So, I always enjoyed reading the breakdowns of others, so I will reciprocate the gesture.
PAT 23 (96.4%)
QR 21 (disappointed, read below, 96.4%)
RC 24 (94.0%)
Bio 28 (99.7%)
GC 29 (99.7%)
OC 24 (also disappointed, 95.7%)
TS 27 (99.9%)
AA 25 (99.9%)
Prep Material
1) Achiever
2) CDP
3) Did about 30-40 questions from each science section from my friend's Destroyer
I spent 30 min to 1 hour a day on weekdays and 3-4 hours a day on weekends for a little over two months or so. I've been out of school for 4 years, but felt that I retained a lot of information since then. I can't remember my GPA, but it is around 3.7ish.
Biology
I didn't think it was random, but this characterization is probably just subjective. I seemed to get quite a few genetics questions, but all were pretty simple. A few taxonomy questions, no physiology, and a little ecology. Don't just learn facts, you need to understand how to apply concepts to do well on this section. I felt that one of the questions was very ambiguously worded, which depending on one's interpretation could lead to two valid answers. I also had a few charts, but they were simple to interpret.
General Chemistry
over half of this section was conceptual. The rest either were set-up or where calculations were required. The math was simple, so don't worry too much. From the questions I did on destroyer, I would say that this will be great resource of those still studying. Know your acid-base concepts, very basic lab type questions (destroyer-ish types) and basic laws that you learn in chemistry.
Organic Chemistry
I'm a little disappointed (but not complaining really) with this score. I must have made one or two stupid mistakes, because I felt this was the easiest section of the sciences. I think destroyer is gold on this section too. VERY basic reactions, but I did get a qustion where I had to give an intermediate (not difficult though). Definitely know your aromatic reactions. In fact, know everything there is to know about aromaticity. Easy nomenclature, and a few basic solubility/polarity questions.
PAT
I was actually a little worried about this section, as I didn't study the last two weeks before my exam due to family issues and felt a bit rusty. I used CDP to learn the basics and used achiever to try to hone my skills. Honestly, achiever is supremely more difficult than the real PAT. It is much closer to CDP, and I would go as far to say that it was noticeably simpler than CDP. Keyholes were not THAT bad, nothing extremely complex. ALthough I swear there was this insanely weird figure which I question if there was even a correct answer. TFE was actually on par with CDP. I found that it was very easy to eliminate answers on the real test. There was usually a line or figure element that was out of place or missing. I felt the angles were easier than CDP, but a few had angles with 1 or 2 degree differences. A also had a 4 questions where the answers were not nicely grouped. Hole punching definitely had smaller holes than CDP or achiever, but should not be an issue. There were some folds along the middle of one column or row, so don't just assume they will be along the grid lines. Cube counting was simple. Absolutely no illusions or ambiguity. Pattern folding I found to be harder than CDP and most of achiever. A lot more unshaded patterns than CDP, but there were a lot of shaded ones too. There was one insane shaded pattern that made me want to punch the computer. Do CDP, and if you have money/time, do achiever but don't get too disgruntled. I got 17, 18, 18 on my achiever PAT. I only did one section at a time on CDP, but averaged 12, 13,8,15,13-15,12 on keyhole...pattern respectively.
Reading
Achiever is absurdly more difficult than the real thing. The actual passages were just simpler to read and were more continuous, whereas achiever seemed more fragmented in its passages. The questions were probably 30-70 tone to fact based questions. I read each passage, but I flirted with the idea of search and destroy on the last two (ultimately not choosing to do it). I think you can employ S&D however. A lot of the tone questions refer you to a specific paragraph, so i don't think you'll lose out too much with s&d.
QR
Honestly, I'm kicking myself for this. The questions were EASY. But I marked three questions that I knew how to do, but felt would take a longer time. Unfortunately, I was getting excited to be almsot done with the test and forgot that I marked these questions. So about half way thorugh I began to slow my pace and finished with about 20 seconds left. Only then did I see that "Review Marked" button, and realized I forgot about them. I just ended up guessing on each one. I don't know what practice material to compare it to as I didn't really study for this section. Many word problems, quite a few trig and some basic algebra. I also got a few statistics problems, but only one probability.
Overall, I'm happy to be done. It seemed to go by quickly. I got wet-erase markers, but they were very finely tipped, which was nice. The proctor actually told me how they had to provide very thick ones previously. The temperature of the room was perfect, and it wasn't too noisy, although I could hear the voices of those outside of the testing room. They are dead serious with their cheating policy. Never have I scanned my fingers, been "wanded" with their metal detectors, inverted my pockets or seen a proctor walk in and look at every individual sooooo many times.
