DAT DONE!!! Full Breakdown

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Orgodox

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FINALLY DONE!!!

First of all thanks to all you guys on this forum it was really a great help and a lot of fun.

I have a lot of advice and tips for what TO DO that might help you guys studying but first of all I have one piece of advice of what NOT TO DO! When I was taking the test I was very relaxed (surprisingly so) and to stay comfortable had my feet stretched out straight under my desk. Well apparently I kicked the power cord because in the middle of my test my comp turned off! I freaked out! I ran out of the room and there like “You need to sign out” Im like sign out? My computer is off!+pissed+ I kept telling my self I better not have one of these crazy stories like pen drying out or be in a noisy room. Well sure enough here I am part of that club. Its actually kind of funny now and it’s a good story Ill have forever. Any how they told me to relax and the comp saves your work every second and they had it running again within a few minutes but the screen was doing this blinking thing and I lost a few mins and took a while for my heart to stop racing but overall it was fine. So be careful with your feet when you take your test!

I took it at 1 Penn plaza. The testing conditions were great. They had a lot of AC on, but be prepared it takes time to sign in and sign out of the room during your break they are in no rush to bring out that log book and find your name. People complain that the clacking of the keyboard from other peoples test which require essays annoys them. I didn’t find this distracting, but they offer headphones that cancel the noise if you want. However, if you don’t practice with them I think they are more of a distraction. I schedules my test for 1:30 PM because I dint want to wake up earlier than Im used to to get into the city to start it for the AM test. I came over an hour early and they let me start when I got there. Also get a lot of sleep the week of your test in case you cant sleep the night before and don’t stay up every night that week cramming. It won help, you should be in review mode not cram/ learn mode by then.
I used about 5 minutes of the tutorial in the beginning to get used to my seat and the desk and find a place for the eraser… So use that time to get comfortable. Make sure both your markers are working well before you start and be sure to keep capping them after you use them. They gave me 3 laminated pink sheets (all had the little boxes on both sides) and an eraser and I thought it worked great. You have to press a little hard to erase but its really nothing and come right off. I would strongly recommend taking one of your practice tests with a marker and a white board. Some of you might write small and this wont work at all with the fat markers they give you especially on the QR section. You don’t have to use it all the time but be comfortable enough that it wont throw you off.

I studied for a long time for this test and used a lot of different resources because I didn’t want to come out of the test disappointed and knowing I could have done more to prepare. So I therefore read and used as many resources as I could to prepare for this test and I feel that I can therefore give an objective opinion of what I thought was helpful and what was a total waste of time. BUT before I do that here are some of my science scores:

Bio : 21
GChem: 22
Orgo: 23

TS: 22 (96%)
:)

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NOW... HERES THE FULL BREAKDOWN I PROMISED:

Bio: There were many questions that studying the biology material would prepare you for. I had a bunch of questions that asked for examples of things occurring so just knowing the facts wont necessarily get you the answer but you have to be able to pick which answer choice is correct by applying what you know to the given choices. I read the ENTIRE Schaums outlines and I thought this would be a great help. WRONG! It’s a good book but man is it boring. I went through it anyway and pushed my self saying this is the difference to get above a 20 but I don’t think that’s true. Personally I found the reading VERY dense. Unless you have the time to go through it 3 or 4 times reading it once isn’t all that helpful. Yes it contains some of those nitty gritty details that often show up but theres a million of them its hard to retain that much info without reviewing and your better off spending your time on other things. I read it over a month ago and I didn’t think it was worth my time to review it. It took me almost a week to finish it and I think it was too much time for not enough gain.
Every one has their opinion but mine is that DESTROYER was very very on target for my test. I had some random questions that I felt were almost straight from destroyer and I don’t mean like 4 or 5 but like 15 at least. Many of the other questions weren’t directly questions in the book but were addressed in the answer key. When you go through the book make sure you understand wrong answer choices and read whats in the back. As opposed to Schaums I thought destroyer was more interactive and user friendly. Since it is in question answer form its more fun to go through and see if you can get the answer and learn ithe info bit by bit question by question. That being said, more than any other section the answer choices in Destroyer bio are frequently all of the above. Don not fall for this trap thinking you know the information! I saw someone post a while back that they were able to get all the answers easily. Its not meant to be used a test merely as a way to convey information. So be sure to take notes on it or highlight or whatever works for you here so you can get the information that’s there.
I also used Cliffs AP bio in the beginning to refresh some of my memory. GREAT BOOK! Its short and to the point with enough details. I really likes the photosynthesis/ respiration stuff and easy to read. I wouldn’t rely solely on this but like many have recommended Destroyer with Cleiff is a great 1,2 punch.
So what about Kaplan? Some of you might like it and I wont get to detailed here as not to offend you but its not focused enough. I did read it so heres my take: People spend hours and hours memorizing some of the Kaplan stuff that the DAT rarely tests for. For example--Hormones. Im not saying they never have a question or two here but I thought the stuff wasn’t totally geared to what we need. I also didn’t like the format. It was choppy and didn’t have enough depth about almost anything. Most of the space is wasterdblank page by the outline for to make the book look big. Also when was the last time Kaplan updated there stuff and I dont mean put out a new addition with a new cover and same exact inside. Its somewhere to start but that’s about it. Its worst for this section but better in Chem and Orgo but there are better resources so take advantage of those instead.

