Advice needed.... 19 days away from my test

[Axiomatician]

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Hey everyone!

This is pretty lengthy and I just want to say thanks for reading and any advice you feel like you want to share I would greatly appreciate it. I am really nervous right now and really need someone's perspective. If you have any questions that I don't answer, I will gladly reply to the thread or PM you.

My DAT is scheduled in 19 days for July 29th. Just to put it in perspective.. At the time of writing this, it is Sunday, July 10th close to midnight, but soon to be Monday, the 11th. I have 2 full weeks(Monday-Monday 2x) plus a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday until my test.

My study materials are as follows: Chads, Feralis, DBC, DAT Destroyer, Math Destroyer.

I haven't used Chads in about 6 weeks. I am currently (almost) through with Destroyer. I have some Organic and Biology questions to review still(less than 50 in total), and just an hour or two worth of Gen Chem, then I'm done. *Just an edit, I want to say that I have gotten better from the days I first started working Destroyer to now. In the last 150-200 problems of each science, I missed ~37% in Bio, missed ~54% in OC, and missed ~49% in GC. I feel that I have studied the best in Bio out of the 3. I have about 600-800 notecards made for Bio, as well as about 200 for the chemistries. I will start reviewing those when I am done with Destroyer for the 1st time.

I have Math Destroyer tests from 7-18(I think its 18 total?) still to do.

I have DBC test 2-5 still available to me.

I took a practice DBC PAT test tonight(#7) and scored a 19. About two weeks ago, I scored a 20 on DBC PAT test #6. I consistently do bad on angles, scoring around 5/15-8/15 very consistently.

Here is my dilemma... I really don't know what exactly to do.

In order to try and gauge where I am, I feel like I need to take DBC practice tests between now and my test, but I don't know many? Is 2 practice tests each week too much? Would it depend on how many I was missing and whether I had adequate time to learn before taking the next one?

As for Math Destroyer, I feel like I should finish all of them, what do you think? How often should I do them?

As for PAT, although I am generally really nervous right now about the whole test, I am really frustrated with PAT. I feel like I could make a 22+ in PAT if it wasn't for the angles! The 20 I got on DBC's PAT Test 6 made me feel somewhat hopeful, mainly because out of the 25 that I missed, 8 were angles, and 7 were pattern folding, which I had to guess on 6 out of which I missed 4, due to running out of time.

As for reading. I don't really know what to do at this point for it. Should I just go with science articles every day until my test? I got a 19 on my RC section of DBC Full length test #1. This was my highest score on that test.(The only reason I didn't tell my scores was because I took that test almost 2 months ago, just 2-3 weeks into studying. I posted a thread about it a while back, if you want to see.)

Finally.. I don't really know about what I should take from DBC test scores. Say, for instance, I take the 2nd test full length tomorrow(tomorrow being Monday, the 11th, as I am typing this at midnight.) Say, on that practice test I get 20 or below in everything. Should I be worried? Should I assume I could probably make the same or 1-2, maybe even 3, points higher for each respective section? I just don't know....

I have already taken into serious consideration pushing my test back 2 weeks, give or take. I could potentially push it back up to 3 weeks before college starts back for me. I won't be applying this cycle of applications, because I am just now going into my junior year of college.

 

[DAT Destroyer]

Push you test 3 weeks, you are not applying this cycle. Why rush when you are not feeling confident in all areas? You will have time to reschedule, so as your test date approaches and you are still having the same feeling I would highly suggest postponing.

Just my 2 cents..

Nancy

 

[JLT223]

I took my exam last year on July 29th, what a day! I second pushing your test back, but you still have time if your choose not to. Things didn't "click" for me until about 2 weeks before my exam.

You need to do more content review. Anything and everything you have gotten wrong/don't understand needs to be written down. Read your notes/flashcards every single day for a few hours. This is as important as practice exams.

Save the BC exams and utilize them as full lengths. You should spend an entire day reviewing them and making notes. For RC you should try reading Scientific American artitles for comprehension. Look into DAT qvault for more practice. You need to find a method that works for you and stick with it. BC RC is harder than the real deal.

Do the PAT generators, for every section, every day. Skip around during this section. If you hate angles, skip them until the end. I literally despised TFE so I saved it for last on my exam. It's all about playing smart.

