DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?? Third Time's A Charm! *SPECIAL EDITION*

Introduction:
I would like to thank SDN, all the geeks and nerds who helped me answer all my random questions, my screen shot images, all my clarifications, and generally helping me with everything that is DAT. I don't mean geeks and nerds in a bad way, haha, as I am one myself. I wouldn't be on this forum if I wasn't! I'd like to especially thank my laptop for putting up with hours upon hours of stand-by mode. This baby needs a rest. Now onto my story, I initially took the DAT in 2009 and I received the following scores

DAT (2009) (FIRST ATTEMPT)
BIO: 17
GC: 22
OC: 17
PAT:19
RC: 24
QR: 17
TS: 18
AA: 19

Then I took it again in 2010 using a bit different study material and I got (SECOND ATTEMPT)

BIO: 19
GC: 21
OC: 18
PAT: 20
RC: 18 (Piano'd FML )
QR: 19
TS: 19
AA: 19


So then THIS time, and by THIS time, I mean the third time, I had to really concentrate. I mean, I used the same study guides (review of the study materials *read below*). I got serious. I mean, I know the DAT score is valid for 3 years, so my 2009 scores would be gone in 2012 but that's not exactly something to be happy about. My 2010 scores weren't that much better, and I studied my ass off.

But for this time, I literally studied *ON AVERAGE* about 3-5 hours a day from early July to September 20th with about 9-10 days of ‘free time' or ‘play time' with family and friends, took it a bit relaxed on the weekends and just tried my best to push through. Every time the urge came to play some video games, I'd withhold myself. Every time my ex-girlfriend and I got into a fight, I wouldn't let it get in my way of destroying the DAT. To me, the DAT represents the only part of the application that can be solved and mastered in 2 months, it accounts for about 50% of the application process (some schools more, some schools less).

Anyway, here is what I got for my THIRD attempt (2011)


*drum roll please*


BIO…23…(97.4%)
GC…..24…(96.1%)
OC…..23…(93.4%)
PAT...22…(90.9%)
RC…..22….(85.9%)
QR.…21…..(94.0%)
TS…..23…..(97.5%)
AA.…23…..(98.1%)


When I saw my scores, I was like "HOLY F.U.C.K.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", I can't believe I did it. I can't believe I have become another 23AA on SDN! This is surreal to even compared to you legends on SDN! Yeah sure, my scores are 24-27AA but still! For a ******* kid like me who took the DAT 2x and didn't do so well in his sciences in college, getting a 23AA was OVERWHELMING. I was shaking pretty much from the moment I got my scores to when I got home. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to think. Looking at my scores from the past two, I pretty much improved 3-4pts in all the sections! As for the test itself, here is my review

Biology: As people ALWAYS mention, it's pretty random. But not random in a "what the hell are they asking" way, but more in a "oh…well I wouldn't have thought about it THAT way". Like for example, there were questions regarding concepts that I had studied earlier, but it asks you to see it the way the question is being framed. The biology we're reading is in a perfect world, and imperfections, scientific studies, and labs all mess this up and provide an infinite possible ways to get a certain result. As far as straight up WTF questions are concerned, I think I only had like 1-2 like that. Everything else as pretty straight forward and boom, boom, pow! I literally marked like 30% of the biology questions. Oh and also, no diagrams!

General Chemistry: Of course, much easier than destroyer. If there were calculations, it's super basic stuff that a 4th grader can do. Everything else is set up; a lot about chemistry equilibriums, and a bunch of other random stuff that I really don't remember at this point. I probably had like 1-2 physics related questions that threw me off but I figured it out. Not something I studied for but a formula that I is just stuck in my head.

Organic Chemistry: Very straightforward. Amazing! The best part? I had absolutely no questions about IR, Spec, or carbohydrates! I had one about ketals but it was something you could figure out as well. Everything mentioned above and below the arrows of the reactions is something you would encounter in Destroyer. Tollen's test was there also. But aside from a few WTF questions (again, not the difficulty, but more like the concept that it is asking), it was pretty easy. I did have a hard question about nomenclature though but everything else was like boom, boom, pow all over again.

