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WHEW!! 😀 So I finished my DAT today (12-18-09) and I feel compelled to post a brief analysis about it to help those who are still studying for it. Just to give you guys some context, I work full time now, but I studied for about 2-3 hours, 4 days a week, for the last 3 months. Okay, let me jump into the analysis:
PAT = 23 (98.1)
QR = 22 (95.7)
RC = 24 (97.2)
BIO = 22 (95.7)
GCHEM = 27 (99.0)
ORGO = 30 (100.0)
Total Science = 26 (99.9)
Academic Average = 25 (99.9)
OVERALL: Take a deep breath, because the DAT was a lot easier 👍 than many of the practice exams that I took (see breakdowns below). A lot of SDN posts said TopScore would be the best indicator of DAT performance, but I scored 4 points higher (AA) on the real thing than I did on any of my TopScore exams. Its really not as bad as I anticipated. I bought Achiever because I figured I needed all the practice I could get, and it was worth it. You really cant use it as an indicator of DAT performance because its really tough I think my average AA was 19 on Achiever. But its a good study source. I used Kaplan BB, Destroyer, Cliffs AP Bio, PR AP Chem, CDP, Achiever and TopScore.
BIO: This section is pretty random (like what people have said), but actually not as random as everyone makes it seem. Its very doable, and even with the random questions, you can eliminate down to a few choices. There was a weird problem about crossing over, and I was surprised I didnt need to know the diff. types of organisms too much. Mine focused on genetics, origin of life, human development, evolution, some anatomy. The best sources were Cliffs AP, Destroyer and the Kaplan book.
GCHEM: This section is actually pretty simple; its a lot more basic than you would think. There were a lot of simple molarity/density/molecular formula questions. There are a few simple calculations, but to my surprise, even the problems that had calculations usually had all the components listed out. So basically, you rarely need to perform mental math! No surprises (i.e. no problem with different units to throw you off). Know vapor pressure, Lewis dot diagrams, periodic trends, rate laws the usual. Destroyer will definitely over-prepare you, of course its good. Kaplan BB is an adequate resource for this section, but also use Princeton Reviews AP Chem to supplement.
ORGO: Orgo was almost a joke compared to what I was expecting. There were no complicated reactions that I had been anticipating no Hoffman, Wolff-Kishner, Diels-alder, etc. However, the hardest reactions on it were Aldol synthesis and Wittig. Almost everything else was basic SN1, SN2, E1, E2, Williamson ether synthesis, Grignard. Know resonance and Lewis dot structures, as well as acidity relationships. Kaplan blue book is really good enough by itself. Destroyer can make you PRO!
PAT: All I have to say is CDP 👍!! May this be your primary tool. The DAT was definitely easier than CDP hole punch is a joke, but angles and keyholes are tricky. Still, CDP angles were harder than the DAT. Again, just practice again and again. Please dont get thrown off by the difficulty of Achiever PAT; that was just ridiculous. Make sure you do the Kaplan BB PAT section, because I think some questions on the DAT came straight from there
RC: The passages were actually MUCH easier than I thought they would be. Only did practice when I took the full-lengths. There were only a few tone/inference questions (maybe 3 or 4), and almost everything was straight out of the passage. 👍 A lot of people said the TopScore RC is much easier than the DAT, but I disagree. TopScore RC was easier, but not by much, especially since you can find most of the questions on the DAT word-for-word in the passage. I didnt really need to look in multiple sections of the passage to find the answer. Maybe I just got lucky today 🙂 ..
QR: Practice, practice, practice. TopScore is a very good indicator, and reflects the difficultly of the DAT. It was pretty straight-forward. I was a bit scared about what kinds of probability questions I would face, but the ones I got were all easy. I didnt have to use that dreaded combination/permutation formula. But .there was one crazy question about an ellipse and its foci no idea. I just got my practice from the 3 TS exams, 3 Achiever exams and the 2 Kaplan ones. Destroyer is good too, if you have time. There were a few interest problems; they love that $$$$.
If you read this far, thats great haha. But basically, I want to encourage those of you that are still studying to keep doing what youre doing, because its really not that bad! Dont get discouraged by how youre doing on Destroyer/Achiever because the real DAT is much easier. I got a lot of insight from the forum and I just want to give a little back. And remember, the difference between try and triumph is just a little umph. 😎 GOOD LUCK!!!
