dat breakdown 7/8/09

[ratran]

PAT 22
RC 17 i hate pianos. goddd
QR 17
bio 20
OC 26
chem 26
TS 23
AA 21

PAT- I actually expected to do better then this. I used CDP, topscore acheiver
RC- I should have definitely spent more time studying for this but just didnt know how to. i dont know if i should retake it because this is the second time i took the DAT and first time i scored 21
QR- very disappointed. a lot harder then practise tests. last time i scored 20
Bio- disappointed as i prepared very hard for Bio. Questions are very random. i used schaums outline and destroyer
OC- i bought destroyer and the maps are perfect. i figured i enjoyed orgo and bought orgo destroyer. thats about the most perfect review you can imagine in the history of the world and once ur done that book its hard to not call yourself a pro
chem- destroyer really helped me for concepts. otherwise i used old textbooks and im very happy with this score

overall, im a little disappointed. i studied a lot harder then last time in which i got a 21 in everything and this time i really wanted to get minimum 21 in everything. Luckily my science score really looks good and my PAT improved. my gpa is 3.1 I dont know if this is good enough

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[jd399]

d

 

[GOLF]

i think these scores are fantastic. i don't think you'll have too much trouble getting into a dental school. the qr and reading weren't the best, but your science scores are taking off.

 

[Emmie]

Did you have a lot of word problems? What was tough about your version of the QR?

 

[ratran]

some of the qr were very simple and some of them were too wordy. i definitely didnt pace myself well for this section and had to guess about 5 questions at the end. the key is to stick to your schedule and get the entire test done before going back to the ones to be stuck on. try and notice that a lot of simplification can be done without completely answering the questions which takes too much time. some of the probability questions were ridiculous and so were the algebra

 

[jd399]

hey did u have alot of plant questions??????????

 

[SupArora]

did u have a lot of plant bio and invertebate bio?

 

[sclddj10]

Why did you re-take this if the first time you scored well in everything? (Or did I just mis-understand something?)

 

[ratran]

i retook it cause i wanted to improve my application. 3.1 gpa isnt a standout so i figured DAT is the next best.

 

[ZzZzSleepyhead]

Wow, awesome job!! Good luck

 

[HossIX949]

what books did you use for your chem section

 

[ratran]

sorry i forgot to add this. but i bought mcat 1001 questions. its all concept mainly. if you do that book the gen chem section is a piece of cake. i tried to do 75 questions a day so it took 2 hrs a day for 2 weeks. its really hard and boring but by making notes and then reviewing your notes. after that the dat gen chem is fairly basic

 

[hevychevyxl]

are there alot of values/ formulas that need to be memorized for the gen chem section?

 

[bennijai]

I've been hearing this piano thing being a killer. What's so bad about piano?

 

[Doc Smile]

Yeah, I got pianoed same today as well. sad day huh

 

[brightsmiles9]

Great job! Where do you plan on applying?

 

[Chrono]

Why was the piano passage difficult for u guys?

 

[ratran]

iv realised that a lot of people are struggling for RC. im thinking that i should have spent more time making strategies but there are a number that iv come across and its annoying that im thinking of them now and not one week ago.

1. the search and destroy
2. the kaplan mapping
3. read the first 5 questions and then search and destroy
4. if you are really really good at comprehension. calm down, read the passage thoroughly for 5 minutes and answer the questions. by that time you already have a general mental idea as to where the answers could be. this i think would be the ideal way to do so but would take months to prepare. reading a journal article everyday and writing a summary the moment you have read it is a good way. track down your progress and hopefully you can see yourself improving in your summary detail. again, im disappointed in my RC score and regret not doing it this way.

for bio, schaums outline is boring as heck. i heard cliffs AP bio is good but in the end i cant imagine too much difference in content. stick with one, make your notes for every chapter. get the kaplan notes, acheiver, destroy, topscore answers, compile everything into one notebook and memorise the crap out of your notebook. read it out loud to yourself, write it down. maximimze the way you can learn through visual and audio forms of learning.

orgo destroyer, i have to say is just epic. 50 questions for just about every type of situation and all the questions are like what you may comes across in the dat. im serious guys, im actually disappointed i didnt land a 30.

PAT i think acheiver is the best way to practise. i ended up finishing with a 21 in acheiver PAT which i thought was amazing and i had high hopes going into the dat so im a little surprised i didnt end up with something better. the angles were pretty hard and thats about the toughest part of it. I think the key is narrowing down your options. look for the largest and smallest angle and narrow your answers down. sometimes you get the answer straight away just by seeing which is largest and smallest and after you gain efficiency you can save minutes off the clock which is essential for you to come back to the ones you missed out on and you can definitely gain a few points this way.

and iv posted about mcat 1001. buy it. its worth it. it was for me and thats the one score im thoroughly proud of.

i used cdm for math and it wasnt good enough. id say dont try and make yourself feel good by doing the easy questions. focus on the difficult ones, buy a lot of SAT books and practise harder questions. the more you practise math the easier it gets. in the test i had to make 5 guesses at the end and that was my biggest problem. math is mainly about efficiency. i think learning how to simplify the answers and quickly coming up with the algebraic formulas is key to success. keep practising practising!!! probability, trig, algebra. thats all there is to it.

 

[ratran]

anyways, i dont want to waste too much money applying to schools i dont have a chance in. does anyone knew which specific school i should be spending on with a gpa of 3.1 and my dat scores???