Bio: 23
GC: 20
OC: 24
PAT: 20
RC: 21
QR: 20
TS: 22
AA: 22
ADA 2007 (taken three days before my exam): Bio 21/ GC 30/ OC 30/ PAT 20/QR 23/RC 22
ADA 2009 (taking two days before my exam): Bio 19/GC 19/OC 21/PAT 21/QR 20/RC 21
Kaplan Scores (5 tests that came with the course): I took these all very early on while I was taking the course and in spring quarter classes so I hadn't studied very much, hence the not so great scores.
AA/PAT/Bio/GC/OC/TS/RC/QR
19 21 16 17 17 17 23 21
19 21 18 17 18 18 23 20
19 23 17 21 18 19 21 20
Bootcamp (free section tests): I can't quite figure out how to access the scores from when I took the test earlier...if you know, tell me and I'll post them! (I took all of them)
QVault (free section tests): Bio 21/ OC 20/ QR 23 (I only had time to take these three)
Overall thoughts:
Materials used:
Studying (by materials):
Total study time: April 16th-June 27th.
14 hour/day study time: June 4th-June 27th
Bio (23)
I am actually surprised with my score! I thought this section was pretty hard- during the test, I think I marked at least 10 of the questions, and ended up making educated guesses on them. Not sure how they graded it, but it worked out for me!
Gen Chem (20)
I thought this section was on the harder end of the practice tests I had taken, but still not too bad. Only a couple problems were way out there. I think I missed more than I thought I would due to stupid mistakes.
Ochem (24)
Very straightforward. Must have missed two or three due to tricks I didn't catch or something like that. Chads was more than enough for this section.
PAT (20)
HARD!!!! Way harder than anything I had practiced! I had never run out of time on a practice test and I ran out during my real exam which freaked me out like crazy. Keyholes were bad. But I've always sucked at keyholes so if you're good a them, you're probably fine. I got one of those lumpy rock keyholes which I straight up guessed on. TFE was pretty straightforward with the exception of one of two where I had no clue. On my practice tests, I would ALWAYS get 100% on hole punching, but the HP on the real test was mind blowingly hard. Angles was actually pretty easy- maybe I have a knack for them, or maybe I got an easy version! Cube counting was no different than any of the practice tests. Pattern folding was right on with what I had done as well-I probably missed a bunch though because I was running out of time by the end of the test. Seeing that I got a 20 was SUPER unexpected.
Reading Comp (21)
S&D. I hate this section in general but it was not too bad on the test. There were a couple "both statements are true" type questions that were not clear at all and had really ambiguous answers, which I was pissed about, but I just went with my best guess. Through most of my practice tests, I had been using the Kaplan Roadmap method. I tried S&D once, but found that it stressed me out too much so I continued with the Kaplan method. BUT, for some reason, I randomly changed my mind right before the RC section started and used S&D. Either way, my scores were around the same as my practice tests.
QR (20)
The section was not too bad, but the time constraint always leads to me making stupid mistakes on the easy ones since I run through those as fast as I can. As I went through the questions, I marked the ones I thought looked too tough and moved on immediately. Do all the easy ones first-this is especially beneficial for those who don't tend to make stupid mistakes! I had about 10 minutes left by the end of the questions to complete ~5 marked ones, but even this wasn't enough time- a couple of them were really confusing
Just do your best and make educated guesses.
Final thoughts: My stomach was turning through the ENTIRE exam. Full on butterflies. That has never happened to me before! Normally, i'm nervous before an exam and then I get over it as soon as it starts. After reading tons of breakdowns, I noticed that, lots of the time, people would say they thought they were doing terribly during the test only to get a score higher than they expected! I didn't believe it, but this definitely happened to me! Also know that you will have to take a survey right after the test, before you get your score. Personally, I think they would get more accurate responses if they had us take it after we got our score- I just raced through it without really looking at the questions :/
Hope this helped!
GC: 20
OC: 24
PAT: 20
RC: 21
QR: 20
TS: 22
AA: 22
ADA 2007 (taken three days before my exam): Bio 21/ GC 30/ OC 30/ PAT 20/QR 23/RC 22
ADA 2009 (taking two days before my exam): Bio 19/GC 19/OC 21/PAT 21/QR 20/RC 21
Kaplan Scores (5 tests that came with the course): I took these all very early on while I was taking the course and in spring quarter classes so I hadn't studied very much, hence the not so great scores.
