- Joined
- Mar 16, 2010
- Messages
- 671
- Reaction score
- 0
PAT: 25 (99.0)
QR: 24 (99.0)
RC: 22 (84.4)
Bio: 22 (95.9)
GC: 23 (95.4) 🙁
OC: 27 (98.7)
TS: 24 (99.1)
AA: 24 (99.6)
Sooooooo, after worrying for a month I am finally finished. I was so surprised that I got 24 because the Natural Science section was brutal. I finished with 2 minutes left with no time to check again. I literally thought I would only get 19 in TS. I think I could have done better for the QR/PAT/RC because I was rather depressed after finishing the natural sciences and became very sluggish. I was so relieved when I finally saw the score.
All in all, I started studying around early May, so it has been ~2 months, but I could not spend much time on the DAT since I shadowed about 8 hours a day in may and had to take all of my physics requirements in 10 weeks. So for may, it was about 4 hours a day, 6 hours a day in june, these last 2 weeks I probably only did 3 hours a day since I was so sick of studying 🙄.
Anyways, breakdown:
PAT -
I've always been good at these things, and since I did not really have a lot of time, I did not really practice for this at all. No CDP. I did the topscore PATs and a few achiever practices to get the feel of things. Being a long-time art student certainly helps. I finished with 5 minutes remaining, and looked over the angles, which I am almost completely certain to have been my source of errors. Cannot really say much about this section. It is only slightly more difficult than topscore.
QR - Math Destroyer
I might have gotten a test with an easy QR! As opposed to what other people have mentioned, my test was relatively free of word problems. It was mostly simple calculations, there wasn't that many tricks. Math destroyer is really helpful! I went through 1-9 once and it basically refreshed my memory from about 5 years ago. It was actually even easier than math destroyer and topscore! During the 15 minute break I wrote down trig formulas and unit conversions which I memorized. I'll post an image file in my response of what I wrote down. I definitely suggest you do this, as it helped me calculated 3 questions very quickly, 1 unit conversion and 2 trig.
Timing is very important for this section. I actually ran out of time because I was kind of muddled from thinking I did poorly on the science section. Mark the difficult and wordy questions, fill in a temporary answer and return to them after you have went through all the easy questions! This is definitely the strategy to use. You do not want to get stuck on a single question for 5 minutes and run out of time to do easy questions when you could have gotten more easy questions complete and correct.
RC -
I did not study for this either. I am surprised I did this well. I got the moral/fungus/mesenchyme combo. I was rather worried about this section since I got 15 on achiever 1, and about 21 on topscore, and have heard that topscore is too easy compared to the real DAT. Well, I actually found it to be exactly the same as topscore. In terms of both scores and difficulty. My strategy was to go through all the questions and write keywords for each. Then I would read the passage and knock them out 1 by 1. As opposed to what other people said, I found this to be most effective during my topscore readings. Find what works out for you! Few tone, inference, but nothing really major.
Bio - Cliffs AP, KBB, Bio Major, Masters Biology
Super random. I probably got the Bio section from hell. There were 0 plants, 0 taxonomy, and 4! I kid you not 4! questions on molecular biology techniques. Thankfully I am a cell and molecular major. Centrifuging, pelleting proteins, and a few things. Many of the questions were difficult to read and I could not understand what they were asking. In one genetics question I had to choose between RrCc x RrCc or RrCc x rrcc without being told the ratio of offspring (R and C dominant). I mean wth?! Maybe because it was because the question was so drawn out and annoying to read that I missed something. Several of the questions made my eyes spin. Anyways, this section is very broad. My mistake for this section was to spend too much time on it during the DAT. I had planned to spend 25 minutes on the 40 Q's but ended up spending 10 more thinking and rereading each question. Spending more time on Bio took away the precious time I could have put into the chemistries and could have gotten me a better score. If I could take the test any differently, I would go through bio as fast as possible and get to the chemistries to get that 30/30.
The reasoning is this. AA is calculated as an average between all non-PAT sections. 28/30 vs 29/30 vs 30/30 on genchem or ochem translated into a 3-4 point increase for each correctly answered question whereas 1 more correct in Bio will get you ~1 point if you are in the 20-23 region (typically). If you are in the 38/40 to 39/40 to 40/40 region for Bio, you will get a 2-3 point increase, but given the broadness of the Bio section, chances are you will not cover everything, and will be in the 35/40 (20-23) region. So, knowing AA is calculated by averaging, would you spend that time to get +1 on the chemistries to get that 4 point boost which translated into a +4/5 to AA or in biology where you are most likely only going to get that 1/5 boost from one more correctly answered question? This is just my opinion, anyways.
