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I've never posted too much, but I've used this site ALOT for studying for the DAT so thanks to everybody on here. Anyway just finished my first (08/03/07) and only DAT and figured I'd share my results/study aids.
PAT 21
QR 16
RC 25
Bio 20
GC 20
OC 26
TS 21
AA 21
Overall I am very happy with my scores except QR obviously. Don't really know what happened. I think it was a combination of fatigue, those crappy dry erase sheets and maybe a few miscalculations. I also ran out of time on #39.
For studying, I began with the kaplan blue book about June 15 and immediately pushed it to the side about 3 days later because it is a piece of crap in my opinion. Following that a buddy of mine allowed me to use his online kaplan material, and I did all the science subject tests available. I used those to determine what I didn't know, and then used my old textbooks to review all of that. I also got my hands on a set of kaplan MCAT laminated quicksheet review sheets which I would recommend to everyone. I also used Achiever.
Biology
Pretty straightforward. I wasn't surprised by most questions. There were a few that were tough such as the one where you are given a picture of something under a microscope and have to tell where you would find it. Somebody else posted about that question today or yesterday I think. Like most have said, Achiever is way more specific than the actual DAT for this section. If you have a solid grasp on all of the normal biology concepts you should be fine.
GC
Like most others have pointed out, it was mainly conceptual with hardly any calculations. The kaplan MCAT quicksheets really helped me on GC. I learned a couple weeks ago from everybody else who posted that this section was conceptual , so I reviewed the kaplan subject tests and quicksheet, focusing on the concept questions.
OC
My strongest subject. I just finished Ochem2 this past semester so I didn't study this too much. I do have to say that every question was pretty damn easy. I thought I had every one right, but guess not. By far the easiest section. know the basics like sn1,2 e1,2 and op activating/ meta deactivating really well. Also know the major reagents: hydride donors, oxidizers etc. and things like reducing a carboxylic acid will give a 1 deg alcohol etc.
PAT
ALOT easier than Achiever. Achiever is all I used for PAT and I think that it really helped. keyholes, tfe, cubes were all basic, easy shapes. Hole punching was comparable to Achiever. Angles were identical in difficulty to achiever, and pattern folding was comparable to achiever as well. Probably most my questions were missed on pattern folding because I thoroughly suck at those.
RC
I thought it was really easy, but I've always been good at these types of questions. I didn't study anything, but my style is to read the entire passage and really understand what it is saying and then go to the questions. I did this on 2 of them except for 1 where I realized that half of the paragraphs were just giving facts about a different thing so I skimmed the paragraphs for key words and went to the questions. probably 10 of the questions were tone/suitable title type questions, but i thought that they were elementary questions. My major requires reading alot of peer reviewed scientific papers, and those no doubt helped me on this section. Get your hands on 8 to 10 scientific papers and read them trying to gather info on the topic presented and what the writer is trying to tell you and you should be fine.
QR
Maybe I was tired. The laminated sheets suck. I also ran out of time before I was finished, which on achiever I finished each time with 5 minutes to spare or so. Alot of word problems and algebra problems. i only had 2 or so trig questions. Make sure you write big on the laminated sheets because a few times I wouldn't be able to tell what number I wrote etc.
Overall I am happy with my scores, and I believe I will be competitive. I believe if you know the reasons behind every answer in Achiever and the kap subject test you will be fine. Also, get your hands on the MCAT quicksheets. They are really helpful.
For reference, these are my scores on achiever test 3 that I took tuesday:
PA 18
QR 18
RC 23
Bio 15
GC 18
OC 20
TS 18
AA 19
PAT 21
QR 16
RC 25
Bio 20
GC 20
OC 26
TS 21
AA 21
Overall I am very happy with my scores except QR obviously. Don't really know what happened. I think it was a combination of fatigue, those crappy dry erase sheets and maybe a few miscalculations. I also ran out of time on #39.
For studying, I began with the kaplan blue book about June 15 and immediately pushed it to the side about 3 days later because it is a piece of crap in my opinion. Following that a buddy of mine allowed me to use his online kaplan material, and I did all the science subject tests available. I used those to determine what I didn't know, and then used my old textbooks to review all of that. I also got my hands on a set of kaplan MCAT laminated quicksheet review sheets which I would recommend to everyone. I also used Achiever.
Biology
Pretty straightforward. I wasn't surprised by most questions. There were a few that were tough such as the one where you are given a picture of something under a microscope and have to tell where you would find it. Somebody else posted about that question today or yesterday I think. Like most have said, Achiever is way more specific than the actual DAT for this section. If you have a solid grasp on all of the normal biology concepts you should be fine.
GC
Like most others have pointed out, it was mainly conceptual with hardly any calculations. The kaplan MCAT quicksheets really helped me on GC. I learned a couple weeks ago from everybody else who posted that this section was conceptual , so I reviewed the kaplan subject tests and quicksheet, focusing on the concept questions.
OC
My strongest subject. I just finished Ochem2 this past semester so I didn't study this too much. I do have to say that every question was pretty damn easy. I thought I had every one right, but guess not. By far the easiest section. know the basics like sn1,2 e1,2 and op activating/ meta deactivating really well. Also know the major reagents: hydride donors, oxidizers etc. and things like reducing a carboxylic acid will give a 1 deg alcohol etc.
PAT
ALOT easier than Achiever. Achiever is all I used for PAT and I think that it really helped. keyholes, tfe, cubes were all basic, easy shapes. Hole punching was comparable to Achiever. Angles were identical in difficulty to achiever, and pattern folding was comparable to achiever as well. Probably most my questions were missed on pattern folding because I thoroughly suck at those.
RC
I thought it was really easy, but I've always been good at these types of questions. I didn't study anything, but my style is to read the entire passage and really understand what it is saying and then go to the questions. I did this on 2 of them except for 1 where I realized that half of the paragraphs were just giving facts about a different thing so I skimmed the paragraphs for key words and went to the questions. probably 10 of the questions were tone/suitable title type questions, but i thought that they were elementary questions. My major requires reading alot of peer reviewed scientific papers, and those no doubt helped me on this section. Get your hands on 8 to 10 scientific papers and read them trying to gather info on the topic presented and what the writer is trying to tell you and you should be fine.
QR
Maybe I was tired. The laminated sheets suck. I also ran out of time before I was finished, which on achiever I finished each time with 5 minutes to spare or so. Alot of word problems and algebra problems. i only had 2 or so trig questions. Make sure you write big on the laminated sheets because a few times I wouldn't be able to tell what number I wrote etc.
Overall I am happy with my scores, and I believe I will be competitive. I believe if you know the reasons behind every answer in Achiever and the kap subject test you will be fine. Also, get your hands on the MCAT quicksheets. They are really helpful.
For reference, these are my scores on achiever test 3 that I took tuesday:
PA 18
QR 18
RC 23
Bio 15
GC 18
OC 20
TS 18
AA 19
