My summer has started...

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whawha

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I have been asking many questions and (trying) to answer to questions on SDN, and finally took the DAT yesterday. I wanted to write breakdown and some testing-center experiences yesterday, but I ended coming back home this morning (6am) :D I woke up at 10 am and I almost automatically went to sit on my desk lolll as if I was supposed to be looking at books. It is just hard to believe that this is over, and I don't have to see the "Destroyer" or the freaking yellow "Cliff Bio" anymore. Ok,, so... Here we go.

Sections: PAT / QR / RC / Bio / GC / OC / TS / AA
Scores: 26 / 25 / 19 / 21 / 22 / 26 / 22 / 23
Percentile: 99.8 / 97.4 / 53.3 / 90.4 / 88.7 / 97.7 / 95.3 / 97.9


I am very content with my score except for GC. Being an engineering student, I really wanted to ace GC and OC and QR, but I was sooooo nervous and was almost literally shaking. I was especially nervous in the RC section after the 15-min break because I just hate reading and RC was never a strong point for me. So, I am particularly happy for 19 from RC section :rolleyes:

I am a chemical engineering student with B.S. But I am finishing up my M.S and am expecting to finish it by next May. My overall GPA is 3.66.


About the testing center.
I thought my test would start exactly at my appointment time (12:30pm), but it was pretty flexible although I had some problem when signing in. I was just sitting there for 30 mins, because they didn't know how to pronounce my name! So, what I want to say is if you want to take it a little earlier or later than your appointment time, you can do it. (maybe +/- 20~30 mins?)
So, if you are running late or something, no need to be freaking out. You get two laminated sheets and two pens. Asked for more, but she wouldn't give any more of either one.

Test begins...

Before the test.

PAT: Crack DAT PAT Royal Flush version. (almost didn't even touch the 1000+ angle/cube counting/hole punching questions) So, just 10 tests without the extra should be good enough. My biggest plus was my girlfriend who was sooo willing to draw models for TFE (she is so goot at drawing) and even make models for pattern folding.

QR: Destroyer, Trig sheet from a random site by googling, SDN members for some weird or difficult probability problems, Kaplan BB for geometry and some other trivial formulas that I would have forgotten otherwise.

RC: I still don't know how to practice for this part and what to use for it. But I practiced and predicted my performance on real DAT with Topscore and Achiever. (I had Kaplan BB Cd-rom too, but I had some crazy scrolling problem, so doesn't count)

Bio: Cliff AP, Kaplan BB, Destroyer, 20% of the Cliff AP Bio flashcards, my textbook only when I am in doubt with something in Cliff or BB.

GC: Destroyer and my textbook as I did in Bio. Chad video.

OC: Destroyer and my textbook as I did in Bio. Chad video. ACS (just spectroscopy)

http://www.***********.com/showthread.php?t=2791

I skimmed through both GC and OC of the Kaplan BB the day before the test just to see if I was missing anything. (concepts or reactions and stuff)

During the test.

Bio: It was random. Just too random. Since bio is my weakest subject of the three science sections, I spent sooooo much time for it. I felt like all that studying was nothing. Problems seemed to have come from nowhere. One point I should make is "Do not go into too much details!" Most problems were simple and made me think. A lot of SDNers said bio section is straight forward. I agree with that because there is no "All of the above" type of questions. But if you don't have the basic understanding of it, you will get stuck. I think what "Sublimation" did would work for this section perfectly. You have to know how to see the big picture and fundamental understanding of the little details, rather than hard-core memorization. (It would not work for taxonomy....but you can try to make some kinds of trend by yourself like Cliff AP Bio did in the book) Once again, DO NOT Go INTO Too much Details!!!!!!

GC: I was expecting many conceptual questions as others said here. But my version was almost 50/50.

OC: Destroyer is definitely overkill. Kaplan BB is not sufficient. Doing overkill is definitely better than being insufficient IMO.

Overall, I think all you need to get 20+ is Destroyer, CliffBio, Topscore, Kaplan subject and practice tests, CDP and Chad.

PAT: Damn, keyholes and folding were insane. IMO,

Keyholes (Real >>> Crack)
TFE (Real < Crack)
Angle (Real = Crack)
Cube (Real <<<<<<<< Crack)
Hole Punching (Real << Crack)
Folding (Real << Crack)
IMO, achiever was more representative of the keyhole and folding sections. (Although I tried only 1 PAT test of the Achiever)

RC: Nothing to talk about. I was shaking and didn't know what I was reading. I hated it.

QR: Difficulty level was almost the same as achiever and topscore. But, there were definitely more word problems. My strategy was to do all the arithmetic and geometry problems. (which I think are easier than word problems for some reason) After finishing those easy ones, I was skimming through each unmarked problem to see if I could solve it quickly or not. You should know what I mean by this because some word problems require more logical reasoning than some others. And for those word problems that I didn't know how to begin with, I tried to work backwards using the answer choices that were given to see if I could figure anything out. And it worked for two problems :))

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seems like you had a good night after your test haha. congrats on the beginning of summer! those are TERRIFIC scores especially your pat, qr, and oc scores :eek:. good luck on the rest of the process. you should have nothing to worry about with this AND your solid gpa
 
Congrats! Solid scores man, I take mine Monday and i was just curious what were your topscore and achiever scores?
 
I have been asking many questions and (trying) to answer to questions on SDN, and finally took the DAT yesterday. I wanted to write breakdown and some testing-center experiences yesterday, but I ended coming back home this morning (6am) :D I woke up at 10 am and I almost automatically went to sit on my desk lolll as if I was supposed to be looking at books. It is just hard to believe that this is over, and I don't have to see the "Destroyer" or the freaking yellow "Cliff Bio". Ok,, so... Here we go.