AA/PAT/Bio/GC/OC/TS/RC/QR
19 21 16 17 17 17 23 21
19 21 18 17 18 18 23 20
19 23 17 21 18 19 21 20
Bootcamp (free section tests): I can't quite figure out how to access the scores from when I took the test earlier...if you know, tell me and I'll post them! (I took all of them)
QVault (free section tests): Bio 21/ OC 20/ QR 23 (I only had time to take these three)
Overall thoughts:
- Before this test, I didn't know ANYTHING about gen chem. I took it four years ago, but I struggled ALOT, partly because my chem teacher in high school was just awful. I hated the class so much that I think I must have blocked any gen chem related information from my head haha. So it is possible to get a 20+ starting basically from scratch!
- My test program shut down right at the end of my PAT section. I was lucky that my 15 minute break was right then because I freaked out. If this happens to you, don't worry, your previous questions are saved!
- Lots of people say to chill out the day before your test-no studying. This just stressed me out even more, because I felt like all the gen chem/ochem would fall out of my head if I didn't keep it fresh. I got up super early, watched some tv with my family, worked out, got an hour long relaxation massage, went to my favorite restaurant with my best friends for lunch and then studied from 3ish-8.
- Wake up at the time you will wake up on test day for at least a week before the exam. This is crucial. I had to wake up at 5 am which SUCKED, but I got used to sleeping at 8:30 and waking up around that time.
- Make bio flashcards on some computerized flashcard app/website and make written GC/OC/Math flashcards- you will most likely have so many for bio that they would take forever to write out
- I did most of Chad's GC/OC quizzes again the day before the test (not really the super fundamental ones like VSEPR or nomenclature). Do this!
- My study breaks consisted either of watching Friends while munching on food or reading Glimmer's Ultimate Breakdown while munching on food. READ THAT THREAD! Most, if not all, of my studying inspiration came from reading breakdowns of the people who did fantastic on their DATs. I think I ended up reading over every breakdown two or three times.
- My downfall, as you will see, is stupid mistakes.
Materials used:
- Chad's Videos + Quizzes (10/10)
- Cliffs AP Bio (10/10)
- DAT Destroyer (10/10)
- Feralis Notes (9/10)
- Kaplan Course (5/10)
- Barron's AP Bio (sort of)
- Khan Academy (sort of)
- Murieb Anatomy/Physiology Textbook (sort of)
Studying (by materials):
Total study time: April 16th-June 27th.
14 hour/day study time: June 4th-June 27th
- Kaplan: I took the course while taking a few classes during spring quarter of my school year, and finished that around June 8th. The practice tests/online resources are pretty decent for sciences but the reading (super thick book) really was not comprehensive enough. Also, the bio sections always had tons of taxonomy and plant questions, which didn't show up on the real test. PAT way too easy, math way too easy. RC was a little bit easier, and didn't have any of the "both statements are true" type questions that I saw with Bootcamp and on the real test.
- Chad's Videos: Just get them. Don't think about it. They are SO worth the money! I read a lot of SDN and saw very few, if any, bad reviews on his videos so I decided to buy them-everyone is right, he's awesome and if I meet him someday I'll probably bow down to him. Pretty much the only resource you need for Gen Chem/O chem sections. Don't do the quizzes right after each video- watch a chunk, and then do them! Overall, I ran through his quizzes ~3 times.
- Cliffs AP Bio/Feralis Notes: Great resources! Cliffs is comprehensive enough for the DAT- I think I read it completely once, and then re-read chapters I needed more work on/topics that were more likely to show up. Make them early enough that you have time to review them. Feralis' notes were on Cliffs, with more notes/pictures added in-between which was awesome- it was a little too much information for the DAT though. I made around 900 flashcards on Anki using Feralis-make sure you have enough time to review the flashcards after you make them!