**EDIT**
I also wanted to mention one small thing. I remember someone posting that they had a QR problem on their tutorial that showed up on their actual QR section. Out of curiosity I checked out my tutorial problem, and it too showed up as one of my QR problems. It wasn't complex, so it would only save you a little time. But thought I would throw this out and see if this happens to anyone else
PAT 23 (96.4%)
QR 21 (disappointed, read below, 96.4%)
RC 24 (94.0%)
Bio 28 (99.7%)
GC 29 (99.7%)
OC 24 (also disappointed, 95.7%)
TS 27 (99.9%)
AA 25 (99.9%)
Prep Material
1) Achiever
2) CDP
3) Did about 30-40 questions from each science section from my friend's Destroyer
I spent 30 min to 1 hour a day on weekdays and 3-4 hours a day on weekends for a little over two months or so. I've been out of school for 4 years, but felt that I retained a lot of information since then. I can't remember my GPA, but it is around 3.7ish.
Biology
I didn't think it was random, but this characterization is probably just subjective. I seemed to get quite a few genetics questions, but all were pretty simple. A few taxonomy questions, no physiology, and a little ecology. Don't just learn facts, you need to understand how to apply concepts to do well on this section. I felt that one of the questions was very ambiguously worded, which depending on one's interpretation could lead to two valid answers. I also had a few charts, but they were simple to interpret.
General Chemistry
over half of this section was conceptual. The rest either were set-up or where calculations were required. The math was simple, so don't worry too much. From the questions I did on destroyer, I would say that this will be great resource of those still studying. Know your acid-base concepts, very basic lab type questions (destroyer-ish types) and basic laws that you learn in chemistry.
Organic Chemistry
I'm a little disappointed (but not complaining really) with this score. I must have made one or two stupid mistakes, because I felt this was the easiest section of the sciences. I think destroyer is gold on this section too. VERY basic reactions, but I did get a qustion where I had to give an intermediate (not difficult though). Definitely know your aromatic reactions. In fact, know everything there is to know about aromaticity. Easy nomenclature, and a few basic solubility/polarity questions.
PAT
I was actually a little worried about this section, as I didn't study the last two weeks before my exam due to family issues and felt a bit rusty. I used CDP to learn the basics and used achiever to try to hone my skills. Honestly, achiever is supremely more difficult than the real PAT. It is much closer to CDP, and I would go as far to say that it was noticeably simpler than CDP. Keyholes were not THAT bad, nothing extremely complex. ALthough I swear there was this insanely weird figure which I question if there was even a correct answer. TFE was actually on par with CDP. I found that it was very easy to eliminate answers on the real test. There was usually a line or figure element that was out of place or missing. I felt the angles were easier than CDP, but a few had angles with 1 or 2 degree differences. A also had a 4 questions where the answers were not nicely grouped. Hole punching definitely had smaller holes than CDP or achiever, but should not be an issue. There were some folds along the middle of one column or row, so don't just assume they will be along the grid lines. Cube counting was simple. Absolutely no illusions or ambiguity. Pattern folding I found to be harder than CDP and most of achiever. A lot more unshaded patterns than CDP, but there were a lot of shaded ones too. There was one insane shaded pattern that made me want to punch the computer. Do CDP, and if you have money/time, do achiever but don't get too disgruntled. I got 17, 18, 18 on my achiever PAT. I only did one section at a time on CDP, but averaged 12, 13,8,15,13-15,12 on keyhole...pattern respectively.
Reading
Achiever is absurdly more difficult than the real thing. The actual passages were just simpler to read and were more continuous, whereas achiever seemed more fragmented in its passages. The questions were probably 30-70 tone to fact based questions. I read each passage, but I flirted with the idea of search and destroy on the last two (ultimately not choosing to do it). I think you can employ S&D however. A lot of the tone questions refer you to a specific paragraph, so i don't think you'll lose out too much with s&d.
QR
Honestly, I'm kicking myself for this. The questions were EASY. But I marked three questions that I knew how to do, but felt would take a longer time. Unfortunately, I was getting excited to be almsot done with the test and forgot that I marked these questions. So about half way thorugh I began to slow my pace and finished with about 20 seconds left. Only then did I see that "Review Marked" button, and realized I forgot about them. I just ended up guessing on each one. I don't know what practice material to compare it to as I didn't really study for this section. Many word problems, quite a few trig and some basic algebra. I also got a few statistics problems, but only one probability.
Overall, I'm happy to be done. It seemed to go by quickly. I got wet-erase markers, but they were very finely tipped, which was nice. The proctor actually told me how they had to provide very thick ones previously. The temperature of the room was perfect, and it wasn't too noisy, although I could hear the voices of those outside of the testing room. They are dead serious with their cheating policy. Never have I scanned my fingers, been "wanded" with their metal detectors, inverted my pockets or seen a proctor walk in and look at every individual sooooo many times.
**EDIT**
I also wanted to mention one small thing. I remember someone posting that they had a QR problem on their tutorial that showed up on their actual QR section. Out of curiosity I checked out my tutorial problem, and it too showed up as one of my QR problems. It wasn't complex, so it would only save you a little time. But thought I would throw this out and see if this happens to anyone else
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