Scores
PAT: 21
QR: 22
RC: 19 (sigh)
BIO: 21
GC: 23
OC: 21
TS: 21
AA: 21
Study Time:
4.5 weeks, 2-8 hours/day
5-8 hours first 3 weeks
2-4 hours a day last week and a half
Background:
Sophomore in college
<3.0 GPA
a couple Bs, mostly Cs in sci classes
As you can see I didn't have a good background on any of these and I'm slacked off a lot in school, but managed to pull through even with slacking a lot on studying for the DATs. It's doable!
Materials:
Topscore (parts of 2 tests)
Chad's Videos (OC and GC)
DAT Destroyer (Bio, GC, OC)
Math Destroyer (5 tests, only 1 timed)
QVault (Bio)
CDR (3 tests)
CDP (9 tests)
Cliff's AP Bio
Breakdown
Went in and thought I was going to fail since the first section, but managed to do decently. Wanted a 22, but I guess a 21 is good considering the amount of studying I did and with my background knowledge.
PAT (21) CDP
I started out with a 15 on my first test on CDP and thought it was impossible, but my friends showed me the grid and cube counting methods and after a couple tests, I consistently scored 21 on CDP. I feel that the Keyhole is too easy on CDP and the angles and pattern folding were too hard.
On the real test, the keyhole was MUCH harder and was based a lot on proportions and I wasted too much time on this section. The cube counting was super easy and took me probably 5 minutes total for all 15 sections. Pattern folding wasn't bad and 1-2 angles were impossible, while the rest were okay. The TFE was about the same and hole punching had 1/3 folds. which confused me at first.
Just do a couple CDP tests and you'll be guaranteed at least a 20 if you know the methods. Be careful not to spend too much time on Keyhole, like I did. Could have probably gotten a 22-23 if it weren't for that.
RC (19) CDR
I hate reading lol. I got a physics passage and probably got at LEAST 8 wrong on that section since I dreaded the passage. Could have probably got at least a 20 if I wasn't still thinking about the science and PAT section while taking RC.
CDR was a lot harder than the real thing. Topscore is more representative I would say. The real thing was 95% search and destroy. It didn't work for me on the physics passage though..
Bio (21) Bio Destroyer, Cliff's, QVault
I skimmed through the Cliff's book once, did Bio Destroyer, and skimmed through Cliff's again, and then went through about 1/4 of Destroyer again. This section is pretty random as others have said and is a lot more breadth than depth. I would say make a compilation of notes like I did from Destroyer and Cliff''s. I also used QVault to practice and add more information to my compilation. QVault helped with anatomy related material.
I would say I could have got a 22 or 23 if I tried a bit harder on this section rather than skimming and lazily reading notes.
GC (23) Chad's Videos, DAT Destroyer
I did not learn a thing about GC last year in my class and had to completely learn GC from scratch. Chad's Videos helped a lot with it. I went through Chad's once on fastplay and DAT Destroyer twice. Got about 50% correct on my first time through and maybe 75%+ on my second.
I would say the questions on the real thing aren't that complicated and Chad helped me to answer a lot of them. DAT Destroyer and Topscore were harder than the real thing. I had two lab questions, one that I got wrong =\
OC (21) Chad's Videos, DAT Destroyer
Went through Chad's on fastplay twice and DAT Destroyer twice. Pretty much same as GC. Chad helped with a lot of concepts and reactions that were on the test. I expected at least a 23, but I guess I made dumb mistakes on this section.
Practice
CDP: 15, 18, 18, 18, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21
CDR: 17, 20, 18, 19 // Average: 18.5
QVault
Bio: 16, 19, 18, 18, 19, 19, 20, 20, 18, 17 // Average: 18.4
Topscore Test 1 and 2
Bio: 18, 18
GC: 17, 19
OC: 20, 23
RC: 19, 20
PAT: 19
PAT: 21
QR: 22
RC: 19 (sigh)
BIO: 21
GC: 23
OC: 21
TS: 21
AA: 21
Study Time:
4.5 weeks, 2-8 hours/day
5-8 hours first 3 weeks
2-4 hours a day last week and a half
Background:
Sophomore in college
<3.0 GPA
a couple Bs, mostly Cs in sci classes
As you can see I didn't have a good background on any of these and I'm slacked off a lot in school, but managed to pull through even with slacking a lot on studying for the DATs. It's doable!
Materials:
Topscore (parts of 2 tests)
Chad's Videos (OC and GC)
DAT Destroyer (Bio, GC, OC)
Math Destroyer (5 tests, only 1 timed)
QVault (Bio)
CDR (3 tests)
CDP (9 tests)
Cliff's AP Bio
Breakdown
Went in and thought I was going to fail since the first section, but managed to do decently. Wanted a 22, but I guess a 21 is good considering the amount of studying I did and with my background knowledge.
PAT (21) CDP
I started out with a 15 on my first test on CDP and thought it was impossible, but my friends showed me the grid and cube counting methods and after a couple tests, I consistently scored 21 on CDP. I feel that the Keyhole is too easy on CDP and the angles and pattern folding were too hard.
On the real test, the keyhole was MUCH harder and was based a lot on proportions and I wasted too much time on this section. The cube counting was super easy and took me probably 5 minutes total for all 15 sections. Pattern folding wasn't bad and 1-2 angles were impossible, while the rest were okay. The TFE was about the same and hole punching had 1/3 folds. which confused me at first.
Just do a couple CDP tests and you'll be guaranteed at least a 20 if you know the methods. Be careful not to spend too much time on Keyhole, like I did. Could have probably gotten a 22-23 if it weren't for that.
RC (19) CDR
I hate reading lol. I got a physics passage and probably got at LEAST 8 wrong on that section since I dreaded the passage. Could have probably got at least a 20 if I wasn't still thinking about the science and PAT section while taking RC.
CDR was a lot harder than the real thing. Topscore is more representative I would say. The real thing was 95% search and destroy. It didn't work for me on the physics passage though..
Bio (21) Bio Destroyer, Cliff's, QVault
I skimmed through the Cliff's book once, did Bio Destroyer, and skimmed through Cliff's again, and then went through about 1/4 of Destroyer again. This section is pretty random as others have said and is a lot more breadth than depth. I would say make a compilation of notes like I did from Destroyer and Cliff''s. I also used QVault to practice and add more information to my compilation. QVault helped with anatomy related material.
I would say I could have got a 22 or 23 if I tried a bit harder on this section rather than skimming and lazily reading notes.
GC (23) Chad's Videos, DAT Destroyer
I did not learn a thing about GC last year in my class and had to completely learn GC from scratch. Chad's Videos helped a lot with it. I went through Chad's once on fastplay and DAT Destroyer twice. Got about 50% correct on my first time through and maybe 75%+ on my second.
I would say the questions on the real thing aren't that complicated and Chad helped me to answer a lot of them. DAT Destroyer and Topscore were harder than the real thing. I had two lab questions, one that I got wrong =\
OC (21) Chad's Videos, DAT Destroyer
Went through Chad's on fastplay twice and DAT Destroyer twice. Pretty much same as GC. Chad helped with a lot of concepts and reactions that were on the test. I expected at least a 23, but I guess I made dumb mistakes on this section.
Practice
CDP: 15, 18, 18, 18, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21
CDR: 17, 20, 18, 19 // Average: 18.5
QVault
Bio: 16, 19, 18, 18, 19, 19, 20, 20, 18, 17 // Average: 18.4
Topscore Test 1 and 2
Bio: 18, 18
GC: 17, 19
OC: 20, 23
RC: 19, 20
PAT: 19
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