- Joined
- Jul 9, 2014
- Messages
- 15
- Reaction score
- 28
Hey Guys! I am new to this whole posting stuff and only recently joined yesterday, the day I completed my DAT. I have been reading many people's breakdowns for a long time though and I think it was extremely helpful to me in my preparation for the test. I will breakdown my scores and the sections but I think the other part of what I am going to say is more important if not more important for people scared and intimidated by other breakdowns or even the test itself.
My scores
PAT: 21
QR: 21
RC:20
BIO: 25
OC: 24
GC: 20
TS: 22
AA: 22
So first of all, a little background. I just recently graduated as a biology major in May. I work a part time job waitressing at a local Chili's and I have many obligations, especially in finishing my degree which is why I didn't schedule the test until mid summer. Starting to think about the test was so overwhelming and during March and April I found so many other things to do than study. Finally, I just decided to start studying when I graduated.
I graduated May 10th, and started right after which gave me a little over 1.5 months to study. I had read a few posts on this sight and I was so scared by some people saying they had studied for 3 months over ten hours a day. I seriously don't know how I would begin to do that. I still worked 30 hours a week and then when I'd get home the last thing I'd want to do was study. So I just figured I'd do what I could. If I worked in the morning, then I would work and then study for 3-5 hours when I got home. If it was at night, I would wake up ~8 and start at 9 til noon, then lunch, then maybe one or two more hours but still nothing crazy like 10 hours, not even the few weeks before the test.
The point is....I HAD A LIFE.....I HAVE A BOYFRIEND of almost a year......I STILL WORKED.....I WORKED OUT.....AND I EVEN WENT OUT SOMETIMES. Sure it wasn't easy, and I got tired and some times I cried because I thought I wasn't making progress, but each day helps, even a little.....you just have to train yourself to do it.
The Breakdown:
Ill start with the sciences:
Bio - Cliff's AP Bio, DAT Bootcamp, Kaplan Blue Book
This was my highest score, but I also to many upper level bio classes which I think helped me more than I realized. Many of the sections like taxonomy I hadn't looked at in years so it was hard making myself study and relearn them. Even plants, I hate plants. I have also never taken a human anatomy/ physiology class and that stunk to learn, I would do the Bootcamp tests and then make notecards out of the ones I missed. I would take these notecards everywhere, even work, and they got engrained in my brain.
Ochem - CHADS CHADS CHADS, Bootcamp
At first I was kind of leery about paying to get these videos but it is so worth it. He explains the concepts to simply and makes it concise to only the stuff you really need. I would then use Bootcamp to see the progress I was making (which were only still like 16s) with just a month to go! The exam I felt was easier though and the reactions were very common ones.
Gchem-I HATE General chemistry. This was by far the hardest section for me. I haven't touched basically every topic in gen chem for three/four years so coming back and relearning made me so mad
Chad's saved my ass again here explaining this stuff quickly and how to solve the problems the easiest. I thought I had failed the stupid section on the test and I was so surprised. Just goes to show that you just need to forget about the last section and what you think you missed and focus on the section at hand.
PAT-Bootcamp?
So this one you are gonna hate me, but I didn't really prepare too much for it. The only thing I did was Bootcamp's first practice test (which I got a less than 15 because I didn't even finish the cub counting section), then I retried and got a 19. I just went over the ones I missed to try to visualize what I need to see. The keyhole on the test was so hard! On the Topscore tests I took, every section was much easier.
Angle Ranking - I feel like this method is better than the laptop method. I like to think that each angle is a cheesecake that you really want.....then compare two at a time and see which piece you would rather have....It is freaking amazing how good this works!!!!! I do this everytime. As for the Hole punching, the test was so hard.....I did my normal tic tac toe method for each but the 1/2 punches were crazy!I would still recommend the tic tac toe method though because is still helps narrow the choices. BEWARE THE ACTUAL DAT PAT IS MUCH HARDER!!!
RC-I'm not really going to talk about because again its not really a topic I prepared for much.
QR-Bootcamp, Chad's (not really in depth)
I feel like while QR is something to take seriously, it is not something to fear. listen to me.....I DID NOT MEMORIZE ALL OF THE AREA AND VOLUME FORMULAS FOR ALL OF THE SHAPES NOR DID I MEMORIZE INTEREST EQUATIONS AND OTHER EQUATIONS!!!! I maybe studied less than a week for this section. I am strong in algebra but i haven't taken trig and others for 2+ years. Here's my strategy: Go through the questions and answer the ones you know how to do. If you know how to do it but its gonna take a while, guess, mark, and skip! I did all the questions I knew and got through the test with about ten or so minutes left, then I went back and worked on the ones I marked, if I didn't know how to do it, I just left it and worked on the next marked one.
I truly believe people get bad scores because they waste time working on questions they don't even really know how to do for sure! Why waste your time on a question that you probably won't get right rather than work on the easy ones towards the end of the test???? Mostly everyone runs out of time, but if you are decent at algebra which is all I was, you will rock it! JUST FORCE YOURSELF TO SKIP AND COME BACK!
Okay so now that I have covered all of that, I just posted this because I felt hopeless at one point reading other people's threads saying that there is only one path to do well on this test. There are many!!! Everyone learns and studies differently, you just have to find out how you learn best. The week before I had taken almost all of the Topscore practice tests and I NEVER GOT IN THE 20S ON ANY SCIENCE SECTION!!!! (It even made me almost postpone the test). BUT PUT IN THE TIME TO UNDERSTAND WHY YOU GOT EACH QUESTION WRONG. On every practice test I would do, I had a notebook that I would write them down in, and then go back and study them. Keep your head up and just study consistently. ITS NOT ABOUT HOW LONG YOU STUDY, ITS HOW MUCH YOU UNDERSTAND OF WHAT YOU STUDY. If its only two hours, make sure you make every minute of that count! You can do it, you just have to be real with yourself!