PAT: OMG! This was super hard! WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY harder than CDP! I was surprised because the first two times I took the DAT, the PAT was almost identical to CDP. This time, I swear, it was SUPER DUPER HARD! But I want to make something clear, only the Keyholes and TFE were super hard. Angles were pretty easy and much easier than CDP. In fact, the TFE and especially keyholes were so hard that it kinda threw me off my game and I had to count the lab cube set with my mind haha but it wasn't bad. The first 3-4 cube sets were not bad and totally doable. The last section, pattern folding, was also easier than CDP. If I see the right answer, I pick it, I don't go back and disprove the other answers. I finished PAT with like….3 minutes remaining so I went back to the TFE/Keyholes and changed a few answers around.

RC: Super awesome, super straightforward. I had a passage about Einstein BEC (this isn't the physics passage right?). When I saw Einstein and all the physics crap, I thought I had the physics passage and I wanted to kill myself after having piano last time! But it wasn't bad as long as you read fast. I finished this passage in like 28 minutes which was a while. Next passage was about bacteria and stomach ulcers. Nice fun passage. And the last passage (my favorite) was about Hurricanes! I mean, as long as you've been watching the news, you know some BASICS about hurricanes and global warming and you could even guess some answers without reading. It was pretty fun to read actually and informative!

QR: Pretty much, all questions except 1-2 were all do-able. By do-able, I mean if you had the time, you could totally do it. LOL! Of course, you don't have time which is why you have to speed! As everyone always stresses, you must mark and move on if you don't know it in 30 seconds. By the way, for the word problems, I never actually write an equation down and solve for the variable. I always plug the numbers in and see which works. For example, if there question is asking something in a ratio of 3:7 (like popsicles to lollipops, or dimes to quarters), I look for the numbers that are multiples of 10 and 3/7. Also, I had a weird question about standard deviation and I totally guessed on it and moved on. When I was finished, I had about 4-5 minutes left and I went back and I changed some things (I think I changed like 1 answer max). Oh also, there was only 1 rate problem which is my weakness. Then I completed the survey and that's that!

Review of Study Materials:

Kaplan's Blue Book: The basic, the fundamentals, the layer that you must know before you move onto the next. It's good. Nothing more, nothing said, but it is essential for the basics. In other words, if you're new to DAT studying or re-taking, you MUST read KBB as the first thing you do! The questions in the back were pretty representative, I got like 18-21 on the sciences in that book. Didn't try PAT or QR or reading. I went through this 3x.

Barron's DAT: Some people say it sucks, others say it's good for the PAT; I thought it was good. I mean, it's just more foundation on top of KBB. I liked how the science section was pretty condensed and straight to the point. Obviously, if you just depend on Barron's, you will not do well at all. It's good for the biology section though. Just read it! I went through this 2x.

200_ Sample Items Test from ADA Website: I don't know what this PDF is called but I took it like 2 days ago and I got like 19/21/20 ish (I don't remember) for the science section. Just go through all 100 problems! Took the test just once though.

Cliff's AP Biology: A little too detailed for the actual DAT, especially the part about plant structure. I thought, in general, it was pretty hardcore for my taste and a little tiny overkill for the DAT. But if you know this book, then you'll get 21+ on the biology section. In other words, if the DAT was an open book test, this would be the book I'd take to help me with. Read/skimmed 2x.

TopScore: Great. Really lets you know where you need to work on. I only took TS1 and TS2. I didn't feel like taking the third, maybe it was a mistake, maybe not. It most definitely helped to find the weaknesses of my game and I would go back and see what Destroyer says about it, or if I couldn't find it there, I'd ask SDN!

CRACK DAT PAT: Pretty much on-par with my version of the PAT except TFE/Keyholes. I had the 5 test edition and I felt like it was pretty good. I guess it all depends on the version of the PAT that you get, sometime it'll be easier than CDP is some sections, and in others, it'll be way harder. For me personally, TFE and Keyholes were harder on the real thing while angles were much easier, cubes were a tiny bit harder, and pattern folding was easier on the real thing.

