DAT Done. 22AA/22TS/17 PAT(???)

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BobbyBeavis

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Wow. What a relief.

Numerous times I had to be told to just do it and believe in myself. Even by some of the people on here!

I also thought to myself that I wouldn't be posting a breakdown, but that has changed. I read so many that I just mainly want to share my experience rather than my scores.

I feel I am an average student (3.5OGPA, 3.4SGPA) and honestly feel like I put in so much effort compared to peers and receive similar results when they don't try as hard, but hey that's life I guess, and as long as the outcome is positive that's all that matters! A little struggle never hurt anybody.

This was a rocky road, most definitely. From girlfriend drama, to being kicked out of our lease early from a shady landlord and having to move, to having to dedicate time with family, etc. There were times were I wanted to cry from frustration, and other times where I just thought, "Wow, this is actually kind of fun learning all of this stuff!"

PAT: 17
QR: 21
Reading: 23
Bio: 20
GC: 24
OC: 24
TS: 22
AA: 22

Okay, I'm going to post what I did in chronological order. I'd say I studied for a total of 1 month time, basically all day everyday... even weekends. That is the time I'd say I ACTUALLY studied, but I technically started around June 24th. However, I hung out with my girlfriend and friends many times, went to a baseball game, celebrated 4th of July, etc. etc. I also had my 21st Birthday, but it was hard for me to celebrate because I was so nervous. But we will be celebrating this weekend!!!

I read the AP Cliffs 3rd edition very early on, and basically rewrote the whole book. The rewriting was a huge waste of time, because I never referred back to my notes at all.

I was also doing Chad's Videos/Quizzes for OC/GC/QR and taking notes on them. I at first watched the videos, then did the quiz. My scores were pretty well because I probably just remembered it all right there when the memory was fresh. I would recommend watching the videos and just reviewing the notes, and once you are finished with all the videos then you can go ahead and take the quizzes.

I then went on DAT Bootcamp, because I've heard good things firstly from word of mouth and a lot on here. I took a GC practice test and scored a 16. Wow... I knew I was ****ed!! I then reread my Chad's notes and did all respective quizzes again.

I started doing random section tests on DAT Bootcamp and just getting a feel for everything.

I then ordered DAT Destroyer about 3 weeks out from my test. I completed OC/GC in about a week and a half, and only did about 150 questions in Bio. The questions I missed I would write in a notebook, and I also found this to be a waste because I never went back to it. But who knows, maybe it helped force it into my mind.

For Math, I have always been pretty good, although I can't stand it. I did 5 Math destroyers and just kinda skimmed over the answers. I didn't really remember many formulas but I have a talent of looking at the questions and making a very good educated guess on math tests on what it should be, lmao.

And for PAT........... man oh man. This was the biggest headache for me and as you can see I am not very good at it. I kept trying my best, whining on the forums, reading tutorials, watching videos, but I just couldn't get the hang of it. I can't really rank how the real PAT compared to Bootcamp, because that is what I used, because each and every test I took of PAT I just wanted to go to my room and cry. I can't tell you how many times I told my friends/girlfriend/parents that I am just going to push it back or cancel!! I will say that I felt really pressured for time in this section, and this was the only section I felt this way.

The last week I took all 5 tests on Bootcamp for similar testing situations. I wrote the incorrect answers in a notebook with explanations, and this was actually helpful to me. I went through all of them last night, along with the Chad's notes and some quizzes.

So I thought I was going to make this short and sweet but I've always been pretty long winded. I'll bold this part because I bet none of you will read all of it, so this will be the most beneficial:

The calculator worked with the numbers on the keyboard. I tested this during the tutorial.

I read someone's breakdown saying they pushed the letter for the answer choice. It worked for me, but didn't in the tutorial. I didn't really use this until the PAT, where I skipped to the angles first, and chose C for everything else.

As I said, I didn't really force anything to memory for mathematics. Clearly, I would not suggest this. However... ALL OF MY CONVERSIONS WERE GIVEN TO ME!!! (km to mi, cm in a ft, etc.)