My scores
PAT: 21
QR: 21
RC:20
BIO: 25
OC: 24
GC: 20
TS: 22
AA: 22
So first of all, a little background. I just recently graduated as a biology major in May. I work a part time job waitressing at a local Chili's and I have many obligations, especially in finishing my degree which is why I didn't schedule the test until mid summer. Starting to think about the test was so overwhelming and during March and April I found so many other things to do than study. Finally, I just decided to start studying when I graduated.
I graduated May 10th, and started right after which gave me a little over 1.5 months to study. I had read a few posts on this sight and I was so scared by some people saying they had studied for 3 months over ten hours a day. I seriously don't know how I would begin to do that. I still worked 30 hours a week and then when I'd get home the last thing I'd want to do was study. So I just figured I'd do what I could. If I worked in the morning, then I would work and then study for 3-5 hours when I got home. If it was at night, I would wake up ~8 and start at 9 til noon, then lunch, then maybe one or two more hours but still nothing crazy like 10 hours, not even the few weeks before the test.
The point is....I HAD A LIFE.....I HAVE A BOYFRIEND of almost a year......I STILL WORKED.....I WORKED OUT.....AND I EVEN WENT OUT SOMETIMES. Sure it wasn't easy, and I got tired and some times I cried because I thought I wasn't making progress, but each day helps, even a little.....you just have to train yourself to do it.
The Breakdown:
Ill start with the sciences:
Bio - Cliff's AP Bio, DAT Bootcamp, Kaplan Blue Book
This was my highest score, but I also to many upper level bio classes which I think helped me more than I realized. Many of the sections like taxonomy I hadn't looked at in years so it was hard making myself study and relearn them. Even plants, I hate plants. I have also never taken a human anatomy/ physiology class and that stunk to learn, I would do the Bootcamp tests and then make notecards out of the ones I missed. I would take these notecards everywhere, even work, and they got engrained in my brain.
Ochem - CHADS CHADS CHADS, Bootcamp
At first I was kind of leery about paying to get these videos but it is so worth it. He explains the concepts to simply and makes it concise to only the stuff you really need. I would then use Bootcamp to see the progress I was making (which were only still like 16s) with just a month to go! The exam I felt was easier though and the reactions were very common ones.
Gchem-I HATE General chemistry. This was by far the hardest section for me. I haven't touched basically every topic in gen chem for three/four years so coming back and relearning made me so mad
Chad's saved my ass again here explaining this stuff quickly and how to solve the problems the easiest. I thought I had failed the stupid section on the test and I was so surprised. Just goes to show that you just need to forget about the last section and what you think you missed and focus on the section at hand. PAT-Bootcamp?
So this one you are gonna hate me, but I didn't really prepare too much for it. The only thing I did was Bootcamp's first practice test (which I got a less than 15 because I didn't even finish the cub counting section), then I retried and got a 19. I just went over the ones I missed to try to visualize what I need to see. The keyhole on the test was so hard! On the Topscore tests I took, every section was much easier.
Angle Ranking - I feel like this method is better than the laptop method. I like to think that each angle is a cheesecake that you really want.....then compare two at a time and see which piece you would rather have....It is freaking amazing how good this works!!!!! I do this everytime. As for the Hole punching, the test was so hard.....I did my normal tic tac toe method for each but the 1/2 punches were crazy!I would still recommend the tic tac toe method though because is still helps narrow the choices. BEWARE THE ACTUAL DAT PAT IS MUCH HARDER!!!
RC-I'm not really going to talk about because again its not really a topic I prepared for much.
QR-Bootcamp, Chad's (not really in depth)
I feel like while QR is something to take seriously, it is not something to fear. listen to me.....I DID NOT MEMORIZE ALL OF THE AREA AND VOLUME FORMULAS FOR ALL OF THE SHAPES NOR DID I MEMORIZE INTEREST EQUATIONS AND OTHER EQUATIONS!!!! I maybe studied less than a week for this section. I am strong in algebra but i haven't taken trig and others for 2+ years. Here's my strategy: Go through the questions and answer the ones you know how to do. If you know how to do it but its gonna take a while, guess, mark, and skip! I did all the questions I knew and got through the test with about ten or so minutes left, then I went back and worked on the ones I marked, if I didn't know how to do it, I just left it and worked on the next marked one.
I truly believe people get bad scores because they waste time working on questions they don't even really know how to do for sure! Why waste your time on a question that you probably won't get right rather than work on the easy ones towards the end of the test???? Mostly everyone runs out of time, but if you are decent at algebra which is all I was, you will rock it! JUST FORCE YOURSELF TO SKIP AND COME BACK!
Okay so now that I have covered all of that, I just posted this because I felt hopeless at one point reading other people's threads saying that there is only one path to do well on this test. There are many!!! Everyone learns and studies differently, you just have to find out how you learn best. The week before I had taken almost all of the Topscore practice tests and I NEVER GOT IN THE 20S ON ANY SCIENCE SECTION!!!! (It even made me almost postpone the test). BUT PUT IN THE TIME TO UNDERSTAND WHY YOU GOT EACH QUESTION WRONG. On every practice test I would do, I had a notebook that I would write them down in, and then go back and study them. Keep your head up and just study consistently. ITS NOT ABOUT HOW LONG YOU STUDY, ITS HOW MUCH YOU UNDERSTAND OF WHAT YOU STUDY. If its only two hours, make sure you make every minute of that count! You can do it, you just have to be real with yourself!
