Ok guys, first off I just want to thank everyone here on SDN, the community has been a huge help in getting my questions answered. The test definitely wasn't as tough as some of the practice stuff I did from Destroyer. Breathe easy guys, the majority of the prep materials are harder to better prepare you. I spent three and a half weeks preparing, although time was cut short near the end because my idiot school dropped my spring classes and I had to go through a whole bunch of trouble fixing that.
My scores:
PAT 19 (69.4)
QR 22 (98.7)
RC 20 (78.5) 😕
BIO 19 (83.5) 😕
GC 25 (98.9)
OC 25 (98.4)
TS 22 (98.3)
AA 22 (98.9)
Biology: Don't know quite what happened here. Bio isn't my best subject but I thought for sure I'd at least break 20. Some questions seemed to come outta nowhere, I guessed on about 8. Had a question about distribution of gases and nutrients in a lake during the summer (never came across anything like this during my studying). Most of it is do-able but you really need to know your stuff for this. I read through about half of Barron's AP Bio (DONT GET THIS IF YOU'RE GETTING AN AP BIO BOOK, GET CLIFFS FOR SURE) which I felt just taught the material in too much of a high school manner. I also felt there was a LOT of extraneous info in Barron's whereas when I had my first look at Cliff's it was more condensed with info that will actually show up. I also used Greenwave's notes which were very good.
Gchem/Ochem: BAH here...I really don't know what I missed, after I finished these I was pretty sure I'd have dual 30's on both. I wasn't tested over anything obscure in OC, had EAS, acid/base ranking, the works. GC was about half calculations half concept stuff, wasn't too bad. As others have said on here, Destroyer is very good for these although it's a bit overkill and I feel Kaplan BB will do just fine. I also watched Chad's videos which are a great resource if you're getting tired of just reading. I initially felt that Chad's Ochem videos weren't sufficient because he doesn't cover a LOT of reactions from Ochem2. But on my test I just had EAS and Diels-Alder and a little bit of carbonyl chemistry from Ochem2, all of which Chad does cover (no wittig, aldol, claisen, etc.)
PAT: Didn't prep for this other than like 2 practice tests...didn't have time. I'm just relieved my score isn't too low. I will say that the hole punching was a lot harder on the real thing than the ones in Kaplan (those are gimmes)
RC/QR: Same as PAT, just totally ran out of study time and spent half a day prepping for both. I was expecting these to be ok because of my SATs (800 reading, 760 math). Not the case at all, it's amazing how much your reading comprehension skills can deteriorate after only a few years...The only way to prepare for reading really is practice, practice, practice. As for math, I am very pissed at my luck. Yesterday when I went through Destroyer Math in less than 2 hrs I missed only 4/153, so I was expecting my math to be really high and pull up my AA. Had 3 questions on p-values of all things (guessed on all 3)...didn't realize they tested over statistics as well. Then I had 2 gimme ones that were simply temperature conversions, from F to C or vice versa...the only problem being that I never bothered to learn that formula. I did manage to derive it, based on knowing that 0 degrees C is 32 F and -40 F is -40 C (something I remembered from a destroyer chem problem). But when I finally figured it out that 9/5C + 32 = F, I looked up and saw I had 2 seconds left. So those 2 temperature conversions went in blank and I lost points for them
. Also saw double angle identities, sin(2A)=2sin(A)cos(A). Make sure for QR that you review trig, some basic probability terms like p-values, and know that darned temperature conversion formula. Other than that, I felt destroyer was a pretty good marker for what appears on QR. Just cross your fingers that you don't get unlucky like I did.
Overall I'm satisfied with my scores, I think I did well enough to be competitive, although they could've been a lot higher. I think my biggest achievement was how much $ I saved on prep materials. I didn't get topscore or achiever mainly because of time issues. I also bought a 2003 version of Kaplan BB lol for like $20. And I also didn't mark in my 2010 Destroyer at all and it's in near perfect condition so I'll be able to sell it back to someone for a good amount. Just do yourself a favor and don't stress out too much while prepping, it's really not that bad and anyone can score a 20+ with the right prep.
