DAT DONE 06/17! need advice!

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yuhjah

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since SDN helped me so much with studying for DATs...ill contribute back by posting my breakdown~!

How long did i study?
~ 4 weeks
everyday...averaging 10-12 hours/day (obviously not straight-studying...ate and took small breaks in-between)

Biology:
- Cliffs AP: i read this page by page every single day when i was studying till i literally memorized everything
- KBB: i studied only the topics that weren't covered in Cliff's like the structure of ear, eye, etc.
- Destroyer: did all the problems...reviewed it many times
- Kaplan flashcards: helped getting the basics down
- Achiever + TS: look below

Chemistry:
- KBB: read this once thoroughly and couldnt do it again b/c it was so boring...2nd time...made notes for each chapter
- Chad's videos: CHAD is the MAN! watch all of them! better than reading a book...and he's so cool! made notes for all his videos as well.
- Destroyer: did all the problems multiple times till i knew how to solve every type of question
- Kaplan White book: unlike the BB, there are problems to each chapter at the end which were so helpful
- Kaplan flashcards: helped getting the basics down
- Achiever+TS: look below

Orgo:
- KBB: read this once thoroughly...took notes.
- Destroyer: did all the problems...multiple times...like chem...memorized road maps
- KWB: same as chem, did all the problems at the end of chapter...helped a lot
- Kaplan flashcards: helped getting the basics down
- Achiever + TS: look below

RC:
- did not really prepare for this b/c i really didnt know how to prepare for it...i hate reading in the first place...just did the RC tests in achiever and topscore for practice

QR:
- didnt really study for this section as well except writing all the formulas down from the KBB and formulas used in destroyer...memorized all of them...i was always good and liked math...TIME is the only factor for this section on DAT -.-"

PAT:
- CrackPAT! did all the 10 tests and repeated some~ my scores ranged from 17-21

destroyer is challenging! i freaked out when i realized i couldnt do like any of the problems when i first bought it...but the explanations are great and i kind of learned the material as i did the problems so it helped a lot. definitely more calculations involved and a lot of intense problems but if you understand everything in this book and are able to solve it...you got the material down! i swear...i reviewed this book over 10 times that i basically knew all the questions and answers on each damn page!

achiever: OMFG...this made me cry sooooooooo much cause it was sooooooo hard. made me doubt multiple times and crashed my confidence to the max. however, i did all the science tests (scored horribly on all 5 ranging from 14-18)...but i wrote each question down with the answer and went over each 500 science questions on this damn program till i understood each one! crazy thing to do cause my hand was so tired everyday from writing but i wanted to understand everything and i do it better when i write things down and review them over and over again.
did the RC sections and scored 15-17...it was definitely hard! started one PAT section but it was like so difficult that i got pissed and stopped doing it lol...also did one QR section and scored a 18. bottomline: achiever is hard. but im sure if you do wonderful using this program you'll do SUPER on the real dats.

topscore: did much better on the practice tests in this program than achiever. definitely raised my confidence. also wrote each question down for sciences...but this time only the ones i got wrong.

some thoughts about the DAT test that i took:
bio: totally what i expected...RANDOM. a lot of the questions were just so out of the blue...like WTH?!?!? totally threw me off for a bit and i started panicking but towards the end of this section were basic general questions
chem: more theoretical questions than i expected...calculations were easy if you knew the formulas...some didnt require you to actually calculate it just setting up the equation...overall not that bad...
orgo: what i expected...knowing sn1/sn2/e1/e2 mech...reactions...stereochemistry...blah blah
pat: keyhole - some were tricky and weird looking! TFE - line counting method can only get you so far...i had to visualize the object for most of them but they werent too difficult...angles...much easier than crack!...hole punching...easier than crack!...cube counting...easier than crack! less cubes...no illusions...pattern folding...HARD! i hate this section and always sucked at it so i wasnt suprised.
RC: my 1st passage was about bone fractures...boring! forced myself to endure through it...2nd passage was about herbal medicines...actually quite interesting! i liked reading this one...3rd passage was about antibiotic-resistant viruses...boring again -.- used search and destroy method for all of them
QR: did all the questions that i could do fast first which was about 75% of them...then went back to do the ones i couldnt do, which were usually the wordy problems, one by one and was able to solve most of them. the ones i had no idea i just guessed. -__- used the calculator to do tedious calculations...helped a lot! time is big issue here!