Chem: I was surpised by my grade here. I thought I would do better in Bio than GChem. Most of the same stuff from above applies here to. To get a good review of the material I borrowed my friends Princeton Hyperlearning MCAT physical science review book. This was AWESOME! Its short only like 200 pages very easy to read and explains well. Really nails home the conceptual for those who get these type of DATs (mine was not) After that I used Destroyer which covers just about any GenChem question you’ll see on your test. I have a few questions that were mentioned repeatedly in destroyer and that really helped my score because they were weird facts that you either know or don’t and can wiggle your way out of. Plus all the regular math types which my exam had many of were all the kind from Destroyer and if you know those youll be fine. The calculations were easy when applicable. I actually solved one then realized all they wanted was the set up so make sure to check the solutions to see what they want you to get. Once you know the basics, I really think Destroyer is plenty for this section.

ORGO- I was really planning on rocking this section. I got a 23 so not complaining but man some of my questions were insane. (Also was getting 25s on Achiever and topscore so thought I could at least get that today)One of them (a lab question) was totally a judgment call that was to close to know for sure and I guess I picked the wrong one. I had some really obscure not well known reagents used one one question but I knew it from Destroyer but like I said this test had a few very hard questions but if you know the DESTROYER ROAD MAPS and the questions nothing will be totally new. The rest of it was straight-forward and by far everything you need is in the destroyer.
Overall for the sciences The destroyer was by far the most helpful study aid for me and will pay big dues come test day!!!

PAT:
I got a 19.

This post is getting really long so Ill wind down even though I have tons more to say. I thought it was easy Im surprised I didn’t do better. I was getting 19 and 20s on Crack and got 22 on my last one where I was like okay stay focused and really try the whole time. Crack was a great resource! Its almost exactly like the real thing!
Keyholes: Very similar
Top Front End : Also very similar only 2 really hard ones I thought the others weren’t so bad with a little thought
Angles: Not like Kaplan much more like crack
Cubes: The regular. No tricks but my DAT did have the cubes connected at the corner which I heard is officially against the PAT guidelines (whatever that means) NO illusions like crack easy to see.
Pattern folding: Usually my second worse section but it wasn’t all that bad only 4 were very hard and the others required some thought similar to crack

I thought I would have a lot to say about thE RC and QR because I practice a lot and got my scores way up from where I started but ended up right back there on the real thing. All I can say is that for QR I liked crack math for timing reasons. Within a few tests I was comfortably finishing with time to spare and it only took like 4 practice tests and timing is important. But on my real DAT some of the problems were REALLY long and I couldn’t do them in the time span so I moved on.
For RC I passages on Cancer Psychological benefits of exercise and Drug addiction. Any one else have this recently that can sympathize with me? AHHHHHHHH!!!!! LOTS (and I don’t mean like 4 or 5) of tone questions. Probably 5 PER passage! They asked what was the authors voice or if you added another sentence which would it be (had this ? on all 3 passages) and what was the point of this sentence and what was the point of this paragraph. Okay you get the point. I wasn’t too worried because I actually read most of the passages (I think they were 15, 15, and 12 Paragraphs) but that’s enough to get a tone question here and one wrong and its okay but it stinks to try and get a bunch. I had it narrowed to 2 choices usually I guess I guessed poorly probably because Im tone-deaf. (Anyone wana take a shot here at what my tone is for this paragraph is for practice: A) Annoyed B)Upset C)Worried D) Frustrated E) Informative. Yea try answering that question without all of the above and that’s how I felt earlier today. Needless to say I didn’t do as well on either of these sections as I thought I would, but at least I don’t have to worry about thinking what if I prepared more. I did my best and they threw tough stuff at me.