PAT = 23 (98.1)
QR = 22 (95.7)
RC = 24 (97.2)
BIO = 22 (95.7)
GCHEM = 27 (99.0)
ORGO = 30 (100.0)
Total Science = 26 (99.9)
Academic Average = 25 (99.9)
OVERALL: Take a deep breath, because the DAT was a lot easier 👍 than many of the practice exams that I took (see breakdowns below). A lot of SDN posts said TopScore would be the best indicator of DAT performance, but I scored 4 points higher (AA) on the real thing than I did on any of my TopScore exams. Its really not as bad as I anticipated. I bought Achiever because I figured I needed all the practice I could get, and it was worth it. You really cant use it as an indicator of DAT performance because its really tough I think my average AA was 19 on Achiever. But its a good study source. I used Kaplan BB, Destroyer, Cliffs AP Bio, PR AP Chem, CDP, Achiever and TopScore.
BIO: This section is pretty random (like what people have said), but actually not as random as everyone makes it seem. Its very doable, and even with the random questions, you can eliminate down to a few choices. There was a weird problem about crossing over, and I was surprised I didnt need to know the diff. types of organisms too much. Mine focused on genetics, origin of life, human development, evolution, some anatomy. The best sources were Cliffs AP, Destroyer and the Kaplan book.
GCHEM: This section is actually pretty simple; its a lot more basic than you would think. There were a lot of simple molarity/density/molecular formula questions. There are a few simple calculations, but to my surprise, even the problems that had calculations usually had all the components listed out. So basically, you rarely need to perform mental math! No surprises (i.e. no problem with different units to throw you off). Know vapor pressure, Lewis dot diagrams, periodic trends, rate laws the usual. Destroyer will definitely over-prepare you, of course its good. Kaplan BB is an adequate resource for this section, but also use Princeton Reviews AP Chem to supplement.
ORGO: Orgo was almost a joke compared to what I was expecting. There were no complicated reactions that I had been anticipating no Hoffman, Wolff-Kishner, Diels-alder, etc. However, the hardest reactions on it were Aldol synthesis and Wittig. Almost everything else was basic SN1, SN2, E1, E2, Williamson ether synthesis, Grignard. Know resonance and Lewis dot structures, as well as acidity relationships. Kaplan blue book is really good enough by itself. Destroyer can make you PRO!
PAT: All I have to say is CDP 👍!! May this be your primary tool. The DAT was definitely easier than CDP hole punch is a joke, but angles and keyholes are tricky. Still, CDP angles were harder than the DAT. Again, just practice again and again. Please dont get thrown off by the difficulty of Achiever PAT; that was just ridiculous. Make sure you do the Kaplan BB PAT section, because I think some questions on the DAT came straight from there
RC: The passages were actually MUCH easier than I thought they would be. Only did practice when I took the full-lengths. There were only a few tone/inference questions (maybe 3 or 4), and almost everything was straight out of the passage. 👍 A lot of people said the TopScore RC is much easier than the DAT, but I disagree. TopScore RC was easier, but not by much, especially since you can find most of the questions on the DAT word-for-word in the passage. I didnt really need to look in multiple sections of the passage to find the answer. Maybe I just got lucky today 🙂 ..
QR: Practice, practice, practice. TopScore is a very good indicator, and reflects the difficultly of the DAT. It was pretty straight-forward. I was a bit scared about what kinds of probability questions I would face, but the ones I got were all easy. I didnt have to use that dreaded combination/permutation formula. But .there was one crazy question about an ellipse and its foci no idea. I just got my practice from the 3 TS exams, 3 Achiever exams and the 2 Kaplan ones. Destroyer is good too, if you have time. There were a few interest problems; they love that $$$$.
If you read this far, thats great haha. But basically, I want to encourage those of you that are still studying to keep doing what youre doing, because its really not that bad! Dont get discouraged by how youre doing on Destroyer/Achiever because the real DAT is much easier. I got a lot of insight from the forum and I just want to give a little back. And remember, the difference between try and triumph is just a little umph. 😎 GOOD LUCK!!!