Lastly, as I just was talking to my Mom I remembered this.... I studied on my last day before the test and I am very happy I did!! This helped my answer 2 questions involving Henderson-Hasselbach that I honestly didn't even have memorized the day before the test! I also was trying to remember the electrolysis BS equation and I kept repeating that.... and didn't get it.

I was just going to post my scores and ask if anyone had questions but now maybe you will have more idea on what to ask me. I was definitely most worried about Bio and PAT before my test, and they were my lowest scores.

17 IN PAT WILL NOT HOLD ME BACK, WILL IT???

Thanks! Time to sip in this bottle I purchased on the way back from the Prometric :)

Members don't see this ad.
 
Forgot to say I read Ferrali's. I read about halfway through, then stopped because I was so worried about PAT. Then after I kept trying for PAT... I kinda remembered that I had neglected Biology.

The second time through I read everything and skipped plants and taxonomy, because I was fairly knowledgeable in these areas. I believe I had 1 plant question and 1 taxonomy question. The plant question was a weird one... it wasn't like "Where does photosynthesis occur" it was more application based, and could have been inferred with just a general knowledge, in my opinion.
 
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
awesome scores :)
I dont think your pat will be a big deal.
 
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You did great !!! congrats. don't stress PAT . 3 of my friends got in with a 17 on PAT
 
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You did great !!! congrats. don't stress PAT . 3 of my friends got in with a 17 on PAT

Thanks! That is reassuring.

When my scores popped up, I saw the 17 first. I was like "Aww, man...." Looked down and saw the rest and was very pleased, especially with Bio! I was sooo worried about Bio.

Even the ladies at Prometric said "I know he's happy!" :hardy:
 
just wondering how heavy calculations were in gen chem? i'm going through kaplan's course tests and destroyer problem and THEY'RE calculation heavy :( which eats up my time and brain power :( :(

and congrats on being done, must be a relief
 
Wasn't calculation heavy at all on mine. I don't recall writing down anything for Gen Chem. There was some stoichoimetry that I needed to write down to visualize, but that was all set up in the answers choices as: (40) (20) (1) / (69) (22)
 
Wasn't calculation heavy at all on mine. I don't recall writing down anything for Gen Chem. There was some stoichoimetry that I needed to write down to visualize, but that was all set up in the answers choices as: (40) (20) (1) / (69) (22)
oh that's sweeeeetttttt. i hope my test will be like that as well
 
oh that's sweeeeetttttt. i hope my test will be like that as well

People seem to talk about weird questions popping up on their Bio sections. For me, it was GChem. I had about 3 weird conceptual/lab questions, but I feel they were easily narrowed down by the erroneous answer choices and by general knowledge
 
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Wow. What a relief.

Numerous times I had to be told to just do it and believe in myself. Even by some of the people on here!

I also thought to myself that I wouldn't be posting a breakdown, but that has changed. I read so many that I just mainly want to share my experience rather than my scores.

I feel I am an average student (3.5OGPA, 3.4SGPA) and honestly feel like I put in so much effort compared to peers and receive similar results when they don't try as hard, but hey that's life I guess, and as long as the outcome is positive that's all that matters! A little struggle never hurt anybody.

This was a rocky road, most definitely. From girlfriend drama, to being kicked out of our lease early from a shady landlord and having to move, to having to dedicate time with family, etc. There were times were I wanted to cry from frustration, and other times where I just thought, "Wow, this is actually kind of fun learning all of this stuff!"

PAT: 17
QR: 21
Reading: 23
Bio: 20
GC: 24
OC: 24
TS: 22
AA: 22

Okay, I'm going to post what I did in chronological order. I'd say I studied for a total of 1 month time, basically all day everyday... even weekends. That is the time I'd say I ACTUALLY studied, but I technically started around June 24th. However, I hung out with my girlfriend and friends many times, went to a baseball game, celebrated 4th of July, etc. etc. I also had my 21st Birthday, but it was hard for me to celebrate because I was so nervous. But we will be celebrating this weekend!!!

I read the AP Cliffs 3rd edition very early on, and basically rewrote the whole book. The rewriting was a huge waste of time, because I never referred back to my notes at all.

I was also doing Chad's Videos/Quizzes for OC/GC/QR and taking notes on them. I at first watched the videos, then did the quiz. My scores were pretty well because I probably just remembered it all right there when the memory was fresh. I would recommend watching the videos and just reviewing the notes, and once you are finished with all the videos then you can go ahead and take the quizzes.

