Ahh I'm finally done!!! It feels so good to have all the long hours and work pay off. Here is the breakdown:
PAT 22 93.4 percentile
QR 19 91.2 percentile
RC 24 94 percentile
Bio 20 88 precentile
GC 20 80 percentile
OC 20 80 percentile
TS 20 85 percentile
AA 21 93.4 percentile
My gpa is a 3.6 and sciGPA is a 3.4. I applied to 15 schools and my application gets mailed to the schools on 7-16 (third mailing group).
I've applied to 15 schools because my old DAT was only a 18AA and 24PAT, so I thought I need to send my app out to quite a few places. But I feel pretty good about where I'm at now, but would still like to hear other people's opinions. Am I in good shape to get a lot of those interviews now? I can't tell you how much I have appreciated the members of SDN with their support and answering some of the questions I have had on practice problems, as well as giving advice. In fact, I was unanimously encouraged on SDN to retake the test when I asked for opinions on whether to retake my 18 and 24 from my first DAT. So thanks to everyone who contributes to SDN in any way, you make this whole process much easier and even much more enjoyable!
As far as what I did to study, I would be more than willing to offer suggestions to anyone who has questions, but I will try to break it down:
1. Chad's Videos-- Yes, you have to pay a subscription fee for them now, but it is totally worth it. I was struggling with OC and GC and was not looking forward to reviewing old text books to recall info, so when I came across this option I was pumped. Chad's website and videos (***********.com) were very helpful. I even posted a gc question I had on the general forum and with the hour, CHAD HIMSELF responded and explained the answer which I could easily understand. The guy is awesome and you should strongly consider his videos as a study resource.
2. DAT Destroyer-- A GREAAAAT BOOK. You need this. Supplement with with Chad's videos and you should be in great shape. The oc road maps where very useful. I went through all the OC problems (242 I believe) and felt very confident about OC. GC I only got through about 100 of the 232 questions, lol. I really don't like GC. But if I had more time I would have gone through the rest of the problems. Biology was also great. I went through all of the 377 questions. I also went through all of the qr questions (150 or so) and felt they were a great way to prepare for the test's qr section. Can't say enough about Dr. Romano's (Destroyer) book.
3. Math Destroyer--I would recommend it, although I only went through 3 of the 10 tests. Oops!
4. Topscore tests--for only 50 bucks you get three practice exams! Also a lot of people on here recommended them as being very similar to the actual DAT. I took the first two as full length test, did decent on the 2nd one, but only did portions of the 3rd one. (the test can be divided up so you can do the oc or gc portions one at a time if you want)
5. Cliff's AP Bio--I spent way too much time reading this book and not studying other sections like gc and oc very much for a while there, but it is a good book overall. Try to read it quick and move on to other stuff. (Like Destroyer). Another plus to this is that the book is CHEAP! 13 bucks or something.
6. Kaplan Blue Book and notecards--This was what I used to study for the test last summer along with the kaplan online sylabbus and the dat online-live class. I do NOT recommend the class. I think Chad's videos where 10X better. But I did think the book was useful for base knowledge, and easy to understand. This time around, I rarely cracked open the book, barely looked at the notecards, and didn't pay the 300 bucks to reopen my sylabbus. You can get great scores without the kaplan class. Their blue book and sylabbus are all right though.
Well I hope this helps some people out there. I love reading though people's SDN posts and their DAT breakdowns, so I know mine is not all that original and that MANY people recommend the same study materials I just did.
Thanks for feedback and good luck to everybody!!!! : )
PAT 22 93.4 percentile
QR 19 91.2 percentile
RC 24 94 percentile
Bio 20 88 precentile
GC 20 80 percentile
OC 20 80 percentile
TS 20 85 percentile
AA 21 93.4 percentile
My gpa is a 3.6 and sciGPA is a 3.4. I applied to 15 schools and my application gets mailed to the schools on 7-16 (third mailing group).
I've applied to 15 schools because my old DAT was only a 18AA and 24PAT, so I thought I need to send my app out to quite a few places. But I feel pretty good about where I'm at now, but would still like to hear other people's opinions. Am I in good shape to get a lot of those interviews now? I can't tell you how much I have appreciated the members of SDN with their support and answering some of the questions I have had on practice problems, as well as giving advice. In fact, I was unanimously encouraged on SDN to retake the test when I asked for opinions on whether to retake my 18 and 24 from my first DAT. So thanks to everyone who contributes to SDN in any way, you make this whole process much easier and even much more enjoyable!
As far as what I did to study, I would be more than willing to offer suggestions to anyone who has questions, but I will try to break it down:
1. Chad's Videos-- Yes, you have to pay a subscription fee for them now, but it is totally worth it. I was struggling with OC and GC and was not looking forward to reviewing old text books to recall info, so when I came across this option I was pumped. Chad's website and videos (***********.com) were very helpful. I even posted a gc question I had on the general forum and with the hour, CHAD HIMSELF responded and explained the answer which I could easily understand. The guy is awesome and you should strongly consider his videos as a study resource.
2. DAT Destroyer-- A GREAAAAT BOOK. You need this. Supplement with with Chad's videos and you should be in great shape. The oc road maps where very useful. I went through all the OC problems (242 I believe) and felt very confident about OC. GC I only got through about 100 of the 232 questions, lol. I really don't like GC. But if I had more time I would have gone through the rest of the problems. Biology was also great. I went through all of the 377 questions. I also went through all of the qr questions (150 or so) and felt they were a great way to prepare for the test's qr section. Can't say enough about Dr. Romano's (Destroyer) book.
3. Math Destroyer--I would recommend it, although I only went through 3 of the 10 tests. Oops!
4. Topscore tests--for only 50 bucks you get three practice exams! Also a lot of people on here recommended them as being very similar to the actual DAT. I took the first two as full length test, did decent on the 2nd one, but only did portions of the 3rd one. (the test can be divided up so you can do the oc or gc portions one at a time if you want)
5. Cliff's AP Bio--I spent way too much time reading this book and not studying other sections like gc and oc very much for a while there, but it is a good book overall. Try to read it quick and move on to other stuff. (Like Destroyer). Another plus to this is that the book is CHEAP! 13 bucks or something.
6. Kaplan Blue Book and notecards--This was what I used to study for the test last summer along with the kaplan online sylabbus and the dat online-live class. I do NOT recommend the class. I think Chad's videos where 10X better. But I did think the book was useful for base knowledge, and easy to understand. This time around, I rarely cracked open the book, barely looked at the notecards, and didn't pay the 300 bucks to reopen my sylabbus. You can get great scores without the kaplan class. Their blue book and sylabbus are all right though.
Well I hope this helps some people out there. I love reading though people's SDN posts and their DAT breakdowns, so I know mine is not all that original and that MANY people recommend the same study materials I just did.
Thanks for feedback and good luck to everybody!!!! : )
