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I am a graduate student in Biology. I studied while taking a full course load, as well as working 4 days a week, so my schedule was pretty hectic. I studied for about 2 months, but maybe 1 or 2 hours a day if I was lucky.
Materials used: DAT Destroyer, CDP, Campbells Bio (reference), KaplanBB (only for math really) and Cliffs AP Biology.
Breakdown
Biology (22) – I thought most of the questions on the biology section were pretty straightforward. There were of course those oddball questions everyone is always fearful of. There was maybe one taxonomy question out of the 40 where it asked about something I had never really seen before. The other odd ball questions were application questions. Less straightforward, but definitely do-able. I read Cliffs AP Bio through a couple of times. Once I felt like I had most of the stuff down, I went onto the Destroyer Biology. Cliffs really builds a strong understanding of the basic material, and destroyer supplemented with some more difficult questions. There were definitely several questions that were EXTREMELY similar, almost verbatim from destroyer, and many others that were familiar. I think the key to getting the most out of the destroyer bio section is definitely to understand and know the questions, answers AND explanations. Any topic I was uncertain about I referenced back with Campbells. I would also like to say that there was one question I found to be in an unusual format from this section, although it was not very difficult. Basic format was as follows:
An apple is a fruit
An apple is a fruit that grows in the ground
A) Both statements are true
B) Both statements are false
C) The first statement is true, second false……. You get the idea
Wasn't hard, but caught me off guard.
Gen Chem (23) – Section was very straightforward. Most of the problems didn't need calculations and were set up in the answers. One or two actually involved some LIGHT math. Most of the other questions were pretty standard, no surprises. A lot of I felt one question was a little tricky, but definitely nothing too bad. I basically just used the destroyer here. Went through it several times and made sure I understood everything. Again I think if you really want to get your money's worth, you have to understand why the answer is right. Don't just know the right answer, it won't really help come test time. Destroyer is definitely harder, but if you can do that, DAT is much simpler. One more thing, know all your equations as far as gas laws, rate laws etc. – both calculations and theory.
Organic Chem (21) – So about 3 of the 30 questions I was shaky on. I probably got those wrong plus a silly error somewhere. Very basic in comparison to college level organic chemistry. A week ago I read someones post saying know the mechanisms. I did get a mechanism question, but it was not at all what I was expecting, in a good way. It was not difficult, and even if you had no idea what the reaction was, you could easily figure it out, almost like common sense. I had several application questions that were very basic. Roadmaps in destroyer definitely are something you should know come test day. It's guaranteed to bank you about 5 questions. Again, I think destroyer is the way to go, if you use it correctly. Know the roadmaps and know WHY and understand the reactions. Even the smallest blurb could pop up. (I had a question that seriously a small statement in the middle of an answer explanation that you probably wouldn't think is important). Also the spectroscopy question was pretty easy, no tricks involved.
Reading (20) – I didn't do anything for reading comprehension, I probably should have. I chose to really focus my time to the sciences. I'm not sure any preparation could help though, so no regrets. My strategy is always to just read the passage and answer questions. 2/3 passages were science related, and the 3rd was just boring as hell haha. The two science related passages contain stuff most people probably have SOME background with. The non science related one was packed with a lot of tone questions, which is where I probably lost most of my points
Math (16) – I am a pretty decent math student. I went through the KBB for a quick math review took the exams, and scored like around 22, so I didn't think I needed much more preparation. I barely looked at destroyer math because I was pretty confident. Mistake! I felt the KBB was way too easy comparatively to the DAT, and thus thought that Destroyer math was a little too hard. Questions from dat are much more similar to the destroyer, so that would probably have helped there.
PAT (17) – probably got every angle wrong. Did not practice much cause I felt angles really weren't going to improve. The TFE, and keyholes were very similar, about same difficulty. Really was not bad. Angles on the dat I thought were way harder, personally. Cube counting was easier, as well as most of the hole punches (some of the half holes). Because of my poor time management, had to quickly go through the pattern folding, which for the most part LOOKED easier, but I was short on time
Overall TS – 22 (98.4%)
AA – 20 (93.4%)
Hoping that helpful, please let me know if anyone has questions, but don't ask specific things you know I cant answer haha. Im hoping I don't need a retake for those 2 scores.
