- Joined
- Jun 14, 2008
- Messages
- 2,309
- Reaction score
- 27
I'm super pumped to be done. I'm pretty pleased with my scores for the amount of time I put in. I'll go ahead and post my scores and give some general study tips and then I'll do a section breakdown when I get time.
PAT:--22 (93.4%)
QR:---19 (91.2%)
RC:---22 (84.4%)
Bio:---22 (95.9%)
GC:---24 (97.7%)
OC:---23 (94.4%)
TS:---23 (97.8%)
AA:---22 (97.0%)
cGPA - 3.9 (estimating due to having a +/- system)
Not sure of my sGPA but it is probably pretty much the same as my cGPA
Major: Biology
Minor: Psychology
TOPSCORE 1 (3/30):
PAT:--22
QR:---22
RC:---25
Bio:---20
GC:---19
OC:---21
TS:---20
AA:---21
TOPSCORE 2 (4/1):
PAT:--22
QR:---23
RC:---22
Bio:---21
GC:---25
OC:---23
TS:---22
AA:---23
TOPSCORE 3 (4/3):
PAT:--22
QR:---25
RC:---23
Bio:---21
GC:---19
OC:---25
TS:---22
AA:---23
CDP Scores were: 19(month before), 19, 19, 19, 22, 23, 23, 23, 23(night before)
All in all I was pretty pleased with the test. I only started QR practice a week or so before my exam so I was glad it didn't bring me down too much.
General Study Tips: I think a big part in being able to study for a test like this is the ability to keep studying feeling fresh. I started really studying for it around March 7th when I realized I had less than a month or so to get my stuff together. I actually think it was kind of nice to start studying late (if you are already decently comfortable with the material) because I still felt pretty decent towards the end of studying and wasn't too burnt out. Another way to try to keep things interesting is mixing up what you study. I never really sat down and did biology but pretty much just studied biology when I was sick of studying other stuff. Another really helpful thing was using these forums. I essentially used these forums to let me know what I didn't know. It's easy to just study everything in a book and then you think you know everything. By reading questions here, sometimes you notice topics you completely forgot, or that you were rusty on.
PAT (22): Keyholes - most similar to topscore. I felt that the drawings were more "random" than CDP. I got to the point in CDP where I was getting 15s on all keyholes but found this to actually be pretty tricky. I feel like CDP was pretty easy to figure the differences between each view and see what they were trying to trick you.
TFE - I don't really remember Topscore's TFE much, but I felt like this portion of the PAT was relatively simple compared to CDP. (if you can work your way to 15s on CDP you are in good shape.
Angles - Oh god...I hated angles and never really focused on trying to improve. I feel like these were most similar to Topscore.
Hole punching - This was pretty similar to CDP/Topscore; nothing too tricky or tough. I would highly suggest using the 4x4 grid method. There weren't any you couldn't solve while using that method.
Cube counting - Pretty simple. These were on par with the patterns found in Topscore, but higher resolution (similar to CDP resolution). If you can get 15s on CDP, again, you are in the clear. I used the method of making dashes for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 sides on the white board.
Pattern folding - I thought this was kind of tricky. I thought it was a little tougher than CDP because it was harder to easily eliminate answers.
QR (19): I really just started studying for this about a week before the exam. I read Kaplan notes which were general. I would suggest getting an SAT/ACT book if you struggle with math and need more information on the topics. After reading through Kaplan I went through the Destroyer which was pretty helpful. I would highly suggest going through Destroyer at least once. I kind of wish I had gone through it more than once, but I finished the day before the exam so I didn't really have time. As far as the calculator goes, I thought it was really useful. The only time it was slow was if you wanted to put in a number that had 2 of the same consecutive numbers; eg. 100. Also, make sure it is cleared when you are using it. You have to be aware of what you are doing so if you get 500/100 and the answer it gives you some absurd number, hit clear and redo it (obviously don't use it to do 500/100, but you get the point).
RC (22): Not really sure what to say for this. I really didn't think it was too bad and thought one of the passages was semi interesting. I used search and destroy (I think?) and it worked pretty well. I kind of used this section for a little chill before the QR. I didn't really go that fast paced and still had time to review again at the end (maybe 15 minutes or so). I know Kaplan suggests reading scholarly articles, but I feel like just reading general science articles would be just as good, if not better.
Bio (22): This section had pretty general questions and a few specific ones. They were all pretty much either you know it or you don't. For this I read through Kaplan, then did AP Bio, and would just look up random stuff on Wikipedia and read questions on here. I didn't make it to the Destroyer questions here, but I think looking back, it is useful if you can get to them, but if not, I wouldn't say they were "must-dos" but they would help. Question styles/breadth were pretty much on par with Topscore.
