt that CDP was somewhat representative of the real exam.
Keyholes - On the real exam, the keyholes were more obscure and harder to see. Dimensions, dimensions, dimensions!
Top-front-end - Quite on par with CDP. Beware! Line counting method DOES NOT work!
Angle ranking - Slightly more difficult on CDP than on the real exam
Hole punching - Was quite hard on the real exam! I was surprised because there were some odd folds. Usually, hole punching is my strongest section, and I hardly used the Grid method, but I ended up using the Grid method for 9/15 of the questions. Some of the folds were 1/3 folds and backward folds. Be careful!
Cube folding - No tricky illusions as depicted on CDP. Easier than CDP, for sure. No more than 20 cubes per diagram.
Pattern folding - I thought this section was quite representative of CDP, surprisingly! There were quite some easy folds. You get your typical dice, hexagons, and black&white shapes with lines.
Overall, I'd say CDP is definitely recommended if you want to build up your skills in the PAT.
Here are my CDP scores:
Test 1: 20
Test 2: 21
Test 3: 22
Test 4: 21
Test 5: 23
Test 6: 23
Test 7: 21
Test 8: 21
Test 9: 23
Test 10: --
7. Achiever - Tough, tough, tough! Definitely for the overachiever! On the real exam, you will not see bio questions focusing on such details. Better focus on width, rather than depth! Nevertheless, if you want the extra challenge, go for it. Disclaimer: You might be left screaming after you're finished.
Anyway, I purchased the 5-test version, but only ended up finished 4 because test 4 left me feeling depressed.
Scores:
Test 1: PAT 18, QR 25, RC 17, Bio 20, GC 19, OC 18, TS 20, AA 20
Test 2: PAT 20, QR 21, RC 18, Bio 17, GC 18. OC 17, TS 18, AA 18
Test 3: PAT 19, QR 22, RC 16, Bio 18, GC 19, OC 21, TS 20, AA 19
Test 4: PAT 19, QR 20, RC 18, Bio 17, GC 16, OC 15, TS 16, AA 17
Test 5: --
Personally, I think Achiever was way too difficult in literally everything except for QR.
8+9. It's highly recommended if you make flashcards (whether it be online or no actual paper) because it helps retain memory. It sure helped me! I believe I made/went over nearly 3000 flashcards.
10. Before I made flashcards, I actually took the leisure of handwriting my notes on paper first because this helps me retain information more easily, especially for the random bio section. You really don't know what you'll see on your real exam!
Best of luck! This is all I have for now. If you have any questions, feel free to post them below, and I'll respond ASAP.
Bit of background: I'm a current undergrad entering junior year. My current GPA isn't super high ~3.5 overall, but I'm hoping to bring it up some more before I apply next cycle. I'm definitely not super smart; but I always believe that it's 90% effort and 10% talent. I took biochem prior to taking this exam, so it might have helped.
On the real exam, I breezed through the Natural Sciences. Finished with 30 min left. Spent 20 min casually checking over my answers, grew bored, and ended the section with 10 min left. However, on the PAT, it was much tougher, so I spent the whole time. Same with RC. However, for the first passage (which was about gastrointestinal disease), I finished it in 15 min. The next 2 passages were considerably more difficult, however. Finally for QR, I finished it quickly with 15 left, and then spent the remainder of the time checking my answers.
Here are my scores:
PAT - 23 (94.7)
QR - 24 (98.4)
RC - 22 (85.9)
Bio - 22 (95.8)
GC - 28 (99.0)
OC - 29 (99.3)
TS - 25 (99.3)
AA - 25 (99.8)
Breakdown:
Studying period: 3.25 months (13 weeks) along with part-time work and volunteering/shadowing at a dental clinic. Spent 350-400 hours. On average, spent about 4-5 hours studying each day.
Materials Used + Other Resources/Tactics:
1. Kaplan Blue Book + Study Guide + 3 Workshops Online + Diagnostic Test + Online Test
2. Cliffnotes AP Biology + CD
3. DAT Destroyer
4. Math Destroyer
5. datQvault
6. Crack DAT PAT
7. DAT Achiever
8. KBB and Cliffnotes Flashcards
9. Personal Bio Flashcards
10. Handwritten Notes
Thoughts on such materials:
1. Kaplan Blue Book - Good as an introductory book. It's not any more helpful than that. I went through this book quite quickly and took the practice test in the back and online. The study guide was decent in covering a vast scope of material, but still lacked depth and detail. The workshops were good at refreshing some of GC.