I then went on DAT Bootcamp, because I've heard good things firstly from word of mouth and a lot on here. I took a GC practice test and scored a 16. Wow... I knew I was ******!! I then reread my Chad's notes and did all respective quizzes again.

I started doing random section tests on DAT Bootcamp and just getting a feel for everything.

I then ordered DAT Destroyer about 3 weeks out from my test. I completed OC/GC in about a week and a half, and only did about 150 questions in Bio. The questions I missed I would write in a notebook, and I also found this to be a waste because I never went back to it. But who knows, maybe it helped force it into my mind.

For Math, I have always been pretty good, although I can't stand it. I did 5 Math destroyers and just kinda skimmed over the answers. I didn't really remember many formulas but I have a talent of looking at the questions and making a very good educated guess on math tests on what it should be, lmao.

And for PAT........... man oh man. This was the biggest headache for me and as you can see I am not very good at it. I kept trying my best, whining on the forums, reading tutorials, watching videos, but I just couldn't get the hang of it. I can't really rank how the real PAT compared to Bootcamp, because that is what I used, because each and every test I took of PAT I just wanted to go to my room and cry. I can't tell you how many times I told my friends/girlfriend/parents that I am just going to push it back or cancel!! I will say that I felt really pressured for time in this section, and this was the only section I felt this way.

The last week I took all 5 tests on Bootcamp for similar testing situations. I wrote the incorrect answers in a notebook with explanations, and this was actually helpful to me. I went through all of them last night, along with the Chad's notes and some quizzes.

So I thought I was going to make this short and sweet but I've always been pretty long winded. I'll bold this part because I bet none of you will read all of it, so this will be the most beneficial:

The calculator worked with the numbers on the keyboard. I tested this during the tutorial.

I read someone's breakdown saying they pushed the letter for the answer choice. It worked for me, but didn't in the tutorial. I didn't really use this until the PAT, where I skipped to the angles first, and chose C for everything else.

As I said, I didn't really force anything to memory for mathematics. Clearly, I would not suggest this. However... ALL OF MY CONVERSIONS WERE GIVEN TO ME!!! (km to mi, cm in a ft, etc.)

Lastly, as I just was talking to my Mom I remembered this.... I studied on my last day before the test and I am very happy I did!! This helped my answer 2 questions involving Henderson-Hasselbach that I honestly didn't even have memorized the day before the test! I also was trying to remember the electrolysis BS equation and I kept repeating that.... and didn't get it.

I was just going to post my scores and ask if anyone had questions but now maybe you will have more idea on what to ask me. I was definitely most worried about Bio and PAT before my test, and they were my lowest scores.

17 IN PAT WILL NOT HOLD ME BACK, WILL IT???

Thanks! Time to sip in this bottle I purchased on the way back from the Prometric :)
how did you feel about the materials at the testing center? Did you get a laminated board?
 
Good scores. Congrats. Thanks for taking your time a posting a detailed breakdown.
 
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how did you feel about the materials at the testing center? Did you get a laminated board?

Yes I did! Thanks for reminding me about this. I got 2 green laminated pages. They are lined like graph paper, which threw me off when making the grids because I had always done them on standard paper. The prometric ladies were very nice. They even said "I know he's happy!" When I got my score. I was still a little disappointed with my 17, and I saw that at the top as the first number so i thought I was ****ed. Like everyone says, you think you are doing much worse than you actually are. (Well of course except for me on the PAT, I knew the test was reaching out and slicing my neck)


So anyways. Back to the laminated sheets. The 2 pens they give you are the sharpie pens. When people said sharpie I always though that black soft tip thing like you use on a white board. But these are like actual pens... the kind you would get a baseball signed with. The "newer" sharpies.

