I been studying for this test for several months now and still getting below average scores. My test date is april 5 and i feel kind of worried about this test. I study mon-fri for at least 3.5 hrs a day and weekends at least 6-7 hrs a day. The reason I cannot study longer a day is because I work 50 hrs a week and have a biochem class to study for as well. I finished my kaplan course two months ago and my current scores are a big improvement from my baseline, but still not good enough. I am taking the practice full length test every weekend now just to see if i improved from studying for that week. i am about to start studying the destroyer and see how this goes. What do you guys suggest?
DAT Discouragment
- Thread starter matrix02
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Destroyer isn't going to save you first of all.
Buy Topscore or Achiever tests and tell us how you do on those. Or post your scores if you already took them.
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You seem to be getting in plenty of study time. Perhaps you could give us more information on what you are having trouble in the most (area-wise, etc). You might need a more efficient strategy, what are you currently doing?
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Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and take it. Don't let practice tests freak you out if their scores are below what you want. I took the topscore tests and did 2 points better, on avg., on the real thing.
If you KNOW the material like you could explain it to a friend, then I say go for it!
You can always take it again in 90 days and know exactly what to expect.
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Reminds me: Sometimes I would get the practice test questions wrong, but I would tell myself that I did know the answer...and I really did.
This might be a case when you just need to do as jay advised.
Also, practice tests don't tell much. Trust me.
I would just read material everything in the kap book. and re-read it again. Then I would take tests. I am going to try a more active approach now and go over each test with an open book. Relearning topics that come up that i am not 100% sure on.
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good luck. if you think you are not making much progress with kaplan, maybe you should try some other books as well.
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Remember: you will NEVER be fully prepared for the DAT! Such is the case with standardized tests -- you can only study so much information. Be sure to nail the important topics (from the test specifications handout) and know them inside and out.
You still have lots of time. Go through destroyer and any of the other practice tests you may have, locate your weaknesses, and improve upon them. I agree with the other posters that practice tests sometimes do not accurately predict what you will get on the real thing. Take your scores from these tests with a grain of salt... use the resources at your disposal as tools to enhance your studying and not as predictors of future failure or success. Good luck.
You still have lots of time. Go through destroyer and any of the other practice tests you may have, locate your weaknesses, and improve upon them. I agree with the other posters that practice tests sometimes do not accurately predict what you will get on the real thing. Take your scores from these tests with a grain of salt... use the resources at your disposal as tools to enhance your studying and not as predictors of future failure or success. Good luck.
Kaplan BB is a great book, but only for some sections.
-For bio, I didn't even use Kaplan. Thought it was too vague.
Get another book like Cliffs AP, Princeton AP, etc.
Stay away from Schaums though. Too much info, you mind as well read your Campbells bio if your going to do Schums. Plus, you don't have too much time left.
-Chem, Kaplan is good enough, but I also used another book for questions. Focus on the basics!
-Orgo, it's good, but using your textbook (summary pages only! don't read the chapters again - waste of time) is a good resource too.
As for destroyer. It didn't help me at all. It's much more difficult than the actual exam, at least for me. However, my friends told me that they had a few questions that came straight from the book. So my advice for you since your time is limited is, don't waste too much time on destroyer. Spend more time on the basics.
-For bio, I didn't even use Kaplan. Thought it was too vague.
Get another book like Cliffs AP, Princeton AP, etc.
Stay away from Schaums though. Too much info, you mind as well read your Campbells bio if your going to do Schums. Plus, you don't have too much time left.
-Chem, Kaplan is good enough, but I also used another book for questions. Focus on the basics!
-Orgo, it's good, but using your textbook (summary pages only! don't read the chapters again - waste of time) is a good resource too.
As for destroyer. It didn't help me at all. It's much more difficult than the actual exam, at least for me. However, my friends told me that they had a few questions that came straight from the book. So my advice for you since your time is limited is, don't waste too much time on destroyer. Spend more time on the basics.
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just keep in mind that all of the practice tools out there are not designed by the ADA and are only supposed to be a best guess according the the subjects that are going to be on the DAT. Keep your head up and into it ...
