are you guys kidding me??

[reliefe123]

what the heck...you guys in sdn are cool but im starting to despise you all...seriously...some say they study for 10 hours a day....i study for about 5 till my brain feels like its mush...you guys get 20's take practice exams on the free kaplan exam thingy and get 16's...you guys have 3.5 and up gpas...i have a 3.2...you guys do allllll this stuff and i feel like a dirt bag!!!no hard feelings..

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Cofo]

hmmmm.... uh, what?

 

[doc3232]

what the heck...you guys in sdn are cool but im starting to despise you all...seriously...some say they study for 10 hours a day....i study for about 5 till my brain feels like its mush...you guys get 20's take practice exams on the free kaplan exam thingy and get 16's...you guys have 3.5 and up gpas...i have a 3.2...you guys do allllll this stuff and i feel like a dirt bag!!!no hard feelings..

Kaplan just wants to trick you into thinking you are in bad shape and that you must take their course (it is just business like any other seller). Anyway I like a 17 or 18 on kaplan's free test. Just go study then if your not happy with your scores.

 

[arpitpatel86]

i disagree, kaplan IS A LOT easiar than the real DAT, so i dont know how it is a business deal when you get higher score on the practice test of kaplan dat than the real dat. on kaplan i was getting 20's and the real thing i got a 17 and a lot of other people who took kaplan felt this way too.

 

[playa2652]

Hey reliefe123. Keep your chin up man...I scored 18s average on practice exams for Kaplan, Topscore, and Achiever. My worst section was gchem before I took the DAT and I scored a 23 on the actual exam. Ochem went up and bio a lil bit too. The only score that didn't go up for me was math, but I have a prob doing math probs towards the end of the test after RC. My advice and my Kaplan instructors' advice was not to look at the scores too literally because it is not a fair reflection on how you'll do on the test. Use as a motivator to clearly understand why you got the prob wrong instead of why I got a 18 or something. I truly believe that if you have this mentality that the questions on the actual test will not scare you, but humor you because you solidified the basics to get the question right. Also, another reason why you might be scoring so low is probly because of your timing. If thats an issue, definitely work on that first because timing was crucial on my test, and you have no time to waste at all. hope that helps.

 

[joonkimdds]

I don't understand ppl paying over $1000 just for kaplan course...I would rather donate $1000 to SDN.

 

[TheWiredNerv]

what the heck...you guys in sdn are cool but im starting to despise you all...seriously...some say they study for 10 hours a day....i study for about 5 till my brain feels like its mush...you guys get 20's take practice exams on the free kaplan exam thingy and get 16's...you guys have 3.5 and up gpas...i have a 3.2...you guys do allllll this stuff and i feel like a dirt bag!!!no hard feelings..

How much time do you spend going over your practice tests?

 

[reliefe123]

How much time do you spend going over your practice tests?

yo playa thanks man!...i spend the usual time...forget about the math section all the time inthe world would not help me...but the other sections im solid at...i took the dat's like 2 years ago...and it was not as bad as people said it would be...i just didnt study hard enough...but i guess we will see this june 1st...

 

[playa2652]

Hey no prob. I would spend sometime going over math tho because although the math on my test didn't seem too hard, my score for that section did not really reflect what I knew. Plus, the faster you can do probs, the more points you can accumulate.

 

[Predentknight]

So now I am confused. Some people say Kaplan tests are much harder than the real thing and some say it is way easier. What is it? I have been scoring 18's recently with the exception of math and gchem and would like to know where I stand and what I should be focusing more time on. How close is Kaplan in relative level of difficulty to the actual DAT?

 

[playa2652]

I would say it is different for each person. Hopefully your not only using Kaplan as your only study material. It definitely is not enough to reinforce what you should know. As for their tests, I personally that they were hard, but not as hard as topscore or achiever. Learn from your mistakes on practice tests and don't let the score bring you down. It is not a complete indication of how it will be test day. It all depends on the questions given to you.

 

[Predentknight]

Thanks for the advice "playa" and no I am using Kaplan Book and Kaplan online along with Destroyer and Schuams. Although I plan on saving topscore and achiever for a few weeks before the test to polish off all the studying.

 

[DrSphinx]

So now I am confused. Some people say Kaplan tests are much harder than the real thing and some say it is way easier. What is it? I have been scoring 18's recently with the exception of math and gchem and would like to know where I stand and what I should be focusing more time on. How close is Kaplan in relative level of difficulty to the actual DAT?

From my experience, and it sounds like the other people on here have had the same one, Kaplan's initial free test they give around campus is harder (to make you think you'll fail without them...it's a business after all and they want to make money) but then all their actual practice tests that you take throughout the course are easier than the real DAT (to get your confidence up, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just not as realistic as I had personally hoped) I talked to a few friends about this and we all had the same experience, so I'm not just pulling this out of thin air either! Hope that helps.

 

[reliefe123]

From my experience, and it sounds like the other people on here have had the same one, Kaplan's initial free test they give around campus is harder (to make you think you'll fail without them...it's a business after all and they want to make money) but then all their actual practice tests that you take throughout the course are easier than the real DAT (to get your confidence up, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just not as realistic as I had personally hoped) I talked to a few friends about this and we all had the same experience, so I'm not just pulling this out of thin air either! Hope that helps.

yeahhh...dr sphinx is right...they make the free test on their page hard...but wehn you take the class they make it easier...the reason for this is becuse they have this policy stating that if you do worse on the real exam they will give you ALL of your money back!!so they make it easeir so they dont go giving people their money bac

 

[doc3232]

yeahhh...dr sphinx is right...they make the free test on their page hard...but wehn you take the class they make it easier...the reason for this is becuse they have this policy stating that if you do worse on the real exam they will give you ALL of your money back!!so they make it easeir so they dont go giving people their money bac

I think you mean harder so they don't give money back.
Anyway, the first DAT test for me wasn't too bad, I keep getting the same scores there. Biggest problem with Kaplan is that they use the same questions again and again so if you studied your exams your next Kaplan test score would rocket. Take the Kaplan final, they make it so easy.

 

[Sbosu]

why dont you just stop worrying about how the scores compare and worry about studying, youll probably get a better score that way

 

[Mstoothlady2012]

yeahhh...dr sphinx is right...they make the free test on their page hard...but wehn you take the class they make it easier...the reason for this is becuse they have this policy stating that if you do worse on the real exam they will give you ALL of your money back!!so they make it easeir so they dont go giving people their money bac

well if the only reason you are doing good on kaplan's practice exams is because they are easy...doesnt that mean you will do poorly on the real thing? Which means they will have to give money back to all the students.

I am doing the kaplan online course right now and I think it is a great tool to study for DAT. I have not done any of their practice tests so far but their section tests are of medium level. I don't think they are easy at all, neither am I saying that they are hard. I score somewhere between 75-90%. Will give my opinion on the full lengths when I take them in future...

 

[jay47]

why dont you just stop worrying about how the scores compare and worry about studying, youll probably get a better score that way

Lol, this is actually pretty good advice.

I was consistently getting 18-19 on all Topscore sections except for PAT, which was easier than the real thing. I did much better on the real exam.

The thing with all of these practice tests they give you, and even the one online, is that their questions are "what hormone is not produced by the pituitary gland" or "what nerve provides major parasympathetic innervation to body organs" (vagus nerve btw)

They don't ask questions like the real exam. The real exam is a lot more conceptual. For example, A child experiences abnormal growth in her teenage years, growing much taller than usual. In addition, her sexual reproductive system develops abnormally. Which of the following organs in her body is most likely effected? Or "which of the following would an enzyme NOT do to a reaction?"

Some of these people just go in and memorize a bunch of crap; e.g. all the hormones produced in pituitary, etc...they don't really understand what they are memorizing. Of course, a certain amount of contextual information will be necessary to understand the question, but you can actually use critical thinking and apply concepts in most cases (except PAT, QR or course). Go into studying with the knowledge that you must UNDERSTAND, not memorize. When you can repeat concepts in your head, and would be able to explain them to others, you are ready. I think many test past test takers would agree with me.

 

[userah]

out of curiosity, what is the answer to that organs question? is it the anterior pituitary of the hypothalamus? Increased levels of GH and something wrong with the FSH and LH?

 

[Mstoothlady2012]

hmm I had say something wrong with hypothalamus which secretes GnRH which controls FSH, LH & GH

 

[jay47]

out of curiosity, what is the answer to that organs question? is it the anterior pituitary of the hypothalamus? Increased levels of GH and something wrong with the FSH and LH?

Actually guys, I have no idea; I just made that up on the fly. I was thinking pituitary gland, but I can't confirm anything 100% . It seemed like pituitary gland made sense. I was simply trying to illustrate the point that you have to think about questions (sorry I didn't really THINK about writing it, lol) on the real test.

Don't worry about the question too much, I think hypothalamus or anterior pituitary would work. But, at least it got everyone thinking!

 

[Predentknight]

I believe it could be either because if there is a tumor in the hypothlalamus than that would effect the corresponding releasing hormones which intern control the anterior pituitary or there may be a problem with the anterior pituitary or the sensitivity to GH receptors on the epiphyseal plate but im sure on the test it would be more specific.

But all of this talk about Kaplan making the test harder so that you get your money back is a bunch of bull. They give you the higher score guarantee if for some reason you do not feel ready for the test and completed all assignments and attended the classes regardless of your practice test scores. I think the subject tests are extremely difficult and the explanations are even more in depth than some portions of schuams. By no means am I using this to predict my scores on the DAT just to track my progression throughout the week and what I should be focusing on more in the week to come. I gather that topscore and achiever is a more accurate indication.

 

[doc toothache]

I don't understand ppl paying over $1000 just for kaplan course...I would rather donate $1000 to SDN.

Yes, but did you make the donation?

 

[jigabodo]

Yes, but did you make the donation?

That would make you a lifetime platinum member or something along those lines.

 

[doc3232]

That would make you a lifetime platinum member or something along those lines.

hahaha, definitely.
Hmmm, how much does SDN cost to buy?
I am guessing >10,000. Just guessing.