So when I was writing on these sheets, something that really bothered me is that I would smear my previous work. Now, when I do calculations or writing, I write all over the place like scratch paper. So this may not be a problem for you guys. Also, my hands get pretty sweaty when I'm nervous so that probably contributed to it. Another thing is that one of my pens was near dead. This isn't a problem since you have two, but there is a possibility there! I exchanged these during my break and told the ladies. I also kept one pen open in my hand while I was reading just because I was so focused, so I accidentally dried it out myself :/

I brought ear plugs to use. The orange ones with no attachment, just the ones that go straight in the ear. I used these along with the noise cancelling headphones, and it sounded like I was in a scientific vacuum. So quiet, that I couldn't even be disrupted in the middle of my calculation by the pro metric lady until she tapped my shoulder!

The wait time was not too-too bad on receiving a new sheet of paper. It probably seemed much longer under testing conditions. But I just was doing a problem on the little space I had left while raising my hand at the same time.
 
Yes I did! Thanks for reminding me about this. I got 2 green laminated pages. They are lined like graph paper, which threw me off when making the grids because I had always done them on standard paper. The prometric ladies were very nice. They even said "I know he's happy!" When I got my score. I was still a little disappointed with my 17, and I saw that at the top as the first number so i thought I was ******. Like everyone says, you think you are doing much worse than you actually are. (Well of course except for me on the PAT, I knew the test was reaching out and slicing my neck)


So anyways. Back to the laminated sheets. The 2 pens they give you are the sharpie pens. When people said sharpie I always though that black soft tip thing like you use on a white board. But these are like actual pens... the kind you would get a baseball signed with. The "newer" sharpies.

So when I was writing on these sheets, something that really bothered me is that I would smear my previous work. Now, when I do calculations or writing, I write all over the place like scratch paper. So this may not be a problem for you guys. Also, my hands get pretty sweaty when I'm nervous so that probably contributed to it. Another thing is that one of my pens was near dead. This isn't a problem since you have two, but there is a possibility there! I exchanged these during my break and told the ladies. I also kept one pen open in my hand while I was reading just because I was so focused, so I accidentally dried it out myself :/

I brought ear plugs to use. The orange ones with no attachment, just the ones that go straight in the ear. I used these along with the noise cancelling headphones, and it sounded like I was in a scientific vacuum. So quiet, that I couldn't even be disrupted in the middle of my calculation by the pro metric lady until she tapped my shoulder!

The wait time was not too-too bad on receiving a new sheet of paper. It probably seemed much longer under testing conditions. But I just was doing a problem on the little space I had left while raising my hand at the same time.
so you get laminated sheet and paper. What sections get what? I thought that the laminated sheet was for the entire 4 hours of the exam. Oh, thanks for all this good info.
 
Wow. What a relief.

Numerous times I had to be told to just do it and believe in myself. Even by some of the people on here!

I also thought to myself that I wouldn't be posting a breakdown, but that has changed. I read so many that I just mainly want to share my experience rather than my scores.

I feel I am an average student (3.5OGPA, 3.4SGPA) and honestly feel like I put in so much effort compared to peers and receive similar results when they don't try as hard, but hey that's life I guess, and as long as the outcome is positive that's all that matters! A little struggle never hurt anybody.

This was a rocky road, most definitely. From girlfriend drama, to being kicked out of our lease early from a shady landlord and having to move, to having to dedicate time with family, etc. There were times were I wanted to cry from frustration, and other times where I just thought, "Wow, this is actually kind of fun learning all of this stuff!"

PAT: 17
QR: 21
Reading: 23
Bio: 20
GC: 24
OC: 24
TS: 22
AA: 22

Okay, I'm going to post what I did in chronological order. I'd say I studied for a total of 1 month time, basically all day everyday... even weekends. That is the time I'd say I ACTUALLY studied, but I technically started around June 24th. However, I hung out with my girlfriend and friends many times, went to a baseball game, celebrated 4th of July, etc. etc. I also had my 21st Birthday, but it was hard for me to celebrate because I was so nervous. But we will be celebrating this weekend!!!

I read the AP Cliffs 3rd edition very early on, and basically rewrote the whole book. The rewriting was a huge waste of time, because I never referred back to my notes at all.

I was also doing Chad's Videos/Quizzes for OC/GC/QR and taking notes on them. I at first watched the videos, then did the quiz. My scores were pretty well because I probably just remembered it all right there when the memory was fresh. I would recommend watching the videos and just reviewing the notes, and once you are finished with all the videos then you can go ahead and take the quizzes.

