- Joined
- Nov 30, 2008
- Messages
- 292
- Reaction score
- 28
I'll say this is my second time taking it. The other time was about a year ago. I'll link you to my last breakdown here (and it's in my signature).
I can honestly say I didn't study NEARLY as much as I felt like I should have. I was taking summer classes for the first time and they ate up the first 10 weeks of my summer, and then my sister got married at our house so that ate up a lot of my time too (mowing, landscaping, etc.).
Perceptual - 20 (85.4)
Quantitative Reasoning - 17 (65.7)
Reading Comprehension - 23 (94.5)
Biology - 19 (77.1)
General Chemistry - 19 (73.0)
Organic Chemistry - 19 (73.1)
TS - 19 (76.6)
AA - 19 (77.2)
Perceptual - Did Crack DAT PAT once on Saturday, scored a 21 with about 5-10 minutes to spare so I thought I was set because I scored a 21 on my previous DAT. I would say it was slightly more difficult than CDP, but the hole punches were ridiculously easy with the exception of one that didn't make any sense.
Quantitative Reasoning - I didn't study for this period. I tried studying for it the last time and I didn't feel like I learned a thing, except that the majority is all simple arithmetic/algebra. The calculator DEFINITELY helped. I was able to answer a couple questions just by simply punching in numbers to check the answer and not really solving anything.
Reading Comprehension - I didn't study for it because I didn't know how. I will say I got lucky with the passages though. I took cell biology over the summer and one of the passages was about calcium and it's function with receptors. I was able to answer at least 4 questions just by knowledge of the topic alone and not reading the passage. Another passage was about speech/language and the brain, and the other one was about... I don't remember (if I remember I'll post it). I don't think any of the passages were too hard.
Biology - I opened my Cliffs AP biology book the day before the test. I did graduate over the summer with a degree in Human Biology, so I wasn't too worried about it. Lot's of random questions. The best you can do is have a fairly good idea about everything (don't need in-depth knowledge of anything).
General Chemistry - I watched Chad's videos and took notes on them on some legal pads and reviewed off of those. I thought it was fairly straight forward. I narrowed a decent number of them down to two possible options and then picked the best one (Looks like I'm good at picking
).
Organic Chemistry - I used Destroyer only for the road maps. Other than that I feel like the book is way too much overkill and a waste of time. I just studied reactions (Destroyer, flashcards) and I paged through my organic book (Wade... great textbook for organic IMO) to see the mechanisms for reactions and read about SN1, SN2, etc. and stuff like that. I was surprised I didn't get a question on enatiomers or chirality. I thought this section was pretty easy and straight forward.
I had confidence that I'd do well on the test because I took it once before and had a better idea of what to expect and how to prepare (I know a fair number of people who have taken it twice and the second time was the charm). I don't think practice tests do it justice (Topscore... IMO it's a complete waste of money). The test was at 7am and I had to drive 2 hours to get to the testing place, and I couldn't get to sleep last night, so I was kind of nervous that I'd make stupid mistakes.
Overall I'm VERY happy with my scores and wish everyone who is studying hard the best of luck because it's worth it in the end
I can honestly say I didn't study NEARLY as much as I felt like I should have. I was taking summer classes for the first time and they ate up the first 10 weeks of my summer, and then my sister got married at our house so that ate up a lot of my time too (mowing, landscaping, etc.).
Perceptual - 20 (85.4)
Quantitative Reasoning - 17 (65.7)
Reading Comprehension - 23 (94.5)
Biology - 19 (77.1)
General Chemistry - 19 (73.0)
Organic Chemistry - 19 (73.1)
TS - 19 (76.6)
AA - 19 (77.2)
Perceptual - Did Crack DAT PAT once on Saturday, scored a 21 with about 5-10 minutes to spare so I thought I was set because I scored a 21 on my previous DAT. I would say it was slightly more difficult than CDP, but the hole punches were ridiculously easy with the exception of one that didn't make any sense.
Quantitative Reasoning - I didn't study for this period. I tried studying for it the last time and I didn't feel like I learned a thing, except that the majority is all simple arithmetic/algebra. The calculator DEFINITELY helped. I was able to answer a couple questions just by simply punching in numbers to check the answer and not really solving anything.
Reading Comprehension - I didn't study for it because I didn't know how. I will say I got lucky with the passages though. I took cell biology over the summer and one of the passages was about calcium and it's function with receptors. I was able to answer at least 4 questions just by knowledge of the topic alone and not reading the passage. Another passage was about speech/language and the brain, and the other one was about... I don't remember (if I remember I'll post it). I don't think any of the passages were too hard.
Biology - I opened my Cliffs AP biology book the day before the test. I did graduate over the summer with a degree in Human Biology, so I wasn't too worried about it. Lot's of random questions. The best you can do is have a fairly good idea about everything (don't need in-depth knowledge of anything).
General Chemistry - I watched Chad's videos and took notes on them on some legal pads and reviewed off of those. I thought it was fairly straight forward. I narrowed a decent number of them down to two possible options and then picked the best one (Looks like I'm good at picking
).Organic Chemistry - I used Destroyer only for the road maps. Other than that I feel like the book is way too much overkill and a waste of time. I just studied reactions (Destroyer, flashcards) and I paged through my organic book (Wade... great textbook for organic IMO) to see the mechanisms for reactions and read about SN1, SN2, etc. and stuff like that. I was surprised I didn't get a question on enatiomers or chirality. I thought this section was pretty easy and straight forward.
I had confidence that I'd do well on the test because I took it once before and had a better idea of what to expect and how to prepare (I know a fair number of people who have taken it twice and the second time was the charm). I don't think practice tests do it justice (Topscore... IMO it's a complete waste of money). The test was at 7am and I had to drive 2 hours to get to the testing place, and I couldn't get to sleep last night, so I was kind of nervous that I'd make stupid mistakes.
Overall I'm VERY happy with my scores and wish everyone who is studying hard the best of luck because it's worth it in the end
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