- Joined
- Feb 26, 2014
- Messages
- 201
- Reaction score
- 57
I'll post the score comparisons first then I will tell you how it really compared:
REAL TEST SCORES:
PAT 24 QR 20 RC 18 Bio 26 GC 22 OC 23
TS 23 AA 22
Q vault:
Bio 20 20 19 20 20 20 22 22 19 20
GC 29 20 24 26 22 22 29 26 21 22
OC 21 22 21 22 22 20 24 24 18 20
PAT 21 20 22 21
QR 22 21 21 22 27 23 23
Bootcamp: Bio 20-25 range, GC/OC 19-23 range, PAT mostly 20
Achiever: 17-18 on most. High was 18 in PAT. I stopped using this once I found bootcamp/qvault to be sooo much better.
2009 DAT 3 weeks before test: Bio 23 GC 22 OC 21 PAT 26 RC 19 QR 17
Materials used: DAT & Math Destroyer, AP Bio Book, Chad's Videos, DAT Bootcamp, DATQVAULT, DAT ACHIEVER (only do if you already did Bootcamp/qvault in said order), Khan Academy
Overall: While the materials above are great, going through them all still didn't cover every random DAT question. MOST questions are very simple. My advice is to HAMMER the basics rather than going crazy memorizing every detail of destroyer/achiever or any of the other more difficult study materials.
How to study:
RC- I'm not the guy for this. I generally recommend a balanced approach of not reading every word, but doing a thorough skim before questions. You need time to go through the questions, but you need an idea about the paragraph before starting.
QR- Kinda felt like an IQ test. Only maybe 5 trig probs on mine. Qvault was a little easy just because they repeat the same types of questions for all 10 tests. One key thing is to move on when you don't know something. I would rather get ALL the easy ones right then be crunched for time because I spent 3 mins on some insane question.
GC- I was most surprised by this score being a 22 and bio being so high. I studied way more for GC / OC in my last weeks then bio. Multiple random questions on solubility that I had no idea how to solve.
OC- lots of lab questions, maybe 5-7. Beyond that, simple questions. Not really any crazy claissen condensations or other amide reactions I was struggling to study the day of.
OVERALL- I felt like most were easy but those random questions you've never seen before popped up in GC OC. Bio felt like it was straight from the AP Bio book.
SIDE NOTE- I am a “return to school” student. I graduated with a bio degree in 2007 but did not use it since then. I took classes with the University of New England to cover the prereqs not covered by my 07 degree via their distance Orgo I/II Biochem with “virtual lab” credits. If anyone is looking for incites about these, send me a private message and I can give you the scoop on difficulty etc.
Good Luck!
REAL TEST SCORES:
PAT 24 QR 20 RC 18 Bio 26 GC 22 OC 23
TS 23 AA 22
Q vault:
Bio 20 20 19 20 20 20 22 22 19 20
GC 29 20 24 26 22 22 29 26 21 22
OC 21 22 21 22 22 20 24 24 18 20
PAT 21 20 22 21
QR 22 21 21 22 27 23 23
Bootcamp: Bio 20-25 range, GC/OC 19-23 range, PAT mostly 20
Achiever: 17-18 on most. High was 18 in PAT. I stopped using this once I found bootcamp/qvault to be sooo much better.
2009 DAT 3 weeks before test: Bio 23 GC 22 OC 21 PAT 26 RC 19 QR 17
Materials used: DAT & Math Destroyer, AP Bio Book, Chad's Videos, DAT Bootcamp, DATQVAULT, DAT ACHIEVER (only do if you already did Bootcamp/qvault in said order), Khan Academy
Overall: While the materials above are great, going through them all still didn't cover every random DAT question. MOST questions are very simple. My advice is to HAMMER the basics rather than going crazy memorizing every detail of destroyer/achiever or any of the other more difficult study materials.
How to study:
- Get the basics down. I prefer full immersion in one subject. I did 1-2 weeks per subject and each time I went through all of them, I shortening the duration (i.e. the second time through was about 2-3 days per subject and third time through 1 day per subject.
- BEST RESOURCE: Chad's video's / AP Biology Study Guide. Rather then jumping to destroyer, I recommend watching all of Chad's videos/quizzes twicebefore moving on. It is WAY easier to learn from videos than from Destroyer answer key. I did my second watching of the videos about a week ago and I saw a ton of concepts that I was struggling with because I didn't fully understand it the first go around.
