- Joined
- Jun 7, 2012
- Messages
- 81
- Reaction score
- 22
Hey guys!
I've been using these forums as a guide to help me study, and I don't know where I would be without the advice and breakdowns I've found on here haha. I've never posted on here before though, so this one is my first. Hopefully someone finds it helpful!
Scores:
PAT 22 (90.9)
QR 24 (98.4)
RC 25 (97.2)
BIO 23 (97.4)
GC 28 (99.0)
OC 24 (94.9)
TS 25 (99.3)
AA 25 (99.8)
And here are my ramblings for each section....
PAT: I used KBB to familiarize myself with the question types and then did each of the 10 CDP tests twice... on which I consistently got 25/26s the second time around. It's quite a bit of extra work but I found it rather helpful. The real thing was definitely so much harder. I was panicking throughout half of the PAT section because of the keyhole and TFE questions. Pattern folding and hole punching were slightly harder than CDP. Angles were about the same difficulty. Cube counting was easier.
QR: Math Destroyer is the best resource, hands down! I averaged a 37/40 on the practice tests. A day before the test, I went back and looked over the questions I got wrong. The real thing is very similar. I've always considered math to be my weak point so I have no complaints about my score on this section.
RC: Oddly enough, I've always thought RC was my best section since it comes somewhat naturally for me (I guess the insane amount of reading I did when I was younger helped haha). I don't think you can really "study" for this section, but I took a few qVault tests just for the heck of it and averaged a 46/50.
BIO: I'm a bio major, and sometimes I wonder why, because bio is NOT my strong point. I suck at memorizing things, and I kept feeling like it was "remember one thing, forget another" as I was studying. I went over the Destroyer bio section twice, read through Cliffs AP Bio, went over lecture ppts from my bio class twice, read outlines for each chapter of my bio book, and did all the qVault bio tests (averaged a 34/40). I made sure I understood each question I got wrong and looked up stuff I didn't know (google and wikipedia are your friends!). In retrospect, this was most likely overkill but I didn't want to take my chances haha. The real test was easier than any of the practice tests I took, except for the random/unexpected questions that totally caught me off guard, which is probably why I got a 23...
GC: I watched Chad's videos and then did Destroyer twice. During my freshman year of college, I took a general chemistry class for engineers instead of bio majors (was not a smart thing to do). I guess this class plus the study materials helped me alot. Chad's videos are the best! Destroyer is overkill but necessary if you want to do well. I don't even remember much about the real test because I kind of breezed through it, except for a few questions that I was unsure on.
OC: I watched Chad's videos and went through Destroyer twice, making sure I was familiar with all the reactions. The roadmaps are extremely helpful! Once again, Destroyer is overkill because there's all sorts of reactions that didn't appear anywhere on my test, like intramolecular aldol condensation, Baeyer-Villiger reaction, etc. I would say that understanding concepts is almost as important as memorizing the reactions, if not more. I'm pretty sure all the questions I got wrong were conceptual ones, not the questions involving reactions.
Concluding thoughts:
I was pretty surprised with my scores because I was hoping for 21-22s across the board. Plus, I felt pretty panicky after the PAT section because I was sure I had scored under a 20. I'm not a good test taker at all, and like I said earlier, I'm not good at memorizing things. The night before the test, I was still cramming like crazy. The morning before the test, my mentality was totally "prepare for the worst, hope for the best." When I saw my score report, I bounced out of the room grinning like an idiot. Hooray for no retake!! I do wish I had done a little better on the PAT section, but really, I have no complaints. It looks like all the hours I poured into studying paid off. 🙂 I know this breakdown isn't super detailed, so I'd be more than happy to answer any questions or help out any way I can!
I've been using these forums as a guide to help me study, and I don't know where I would be without the advice and breakdowns I've found on here haha. I've never posted on here before though, so this one is my first. Hopefully someone finds it helpful!
Scores:
PAT 22 (90.9)
QR 24 (98.4)
RC 25 (97.2)
BIO 23 (97.4)
GC 28 (99.0)
OC 24 (94.9)
TS 25 (99.3)
AA 25 (99.8)
And here are my ramblings for each section....
PAT: I used KBB to familiarize myself with the question types and then did each of the 10 CDP tests twice... on which I consistently got 25/26s the second time around. It's quite a bit of extra work but I found it rather helpful. The real thing was definitely so much harder. I was panicking throughout half of the PAT section because of the keyhole and TFE questions. Pattern folding and hole punching were slightly harder than CDP. Angles were about the same difficulty. Cube counting was easier.
QR: Math Destroyer is the best resource, hands down! I averaged a 37/40 on the practice tests. A day before the test, I went back and looked over the questions I got wrong. The real thing is very similar. I've always considered math to be my weak point so I have no complaints about my score on this section.
RC: Oddly enough, I've always thought RC was my best section since it comes somewhat naturally for me (I guess the insane amount of reading I did when I was younger helped haha). I don't think you can really "study" for this section, but I took a few qVault tests just for the heck of it and averaged a 46/50.
BIO: I'm a bio major, and sometimes I wonder why, because bio is NOT my strong point. I suck at memorizing things, and I kept feeling like it was "remember one thing, forget another" as I was studying. I went over the Destroyer bio section twice, read through Cliffs AP Bio, went over lecture ppts from my bio class twice, read outlines for each chapter of my bio book, and did all the qVault bio tests (averaged a 34/40). I made sure I understood each question I got wrong and looked up stuff I didn't know (google and wikipedia are your friends!). In retrospect, this was most likely overkill but I didn't want to take my chances haha. The real test was easier than any of the practice tests I took, except for the random/unexpected questions that totally caught me off guard, which is probably why I got a 23...
GC: I watched Chad's videos and then did Destroyer twice. During my freshman year of college, I took a general chemistry class for engineers instead of bio majors (was not a smart thing to do). I guess this class plus the study materials helped me alot. Chad's videos are the best! Destroyer is overkill but necessary if you want to do well. I don't even remember much about the real test because I kind of breezed through it, except for a few questions that I was unsure on.
OC: I watched Chad's videos and went through Destroyer twice, making sure I was familiar with all the reactions. The roadmaps are extremely helpful! Once again, Destroyer is overkill because there's all sorts of reactions that didn't appear anywhere on my test, like intramolecular aldol condensation, Baeyer-Villiger reaction, etc. I would say that understanding concepts is almost as important as memorizing the reactions, if not more. I'm pretty sure all the questions I got wrong were conceptual ones, not the questions involving reactions.
Concluding thoughts:
I was pretty surprised with my scores because I was hoping for 21-22s across the board. Plus, I felt pretty panicky after the PAT section because I was sure I had scored under a 20. I'm not a good test taker at all, and like I said earlier, I'm not good at memorizing things. The night before the test, I was still cramming like crazy. The morning before the test, my mentality was totally "prepare for the worst, hope for the best." When I saw my score report, I bounced out of the room grinning like an idiot. Hooray for no retake!! I do wish I had done a little better on the PAT section, but really, I have no complaints. It looks like all the hours I poured into studying paid off. 🙂 I know this breakdown isn't super detailed, so I'd be more than happy to answer any questions or help out any way I can!