I then went on DAT Bootcamp, because I've heard good things firstly from word of mouth and a lot on here. I took a GC practice test and scored a 16. Wow... I knew I was ******!! I then reread my Chad's notes and did all respective quizzes again.

I started doing random section tests on DAT Bootcamp and just getting a feel for everything.

I then ordered DAT Destroyer about 3 weeks out from my test. I completed OC/GC in about a week and a half, and only did about 150 questions in Bio. The questions I missed I would write in a notebook, and I also found this to be a waste because I never went back to it. But who knows, maybe it helped force it into my mind.

For Math, I have always been pretty good, although I can't stand it. I did 5 Math destroyers and just kinda skimmed over the answers. I didn't really remember many formulas but I have a talent of looking at the questions and making a very good educated guess on math tests on what it should be, lmao.

And for PAT........... man oh man. This was the biggest headache for me and as you can see I am not very good at it. I kept trying my best, whining on the forums, reading tutorials, watching videos, but I just couldn't get the hang of it. I can't really rank how the real PAT compared to Bootcamp, because that is what I used, because each and every test I took of PAT I just wanted to go to my room and cry. I can't tell you how many times I told my friends/girlfriend/parents that I am just going to push it back or cancel!! I will say that I felt really pressured for time in this section, and this was the only section I felt this way.

The last week I took all 5 tests on Bootcamp for similar testing situations. I wrote the incorrect answers in a notebook with explanations, and this was actually helpful to me. I went through all of them last night, along with the Chad's notes and some quizzes.

So I thought I was going to make this short and sweet but I've always been pretty long winded. I'll bold this part because I bet none of you will read all of it, so this will be the most beneficial:

The calculator worked with the numbers on the keyboard. I tested this during the tutorial.

I read someone's breakdown saying they pushed the letter for the answer choice. It worked for me, but didn't in the tutorial. I didn't really use this until the PAT, where I skipped to the angles first, and chose C for everything else.

As I said, I didn't really force anything to memory for mathematics. Clearly, I would not suggest this. However... ALL OF MY CONVERSIONS WERE GIVEN TO ME!!! (km to mi, cm in a ft, etc.)

Lastly, as I just was talking to my Mom I remembered this.... I studied on my last day before the test and I am very happy I did!! This helped my answer 2 questions involving Henderson-Hasselbach that I honestly didn't even have memorized the day before the test! I also was trying to remember the electrolysis BS equation and I kept repeating that.... and didn't get it.

I was just going to post my scores and ask if anyone had questions but now maybe you will have more idea on what to ask me. I was definitely most worried about Bio and PAT before my test, and they were my lowest scores.

17 IN PAT WILL NOT HOLD ME BACK, WILL IT???

Thanks! Time to sip in this bottle I purchased on the way back from the Prometric :)
Congratulations! Perfect scores!

What method did you use for the RC section? Were the passages hard??
 
so you get laminated sheet and paper. What sections get what? I thought that the laminated sheet was for the entire 4 hours of the exam. Oh, thanks for all this good info.

Laminated sheets are for every section. You can only have 2 at a time.
 
Congratulations! Perfect scores!

What method did you use for the RC section? Were the passages hard??

On the first BC test, I got a 19 using just S&D.

I then did the third BC test using a mapping method. Say for instance, if I had a passage on whales, and paragraph 3 spoke on their eating habits, then I would write "diet" next to #3 on my paper. This helped a lot, and I received a 24 on my third BC test.

Everyone said how the RC is much easier, which is true, but ALL 3 OF MY PASSAGES HAD 14 PARAGRAPHS!!! Some were short paragraphs, so I'd say its about 10 actual paragraphs.

My topics were on vaccinations, bone fractures... and I cannot remember the third to be honest. But I've been celebrating still so I'm a little tipsy haha

EDIT: I did a full map/read of my first passage (the one I cannot remember for some reason) and then took about 23 min so started stressing and basically skimmed/half-assed the second and third passages and still found all answers with ease and had about 5 mins left.