GC (24): This surprised me a ton. Gen chem was one of the sections that I really didn't study that much for because I simply hated it in undergrad. With that said, I think my undergrad gen chem prepared me pretty well, so the rough review I did do was adequate. If you have a good background in this, then I would suggest brushing over everything because the questions seemed pretty simple, but covered quite a lot of subjects. I watched Chad's Videos (and took notes) for this, read Kaplan, and then went through Destroyer (spent 3 days on the gen chem problems ~75 a day or so).
OC (23): I really don't remember many of the questions from this section. I enjoyed Ochem a lot more than gen chem so when it came to this portion I pretty much just flew through to give me more time to review gen chem which I thought I would lose a lot of points on. I watched Chad's Videos (and took notes), read through Kaplan, and then went through Destroyer (spent around 1.5 days on this since ochem questions are a little less work to solve and you kind of either know it or you don't). Question style seemed pretty similar to Topscore from what I can remember.
General info: The boards they give you are the same size as the scienceaide ones if you have them (roughly the size of a piece of printer paper) and are a light blue in color. I was given two boards and 3 markers. I found the markers to be pretty nice; they didn't write too large, and they were pretty good as far as not being dry. They had some pretty nice noise-cancelling headphones there. I hadn't practiced using any, but I figured I would give it a try and see how they felt and by the time I started I didn't really even notice them. I would suggest using them if given. During the QR portion of my exam the kid next to me started drumming on his desk and it kind of cancelled the noise out but was still super annoying. Also, when taking the exam, don't get down on yourself. I definitely did not think I had done as well as I did. Just focus on the section you are on and do the best to your ability, you are probably doing better than you think.
Materials used:
Kaplan Review Notes Book -didn't take class, just got book from someone
Cliffs AP Biology
Schaum's Biology - I didn't really use this, but I would give it a read through if you have time after reading Cliffs if you want to get more general knowledge
DAT Destroyer - extremely helpful for ochem and genchem. I didn't really look at the last couple road maps
http://legacyweb.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/flashcards/ - this website was decently helpful for ochem if you want more practice on reactions
Topscore - I found this was useful to just figure out how the exam was laid out and build a little stamina
Wikipedia - awesome website
Google - simple questions you have can be answered pretty well by good. If you are just lost on a general top (eg. Krebs Cycle) then it's best to google it, read up and understand it. Then you are better able to figure out what specifically you need to focus on and why you can't figure out a certain problem.
SDN - This place is really useful if you know how to use it. I found it helpful to attempt to answer as many questions as possible, because you can learn a lot from teaching others and you also learn what you don't know so well. It's also helpful to work out problems here when people have different answers because it forces you to not just know that question, but learn deeper and understand the entirety of the topic.
I think that's pretty much all I've got. If you have questions or if I forgot something, let me know. Feel free to PM too. Good luck to everyone!
PAT:--22 (93.4%)
QR:---19 (91.2%)
RC:---22 (84.4%)
Bio:---22 (95.9%)
GC:---24 (97.7%)
OC:---23 (94.4%)
TS:---23 (97.8%)
AA:---22 (97.0%)
cGPA - 3.9 (estimating due to having a +/- system)
Not sure of my sGPA but it is probably pretty much the same as my cGPA
Major: Biology
Minor: Psychology
TOPSCORE 1 (3/30):
PAT:--22
QR:---22
RC:---25
Bio:---20
GC:---19
OC:---21
TS:---20
AA:---21
TOPSCORE 2 (4/1):
PAT:--22
QR:---23
RC:---22
Bio:---21
GC:---25
OC:---23
TS:---22
AA:---23
TOPSCORE 3 (4/3):
PAT:--22
QR:---25
RC:---23
Bio:---21
GC:---19
OC:---25
TS:---22
AA:---23
CDP Scores were: 19(month before), 19, 19, 19, 22, 23, 23, 23, 23(night before)
All in all I was pretty pleased with the test. I only started QR practice a week or so before my exam so I was glad it didn't bring me down too much.
General Study Tips: I think a big part in being able to study for a test like this is the ability to keep studying feeling fresh. I started really studying for it around March 7th when I realized I had less than a month or so to get my stuff together. I actually think it was kind of nice to start studying late (if you are already decently comfortable with the material) because I still felt pretty decent towards the end of studying and wasn't too burnt out. Another way to try to keep things interesting is mixing up what you study. I never really sat down and did biology but pretty much just studied biology when I was sick of studying other stuff. Another really helpful thing was using these forums. I essentially used these forums to let me know what I didn't know. It's easy to just study everything in a book and then you think you know everything. By reading questions here, sometimes you notice topics you completely forgot, or that you were rusty on.
PAT (22): Keyholes - most similar to topscore. I felt that the drawings were more "random" than CDP. I got to the point in CDP where I was getting 15s on all keyholes but found this to actually be pretty tricky. I feel like CDP was pretty easy to figure the differences between each view and see what they were trying to trick you.
TFE - I don't really remember Topscore's TFE much, but I felt like this portion of the PAT was relatively simple compared to CDP. (if you can work your way to 15s on CDP you are in good shape.
