Ballin' Outta Control - My DAT Diary

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[Q]: What do you guys recommend for practice tests? Topscore or Achiever? And can you explain the general pros and cons of each with respect to each section.
 
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even if this man is straight trollin his avatar picture makes it worth it lol

I advise both achiever and topscore.

Achiever will keep you honest and humble its great to practice hard tests + the PAT on achiever is more like the actual DAT.

Topscore tests are more along the lines of actual DATs, so I advise using those AFTER the achiever which made you hit the panic button non stop. Topscore tests will give you a more honest look into how you will actually score. That being said the DAT is mostly basic material BUT has a few curveballs thrown in thus preparing for the worst gives you the best probability of success.

my .02
 
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Got on the QR stuff, even if you are just memorizing trig or geometry topics. This section cannot be taken too lightly.

This section is made challenging by the timing of things, I am sure you will be fine from your engineering background, but none the less you do not get a calculator and no calculus is needed!

Your science prep looks awesome! Try out chad's ochem DAT review vids and worksheets, they were recently posted.

Although you are reviewing material and that is great, begin taking practice tests.

I used topscore, thought it was fairly accurate (minus the extreme taxonomy on bio) as compared to the real deal.

Keep up with do a CDP test all the time (every other day possibly), when I got to the real test I took the section off mentally becuase I was so used to doing the PAT. It looks like from your most recent score that you will be fine though.

Good luck!

One more thing, no more vacation!
 
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achilles2 said:
even if this man is straight trollin his avatar picture makes it worth it lol
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Glad you like it, but I have to ask you whats so hard to believe about my post? You really think a troll would spend this much time on a post?

I'm about to buy both Achiever and TopScore, but before I do I just want to be sure that each of them is 50 bucks and comes with three full length tests -right?

Oh and drm85 (or anyone else), have you taken the DAT already? If so, can you post some really hard DAT QR problems similar to those you saw? I need some motivation to study QR, so try and stump me if you want.
 
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NumbaOneStunna said:
Glad you like it, but I have to ask you whats so hard to believe about my post? You really think a troll would spend this much time on a post?

I'm about to buy both Achiever and TopScore, but before I do I just want to be sure that each of them is 50 bucks and comes with three full length tests -right?

Oh and drm85 (or anyone else), have you taken the DAT already? If so, can you post some really hard DAT QR problems similar to those you saw? I need some motivation to study QR, so try and stump me if you want.
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QR questions are not hard at all-the lack of time is producing the relatively lower QR scores. As I mentioned on a different thread, "you can't teach speed". We can all run 40 yards, only a handful of people can run a 4.2 40 yard sprint.
 
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UCB05 said:
QR questions are not hard at all. It is the lack of time that is producing the relatively lower QR scores. As I mentioned on a different thread, "you can't teach speed". We can all run 40 yards, only a handful of people can run a 4.2 40 yard sprint.
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I get you, but still even if it's a sprint I need to know what kind of terrain I'm on and the distance - as of now I have no clue how time consuming each of these problems really are because I have never seen an actual DAT QR problem. If you've taken the DAT, why don't you me out by posting some math problems - not for me to practice on- but more for me to gauge what the test is like.

Thanks to all the help so far guys!
 
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UCB05 said:
QR questions are not hard at all-the lack of time is producing the relatively lower QR scores. As I mentioned on a different thread, "you can't teach speed". We can all run 40 yards, only a handful of people can run a 4.2 40 yard sprint.
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I agree. We might not be able to hit 4.2 but with practice you will do better. I think I had trouble with 2 questions on the QR section but I got more wrong because of time.

Get Topscore for now. Get Achiever later. 50 bucks of each of us...they must be making bank...
 
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I watched about a half of the first semester ones (reviews included) and thought that they were good but way too long. I already had an excellent conceptual background in [OC] so I felt these were a little slow and looked for more concentrated review material. The [GC] videos are pretty awesome though, all of [GC] (no joke) in 13 hours of video. The notes are just icing on the cake, using these I went through destroyer np np and added to them when I encountered something new (which was rare).
 
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NumbaOneStunna said:
Glad you like it, but I have to ask you whats so hard to believe about my post? You really think a troll would spend this much time on a post?

I'm about to buy both Achiever and TopScore, but before I do I just want to be sure that each of them is 50 bucks and comes with three full length tests -right?

Oh and drm85 (or anyone else), have you taken the DAT already? If so, can you post some really hard DAT QR problems similar to those you saw? I need some motivation to study QR, so try and stump me if you want.
Click to expand...


I've seen some clever trolls in my day I'm not hatin, thats why I answered your question.

In terms of the loot there is no replacement for full length timed computerized tests....its worth the c-note for the topscore which gives you 3 and the pro gives you 5 (I think don't kill me if I am wrong) and achiever.

In terms of other prep materials your going to need an overall study guide of some sort to point you in the right direction if you can find someone who took the kaplan course the white kaplan book is better then the blue one (has more practice problems after each section)
-cliffs ap bio is a great pickup and is only like 10 bones

check ebay for some deals if you can find a used destroyer thats nice for more practice but its kinda on the pricey side

of course one of the best study guides for bio and gen chem is FREE and you can get it right now....wikipedia gets no love on this site I used it significantly for biology and got a 29 on that section. An old college bio textbook or AP bio book also is useful.
 
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NumbaOneStunna said:
I watched about a half of the first semester ones (reviews included) and thought that they were good but way too long. I already had an excellent conceptual background in [OC] so I felt these were a little slow and looked for more concentrated review material. The [GC] videos are pretty awesome though, all of [GC] (no joke) in 13 hours of video. The notes are just icing on the cake, using these I went through destroyer np np and added to them when I encountered something new (which was rare).
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Looks like you are already well prepared and with 21 more days, your goal of scoring 24+ AA/TS/PAT should be easily achieved given your background.
 
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UCB05 said:
Looks like you are already well prepared and with 21 more days, your goal of scoring 24+ AA/TS/PAT should be easily achieved given your background.
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That's actually not my goal, just put that there to get more views 🙂. I'd be happy with 23/23/21+.
 
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Link to Chad's Videos:
http://www.coursesaver.com/forumdisplay.php?f=24

Progress:
Starting to get a little freaked out ( good thing ) and will hopefully start studying harder. Yesterday had a ****ty night of sleep, so today I wasn't studying as hard as I should have. Will make it up tomorrow. Covered Animal Form and Function Chapter in Cliffs, PAT sections, and wikied bio stuff.

 
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NumbaOneStunna said:
I get you, but still even if it's a sprint I need to know what kind of terrain I'm on and the distance - as of now I have no clue how time consuming each of these problems really are because I have never seen an actual DAT QR problem. If you've taken the DAT, why don't you me out by posting some math problems - not for me to practice on- but more for me to gauge what the test is like.

Thanks to all the help so far guys!
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There's also the Crack DAT Math (CDM) sold by the CDP makers. https://pat.crackdat.com/order/browse_products.php?category_id=11

It's pretty similar (if not harder) to actual DAT QR.
________________________________________________________________________
DAT taken in May, 09: AA 22/TS 22/PAT
24
 
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I finished my review of cliffs and destroyer again yesterday and now I'm on to six days of testing. Scores posted below. I'll be taking topscore and achiever (this first for motivation), and CDM tests whenever I can.

Scores:

Achiever
Test 1

[Bio]: 21, [GC]: 20, [OC]: 21, [RC]: 22, [QR]: 29
[PAT]: 18 (Key 6 , TFE 9, A 13, H 14, C 15, PF 8 )
[AA]: 23, [TS]: 21
(Done)

Thoughts: I haven't looked over the science yet, but I thought I did alot better in GC and OC since they seemed pretty easy - guess not. Tell me what you think! Got owned on Keyholes and TFE and pattern folding. I feel like the image quality sucks and makes it more confusing. Are the pictures on the dat as ****ty quality as this or are they more along the lines of cdp? Also what sections of cdp and achiever are more comparable to the real dat? RC felt pretty easy, I had like 6 min left and didn't feel like looking over stuff but I feel like too much of it was straight up S&D. QR seemed damn easy how does this test compare to the real DAT, prolly alot easier?
 
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NumbaOneStunna said:
I finished my review of cliffs and destroyer again yesterday and now I'm on to six days of testing. Scores posted below. I'll be taking topscore and achiever (this first for motivation), and CDM tests whenever I can.

Scores:

Achiever
Test 1 [Bio]: 21, [GC]: 20, [OC]: 21, [TS]: 21,
[PAT]: 18 (Key 6 , TFE 9, A 13, H 14, C 15, PF 8 )

(In Progress)

Thoughts: I haven't looked over the science yet, but I thought I did alot better in GC and OC since they seemed pretty easy - guess not. Tell me what you think! Got owned on Keyholes and TFE and pattern folding. I feel like the image quality sucks and makes it more confusing. Are the pictures on the dat as ****ty quality as this or are they more along the lines of cdp? Also what sections of cdp and achiever are more comparable to the real dat?
Click to expand...

I haven't taken it yet... but a lot of people on this forum say that keyholes are harder, angles are ridic, and the pattern folding is weirder
 
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Just finished all the Achiever tests, can you guys tell me where my weak spots are (since achiever section difficulty varies alot by subject) and what kind of shape im in (I've completed most of my studying and will be taking the DAT in 9 days!!!!) Thanks! (Scores in first post, and I didnt feel like doing the PAT today although ive been taking all the other sections back to back)

Do you guys think I should invest in CDM at this point? I'm comfortable with all the problems that have shown up on Achiever (i just make mistakes), and have about 10-15 minutes left after finishing, but there aren't that many long word problems that you guys say show up alot more on the real dat. What do you guys think?
 
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For some reason I couldn't get the AA and TS to compute on the score report. Can anyone tell me what 9 Questions in TS wrong and 14 Questions wrong in AA gives? (Approximately?)
 
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Goals:


___________[Bio] [GC] [OC] [RC] [QR] [PAT] [TS] [AA]
____________22+_ 25+_25+_24+_27+_21+_24+_25+

NumbaOneStunna is feeling pretty confident right now. This is what I want, hopefully I'll get it. My sciences have been less than stellar on achiever and topscore because of stupid mistakes for the most part. Come D Day I'm gonna be focused and ready - no dumb mistakes. I'm typing up a big document with all of my mistakes on practice tests plus extra info relating to the areas Im weak in. I stepped up my PAT game to a new lvl by doing random CDP tests - hopefully I'll get better than a 21.

Anyways SDN, back to studying.

Sincerely,
NumbaOneStunna

 
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Damn, You've gotten the highest scores I've seen overall on the practice tests. Don't aim for any specific scores for each subject though. I think that just gets to your head during test day. Just do your best and you're gonna kill it! Can't wait to see the breakdown. I'm expecting some big BIG numbers bro! I got similar TS3 scores: 22 Bio, 19 Gchem, 30 Ochem. I agree, its a great confidence booster. But don't bring down the intensity!
 
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NumbaOneStunna said:
Just took my DAT, see my original post for details. I did alright (my scores arent that crazy by SDN standards), but feel I could have done better. Anyways, glad its over. Are these scores good enough for every school? I know the predents DAT, but where would this put me in the running applying to UCLA, UCSF, UF and Harvard with a ~3.7 gpa from Duke/caltech in engineering.
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Where's your breakdown?

*nvm I saw it, posting your schedule would be awesome man!

and nice scores!
 
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I took the test on the same date too.
Did you get piano for your RC passage?

I was getting 22-23 on my CDP, but the real DAT's PAT for some reason..
Was the one that drag me down...:wow:

(I thought the TFE end was the HARDEST among all, normally I can get away from this section by the "line counting method" if you know what I mean, but on the real DAT, all of theme has the exact same amount of lines for all the answer choices, I end up not knowing what to do....)

Obvious that's probably not your case huh..haha..
 
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NumbaOneStunna said:

Overall the test suprised me with its lack of attention to minor details. So for all of you nervous SDNers don't go crazy like I did memorizing tons of IR pictures, knowing every little exception to gchem problems, or knowing every single rxn in orgo.
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Quoted for truth.
Congratz on a great score!
 
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ur probably set, so jealous

i wish i have the extra money to buy destroyer, but ill have to go with chads by this rate =/ spent all my money on kaplan, cliff, topscore, achiever, cdp

does destroyer help that much? thats the only resource i am missing
 
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Yeah I'll most likely go to UF for dental school if I get accepted, nothing's positive though. As for Destroyer, it really depends on your background/how high you want to score. It's pretty helpful for all of the sciences, but I think the other stuff you have is def. enough to score great on the dat (20+).
 
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