DAT done 8/11, finally I can get my life back!

[jigabodo]

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Here are my scores:
PA: 25
QR: 22
RC: 22
BIO: 22
GC: 23
OC: 29
TS: 23
AA: 24

I've got a couple questions though...how exactly do they avg these things? My TS is 23, but it does not correspond to the average of my bio, chem and ochem. Same thing goes with my AA.

I have a 3.3 overall, 3.4 sci, and 3.6 BCP as a cell bio major from UC Davis. I am an international student from Taiwan, and I've applied mostly to private to offset the fact that I have no state schools to fall back on and also because privates tend not to care about where you are from.

Here is what I think about the test:
Bio: A lot of random questions. More than 50% of the questions were tested on something not from the Kaplan review notes. Luckily I could answer some of those just based off memory from classes I've taken. I got a crazy slide question that I did not even know where to start.

GC: Also a bit random, but not as bad as bio. Just do a lot of practice and you should be fine. Like others said, minimal calc. and quite conceptual.

OC: I did not see one single reaction not from Kaplan review note, so if you know that like the back of your hand you will be good to go.

PAT: Like many have said, Achiever really nailed it, with the exception of angle ranking. The pattern folding/TFE is a joke compared to Achiever PAT, but those are some hardest angle rankings I've seen in my life.

RC: As an international student, I am really surprised that I scored this high. I normally scored around 18-20 on practices. I guess I was quite lucky because I was actually familiar with the subjects being tested on.

QR: This one was horrible...I had 4 straight trig questions in a row and that really, really threw me off because it was my weakest. It was def. not easy and harder than both Achiever and Topscore. Actually, I feel that the difficulty was actually comparable to that of Kaplan QR subject tests, maybe a little bit easier.

I studied for about 8 weeks, 6-8 hrs a day with occasional break days where I do nothing.


I'll stay around for the next 2 days, please feel free to ask me any questions.

 

[drteeth]

wow! Those scores are insane! Congrats!!!🙂

What strategy did you use for RC? Do you think its possible to just read the questions and find the answers or did you use a different method?

Thanks for your input!

 

[phraud]

Wow, those are amazing scores! I think I kind of hate you now. Good luck with applying.

 

[jigabodo]

wow! Those scores are insane! Congrats!!!🙂

What strategy did you use for RC? Do you think its possible to just read the questions and find the answers or did you use a different method?

Thanks for your input!

When I was doing practice for RC, at first I would just write down key words for individual paragraphs and try to find answers directly. But if I had done that on the actual DAT passages I pbb would have scored a lot lower. There are a lot of inference and tone questions, so I actually read and tried to understand the passages before proceeding to answer questions.

 

[vhh007]

fantastic scores! you will be able to choose which school you would like to attend for sure. great job!

 

[sacjumpman]

Wow, those are amazing scores! I think I kind of hate you now. Good luck with applying.

lmao. Me too. 😉

 

[Mstoothlady2012]

damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

 

[Ocean5]

May I ask how long did you study for DAT?

 

[futuredentist07]

Hey BUD!

you killed the dats!! amazing scores!! good luck with the rest of the procedure. What sources did you use to study from? please share your opinion.

 

[bennijai]

thats some really nice scores. i have my dat on aug 13 and now that u say only 50% of kaplans bio was on it im a bit worried since i used kaplan as a review...oh boy...

 

[jigabodo]

Hey BUD!

you killed the dats!! amazing scores!! good luck with the rest of the procedure. What sources did you use to study from? please share your opinion.

I took the Kaplan course and utilized all their sources (midterms, finals, workshops, review notes, flashcards, etc). I also used Topscore and Achiever. I thought Kaplan did a good job covering the ochem, gchem, QR, and RC. The actual DAT's ochem and gchem are easier than Kaplan midterms. For PAT, Achiever is definitely the best because it makes the actual PAT look a lot easier. If you can do achiever, you're pretty set. Truthfully, I don't know how to prepare for bio because there are so many questions they can ask and not all is covered in any one practice test or review notes, so I suggest to use as many sources for bio as possible. Topscore was okay, good practice if you have the time.

 

[jigabodo]

thats some really nice scores. i have my dat on aug 13 and now that u say only 50% of kaplans bio was on it im a bit worried since i used kaplan as a review...oh boy...

Keep in mind that we all have different tests, so maybe your bio section will have a lot more from Kaplan.

 

[jigabodo]

May I ask how long did you study for DAT?

