DAT COMPLETE- 24/24/23

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elhammy

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I just wanna thank this forum for all the help in reading a couple breakdowns in the last couple of weeks.

Lemme start with a little bit of background:

I am a 19 year old biochemistry student. I have a 3.5 cumulative and 3.5 science gpa. I studied for about 2 months and not super hardcore as some of these other people i.e. 12 hours a day (you're crazy but more power to you!). I was taking a full semester load of credits (in spring of 2014) with Orgo 2 + lab, Microbiology + lab, an honors writing synthesis course, I can't even remember the rest, my brain is fried right now lol...... ANYWAY.

My arsenal for the exam was the Kaplan DAT course that was in class (supplemented with the Class book and the Kaplan Blue book with all the notes), Cliffs AP Biology, Bangity's Biology Notes off of KBB, TopScore and Solomon's Organic Chemistry Textbook 10th edition. My Kaplan class spanned over 8 weeks and was on the weekend mornings :bucktooth:.

now for
THE EXAM

My scores:
Perceptual Ability 23
Quantitative Reasoning 23
Reading Comprehension 24
Biology 21
General Chemistry 28
Organic Chemistry 25
Total Science 24
Academic Average 24



My appointment with prometric was in the afternoon but I got there about 90 minutes early. I didn't want to wait in agony and nervousness so I told the lady that I was ready to take it now. Thankfully they had a spot open and I walked in, fingerprinted, ID'd, photoed and stored all my stuff in the locker.

NATURAL SCIENCES

Biology - 21
For this section, I basically mapped out all of Cliff's AP biology in about 35 pages. (all the stuff that I was shaky or had no clue what I was even reading). Also, I saw where I was lacking when I took practice tests on Kaplans + Topscore. I also was trying to map out Kaplan Blue book, but I found @bangity 's notes. I don't see the reason in wasting loads of paper just rewriting stuff so I mainly just wrote it all out once, and reread over and over again until it stuck. You'll be surprised when you're close to the exam how your thinking changes. You begin to think everything in the world in biological terms......


General Chemistry - 28
To be completely honest, I never reviewed for this section as I did the others. In high school, I took general chemistry, AP Chem, and in college, Gen chem 1 and 2. All I did was take the Topscore tests (2-3 weeks before) and the first bootcamp test about 4 days before my exam, got a 21 and stopped studying for this section. Went over a few things like nuclear phenomena and reactions of that sort but that's about it. I had a strong foundation of general chemistry. This is important: find your weaknesses, I cannot emphasize this enough. Focus on those and prioritize.

Organic Chemistry - 25
For this section, I was surprised. The questions were really straight forward. I used my chemistry textbook that was used in class by Solomons and Topscore. I also supplemented with slides that I will post the link to when I find it. THESE SLIDES ARE VITAL; LEARN THEM AND YOU WILL BE FINE:
http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=chapter&bcsId=5562&itemId=0470401419&chapterId=58455

Perceptual Ability - 23

Only thing I used is CDP. Bootcamp I took the one free test and got a 21. and my CDP scores were as follows:
18/22/23/24/21/22/23/21/22/22.

BREAK FOR 15 MINUTES
MY BREAK WAS SOME CRAZY STUFF. I had to open my locker, but guess what? IT WOULDN'T OPEN:bang:The guy had to use lock cutters to get my food


Reading Comprehension - 24
For this section, mainly Kaplan's online tests and the 1 bootcamp free test. Many detail questions where all you had to do was refer back to the passage and find it. I used Kaplan's method of just outlining the essay.




Quantitative Reasoning - 23
For this section, not much preparation except Practice problems. Kaplan was okay for this part. Kaplan had some really difficult calculations and stuff but nothing on the exam took me by surprise. Use your calculator people. Yes you are given a calculator on the exam so make sure to use it.

Believe in yourself. If you prepared well, you have nothing to worry about and trust in your abilities. Do not do any last minute problems the day before or the day of. I tried to do a couple of math problems I could do just a week ago on Topscore like (4csc^(x) - 1 = 0) and some probability problems but couldn't answer them quick enough the day before the exam. It really affected my morale. Make sure you keep yourself calm and relaxed with light review the day before. Tell yourself, "Hey, I was reading some guy's breakdown on SDN forums and he got a so and so grade, why shouldn't I be able to get that, or HIGHER."

You can do it. Pray & good luck. See ya'll in the real world:horns:

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Hey, when did you take the dat? awesome scores by the way. And yeah, I've heard the DAT was pretty straightforward with a few hard questions in the science portion. But, how was math section for you? I am using math destroyer and I am not fast enough. Do you recommend skipping the word problems, marking an answer on math and doing easy problems first, and then go over the word problems?
 
Nice work! I remember way back in May when we both posted in the June DAT thread. Crazy how fast those couple of weeks went by huh?! Nonetheless, phenomenal scores, really. Did you just finish sophomore year?
 
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Hey, when did you take the dat? awesome scores by the way. And yeah, I've heard the DAT was pretty straightforward with a few hard questions in the science portion. But, how was math section for you? I am using math destroyer and I am not fast enough. Do you recommend skipping the word problems, marking an answer on math and doing easy problems first, and then go over the word problems?
I just took it today. Thanks. The math section was pretty easy. Math Destroyer I have never done so I wouldn't know. Don't stress yourself out. Timing is only half of the section. Focus on accuracy then timing about 3 weeks till the exam.
 
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Nice work! I remember way back in May when we both posted in the June DAT thread. Crazy how fast those couple of weeks went by huh?! Nonetheless, phenomenal scores, really. Did you just finish sophomore year?
YES. I remember you and honestly before I went in today I was thinking about that guy with the Cowboys avi. I'm happy we both made it. Let me know what happens with your apps! and no I am a year ahead I finished my junior year just now!
 
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GREAT JOB!!! Did you ever find those slides? I take my DAT Aug 23rd.. I would like to get those down! Organic and Gen Chem are a weak point of mine..
 
GREAT JOB!!! Did you ever find those slides? I take my DAT Aug 23rd.. I would like to get those down! Organic and Gen Chem are a weak point of mine..


http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=chapter&bcsId=5562&itemId=0470401419&chapterId=58455

& I edited them into my breakdown! Use whatever chapters of these are needed (browse by chapter at the top). The textbook I mentioned is supplemental with this but if you have a basic understanding of organic then you will be able to follow what is happening on the slides.
 
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What were your scores on top score?
For TopScore I never fully took the entire DAT usually in parts because I am really busy most days.
Some days I just did biology and other days the entire science section.
For my first exam, I moved up from a 19/21/17/19/18 (BIO/GCHEM/OCHEM/RC/QR) to a 21/23/21/24/22.
I knew I was ready at this point and reviewed everything. The things I got wrong and the things I got right.
 
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