3/20/2010 DAT. Hopefully a helpful review

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IceBreaker

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As the title says, took the DATs yesterday. My score breakdown are as follows

Bio: 19
GC: 29
OC: 25
PAT:20
QR:19
RC: 21
TS: 22
AA:23

This was my second time taking it and i did substantially better the second time around. First attempt i had a TS 20, AA 20, and a PAT of 16. I took it again to primarily address the PAT and i suspected i could have done better on some of the science sections. In terms of time management on the NS, i took 30 minutes to do the bio section. 15 for Gchem and 15 for ochem. Had half an hr to go over the full science section.

Here is an overview of what my impressions of the sections.

Bio

By far the most random section I've had. I did all the problems from the Kaplan course (quizzes, subject tests, the whole deal) twice in addition to all of their full length exams. I also went through the Bio section of DAT Destroyer. Yet, what i saw on the exam was a bit trickier than more straight forward questions i've seen in the past. Some questions i've never seen before and they definitely felt very random. I had about 5-6 of these. Didn't see anything on plants, body systems, respiration, or digestion. Did see a lot of phylum characteristic questions as well as genetics.

GC

Seemed like a very straight forward section to me. Most of the stuff on this section came right out of destroyer. I made sure to do every problem in destroyer twice so it definitely helped on this part. Saw the typical stoichiometric ratios, ideal gasses, electronegativity, oxidation/reduction, equilibrium, and "what makes a strong acid" questions. Did not see any solutions questions, enthalpy, or electrolysis questions which i thought would be on the exam.

Ochem

One of my weaker sections from last time i took the exam. I got an 18 on it before. Again, it was pretty indicative of what was seen in destroyer. Do every problem twice and you will have no problems. Kaplan also proved to be very good in this section. Kaplans flashcards, the ones that came with the course were also useful--a few of the concepts came up on the exam. Nomenclature, aromatics, resonance, aldol chem. Heavy on concepts. Few questions on nitty gritty reactions and their products. Again, seemed to be pretty straightforward.

PAT

Did not have as good a run as i thought i would. First time i took the test i got a 16. Was hoping for a 21 and over. I exclusively used CDP; i found the kaplan PAT to be a bit ambiguous--especially keyhole. Did all 10 practice exams on CDP and was getting scores from 21-23. A little disappointed with pat but its much better than a 16 :laugh:

Keyhole emphasized scale more than CDP did. TFE was same difficulty. Angles were a little bit easier. Hole punching was about medium CDP difficulty--if you do all of the CDP practice exams, you will notice that some hole punches are easy while some are incredibly hard. Cube counting was simple, no tricks. Lastly, pattern folding was surprisingly pretty hard. Also emphasized scale more than particular shapes.

QR

Didn't notice the function of a calculator, Lol. I spent a lottt of time doing some pretty lengthy calculations. I was surprised by how much number crunching i had to do. But, makes sense that there is more to do with the calculator function added on. My previous score in this section was 21. Got a 19 this time around. ehhh

Reading Comprehension

Nothing all too tricky. Read and answer questions.

Studying

As mentioned before, i used DAT destroyer in addition to kaplans online resources. CDP for PAT is absolutely necessary. That's about it. I had a stopwatch on me the whole time i was studying and my total studying time came out to be around 160 hours for the second go around. I think if you can get that many hours in you would be in pretty good shape. Also, don't underestimate the importance of a good night's sleep! Work fast, and stay loose on the exam. Probably the best advice i can give prospective test takers.

Thanks for reading this and i hope it has helped those out there about to take the exam. I know I have gained some insight from previous posts before my exams.:thumbup: Goodluck :xf:

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I hope to get scores like yours!!

Taking mines tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up!

By the way, if you don't mind, what were your percentages for each section?
 
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Goodluck tomorrow ! Hopefully you do very well as well

My percentages are...

