2 weeks left and scores still low! HELP!!!

[takeitlikeaman]

My DAT is scheduled for august 26th and my scores don't show I am ready. I signed up for the live kaplan classes and those were a complete waste, but the resources that came along with it haven't been too bad. Basically the first 6 weeks I only studied out of the kaplan blue book and I just took a full length exam they offer and scored horribly. These are the scores I received: Bio-14 GC-14 OC-18 TS-15 PA-16 RC-16 QR-13 AA-15. Yes i know these scores are crap and I blame myself for not using more resources. I started using Chad's videos a couple of days ago and I just bought DAT bootcamp so that I have more test to take. The problem is with a little over 2 weeks left, i am not sure how I can take all of these test, finish chad's videos and study the notes I have taken. I can't postpone the exam either because I am leaving on a trip a couple of days after and by the time I get back it will almost be time to go back to school. I have been studying 12 hours a day the past week because I am starting to stress over my scores not improving. I have read Kaplan makes their exams harder but that hasn't made me feel any better about my scores. I want to know what you guys would do in this position? how would you balance studying, taking practice exams and watching videos for the last couple of weeks. I want to take all the practice exams so I am ready as possible but I also want to take them knowing I am prepared and not just taking them to see how the are. Without buying any more resources what would you guys recommend?

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[byahnoob]

What i recommend

GC+OC - Chads (focus more on GC, tons of concepts)
BIO - Cliffs
DAT Bootcamp
Math Destroyer (your QR is way too low)

If time permits:
DAT Destroyer (highly recommended you just take a look at the questions + answers. I learned a great deal just by going through some of the questions)
Feralis Notes

YOLO RC... I don't know how someone can improve in that area..

 

[Thorium]

Practice tests under testing conditions is key with your remaining time. I made the mistake of not doing enough, and I had to rush through the sciences because I spent too much time on gen chem.

In a nutshell, I'd do a practice test once a day. Review the answers the next day. Additionally, don't under estimate QR- definitely practice!

 

[byahnoob]

Practice tests under testing conditions is key with your remaining time. I made the mistake of not doing enough, and I had to rush through the sciences because I spent too much time on gen chem.

In a nutshell, I'd do a practice test once a day. Review the answers the next day. Additionally, don't under estimate QR- definitely practice!

Did you have a lot of calculations on your DAT exam? Im struggling to get the calculation questions on DAT bootcamp done within the given time frame... takes me so long

 

[Thorium]

In the beginning of Gen Chem I did, so I focused on those way longer than I should have (because of the "I know I can" mindset). Due to that, I'm sure I messed up some easy questions because I had to fly through them in order to have enough time for ochem. Which, ochem was super easy in my opinion...thanks to chad's videos/quizzes and the Destroyer road maps.

 

[byahnoob]

In the beginning of Gen Chem I did, so I focused on those way longer than I should have (because of the "I know I can" mindset). Due to that, I'm sure I messed up some easy questions because I had to fly through them in order to have enough time for ochem. Which, ochem was super easy in my opinion...thanks to chad's videos/quizzes and the Destroyer road maps.

sweet thanks for the reply.
hope you did well on your exam
wish me luck

 

[takeitlikeaman]

What i recommend

GC+OC - Chads (focus more on GC, tons of concepts)
BIO - Cliffs
DAT Bootcamp
Math Destroyer (your QR is way too low)

If time permits:
DAT Destroyer (highly recommended you just take a look at the questions + answers. I learned a great deal just by going through some of the questions)
Feralis Notes

YOLO RC... I don't know how someone can improve in that area..

Thank you for your input! but I have the kaplan blue book and I was wondering if just reading through the bio sections in there daily will help me on the actual DAT? I was thinking of doing 2 hours of bio reading a day, then watching chads videos for 2-3 hours and then taking one practice test a day. I still have 3 Full length exams and a bunch of individual exams left on the kaplan site and then 5 test for each subject from bootcamp except for PAT which include 10. Would you say this is a good schedule to follow?

 

[takeitlikeaman]

Practice tests under testing conditions is key with your remaining time. I made the mistake of not doing enough, and I had to rush through the sciences because I spent too much time on gen chem.