W
whateveryoulike
take a more active approach to diagnosing your weak points. the nice thing about the destroyer book is that because of the multitude of questions you can use it as a tool to guide you. do the following:
do 20-30 questions in a section of destroyer. if you cant legitimately answer the question (and i mean NO narrowing down to the right answer, that doesnt help you when youre trying to diagnose what areas youre weak in) with a certain level of confidence, put a question mark for that answer (i write my answers on a seperate sheet of paper so you dont get the book all marked up) and then once youre done, grade those answers and have a seperate sheet of paper where you keep track of what questions you got wrong. you will want to hold on to this sheet. review the relavent material for the ones you missed (in your textbooks preferably) and then do practice questions (from your class textbooks) and then do another 20-30 questions. keep repeating this and then the next days study session can be spent using the sheet where you marked all the ones you missed. if you are studying properly, you should be able to answer them and talk aloud and explain how and why the answer is right. another thing to note is that you ACTUALLY do the practice questions in your book. DO NOT follow along as they do it. this doesnt work nearly as effectively as doing it yourself and often times you will think you know how to do it when you follow along with an explanation, but when you try to do it on your own you might get stuck. you will never know for sure unless you actually try it on your own.
ps - dont keep taking the same diagnostic test. getting a higher score on a test youve taken 20 times is going to give you a VERY false sense of confidence and will set you up for dissapointment on the real test. the crack math is good for practice math questions and destroyer (despite its multiple errors) is good for practice for everything.
do 20-30 questions in a section of destroyer. if you cant legitimately answer the question (and i mean NO narrowing down to the right answer, that doesnt help you when youre trying to diagnose what areas youre weak in) with a certain level of confidence, put a question mark for that answer (i write my answers on a seperate sheet of paper so you dont get the book all marked up) and then once youre done, grade those answers and have a seperate sheet of paper where you keep track of what questions you got wrong. you will want to hold on to this sheet. review the relavent material for the ones you missed (in your textbooks preferably) and then do practice questions (from your class textbooks) and then do another 20-30 questions. keep repeating this and then the next days study session can be spent using the sheet where you marked all the ones you missed. if you are studying properly, you should be able to answer them and talk aloud and explain how and why the answer is right. another thing to note is that you ACTUALLY do the practice questions in your book. DO NOT follow along as they do it. this doesnt work nearly as effectively as doing it yourself and often times you will think you know how to do it when you follow along with an explanation, but when you try to do it on your own you might get stuck. you will never know for sure unless you actually try it on your own.
ps - dont keep taking the same diagnostic test. getting a higher score on a test youve taken 20 times is going to give you a VERY false sense of confidence and will set you up for dissapointment on the real test. the crack math is good for practice math questions and destroyer (despite its multiple errors) is good for practice for everything.
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i would say try to switch things up a little bit. you don't want to become too grooved on doing one type of question or studying from one source. personally, i found the kaplan subject tests to be priceless!! i really thought some questions from my test were identical.
as far as destroyer goes, it is a great resource and i definitely recommend it for touching up. its a good source to use to point out your weakness in the sciences. i made sure i knew that book front to back and my TS went from an 18 to a 22!! especially for gchem, between Kaplan and Destroyer I went from a 16 to a 22.
in regards to topscore, i didn't really like it. its worth it to get used to taking the test on the computer and for timing, but the topics seemed a little redundant and outdated. they have the same version for years, so i dont feel it could be accurate compared to the actual dat.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE your math and reading!!! these are scores that could very much make or break you. they can help you out tremendously in raising your academic average.
best of luck to you! you have til april so you crank into high gear now you should be fine!!
as far as destroyer goes, it is a great resource and i definitely recommend it for touching up. its a good source to use to point out your weakness in the sciences. i made sure i knew that book front to back and my TS went from an 18 to a 22!! especially for gchem, between Kaplan and Destroyer I went from a 16 to a 22.
in regards to topscore, i didn't really like it. its worth it to get used to taking the test on the computer and for timing, but the topics seemed a little redundant and outdated. they have the same version for years, so i dont feel it could be accurate compared to the actual dat.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE your math and reading!!! these are scores that could very much make or break you. they can help you out tremendously in raising your academic average.
best of luck to you! you have til april so you crank into high gear now you should be fine!!
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Don't be discouraged! Practice tests aren't an accurate prediction of how well you'll do come test day. And you still have plenty of time. Go through each of the problems that you get wrong and really try to understand why your answer is not right. And even for the questions that you got right, go through the other answer choices and understand why those answers are wrong. There will come a time when everything will magically click, and you'll start to feel confident about taking the DAT. Good luck to you!
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i would say hold off on the practice exams until a few weeks before your exam. destroyer definitely helps. know that cover to cover. especially the science topics. and by cover to cover i mean know why the answer choice is right and why the wrong answer choices are wrong. that's the only way to get a full understanding of the material. keep going over kaplan text and destroyer and start taking practice exams as you near your exam date. good luck =)
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Just reading the book isn't a very good way to study because it's so passive. You need to be more engaged with your studying, ie, taking notes, actively memorizing notes, explaining processes to yourself with the book closed, etc. The only way to make sure you're retaining the information is to actually close the book and talk yourself through what you know and don't know.
