50% wrong on Destroyer BEFORE or AFTER some studying? Killing me!

[Member 8586]

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i see a lot of people tend to get about 50% or more wrong on their first run through Destroyer. My question though - When you guys say this, is this basically going in blind after not seeing the material for a while or is it actually after some DAT studying too?

I studied a good amount of notes and currently on day 4 out of 8 of getting through destroyer and it's been raping me - ~50% ....so is this normal even AFTER i've been doing some studying? It is my first exposure to actual questions for Genchem and Orgo so I think my biggest trouble is decoding a lot of questions - esp in Genchem. I memorized most of the roadmaps but they're not seeming to help me much for Orgo :-/

My confidence is getting shot and I have less than a month until test day :-(

 

[wcombs]

I studied HARD for a month before I opened Destroyer and it destroyed me on my first run through. So don't worry. Just do every question and understand the reasoning for EVERY problem, not just the ones you missed. On the second run through you'll miss significantly less.

I was so frustrated with Destroyer but I feel like the difficulty level prepared me to tackle just about anything I might see on the DAT, which I suppose is the whole point!

 

[Member 8586]

I studied HARD for a month before I opened Destroyer and it destroyed me on my first run through. So don't worry. Just do every question and understand the reasoning for EVERY problem, not just the ones you missed. On the second run through you'll miss significantly less.

I was so frustrated with Destroyer but I feel like the difficulty level prepared me to tackle just about anything I might see on the DAT, which I suppose is the whole point!

phew thats kinda how im feeling...like i really studied my notes and everything and was feeling GOOD....till destroyer started handing my ass to me lol

as im reviewing over the solutions, highlighting, writing notes etc in the solutions sections, i feel like "oh ok ill remember this for my second run through" but i randomly flipped back to an earlier problems and was just like f**k! lol idk hopefully ill get a lot more right on the 2nd run through which i hope to do within 6 days..hope i can get at least a 3rd one in, but not sure since I still have 5 more days to finish my first run through + 4 days of review + 6 days of destroyer the 2nd time and then 2 shortened practice tests and 5 full length the week before (test is on 5/23)...im also going to do doing the 12 math destroyer, 5 crack PAT, 5 crack reading <-- 1 of those on the days im going through the destroyer

 

[biomolecmed]

What you are experiencing is common and expected problem. You simply forgot or go after a while. All you need to do is review ghthe concepts of the problems that you answered wrong in tthe ddestroyer aand then try again. Then, open your or go text book and just do more problems that emphasize the topics you just reviewed. This should prepare you very well. If needed, do the same for Gen chem. You should see huge improvement in a month.

 

[Member 8586]

What you are experiencing is common and expected problem. You simply forgot or go after a while. All you need to do is review ghthe concepts of the problems that you answered wrong in tthe ddestroyer aand then try again. Then, open your or go text book and just do more problems that emphasize the topics you just reviewed. This should prepare you very well. If needed, do the same for Gen chem. You should see huge improvement in a month.

so its normal to forget how to execute the problems after just studying them 2-3 weeks prior? :-/ ...like in genchem, i know how to carry out all the problems, but when i see the question, i dont always realize "oh i use such and such formula" etc...once i see the first part of the solution like which formula to use, im just like oh ok -cake...

 

[Worried12345]

Wcombs and biomolecmed are right. I studied really hard before I hit destroyer up, enough to the point she I thought I would do decently well(75% at least). But then I only got ~50% correct on all 3 science sections.

My suggestion for destroyer is to make flashcards on the problems you got wrong, then continue to review all the flashcards EVERY OTHER NIGHT. Seems often, but it definitely needs to be done to actually understand and know how to work the problems. And yes, if you go 2 weeks without working the material you will forget it. I've done the same thing twice now and now I'm in habitual review mode to remember them. I don't go 3 days without reviewing all my notecards and now I'm missing about 3-6 problems per section when I take them again

 

[dymm]

I would have to tell you not to worry too much about the exact number of questions that you got right or wrong, especially at this point. Instead, just focus on understanding concepts, and your ability to solve problems. I felt the same way (kinda) when I started Destroyer. Imo, reading about stuff, taking notes, and looking at worked-out problems is very different from actually solving problems with nothing but a blank piece of paper, a pen and your brain! 😛 The only way to get better at gen. and o-chem problems is to expose yourself to those questions and to solve them. I went through the g/o-chem of Destroyer 4x (as you can see, I am not a chemistry wizard), but by my 3rd and 4th run through the book everything started to "click", and ended up with a 25 and 23 on gen, and o chem, respectively. Please have faith in hard work, and best of luck to you!