In a nutshell, I'd do a practice test once a day. Review the answers the next day. Additionally, don't under estimate QR- definitely practice!

So you are saying I should only take exams from here on out? So every day take an exam and review the mistakes from the exam i took the day before? And will bootcamp and chads help me boost my scores for gen chem and QR? With bio my score varies depending on if I have been studying it or not. 2 weeks ago I hit 18 when i was really reading and when I stopped it dropped again. And is bio lectures worth watching on Chad's?

 

[byahnoob]

Thank you for your input! but I have the kaplan blue book and I was wondering if just reading through the bio sections in there daily will help me on the actual DAT? I was thinking of doing 2 hours of bio reading a day, then watching chads videos for 2-3 hours and then taking one practice test a day. I still have 3 Full length exams and a bunch of individual exams left on the kaplan site and then 5 test for each subject from bootcamp except for PAT which include 10. Would you say this is a good schedule to follow?

Many people say that you should take notes when studying for biology. For me, thats very boring and it puts me to sleep. What i do is I study for biology whenever i have time. I read, read, read over and over the same material and do DAT destroyer questions as well as supplement that with QVault and dat bootcamp. I HONESTLY don't think you should be taking full length exams if your scores are that low. Thats showing you that you don't know the material well enough right now. I suggest you to take a week to study your a$$ off... for orgo and gc, chads will be fine. Biggest issue is biology... its so freaken dense.. (biology is 50 luck 50 knowledge).. only thing you can do here is just read and get exposure to many questions

I'm saying this again but yolo QR.. i don't think you have time to work on that...if you really want to, id recommend you look over math destroyer and just look at the answers of how problems you don't understand are solved. and besides TS is more important than QR.

don't use chads for biology. its terrible!!!! and technically its not even chad cause he doesn't teach it


this isn't the best study method, but I'm just throwing you my opinion and tips since you're on a super tight schedule

 

[takeitlikeaman]

Many people say that you should take notes when studying for biology. For me, thats very boring and it puts me to sleep. What i do is I study for biology whenever i have time. I read, read, read over and over the same material and do DAT destroyer questions as well as supplement that with QVault and dat bootcamp. I HONESTLY don't think you should be taking full length exams if your scores are that low. Thats showing you that you don't know the material well enough right now. I suggest you to take a week to study your a$$ off... for orgo and gc, chads will be fine. Biggest issue is biology... its so freaken dense.. (biology is 50 luck 50 knowledge).. only thing you can do here is just read and get exposure to many questions

I'm saying this again but yolo QR.. i don't think you have time to work on that...if you really want to, id recommend you look over math destroyer and just look at the answers of how problems you don't understand are solved. and besides TS is more important than QR.

don't use chads for biology. its terrible!!!! and technically its not even chad cause he doesn't teach it


this isn't the best study method, but I'm just throwing you my opinion and tips since you're on a super tight schedule

But if I spend a week studying hard then I will only have 1 week to go through all the practice exams I have sitting on my computer. I feel like it would be overkill to take 3 exams a day right?

 

[byahnoob]

i think its more important to know the material than do practice exams...really if you know your sheitt then you don't need to worry about time.

you should be able to finish chads videos in 3-5 days (skip the topics you already know)
for biology just keep reading and doing questions
you should really make room for dat destroyer. that could make it or break it.. it could save you on 1-3 questions that determine the difference between a 19 or 20

and
im not sure what the difficulty of kaplan exams are...
take a DAT bootcamp one and post your scores.. theres more analysis on those scores here on SDN
usually people score ~1-3 points higher on the real DAT than their Bootcamp scores

 

[byahnoob]

and you had to choose probably the worst option to study from for the first 6 weeks... KAPLAN!!!! hallelujah
you couldn't have used chads/cliffs for those 6 weeks?? i think your score would've been much higher

 

[Thorium]

I mean, I'd totally be reviewing material for sure. But knowing what it's like to be under the time constraints is pretty darn important.

When I took mine, I felt like I knew all the material that was given to me on the exam. On the other hand, I could've done better had I done more practice exams. Oh well...live and learn.

 

[FloorMatt]

For QR is it extremely important to know ALL the formulas in math destroyer and all the conversions? Or are there specific ones the frequently come up?