Oh I almost forgot here are my Practice scores (Ill post the rest later):

Topscore 2 Topscore 3 Achiever 1 Achiever 2
Bio,,,,,,,,18,,,,,,,,,,,,,,19,,,,,,,,,,,,19,,,,,,,,,,,,,17
GChem,,,18 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,18,,,,,,,,,,,,19,,,,,,,,,,,,,18
Orgo,,,,,,,25,,,,,,,,,,,,,,25,,,,,,,,,,,,23,,,,,(oops)18
PAT,,,,,,,,20,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,19,,,,,,,,,,,,17,,,,,,,,,,,,18
RC,,,,,,,,,19 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,18,,,,,,,,,,,,,21,,,,,,,,,,,,18
QR,,,,,,,,,19,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,19,,,,,,,,,,,,19,,,,,,,,,,,,,21
AA,,,,,,,,,20,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,20,,,,,,,,,,,,21,,,,,,,,,,,,,18
TS,,,,,,,,,19,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,20,,,,,,,,,,,,,20,,,,,,,,,,,,,18

In case you want to know what I thought about topscore and achiver let me know and Ill post if here. I have lots to say ont hat to but this post is just WAY to long.

Thanks to everyone for your support: Special shout outs to Klutzy (Sorry I disappointed you I got a hard test man) DrGreen (congrats) Ossims and Harrygt (good luck guys) Hoang Mstooth and Pistelpete, Rachel and David and BIG SHOUT OUT TO NINA!

My science scores allowed me to end up with an AA of 20 and TS of 22 so I hope that plus my 3.93 GPA and 110 Shadowing hours and other extra-curriculars is enough to get me into Maryland (Im a Maryland resident)
Good luck to you all!!


*****************************************

** UPDATE ** (I took this from my other post, figured it makes sense to have the full picture)

Topscore or Achiever? This is one of the most frequent questions when it comes to DAT studying so I hope you find this helpful.

When it comes to taking practice tests the two main resources are TOPSCORE and ACHIEVER. People often wonder WHICH SHOULD I USE TOP SCORE OR ACHIEVER?

Yes, there are many posts on this topic and when people start a new thread with this question, people (including myself) respond: Do a search this has been addressed many times. So why am I posting this then? Well aside from the fact that people asked, if you do a search, many of the results are not informative. People just say one or the other and don’t explain the pros and cons of each. I will try to address as much as I can here but if you feel that I missed something or am off base please say something. I hope this will be helpful:

The first thing to realize is that both of these are meant to primarily be test simulations and practice tests. Unlike PAT where you can almost exclusively learn the basic concepts and get the rest by taking tests, the sciences are different. While you can (and should) learn a great deal of information from taking the tests, they are just tests and are not intended to be used as your main study guide (like Destroyer, Cliffs, Schaum’s…) but should be used to get a real feel for the length, order and format of the DAT as well as testing your knowledge to give you an idea of where in your studies you are holding.

Ill start with 7 general points then go through each section:

1) Difficulty: Most people find achiever harder for most sections and don’t score as highly overall. For example I scored 18, 19 in Topscore Bio and 19, 17 in Achiever similarly, three 25s in Topscore Orgo and a 23 and an 18 in the two Achiever tests I took. So if you are a person who will get really bumbed by scoring lower than you think you can and are saving your practice for the last week (which ill address soon) I recommend Topscore because the last thing you need the week before your test if you are nervous or not totally confident is a 15. They are both hard and while nothing is a guarantee, a good Topscore mark is not false reassurance.

2) Retake: If you plan on taking the test more than once for whatever reason (I did not) because you want to take these 6 weeks before your test then again the week before then keep in mind that with Topscore you CAN delete your scores and take it again but you CAN NOT with Achiever. (I’ve heard you can uninstall then reinstall or something but haven’t tried it)
(((((* I highly recommend you DO NOT leave your practice tests for the last week. Start them AT LEAST 2 weeks before. I also personally think 3 tests is sufficient for the purpose (I took 5 but think it was a mistake) Once you are comfortable with the length and format stick to studying because its more time efficient. At least for me after I took a practice test I couldn’t study for a good chunk of time and it killed a good part of the day because taking it takes over 4 hours itself. So unless youre really gaining a lot from reviewing the tests I feel you can gain more by studying during that time.))))

