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Hey guys, now that Ive had a couple days to relax, I figured I would sit down and do the ceremonial DAT breakdown. Mine unfortunately will not be as detailed as some on here cause I kid you not, I hardly remember anything about what questions I got or what the sections were like, and its only been like 38 hours. I guess my brain decided that knowledge was not important to keep around any longer than it had to. I honestly can only remember what 2 of the 3 RC passages were about. Big thanks to everyone on here, this board has been a huge help to me throughout the process. Anyways, so heres what I got:
Real DAT, Kaplan 1(2 weeks before), Kaplan 3(2 weeks before), Kaplan Final(2 weeks before), Topscore1(1 week before), Topscore2(5 days before), Topscore3(2 days before)
PA: 24/21/20/21/21/22/23
QR: 16/18/15/18/19/18/18
RC: 21/22/20/22/22/21/25
Bio: 19/17/21/17/16/16/18
GChem: 20/15/12!/15/17/17/15!
OChem: 26/19/15/19/18/17/18
TS: 20/17/17/17/17/17/17
AA: 20/18/17/18/18/18/19
CDP scores: 20, 20, 18, 19, 22, 21, 22
Ok first off, does anyone know why my TS is not higher? It seems like it should be at least a point higher. I know that Bio is weighted more heavily because it has more questions, but it still seems like my ochem should have pushed it up a little more. At any rate, Im really happy with my scores.
As you can see from my Topscore and Kaplan scores, they were not very representative of my actual DAT scores. Dont really know what to take from that, but ya, I guess dont totally freak out if your practice scores arent where you want them to be. I took all three of them the week before my real test, and the 3rd one was 2 days before.
Going into this, I did not feel ready, but I assume thats how most people feel. I thought if I just had 2 more weeks, I could study so much more...but I resisted the urge to reschedule cause I wanted to get it over with and have at least some summer to enjoy. Im glad I went through with it cause it turned out pretty well. If scores would have been worse I would be singing a much different tune.
As far as prep materials go, I took a Kaplan course that I did not find very helpful, but it was my fault, not Kaplans. I took it during spring semester when I had a busy schedule of classes so I didnt have the time to dedicate to the course homework. I think if you have the time to do that, it can help out a lot. I had a great teacher, but just going to the 3 hours a week of class didnt help me out much. The online materials were extremely helpful though and I highly recommend them. Their flashcards were nice too for reinforcing the basics. I used the white book they gave me for basic studying. I went through Destroyer once, very helpful, wish I had more time to go through it again. Topscore was helpful as well. Had 10 pack CDP which is invaluable for PAT. Only got through 7 tests before test day. Got 10 pack CDM which helped I guess, just more practice with the time limit, but like everyone says, bad explanations. Had AP Cliffs Bio too but didnt have time to read through it all, just referenced it for areas I felt weak in.
The night before I was really nervous. More nervous than Ive been about anything before, even getting married haha. At least I got a good nights sleep before my wedding. Before the DAT, I laid in bed for an hour and a half, slept for 3 hours, woke up for an hour and a half, and slept 2 more hours, then got up to go take the test. My heart rate just would not go down, which I was really bummed about cause I really wanted a good nights rest. So I was already mad about that driving to the testing center in the morning. All went well before the test, I had a cliff bar and an odwalla drink for breakfast. Got a good seat in the corner at the testing center.
BIO: From what I remember, it actually didnt seem super random like everyone says, but like I said, I dont remember much. I did have to recognize a picture of something on a microscopic level and say where I would find it, that was interesting. I felt fairly confident in this going into it, but its just so broad that you can never cover everything. Seems like most of the topics were familiar from what I studied. Not a lot of plant stuff or classification.
GCHEM: As you can see from practice tests, my weakest section pre-DAT. Getting a 15 two days before the test freaked me out so bad. Ive just always hated gen chem. Dont really know how I got a 20 on this, cause I seriously marked so many questions and did not feel comfortable with it during the test. I dont remember anything out of the ordinary though.
OCHEM: Ive felt pretty confident in this all along because I just finished a year of it so it was fresh. Did NOT expect to do this well though! I was very surprised to see that score. Questions were pretty basic from what I remember, nothing too tricky or weird. Had a few minutes at the end to go over marked questions.
PAT: This has been a pretty strong section for me from the beginning too, but again, did not expect to do this well! Very happy with this score. Zoomed through it and had quite a bit of time at the end to go over marked questions. Angles were comparable to topscore. Hole punch and cubes easier. Dont really know about the other ones. There was this one pattern folding that bugged me cause I couldnt figure it out.
Break: Had another cliff bar and odwalla drink. walked around outside, got some fresh air. Did some jumping jacks in the bathroom to get the blood flowing. Stretched. Got ready to read.
RC: I found this to be quite a bit tougher than topscore. I was not piano'd or frapped, but the passages were long and some of the types of questions were foreign. First and third passages very dry, not interesting at all. 2nd one was interesting which makes it easier.
QR: I used to be good at math in high school, but once I didnt have to take any more, I shunned it! So before DAT study I hadnt done any of this kind of math in years. I actually feel pretty good about this score after seeing others with 14 and 15 lately, and I am definitely not better at math than any of you. Definitely harder than CDM, topscore, and Kaplan. You have to move fast. I marked a lot of questions.
Hope this helped a little. My Sci GPA is 3.4 and overall is 3.6. Pretty good EC's I think. Applied to quite a few schools. Definitely not retaking. What do you think?
I'll answer whatever questions I can. Let me know if I left anything out. Thanks!
Real DAT, Kaplan 1(2 weeks before), Kaplan 3(2 weeks before), Kaplan Final(2 weeks before), Topscore1(1 week before), Topscore2(5 days before), Topscore3(2 days before)
PA: 24/21/20/21/21/22/23
QR: 16/18/15/18/19/18/18
RC: 21/22/20/22/22/21/25
Bio: 19/17/21/17/16/16/18
GChem: 20/15/12!/15/17/17/15!
OChem: 26/19/15/19/18/17/18
TS: 20/17/17/17/17/17/17
AA: 20/18/17/18/18/18/19
CDP scores: 20, 20, 18, 19, 22, 21, 22
Ok first off, does anyone know why my TS is not higher? It seems like it should be at least a point higher. I know that Bio is weighted more heavily because it has more questions, but it still seems like my ochem should have pushed it up a little more. At any rate, Im really happy with my scores.
As you can see from my Topscore and Kaplan scores, they were not very representative of my actual DAT scores. Dont really know what to take from that, but ya, I guess dont totally freak out if your practice scores arent where you want them to be. I took all three of them the week before my real test, and the 3rd one was 2 days before.
Going into this, I did not feel ready, but I assume thats how most people feel. I thought if I just had 2 more weeks, I could study so much more...but I resisted the urge to reschedule cause I wanted to get it over with and have at least some summer to enjoy. Im glad I went through with it cause it turned out pretty well. If scores would have been worse I would be singing a much different tune.
As far as prep materials go, I took a Kaplan course that I did not find very helpful, but it was my fault, not Kaplans. I took it during spring semester when I had a busy schedule of classes so I didnt have the time to dedicate to the course homework. I think if you have the time to do that, it can help out a lot. I had a great teacher, but just going to the 3 hours a week of class didnt help me out much. The online materials were extremely helpful though and I highly recommend them. Their flashcards were nice too for reinforcing the basics. I used the white book they gave me for basic studying. I went through Destroyer once, very helpful, wish I had more time to go through it again. Topscore was helpful as well. Had 10 pack CDP which is invaluable for PAT. Only got through 7 tests before test day. Got 10 pack CDM which helped I guess, just more practice with the time limit, but like everyone says, bad explanations. Had AP Cliffs Bio too but didnt have time to read through it all, just referenced it for areas I felt weak in.
The night before I was really nervous. More nervous than Ive been about anything before, even getting married haha. At least I got a good nights sleep before my wedding. Before the DAT, I laid in bed for an hour and a half, slept for 3 hours, woke up for an hour and a half, and slept 2 more hours, then got up to go take the test. My heart rate just would not go down, which I was really bummed about cause I really wanted a good nights rest. So I was already mad about that driving to the testing center in the morning. All went well before the test, I had a cliff bar and an odwalla drink for breakfast. Got a good seat in the corner at the testing center.
BIO: From what I remember, it actually didnt seem super random like everyone says, but like I said, I dont remember much. I did have to recognize a picture of something on a microscopic level and say where I would find it, that was interesting. I felt fairly confident in this going into it, but its just so broad that you can never cover everything. Seems like most of the topics were familiar from what I studied. Not a lot of plant stuff or classification.
GCHEM: As you can see from practice tests, my weakest section pre-DAT. Getting a 15 two days before the test freaked me out so bad. Ive just always hated gen chem. Dont really know how I got a 20 on this, cause I seriously marked so many questions and did not feel comfortable with it during the test. I dont remember anything out of the ordinary though.
OCHEM: Ive felt pretty confident in this all along because I just finished a year of it so it was fresh. Did NOT expect to do this well though! I was very surprised to see that score. Questions were pretty basic from what I remember, nothing too tricky or weird. Had a few minutes at the end to go over marked questions.
PAT: This has been a pretty strong section for me from the beginning too, but again, did not expect to do this well! Very happy with this score. Zoomed through it and had quite a bit of time at the end to go over marked questions. Angles were comparable to topscore. Hole punch and cubes easier. Dont really know about the other ones. There was this one pattern folding that bugged me cause I couldnt figure it out.
Break: Had another cliff bar and odwalla drink. walked around outside, got some fresh air. Did some jumping jacks in the bathroom to get the blood flowing. Stretched. Got ready to read.
RC: I found this to be quite a bit tougher than topscore. I was not piano'd or frapped, but the passages were long and some of the types of questions were foreign. First and third passages very dry, not interesting at all. 2nd one was interesting which makes it easier.
QR: I used to be good at math in high school, but once I didnt have to take any more, I shunned it! So before DAT study I hadnt done any of this kind of math in years. I actually feel pretty good about this score after seeing others with 14 and 15 lately, and I am definitely not better at math than any of you. Definitely harder than CDM, topscore, and Kaplan. You have to move fast. I marked a lot of questions.
Hope this helped a little. My Sci GPA is 3.4 and overall is 3.6. Pretty good EC's I think. Applied to quite a few schools. Definitely not retaking. What do you think?
I'll answer whatever questions I can. Let me know if I left anything out. Thanks!