 

[Member 8586]

I would have to tell you not to worry too much about the exact number of questions that you got right or wrong, especially at this point. Instead, just focus on understanding concepts, and your ability to solve problems. I felt the same way (kinda) when I started Destroyer. Imo, reading about stuff, taking notes, and looking at worked-out problems is very different from actually solving problems with nothing but a blank piece of paper, a pen and your brain! 😛 The only way to get better at gen. and o-chem problems is to expose yourself to those questions and to solve them. I went through the g/o-chem of Destroyer 4x (as you can see, I am not a chemistry wizard), but by my 3rd and 4th run through the book everything started to "click", and ended up with a 25 and 23 on gen, and o chem, respectively. Please have faith in hard work, and best of luck to you!

thanks...i really hope i can get through the destroyer at least 3 times instead of 2 because the problem exposure for GC n OC seem like theyre helping already as im progressing to further problems...decoding chem problems still doesnt click right away but im sure itll start with more and more exposure to the problems ...i need to look for hints or clue words or #s/units so i know what formula etc i have to use....

should i maybe not repeat Destroyer Bio as many times so I can focus on more repeats of Destroyer GC and OC and dedicate my Bio time to other sources - Ive read that Destroyer Bio isnt the best...im about 110 problems from the end and im already starting to see a lot of repetition too

 

[dymm]

should i maybe not repeat Destroyer Bio as many times so I can focus on more repeats of Destroyer GC and OC and dedicate my Bio time to other sources - Ive read that Destroyer Bio isnt the best...im about 110 problems from the end and im already starting to see a lot of repetition too

Yea, I didn't really study from Destroyer for bio. I thought some questions were very tedious even though I am a bio major 🙁. It has a lot of of fact/memory-recall type questions, and I had a hard time memorizing all the small facts that it tests you on. Cliffs AP, datQvault, and other resources helped me prepare for the test.

(I took the test in dec'2011 so I can't remember all the exact details on the resources and stuff but I also used this resource sparingly to read about some topics http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/classware/selfstudy.do?isbn=0072464631 hope it helps)

Good luck!

 

[Member 8586]

Yea, I didn't really study from Destroyer for bio. I thought some questions were very tedious even though I am a bio major 🙁. It has a lot of of fact/memory-recall type questions, and I had a hard time memorizing all the small facts that it tests you on. Cliffs AP, datQvault, and other resources helped me prepare for the test.

(I took the test in dec'2011 so I can't remember all the exact details on the resources and stuff but I also used this resource sparingly to read about some topics http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/classware/selfstudy.do?isbn=0072464631 hope it helps)

Good luck!

yea i think it has all the facts b/c Romano is big on the "direct-hit" questions...Bio section is random as hell so whenever he hears one of those random questions, he adds it to the book...chances of it showing up again though? probably slim but def possible.... but in terms of memorization, I honestly think I can remember all the little facts etc in it way quicker than AP Cliffs...AP Cliffs goes pretty deep with the detail, especially with some taxonomy and such..

 

[dymm]

If studying from destroy-bio works for for you, then I am happy hear it. Try to search for DAT guide on predds website.. they have a topic breakdown for the 2011 DAT on the internet. I kinda looked at it to have a feel of how how heavily each topic was represented on the test. As you know, the number of questions next to each topic are are only speculation/approximation.


http://***********/dat-guide/

 

[Member 8586]

If studying from destroy-bio works for for you, then I am happy hear it. Try to search for DAT guide on predds website.. they have a topic breakdown for the 2011 DAT on the internet. I kinda looked at it to have a feel of how how heavily each topic was represented on the test. As you know, the number of questions next to each topic are are only speculation/approximation.

its working for me and im feeling im retaining a good portion of it, BUT im thinking its still not enough material on Bio so would probably have to supplement it regardless....am i right on this?