DAT breakdown 7/20

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

KateRP

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
May 27, 2009
Messages
69
Reaction score
2
Hey all! I've learned alot from reading other people's DAT breakdown posts the past couple of months, so I thought that I would post mine as well! Took it this morning, and I am SO happy to be done! Here are my scores:

PAT: 22 (96.2%)
QR: 19 (84.0%)
RC: 30 (100%)
BIO: 24 (98.7%)
GC: 22 (90.1%)
OC: 26 (98.1%)
TS: 24 (99.3%)
AA: 24 (99.4%)


I have been studying for about a 1 1/2 months, averaging about 2-3hrs a night on weeknights and as much as I could on weekends. I also work 40 hours a week, so my biggest issue was the finding time and energy to study!

I know a lot of people take it easy from studying the few days before their test, but I did the opposite! I took Friday off from work, and put in about 12 hrs. Fri, Sat, and Sun-which totally helped me out! Although I still didn't feel prepared!

For materials I used: an old version of a Kaplan book, Destroyer and Cliff Bio. I went through each of the topics in Kaplan first (along with Cliffs for Bio), and then did all of the destroyer problems, taking lots of notes as I went!

My practice test scores did not really correlate at all with my actual exam! But they worked more as learning tools then prediction for the actual exam! They are:
PAT QR RC BIO GC OC TS AA
Topscore 1 - 19 29 15 18 17 17
Topscore 2 19 18 29 19 19 20 20 21
Topscore 3 - 22 - 21 21 18 20 -
Achiever 1 17 21 - 17 19 20 20 21
Achiever 2 - 19 - 17 16 17 17 -

As for the actual exam:

Bio: Like everyone said-some very random and some questions that you've seen multiple times! There were some random facts from destroyer, that I would have never known/looked at if they weren't in there! There was a lot more human anatomy/ phys then I expected or had seen in any of the study materials! Maybe 1 plant problem and pretty basic taxonomy, ect problems!

Chem: A lot less calculations than I was expecting. More concepts than anything. Don't remember anything particularly surprising or anything. Destroyer and Kaplan were really helpful, but I wouldn't bother working out all of the calculations (I usually set them up and then used a calculator) in them because that takes lots of time, and all of the answer choices just had the equations set up for you!

OChem: Very easy and basic reactions. Heavy on the concepts though! A lot of comparison questions (ie. which is more acidic, which has a higher bp, and those type of questions.) I made copies of the destroyer road maps and whited out the products of all of the reactions and would just go through and fill in the blank whenever I had a few minutes! I think that really helped me to learn them!

PAT: I used CDP for this section and I was scoring around 20-22 on them. Keyholes and TFE were pretty similar to CDP. Angles seemed easier to me (but this was my worst and most inconsistant section, so Im not a good judge at how I did). The answers were set up though, so that for most of them if you picked out the biggest and smallest angle- there was only one possible answer choice, so that was nice! Hole punch was way easier. Pattern folding was a little more difficult and different than what I had seen. Cube counting was all from difficult angles and there were only like 2 questions from each set of cubes, so it took up more time than usual!

RC: More difficult than the topscore tests that I took! Tons of inference/tone questions. A lot of the questions would give a statement and then the answers would say: The first part of the statement is correct, but the second is not. Both parts are correct, but the two are not related, ect... which was tricky!

QR: Uggh! This was hard! Lots of problem (esp. geometry) that I had never seen/ had no clue how to do! Kaplan is def. not enough for the section. I thought destroyer really helped! Much harder and different types of questions than any practice exams that I took! To keep up with time, If I didn't know how to set up an answer right away, I would just pick answer B, mark it and then went back to it at the end!

Anyways other random thoughts: It was SO hot in the testing room, I thought I was going to pass out! They gave me a choice before I went in to either keep my sweatshirt on or take it off before I went in, but I wasn't allowed to switch mid-test! Im usually cold so I kept it on! Bad idea!
The marker they gave me was much more fine tipped then the one I was practicing with, which was nice! But it wasn't low odor! They gave me 2 dry erase boards, which was nice- but they are smaller than the one I was practicing with b/c almost half of both sides were taken up by a big prometric label- so actually writing space was small!

Well there are all my thought! Good luck to everyone who is still studying! Keep working hard! Its worth it in the end! 🙂
 
Last edited:
omfg, whats with these ppl on this SDN!!!!


SUPER HIGH SCORES ON DAT THESE DAYS.....

congrats though, for me :scared:
 
wow amazing scores. 30 on RC??? wow:scared:

how did you tackle the inference questions and how did you study for this section (RC)
 
The more 30s and 24s i see on here. my chances are getting lower and lower everyday.. wtf!

.. but congrats on your success .. .. i hope we dun ever meet. . cuz i would feel really stupid..hahhaa
 
The more 30s and 24s i see on here. my chances are getting lower and lower everyday.. wtf!

.. but congrats on your success .. .. i hope we dun ever meet. . cuz i would feel really stupid..hahhaa
How do you know she's applying to the same exact schools as you are. You may not even have a single school in common. So, her DAT scores may have no impact on your chances.

 
Congrats on the great scores! I'd be interested to hear how you approached the RC section. Do you have a super memory or was there a strategy that you found helpful?
 
Thanks all!!

As for RC, I just kind of made up my own method-don't know if it makes sense, but it worked for me. I would read the first two paragraphs and write down a key word or two. Then I would read the first question and if I had read the answer I would answer it, if not I would go to question 2. Then I would read the 3rd paragraph, then the third question, and on and on. If I came to a question that I had already read about, I would go back and answer that question then move on in the same way.

As for the tone and inference questions- it seemed like there was always a couple of answers that just made no sense and could be eliminated.

Personally I think it is more helpful to read the whole paragraph rather than just skimming, but I am a fast reader and know that this might not work for everyone.
 
Thanks all!!

As for RC, I just kind of made up my own method-don't know if it makes sense, but it worked for me. I would read the first two paragraphs and write down a key word or two. Then I would read the first question and if I had read the answer I would answer it, if not I would go to question 2. Then I would read the 3rd paragraph, then the third question, and on and on. If I came to a question that I had already read about, I would go back and answer that question then move on in the same way.

As for the tone and inference questions- it seemed like there was always a couple of answers that just made no sense and could be eliminated.

Personally I think it is more helpful to read the whole paragraph rather than just skimming, but I am a fast reader and know that this might not work for everyone.




Congrats man...Solid scores...Awesome job. Mine was same day..but didnt do that great job at PAT and Rc...neva mind.that fine.....well good luck for application..again congrats..👍
 
Top