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) 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
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 )
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
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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