I also went through Destroyer Bio once but did not really retain anything. Was mediocre at best. Cliffs was OK, I read through it about 5 times, KBB about 4. But like I mentioned, a large fraction of the questions like the techniques came out of nowhere and I answered with the knowledge from my undergrad/master's.
GC - Chad, Destroyer, KBB
I thought I did so bad in the sciences. I got a bunch of questions I never seen before. I looked over KBB thrice about 1.5 months ago and never looked at it again, although it was very very useful in getting me started. Definitely start with KBB then go through Chad's videos. CHAD IS GREAT GO GET THE VIDEOS, it is the best 20 dollars out of everything I spent for DAT preparation. After that, I used Destroyer. Destroyer is good, I went through it about 3 times, writing down difficult calculations and reading them over so I can answer them more quickly on the real DAT.
Well, in truth, though, the calculations on the real DAT is easy, but there are some fine details that are not explicitly stated in all those 3 resources, and that is what got me. I was geared to think from Chad's practice quizes, destroyer, and KBB that most the difficult questions were calculations, but in truth, the calculations are very simple, and the nitpicking of the genchem concepts got me. I got ~3 detailed concept questions. Never seen them asked that way before. Definitely get familiar with gen chem concepts. That does not mean that you should neglect calculations, though!
OC - Chad, Destroyer, KBB
I can't remember that much about this part, but it was straightforward compared to GC and Bio.
About a month ago I made flashcards for reactions and read them over once in a while. I actually expected to get much higher in genchem than in ochem, so I am somewhat surprised. I definitely suggest flashcards because it will get your brain to react, almost like a reflex, when you see a reaction. It works. I spent about 20 minutes on the real DAT's Ochem. I am sure that reviewing flashcards was the key thing that allowed me to go the OC section so quickly. I also went through destroyer OC in about 2 hours on my second run-through because I had all the reactions and many concepts stamped into my head with flashcards. Chad's videos again are amazing, get them! Ochem is really straightforward in general. 2 NMR, 3 techniques questions. They were mostly basic, but it is also the part I skimmed on, and most likely the source of my mistake.
I also used WikiPremed, but it might be a little excessive. A little more information never hurts, though, right? 🙂
Topscore & Achiever & Destroyer
I found topscore to be very helpful, and is definitely a useful resource. The RC was similar, the real PAT was harder (but not by much), the other sections are about the same. Expect the same amount of time you spent deciphering some of topscore's questions on the real DAT (especially bio).
I did not find achiever to be too useful. If you want more things to study from, get Achiever, but otherwise ~meh. I found 4&5 to be too detailed in terms of the scope of the exam! None of the sections are representative.
BS/GC/OC/PAT/QR/RC (TS/AA)
Achiever Tests:
#1 - 20/23/20/19/20/15 (21/20) - June 2nd, 2010
#2 - 19/19/18/*/*/* (19/*) - June 12th, 2010
#4 - 18/18/15/18/*/* - (17/*) - June 27th, 2010 (HARD!)
#3 - 17/18/25/18/*/* - (19/*) - July 11th, 2010
Topscore Tests:
#1 - 21/21/20/19/*/22 (21/*) - June 7th, 2010
#2 - 21/21/19/22/22/20 (21/21) - July 5th, 2010
#3 - 22/25/25/22/22/22 (24/23) - July 12th, 2010
Destroyer is good, especially for Ochem. For genchem, like I mentioned, it will get you thinking a bit more about calculations. I imagine this is because the calculations are quite tedious, and will get you frustrated/nervous. This, of course, cause you to concentrate more on them than the other parts? This was true for me, anyways. So don't stress out too much if you are having trouble with destroyer genchem calculations! Knowing concepts is just as important! But of course, don't skim on anything as usual!
I hope this breakdown was helpful! I know it is at least super long
I am hoping to get into BU. My undergrad GPA is rather low, at 3.12/3.00. I have a 4.0 masters, so that raises my cumulative to 3.23/3.18. Hopefully I can land that interview and acceptance letter. I am thinking of NYU, tufts, and Columbia, as well. I had to work full time in undergrad and had a lot of family problems, which I explained in my PS. Hopefully adcom will see the giant improvement and that my undergrad GPA is not representative of my true academic abilities :x
I am also Canadian!
I would also like to thank everyone on these forums for their suggestions and insight into what to use! I doubt I could have broken 18 without all of your help! I wrote out the stuff I put on my scratch sheet for QR below, and I think it is definitely useful for anyone taking the DAT. The unit conversions should cover everything. Feel free to add to the list!