I studied about 7-8 weeks, about 6-8 hours a day.

 

[jimmy1fernan]

damn those are insane scores. you definitely killed it. there is not doubt that you can go to any school you want to. with those scores they will literly send you a cab at your house to pick you up to get the interviews.
awesome job. but tell me, you didnt do destroyer?

 

[jigabodo]

damn those are insane scores. you definitely killed it. there is not doubt that you can go to any school you want to. with those scores they will literly send you a cab at your house to pick you up to get the interviews.
awesome job. but tell me, you didnt do destroyer?

I did not use Destroyer because I didnt have the time. I spent first 3 weeks taking notes and reading the Kaplan review notes very, very thouroughly, then the next 2-3 weeks doing all the workshops, flashcards and subjects tests. For the last 2 weeks, I would do one practice test a day, 3 from TS, 3 from Achiever, and 4 or 5 provided by the Kaplan course. The last couple days before the test I also reviewed the Kaplan review notes again.

When I found out about destroyer, it was already like 2 weeks before the test and I already have a pretty unflexible schedule...had I known about it earlier I would most def. use it since it seems like a really nice test prep.

 

[smarterray]

Nice scores. I go to UCD too. Taking mine Friday the 17th.

Did you actually have to know the names of all the gas laws? Like, for example, were there questions like "Charles' Law describes..."?

 

[jigabodo]

Nice scores. I go to UCD too. Taking mine Friday the 17th.

Did you actually have to know the names of all the gas laws? Like, for example, were there questions like "Charles' Law describes..."?

I didnt see anything of that nature...I would say its more about understanding the concepts rather than simply memorize the names specific laws. But I could be wrong, since most people have different questions.

 

[Mstoothlady2012]

I did not use Destroyer because I didnt have the time. I spent first 3 weeks taking notes and reading the Kaplan review notes very, very thouroughly, then the next 2-3 weeks doing all the workshops, flashcards and subjects tests. For the last 2 weeks, I would do one practice test a day, 3 from TS, 3 from Achiever, and 4 or 5 provided by the Kaplan course. The last couple days before the test I also reviewed the Kaplan review notes again.

When I found out about destroyer, it was already like 2 weeks before the test and I already have a pretty unflexible schedule...had I known about it earlier I would most def. use it since it seems like a really nice test prep.

so how did you do in topscore & achiever tests? was it in same range? higher or lower? hope you dont mind me asking....

 

[Farah_7]

Very nice scores, congratulations!

 

[jigabodo]

so how did you do in topscore & achiever tests? was it in same range? higher or lower? hope you dont mind me asking....

I dont have the stats on this computer so I can only tell you based off memory.

I got around 20-21 AA, 21-23 PAT on Topscore.
Achiever was pretty darn difficult, I think I got around 18-20 for AA, and 17-19 for PAT.
On the Kaplan midterms, I got a 21/28 and a 23/21.
So in general, I guess I scored a lot better than the practices.

On the actual DAT...
Bio was harder than TS and comparable to the 2nd test of Achiever with a lot of random questions, I guess I was a little bit lucky because I marked quite some problems that I was unsure of and still got a 22.

G chem and O chem were both easier than Achiever/TS and beware of occasional curve balls they can throw at ya.

PAT is probably around Topscore level, maybe a little harder with the exception of angles, which were freaking crazy. I thought Achiever helped a ton and believed that was what helped me the most in PAT.

QR was pretty difficult, I would say its just a tad easier than Kaplan subject tests, harder than both Achiever/TS.

Hope this helps. Please feel free to ask me more questions. SDN had helped me a lot. 2 yrs ago when I had a 2.9 and felt hopeless, you guys were there to tell me what to do. I also wouldnt have scored like this without knowing about all the excellent test prep materials from SDN.

 

[Jo07]

In the chem sections, are there a lot of questions that use the compound name or do they usually show the molecule that will be in the reaction?

Thanks!

 

[jigabodo]

In the chem sections, are there a lot of questions that use the compound name or do they usually show the molecule that will be in the reaction?

Thanks!

Both, but there are def. more questions with the compound name. For example, (just something I made up, not an actual question from DAT) instead of drawing out the actual structures of molecules, they would ask you something like "what would happen if you react t-butoxide with 2-iodopentane?"

Also, some negative/minus signs are insane to see, almost look like they are non-existant, but that's mostly just for QR.

Hope it helps!

 

[Mstoothlady2012]

thanks 🙂