My scores:
PAT 19 (69.4)
QR 22 (98.7)
RC 20 (78.5) 😕
BIO 19 (83.5) 😕
GC 25 (98.9)
OC 25 (98.4)
TS 22 (98.3)
AA 22 (98.9)
Biology: Don't know quite what happened here. Bio isn't my best subject but I thought for sure I'd at least break 20. Some questions seemed to come outta nowhere, I guessed on about 8. Had a question about distribution of gases and nutrients in a lake during the summer (never came across anything like this during my studying). Most of it is do-able but you really need to know your stuff for this. I read through about half of Barron's AP Bio (DONT GET THIS IF YOU'RE GETTING AN AP BIO BOOK, GET CLIFFS FOR SURE) which I felt just taught the material in too much of a high school manner. I also felt there was a LOT of extraneous info in Barron's whereas when I had my first look at Cliff's it was more condensed with info that will actually show up. I also used Greenwave's notes which were very good.
Gchem/Ochem: BAH here...I really don't know what I missed, after I finished these I was pretty sure I'd have dual 30's on both. I wasn't tested over anything obscure in OC, had EAS, acid/base ranking, the works. GC was about half calculations half concept stuff, wasn't too bad. As others have said on here, Destroyer is very good for these although it's a bit overkill and I feel Kaplan BB will do just fine. I also watched Chad's videos which are a great resource if you're getting tired of just reading. I initially felt that Chad's Ochem videos weren't sufficient because he doesn't cover a LOT of reactions from Ochem2. But on my test I just had EAS and Diels-Alder and a little bit of carbonyl chemistry from Ochem2, all of which Chad does cover (no wittig, aldol, claisen, etc.)
PAT: Didn't prep for this other than like 2 practice tests...didn't have time. I'm just relieved my score isn't too low. I will say that the hole punching was a lot harder on the real thing than the ones in Kaplan (those are gimmes)
RC/QR: Same as PAT, just totally ran out of study time and spent half a day prepping for both. I was expecting these to be ok because of my SATs (800 reading, 760 math). Not the case at all, it's amazing how much your reading comprehension skills can deteriorate after only a few years...The only way to prepare for reading really is practice, practice, practice. As for math, I am very pissed at my luck. Yesterday when I went through Destroyer Math in less than 2 hrs I missed only 4/153, so I was expecting my math to be really high and pull up my AA. Had 3 questions on p-values of all things (guessed on all 3)...didn't realize they tested over statistics as well. Then I had 2 gimme ones that were simply temperature conversions, from F to C or vice versa...the only problem being that I never bothered to learn that formula. I did manage to derive it, based on knowing that 0 degrees C is 32 F and -40 F is -40 C (something I remembered from a destroyer chem problem). But when I finally figured it out that 9/5C + 32 = F, I looked up and saw I had 2 seconds left. So those 2 temperature conversions went in blank and I lost points for them
. Also saw double angle identities, sin(2A)=2sin(A)cos(A). Make sure for QR that you review trig, some basic probability terms like p-values, and know that darned temperature conversion formula. Other than that, I felt destroyer was a pretty good marker for what appears on QR. Just cross your fingers that you don't get unlucky like I did.Overall I'm satisfied with my scores, I think I did well enough to be competitive, although they could've been a lot higher. I think my biggest achievement was how much $ I saved on prep materials. I didn't get topscore or achiever mainly because of time issues. I also bought a 2003 version of Kaplan BB lol for like $20. And I also didn't mark in my 2010 Destroyer at all and it's in near perfect condition so I'll be able to sell it back to someone for a good amount. Just do yourself a favor and don't stress out too much while prepping, it's really not that bad and anyone can score a 20+ with the right prep.
. LOTS of volunteer work outside of shadowing, served on the executive board of my fraternity for a year and actually made a memorable difference that I'm sure should make me stand out, gonna be an officer in Pre-Dental Society this upcoming semester. Schools I'm sorta looking at are UoP, NOVA, Case, Columb.