3) Options (Full/Sections): Topscore gives you the option to take the FULL exam like the real thing but in achiever they don’t offer this option. (I may be wrong but on mine I couldn’t at least so don’t jump all over me if I’m wrong on this) The first time I took achiever I didn’t have the self-discipline to start the PAT without checking my science scores, I was just so curious. Well on the real thing you don’t have this option. I didn’t check on my second test but its not the same continuing when you don’t know how your doing for sure.

4) Pausing: On Topscore you can pause your exam. While you shouldn’t do this because it defeats the purpose of taking a full test, sometimes things happen. I was in my schools library and didn’t realize they were closing but it wasn’t a problem because I paused it. Yes you can exit achiever and restart it where you left off but its not a real option you must exit the program. (Nothing important really both equal here)

5) Exhibit button: On my screen when I pushed the exhibit button on Topscore the periodic table was not the full size. I couldn’t see the whole thing at once without enlarging the screen which I found frustrating every time. (This may be an option somewhere but I couldn’t find it) I did not have this problem on Achiever or the real DAT

6) Simulation: I thought Achiever looked more like the real test. The questions each took up a full screen where as in Topscore part of the screen remains gray and the test is in a section of your monitor (like watching a movie in not full screen vs full screen). I know this just a setting and I didn’t care to change it but aside from that I still think they both did a great job but I thought achiever was slightly more realistic.

**As a side note here: Both of thee programs use a font that is kind of skinny. The real test is much better, uses thick dark bold looking font, which is easier to read than both of these programs. I was pleasantly surprised by the clarity and crispness (is that a word?) especially in the PAT section of the real DAT.

7) EXPLANATIONS: (Some people don’t care much about this and barely review their tests others go through it for an entire day and care a lot about this. Depends how much time you have and what kind of person you are)
Topscore only explains the correct reason. For example: In destroyer as well as other sources they offer an explanation of the correct choice and also show you why some of the other choices are wrong. Topscore just gives a quote about the correct answer so you don’t learn as much from each question because the other choices are never discussed. I did however like the fact that they had a direct quote from Campbells in the bio section because the answer was never lost in translation and worded incorrectly. However the down side here is the formality. It easier to take information in when its less formal and sometimes it doesn’t address the point so clearly because they are just quoting a paragraph from the book.
Achievers science explanations are pretty good. Not too long and usually easy to follow.


……….......……….Topscore VS Achiever by section…………......…..
SCIENCES: Both are good nothing really to add except that both achiever and topscore have the A) I only B)II only C) I, II and IV …. But don’t worry this is one of the worst ways to test knowledge and was not on my test and I haven’t heard anyone who had this.

PAT: Achever is much harder. First off Topscore PAT is a joke. Not because its too easy but they reuse the same stuff for all three tests. They give you the top and side view in test one and ask for the front view then just reuse the same image and ask for the top view. This is a terrible way to learn because you are familiar with the object. Yes Achiever is very hard but its great practice because you will feel like the real thing is easy in a way. Topscore hole punching is great! I cant open mine now Ill try later but they had these ¾ folds I explained in my other thread which did appear on the real test. I don’t remember if both had half holes but you should also be familiar with those before the real test. Don’t base your decision which to buy on PAT because Crack is really the best resource for this.

RC: At least for my version of the DAT both of these were terrible representations of the real thing. I had about 15 tone questions and very few directly in the passage but these are all about being in the passage. From what I hear though different versions do have more search and destroy type questions so at least its practice for speed and endurance at this point of the test. No real favorite in my opinion here

QR: I thought Topscore had like 3 problems that weren’t that bad but NEEDED a calculator because the answers were so close (The one im thinking of right now is the one with the singles and buckets of tar for the roof its was like 17, 1575 16,1575 and 17, 1576 lol) I have heard that Achiever is more accurate here but I don’t know. I didn’t think it was so hard on either of my practice test but found the real thing much harder. Its defiantly good to practice timing though because that’s an issue many people have trouble with in this section.

So which should you get? Should you get both? That’s up to you but I hope this was helpful and now you can make a more informed decision.

Good luck to you all!!!
 
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Good job. What were your RC and QR scores? Unless I missed them I do not think you posted those scores.
 
