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Hey all,
I am a long time viewer but don't usually post. Wanted to share my DAT experience.
I will preface this by saying I am a terrible standardized test taker. I started studying in the middle of May and have studied since for an average of four hours per day. I started with MCAT ExamKrackers Biology, Gen Chem, and Organic Chem supplemented with Audio Osmosis. That program took me about 10 weeks. Starting at the beginning of August, I spent two weeks doing the Kaplan purple book. The last two weeks I took the 3 Dat Achiever tests and the 3 TopScore tests.
Dat Achiever Scores:
BIO - 17, 16, 16
GC - 19, 18, 16
OC - 18, 16, 21
PAT - 14, 17, 17
RC - NA, 21, 23
QR - 18, 19, 21
TopScore Scores:
BIO - 18, 18, 18
GC - 23, 19, 20
OC - 16, 21, 19
PA - 20, 20, NA
RC - 22, NA, NA
QR - 17, 21, 23
Actual DAT (8/31)
BIO - 18
GC - 21
OC - 20
PA - 17 🙁
RC - 19
QR - 17
Biology: I think Dat Achiever and TopScore are decent prep for this in the sense that they typically have 25-30 straight forward questions and 10-15 off the wall questions. This was the real thing. The first few questions really freaked me out because I didn't know any of them. Happy with this score for as difficult as the section was.
GenChem: My strong point. Expected to do good here. Study DAT Achiever and TopScore and you will only see one or two surprises.
Ochem: Again, study DAT Achiever and Top Score. Pretty straight forward.
PAT: The Aperture sections and TFE was much harder than TopScore and really slowed me down to start the test. The angles are much harder than anything in TopScore or Dat Achiever. Hole punching was easy and basic. I was pissed at the cube counting because one of my figures did not display correctly so I had to guess at 4 questions and cube counting is my strong point. Object folding was similar if not easier than TopScore.
Reading Comp: Did not study at all for this. Just basically listed P1. . .Pn (corresponding to each paragraph) with a short description for each as I skimmed the passage. Then looked for answers to questions. Ran out of time so had to guess on last 3-5 questions.
Quantiative Reasoning: Ridiculously hard just because lengthy problems with so little time. My approach was to guess, mark, and skip anything that I thought would take me more than 30-45 seconds. I finished the section with 8 minutes left and had marked 10-12 questions. I was able to go back and complete 3-4 of these.
Overall very pleased with my scores except really annoyed by the PAT section. TopScore is a very good gauge of what you will get in Bio/Chem/OChem. Quantitative reasoning is nothing like Dat Achiever or TopScore Practice triaging and speed for this section.
My stats are 3.1 undergrad GPA (business degree from Ivy league), 4.0 post bacc undergrad GPA. Cumulative GPA is 3.38. Science GPA is 3.58. B/C/P GPA is 3.88. I think because of my low PAT score, my top choices are out (i.e. Columbia, USC, UCLA), but I believe I will get into a few schools since I applied to 15.
Comments on how you think I will do in the application process are appreciated. Hope this info helps some of you studying now.
Bob
I am a long time viewer but don't usually post. Wanted to share my DAT experience.
I will preface this by saying I am a terrible standardized test taker. I started studying in the middle of May and have studied since for an average of four hours per day. I started with MCAT ExamKrackers Biology, Gen Chem, and Organic Chem supplemented with Audio Osmosis. That program took me about 10 weeks. Starting at the beginning of August, I spent two weeks doing the Kaplan purple book. The last two weeks I took the 3 Dat Achiever tests and the 3 TopScore tests.
Dat Achiever Scores:
BIO - 17, 16, 16
GC - 19, 18, 16
OC - 18, 16, 21
PAT - 14, 17, 17
RC - NA, 21, 23
QR - 18, 19, 21
TopScore Scores:
BIO - 18, 18, 18
GC - 23, 19, 20
OC - 16, 21, 19
PA - 20, 20, NA
RC - 22, NA, NA
QR - 17, 21, 23
Actual DAT (8/31)
BIO - 18
GC - 21
OC - 20
PA - 17 🙁
RC - 19
QR - 17
Biology: I think Dat Achiever and TopScore are decent prep for this in the sense that they typically have 25-30 straight forward questions and 10-15 off the wall questions. This was the real thing. The first few questions really freaked me out because I didn't know any of them. Happy with this score for as difficult as the section was.
GenChem: My strong point. Expected to do good here. Study DAT Achiever and TopScore and you will only see one or two surprises.
Ochem: Again, study DAT Achiever and Top Score. Pretty straight forward.
PAT: The Aperture sections and TFE was much harder than TopScore and really slowed me down to start the test. The angles are much harder than anything in TopScore or Dat Achiever. Hole punching was easy and basic. I was pissed at the cube counting because one of my figures did not display correctly so I had to guess at 4 questions and cube counting is my strong point. Object folding was similar if not easier than TopScore.
Reading Comp: Did not study at all for this. Just basically listed P1. . .Pn (corresponding to each paragraph) with a short description for each as I skimmed the passage. Then looked for answers to questions. Ran out of time so had to guess on last 3-5 questions.
Quantiative Reasoning: Ridiculously hard just because lengthy problems with so little time. My approach was to guess, mark, and skip anything that I thought would take me more than 30-45 seconds. I finished the section with 8 minutes left and had marked 10-12 questions. I was able to go back and complete 3-4 of these.
Overall very pleased with my scores except really annoyed by the PAT section. TopScore is a very good gauge of what you will get in Bio/Chem/OChem. Quantitative reasoning is nothing like Dat Achiever or TopScore Practice triaging and speed for this section.
My stats are 3.1 undergrad GPA (business degree from Ivy league), 4.0 post bacc undergrad GPA. Cumulative GPA is 3.38. Science GPA is 3.58. B/C/P GPA is 3.88. I think because of my low PAT score, my top choices are out (i.e. Columbia, USC, UCLA), but I believe I will get into a few schools since I applied to 15.
Comments on how you think I will do in the application process are appreciated. Hope this info helps some of you studying now.
Bob