EDIT2: Oh yeah. 1st passage was vaccinations, 2nd passage was on medicinal plants, 3rd was on bone fractures. I found them all fairly interesting, but plants have always peaked my curiosity so that was the easiest for me. Bone fractures was fairly tough due to the complex scientific wording and I was tired with it being the last passage, but I actually laughed after I saw this because my Dad is an orthopedic surgeon!

ANOTHER EDIT: Before studying for the DAT, I said RC was my biggest fear because I personally do not enjoy reading. Having taken AP Lang and having to decipher what a red carpet meant in symbolism, I have always dreaded what college level reading would be like, especially after reading we had to determine "tone" once again. But after taking BC and the real DAT, it was actually interesting and it wasn't hard at all. We are scientists after all, not Shakespeare! I only did those 2 BC test and felt satisfied/ready for the real thing.
 
Last edited:
awesome. I had thought that you can only have 2 sheets for the entire exam, but if you can switch them out that is awesome, thanks.

Yep you can switch them out however many times you want. I believe I switched them out 3 times, and the 2nd time they took about a minute to get to me, which was the longest time. Not too bad, and I was still working out the problem I was on on the little space I had
 
Yep you can switch them out however many times you want. I believe I switched them out 3 times, and the 2nd time they took about a minute to get to me, which was the longest time. Not too bad, and I was still working out the problem I was on on the little space I had
cool, i hope my prometric center is like that too.
 
On the first BC test, I got a 19 using just S&D.

I then did the third BC test using a mapping method. Say for instance, if I had a passage on whales, and paragraph 3 spoke on their eating habits, then I would write "diet" next to #3 on my paper. This helped a lot, and I received a 24 on my third BC test.

Everyone said how the RC is much easier, which is true, but ALL 3 OF MY PASSAGES HAD 14 PARAGRAPHS!!! Some were short paragraphs, so I'd say its about 10 actual paragraphs.

My topics were on vaccinations, bone fractures... and I cannot remember the third to be honest. But I've been celebrating still so I'm a little tipsy haha

EDIT: I did a full map/read of my first passage (the one I cannot remember for some reason) and then took about 23 min so started stressing and basically skimmed/half-assed the second and third passages and still found all answers with ease and had about 5 mins left.

EDIT2: Oh yeah. 1st passage was vaccinations, 2nd passage was on medicinal plants, 3rd was on bone fractures. I found them all fairly interesting, but plants have always peaked my curiosity so that was the easiest for me. Bone fractures was fairly tough due to the complex scientific wording and I was tired with it being the last passage, but I actually laughed after I saw this because my Dad is an orthopedic surgeon!

ANOTHER EDIT: Before studying for the DAT, I said RC was my biggest fear because I personally do not enjoy reading. Having taken AP Lang and having to decipher what a red carpet meant in symbolism, I have always dreaded what college level reading would be like, especially after reading we had to determine "tone" once again. But after taking BC and the real DAT, it was actually interesting and it wasn't hard at all. We are scientists after all, not Shakespeare! I only did those 2 BC test and felt satisfied/ready for the real thing.

How long did it take you to map the passage? and how long did you spend on each passage? for example, did you spend 20 min equally answering each passage? or did you go back and forth between passages?
One more question, were there a lot of tone questions on the real DAT?
Thank you for your explanations :)
 
How long did it take you to map the passage? and how long did you spend on each passage? for example, did you spend 20 min equally answering each passage? or did you go back and forth between passages?
One more question, were there a lot of tone questions on the real DAT?
Thank you for your explanations :)

Since there are 3 passages, I aimed for 20 mins for each one.

In real testing conditions, I spent 23 mins on the very first one. This started to make me nervous, but I realized my first passage has about 18 questions. So I took a deep breath and knew this meant I was still on schedule.

However, I knew I didn't want to risk it so I just picked up the pace, and instead of a full thorough read I skimmed and half-way mapped it. Each of my articles were 14 paragraphs, and I read the first article all the way through, got to about the 8th paragraph in the second article, and then basically S&D the last one. I decided to S&D the last one because the wording was so complex that I felt it would be easier to spot the unique wording rather than reading each paragraph.

So I have a kind of sporadic strategy, but it worked for me and that is all that matters. I was pretty worried for RC until I realized I was actually pretty good at it based off of my 2 BC tests.
 
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