QR: 24 (99.0)
RC: 22 (84.4)
Bio: 22 (95.9)
GC: 23 (95.4) 🙁
OC: 27 (98.7)
TS: 24 (99.1)
AA: 24 (99.6)
Sooooooo, after worrying for a month I am finally finished. I was so surprised that I got 24 because the Natural Science section was brutal. I finished with 2 minutes left with no time to check again. I literally thought I would only get 19 in TS. I think I could have done better for the QR/PAT/RC because I was rather depressed after finishing the natural sciences and became very sluggish. I was so relieved when I finally saw the score.
All in all, I started studying around early May, so it has been ~2 months, but I could not spend much time on the DAT since I shadowed about 8 hours a day in may and had to take all of my physics requirements in 10 weeks. So for may, it was about 4 hours a day, 6 hours a day in june, these last 2 weeks I probably only did 3 hours a day since I was so sick of studying 🙄.
Anyways, breakdown:
PAT -
I've always been good at these things, and since I did not really have a lot of time, I did not really practice for this at all. No CDP. I did the topscore PATs and a few achiever practices to get the feel of things. Being a long-time art student certainly helps. I finished with 5 minutes remaining, and looked over the angles, which I am almost completely certain to have been my source of errors. Cannot really say much about this section. It is only slightly more difficult than topscore.
QR - Math Destroyer
I might have gotten a test with an easy QR! As opposed to what other people have mentioned, my test was relatively free of word problems. It was mostly simple calculations, there wasn't that many tricks. Math destroyer is really helpful! I went through 1-9 once and it basically refreshed my memory from about 5 years ago. It was actually even easier than math destroyer and topscore! During the 15 minute break I wrote down trig formulas and unit conversions which I memorized. I'll post an image file in my response of what I wrote down. I definitely suggest you do this, as it helped me calculated 3 questions very quickly, 1 unit conversion and 2 trig.
Timing is very important for this section. I actually ran out of time because I was kind of muddled from thinking I did poorly on the science section. Mark the difficult and wordy questions, fill in a temporary answer and return to them after you have went through all the easy questions! This is definitely the strategy to use. You do not want to get stuck on a single question for 5 minutes and run out of time to do easy questions when you could have gotten more easy questions complete and correct.
RC -
I did not study for this either. I am surprised I did this well. I got the moral/fungus/mesenchyme combo. I was rather worried about this section since I got 15 on achiever 1, and about 21 on topscore, and have heard that topscore is too easy compared to the real DAT. Well, I actually found it to be exactly the same as topscore. In terms of both scores and difficulty. My strategy was to go through all the questions and write keywords for each. Then I would read the passage and knock them out 1 by 1. As opposed to what other people said, I found this to be most effective during my topscore readings. Find what works out for you! Few tone, inference, but nothing really major.
Bio - Cliffs AP, KBB, Bio Major, Masters Biology
Super random. I probably got the Bio section from hell. There were 0 plants, 0 taxonomy, and 4! I kid you not 4! questions on molecular biology techniques. Thankfully I am a cell and molecular major. Centrifuging, pelleting proteins, and a few things. Many of the questions were difficult to read and I could not understand what they were asking. In one genetics question I had to choose between RrCc x RrCc or RrCc x rrcc without being told the ratio of offspring (R and C dominant). I mean wth?! Maybe because it was because the question was so drawn out and annoying to read that I missed something. Several of the questions made my eyes spin. Anyways, this section is very broad. My mistake for this section was to spend too much time on it during the DAT. I had planned to spend 25 minutes on the 40 Q's but ended up spending 10 more thinking and rereading each question. Spending more time on Bio took away the precious time I could have put into the chemistries and could have gotten me a better score. If I could take the test any differently, I would go through bio as fast as possible and get to the chemistries to get that 30/30.
The reasoning is this. AA is calculated as an average between all non-PAT sections. 28/30 vs 29/30 vs 30/30 on genchem or ochem translated into a 3-4 point increase for each correctly answered question whereas 1 more correct in Bio will get you ~1 point if you are in the 20-23 region (typically). If you are in the 38/40 to 39/40 to 40/40 region for Bio, you will get a 2-3 point increase, but given the broadness of the Bio section, chances are you will not cover everything, and will be in the 35/40 (20-23) region. So, knowing AA is calculated by averaging, would you spend that time to get +1 on the chemistries to get that 4 point boost which translated into a +4/5 to AA or in biology where you are most likely only going to get that 1/5 boost from one more correctly answered question? This is just my opinion, anyways.
