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bentley13

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Alright I am just over 2 weeks away from my test date. Tomorrow is my last day of Chad's videos. I started studying 10 days ago. I got through bio, gchem, and qr in that time (Cliffs, Chad's, Chad's). I'm a little nervous about ochem since I've only had one semester. I am planning on doing destroyer for math, bio, gchem, and ochem. If I want 20+ on all sections, what would be a realistic guide from destroyer (what % correct on destroyer would relate to a ~20)? I also got an 88/100 on my Cliffs practice test today, and I don't really know what to take from that. Any input?

Also, as you may have noticed, I am a little pressed for time. Would it be better to do half of the destroyer problems and really study the answers or do all of them and briefly go over the answers? I took the first math destroyer test today and scored 32/40, but it took me a good 45 minutes. I've heard these are way harder than the actual test. Is 32 a good score to start at or should I shoot for 35+ if I want to be in the 20s?

Any advice is appreciated. Note: I realize I'm crazy for fitting so much into such a short time. I will bump my date back if I'm not in the 20s a week before my date.

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If your nervous about OChem I would suggest going over the packets Chads provides for the OChem. I found this to be extremely helpful and I only used Chads to actually learn the OChem material.

As for destroyer my weakest area was GChem so I did all the GChem problems in the book. Don't be worried about how many problems your getting right/wrong destroyer is way harder then the real test (I probably got less then 40% right the first time). I got a 22 on the real test.

I did Math Destroyer Tests 1-8 and felt like this was sufficient for me personally (I got a 22 on the real test).

I only did like 80 OChem problems in destroyer due to shortness of time but there were some good reagents that weren't covered in Chad's that I wrote down. The actual test was a breeze compared to destroyer I would say Chad's OChem quizzes were more representative of the real thing.

I did 300+ destroyer Bio questions and definitely learned some things but I wouldn't recommend memorizing all the answers in depth because chances are you won't see a single question that was on destroyer for the real test. Just make sure you understand the basics for each question. If you keep getting certain sections wrong then chances are you need to re-study that material. (I got a 20 on the real test)

To answer your question about studying the destroyer answers I would do as any problems as you can and briefly go over the answers (but make sure you understand the science/reasoning behind the answers). Don't waste your time memorizing all the answers because you will never have the same type of questions show up + the wording/style of questions is different on the real DAT.

My Bootcamp scores were the closest to the real DAT in every section except the PAT and OChem (much easier on real DAT at least for my test).

Make sure your focusing on the Reading section as well don't neglect that section same with the PAT to a lesser extent.

PM if you have any further questions I would be happy to answer :D.
 
If your nervous about OChem I would suggest going over the packets Chads provides for the OChem. I found this to be extremely helpful and I only used Chads to actually learn the OChem material.

As for destroyer my weakest area was GChem so I did all the GChem problems in the book. Don't be worried about how many problems your getting right/wrong destroyer is way harder then the real test (I probably got less then 40% right the first time). I got a 22 on the real test.

I did Math Destroyer Tests 1-8 and felt like this was sufficient for me personally (I got a 22 on the real test).

I only did like 80 OChem problems in destroyer due to shortness of time but there were some good reagents that weren't covered in Chad's that I wrote down. The actual test was a breeze compared to destroyer I would say Chad's OChem quizzes were more representative of the real thing.

I did 300+ destroyer Bio questions and definitely learned some things but I wouldn't recommend memorizing all the answers in depth because chances are you won't see a single question that was on destroyer for the real test. Just make sure you understand the basics for each question. If you keep getting certain sections wrong then chances are you need to re-study that material. (I got a 20 on the real test)

To answer your question about studying the destroyer answers I would do as any problems as you can and briefly go over the answers (but make sure you understand the science/reasoning behind the answers). Don't waste your time memorizing all the answers because you will never have the same type of questions show up + the wording/style of questions is different on the real DAT.

My Bootcamp scores were the closest to the real DAT in every section except the PAT and OChem (much easier on real DAT at least for my test).

Make sure your focusing on the Reading section as well don't neglect that section same with the PAT to a lesser extent.

PM if you have any further questions I would be happy to answer :D.

Thank you! I just finished with a Bootcamp practice test for each of the 3 sciences. Gchem- 24, ochem- 19, and bio-22. I missed 9 on bio though (and only 5 on ochem) so I'm not really sure how that translates to a 22 and 19. I sure hope the real test is like Bootcamp! I'm taking another 3 tomorrow, and doing 2 more Math Destroyer tests and ~30 questions each in the sciences in destroyer.

I originally scheduled out to do all of the destroyer problems twice, but should I do them just once and then maybe like 50ish randoms over again? Also, how in the world do I study for RC? And any tips on angle ranking and/or folding would be huge.