Angles - Oh god...I hated angles and never really focused on trying to improve. I feel like these were most similar to Topscore.
Hole punching - This was pretty similar to CDP/Topscore; nothing too tricky or tough. I would highly suggest using the 4x4 grid method. There weren't any you couldn't solve while using that method.
Cube counting - Pretty simple. These were on par with the patterns found in Topscore, but higher resolution (similar to CDP resolution). If you can get 15s on CDP, again, you are in the clear. I used the method of making dashes for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 sides on the white board.
Pattern folding - I thought this was kind of tricky. I thought it was a little tougher than CDP because it was harder to easily eliminate answers.
QR (19): I really just started studying for this about a week before the exam. I read Kaplan notes which were general. I would suggest getting an SAT/ACT book if you struggle with math and need more information on the topics. After reading through Kaplan I went through the Destroyer which was pretty helpful. I would highly suggest going through Destroyer at least once. I kind of wish I had gone through it more than once, but I finished the day before the exam so I didn't really have time. As far as the calculator goes, I thought it was really useful. The only time it was slow was if you wanted to put in a number that had 2 of the same consecutive numbers; eg. 100. Also, make sure it is cleared when you are using it. You have to be aware of what you are doing so if you get 500/100 and the answer it gives you some absurd number, hit clear and redo it (obviously don't use it to do 500/100, but you get the point).
RC (22): Not really sure what to say for this. I really didn't think it was too bad and thought one of the passages was semi interesting. I used search and destroy (I think?) and it worked pretty well. I kind of used this section for a little chill before the QR. I didn't really go that fast paced and still had time to review again at the end (maybe 15 minutes or so). I know Kaplan suggests reading scholarly articles, but I feel like just reading general science articles would be just as good, if not better.
Bio (22): This section had pretty general questions and a few specific ones. They were all pretty much either you know it or you don't. For this I read through Kaplan, then did AP Bio, and would just look up random stuff on Wikipedia and read questions on here. I didn't make it to the Destroyer questions here, but I think looking back, it is useful if you can get to them, but if not, I wouldn't say they were "must-dos" but they would help. Question styles/breadth were pretty much on par with Topscore.
GC (24): This surprised me a ton. Gen chem was one of the sections that I really didn't study that much for because I simply hated it in undergrad. With that said, I think my undergrad gen chem prepared me pretty well, so the rough review I did do was adequate. If you have a good background in this, then I would suggest brushing over everything because the questions seemed pretty simple, but covered quite a lot of subjects. I watched Chad's Videos (and took notes) for this, read Kaplan, and then went through Destroyer (spent 3 days on the gen chem problems ~75 a day or so).
OC (23): I really don't remember many of the questions from this section. I enjoyed Ochem a lot more than gen chem so when it came to this portion I pretty much just flew through to give me more time to review gen chem which I thought I would lose a lot of points on. I watched Chad's Videos (and took notes), read through Kaplan, and then went through Destroyer (spent around 1.5 days on this since ochem questions are a little less work to solve and you kind of either know it or you don't). Question style seemed pretty similar to Topscore from what I can remember.
General info: The boards they give you are the same size as the scienceaide ones if you have them (roughly the size of a piece of printer paper) and are a light blue in color. I was given two boards and 3 markers. I found the markers to be pretty nice; they didn't write too large, and they were pretty good as far as not being dry. They had some pretty nice noise-cancelling headphones there. I hadn't practiced using any, but I figured I would give it a try and see how they felt and by the time I started I didn't really even notice them. I would suggest using them if given. During the QR portion of my exam the kid next to me started drumming on his desk and it kind of cancelled the noise out but was still super annoying. Also, when taking the exam, don't get down on yourself. I definitely did not think I had done as well as I did. Just focus on the section you are on and do the best to your ability, you are probably doing better than you think.
Materials used:
Kaplan Review Notes Book -didn't take class, just got book from someone
Cliffs AP Biology
Schaum's Biology - I didn't really use this, but I would give it a read through if you have time after reading Cliffs if you want to get more general knowledge
DAT Destroyer - extremely helpful for ochem and genchem. I didn't really look at the last couple road maps
http://legacyweb.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/flashcards/ - this website was decently helpful for ochem if you want more practice on reactions
Topscore - I found this was useful to just figure out how the exam was laid out and build a little stamina
Wikipedia - awesome website
Google - simple questions you have can be answered pretty well by good. If you are just lost on a general top (eg. Krebs Cycle) then it's best to google it, read up and understand it. Then you are better able to figure out what specifically you need to focus on and why you can't figure out a certain problem.
SDN - This place is really useful if you know how to use it. I found it helpful to attempt to answer as many questions as possible, because you can learn a lot from teaching others and you also learn what you don't know so well. It's also helpful to work out problems here when people have different answers because it forces you to not just know that question, but learn deeper and understand the entirety of the topic.
I think that's pretty much all I've got. If you have questions or if I forgot something, let me know. Feel free to PM too. Good luck to everyone!
Last edited:
