- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Messages
- 34
- Reaction score
- 22
First off I want to start out by saying this is in no way one of those post that typically involve a crazy high DAT score/GPA that just have no meaning insight to them. I am writing this post to share my testimony and journey from opening my Kaplan Blue Book for the first time to finally clicking that last question in the QR section of the DAT.
I am a TX resident and also a URM from the inner city. I am by far NOT the smartest student, I have alot of trouble retaining information and i have a 3.47/3.10sci GPA. I can say is that i worked my a** off in the libray nearly 9hrs/day of just STUDYING. honestly its all about how hard you work and the time you put in. I remember looking on SDN daily like"wow how am i gonna get scores like that?" "am i cut out for this?" BUT having faith, confidence, & most importantly trusting in GOD anything is possible!
First I took the DAT on 3/11/14 and started studying a liitle bit in November, but didnt really hit it hard till after winter break. Here's My breakdown:
PAT-21
QR-19
RC-20
BIO-20
GC-20
OC-25
TS-21
AA-21
I was beyond surprised honestly because my practice exams were never consistent & in the 16-18 range.
HERE's what i used to study:
PAT- CRACK THE DAT & DAT BOOTCAMP were the best for preparattion. TFE was difficult on the real thing [cant use line counting] but honestly if you can do CDP [10 test version] then you'll be just fine. also on my real exam pattern folding was VERY easy. angle and keyhole werent so bad
OR- DAT DESTROYER AND MATH DESTROYER- the math destroyer really killed my confidence but its called the destroyer for a reason right? it reallly made this section seem like a breeze! you kinda start to notice the same type of problems, so if you cant do a specific topic focus on that and attack it. on my r4eal dat time was the only issue. but if you can do math destroyer, QR is resonable. i only got through 8 practice exams in math destroyer.
RC- i got pretty lucky bc my passages were not very hard at all. pretty random too. I didnt really practice or study this section at all to be honest. i hate reading lol so i figured i just wing it with search and destroy.
Biology- CLIFFS AP BIO, DAT DESTROYER & DATQVAULT AND DAT BOOTCAMP this section is just known to be RANDOM but very basic. nothing too crazy. i started out by outlining cliffs for a general idea of each topic, and also found destoyer to be very helpful bc each question has so much info in one. DAT bootcamp was actually harder than the real dat but its a great prep. BUT, most impotantly the best preparation was from datQvault i actully saw question from thier practice exams on my real DAT. crazy huh? i did alllllll 10 exams.
GC- CHADS VIDEOS, DESTROYER, DATQVAULT & BOOTCAMP- chads quizzes were very representive of the real thing. destroyer and bootcamp were more difficult than the real thing, so if your not doing great on them ITS OK just go over what your doing wrong and use them as learning tools. once again datQvault was spot on compared to the real thing. this section wasnt too bad or nothing crazy.
OC- DESTROYER, BOOTCAMP, DATQVAULT- this section on my real dat was not diffult very basic mechanisms. i used destroyer as a learning tool [its not necessary to memorize the roadmaps] and dat Qvault was my source and very representative of my real dat.
I did take a kaplan course, and it did help fairly but it is ~$1300 so i wouldnt deem it as necessary at all.
Here are my progressive scores
KAplan diagnostic-
QR-15
BIO-14
GC-13
OC-13
PAT-17
RC-19
Kaplan Midterm-
QR-16
BIO-16
GC-15
OC-16
PAT-18
RC-18
2009 ADA EXAM(3days before)
QR- 20
BIO-16
GC-23
OC-18
PAT-21
RC-21
the 2009 is a good indicator of your scores!
So finally i just want to say with hard work & a little faith ANYTHING is possible and dont give up even when it seems as though your back is againist the wall. if you want it bad enough you'll keep fighting!
sorry this is a long post lol
I am a TX resident and also a URM from the inner city. I am by far NOT the smartest student, I have alot of trouble retaining information and i have a 3.47/3.10sci GPA. I can say is that i worked my a** off in the libray nearly 9hrs/day of just STUDYING. honestly its all about how hard you work and the time you put in. I remember looking on SDN daily like"wow how am i gonna get scores like that?" "am i cut out for this?" BUT having faith, confidence, & most importantly trusting in GOD anything is possible!
First I took the DAT on 3/11/14 and started studying a liitle bit in November, but didnt really hit it hard till after winter break. Here's My breakdown:
PAT-21
QR-19
RC-20
BIO-20
GC-20
OC-25
TS-21
AA-21
I was beyond surprised honestly because my practice exams were never consistent & in the 16-18 range.
HERE's what i used to study:
PAT- CRACK THE DAT & DAT BOOTCAMP were the best for preparattion. TFE was difficult on the real thing [cant use line counting] but honestly if you can do CDP [10 test version] then you'll be just fine. also on my real exam pattern folding was VERY easy. angle and keyhole werent so bad
OR- DAT DESTROYER AND MATH DESTROYER- the math destroyer really killed my confidence but its called the destroyer for a reason right? it reallly made this section seem like a breeze! you kinda start to notice the same type of problems, so if you cant do a specific topic focus on that and attack it. on my r4eal dat time was the only issue. but if you can do math destroyer, QR is resonable. i only got through 8 practice exams in math destroyer.
RC- i got pretty lucky bc my passages were not very hard at all. pretty random too. I didnt really practice or study this section at all to be honest. i hate reading lol so i figured i just wing it with search and destroy.
Biology- CLIFFS AP BIO, DAT DESTROYER & DATQVAULT AND DAT BOOTCAMP this section is just known to be RANDOM but very basic. nothing too crazy. i started out by outlining cliffs for a general idea of each topic, and also found destoyer to be very helpful bc each question has so much info in one. DAT bootcamp was actually harder than the real dat but its a great prep. BUT, most impotantly the best preparation was from datQvault i actully saw question from thier practice exams on my real DAT. crazy huh? i did alllllll 10 exams.
GC- CHADS VIDEOS, DESTROYER, DATQVAULT & BOOTCAMP- chads quizzes were very representive of the real thing. destroyer and bootcamp were more difficult than the real thing, so if your not doing great on them ITS OK just go over what your doing wrong and use them as learning tools. once again datQvault was spot on compared to the real thing. this section wasnt too bad or nothing crazy.
OC- DESTROYER, BOOTCAMP, DATQVAULT- this section on my real dat was not diffult very basic mechanisms. i used destroyer as a learning tool [its not necessary to memorize the roadmaps] and dat Qvault was my source and very representative of my real dat.
I did take a kaplan course, and it did help fairly but it is ~$1300 so i wouldnt deem it as necessary at all.
Here are my progressive scores
KAplan diagnostic-
QR-15
BIO-14
GC-13
OC-13
PAT-17
RC-19
Kaplan Midterm-
QR-16
BIO-16
GC-15
OC-16
PAT-18
RC-18
2009 ADA EXAM(3days before)
QR- 20
BIO-16
GC-23
OC-18
PAT-21
RC-21
the 2009 is a good indicator of your scores!
So finally i just want to say with hard work & a little faith ANYTHING is possible and dont give up even when it seems as though your back is againist the wall. if you want it bad enough you'll keep fighting!
sorry this is a long post lol