Thanks again!
 
Thank you! I just finished with a Bootcamp practice test for each of the 3 sciences. Gchem- 24, ochem- 19, and bio-22. I missed 9 on bio though (and only 5 on ochem) so I'm not really sure how that translates to a 22 and 19. I sure hope the real test is like Bootcamp! I'm taking another 3 tomorrow, and doing 2 more Math Destroyer tests and ~30 questions each in the sciences in destroyer.

I originally scheduled out to do all of the destroyer problems twice, but should I do them just once and then maybe like 50ish randoms over again? Also, how in the world do I study for RC? And any tips on angle ranking and/or folding would be huge.

Thanks again!

The real test is very similar and your scores are looking almost identical to mine and I got a 22 TS 23 AA on the real thing.

When I used destroyer I would do the problems and highlight the ones I got wrong. I would then go over them again a few days later but I wouldn't try and memorize the answers rather I would just learn what areas I needed to further study.

I think destroyer is great for math and bio and decent for OChem and GChem. But the Chads quizzes for GChem and OChem were closer to the real test as was bootcamp. If I had to do the test again I wouldn't focus on destroyer as much but rather bootcamp, chad's quizzes (GChem and OChem only), and Qvault (for Bio, GChem, OChem, reading, QR).

GChem/OChem: Bootcamp + Chad's > Destroyer

I also used Qvault for OChem and GChem as well as Bio and I highly recommend the quizzes they offer.

Reading Comprehension just comes done to finding the right method and sticking to it. I personally read the entire passage for 10 mins while taking quick notes about each paragraph. The next 10 mins was spent answering all the questions.

Using this method of 10 and 10 requires a lot of practice to get good at because you have to learn how to read fast/understand the material/and take good notes all in a 10 min time frame. The next 10 mins requires you to answer 16-17 questions so you have to get your timing down. Everyone has their own method for RC such as Search and Destroy but I found 10 mins reading/10 mins answering the best for me. I recommend Bootcamp + Qvault tests to expose you refine your skills.

Take my PAT tips with a grain of salt because I got a 17 on the real test, although I averaged 20-21 on bootcamp. Angles I used to bootcamp generators to practice at least once every other day for 10-15 mins. I used a mixture of the rapid eye technique and the hill technique/slide technique and had pretty good success on the generators 10+/15.

Can't give any tips of folding since my test had insane folds. The folds were more similar to the full length bootcamp practice test versus the bootcamp generators. The bootcamp generator folds were easier I got no dice folds they were all complex shapes.
 
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Alright I am just over 2 weeks away from my test date. Tomorrow is my last day of Chad's videos. I started studying 10 days ago. I got through bio, gchem, and qr in that time (Cliffs, Chad's, Chad's). I'm a little nervous about ochem since I've only had one semester. I am planning on doing destroyer for math, bio, gchem, and ochem. If I want 20+ on all sections, what would be a realistic guide from destroyer (what % correct on destroyer would relate to a ~20)? I also got an 88/100 on my Cliffs practice test today, and I don't really know what to take from that. Any input?

Also, as you may have noticed, I am a little pressed for time. Would it be better to do half of the destroyer problems and really study the answers or do all of them and briefly go over the answers? I took the first math destroyer test today and scored 32/40, but it took me a good 45 minutes. I've heard these are way harder than the actual test. Is 32 a good score to start at or should I shoot for 35+ if I want to be in the 20s?

Any advice is appreciated. Note: I realize I'm crazy for fitting so much into such a short time. I will bump my date back if I'm not in the 20s a week before my date.
Hi bentley13,

Wishing you the best on your upcoming DAT! Just a little word of warning, not all DAT tests are the same. There are many many different versions so it is always best to prepare accordingly. Your test experience may be very different than another students. Being over prepared is the only way to be prepared for what the DAT exam will present.

Just my 2 cents from many years of experiencing.

Take care..Nancy
 
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Thanks. Both of you! I am starting to worry that I'm spending too much time with practice problems and not enough time studying the material. I'm working on finding the best balance between the 2, but it is hard when I only have a 3.5 week study schedule. I'm scoring ~22/30 on ochem in destroyer, ~24/30 for gchem, ~31/40 for bio, and ~30/40 on QR. Just got 35/40 on my last test in math destroyer and stuck to the 45 minutes!

Bio in destroyer seems to cover literally every possible thing in great detail. They ask anatomy questions that my girlfriend couldn't answer and she just finished anatomy with a 98%.

I've honestly never heard of Qvault, but I'll definitely look into it! Thanks again. I will keep y'all updated after taking a few more practice tests. If you could give suggestions based on my scores about what to study more/how to tackle my weak sections that would be great!!
 
