3 weeks from dat retake

[asealdent]

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Hey Everybody
I am new to this website so I hope this isn't like the 30000th time that everyone reads this.

I took the DAT the 1st time in May, and submitted my AADSAS June 4th
My initial DAT scores were:

bio: 18
ochem: 19
genchem: 21
(sci ave: 19)
reading: 21
QR: 18
PAT: 18

I got these scores using ONLY kaplan (how stupid was I?).. anyway Ive been working through the destroyer and bought some exam kracker MCAT books.... but so far I don't feel like i've been REALLY learning...

what should i do?!? Also.. I can't seem to find any full-lengths or any way to test myself because I have a mac not a pc.. anyone know of anything I can do?!

ALSO ... any PAT suggestions? I was scoring 25/26 on kaplan and only got an 18 😕

I'm retaking the DAT Aug 20.. so 3 weeks from today.. HELP!

(only received 1 interview invite so far.. from indiana)

 

[TedyBearSuicide]

TopScore Pro is not mac friendly?

 

[orangutan777]

crack dat pat for the pat section (they have a windows and mac version)

pm me for kaplan practice tests

 

[sfrice80]

Without a doubt get CDP for the PAT section, kaplan is a joke compared to CDP! Plus I've seen, and its true for me as well, that you usually score pretty close on the real DAT to what you score on CDP practice exams, so its pretty realistic.

 

[drm85]

Topscore is not apple friendly!

I had to break out my dinosaur PC to take those tests, but it was worth it.

 

[ArmyGuard63a]

I'm glad to hear you've gotten an interview, if you don't mind my asking, what are your GPAs?

I just took on the 29th and having primarily used the Kaplan BB and a bit of top score pro, I can confidently say that Kaplan was adequate for GC and OC, but nothing else :/
I've heard good things from ppl using the Cliffs AP Bio review, I managed a 20 on Bio but I must admit that a maximum of 20% of my questions reflected what was in the Kap BB 🙁 so I was really dependent on recalling prior knowledge and good reasoning
I did absolutely no RC prep and managed a 24 using the S&D method
TSP is great for both PAT and QR, I got a 24 on the PAT having simply done the 3 PAT exams on TSP the few days leading up
QR owned me w/ a 17 due to time, I had to 100% fill in answers w/o reading for about 10 of them. I basically neglecting studying for this because I thought I was good at math. My suggestion, do a TSP QR exam, learn how each problem is structured and be able to crush it upon glancing it, otherwise you'll run out of time. Then try the other two exams and see how that helped.

For reference, 3 weeks is way more than enough time for you to do better, especially since you already did that well the 1st time around, and are simply building on prior study.

Good luck! Refer to my predents link if you're curious how I did.

 

[Dent010]

I personally don't know why you would want to retake especially since your scores were not bad. If you have a low GPA then i can make some sense of it, but otherwise you applied early. You probably wont get into Harvard with those scores but there are a good amount of school which you meet the criteria for. If you re-take you will have to wait 3 weeks for them to re-verify. Then you will have to request them again which will take a couple of weeks. By the time your done you will be in October and now be getting processed late. My 2 cents says don't waste time re-taking. but that just me.

 

[asealdent]

thanks so much for all your help guys! i think that with these 3 weeks i'm willing to put in whatever it takes to do better..I've definitely decided to do crackdatpat and I can try to do some topscore if I can find somoene to lend me a PC!
But did you guys do any kind of little subject tests to see how you were going along the way? I sort of miss that about kaplan.. I've just been literally going through the destroyer and making sure i understand each question...
Also how would you recommend spacing out time? like did you do a week straight of each science?? I don't want to take a practice test because i'm soo nervous i'm bomb it since its early and get discouraged.

in response to the last post- i've decided to retake because I really want to get into all the schools i applied to.. (obv.) I think that if I would have done better on PAT I would honestly have stuck with my scores.. but my goal was to get in the 20's and if I didn't get that I told myself that i'd retake. If you want to check out my stats/where I applied my username on predents.com is the same...

also I talked to a few schools about whether they put my info on the back burner until they get my scores.. most said no! each school basically explained that if they think my scores are good enough to give me an interview they will anyways.. and then take my retake into consideration afterward. However, they said that if they did not think my scores were worthy of an interview, they'd wait until my retake was processed.

 

[asealdent]

what's the S&D method

 

[sfrice80]

what's the S&D method

Search and destroy, so read the question and take the keyword from the question and search for it in the passage.

 

[asealdent]

no responses?

"But did you guys do any kind of little subject tests to see how you were going along the way? I sort of miss that about kaplan.." I think topscore is just straight full lengths right? I'd really like some way of testing my understanding for things each day.. like subject tests. This way I dont' have to take an entire full length! Also topscore pro only has 3! I want more practice!

If my test is 2 weeks from thursday.. how many should I take and when should I take them?!!?

I'm so bad at study planning 🙁 Help

 

[ArmyGuard63a]

no responses?

"But did you guys do any kind of little subject tests to see how you were going along the way? I sort of miss that about kaplan.." I think topscore is just straight full lengths right? I'd really like some way of testing my understanding for things each day.. like subject tests. This way I dont' have to take an entire full length! Also topscore pro only has 3! I want more practice!

If my test is 2 weeks from thursday.. how many should I take and when should I take them?!!?

I'm so bad at study planning 🙁 Help

top score pro is a pretty valuable resource, although it only has 3 tests
it has many nice features such as being able to take just one section at a time, pausing the timer, telling you what pace you're moving at, etc

 

[asealdent]

Hi guys

2 weeks now.. getting a little freaked out. took my first topscore practice test and did terrible! I was getting mainly 18s and 17s (though I got a 22 on reading and a 20 on PAT) ... I've been doing destroyer and reading the examkracker mcat books...

should I be freaking out? these are the scores I was getting on kaplan before I went in to take the first test and got my 19!

What should I do?!