Wow, reading your first two posts was my RC practice for the day. Sorry that you got screwed on RC, but overall you did awesome! 20 and 22 ! wow, great job.

3.93 GPA...how the, you're set man. Enjoy the rest of summer and good luck in dental school ! :thumbup:
 
first off CONGRATS!!! youre free, im so jealous!! two more days... THANKS for the detailed review, i was waiting all night for it! after reading it, i guess i will spend most of my day going back over destroyer bio and orgo.

you rocked the test man, enjoy summer!!
 
Thanks guys Osims good luck tomorrow! Yea I know its really long but I learned a lot from the experience of what was helpful study tool and what was a waste and I could have cut out 3 solid weeks of my studying if I knew this earlier so I thought I would share
 
Enjoy your scores! Thanks for the breakdown. I have two questions. For Qr, did destroyer Qr or crack dat math have more similar questions to the real DAT. Also, how did crack dat pat hole-punches compare with the real one? I took my test a year ago and can't remember much. Thanks and once again enjoy the high!
 
Great job, thank you for the long post

your story about knocking out the power is great. Good thing they save it every second. Great scores!
 
CONGRATZ BUDDY! i've been waiting for awile to see how u and osiams are going to do....im glad u did awesome!
 
Heckuva job man. Great TS score, and you should not have much trouble getting into Maryland. I have a friend who is starting there this year and he had an identical A.A. I believe and a lower GPA. You did wonderfully and now enjoy the feeling of being free.
 
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Enjoy your scores! Thanks for the breakdown. I have two questions. For Qr, did destroyer Qr or crack dat math have more similar questions to the real DAT. Also, how did crack dat pat hole-punches compare with the real one? I took my test a year ago and can't remember much. Thanks and once again enjoy the high!

Thanks. About QR my version was very different than Crack. I really recomend the program and it helps with speed but they have to much algebra problems like
X-2/ X^2+2 = X+1/X^2 Stuff like that. I just made this one up but my real test had none of this stuff. Also the real DAT does NOT GIVE CONVERSION FACTORS!! I prepared for this so it was fine 2 of them were distance types so know feet yards meters sq ft yards cubed etc. I thought they were both great practice though and had tons of good problems so for QR do as much as you can.
PAT good quesiton VERY IMPORTANT My test did have a few where they folded it down and the hole would be on the line making what people call a half hole which when unfolded becomes 1 hole. I had 3 of these but they werent bad if you practice them. (For an easy example see #48 test #9) They other thing they had was there 3/4 folds. (TRANSLATION: If the box has 4 column and a regular fold is to fold column one onto number two at the first line running up and down, on my test they folded in the middle of column 2) I remember seeing these in topscore or achiever Ill check later and thinking what? But since it wasn't my first time seeing it I knew what was happening and I didn't think it was bad. Practice here really helps. I had at least 5 folds I had seen before a crack nd def. helped to be familiar with whats happening. Hope that helps
 
I did have a few but 2 of them I had ZERO idea what to do. I know geometry pretty well and the ones on triangles and cylinder and area stuff I got but the graphing geometry was hard.
 
Dude, as soon as they meet you, you're in! solid guy, lots to offer, and kick ass stats.
Good job, you should be proud.
 
Thanks green and congrats to you too. So we had our trust in the in the right stuff after all. Destroyer rocked. It was fun going over it with you all those times man!
 
I did have a few but 2 of them I had ZERO idea what to do. I know geometry pretty well and the ones on triangles and cylinder and area stuff I got but the graphing geometry was hard.

I think I had the same test last summer. My math section had some crazy graphing questions that I've never seen in kaplan and etc. I wasn't expecting the math to be that hard. And the reading section.... I remember those tone questions.

I kept seing one after antoher and another... kk not fun It has that question about which sentence blahblabh...
 
damn orgodox, you are spilling out hella info from this version. haha. anyway, math wasnt too bad i thought. except the stupid question with absolute sign and stuff. Those were pretty tough.
 
I think I had the same test last summer. My math section had some crazy graphing questions that I've never seen in kaplan and etc. I wasn't expecting the math to be that hard. And the reading section.... I remember those tone questions.

I kept seing one after antoher and another... kk not fun It has that question about which sentence blahblabh...

