- Joined
- Jun 17, 2014
- Messages
- 54
- Reaction score
- 15
Hey guys! I have been lurking on here for months and everyone here has been incredibly helpful, so I figured I would try to give back. Ok so here are my scores:
AA: 24
PAT: 23
QR: 19
RC: 24
BIO: 25
GC: 30
OC: 22
TS: 25
I started studying in late April by just reading over my friend's MCAT review notes in bio, gc and oc from Kaplan, which I thought were actually pretty well done. Then I got DAT Destroyer, DAT Achiever and CDP. I'll break it down by section.
BIO: DAT Destroyer (10/10). I had a pretty solid background in bio, considering my major. DAT Destroyer covered almost every single topic I saw on my test. There was maybe one question that was just totally out of left field. I learn best by learning by my mistakes, so I would answer 40 questions at a time and then write down everything I got wrong or stuff I had gotten by just by a good guess. I went through every question once, then went through about 1/2 of them a second time. When I was kind of brain dead, I would just read my notebook of things I got wrong. I also used some AP Bio flashcards from Barron, which were really helpful as well since I like flashcards a lot. They were extremely thorough.
GC: Once again, DAT Destroyer saved me. There was not a question that was not covered in that book. I did every problem twice and wrote down every answer that I missed. I did the same thing with bio where I would just read over my corrections notebook if I wasn't feeling up to actually thinking. I was absolutely shocked when I saw my score in this section. I'm not someone who is "good" at chemistry. I'm really not.
OC: I used the same strategy with OC that I did with gen chem, but I don't think that the destroyer was as helpful. Some stuff was just too hard and it didn't focus enough on the basics. On my test I was like "wow this question should be incredibly simple but I just don't know the answer" on a couple questions. I did learn a lot from destroyer, just perhaps not the right things. I honestly don't know what I would do differently. Actually I would probably get Chad's videos on this, since I feel like I needed to actually be re-taught some stuff since I majorly sucked at ochem when I took it. I heard those videos are good but haven't seen them.
PAT: I used CDP mostly, and then the 5 tests I got from Achiever. CDP's keyholes were too easy, but I thought everything else was pretty on par. EXCEPT THE CUBES WAIT CDP's cubes were absurd. I did worse on Achiever PAT than CDP. The highest score I had ever gotten in PAT prior to my test was a 22 so I feel like it just depends on what's up with your actual exam. Oh also DAT Bootcamp's strategy videos were baller. Those helped a lot.
RC: I didn't do anything for this except when I would take practice tests on Achiever. I swear some of those passages were written by non native english speakers. They reminded me of like when you see poorly translated directions on electronics. The highest I got on achiever was a 20 I think.
QR: I should have studied more for this section, but I really hate math. All I did was the QR section in the destroyer once. I also took the free DAT bootcamp section, and the explanations for that helped A LOT. When you are taking the test, mark anything longer than like three words long and come back to it. But make sure you put a random answer before you mark it.
DAT Achiever did not help me whatsoever as far as learning material. The only thing it was good for was getting used to taking a 5 hour long test. And wanting to die. The highest I ever got on any academic section was a 17. It was so freaking demoralizing. However, it did not allow me to get too comfortable, which I guess was good. The last practice test three days before the real thing I took I got a 16 TS. So I guess what I'm saying is that don't put too much weight into your practice scores! I also took DAT bootcamps free ones as I got closer to the test and those were way more accurate to the actual test. I got a 24 in bio, 21 in GC and 18 in OC I think. But keep in mind that while you are taking the test you will have a freakish ability to focus. I think that, more than anything, helped me. You sympathetic nervous system (hehe) will be on fire.
IF I HAD TO DO IT AGAIN....
I would get DAT bootcamp instead of Achiever. If there is the option to just get one Achiever test I might do that too since that software was dead on as far as test format (except you can't cross out answers on the real test!!). The DAT bootcamp explanations were dope on the free practice ones that I took and Achiever was just meh. I would definitely still get DAT Destroyer though.