Materials used: DAT Destroyer, CDP, Campbells Bio (reference), KaplanBB (only for math really) and Cliffs AP Biology.
Breakdown
Biology (22) – I thought most of the questions on the biology section were pretty straightforward. There were of course those oddball questions everyone is always fearful of. There was maybe one taxonomy question out of the 40 where it asked about something I had never really seen before. The other odd ball questions were application questions. Less straightforward, but definitely do-able. I read Cliffs AP Bio through a couple of times. Once I felt like I had most of the stuff down, I went onto the Destroyer Biology. Cliffs really builds a strong understanding of the basic material, and destroyer supplemented with some more difficult questions. There were definitely several questions that were EXTREMELY similar, almost verbatim from destroyer, and many others that were familiar. I think the key to getting the most out of the destroyer bio section is definitely to understand and know the questions, answers AND explanations. Any topic I was uncertain about I referenced back with Campbells. I would also like to say that there was one question I found to be in an unusual format from this section, although it was not very difficult. Basic format was as follows:
An apple is a fruit
An apple is a fruit that grows in the ground
A) Both statements are true
B) Both statements are false
C) The first statement is true, second false……. You get the idea
Wasn't hard, but caught me off guard.
Gen Chem (23) – Section was very straightforward. Most of the problems didn't need calculations and were set up in the answers. One or two actually involved some LIGHT math. Most of the other questions were pretty standard, no surprises. A lot of I felt one question was a little tricky, but definitely nothing too bad. I basically just used the destroyer here. Went through it several times and made sure I understood everything. Again I think if you really want to get your money's worth, you have to understand why the answer is right. Don't just know the right answer, it won't really help come test time. Destroyer is definitely harder, but if you can do that, DAT is much simpler. One more thing, know all your equations as far as gas laws, rate laws etc. – both calculations and theory.
Organic Chem (21) – So about 3 of the 30 questions I was shaky on. I probably got those wrong plus a silly error somewhere. Very basic in comparison to college level organic chemistry. A week ago I read someones post saying know the mechanisms. I did get a mechanism question, but it was not at all what I was expecting, in a good way. It was not difficult, and even if you had no idea what the reaction was, you could easily figure it out, almost like common sense. I had several application questions that were very basic. Roadmaps in destroyer definitely are something you should know come test day. It's guaranteed to bank you about 5 questions. Again, I think destroyer is the way to go, if you use it correctly. Know the roadmaps and know WHY and understand the reactions. Even the smallest blurb could pop up. (I had a question that seriously a small statement in the middle of an answer explanation that you probably wouldn't think is important). Also the spectroscopy question was pretty easy, no tricks involved.
Reading (20) – I didn't do anything for reading comprehension, I probably should have. I chose to really focus my time to the sciences. I'm not sure any preparation could help though, so no regrets. My strategy is always to just read the passage and answer questions. 2/3 passages were science related, and the 3rd was just boring as hell haha. The two science related passages contain stuff most people probably have SOME background with. The non science related one was packed with a lot of tone questions, which is where I probably lost most of my points
Math (16) – I am a pretty decent math student. I went through the KBB for a quick math review took the exams, and scored like around 22, so I didn't think I needed much more preparation. I barely looked at destroyer math because I was pretty confident. Mistake! I felt the KBB was way too easy comparatively to the DAT, and thus thought that Destroyer math was a little too hard. Questions from dat are much more similar to the destroyer, so that would probably have helped there.
PAT (17) – probably got every angle wrong. Did not practice much cause I felt angles really weren't going to improve. The TFE, and keyholes were very similar, about same difficulty. Really was not bad. Angles on the dat I thought were way harder, personally. Cube counting was easier, as well as most of the hole punches (some of the half holes). Because of my poor time management, had to quickly go through the pattern folding, which for the most part LOOKED easier, but I was short on time
Overall TS – 22 (98.4%)
AA – 20 (93.4%)
Hoping that helpful, please let me know if anyone has questions, but don't ask specific things you know I cant answer haha. Im hoping I don't need a retake for those 2 scores.
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