Were your reading passages last year about a piano by any chance??
 
hmm.. I don't recall the piano passage, it's been a year already so I forgot. But I do remember those ugly questions... kk
 
AWESOME scores!!! And my immense gratitude for the highly descriptive breakdown of what you felt worked and what doesn't work. For those of us still studying it is huge for our psyche to read the success stories of people like you! Go ahead and tell us the usefulness of Topscore and achiever, if you have the time.

Goodluck getting into Maryland, I'm sure you will get in!!! I played this track while reading your post and got real excited as I read your post, while staring at my destroyer and Kaplan blue book. I take mine August 30th.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/15399999089dbfd7/
 
Great scores- you are in every where. Thanks for details I'll for sure take advice.
 
so im only using topscore and achiever and kaplan to prepare for the DAT, what do u think of topscore and achiever? Did they help?
 
Thanks again guys. Im glad you found this of help. In case you dont have patience to read that whole long thins I can sum it up in short: DESTROYER IS ON THE MONEY lol but seriously thanks for the encouragement guys. This forum is an awesome tool. One of my reactions was kinda tough on the test but I think I answered something from destroyer just like it 5 or 6 times over the last few months so it was a breeze.

As for Topscore and achiever that nogn and Jide asked about- Ill be glad to add an in-depth opinion of what I thought and their strengths and weaknesses. I wont have time to do this til Sunday prob. but its coming soon.

Enjoy the weekend guys and study hard the end is near!
 
Congrats, that story is def a good learning story so we all know what to do if we are in that position,
thanks. Enjoy the rest of your summer
 
Hey Orgodox,

Congradulations, you really have a great score and I am confident that you will get in where you want.
I just had one question for you. Are you allowed to put your hands on the screen? I think it would be really helpful for me on the angles. Also, were the angles like 29, 30, 31 and 32 degrees, or do they at least make some of them significantly bigger or smaller than the others>
 
Thanks mistero, I hope your right!
About touching the screen- I heard some places dont even let you hold things up like your finger of your pen to the screen, but they didn't tell me this when I was there. On my first angle I thought what the heck Ill try it but I didn't practice that way so it wasn't really helpful plus I was nervous to do this. When my comp turned off it was on my second angle and I was actually nervous that they shut it off caze they thought I was cheating or something. OMG wow scary but turned out I just kicked the plug. I doubt they would let you touch it though. Maybe they would let you hold an object up but either way the best thing to do is ask. If they say yes your home free if they say no then you may have gotten in trouble for doing it. Trust me you dont want to get rattled by someone coming over to you in the middle of your test and giving you a warning (or worse) it will really rattle you and get your heart rate way higher than you want it for taking this exam.
Anyhow most of my angles were very close like crack pat but there were 4 that were obvious. Some people say they get PAT angles that are easy and some are hard depends on the version you get but sounds to me like most say they are like crack.
Good luck
 
Orgodox you did awesome. I keep postponing my exam date thinking that I am not yet ready and have it scheduled to take it next week. After reading you post I can't wait to ace that exam that is if I don't reschedule it again. I totally agree that distroyer is an awesome resource to have. Great Job.
 
It would have been better if you had had a 22 AA and a 20 TS versus the opposite, but good job. I assume your RC was low since you didn't post it. You should be good at many schools.
 
It would have been better if you had had a 22 AA and a 20 TS versus the opposite, but good job. I assume your RC was low since you didn't post it. You should be good at many schools.

What can you do, I wasn't planning on it either but 96 percentile for science Im hoping pays off!
 
It would have been better if you had had a 22 AA and a 20 TS versus the opposite, but good job. I assume your RC was low since you didn't post it. You should be good at many schools.

Yeah orgodox, what were you thinking!? A 30 would have been better!
 
Yeah, it's a great score, no doubt. I was just putting it into some perspective so you don't get disappointed down the road. There are definitely schools that view RC as every bit as important (or more important) than TS. But there are enough interested in only AA and TS that you will get plenty of interest.
 
Thanks I know, from my practice test I was really counting on doing better than I did but Im not complaining b/c 22 20 is still a good score.

How do I find out how important RC is or if school cares more about science? Im particularly curious about Maryland caze thats MY #1 Choice
 
I think MD stresses science more. UCLA would be an example of a school looking for a rounder applicant and higher RC score. By the way, I assume we're talking about >=16 on RC, right? If you're below 16 on RC, you may have problems everywhere. About the only section where you can afford a sub 16 score is QR or maybe OC.
 
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