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I've been lurking for a while, and I'd just like to say you guys are a great aid for other students taking the DATs, keep it up!
Here are my scores from the unofficial score report:
PAT: 20 (79.0%)
QR: 22 (97.0%)
RC: 22 (84.4%)
BIO: 21 (92.3%)
GC: 21 (87%)
OC: 23 (94.4%)
TS: 22 (95.6%)
AA: 22 (97%)
I had studied for about 3 months (2nd Week of May - today) and studied for about 3-4 hours May-June and once July rolled around I was doing 7 hours a day. On occasion I would take a day or two off during the beginning of the summer, but as my date approached I was more focused and forced myself to study those 6-7 hours a day. Once you get into the habit of it, it isn't really THAT bad. I would usually wake up and eat/relax until 9 and would study until 12, with another 1 hour break for lunch, and then 1-5 was devoted to studying more and taking tests. I also signed up for the Kaplan online course, which I don't recommend as the class does not really help since all they do is restate the information in the books.
Here's a break down of testing materials and what I thought of each section while taking the test:
Bio: Kaplan BBB, Barron's DAT book, Barron's AP BIO, Chad's videos; I relied on Kaplan BBB for 90% of my studying, I used the other resources to mostly add some detail that kaplan may have skipped over or to see the same information phrased in a different way, which often helped. Barron's is notorious for having several errors on their tests, so I wouldn't suggest buying the book, maybe go to your library one day and just go through the sections and see what information seems new to you. I started really focusing on bio only 1/2 way through the summer and started making condensed notes that I could refer to rather than going through the entire kaplan book. Chad's videos are really good for cell respiration and glucogenesis. I am a bio major, and most of this information was more of a review for me. I felt prepared the day of the test and thought I had a good grasp on the subject. However, while taking the test I thought the section was really hard and included some stuff I had never seen before. I had taken about 7 practice tests by the time my test day came along and thought I had a good idea of what the questions would be like. However, most of the questions were more applying rather than straight recall. I would suggest reviewing sections that you think you're very confident in with more detail because I just assumed I knew all there was to know about my strong sections and I think this is really what tripped me up. I was VERY surprised when I saw I got a 21, because I was expecting a 16 or 17.
GC: Kaplan BBB and Chad's videos. I initially started using BBB, but Chad's videos are all you really need. There are some small facts here and there that Kaplan is more detailed in, so I would suggest first going through all of Chad's videos and paying attention/taking copious notes and once you feel you've gotten a strong grasp on the subject move onto Kaplan and add in these small details. I wish I had done this instead, as I felt I wasted a lot of time learning things I didn't really need to know at all. GC was okay for the most part, math was WAAAAAAAAY easier than any topscore or kaplan test I took. Very few computations, and the ones I did have to do were very simple. GC has never really been my strong point, so I was content with these scores considering I never really had a very strong chem foundation to begin with.
OC: Kaplan, Barrons. My strongest section, I got one of the highest grades in Orgo II and scored 95% on the ACS exam so this section was more of recall and remembering little facts here and there rather than actually "learning" anything other than some of the carbohydrate, lipid, etc details such as anomeric carbons and such. Kaplan was my main source of reactions and I followed it up with barron's to add in any information I may have missed out on. Make a reaction sheet/sheet with any information you can't remember, review it as many times as you can and the information will seep in. I prefer condensing these notes each time I read them so that each new sheet that I make has fewer and fewer things that I don't know. I felt confident during the test in this section, most of the information was stuff I knew and was actually expecting a higher score as I had gotten 28s before in past practice tests. Make sure you learn the IR/NMR, carbohydrate/lipid/protein information at the end of the orgo section, and lab techniques as I didn't really review as much as I should have.
PAT: CDP and kaplan, CDP is awesome and kaplan is not. Pretty much all I can say about that haha I was getting 18s for the first few tests and eventually consistently got 21s on each test towards the end. I was also scoring 22s and stuff on this section in topscore, so I was a little shocked when my score was actually LOWER than CDP. I personally thought this section was much harder than any CDP test I had taken. TFE and pattern folding were a lot more difficult than CDP or kaplan so I suggest getting as much practice as you can. I also watched different videos and read up on different techniques on this very forum to kind of find a way that I liked the most.
