DAT done!!!!! 7/14/10

OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe I'm finally done with DAT!!!!!!
I was gonna throw up soooooooo hard this morning...

Here's my score (2nd time):

Perceptual Ability: 18(55.3%)
Quantitative Reasoning: 20 (95.1%)
Reading Comprehension: 19 (67.6%)
Biology: 18 (72.1%) 🙁
General Chemistry: 25 (98.9%)
Organic Chemistry: 25 (98.4%)
Total Science: 21 (96.2%)

AA: 21 (97.2%)

I took my first DAT last year around this time and it was really hard to study again this year..for I had to remember everything again!!! I focused on gchem and ochem mainly but now im regretting... I thought the bio questions were very straightforward and factual that if I spent enough time memorizing, I could have scored higher!!!


Also I took all 3 of the topscore test yesterday (just the science sections) and scored 18s and 17s. I got like +7 higher on gchem and ochem. The real DAT is much much easier as far as gchem and ochem are concerned!!! 🙂

Anyways... Thank you guys for all the help!!! I will come back and post breakdowns later tonight😀


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Just came back after having a nice, relaxing dinner in 3 weeks! 😀

Some ppl PM me about what passages I had for the reading...so I just decided to post it up. Honestly!!! I'm really lucky to NOT get the piano passage.. as it seems like a lot of ppl this week got the infamous piano passage!
My passages were all relating to genetics...1)telomere 2)gene therapy 3) aging & regenerative medicine 🙂

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So here's some breakdown:

PAT: some crazy hole punch Qs... again!!! I saw these last year too! CRACK PAT is the one that really prepares for this one. I didn't focus much on studying for PAT this year. I just did 4 tests out of 10 I had from last year.---> This is another good thing about Crack PAT for it never expires unlike others like Topscore and etc...

QR: MATH DESTROYER!!!!! It brought my score from 17 (last year) -> 20. I had CDP Math last year. This software is good for time pacing, but their explaination is crappy. Also the questions on the real DAT resembles a lot like the math destroyer. The newly built-in calculator helped a lot today. Question types I've seen today include: probability questions, work problems, conversions, log problems (know your log rules!!!) and 3~ 4 sentence word problems. Again, MATH DESTROYER is the key here.

RC: I didnt really prepare for this section. Honestly, I think the score on this section depends heavily on what kinds of passages you get. I thought the last year ones were harder.

Biology: Initially, I was focusing on boosting up the biology score. Then, I thought to myself that the no matter how much I study, biology questions will always be random and hard. My thoughts were wrong!!! Today's version was pretty manageable if I studied harder!!! Last year, I studied cliff's AP bio, Kaplan blue book and schaum's notes. This year, I barely finished reading cliff's AP bio. Big mistake!!! Read and memorize Cliff's AP bio front and back!!!

Gchem: I got like more than 5 questions I have seen before from somewhere: including destroyer, topscore, kaplan subjective & final tests, and acheiver. They were very similar except the numbers and the way they were worded.
Chad videos were very helpful too! I paid $20 online and went through his videos very slowly and throughly and took notes. I literally wrote down everything he writes on the board. Then I did destroyer 2X. Topscore is helpful too! Use as a study source. I got 7 more points on the real DAT. The questions are a lot simpler. So the key for Gchem is do as many problems as possible and get familiarize with the types of the questions.

Ochem: Destroyer road map is the key here. I photocopied all 6 road maps, put it next to my bed, desk, car seat, etc...and tried to look at them whenever possible. Also, kaplan blue book does a really good job. Read and learn the rules. i.e.) cis vs trans for such reactions...I thought the kaplan organic subjective tests were o.k. but I had like 3 questions that were straight out from them. Also, my major concern was whether I would get tested on lab stuff i.e. extraction, filtration, etc and IR & NMR. I WAS tested on both but they were VERY simple. I didnt have to find a molecule based on IR or NMR peaks...but it was more like "how many peaks would you see for this hydrogen?" etc. In terms of lab question, it was like if there are mixtures including 3 different types, what would be your first step to separate them? etc...

Let me know if you have any questions. I've been through this twice and I learned a lot from SDN! I will in turn try help you guys as much as possible!!! 🙂 Good luck for those who have DATs coming up!!!