Save the 2007 and 2009 ADA exams for 1 week and 3 days before your exam, respectively.

I could be wrong, but I have the feeling that you may have spent too much time studying over a long period. That way it's easy to forget things. It's much easier to study for this exam in a 6 week period than over the course of several months.

 

[super frank]

Definitely push back since you're not even applying this cycle. More time will only help your score.
For RC I found that the technique you use makes all the difference. Try the technique I used in my breakdown.
And yes, do the PAT generators everyday. Angle ranking sucks and it really never gets much better, lol.
MAKE SURE you are doing a Math Destroyer test everyday in addition to PAT.

I agree, you should save the BC exams until the end. I wouldn't do those until the last week or so. If you can afford it perhaps invest in qVault or Genius. BUT, considering you've only gone through Destroyer once, I think you should just go through Destroyer relentlessly until you're ready to take the BC exams.

 

[Axiomatician]

Definitely push back since you're not even applying this cycle. More time will only help your score.
For RC I found that the technique you use makes all the difference. Try the technique I used in my breakdown.
And yes, do the PAT generators everyday. Angle ranking sucks and it really never gets much better, lol.
MAKE SURE you are doing a Math Destroyer test everyday in addition to PAT.

I agree, you should save the BC exams until the end. I wouldn't do those until the last week or so. If you can afford it perhaps invest in qVault or Genius. BUT, considering you've only gone through Destroyer once, I think you should just go through Destroyer relentlessly until you're ready to take the BC exams.

I'm not sure whether or not I should push it back, I don't want to unless I feel like it will help me. Should I make the call about 12-10 days before?

Also, should I not do any full lengths until I feel like I have reviewed everything I can? I am about to start Destroyer for a second time, but I won't do QR since I have MATH Destroyer. I also don't think I need to go through Bio again, or if I do, I need to do it after I have done the Chemistries again.

I will be taking your advice on doing a MATH Destroyer everyday along with all the generators. I read your breakdown(having read it before as well) and made note of your RC strategy. Thanks.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[FutureDDS_11]

I'm on the same boat as you. Entering my junior year this year and applying next year. this might help you:
I was planning on taking the DAT on late/mid July as well (started studying 5/12). However, since I am not applying this cycle. I think that I would want to have as much time as I can for the exam, because I know that scoring even 1 point higher will be worth the 3 weeks that I delay it. I decided last week to finally schedule it for 8/8 (yes, I waited that long to officially schedule it haha), which would still give me 3 weeks to rest before the semester starts, and I am still more than willing to reschedule a week or two if I feel slightly unconfident about anything as the exam comes up. Notice that there is a difference between feeling confident versus feeling ready that you will do well. With tests like these, I don't think anyone will feel ready for them. However, if you take advantage of the time you have to study, I think it is possible to be confident that you will reach your target score.

Hopefully this helped and good luck!

 

[deleted738762]

My test in like a week and I just really started studying last week and a half, although I finished chads videos, and currently finishing biology. I have yet to go through DAT bootcamp and destroyer. Your already ahead of me, so ....

Also you might forget key information if you extend it. You still have 2 weeks which is a lot of time, but it depends on the person.

 

[super frank]

I'm not sure whether or not I should push it back, I don't want to unless I feel like it will help me. Should I make the call about 12-10 days before?

Also, should I not do any full lengths until I feel like I have reviewed everything I can? I am about to start Destroyer for a second time, but I won't do QR since I have MATH Destroyer. I also don't think I need to go through Bio again, or if I do, I need to do it after I have done the Chemistries again.

I will be taking your advice on doing a MATH Destroyer everyday along with all the generators. I read your breakdown(having read it before as well) and made note of your RC strategy. Thanks.

Thanks for the advice.

Yeah, just make sure you make the call before the rescheduling fee becomes $100.

Of course it's best to hold off on full lengths until you review everything. Once you start doing FL's then you should dedicate your time to reviewing the tests. Do Destroyer as many times as you can, including the Bio (substitute the QR section for Math Destroyer).

And don't worry about "forgetting" stuff if you push back, lol. If you continue to study for two weeks you won't forget anything. It doesn't work like that.

 

[FutureDDS_11]

And don't worry about "forgetting" stuff if you push back, lol. If you continue to study for two weeks you won't forget anything. It doesn't work like that.