I think you are being pretty on schedule considering you're on a month studying plan. I see you're interested in Qvault but my advice is to actually stay away from it. Now I've never tried Qvauly before so I wouldn't know about the quality but I think you will be overwhelmed by the amount of resources/problems sets especially when you have yet to complete the destroyer. I think what you should do is go over bootcamp and destroyer repetedly until you COMPLETELY MASTER IT or close enough. If destroyer is too much then master bootcamp completely. Only then do I reccommend trying out Qvault or new resources as sort of as like a practice of a real test.

In terms of individual sections, I would say that both chemistry sections are very similar to the bootcamp questions especially in the TYPES of questions. Biology varies too much so I can't say what the optimal strategy would be for you but I would read over the Feralis Notes at least once before you go into the test.

As for PAT those generators are life. However I do think the angle generator on PAT is a bit harder than the actual test. If you are more confident in PAT I would stop practicing with the generators and focus on the other sections but if you aren't that confident just practice maximum 30 min-1hour a day on PAT. IMO this section comes down to training your eyes and wits rather than repeated practice for hours.

But in any case do what you think is best for you. Goodluck op
 
Thanks! This site is truly amazing. It's so nice to see people who don't even know me are rooting for me... I've decided to take a good chunk of my days the next few days to focus on studying my notes thoroughly. Warn me if I'm stupid for focusing more on notes than doing practice problems! I am just finding the best way to tackle the test is memorizing mechanisms/equations (especially ochem, gchem, and to a lesser extent QR).

I performed horribly on my RC test today, so I'll be focusing more heavily on that as well!:bang:
 
Hi Bright Teeth,

In re of angles, would you mind explaining the hill method? I've never heard of this method. Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Hi Bright Teeth,

In re of angles, would you mind explaining the hill method? I've never heard of this method. Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Imagine one of the sides is a flat surface (doesn't matter which one) and the other is a hill and you are riding a bike down it. For acute angles, if the hill is flatter (safer to ride down), it is a smaller angle. The opposite is true for obtuse angles... the idea is to find something you can relate it to in the real world so you aren't just looking at boring old angles. I haven't had luck with this particular method, but I know many people on here love it.
 
Thanks! This site is truly amazing. It's so nice to see people who don't even know me are rooting for me... I've decided to take a good chunk of my days the next few days to focus on studying my notes thoroughly. Warn me if I'm stupid for focusing more on notes than doing practice problems! I am just finding the best way to tackle the test is memorizing mechanisms/equations (especially ochem, gchem, and to a lesser extent QR).

I performed horribly on my RC test today, so I'll be focusing more heavily on that as well!:bang:

My first RC practice test I got a 17 it just comes down to practice and doing multiple tests to build up your timing and improving your ability to comprehend the material quickly. (My real RC was 20)

Studying your notes thoroughly is a good idea. I personally studied two sections a day whether it was gchem and ochem or Bio and QR and the I did some practice tests towards the end of the day to see if I was improving. Other days I did no practice tests and just memorized the material. I may have said this already but I strongly recommend using Chad's quizzes to go over GChem and OChem the questions were very similar to the real test with perhaps a few more conceptual questions i.e. periodic tends, iodine is a solid at room temp, etc.

I personally believe OChem is the easiest out of all the sections to do well in and I recommend using Chad's OChem study packets with the list of reagents. Destroyers road maps were also very nice.
 
My first RC practice test I got a 17 it just comes down to practice and doing multiple tests to build up your timing and improving your ability to comprehend the material quickly. (My real RC was 20)

Studying your notes thoroughly is a good idea. I personally studied two sections a day whether it was gchem and ochem or Bio and QR and the I did some practice tests towards the end of the day to see if I was improving. Other days I did no practice tests and just memorized the material. I may have said this already but I strongly recommend using Chad's quizzes to go over GChem and OChem the questions were very similar to the real test with perhaps a few more conceptual questions i.e. periodic tends, iodine is a solid at room temp, etc.

I personally believe OChem is the easiest out of all the sections to do well in and I recommend using Chad's OChem study packets with the list of reagents. Destroyers road maps were also very nice.

I watched all of Chad's videos and took all the quizzes. I may go back through and retake the quizzes on ares I'm struggling with.

Did you happen to use TopScore? I just took a perceptual ability test on it and it seemed WAY easier than bootcamp. Especially the angles.
 
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I watched all of Chad's videos and took all the quizzes. I may go back through and retake the quizzes on ares I'm struggling with.

Did you happen to use TopScore? I just took a perceptual ability test on it and it seemed WAY easier than bootcamp. Especially the angles.

I didn't use TopScore but there are tons of posts comparing Topscore to the real DAT on SDN that you can search to see which sections are harder/easier compared to the real DAT.
 
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