RC: Not much to really say here, I used a mix of search and destroy and spending 2-3 minutes to make a mental map of what the main topics of each paragraph/main words are so that I could immediately refer back to that section if a question came up. Try and do each passage in 20 minutes. Topscore score was the same as my actual score. I found the passages given today very interesting.
QR: Crack DAT Math, Barron's, Kaplan BBB. Again, focused mostly on Kaplan but also used barron's to supplement. I personally found Crack DAT Math to be very helpful, they have videos and text explanations of each problem. The first few QR tests I ever took I was getting 18s on, but by the end I was getting between 21-25 each time, easily. If you just take a step back and understand what the problem is asking you, it is probably one of the easier sections since the answer is right there in front of you and this section is either you know it or you do not know it. I thought the QR section was much easier than any practice test (especially kaplan's) and was expecting a much higher score. A lot of people complained about how the calculator lags and stuff on this site, so I paid close attention to it during the 15 min tutorial in the beginning of the exam to see how the calculator was. I personally thought it was very fast and no lag time. It occasionally did not cancel my previous calculations so be on the look out for that.
Though I am a little disappointed with how the Natural Science sections came out, I am VERY happy with my score considering I was expecting much worse. What do you all think of these scores? All feedback is appreciated and feel free to ask me any other questions you may have.
If you honestly put in your sincere effort and time, it does pay off (with a little bit of luck mixed in). Not going out one night or deactivating facebook is not going to kill you and I would much rather sacrifice those things for a short amount of time than give up my "dream score" or career goals just because I don't feel like studying as much. That being said, I personally don't feel that one needs to study 11+ hours a day and think it depends on the person. You know yourself the best, so judge your study habits accordingly and make a schedule that is fits you but makes the most of your time also. Good luck to everyone on their upcoming DATs!
Here are my scores from the unofficial score report:
PAT: 20 (79.0%)
QR: 22 (97.0%)
RC: 22 (84.4%)
BIO: 21 (92.3%)
GC: 21 (87%)
OC: 23 (94.4%)
TS: 22 (95.6%)
AA: 22 (97%)
I had studied for about 3 months (2nd Week of May - today) and studied for about 3-4 hours May-June and once July rolled around I was doing 7 hours a day. On occasion I would take a day or two off during the beginning of the summer, but as my date approached I was more focused and forced myself to study those 6-7 hours a day. Once you get into the habit of it, it isn't really THAT bad. I would usually wake up and eat/relax until 9 and would study until 12, with another 1 hour break for lunch, and then 1-5 was devoted to studying more and taking tests. I also signed up for the Kaplan online course, which I don't recommend as the class does not really help since all they do is restate the information in the books.
Here's a break down of testing materials and what I thought of each section while taking the test:
Bio: Kaplan BBB, Barron's DAT book, Barron's AP BIO, Chad's videos; I relied on Kaplan BBB for 90% of my studying, I used the other resources to mostly add some detail that kaplan may have skipped over or to see the same information phrased in a different way, which often helped. Barron's is notorious for having several errors on their tests, so I wouldn't suggest buying the book, maybe go to your library one day and just go through the sections and see what information seems new to you. I started really focusing on bio only 1/2 way through the summer and started making condensed notes that I could refer to rather than going through the entire kaplan book. Chad's videos are really good for cell respiration and glucogenesis. I am a bio major, and most of this information was more of a review for me. I felt prepared the day of the test and thought I had a good grasp on the subject. However, while taking the test I thought the section was really hard and included some stuff I had never seen before. I had taken about 7 practice tests by the time my test day came along and thought I had a good idea of what the questions would be like. However, most of the questions were more applying rather than straight recall. I would suggest reviewing sections that you think you're very confident in with more detail because I just assumed I knew all there was to know about my strong sections and I think this is really what tripped me up. I was VERY surprised when I saw I got a 21, because I was expecting a 16 or 17.