- AP Bio Book. The test bio was all big picture stuff. The crazy details in destroyer were few and far between. Most concepts were thing like knowing the assumptions for the hardy Weinberg principle or understanding basic classification stuff. Destroyer works because it has BOTH simple and hard stuff, but the AP Bio book does the best job with the basics. If you know and fully understand all if it you are already at 20+.
- This can be LEARNED! I got a 16 on the first Achiever test and a 17 on bootcamp after already putting in solid practice. KEEP DOING PROBLEMS AND REVIEWING ALL MISSED QUESTIONS.
- How to standout from the pack – TFE/Pattern Folding/Keyhole (more to follow on this)
- Keyhole- BOOTCAMP (insanely hard, I missed 10/15 on my last test). Despite the difficulty, its the best practice because the explanations are AWESOME. It breaks down why you missed each question with pictures. Best source BY FAR for PAT.
- TFE. I was clueless initially. Slow just go through them. This was the only thing I liked about Achiever. The first three test shows a 3D image of not only the right answer, but also the wrong ones. This helps you see why they are different. I was pissed though when I found out they DO NOT have this beyond test 3. I discourage getting achiever, but if you do, just get the first 3 tests if you want to work on PAT. How I did them- 1- look at my overall image first to get a feel for it. 2- look at answers and see what is different about each answer. 3- You literally must “see” the 3D image to ace this. To start you will need to go through problem and have your eyes transfer from one image to the other until you “see” what it is saying. They often test the same stuff (i.e. a diamond has 3 lines and a square 2) (a circle in one image may appear centered or of to the side in another). Also look for SYMMETRY. I saw a few where the front / end views had to be identical because the image was symmetrical.
- Angles- look for biggest or smallest. I tried not to stare too much. I would look away, look back, look at the small part of it then back at the full thing. I recommend just keeping your eyes “fresh”
- Paper fold. Google the video for the grid method. Also, always watch to see if paper was fold over an area without paper. If it is, then the original hole will not be there once it is unfolded. This is the biggest “gotcha” of paper folding. Side note: no one from prometric was around and did not care if any writing was doing during the 15 min tutorial or 15 min restroom break (to write grids and math equations).
- Cube counting. Standardize how you count. For me, I would do ALL first level cubes, then go to the second third fourth etc. I would NEVER jump around on this. Knowing where you are in the count is critical and this can help. Look at the overall structure before starting, particularly analyzing the DEPTH (# rows). Most of the weird visual ones can be sorted through be realizing how many rows exist and seeing what lines up. Also, my technique was to see all of the questions for a given structure and ONLY tally what is asked for. Why tally for 1 2 3 4 5 if they only ask for 1 4 5? If you are accurate with your count, this will save time.
- Pattern Folding. BOOTCAMP BOOTCAMP BOOTCAMP. Nothing matches its pattern folding explanations, nothing. This shows you how to manipulate things in your mind. Yes, patterns exist and they can be learned.
RC- I'm not the guy for this. I generally recommend a balanced approach of not reading every word, but doing a thorough skim before questions. You need time to go through the questions, but you need an idea about the paragraph before starting.
QR- Kinda felt like an IQ test. Only maybe 5 trig probs on mine. Qvault was a little easy just because they repeat the same types of questions for all 10 tests. One key thing is to move on when you don't know something. I would rather get ALL the easy ones right then be crunched for time because I spent 3 mins on some insane question.
GC- I was most surprised by this score being a 22 and bio being so high. I studied way more for GC / OC in my last weeks then bio. Multiple random questions on solubility that I had no idea how to solve.
OC- lots of lab questions, maybe 5-7. Beyond that, simple questions. Not really any crazy claissen condensations or other amide reactions I was struggling to study the day of.
OVERALL- I felt like most were easy but those random questions you've never seen before popped up in GC OC. Bio felt like it was straight from the AP Bio book.
SIDE NOTE- I am a “return to school” student. I graduated with a bio degree in 2007 but did not use it since then. I took classes with the University of New England to cover the prereqs not covered by my 07 degree via their distance Orgo I/II Biochem with “virtual lab” credits. If anyone is looking for incites about these, send me a private message and I can give you the scoop on difficulty etc.
Good Luck!
Last edited:
