I have received a tremendous amount of help from the SDN network, so it is my duty to give a breakdown of my test.
I started studying from the second week of July till the Second week of August, and then started taking 9 full length practice tests till a few days before the test day.
Topscore - RC was all S&D, and science section was not that accurate. Math section did not have a calculator (at least I couldn't find it). The test is not up-to-date, and had a difficult time going through the wrong answers. I personally recommend Achiever over Topscore.
Achiever (3tests) - I really enjoyed it because achiever RC is more representative of the test. Also, the science sections are pretty good, except
they have all the hard questions. Some questions are purely wth but it gave a pleasant warning to study this section harder. If you decide to use the Achiever, take the practice tests 2-3 weeks before your test day. It will definitely bring your morale down.
Kaplan - I am surprised to see that their GC and OC sections are pretty accurate in terms of the difficulty. The real test had less calculation problems, but their concept questions were on the spot. The practice tests are way more representative than their course midterm/final tests. Their QR does not have any statistics question, so be careful with it.
DAT qVault - I got the free account, so I only got 101 questions. However, It is a good source of practice.
DAT Destroyer - If you want to get 20+ on TS, go get it. Bio section is a good source for organizing facts. I went through the destroyer twice. (Bio 2x, Gchem 1.5x, Ochem 2x). I say after you know all the facts from the bio section of destroyer, don't bother going back for the third time. Instead, go and slove some application questions, like from qvault.
From my personal experience (take it with a grain of salt), study bio in this sequence:
AP Cliffs and Kaplan Bio -> Campbell for details and fine touch -> Destroyer -> qvault -> practice tests.
PAR - 20 (81%)
QR - 19 (92.9%)
RC - 17 (ouch)
BIO - 22
(never got over 20 on practice test except kaplan final) (97.6%)
GC - 29 (99.9%)
OC - 28 (99.5%)
TS - 25 (99.9%)
AA - 23 (99.7%)
And one question: would RC 17 be a problem for admission? Please don't tell me I have to re-take
PAT: I used CDP 10 test version, score ranging from 20-24 (mostly 21). Got to say, the real one was a tad harder. Keyhole - little trickier than CDP, surprisingly similar to Kaplan Keyholes. TFE - Similar to CDP. Holepunching - CDP is more than sufficient. And yes, 1/3fold is not a rumor. Cube counting - par with CDP except there is no illusion. Folding - it was okay. Par with CDP. In general, I recommend CDP. Achiever PAT was a redonk.
Add: Angle was an impossible section for me. Out of 15 Q, I guessed on 12-13questions. I had no clue..... No advice for this section!
QR: I did not study for this section except taking QR sections on Achiever, Topscore, Kaplan practice tests. The score is not that great in the real one as you can see. On practice tests, I averaged 22-24, but I don't know what happened in the actual DAT. It was not that difficult except I had several statistics questions and I didn't take statistics class nor have background knowledge...
RC: Who am I to give an advice??? I'm not in a correct position. I did not study for this section (since it is an innate skill), except the full length tests. I averaged 19-20 on practice tests, including achiever. I have no advice to give since my scores is prolly the worst RC score on SDN. But there were about 10 tone questions on mine. S&D can work, I just suck at English.
BIO
Material Used: Kaplan, Cliffs AP, Campbell, DAT DESTROYER
Honestly, I was expecting an 18 on this section since on practice tests. I never got higher than 20 except on Kaplan final, which is an accumulation of online quizzes and such. The difference between actual DAT and the practice tests is that they approach the question in different aspect: Instead of asking what is the function of X, they present some hypothetical situation and ask what is causing such incident (i.e. which structure is damaged, etc.) In general, there were about 4-5 WTH questions, but the rest was doable. And for some reason, I saw 2-3 questions that I encountered on practice tests and such.
My advice: Use Kaplan and Cliffs AP for general concept, and Campbell for details of processes and functions.
Gchem/Ochem
Material Used: DAT Destroyer, Organic Chemistry 8th ed. Carey Guiliano, and KOTZ Gchem 7th ed.
The best advice I can give is pay attention during class lectures!!! With a firm background knowledge, it took me 2-3 weeks to fully understand all the topics. If you have a firm background knowledge, you don't need Chads! When I was unsure about a concept, I referred back to the textbooks. Never can go wrong with this! However, if you forgot some concepts, then I guess Chad's videos are great since he explains the concepts well. I cannot attest to this since I did not use chads.
Tip for this section: MAKE SURE YOU KNOW THE CONCEPTS!!
By the way, DAT Destroyer is a must for Gchem. For Ochem, it's a borderline overkill, but hey, better to be safe than sorry!
Overall, DAT is really doable, and this is the highest score I got out of all the practice tests that I have taken. I did not study intensely the day before the test. I took a CDP test from 8-9am, then reviewed my sciences from 9-11am. Then I drove to the test center to check it out, and watched Harold and Kumar and comedy shows for the rest of the day. I arrived there at 7:30, and started test at 7:52am. Oh, and please do NOT check out SDN the day before your test. Anxiety will build up and you will have a hard time going to sleep!
Thank you for helping me out, and wish you guys luck!
I started studying from the second week of July till the Second week of August, and then started taking 9 full length practice tests till a few days before the test day.
Topscore - RC was all S&D, and science section was not that accurate. Math section did not have a calculator (at least I couldn't find it). The test is not up-to-date, and had a difficult time going through the wrong answers. I personally recommend Achiever over Topscore.
Achiever (3tests) - I really enjoyed it because achiever RC is more representative of the test. Also, the science sections are pretty good, except
they have all the hard questions. Some questions are purely wth but it gave a pleasant warning to study this section harder. If you decide to use the Achiever, take the practice tests 2-3 weeks before your test day. It will definitely bring your morale down.
Kaplan - I am surprised to see that their GC and OC sections are pretty accurate in terms of the difficulty. The real test had less calculation problems, but their concept questions were on the spot. The practice tests are way more representative than their course midterm/final tests. Their QR does not have any statistics question, so be careful with it.
DAT qVault - I got the free account, so I only got 101 questions. However, It is a good source of practice.
DAT Destroyer - If you want to get 20+ on TS, go get it. Bio section is a good source for organizing facts. I went through the destroyer twice. (Bio 2x, Gchem 1.5x, Ochem 2x). I say after you know all the facts from the bio section of destroyer, don't bother going back for the third time. Instead, go and slove some application questions, like from qvault.
From my personal experience (take it with a grain of salt), study bio in this sequence:
AP Cliffs and Kaplan Bio -> Campbell for details and fine touch -> Destroyer -> qvault -> practice tests.
PAR - 20 (81%)
QR - 19 (92.9%)
RC - 17 (ouch)
BIO - 22
GC - 29 (99.9%)
OC - 28 (99.5%)
TS - 25 (99.9%)
AA - 23 (99.7%)
And one question: would RC 17 be a problem for admission? Please don't tell me I have to re-take
PAT: I used CDP 10 test version, score ranging from 20-24 (mostly 21). Got to say, the real one was a tad harder. Keyhole - little trickier than CDP, surprisingly similar to Kaplan Keyholes. TFE - Similar to CDP. Holepunching - CDP is more than sufficient. And yes, 1/3fold is not a rumor. Cube counting - par with CDP except there is no illusion. Folding - it was okay. Par with CDP. In general, I recommend CDP. Achiever PAT was a redonk.
Add: Angle was an impossible section for me. Out of 15 Q, I guessed on 12-13questions. I had no clue..... No advice for this section!
QR: I did not study for this section except taking QR sections on Achiever, Topscore, Kaplan practice tests. The score is not that great in the real one as you can see. On practice tests, I averaged 22-24, but I don't know what happened in the actual DAT. It was not that difficult except I had several statistics questions and I didn't take statistics class nor have background knowledge...
RC: Who am I to give an advice??? I'm not in a correct position. I did not study for this section (since it is an innate skill), except the full length tests. I averaged 19-20 on practice tests, including achiever. I have no advice to give since my scores is prolly the worst RC score on SDN. But there were about 10 tone questions on mine. S&D can work, I just suck at English.
BIO
Material Used: Kaplan, Cliffs AP, Campbell, DAT DESTROYER
Honestly, I was expecting an 18 on this section since on practice tests. I never got higher than 20 except on Kaplan final, which is an accumulation of online quizzes and such. The difference between actual DAT and the practice tests is that they approach the question in different aspect: Instead of asking what is the function of X, they present some hypothetical situation and ask what is causing such incident (i.e. which structure is damaged, etc.) In general, there were about 4-5 WTH questions, but the rest was doable. And for some reason, I saw 2-3 questions that I encountered on practice tests and such.
My advice: Use Kaplan and Cliffs AP for general concept, and Campbell for details of processes and functions.
Gchem/Ochem
Material Used: DAT Destroyer, Organic Chemistry 8th ed. Carey Guiliano, and KOTZ Gchem 7th ed.
The best advice I can give is pay attention during class lectures!!! With a firm background knowledge, it took me 2-3 weeks to fully understand all the topics. If you have a firm background knowledge, you don't need Chads! When I was unsure about a concept, I referred back to the textbooks. Never can go wrong with this! However, if you forgot some concepts, then I guess Chad's videos are great since he explains the concepts well. I cannot attest to this since I did not use chads.
Tip for this section: MAKE SURE YOU KNOW THE CONCEPTS!!
By the way, DAT Destroyer is a must for Gchem. For Ochem, it's a borderline overkill, but hey, better to be safe than sorry!
Overall, DAT is really doable, and this is the highest score I got out of all the practice tests that I have taken. I did not study intensely the day before the test. I took a CDP test from 8-9am, then reviewed my sciences from 9-11am. Then I drove to the test center to check it out, and watched Harold and Kumar and comedy shows for the rest of the day. I arrived there at 7:30, and started test at 7:52am. Oh, and please do NOT check out SDN the day before your test. Anxiety will build up and you will have a hard time going to sleep!
Thank you for helping me out, and wish you guys luck!
Last edited:
. The smiley face is you and the DAT is the banana. You killed it! Great job!