CRACK DAT MATH: Have the 10 test version. Took all the tests, except the 8th. Know your trig functions, know your triangles, know your random chance stuff. The CDM was also pretty good. If I had to judge though, I'd say CDM was harder than the real thing! Like I said, on the real there, there was maybe 1-3 WTF questions, but on CDM, I seriously couldn't do like 4-5 of them even if I had 4 hours to complete. I feel like my version of QR was easier than previous years for sure.

DatQVault: Over the scope of the real DAT in terms of the biology. Just know the random facts and you're going to go. See below for my practice test scores.

Last but not least

Destroyer 2011: This man knows what to ask for. I would suggest Destroyer for ALL SECTIONS! Read this for biology, read it for chemistry, read it for organic chemistry! Know how to do every single problem! The first time I went through this 2 years ago, I thought Destroyer was totally overkill. I could barely do like 15% of the problems. Then last year, I STILL thought Destroyer was overkill but I still used the roadmaps for OC. This time, I went through Destroyer, question by question, and either memorized, or learned something knew. For example, if an ionic solid dissolves in a solution, and the temperature decreases…is that exothermic or endothermic? You'd think "Hey yeah, the temperature went down, so it must mean it cooled off and thus, released heat" but it's endothermic. I don't know WHY to this day, but I memorized that simple fact and let's just say……that question came up word for word! I would make sweet love to Dr. Romano and personally thank him for helping to identify the parts of GC and OC that I need to memorize and work on. I went through BIO, GC, and OC 4-5x in this book. This book was my bible.

Chad's Videos: California needs to legalize gay marriage so I can marry this man. I realize he lives in Arizona but gay marriage is way more likely to be passed here than there, that's for sure. He helped me SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH with GC and OC. I watched BOTH his 2010 videos and his 2009 videos. I saw his 2010 videos 1x at FASTPLAY, and I saw his 2009 videos twice. Chad is the man. IF you had ONE THING to spend money on regarding DAT practice, I would do this. Chad + Destroyer = ALL YOU NEED FOR OCHEM AND GC! I know that's cliché but these two combined will make you a happy man/woman. Chad is the best teacher, and makes things MAKE SENSE! Sometimes, thing's don't make sense in OC, like why this reaction goes through a ring intermediate while something else doesn't! Make sure to know your carbocation shifts! Chad really drills rearrangements in your head. Know everything from all of his videos!!


My Situation: Currently, I have like a 3.25 overall GPA and a 2.7ish science GPA. I know that's low, and I know I need to raise the science GPA for sure. I'm currently in a Master's program and I plan on getting a super high GPA to make up for my undergraduate GPA/Science GPA. With that said, how do you guys see my chances come June 2012? I mean, let's just assume I do decent for my Master's program + the stats from my undergraduate above, and about 500 hours of EC's of volunteering and assisting, how would you guys rate my prospects? I don't even want to think about the specifics of the application. I had already applied June 2010 and I got rejected from all my schools, which I'm sure was a result of my low science GPA. Do you guys think my DAT score, TS score, and AA scores make up for this? Please be honest
Practice Scores:
CDP: 21, 20, 20, 22 = 20.75
CDM: 20, 19, 21, 22, 21, 19, 22, 21, 20 = 20.55
DatQVault: Anywhere between 16-19
Top Score 1:
Bio/Chem/OChem/PAT/RC/QR/TS/AA
21/20/19/21/22/20/20/20
Top Score 2:
20/23/23/21/22/22/22/22

I will update when more things pop into my head
I shall end this epic post with the following movie quote (my attitude towards the DAT)

The Joker: A little fight in you. I like that. <---------- This is the DAT speaking to me

Batman: Then you're going to love me.<--------- This is me kicking its ass and saving the chick.

- The Dark Knight (2008)