Here are my scores:
Diagnostic Test: PAT 15, QR 19, RC 19, Bio 15, GC 19, OC 16, TS 17
Book test: PAT 21, QR 17, RC 21, Bio 16, GC 17, OC 18
Online Test: No scores are shown. Too many typos. Good for practice, however.
2. Cliffnotes AP Bio - Excellent! Highly recommended! As many have said, Cliffnotes covers way too many details on plants and hardly any on anatomy and physiology. Might be best to supplement this with other sources, such as DAT Destroyer (which I'll go into next).
I went over this book once and took extensive notes in my notebook. In addition, I used the CD and did all the practice tests, which helped me quickly review my bio.
3. DAT Destroyer - Great tool for preparing for the DAT! I must say, however, that the DAT Destroyer is overkill for GC and OC, but nevertheless, the problems are great practice!
I went over this book 3 times from front to back and took extensive notes.
4. Math Destroyer - Great for working on your timing on the math section!
I finished all 13 sections and went over them again before the exam. I also wrote down any formulae that I wasn't sure about. A tip I suggest is to write down the formulae during your 15-min tutorial (assuming that the center allows such "cheat notes")
5. datQvault - Overall a useful resource that is more reflective of the difficulty of the actual exam, especially the bio! I also felt that datQvault's GC and OC were quite representative of the test questions I saw. However, the RC was too long and not representative of the actual exam. There are usually only 9-15 paragraphs on the real exam, not 20+. Additionally, the QR was way too easy compared to the real DAT.
I finished all 2000+ problems and saved any questions that I wasn't sure. Before the exam, I went over the saved questions. In addition, I did all the unsaved questions. Of course, I took extensive notes again.
All scores (in order):
QR: 27/26/30/27/30/26/30/27/23/24 - Avg: 27.0
RC: 22/22/21/21/21 - Avg: 21.4
Bio: 19/18/19/22/22/18/20/22/20/22 - Avg: 20.2
GC: 22/29/22/29/26/19/20/26/18/24 - Avg: 23.5
OC: 26/24/22/21/24/21/20/21/21/24 - Avg: 22.4
6. Crack DAT PAT - I bought the 10-test version but only finished 9. Overall, I felt that CDP was somewhat representative of the real exam.
Keyholes - On the real exam, the keyholes were more obscure and harder to see. Dimensions, dimensions, dimensions!
Top-front-end - Quite on par with CDP. Beware! Line counting method DOES NOT work!
Angle ranking - Slightly more difficult on CDP than on the real exam
Hole punching - Was quite hard on the real exam! I was surprised because there were some odd folds. Usually, hole punching is my strongest section, and I hardly used the Grid method, but I ended up using the Grid method for 9/15 of the questions. Some of the folds were 1/3 folds and backward folds. Be careful!
Cube folding - No tricky illusions as depicted on CDP. Easier than CDP, for sure. No more than 20 cubes per diagram.
Pattern folding - I thought this section was quite representative of CDP, surprisingly! There were quite some easy folds. You get your typical dice, hexagons, and black&white shapes with lines.
Overall, I'd say CDP is definitely recommended if you want to build up your skills in the PAT.
Here are my CDP scores:
Test 1: 20
Test 2: 21
Test 3: 22
Test 4: 21
Test 5: 23
Test 6: 23
Test 7: 21
Test 8: 21
Test 9: 23
Test 10: --
7. Achiever - Tough, tough, tough! Definitely for the overachiever! On the real exam, you will not see bio questions focusing on such details. Better focus on width, rather than depth! Nevertheless, if you want the extra challenge, go for it. Disclaimer: You might be left screaming after you're finished.
Anyway, I purchased the 5-test version, but only ended up finished 4 because test 4 left me feeling depressed.
Scores:
Test 1: PAT 18, QR 25, RC 17, Bio 20, GC 19, OC 18, TS 20, AA 20
Test 2: PAT 20, QR 21, RC 18, Bio 17, GC 18. OC 17, TS 18, AA 18
Test 3: PAT 19, QR 22, RC 16, Bio 18, GC 19, OC 21, TS 20, AA 19
Test 4: PAT 19, QR 20, RC 18, Bio 17, GC 16, OC 15, TS 16, AA 17
Test 5: --
Personally, I think Achiever was way too difficult in literally everything except for QR.
8+9. It's highly recommended if you make flashcards (whether it be online or no actual paper) because it helps retain memory. It sure helped me! I believe I made/went over nearly 3000 flashcards.
10. Before I made flashcards, I actually took the leisure of handwriting my notes on paper first because this helps me retain information more easily, especially for the random bio section. You really don't know what you'll see on your real exam!
Best of luck! This is all I have for now. If you have any questions, feel free to post them below, and I'll respond ASAP.
Last edited:
