Hi everyone,
Because you all have been so helpful, I thought I would give back and do a little breakdown of my test.
PAT 22(93.8)
QR 19(92.9)
RC 23(96.1)
Bio 23(98.9)
GC 22(95.2)
OC 28(99.5)
TS 23(99.3)
AA 23(99.7)
This test had pretty much consumed my life since about April. I had moved back home after graduating college, and that's where I have studied the past 2 weeks in a room that felt more like a furnace than a study area.
The key for me on doing well for this test was time, I only took the Kaplan test and the Barron's DAT test (don't worry, I didn't even look at the solutions) just to get a feel for the test. I think a few practice tests are crucial for success, and I learned to just mark move and come back if I didn't know the answer right away.
(PAT) Anyway, I'm pretty stoked about my scores except for PAT because I was doing much better on CDP, which by the way was competely crucial to my success in that section. My progression via CDP was 18,18,19,20,23,22,22,22,25,28 and then I retook the first 5 tests again because I went through them too fast! I thought that I had worked out the time issue, but I still had to rush through the pattern folding section (I think I had maybe 6 minutes for it?). Somehow I was able to finish and get backed to my marked questions.
(Bio) This was the section for the test that I studied for the most, I think I read Cliff's about 6-7 times and the day before I took their two multiple choice sample tests of 100 questions each that they have in the back. I also had the destroyer which I think I should have used more, I think there were 1 or 2 obscure questions that I had to make an educated guess on and those I think were probably what I ended up missing (so much for educated...). Anyway, I also had the Campbell's bio book and I would read chapters out of that for stuff that I needed to brush up on. Overall, I'm really happy about the bio result.
(RC) Boy was I lucky that I got passages that I knew stuff about, and my classes in college were a huge help. I got passages on aging and cancerous agents. If you're taking Kaplan RC tests and are tanking, don't worry I did too. I never scored above an 18 on those things, and reading is a favorite hobby of mine. You just have to go in focused and with confidence. The 15 minute break I took before this really helped clear my mind and refocus, and the bathroom was pretty great too.
(QR) Stupid me, I didn't answer the last question and I was looking right at the clock. The key to this section is being able to move fast, I've always been fairly good at working out word problems quickly so that helped a lot. I reviewed the QR out of Kaplan and took 10 of the Math Destroyer tests. 19 was about what I was getting on Math destroyer, I would just review the test answers right after every attempt and review the ones I missed later.
(OC) Sorry guys, I just can't bring myself to say orgo, maybe it's just a west coast thing but I have never heard the word orgo mentioned anywhere on campus. Anyway, I was expecting OC to be my best section, it has always come really easily to me but I would always reference a chem textbook if I didn't understand something out of destroyer, which was really handing it to me at first. I think I went through GC and OC in destroyer 3x, the last time only being problems that I missed. I made flash cards of reactions, but the reason why I did well was always the understanding of why reactions work, and the mechanism in between.
(GC) This was the section that I would struggle in the most, and I guess I was right. The Kaplan blue book was really good for getting the basic concepts down, which supplemented a lot of the problems out of destroyer. It was really important for me on most sections to just be rational and really understand what units or concept they were looking for.
Overall, I'm really glad I don't have to take this thing again. I was so nervous about seeing my results that I was sure I wasn't gonna make it through that 15 question survey. I felt obligated to answer all those questions though, my Prometric center did a standout job and was very professional.
Ok, now for my question. I just graduated from a UC and I have an overall GPA of 3.13 I think by AADSAS and a science/BCP of like 2.79( which is above most cut-offs, but is not going to impress anyone). Fortunately I guess I can say I have a pretty strong upward trend over the last few years, and I think over the last year and a half I've had like a 3.5 science. I'm a non-science major so I don't know if that is anything, and I also have some pretty solid letters of rec. So for those of you out there that know this process pretty well, do you think I have any chances at getting admitted? All I need is one school, and I'm planning on casting a pretty large net. Thank you all for your help again, it was crucial for my success and put my mind at ease for most of this process.
Because you all have been so helpful, I thought I would give back and do a little breakdown of my test.
PAT 22(93.8)
QR 19(92.9)
RC 23(96.1)
Bio 23(98.9)
GC 22(95.2)
OC 28(99.5)
TS 23(99.3)
AA 23(99.7)
This test had pretty much consumed my life since about April. I had moved back home after graduating college, and that's where I have studied the past 2 weeks in a room that felt more like a furnace than a study area.
The key for me on doing well for this test was time, I only took the Kaplan test and the Barron's DAT test (don't worry, I didn't even look at the solutions) just to get a feel for the test. I think a few practice tests are crucial for success, and I learned to just mark move and come back if I didn't know the answer right away.
(PAT) Anyway, I'm pretty stoked about my scores except for PAT because I was doing much better on CDP, which by the way was competely crucial to my success in that section. My progression via CDP was 18,18,19,20,23,22,22,22,25,28 and then I retook the first 5 tests again because I went through them too fast! I thought that I had worked out the time issue, but I still had to rush through the pattern folding section (I think I had maybe 6 minutes for it?). Somehow I was able to finish and get backed to my marked questions.
(Bio) This was the section for the test that I studied for the most, I think I read Cliff's about 6-7 times and the day before I took their two multiple choice sample tests of 100 questions each that they have in the back. I also had the destroyer which I think I should have used more, I think there were 1 or 2 obscure questions that I had to make an educated guess on and those I think were probably what I ended up missing (so much for educated...). Anyway, I also had the Campbell's bio book and I would read chapters out of that for stuff that I needed to brush up on. Overall, I'm really happy about the bio result.
(RC) Boy was I lucky that I got passages that I knew stuff about, and my classes in college were a huge help. I got passages on aging and cancerous agents. If you're taking Kaplan RC tests and are tanking, don't worry I did too. I never scored above an 18 on those things, and reading is a favorite hobby of mine. You just have to go in focused and with confidence. The 15 minute break I took before this really helped clear my mind and refocus, and the bathroom was pretty great too.
(QR) Stupid me, I didn't answer the last question and I was looking right at the clock. The key to this section is being able to move fast, I've always been fairly good at working out word problems quickly so that helped a lot. I reviewed the QR out of Kaplan and took 10 of the Math Destroyer tests. 19 was about what I was getting on Math destroyer, I would just review the test answers right after every attempt and review the ones I missed later.
(OC) Sorry guys, I just can't bring myself to say orgo, maybe it's just a west coast thing but I have never heard the word orgo mentioned anywhere on campus. Anyway, I was expecting OC to be my best section, it has always come really easily to me but I would always reference a chem textbook if I didn't understand something out of destroyer, which was really handing it to me at first. I think I went through GC and OC in destroyer 3x, the last time only being problems that I missed. I made flash cards of reactions, but the reason why I did well was always the understanding of why reactions work, and the mechanism in between.
(GC) This was the section that I would struggle in the most, and I guess I was right. The Kaplan blue book was really good for getting the basic concepts down, which supplemented a lot of the problems out of destroyer. It was really important for me on most sections to just be rational and really understand what units or concept they were looking for.
Overall, I'm really glad I don't have to take this thing again. I was so nervous about seeing my results that I was sure I wasn't gonna make it through that 15 question survey. I felt obligated to answer all those questions though, my Prometric center did a standout job and was very professional.
Ok, now for my question. I just graduated from a UC and I have an overall GPA of 3.13 I think by AADSAS and a science/BCP of like 2.79( which is above most cut-offs, but is not going to impress anyone). Fortunately I guess I can say I have a pretty strong upward trend over the last few years, and I think over the last year and a half I've had like a 3.5 science. I'm a non-science major so I don't know if that is anything, and I also have some pretty solid letters of rec. So for those of you out there that know this process pretty well, do you think I have any chances at getting admitted? All I need is one school, and I'm planning on casting a pretty large net. Thank you all for your help again, it was crucial for my success and put my mind at ease for most of this process.
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