I just finished my DAT and here are my scores:
PAT: 16
QR: 17
RC: 17
BIO: 21
GC: 19
Org: 22
TS: 20
AA: 19
Im really worried about my PAT scores and i think i may be on the cutting block in some of the schools im applying too. My sci GPA is 3.71 and my cum is 3.76. ECs are typical such as shadowing, research and volunteer. Im a CA resident and im applying to CA schools and many private schools-total 12 schools. Let me know what you all think. Thanks.
hi guys,
sorry i didn't do this earlier, i just had to let off some steam after finding out my PAT scores. I can't say I am completely disappointed about my scores because I did a lot better in the sciences than topscore and achiever. I don't have all my scores with me right now cuz laptop is at home but off the top of my head i got 17-18 bio, 16-18 gc, and 17-20 on oc. for pat i did all the crack pat tests and i was getting 18-22 average 19. For QR I started with 15, then towards the end i got 17-18 for RC I never had a score below 20! I will post exact scores later.
Originally i was supposed to take the test on the 5th but I rescheduled because I was not getting the scores i liked especially in the sciences. If anyone is having doubts about rescheduling and are worried about having a 'late application'- i would definitely recommend to reschedule given that you have the time and resources to study because if you are focused and determined you can bring your score up! so pushing it three more weeks won't hurt IMO.
I studied for almost two months, it took me around 3-4 weeks to finish material and i studied around 5 hours then. Towards the end I only had two practice tests left so I made sure to save those- I took one a week before and the other two days before. I bought destroyer two weeks before and I was able to go over it almost twice. for the last two weeks I averaged around 7 hours a day.
Now for the breakdown:
Bio: This is definitely a lot more straight forward than both TS and achiever. Know your basics and do not just memorize facts because therer are a couple application problems. Make sure to understand how things work and what would happen 'under different conditions'(i.e. understand blood flow/ circulation). I had a lot of evolution questions, one plant question..but of course it is different for everyone. i read destroyer an hour before and I saw two-three questions that were very similar!
GC: On my test there was a mix of calculations and conceptual, i would say 40% calc, but nothing too long like destroyer. I think destroyer helped reinforce a lot of concepts but it was def overkill on calculations.
OC: Very straight forward, i had reactions with 2-3 steps. i would say to know your reactions and i had a lot of 'which two compounds form this given compund' type of q's.
Freakin PAT: I thought this was a lot different than crack pat. the keyhole, angles, and holepunch were a lot harder. for holepunch the holes were so tiny so it threw me off. keyhole i couldn't focus on 'events' because all the answers looked similar and only differed by a slight curve. I just really don't know what happen I thought i would at least get an 18 though! this really bums me out.
RC: Like everyone has said there are a handful of 'tone questions'. I didn't really use search and destroy because of this. Don't get caught up in one question if you can't find the answer, mark it and go back if you can later. i am also a slow reader and i had two passages with very dense material, so that probably contributed to this score
QR: I think TS is comparable here. I had conversions so definitely look over those before the test. I had probabilities, one geometry, trig, and handful of word problems. I recommend using Barron's SAT book or any source that covers different types of word problems (i.e. mixtures, rate, interest...) and gives plenty of questions. practice is key in this section. also, timing I think i could have gotten a better score if only i had more time. there were just some that i never got to do. like every one mentioned, if you can't figure out how to do it right away mark it and go back to it later.
ok hope that helped, because I always enjoyed reading other user's breakdown. I want to thank everyone on this site because it definitely helped a lot, even if i didn't post as much just reading other people's questions and answers helped reinforce ideas. so thank you SDN!!! if you have any questions feel free to ask.
of course the big question that is bugging me SHOULD I RETAKE?? i have used up all the materials except Kaplan never got my hand on a practice test so if i did retake i could use those. but i am just really concerned about my PAT because I knowit is a section that is looked at individually. please any feedback, advice is appreciated. Thanks!!!