So sorry about the rambling! I can answer any questions you may have! HAPPY STUDYING!!!
AA: 24
PAT: 23
QR: 19
RC: 24
BIO: 25
GC: 30
OC: 22
TS: 25
I started studying in late April by just reading over my friend's MCAT review notes in bio, gc and oc from Kaplan, which I thought were actually pretty well done. Then I got DAT Destroyer, DAT Achiever and CDP. I'll break it down by section.
BIO: DAT Destroyer (10/10). I had a pretty solid background in bio, considering my major. DAT Destroyer covered almost every single topic I saw on my test. There was maybe one question that was just totally out of left field. I learn best by learning by my mistakes, so I would answer 40 questions at a time and then write down everything I got wrong or stuff I had gotten by just by a good guess. I went through every question once, then went through about 1/2 of them a second time. When I was kind of brain dead, I would just read my notebook of things I got wrong. I also used some AP Bio flashcards from Barron, which were really helpful as well since I like flashcards a lot. They were extremely thorough.
GC: Once again, DAT Destroyer saved me. There was not a question that was not covered in that book. I did every problem twice and wrote down every answer that I missed. I did the same thing with bio where I would just read over my corrections notebook if I wasn't feeling up to actually thinking. I was absolutely shocked when I saw my score in this section. I'm not someone who is "good" at chemistry. I'm really not.
OC: I used the same strategy with OC that I did with gen chem, but I don't think that the destroyer was as helpful. Some stuff was just too hard and it didn't focus enough on the basics. On my test I was like "wow this question should be incredibly simple but I just don't know the answer" on a couple questions. I did learn a lot from destroyer, just perhaps not the right things. I honestly don't know what I would do differently. Actually I would probably get Chad's videos on this, since I feel like I needed to actually be re-taught some stuff since I majorly sucked at ochem when I took it. I heard those videos are good but haven't seen them.
PAT: I used CDP mostly, and then the 5 tests I got from Achiever. CDP's keyholes were too easy, but I thought everything else was pretty on par. EXCEPT THE CUBES WAIT CDP's cubes were absurd. I did worse on Achiever PAT than CDP. The highest score I had ever gotten in PAT prior to my test was a 22 so I feel like it just depends on what's up with your actual exam. Oh also DAT Bootcamp's strategy videos were baller. Those helped a lot.
RC: I didn't do anything for this except when I would take practice tests on Achiever. I swear some of those passages were written by non native english speakers. They reminded me of like when you see poorly translated directions on electronics. The highest I got on achiever was a 20 I think.
QR: I should have studied more for this section, but I really hate math. All I did was the QR section in the destroyer once. I also took the free DAT bootcamp section, and the explanations for that helped A LOT. When you are taking the test, mark anything longer than like three words long and come back to it. But make sure you put a random answer before you mark it.
DAT Achiever did not help me whatsoever as far as learning material. The only thing it was good for was getting used to taking a 5 hour long test. And wanting to die. The highest I ever got on any academic section was a 17. It was so freaking demoralizing. However, it did not allow me to get too comfortable, which I guess was good. The last practice test three days before the real thing I took I got a 16 TS. So I guess what I'm saying is that don't put too much weight into your practice scores! I also took DAT bootcamps free ones as I got closer to the test and those were way more accurate to the actual test. I got a 24 in bio, 21 in GC and 18 in OC I think. But keep in mind that while you are taking the test you will have a freakish ability to focus. I think that, more than anything, helped me. You sympathetic nervous system (hehe) will be on fire.
IF I HAD TO DO IT AGAIN....
I would get DAT bootcamp instead of Achiever. If there is the option to just get one Achiever test I might do that too since that software was dead on as far as test format (except you can't cross out answers on the real test!!). The DAT bootcamp explanations were dope on the free practice ones that I took and Achiever was just meh. I would definitely still get DAT Destroyer though.
So sorry about the rambling! I can answer any questions you may have! HAPPY STUDYING!!!
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