Breakdown! AA: 24 TS: 23 1/27/14

[dacookiemonsta]

Hi everyone! I’ve been a longtimeeee lurker on sdn but never posted anything until now. Advice from everyone on here has helped me a lot during this process, so I decided to post a breakdown too! Here are my scores:

PAT: 21
QR: 22
RC: 30
BIO: 21
GC: 26
OC: 23
TS: 23
AA: 24

A little about me: I’m a junior in college applying in June. I didn’t really wanna take the DAT in the summer so I decided that studying fall semester lightly and then hardcore studying over winter break was right for me. This doesn’t work for everyone—the holidays were really stressful! I started the Kaplan course in October and finished it the second week of January. I used this course to keep me on track studying through my semester, but if I had chosen to take the DAT over the summer, I would not have used Kaplan. Other resources are better for way less $. I went into winter break, a month out from the DAT, averaging about 19 AA on Kaplan.

PAT (Crack DAT PAT, Bootcamp, Achiever): I was really worried about this section. I didn’t even use Kaplan much for it because it’s not that representative. With CDP, it took me a while to catch on.. I think I took like 6 tests before I consistently scored in the 20s. I then moved to Bootcamp, which was way harder, but showed me that you should NOT count lines on top front end. Bootcamp is great for PAT! I bought Achiever a week before the exam (confidence booster right?? Not) and got 17/20/17 on 3 PAT tests. Achiever was way harder than the test but built up my skills. But I still think CDP is the most representative; I averaged 21 on CDP and 18/19 on Bootcamp.

BIO (Kaplan, Destroyer, Bootcamp, Feralis, Cliffs AP, Barrons AP): So random! And I’m a Bio major haha. My advice is to make sure you consistently get 20s in Bio tests (Bootcamp is great, destroyer is overkill) and focus more time on more predictable sections like chem.

GC (Chad’s, Destroyer, Bootcamp, Kaplan): Kaplan is not representative of GC. I always got 18s or 19s on Kaplan because a calculator is necessary for their questions. I did all of destroyer once, but really you could just do Chad’s. Chad is a GOLDMINE.

OC (Chad’s, Destroyer, Bootcamp, Kaplan): Same as above although Kaplan was decent for OC. Use Chad’s!

RC (Kaplan): I only did Kaplan reading sections when I took their full length tests. I knew this would be a booster for me so I focused my time elsewhere. My strategy was a modified Kaplan strategy: speed-read the passage and write down the key words for each paragraph. Word looks weird/important? Just write it down. I had a lot of tone/inference.. I don’t see how search and destroy would go that well. Note that I read/mapped the passage in 5 minutes.

QR (QR section of Destroyer, Bootcamp, Kaplan): I never bought Math destroyer because I knew I would do ok and wanted to focus elsewhere, but using Bootcamp 2 weeks before the test helped my speed (24, 20, 21 on the 3 I took). I consistently got 22s on Kaplan math.

Additionally: I did Topscore science sections and I know the week of my test for test three I got 21 bio, 21 gc, 18 oc. 25 AA on the Kaplan final (mysteriously easier than all other tests). Achiever science sections: 19 bio 19 gc 25 oc on test one, 17 bio 18 gc 18 oc on test two. And Bootcamp: averaged 21 on bio, ~24 on gc, and 20 on oc.

Sorry this is so long! Please ask me anything!

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[Member 6236]

Do you think chads quizzes covered everything you saw on your test?

Also what topics to know in depth for bio?

Amazing scores btw!! Congrats, you killed it!

 

[Ari Rezaei]

Wow, incredible scores! Congratulations and thanks for the breakdown!

 

[dacookiemonsta]

Thank you! On my test, Chad covered everything for general chemistry. I don't think he covers all the possible reactions that you could see for ochem, so I ended up copying all the destroyer roadmaps, which I really do think have everything.. Just remember for ochem you need to know transition states/intermediates as well, so have an idea of how the mechanisms work. For bio, there was a lot of genetics, cellular respiration, a question on biomes, a question on taxonomy, and some of the more specific/random questions were on anatomy. It wasn't really a surprising section but there's just so much that they can ask.. I heard they're changing the bio section in march? so if your test date is after that you may wanna look into the changes... I think it's gonna be a little more application. I did get more application type questions than I did in Kaplan.. as in, for example, if you alter this hormone what's the effect on blah blah... Bootcamp bio questions were very good though!

 

[Member 6236]

Thanks for the info! Question about chad's for ocher though. So I know chad goes through some of the intermediates in his videos...those aren't enough then? Destroyer doesn't have much either so where should I learn them all from?

 

[dacookiemonsta]

I don't totally remember but I think he was probably good enough for the intermediates, but it might depend on your background in ochem. The DAT really loves aromatic substitutions (at least from my experience) so you should know exactly how they work... I wouldn't worry a ton about mechanisms but you should be super clear about what goes through a carbocation and when... because you can bet on getting at least one question where your product may or may not undergo rearrangement depending on the mechanism.

 

[Member 6236]

Alright thanks! My test is in 3 days so I'm freaking out haha. In terms of the "random" anatomy questions....what topics were they on? I should probably read up more on anatomy cause I have zero knowledge of it :/

 

[dacookiemonsta]

Don't freak out!! I almost puked before my test haha it's nerve-wracking. Honestly don't push yourself too much these last couple days, I'm sure you'll be fine. But definitely know details for the circulatory system and respiratory system, like specific muscles and the function of everything. The nephron and sarcomere aren't even "random" but make sure to be an expert on those too!

 

[biomolecmed]

Solid scores. Good job.

 

[zagguru]

Hi everyone! I’ve been a longtimeeee lurker on sdn but never posted anything until now. Advice from everyone on here has helped me a lot during this process, so I decided to post a breakdown too! Here are my scores:

PAT: 21
QR: 22
RC: 30
BIO: 21
GC: 26
OC: 23
TS: 23
AA: 24

A little about me: I’m a junior in college applying in June. I didn’t really wanna take the DAT in the summer so I decided that studying fall semester lightly and then hardcore studying over winter break was right for me. This doesn’t work for everyone—the holidays were really stressful! I started the Kaplan course in October and finished it the second week of January. I used this course to keep me on track studying through my semester, but if I had chosen to take the DAT over the summer, I would not have used Kaplan. Other resources are better for way less $. I went into winter break, a month out from the DAT, averaging about 19 AA on Kaplan.

PAT (Crack DAT PAT, Bootcamp, Achiever): I was really worried about this section. I didn’t even use Kaplan much for it because it’s not that representative. With CDP, it took me a while to catch on.. I think I took like 6 tests before I consistently scored in the 20s. I then moved to Bootcamp, which was way harder, but showed me that you should NOT count lines on top front end. Bootcamp is great for PAT! I bought Achiever a week before the exam (confidence booster right?? Not) and got 17/20/17 on 3 PAT tests. Achiever was way harder than the test but built up my skills. But I still think CDP is the most representative; I averaged 21 on CDP and 18/19 on Bootcamp.

BIO (Kaplan, Destroyer, Bootcamp, Feralis, Cliffs AP, Barrons AP): So random! And I’m a Bio major haha. My advice is to make sure you consistently get 20s in Bio tests (Bootcamp is great, destroyer is overkill) and focus more time on more predictable sections like chem.

GC (Chad’s, Destroyer, Bootcamp, Kaplan): Kaplan is not representative of GC. I always got 18s or 19s on Kaplan because a calculator is necessary for their questions. I did all of destroyer once, but really you could just do Chad’s. Chad is a GOLDMINE.

OC (Chad’s, Destroyer, Bootcamp, Kaplan): Same as above although Kaplan was decent for OC. Use Chad’s!

RC (Kaplan): I only did Kaplan reading sections when I took their full length tests. I knew this would be a booster for me so I focused my time elsewhere. My strategy was a modified Kaplan strategy: speed-read the passage and write down the key words for each paragraph. Word looks weird/important? Just write it down. I had a lot of tone/inference.. I don’t see how search and destroy would go that well. Note that I read/mapped the passage in 5 minutes.

QR (QR section of Destroyer, Bootcamp, Kaplan): I never bought Math destroyer because I knew I would do ok and wanted to focus elsewhere, but using Bootcamp 2 weeks before the test helped my speed (24, 20, 21 on the 3 I took). I consistently got 22s on Kaplan math.

Additionally: I did Topscore science sections and I know the week of my test for test three I got 21 bio, 21 gc, 18 oc. 25 AA on the Kaplan final (mysteriously easier than all other tests). Achiever science sections: 19 bio 19 gc 25 oc on test one, 17 bio 18 gc 18 oc on test two. And Bootcamp: averaged 21 on bio, ~24 on gc, and 20 on oc.

Sorry this is so long! Please ask me anything!

when you say you did Chad for Gchem, are you saying the quizzes? I already went over all the material for Gchem, so do you advise to just do the quizzes for the Gchem section?

 

[ddsDreamz]

@dacookiemonsta absolutely awesome scores!!! I'm also a junior and have a similar study schedule as you this semester! I'm doing a Kaplan course to stay on track during the semester (January- Midmarch), self- study (March- mid May), then devoted DAT study time for 2 weeks (after finals) before my test day. Did you just use Kaplan during the semester? Or did u also use your other study materials? Any other advice/tips? Your scores seriously give me hope! Lol

 

[dacookiemonsta]

Zagguru, I went through all Chad's videos and after each video, I would do the corresponding quiz. You could try just doing the quizzes to test how prepared you are, but some of his quizzes are pretty short and don't cover everything that's in each video. If you actually go through each video and copy down everything he writes, then you can also go over those notes later which is a plus.

 

[dacookiemonsta]

ddsDreamz, yeah I only used Kaplan during the semester! I finished with finals December 17th or so, and then that's when I got all my other materials. Your plan sounds great! One thing I wish I could have done was the 2009 ADA test. By the time I wanted to order it, it was too late, and the online version doesn't let you see your answers so I ended up not doing it.