hope this helps some people! :oops:


Uhhh, you're hot.
 
lol. I agree with the above two posts.
I can also see you're korean from your ID, gosh how i was disappointed after today's match against argentina!!! Oh well.

Congrats on your scores! I think you stand good chance if you are a resident here. Earlier you apply, the better. I didn't submit mine either because of my Personal statement, but I would've submitted already if it were not for that.

And was bio THAT random? lol.. i'm taking mine in 1 week. I'm so nervous and scared :'(

Good luck to you and your application!
 
You have solid and consistent scores! I'm not sure what you're worrying about?!:confused:
Just apply to lots of schools and you're most likely gonna get in!

Good luck:thumbup:
 
Nice scores! You'll definitely get in this cycle...Also I have one last thing to say...Lakers 2010 NBA Champssssssssss! Hope you were rooting for the right team...
 
Congrats on the scores they are a nice improvement. Kinda funny but I had the same test as you and also had an 18 before. Where do you plan on applying this year?
 
haha true that but I hate the Celtics with a passion and don't respect anyone on that team besides KG...but you're lucky you're free...I still have 4 weeks to go before D-Day...enjoy having your life back and good luck with this cycle!
 
bio was just different. i mean ive been reading other people's comments on the bio sections in these forums and the majority would describe it as that~
its not that the section was hard but some questions were areas that i really didnt focus or emphasize in my studying b/c i didnt expect them to test on those areas so heavily!
in my studying, i focused on animal form function, cellular respiration, cell, diversity b/c i thought those were the important topics.
but on the test i didnt even get one taxonomy question...dont remember any plant questions except one simple one about the function of xylem...
i remember 3 questions about probability in genetics on my test~
it was just DIFFERENT. you never know what youre going to be tested on.
just review everything and good luck :]

and yeahhh it didnt help that korea lost against argentina which i kind of expected on the day of my exam!
world cup games and nba finals were so DISTRACTING!!!! >.<

good luck on your application as well! i didnt submit mine either cause im working on my personal statement as well!

Yeah.. I had 2006 world cup & WBC(baseball) when I was in high school 3rd year when I was studying for su-neung and now 2010 World cup huh.. lol. Thanks for your advice on bio :) I bet you're so glad to be done..><
 
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DAT is fine. Improvement over your old one. GPA overall is good. Science is kind of low, 3.1. Apply early and a couple of schools. Definitely a chance.
 
nice scores! how was math destroyer by the way. Was it helpful with word problems cuz I'm still debating if I should buy the math. Thanks
 
notice she no longer has her picture up on display....because u guys were creeping her out!!!! lol
 
I don't see a problem for you getting to NYU. some of my friends got into NYU with scores similar to you. It all depends on your GPA. You will be fine.
BTW what happened to the pic? loool
 
Yeah.. I had 2006 world cup & WBC(baseball) when I was in high school 3rd year when I was studying for su-neung and now 2010 World cup huh.. lol. Thanks for your advice on bio :) I bet you're so glad to be done..><

YA some of the bio questions were just out of no where. Like not impossible to answer if you studied it but..just random area. Kaplan does NOT cover everything by far.
 
yeahhh i totally agree~
for bio...you'll get those random questions that are like WTH??? but you can get the correct answer if you have a good background and use logic~

ya...kinda sucks but what are you going to do? haha cross your fingures and hope u pick the right answer :p
 
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