I also went through Destroyer Bio once but did not really retain anything. Was mediocre at best. Cliffs was OK, I read through it about 5 times, KBB about 4. But like I mentioned, a large fraction of the questions like the techniques came out of nowhere and I answered with the knowledge from my undergrad/master's.
GC - Chad, Destroyer, KBB
I thought I did so bad in the sciences. I got a bunch of questions I never seen before. I looked over KBB thrice about 1.5 months ago and never looked at it again, although it was very very useful in getting me started. Definitely start with KBB then go through Chad's videos. CHAD IS GREAT GO GET THE VIDEOS, it is the best 20 dollars out of everything I spent for DAT preparation. After that, I used Destroyer. Destroyer is good, I went through it about 3 times, writing down difficult calculations and reading them over so I can answer them more quickly on the real DAT.
Well, in truth, though, the calculations on the real DAT is easy, but there are some fine details that are not explicitly stated in all those 3 resources, and that is what got me. I was geared to think from Chad's practice quizes, destroyer, and KBB that most the difficult questions were calculations, but in truth, the calculations are very simple, and the nitpicking of the genchem concepts got me. I got ~3 detailed concept questions. Never seen them asked that way before. Definitely get familiar with gen chem concepts. That does not mean that you should neglect calculations, though!
OC - Chad, Destroyer, KBB
I can't remember that much about this part, but it was straightforward compared to GC and Bio.
About a month ago I made flashcards for reactions and read them over once in a while. I actually expected to get much higher in genchem than in ochem, so I am somewhat surprised. I definitely suggest flashcards because it will get your brain to react, almost like a reflex, when you see a reaction. It works. I spent about 20 minutes on the real DAT's Ochem. I am sure that reviewing flashcards was the key thing that allowed me to go the OC section so quickly. I also went through destroyer OC in about 2 hours on my second run-through because I had all the reactions and many concepts stamped into my head with flashcards. Chad's videos again are amazing, get them! Ochem is really straightforward in general. 2 NMR, 3 techniques questions. They were mostly basic, but it is also the part I skimmed on, and most likely the source of my mistake.
I also used WikiPremed, but it might be a little excessive. A little more information never hurts, though, right? 🙂
Topscore & Achiever & Destroyer
I found topscore to be very helpful, and is definitely a useful resource. The RC was similar, the real PAT was harder (but not by much), the other sections are about the same. Expect the same amount of time you spent deciphering some of topscore's questions on the real DAT (especially bio).
I did not find achiever to be too useful. If you want more things to study from, get Achiever, but otherwise ~meh. I found 4&5 to be too detailed in terms of the scope of the exam! None of the sections are representative.
BS/GC/OC/PAT/QR/RC (TS/AA)
Achiever Tests:
#1 - 20/23/20/19/20/15 (21/20) - June 2nd, 2010
#2 - 19/19/18/*/*/* (19/*) - June 12th, 2010
#4 - 18/18/15/18/*/* - (17/*) - June 27th, 2010 (HARD!)
#3 - 17/18/25/18/*/* - (19/*) - July 11th, 2010
Topscore Tests:
#1 - 21/21/20/19/*/22 (21/*) - June 7th, 2010
#2 - 21/21/19/22/22/20 (21/21) - July 5th, 2010
#3 - 22/25/25/22/22/22 (24/23) - July 12th, 2010
Destroyer is good, especially for Ochem. For genchem, like I mentioned, it will get you thinking a bit more about calculations. I imagine this is because the calculations are quite tedious, and will get you frustrated/nervous. This, of course, cause you to concentrate more on them than the other parts? This was true for me, anyways. So don't stress out too much if you are having trouble with destroyer genchem calculations! Knowing concepts is just as important! But of course, don't skim on anything as usual!
I hope this breakdown was helpful! I know it is at least super long
I am hoping to get into BU. My undergrad GPA is rather low, at 3.12/3.00. I have a 4.0 masters, so that raises my cumulative to 3.23/3.18. Hopefully I can land that interview and acceptance letter. I am thinking of NYU, tufts, and Columbia, as well. I had to work full time in undergrad and had a lot of family problems, which I explained in my PS. Hopefully adcom will see the giant improvement and that my undergrad GPA is not representative of my true academic abilities :x
I am also Canadian!
I would also like to thank everyone on these forums for their suggestions and insight into what to use! I doubt I could have broken 18 without all of your help! I wrote out the stuff I put on my scratch sheet for QR below, and I think it is definitely useful for anyone taking the DAT. The unit conversions should cover everything. Feel free to add to the list!
Last edited:
