DAT Bootcamp RC vs Real DAT

[x0jessmariex3]

Is the Reading Comprehension on the real DAT as difficult as the RC on Bootcamp? I am taking my DAT in a week and can't seem to get any higher than a 16/17 on RC practice tests. My other scores for the other sections are not too bad. I have taken 3 Practice exams on BC

Bio/ GC/ OC/PAT/RC/QR
1. 21/19/17/17/17/23
2. 20/22/18/19/16/19
3. 18/19/17/19/16/20

I'm mostly concerned about my OC and RC scores. Not sure how to improve my RC scores, but going to study more OC reactions. :/

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[pulltheleverkronk]

I thought it was far easier. But that's just my opinion.

 

[kc8pg]

I thought the DAT Bootcamp was harder. I was getting 17-19 on DAT Bootcamp and got 22 on the real.
But then again I do better under pressure...

 

[pulltheleverkronk]

I was getting 20s on Bootcamp and then got a 23 on the real thing, if that helps you.

 

[Streax1]

Bootcamp was harder

 

[x0jessmariex3]

Thanks, that makes me feel a little better. Any suggestions as to a strategy for RC?

 

[Fightingsiouxyaya]

This guy's strategy got me a 27 on RC. Worth the watch.

 

[BYU4you]

Thanks, that makes me feel a little better. Any suggestions as to a strategy for RC?

I thought bootcamp was much harder.

http://www.forums.studentdoctor.net/index.php?threads/My-RC-strategy,-the-balanced-approach.1138782/

That's my strategy. I got a 28 for what it's worth.

 

[SXCoronado]

.

 

[MolarBear11]

Boot camp was much harder. I think i averaged 19, got a 22

 

[Cello]

RC is very similar to real thing.

Best of luck.

I 100% disagree with this, and if you read through these forums more you'll see that most of SDN does too.

The passages on Bootcamp are very similar to the real thing, but the questions are much harder than they are on the actual DAT.

I averaged between a 20 and a 21 on Bootcamp and scored a 25 on the actual DAT.

 

[willwash]

Scored 28 on RC here. I had this harebrained idea that I wanted to go to law school a while back and took the LSAT (score: 171), which has a much harder RC than is on the DAT. In preparing for and taking the LSAT I found my RC skills much improved.

I highly highly recommend anyone looking to improve their RC investigate LSAT prep resources.

As to your original question, I think the main "theme" of Bootcamp is that it is harder than the real thing. This was my experience on every section, especially QR.

 

[x0jessmariex3]

I just took the 2007 DAT

Bio-19
GC-19
OC-25
PAT-20
RC-18
QR-21

Strange that I scored so high on the OC, but it was my lowest in BC. Is this DAT version still a good representation of the real DAT, since it is quite old. (8 years old)

 

[SXCoronado]

.

 

[cpain]

This guy's strategy got me a 27 on RC. Worth the watch.

Do they give you a piece of paper to map out the paragraphs like in his video, or is it a marker board?

 

[cpain]

Laminated 8.5x11 and dry erase markers. You're not allowed to write on them until your exam starts.

Ok, cool thanks

 

[BYU4you]

Laminated 8.5x11 and dry erase markers. You're not allowed to write on them until your exam starts.

Not always the case.
I was allowed to write on mine before.

 

[pulltheleverkronk]

I just took the 2007 DAT

Bio-19
GC-19
OC-25
PAT-20
RC-18
QR-21

Strange that I scored so high on the OC, but it was my lowest in BC. Is this DAT version still a good representation of the real DAT, since it is quite old. (8 years old)

Be careful if you take the 2009 one- the RC is DEATH. Do yourself a favor and don't take it. Not even close to the real thing. That test is a mess lol

 

[Carbohydrates]

Not always the case.
I was allowed to write on mine before.

Yeah it depends on the testing center I believe. I wrote everything during the tutorial and break.

 

[pulltheleverkronk]

Yeah it depends on the testing center I believe. I wrote everything during the tutorial and break.

I didn't ask, but I did it anyway and had no problems.

 

[grivacobae]

Yeah experiences

I 100% disagree with this, and if you read through these forums more you'll see that most of SDN does too.

The passages on Bootcamp are very similar to the real thing, but the questions are much harder than they are on the actual DAT.

I averaged between a 20 and a 21 on Bootcamp and scored a 25 on the actual DAT.

