- Joined
- Dec 19, 2009
- Messages
- 139
- Reaction score
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after weeks of reading other people's DAT breakdowns and feeling jealous, i finally get to write my own..
PAT- 19 (73.7)
QR- 25 (98.2)
RC- 20 (72.4)
BIO- 20 (86.9)
CHEM- 20 (81.3)
ORGO- 19 (73.1)
TS- 20 (86.2)
AA- 21 (93)
PAT- kinda disappointed cause i got 20-22's on CDP's. but i deserve it. cause after the science section, i was CONVINCED i got <17 on bio, so i started to relax for the PAT thinking I would have to come back and retake it anyways, so why try. the keyholes and folding were harder than CDP. the TFE were similar. the hole punches and cube counting were a lot easier. i bombed the angles. they ALLLL looked the same. for CDP, i would cover the choices and write down my answer. and if my answer were one of the given choices, i was usually right. but i tried doing that for the test and half of them weren't even a choice. freaked me out.
QR- i practiced very little for this section. i had the math destroyer but i got lazy doing it. i took my dear sweet time for this section and ran out of time. had to do problems 30-40 in 4 minutes. NOT good. but i would say.. if you have the time.. def do math destroyer. and work on word problems A LOT. i would say 1/2-3/4 of the questions were word problems. i was expecting more... algebra and computations.
RC- i spent break telling myself i need to focus and put my effort in, regardless of bio. so i kept hoping i wouldn't get hard reading passages cause reading's not my favorite thing in the world. and the minute i ended break, i see the word PIANO and flip out just a little. but i tried really hard to focus but I was having a hard time understanding what they were even talking about. and i couldn't understand the questions. i used CDReading for practice. but i would have to say-- it's not that good compared to the real thing. like the format is exactly the same which is good. but the questions are very different. For CDReading and Kaplan and Topscore, I used the Search and Destroy method, but at least for me and my test, that method would not have worked. so definitely read the passage. it's important for questions about tone and stuff. but the other two passages were not bad- i knew a lot of the questions just from some of my biology courses.
BIO- ahh, good old bio. being a biology major, i would THINK i would ace this no problem. i read KBB for this- it's good review. but not enough. I read SOME of cliff's. i feel like if you memorized cliff's you would be OK. but i didn't memorize it. seeing as i didn't know half of the questions (literally), i don't know how i pulled off a 20. the bio section was a lot harder than topscore. more specific. and random. there were figures that you had to interpret, which i'm not very good at. i did all the destroyer bio questions but now that i think about it, i don't think it helped that much. achiever sucks. i spent about 45 minutes on biology.
CHEM- not bad. less calculations than any of the practice tests (achiever, topscore, kaplan). there were a lot more concept problems. i did like 10 questions out of the destroyer and skimmed through the rest. unlike bio, there's a limited number of things they can actually test you on in chem. so if you know how to solve all the general calculation problems, you should be OK. i think topscore is a good for this section. and KBB. i watched all of Chad's gen chem videos before i started doing any subject tests/practice tests. ITS WORTH IT. i think he basically covers everything you need to know, in one form or another. rushed through chem in.. 25 minutes.
ORGO- my orgo's weak. i tried over and over and over again to memorize all the KBB reactions, but my brain refused to store it for me. i did my best. only had 20 minutes for this section. but it's honestly easier than ANY of the destroyer problems, topscore, achiever... like usually i would see a reaction and start BS-ing my way through a mechanism and get it wrong, but this time i actually.. recognized some of the reactants and solvents and knew what they did. i would say topscore's pretty good for this section too. and if you can memorize KBB, you're golden. with only 20 minutes for this section, i was STRESSED OUT.
lol this post makes me sound like the worst most nonchalant student ever. i studied since school ended, so about 8 weeks. i spent 9 hours at the library EVERY day. i think i just burned out a little towards the end and just wanted it to be over. the test isn't.. THAT Bad. your scores can surprise youu like mine did. so don't give up like i did after a bad section, keep going. MANAGE your time. i had NO problems with time in any of the 9-10 practice tests i took, but i made it an issue today because i was convinced that if i keep staring at a problem, the answer will pop out at me. NOT THE CASE. the piano passage isn't THAT bad. everything becomes a blur when you're freaking out so don't freak out.
just do all the problems you can... topscore's good. achiever's good practice if you have the time (just don't let the scores upset you too much). kaplan's not bad. i did all the kaplan subject tests. the real 2009 ADA's good practice. the online one is a joke. i read a couple of the mcat examkracker books. and did half tHE 1001 ORGO book and a few of the 1001 chem. i thought those were amazing. just make sure you go over all the problems that you do AFTERwards. cause for weeks, i would take practice tests and subject tests for fun and not go over the answers. obviously that doesn't help much.
i don't know the exact numbers for each sections cause i have a mac and i bought achiever and topscore for windows so they're on my sister's laptop..
but i got ~
AA
Achiever 1- 14
Achiever 2- 17
Achiever 3- 18
Achiever 4- 15
Achiever 5- 15
Topscore 1- 19
Topscore 2- 20
Topscore 3- 21 (2 days ago)
online ADA- 22
2009 ADA- 20
anyways,
goood luck to everyone. ENJOY THE REST OF SUMMER. it's flying.
