I just took the DAT today and I'm sure relieved it's over... Here's what I can tell you of my whole experience:
AA 24 99.5% 😀
TS 23
PAT 23
BIO 24
GC 23
OC 21
QR 29
RC 23
Studying schedule: I studied for about 2 months. Not too hardcore. Maybe around 1-2 hrs the first month, 2-4 hrs the second month and a bit more the last couple weeks. I think by the time I started taking practice exams, I had about 3 weeks of studying under my belt. I took the practice exams on an average of about 2 per week.
Study Material: I used Kaplan, Barron's, Topscore, DAT achiever, and ACE THE DAT (just for PAT). For the sciences, I used Kaplan blue book and also Schaum's to supplement BIO (for plants, photosynthesis, classfication, evolution). For GC and OC, Kaplan is enough. The real thing is easier than all the practice exams for the sciences. For the PAT, Kaplan and Topscore is easier than the real thing on all sections. I really recommend DAT achiever for PAT as it is harder than the real thing for all sections except angles. ACE the DAT is good just for the angles cuz its angles section is most like the real thing (the angles section is pretty ridiculously hard on DAT). Topscore is good cuz its format is most like the real thing. All in all, I think my favorite is DAT achiever cuz it's the most difficult of the practice exams overall and it'll prepare you well and prevent you from being caught off-guard on test day.
Leading up to the Test: Don't study after about 3pm the day before the exam and try to do something to relax. As for me, I went out to take care of some errands with my mom and bought some stuff at the mall (i don't wanna call it shopping, haha). I know it's hard but get a good night's sleep the night before. Also bring some snacks for the 15 minute break. I brought some cereal, raisins, blueberry, and gatorade (don't have to go pee as much as with water). If you get cold easily, bring layers of clothes to the test site as the A/C might be a bit strong. When I got to the room, I moved the keyboard to the side, took the 15 minute tutorial time to write out some formulas for the sciences, took a few deep breaths to relax and went into the test.
Biology: Haha, I'm so sorry but I really don't remember many specific questions. I will say that a lot of the questions on SDN showed up: function of fertilization membrane in sea urchin (to prevent multiple sperms from entering egg), what is body's immediate response to hemorrhage (decrease in arterial pressure). Some other questions I remember are: what is the first thing to happen in a speciation event (i put down mutation).
Gen Chem: As people say, this section is much easier than any practice material. Calculation questions are real simple and there aren't that many in the first place. Know acid/base reactions well as those could be a bit confusing in my opinion. If you get a redox equation balancing question, you might want to skip it and come back when you have time at the end.
OChem: Don't remember too much... I thought I did better in this section tho.. Again, nothing too hard.
PAT: I don't know what you guys think of the different sections within PAT, but my least favorite is the apertures so I like to skip those first 15 questions and go straight into top-front-end. That way, if you run out of time you can at least have the easier ones out of the way. For top-front-ends, I think it's easier and saves time if you look at the answer choices first and then look for what would account for those differences you see in the choices. For the angles, I put my thumb on the screen to only see the corners to the angles and tried to tell them apart that way. Oh and for the really hard to tell angles, I ripped apart small squares with my scratch paper and folded them diagonally into triangles to make them thicker and used them to measure and compare the angles. For the hole punching, rather than looking at the folds in order first, it saves a heck a lot of time if you just work backwards from the last picture with the holes punched already to unfold each fold at a time. As for cube counting, Barron's strategy is the best. As for fold patterning, no real strategy here, just practice... it's pretty easy in real thing. As for apertures, don't look at the answers first as it may bias what you're looking for. And when you come to what you think might be the answer, it might still be worthwhile to quickly look at the other choices as you might realize that you overlooked something before.
Reading Comprehension: I just quickly read the passages first. Definitely don't try to understand everything and memorize all the details. Just keep a very general 'map' of which parts talk about what. You have 3 passages to cover in 60 min, giving you 20 min per passage. Try to read your passage in about 8-9 minutes leaving you with about 11-12 minutes to answer the 15-17 questions per passage. I couldnt' concentrate as hard for the first passage and thus probably missed most of my points on that. My passages were on Calcium functions, the biology of aging, and the increase in resistance to antibiotics in bacteria.
Quantitative Reasoning: The questions aren't too hard.. Mostly time is the biggest enemy with this section. My advice is skip the hard questions and answer the easy ones first. Surprisingly, I didnt' have any questions on permutations or combinations... Those used to give me some trouble... I was looking forward to kicking major butt on those questions but I didnt' get a chance.. oh well, I'll be happy with a 29 without kicking butt on permutations. 😀
Alright, I want to thank everyone for the help that I've received on SDN. Hopefully, my advice will help some of you. Well, if you have other questions, feel free to ask!
