I'm thrilled with my scores!
PA: 22 93.4
QR: 21 96.4
RC: 22 84.4
BIO: 20 88.0
GC: 22 91.8
OC: 22 90.4
TS: 21 91.6
AA: 21 93.4
While there was no 28 or 30 on a section like some of the super DAT freaks on this forum (congrats to you guys!), I'm very happy with the consistency of the scores. I only had 3 weeks to prepare, so I put my emphasis on where I felt was the most lacking. I'll explain more in the breakdown:
PA: This section was something I was comfortable with. I only took 4 practice tests on this section. At Christmas I challenged my family to a PAT off where none of us had ever seen any questions, we each did Crack DAT PAT test #1 and I won with a 19. More recently I did 3 PAT on TopScore and got 22 on each of them. The actual DAT was a bit harder than TopScore. I could not distinguish the difference on two or three of the angle questions and hole punching..... OH MY.... several REALLY crazy folds.
QR: I've always tested well in math. Did 4 of the Math destroyer tests and the TopScore tests, always scored 21 or 22. Word of advice... DON'T get distracted by a tough problem. That was my downfall, one problem got me rattled, eventually figured it out but then looked at the clock and I had 18 minutes left for 24 problems. This forced me to guess on three questions that would have taken me too long so that I could finish and get all the easier/quicker ones.
RC: I've always tested well in reading, so did not spend any time at all preparing for this section. Just did the TopScore tests and got 21 or 22 on each. I use the search and destroy method exclusively.
BIO: Biology is not my strong suit. I am going back to school full time after 12 years off, although I did take General Biology as an evening class 4 years ago. Now I'm a business major taking the bare minimum of sciences. Fortunately I took Genetics and Cell Bio this last school year, so they were fairly fresh in my mind. Other than that, studied the sections in Cliff's that I knew next to nothing about.
GC: Chad is all you need.
OC: Chad is all you need.
Resources: Chad's videos, Cliffs AP bio, Destroyer and Math Destroyer, TopScore, and Crack DAT PAT (although I only took 1 test in it).
I honestly think Chad is the man. His videos are SUPERB! And his quiz questions hone in on all the things you need to know for GC and most of what you need for OChem. If I had to do it all over again with my time constraints, I would watch all the GC videos, then just do all 180 quiz questions 3-4 times through and forget Destroyer. For OC I would watch all his videos, do all 85ish? questions 3-4 times and study the reactions not covered in the quizzes. As it was, I only had time to do each of Chad's quizzes one time through, finishing the GC quiz a few hours before the actual test.
I did do half the Destroyer problems for the both OC and GC, and 4-5 Math destroyer tests, so it is a good resource, but after taking the actual DAT, if money is an issue, just use Chad.
Crack DAT PAT was good, just didn't utilize it due to time and the fact that I was doing fine on the practice tests
Cliff's was the best resource I found for Bio. I bought a couple other books like Barron's and the big blue Kaplan book. For the way I think and learn, Cliff's was the best. I hardly cracked Barron's, and Kaplan didn't go into as much detail as I wanted. I found myself reading Kaplan, then going back to Cliff's to get the details.
Test Day: I took a 2pm test because I had my first Physics I class in the morning. I recommend Advil before test (you will get a headache), and Gatorade with a snack for the break.
I don't recommend self study unless you are highly motivated. I haven't seen the light of day for 3 weeks.
A big thank-you to people on these forums for giving me direction on what tools to use to study and for motivation!
PA: 22 93.4
QR: 21 96.4
RC: 22 84.4
BIO: 20 88.0
GC: 22 91.8
OC: 22 90.4
TS: 21 91.6
AA: 21 93.4
While there was no 28 or 30 on a section like some of the super DAT freaks on this forum (congrats to you guys!), I'm very happy with the consistency of the scores. I only had 3 weeks to prepare, so I put my emphasis on where I felt was the most lacking. I'll explain more in the breakdown:
PA: This section was something I was comfortable with. I only took 4 practice tests on this section. At Christmas I challenged my family to a PAT off where none of us had ever seen any questions, we each did Crack DAT PAT test #1 and I won with a 19. More recently I did 3 PAT on TopScore and got 22 on each of them. The actual DAT was a bit harder than TopScore. I could not distinguish the difference on two or three of the angle questions and hole punching..... OH MY.... several REALLY crazy folds.
QR: I've always tested well in math. Did 4 of the Math destroyer tests and the TopScore tests, always scored 21 or 22. Word of advice... DON'T get distracted by a tough problem. That was my downfall, one problem got me rattled, eventually figured it out but then looked at the clock and I had 18 minutes left for 24 problems. This forced me to guess on three questions that would have taken me too long so that I could finish and get all the easier/quicker ones.
RC: I've always tested well in reading, so did not spend any time at all preparing for this section. Just did the TopScore tests and got 21 or 22 on each. I use the search and destroy method exclusively.
BIO: Biology is not my strong suit. I am going back to school full time after 12 years off, although I did take General Biology as an evening class 4 years ago. Now I'm a business major taking the bare minimum of sciences. Fortunately I took Genetics and Cell Bio this last school year, so they were fairly fresh in my mind. Other than that, studied the sections in Cliff's that I knew next to nothing about.
GC: Chad is all you need.
OC: Chad is all you need.
Resources: Chad's videos, Cliffs AP bio, Destroyer and Math Destroyer, TopScore, and Crack DAT PAT (although I only took 1 test in it).
I honestly think Chad is the man. His videos are SUPERB! And his quiz questions hone in on all the things you need to know for GC and most of what you need for OChem. If I had to do it all over again with my time constraints, I would watch all the GC videos, then just do all 180 quiz questions 3-4 times through and forget Destroyer. For OC I would watch all his videos, do all 85ish? questions 3-4 times and study the reactions not covered in the quizzes. As it was, I only had time to do each of Chad's quizzes one time through, finishing the GC quiz a few hours before the actual test.
I did do half the Destroyer problems for the both OC and GC, and 4-5 Math destroyer tests, so it is a good resource, but after taking the actual DAT, if money is an issue, just use Chad.
Crack DAT PAT was good, just didn't utilize it due to time and the fact that I was doing fine on the practice tests
Cliff's was the best resource I found for Bio. I bought a couple other books like Barron's and the big blue Kaplan book. For the way I think and learn, Cliff's was the best. I hardly cracked Barron's, and Kaplan didn't go into as much detail as I wanted. I found myself reading Kaplan, then going back to Cliff's to get the details.
Test Day: I took a 2pm test because I had my first Physics I class in the morning. I recommend Advil before test (you will get a headache), and Gatorade with a snack for the break.
I don't recommend self study unless you are highly motivated. I haven't seen the light of day for 3 weeks.
A big thank-you to people on these forums for giving me direction on what tools to use to study and for motivation!
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