PAT- 19 (73.7)
QR- 25 (98.2)
RC- 20 (72.4)
BIO- 20 (86.9)
CHEM- 20 (81.3)
ORGO- 19 (73.1)
TS- 20 (86.2)
AA- 21 (93)
PAT- kinda disappointed cause i got 20-22's on CDP's. but i deserve it. cause after the science section, i was CONVINCED i got <17 on bio, so i started to relax for the PAT thinking I would have to come back and retake it anyways, so why try. the keyholes and folding were harder than CDP. the TFE were similar. the hole punches and cube counting were a lot easier. i bombed the angles. they ALLLL looked the same. for CDP, i would cover the choices and write down my answer. and if my answer were one of the given choices, i was usually right. but i tried doing that for the test and half of them weren't even a choice. freaked me out.
QR- i practiced very little for this section. i had the math destroyer but i got lazy doing it. i took my dear sweet time for this section and ran out of time. had to do problems 30-40 in 4 minutes. NOT good. but i would say.. if you have the time.. def do math destroyer. and work on word problems A LOT. i would say 1/2-3/4 of the questions were word problems. i was expecting more... algebra and computations.
RC- i spent break telling myself i need to focus and put my effort in, regardless of bio. so i kept hoping i wouldn't get hard reading passages cause reading's not my favorite thing in the world. and the minute i ended break, i see the word PIANO and flip out just a little. but i tried really hard to focus but I was having a hard time understanding what they were even talking about. and i couldn't understand the questions. i used CDReading for practice. but i would have to say-- it's not that good compared to the real thing. like the format is exactly the same which is good. but the questions are very different. For CDReading and Kaplan and Topscore, I used the Search and Destroy method, but at least for me and my test, that method would not have worked. so definitely read the passage. it's important for questions about tone and stuff. but the other two passages were not bad- i knew a lot of the questions just from some of my biology courses.
BIO- ahh, good old bio. being a biology major, i would THINK i would ace this no problem. i read KBB for this- it's good review. but not enough. I read SOME of cliff's. i feel like if you memorized cliff's you would be OK. but i didn't memorize it. seeing as i didn't know half of the questions (literally), i don't know how i pulled off a 20. the bio section was a lot harder than topscore. more specific. and random. there were figures that you had to interpret, which i'm not very good at. i did all the destroyer bio questions but now that i think about it, i don't think it helped that much. achiever sucks. i spent about 45 minutes on biology.
CHEM- not bad. less calculations than any of the practice tests (achiever, topscore, kaplan). there were a lot more concept problems. i did like 10 questions out of the destroyer and skimmed through the rest. unlike bio, there's a limited number of things they can actually test you on in chem. so if you know how to solve all the general calculation problems, you should be OK. i think topscore is a good for this section. and KBB. i watched all of Chad's gen chem videos before i started doing any subject tests/practice tests. ITS WORTH IT. i think he basically covers everything you need to know, in one form or another. rushed through chem in.. 25 minutes.
ORGO- my orgo's weak. i tried over and over and over again to memorize all the KBB reactions, but my brain refused to store it for me. i did my best. only had 20 minutes for this section. but it's honestly easier than ANY of the destroyer problems, topscore, achiever... like usually i would see a reaction and start BS-ing my way through a mechanism and get it wrong, but this time i actually.. recognized some of the reactants and solvents and knew what they did. i would say topscore's pretty good for this section too. and if you can memorize KBB, you're golden. with only 20 minutes for this section, i was STRESSED OUT.
lol this post makes me sound like the worst most nonchalant student ever. i studied since school ended, so about 8 weeks. i spent 9 hours at the library EVERY day. i think i just burned out a little towards the end and just wanted it to be over. the test isn't.. THAT Bad. your scores can surprise youu like mine did. so don't give up like i did after a bad section, keep going. MANAGE your time. i had NO problems with time in any of the 9-10 practice tests i took, but i made it an issue today because i was convinced that if i keep staring at a problem, the answer will pop out at me. NOT THE CASE. the piano passage isn't THAT bad. everything becomes a blur when you're freaking out so don't freak out.
just do all the problems you can... topscore's good. achiever's good practice if you have the time (just don't let the scores upset you too much). kaplan's not bad. i did all the kaplan subject tests. the real 2009 ADA's good practice. the online one is a joke. i read a couple of the mcat examkracker books. and did half tHE 1001 ORGO book and a few of the 1001 chem. i thought those were amazing. just make sure you go over all the problems that you do AFTERwards. cause for weeks, i would take practice tests and subject tests for fun and not go over the answers. obviously that doesn't help much.
i don't know the exact numbers for each sections cause i have a mac and i bought achiever and topscore for windows so they're on my sister's laptop..
but i got ~
AA
Achiever 1- 14
Achiever 2- 17
Achiever 3- 18
Achiever 4- 15
Achiever 5- 15
Topscore 1- 19
Topscore 2- 20
Topscore 3- 21 (2 days ago)
online ADA- 22
2009 ADA- 20
anyways,
goood luck to everyone. ENJOY THE REST OF SUMMER. it's flying.