Bio: 19 (84%)
GC: 29 (99.9%)
OC: 25 (95.7%)
PAT:20 (90.1%)
QR:19 (89%)
RC: 21 (92%)
TS: 22 (98.8%)
AA:23 (99.7%)
 
Congrats on the scores. I'm planning on taking my exam for the second time on april 10. I hope to also get scores like yours. I'm planning on using kaplan and destroyer also!
 
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Goodluck tomorrow ! Hopefully you do very well as well

My percentages are...

Bio: 19 (84%)
GC: 29 (99.9%)
OC: 25 (95.7%)
PAT:20 (90.1%)
QR:19 (89%)
RC: 21 (92%)
TS: 22 (98.8%)
AA:23 (99.7%)

I was wondering if you used the 2009 ver or the 2010 ver. of the Destroyer.. Thanks!:D
Nice scores btw!! =D
 
Bio

By far the most random section I've had. I did all the problems from the Kaplan course (quizzes, subject tests, the whole deal) twice in addition to all of their full length exams. I also went through the Bio section of DAT Destroyer. Yet, what i saw on the exam was a bit trickier than more straight forward questions i've seen in the past. Some questions i've never seen before and they definitely felt very random. I had about 5-6 of these. Didn't see anything on plants, body systems, respiration, or digestion. Did see a lot of phylum characteristic questions as well as genetics.

On the Phylum characteristic questions, is this as specific as the taxonomy questions were for you or did you encounter any questions asking about Classes?
 
@ Ibracadabra - I used the 2010 version of destroyer. Previously, when i studied my first time, I used a 2008 version of destroyer. This time around, i bought the 2010 version assuming that it would be drastically different. It reallywasn't. I would say about 85% of the questions are the same and the rest is a bit of slight modification of questions, terms, or answers. There was about an additional 50 or so questions to both the gchem and ochem section and another 100 questions on the bio section. But considering the 3 year span, its not that big of a difference...

So if you can buy a cheaper version of 2009 used from someone versus a new 2010, i'd probably suggest the 2009.

@ Avery07 - I had a bunch of stuff on classes too. stuff on which organism did not match the right class, stuff on which class has ___ characteristic. i.e. coelom, circulatory system, nervous system. And strangely enough a specific question on their locomotion... :confused:
 
hey icebreaker, any crazy hardy weinberg equilibrium questions.
 
Congrats on your excellent scores! Your hard work paid off :)

Since you mention Bio being very random, do you know if Cliffs AP bio would help out for studying?
Cliffs AP bio is a book that a lot of people recommend on SDN and I was wondering if you know about it for studying?

Thanks and good job!
 
@ OU11BB -- Not really all too bad. Pretty standard question on allele frequency using the equation p^2 + 2pq + q^2. Was not anywhere as bad as the question i got about artificial insemination.... :rolleyes:

@ sfkhan7797 -- The funny thing is that i actually bought Cliff's ap bio on my first exam. I found it to be much more helpful than the kaplan review books as it was more in depth seemed to be, overall, better explained. I am a mcb major and i found the material presented in cliff's to be more than what i expected out of a review book. My feeling is that if you have enough time (and patience) to go through all of it, it will do you a lot of good.
 
@ OU11BB -- Not really all too bad. Pretty standard question on allele frequency using the equation p^2 + 2pq + q^2. Was not anywhere as bad as the question i got about artificial insemination.... :rolleyes:

haha ya no doubt....b/c you learned all about that in biology 1 and 2:confused: I see that they try hard to keep people from making perfect scores. anyway congrats on your scores. you will be busy this fall!
 
@ Avery07 - I had a bunch of stuff on classes too. stuff on which organism did not match the right class, stuff on which class has ___ characteristic. i.e. coelom, circulatory system, nervous system. And strangely enough a specific question on their locomotion... :confused:

Thanks for the info IceBreaker. I'll make sure to get those classes down. Congrats on the solid scores.
 
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