- DAT Destroyer: I did 50 question chunks of OC/GC and 75 question chunks of Bio each day and then reviewed them and made flashcards. Much harder than the actual DAT but I like to be over prepared for tests, and this helped me do just that. It is a book of tons of practice problems!! I wrote our the OC roadmaps once or twice, and reviewed them once every other day or so.
- Practice Tests: Schedule them far enough apart that you have time to review them and do other practice problems/ review problem areas before the next one. Skip 2007 science section- GC/OC was so stupidly easy that I was frustrated to have taken time out of my day to do it. Order the paper version of 2009 3-4 weeks before you actually want to take it-this one is more indicative of your real score.
- Bio: Cliffs is a must, Feralis is free and is also a must. For stuff I didn't quite understand, I looked for it on Khan Academy first and then YouTube if I couldn't find it on KA. Occasionally I read some sections of the A&P book by Marieb but it was way too detailed. I read over Barron's once without taking notes, but I thought Cliffs was much better than Barrons.
- Gen Chem: Chad's videos and quizzes!!! Start studying with those, finish them, and then move on to Destroyer. To review problem areas, re-watch those videos and redo those quizzes. I started these right as my 14 hr/day studying began (after my Kaplan course ended) and they were beyond amazing for understanding every concept you need to know, and for catching all the tricks.
- O Chem: Same as Gen Chem! All you need is Chads and Destroyer.
- PAT: Didn't practice at all except for practice tests.
- Reading Comp: Didn't practice at all except for practice tests.
- QR: Didn't practice at all except for practice tests.
Bio (23)
I am actually surprised with my score! I thought this section was pretty hard- during the test, I think I marked at least 10 of the questions, and ended up making educated guesses on them. Not sure how they graded it, but it worked out for me!
Gen Chem (20)
I thought this section was on the harder end of the practice tests I had taken, but still not too bad. Only a couple problems were way out there. I think I missed more than I thought I would due to stupid mistakes.
Ochem (24)
Very straightforward. Must have missed two or three due to tricks I didn't catch or something like that. Chads was more than enough for this section.
PAT (20)
HARD!!!! Way harder than anything I had practiced! I had never run out of time on a practice test and I ran out during my real exam which freaked me out like crazy. Keyholes were bad. But I've always sucked at keyholes so if you're good a them, you're probably fine. I got one of those lumpy rock keyholes which I straight up guessed on. TFE was pretty straightforward with the exception of one of two where I had no clue. On my practice tests, I would ALWAYS get 100% on hole punching, but the HP on the real test was mind blowingly hard. Angles was actually pretty easy- maybe I have a knack for them, or maybe I got an easy version! Cube counting was no different than any of the practice tests. Pattern folding was right on with what I had done as well-I probably missed a bunch though because I was running out of time by the end of the test. Seeing that I got a 20 was SUPER unexpected.
Reading Comp (21)
S&D. I hate this section in general but it was not too bad on the test. There were a couple "both statements are true" type questions that were not clear at all and had really ambiguous answers, which I was pissed about, but I just went with my best guess. Through most of my practice tests, I had been using the Kaplan Roadmap method. I tried S&D once, but found that it stressed me out too much so I continued with the Kaplan method. BUT, for some reason, I randomly changed my mind right before the RC section started and used S&D. Either way, my scores were around the same as my practice tests.
QR (20)
The section was not too bad, but the time constraint always leads to me making stupid mistakes on the easy ones since I run through those as fast as I can. As I went through the questions, I marked the ones I thought looked too tough and moved on immediately. Do all the easy ones first-this is especially beneficial for those who don't tend to make stupid mistakes! I had about 10 minutes left by the end of the questions to complete ~5 marked ones, but even this wasn't enough time- a couple of them were really confusing
Just do your best and make educated guesses.Final thoughts: My stomach was turning through the ENTIRE exam. Full on butterflies. That has never happened to me before! Normally, i'm nervous before an exam and then I get over it as soon as it starts. After reading tons of breakdowns, I noticed that, lots of the time, people would say they thought they were doing terribly during the test only to get a score higher than they expected! I didn't believe it, but this definitely happened to me! Also know that you will have to take a survey right after the test, before you get your score. Personally, I think they would get more accurate responses if they had us take it after we got our score- I just raced through it without really looking at the questions :/
Hope this helped!