Sections: PAT / QR / RC / Bio / GC / OC / TS / AA
Scores: 26 / 25 / 19 / 21 / 22 / 26 / 22 / 23
Percentile: 99.8 / 97.4 / 53.3 / 90.4 / 88.7 / 97.7 / 95.3 / 97.9


I am very content with my score except for GC. Being a chemical engineering student, I really wanted to ace GC and OC and QR, but I was sooooo nervous and was almost literally shaking. I was especially nervous in the RC section after the 15-min break because I just hate reading and RC was never a strong point for me. So, I am especially happy for 19 from RC section :rolleyes:

I am a chemical engineering student with B.S. But I am finishing up my M.S and am expecting to finish it by next May. My overall GPA is 3.66.

Before the test.

PAT: Crack DAT PAT Royal Flush version. (almost didn't even touch the 1000+ angle/cube counting/hole punching questions) So, just 10 tests without the extra should be good enough.

QR: Destroyer, Trig sheet from a random site by googling, SDN members for some weird or difficult probability problems, Kaplan BB for geometry and some other trivial formulas that I would have forgotten otherwise.

RC: I still don't know how to practice for this part and what to use for it. But I practiced and predicted my performance on real DAT with Topscore and Achiever. (I had Kaplan BB Cd-rom too, but I had some crazy scrolling problem, so doesn't count)

Bio: Cliff AP, Kaplan BB, Destroyer, 20% of the Cliff AP Bio flashcards, my textbook only when I am in doubt with something in Cliff or BB.

GC: Destroyer and my textbook as I did in Bio.

OC: Destroyer and my textbook as I did in Bio.

I skimmed through both GC and OC the day before the test just to see if I was missing anything. (concepts or reactions and stuff)

During the test.

I will add more on this later when I come back. :)

AMAZING SCORES!! CONGRATS. Like you my summer just started too lol and school is in a week im getting depressed thinking about it now....and im taking biochem microbio and genetics in one semester :(
 
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wow excellent scores! what is going on with everyone on this forum and these ridiculously high scores? there must be something in the water... :eek:

i'm using CDP 5-test version, but i've done each section so many times, i feel like it's not really helping me anymore at this pt. my weakest spots are still keyholes and TFE. any suggestions?

how much trig do we need to know for the QR section?

again, congrats! i cannot wait to be done with mine in a week :xf:
 
[kQUOTE=yumi43;8537904]wow excellent scores! what is going on with everyone on this forum and these ridiculously high scores? there must be something in the water... :eek:

i'm using CDP 5-test version, but i've done each section so many times, i feel like it's not really helping me anymore at this pt. my weakest spots are still keyholes and TFE. any suggestions?

Don't really have any particular strategy, but I think as most other SDNers said, practice is crucial. I kind of tried to learn TFE by doing keyholes and vice versa.

how much trig do we need to know for the QR section?

I memorized those that I thought were most fundamental. Basic sin/cos/tan at 0/30/45/60/90. And relationship between sin and cos
such as sin x = cos (90 degrees - x).

sinx = 1 / cscx
cosx = 1 / secx
tan=sinx / cosx
sin2x = 2(sinx)(cosx)
cos2x = cos^2(x) - sin^2(x)

I think from these (there maybe some more, but only these came to my mind now), you can pretty much (almost) derive all other relationships that might be presented on the real test through simple mathematical manipulations.

again, congrats! i cannot wait to be done with mine in a week :xf:[/QUOTE]
 
WOOOOW you killed it, I'm so happy for you and super jelous :)

See u were so worried about RC but 19 is good! Good job buddy!
I just took my first Topscore exam, with one freaking week left til my test date I did kinda horrible AA and TS 18 :(
 
CDP
1st trial
24*/21*/21*/22/22/26/23/23/23/25
* means that I allowed 80 minutes. This way, I would learn how to tackle problems rather than just doing fast.

2nd trial (Test #1,2,3,6,7)
26/23/25/29/28
I picked random 5 tests and retried them. Just to keep refreshing myself.



BIO/GC/OC/PAT/QR/RC/AA/TS
Topscore
Test #1= 19/19/20/22/21/21/20/20
Test #2= 20/21/23/23/21/21/21/21
Test #3= 16/23/25/24/24/23/20/19

Achiever
Test #1= 16/20/19/20/24/19/19/18
Test #2= 17/18/19/NA/21/19/??/??
Test #3= 15/19/21/??/22/21/??/??
 
Hey whawha great job on the test! When did you take your topscore and achiever tests with respect to your test date?
 
Hey whawha great job on the test! When did you take your topscore and achiever tests with respect to your test date?

I took all Achiever tests for 3 days straight eight days before the test. I decided kind of late to get Achiever because I wanted to practice on RC and also wanted to get exposed to more science problems.

I took Topscore #1 about two weeks before the test. Took #2 five days and took #3 two days before the test.
 
hey phenomenal scores. could you please elaborate how you prepped for the QR section, materials-wise and what methods did you use.
 
hey phenomenal scores. could you please elaborate how you prepped for the QR section, materials-wise and what methods did you use.

I kind did up there tho :) I tried to move fast, but read each problem carefully. I did easier-looking problems first.
 
oh shoot. i usually do try to read everything before asking, but it must have slipped my view as i only saw the during the test portion, my apologies. thanks for the response
 
Forgot to mention something.

1. Testing center was damn hot. I was almost sweating and I was getting exhausted faster...

2. Computer was damn slow. It doesn't repond as quickly as the Topscore does.
 
*Jaw hits the floor*

HOLY MOTHER OF PEARL! Those are AMAZING scores and a SOLID GPA! WOW!

That's it. You're officially my inspiration. :bow:
 
Thanks :) You will definitely do the same and even better if you study hard and use time wisely ;)
 
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