GC: Kaplan BBB and Chad's videos. I initially started using BBB, but Chad's videos are all you really need. There are some small facts here and there that Kaplan is more detailed in, so I would suggest first going through all of Chad's videos and paying attention/taking copious notes and once you feel you've gotten a strong grasp on the subject move onto Kaplan and add in these small details. I wish I had done this instead, as I felt I wasted a lot of time learning things I didn't really need to know at all. GC was okay for the most part, math was WAAAAAAAAY easier than any topscore or kaplan test I took. Very few computations, and the ones I did have to do were very simple. GC has never really been my strong point, so I was content with these scores considering I never really had a very strong chem foundation to begin with.
OC: Kaplan, Barrons. My strongest section, I got one of the highest grades in Orgo II and scored 95% on the ACS exam so this section was more of recall and remembering little facts here and there rather than actually "learning" anything other than some of the carbohydrate, lipid, etc details such as anomeric carbons and such. Kaplan was my main source of reactions and I followed it up with barron's to add in any information I may have missed out on. Make a reaction sheet/sheet with any information you can't remember, review it as many times as you can and the information will seep in. I prefer condensing these notes each time I read them so that each new sheet that I make has fewer and fewer things that I don't know. I felt confident during the test in this section, most of the information was stuff I knew and was actually expecting a higher score as I had gotten 28s before in past practice tests. Make sure you learn the IR/NMR, carbohydrate/lipid/protein information at the end of the orgo section, and lab techniques as I didn't really review as much as I should have.
PAT: CDP and kaplan, CDP is awesome and kaplan is not. Pretty much all I can say about that haha I was getting 18s for the first few tests and eventually consistently got 21s on each test towards the end. I was also scoring 22s and stuff on this section in topscore, so I was a little shocked when my score was actually LOWER than CDP. I personally thought this section was much harder than any CDP test I had taken. TFE and pattern folding were a lot more difficult than CDP or kaplan so I suggest getting as much practice as you can. I also watched different videos and read up on different techniques on this very forum to kind of find a way that I liked the most.
RC: Not much to really say here, I used a mix of search and destroy and spending 2-3 minutes to make a mental map of what the main topics of each paragraph/main words are so that I could immediately refer back to that section if a question came up. Try and do each passage in 20 minutes. Topscore score was the same as my actual score. I found the passages given today very interesting.
QR: Crack DAT Math, Barron's, Kaplan BBB. Again, focused mostly on Kaplan but also used barron's to supplement. I personally found Crack DAT Math to be very helpful, they have videos and text explanations of each problem. The first few QR tests I ever took I was getting 18s on, but by the end I was getting between 21-25 each time, easily. If you just take a step back and understand what the problem is asking you, it is probably one of the easier sections since the answer is right there in front of you and this section is either you know it or you do not know it. I thought the QR section was much easier than any practice test (especially kaplan's) and was expecting a much higher score. A lot of people complained about how the calculator lags and stuff on this site, so I paid close attention to it during the 15 min tutorial in the beginning of the exam to see how the calculator was. I personally thought it was very fast and no lag time. It occasionally did not cancel my previous calculations so be on the look out for that.
Though I am a little disappointed with how the Natural Science sections came out, I am VERY happy with my score considering I was expecting much worse. What do you all think of these scores? All feedback is appreciated and feel free to ask me any other questions you may have.
If you honestly put in your sincere effort and time, it does pay off (with a little bit of luck mixed in). Not going out one night or deactivating facebook is not going to kill you and I would much rather sacrifice those things for a short amount of time than give up my "dream score" or career goals just because I don't feel like studying as much. That being said, I personally don't feel that one needs to study 11+ hours a day and think it depends on the person. You know yourself the best, so judge your study habits accordingly and make a schedule that is fits you but makes the most of your time also. Good luck to everyone on their upcoming DATs!