AA 24 99.5% 😀
TS 23
PAT 23
BIO 24
GC 23
OC 21
QR 29
RC 23
Studying schedule: I studied for about 2 months. Not too hardcore. Maybe around 1-2 hrs the first month, 2-4 hrs the second month and a bit more the last couple weeks. I think by the time I started taking practice exams, I had about 3 weeks of studying under my belt. I took the practice exams on an average of about 2 per week.
Study Material: I used Kaplan, Barron's, Topscore, DAT achiever, and ACE THE DAT (just for PAT). For the sciences, I used Kaplan blue book and also Schaum's to supplement BIO (for plants, photosynthesis, classfication, evolution). For GC and OC, Kaplan is enough. The real thing is easier than all the practice exams for the sciences. For the PAT, Kaplan and Topscore is easier than the real thing on all sections. I really recommend DAT achiever for PAT as it is harder than the real thing for all sections except angles. ACE the DAT is good just for the angles cuz its angles section is most like the real thing (the angles section is pretty ridiculously hard on DAT). Topscore is good cuz its format is most like the real thing. All in all, I think my favorite is DAT achiever cuz it's the most difficult of the practice exams overall and it'll prepare you well and prevent you from being caught off-guard on test day.
Leading up to the Test: Don't study after about 3pm the day before the exam and try to do something to relax. As for me, I went out to take care of some errands with my mom and bought some stuff at the mall (i don't wanna call it shopping, haha). I know it's hard but get a good night's sleep the night before. Also bring some snacks for the 15 minute break. I brought some cereal, raisins, blueberry, and gatorade (don't have to go pee as much as with water). If you get cold easily, bring layers of clothes to the test site as the A/C might be a bit strong. When I got to the room, I moved the keyboard to the side, took the 15 minute tutorial time to write out some formulas for the sciences, took a few deep breaths to relax and went into the test.
Biology: Haha, I'm so sorry but I really don't remember many specific questions. I will say that a lot of the questions on SDN showed up: function of fertilization membrane in sea urchin (to prevent multiple sperms from entering egg), what is body's immediate response to hemorrhage (decrease in arterial pressure). Some other questions I remember are: what is the first thing to happen in a speciation event (i put down mutation).
Gen Chem: As people say, this section is much easier than any practice material. Calculation questions are real simple and there aren't that many in the first place. Know acid/base reactions well as those could be a bit confusing in my opinion. If you get a redox equation balancing question, you might want to skip it and come back when you have time at the end.
OChem: Don't remember too much... I thought I did better in this section tho.. Again, nothing too hard.
PAT: I don't know what you guys think of the different sections within PAT, but my least favorite is the apertures so I like to skip those first 15 questions and go straight into top-front-end. That way, if you run out of time you can at least have the easier ones out of the way. For top-front-ends, I think it's easier and saves time if you look at the answer choices first and then look for what would account for those differences you see in the choices. For the angles, I put my thumb on the screen to only see the corners to the angles and tried to tell them apart that way. Oh and for the really hard to tell angles, I ripped apart small squares with my scratch paper and folded them diagonally into triangles to make them thicker and used them to measure and compare the angles. For the hole punching, rather than looking at the folds in order first, it saves a heck a lot of time if you just work backwards from the last picture with the holes punched already to unfold each fold at a time. As for cube counting, Barron's strategy is the best. As for fold patterning, no real strategy here, just practice... it's pretty easy in real thing. As for apertures, don't look at the answers first as it may bias what you're looking for. And when you come to what you think might be the answer, it might still be worthwhile to quickly look at the other choices as you might realize that you overlooked something before.
Reading Comprehension: I just quickly read the passages first. Definitely don't try to understand everything and memorize all the details. Just keep a very general 'map' of which parts talk about what. You have 3 passages to cover in 60 min, giving you 20 min per passage. Try to read your passage in about 8-9 minutes leaving you with about 11-12 minutes to answer the 15-17 questions per passage. I couldnt' concentrate as hard for the first passage and thus probably missed most of my points on that. My passages were on Calcium functions, the biology of aging, and the increase in resistance to antibiotics in bacteria.
Quantitative Reasoning: The questions aren't too hard.. Mostly time is the biggest enemy with this section. My advice is skip the hard questions and answer the easy ones first. Surprisingly, I didnt' have any questions on permutations or combinations... Those used to give me some trouble... I was looking forward to kicking major butt on those questions but I didnt' get a chance.. oh well, I'll be happy with a 29 without kicking butt on permutations. 😀
Alright, I want to thank everyone for the help that I've received on SDN. Hopefully, my advice will help some of you. Well, if you have other questions, feel free to ask!