Yeah experiences do vary, I got 20s and 21s on BC and got an 19 on the real one, which was much harder than BC. I had a 24 paragraph passage and lots of tone and true or false statement style. It was horrible really, but that's just a small percentage clearly

 

[shaidester]

If I recall correctly, there were two really hard RC exams on BC. I think it was the 2nd and 3rd exams. RC is significantly easier on the real thing imo and the strategies you used on BC RC still work! I used search and destroy and got my 21 on the real deal.

 

[pulltheleverkronk]

I used search and destroy and had 30 minutes left to go over all my answers- it worked for me!

 

[Holymolar14]

For those of you that got great scores on RC (essentially everyone who commented), did you practice RC other than the Bootcamp tests? I know some people suggest reading science articles but I wonder how much that would actually help if I'm just doing search and destroy anyway

 

[shaidester]

For those of you that got great scores on RC (essentially everyone who commented), did you practice RC other than the Bootcamp tests? I know some people suggest reading science articles but I wonder how much that would actually help if I'm just doing search and destroy anyway

I only did Bootcamp. I always had a thing for reading science articles (the short ones that can be found on like CNN or something) randomly online since I love science.

 

[pulltheleverkronk]

For those of you that got great scores on RC (essentially everyone who commented), did you practice RC other than the Bootcamp tests? I know some people suggest reading science articles but I wonder how much that would actually help if I'm just doing search and destroy anyway

Bootcamp is far more effective than just reading science articles... I'd liken it to actually doing math problems as opposed to just talking about math theory. I think that search and destroy works- my method is doing that. I'm pretty good at scanning large passages for key terms and words- and the DAT has articles that are simple enough so that you can track down the answer below pretty quickly. You don't have to make a lot of critical thinking leaps or anything. On the second go-around I have a far better idea of what the passage is like and where everything is, so I check my answers. I don't actually read the articles in full at first... but eventually you become exposed to them as you go. The second time you can fix your mistakes and make sure that you can answer questions with a fuller framework. It seemed to work for me... although Bootcamp's questions are way, way harder so I didn't have time to do that as much as I wanted when I was practicing. Bootcamp's RC has really bizarre two-part statement questions that I always get wrong... those weren't on my DAT. Tone questions aren't difficult on it either, I think... I found it as a whole to be easier than SAT questions. But don't quote me on that, because everyone has a different opinion about this section. What kills you are the stupid mistakes... If I didn't go back and check my answers, I would've missed "gimme" questions. So make sure to do that, at least!

 

[free99]

Moving to DAT discussions

 

[Pugmom]

After trying every RC strategy known to man, here is what I came up with:

I first thought that S&D would be a terrible method because how could you possibly read all of the questions at once and magically remember all of them? In addition, it would disable you from accurately answering tone/ purpose type questions. So of course this was the last method I tried, but surprise-surprise it was the best one by far. With a little personal modification S&D became my best friend. Here's my method:

1. Read all of the questions and briefly write the # and what the question was asking.
2. Begin reading the passage quickly.
3. Stop any time you reach a question that sounds familiar and glance at your list to find the ?#.
4. Go to question and answer.
5. Resume reading the passage and repeat. (any ones you can't answer, mark and move on until the end of the passage).

Hope this works for someone else too!

 

[MaxwelltheDentist]

I wonder is DAT Bootcamp RC is harder than the real DAT? My highest score is a 19 and lowest was a 15, but I have averaged 17s and 18s.

 

[I-hate-alginate]

I wonder is DAT Bootcamp RC is harder than the real DAT? My highest score is a 19 and lowest was a 15, but I have averaged 17s and 18s.

Dependa on the exam you get at the prometric center. My highest on boot camp was a 21, got a 20 on the real exam.

 

[670206]

My actual DAT RC passage was on par with DAT Bootcamp difficulty, if not harder. I was averaging 23 on DAT bootcamp & Crack the DAT, and got 20 on the real thing. Experiences vary.

 

[Faefly]

I struggle with RC as well, from what I read on SDN, people either get lucky with RC or not. Meaning sometimes it is easier, sometimes it is harder than what they have been practicing on.

I would suggest doing more RC exams from different websites as well. I would buy all the RC exams available if money allows it, I am bad at this section so I need the extra practice. More practice=better results.

Side note: I think I should follow this note, if you make one section your enemy, it will be your enemy, try to relax and believe you will do better. I think you can do better.


Best of luck.