3/27/09 DAT Scores

[cavalier]

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DAT

Bio: 20
Chem: 26
Orgo: 21
RC: 21
QR: 30
PAT: 24

TS: 22
AA: 24

I studied with Kaplan BB, Barron's, Schaum's Outlines for Biology/Chemistry/Organic Chemistry, TopScore and textbooks.

Kaplan BB: Great for basic overview of sciences, although I would recommend a good biology/physiology textbook for the depth the real DAT requires. The Kaplan test questions are not exactly representative of the actual thing.

Barron's: Not a good science section, and average PAT questions. There are quite a few errors which is frustrating and no answer explanations.

Schaum's: Excellent resources! My best advice is to commit as much of subject matter to memory. Work through problems and memorize all the italic terms!

TopScore: Representative of the actual test environment, which is very helpful. The RC was very similar to the DAT. TopScore's QR section is much harder than the actual, so it's great practice. I really appreciated the answer explanations, although the real PAT images did not work.

The science sections are more analytical than most test book questions. The PAT is comparable to TopScore and Kaplan. There's plenty of time to thoroughly read the passages and search-and-find for RC. The QR is a race against time and it is about 50% word problems. I would recommend not taking instructor-taught classes. Designing your own study plan motivates you and forces you to really own the material. Keep confident and optimistic and you'll do great!

 

[suhshi]

congrats and goodluck

 

[dentist707]

Very nice score... congrat...

 

[Ar2]

Great scores !..Congratulations , it must feel great. Best of luck with the rest of the cylce... (although im sure you won't need it)

Ar2

 

[IWantSmile]

WAO~! Awesome scores... congrats!!

 

[TheBestDoctor]

I still have to do QR and RC...how did you study for it and what was your strategy?? I have absolutely no idea how i should go about.

DAT

Bio: 20
Chem: 26
Orgo: 21
RC: 21
QR: 30
PAT: 24

TS: 22
AA: 24

I studied with Kaplan BB, Barron's, Schaum's Outlines for Biology/Chemistry/Organic Chemistry, TopScore and textbooks.

Kaplan BB: Great for basic overview of sciences, although I would recommend a good biology/physiology textbook for the depth the real DAT requires. The Kaplan test questions are not exactly representative of the actual thing.

Barron's: Not a good science section, and average PAT questions. There are quite a few errors which is frustrating and no answer explanations.

Schaum's: Excellent resources! My best advice is to commit as much of subject matter to memory. Work through problems and memorize all the italic terms!

TopScore: Representative of the actual test environment, which is very helpful. The RC was very similar to the DAT. TopScore's QR section is much harder than the actual, so it's great practice. I really appreciated the answer explanations, although the real PAT images did not work.

The science sections are more analytical than most test book questions. The PAT is comparable to TopScore and Kaplan. There's plenty of time to thoroughly read the passages and search-and-find for RC. The QR is a race against time and it is about 50% word problems. I would recommend not taking instructor-taught classes. Designing your own study plan motivates you and forces you to really own the material. Keep confident and optimistic and you'll do great!

 

[cavalier]

BestDoctor:

RC: I would recommend practicing active reading skills, i.e. don't skim over the passage, make sure you're digesting each sentence in context of the paragraph its included in, and, accordingly, digesting each paragraph in light of the entire passage. I practiced reading technical passages in about 5 minutes. That leaves you 15 minutes to answer about 17 questions, which is pretty generous and allows for some search time. You can count on questions that will ask about the tone of the passage or will ask you to extrapolate information posed at you, so it's in your best interest to comprehend the passage. I didn't think writing down "keys" or keywords was helpful; it mainly disrupted the flow of reading and wasted time for me. It wasn't my strongest section, so I could have heeded my own advice better.

QR: The bad news is faced about 1/2 to 2/3 word problems; the good news is that they were all types of problems I had seen before. I think Kaplan had the best coverage over the types of math problems I actually experienced. Don't quote me, but the DAT will not include stumbling blocks for difficult math calculations. Rather, it rewards he/she who can easily see the shortcuts inherent in the problem i.e. some problems are best done by writing and solving the actual equations, while others are best done by visualizing and reasoning through which answers are viable for pluging-and-chugging. Everyone has different ways to do them, so I recommend finding the fastest ways you can solve each type of problem and commiting those techniques/steps to memory. You don't have time to decide how to do the QR problems, so make sure there are no problems that stump you.

Hope this helps!

 

[eldirty]

Congrats, very nice scores ... Best of luck to you!

Go HOKIES!! 🙂

 

[BrooklynZoo1184]

RC: I practiced reading technical passages in about 5 minutes. That leaves you 15 minutes to answer about 17 questions, which is pretty generous and allows for some search time.

Congrats! These are some of the best scores I've seen.

Can you elaborate a bit on your RC practice. What kind of technical passages did you practice? Did you set yourself up to read X pages in 5 minutes? How many of those would you say you practiced?

 

[samer saab]

Gr88888 jobbb best of luck

 

[cavalier]

BrooklynZoo:

I found any sort of interesting scientific literature to be good practice for reading information-dense text at a decent pace. I wouldn't read anything with too many numbers or overly specific specialized techniques, because that didn't seem to be emphasized on the real DAT. Similar to the PAT, I think the RC tests visual thinking, i.e. being able to see the relationships between components discussed in the passage and understand the assumptions or constraints of each. Whatever you read, I think reading material that requires visual thinking would be helpful.

Don't quote me, but I think the each passage contains 1,500 words. Depending on the formatting, that's about 2 pages single-spaced. I didn't do an exact word count, but just tried to read practice DAT RCs in about 5 minutes (some took shorter or longer). Practically, you should find a pace that allows you to 1) engage the material and not skip over words/sentences (a single word could be the crux of an entire question!) and 2) be rapid enough to allow ample time to answer/think about the questions. For me, that was shooting for 5 min/passage. I'm sure others can read much faster or accurately answer questsion faster; everyone has their own pace they need to find.

Hope that helps 🙂

 

[brightsmiles9]

Solid scores!! I havent seen a 30 in qr!! CONGRATS!! 🙂

 

[vlct0ria]

Amazing scores, congrats. Can I ask how long you prepared?

 

[Broncos85]

Amazing scores, way to go! Good luck the rest of the way!

 

[yuppers]

QR: 30
My simple question..... How the.....?

 

[cavalier]

Amazing scores, congrats. Can I ask how long you prepared?

I got my feet wet in the material about a year ago, leafing through the Kaplan Blue Book and exposing myself to PAT problems. I got down to business and prepared from mid-January to end of March (about 10 weeks) trying to at least take or review a practice test every weekend.

 

[Hot Homer]

Solid scores !!!!! Good Luck