- Joined
- Jul 28, 2009
- Messages
- 134
- Reaction score
- 2
Hello Hello,
This is my first actual post, but I've been browsing around here for quite some time and would like to say thank you to all other users! I definitely found a lot of the breakdowns/advice VERY useful. That being said, here's a little of my own:
First, the breakdown. dun DUN duunnn:
Perceptual Ability: 21 (92.2%ile)
Quantitative Reasoning: 18 (75.8%ile)
Reading Comprehension: 26 (99.1%ile)
Biology: 24 (98.7%ile)
Gen Chem: 27 (99.0%ile)
Organic Chem: 26 (98.1%ile)
Total Science: 26 (99.9%ile)
Academic Average: 24 (99.4%ile)
Practice Exam Scores:
Kaplan:
bio/gc/oc/pat/rc/qr
16/17/16/21/20/24
TopScore:
bio/gc/oc/pat/rc/qr
17/18/15/22/23/20
19/19/20/22/22/23
18/18/25/24/25/24
Achiever:
bio/gc/oc/pat/rc/qr
15/19/18/20/22/21
16/17/17/20/20/19
16/16/21/20/22/20
Overall, I'm very very happy! My day began with my getting very very lost on the way to the test center. It's about an hour from my house and usually I'm very good about making sure I know where things are (esp for something this big), but I thought the driving directions looked pretty simple. Which, they probably were, but I only had DAT on the brain.. so yeah learn frmo my mistake and MAKE SURE you know where it is, because it definitely threw my nerves. But once you get in the test, BE CALM. I pretended it was a practice exam... which sounds silly because it's such a big deal, but if you think about it like that ON test day, you might get worked up (I know I would...). Anyway, here is my take on everying:
Materials used/feelings toward each section:
PAT: KaplanBB, and TopScore and Achiever practice exams. I didn't purchase/use any supplemental programs or books other than those above.
I did better in my practice exams for this section, so I was a little surprised it wasn't higher because it seemed easy. However, the angles on the real DAT were more difficult than topscore and achiever. Everything else seemed very comparable.
QR: KaplanBB, STATs class notes, Destroyer (not math destroyer)
This section, I thought to be my strongest... like during practice exams I actually looked forward to this section. I think I was just surprised at the amount of word problems. I think where I went wrong was: I would read a question, and then think a little, but skip it bc it was a word problem. This cost me precious time. Decide beforehand, are you going to skip? or attempt?
RC:TopScore and Achiever practice exams
I used search and destroy. It worked pretty well with my passages. I got lucky and they were pretty straight forward. Advice: if it's a tone question: mark it and move on until you are more familiar with the passage.
Bio: KaplanBB, Freeman Biological Science textbook, supplemental anatomy textbook/notes from class, Destroyer, and Cliffs AP
This was much easier than Achiever. Much much easier. What helped me study most was making my own charts and diagrams and basically DRILLING all of the little memorization into my head. It's kind of a hit-or-miss because it's so random... and some of the things I focused most on didn't even appear on the test, but it could have, so you can never know too much, just keep delving deeper and deeper.
GC: PChem notes, KaplanBB, Atkin's Chemical Principles text, and Destroyer
Taking Pchem this spring and having that fresh in my mind helped IMMENSELY! But, other than that, I found destroyer really useful. Also, make sure you understand the concepts behind ALL calculations because for soem questions, it would seem like a calculation but if you knew the concept, you had the answer, and it saves time. So yeah, I guess just havign a deeper-than-surface-level understanding of it helps a lot and just sit there and memorize, but also thiiink about it. 🙂
OC: Orgo class notes, KaplanBB, ExamKrackers-Orgo, Destroyer (thank you, roadmaps!)
Destroyer, destroyer, destroyer. The roadmaps were so useful, go through and memorize them and quiz yourself DAILY. They dont' take to long to go through and it makes life a lot easier when you can recall that info on the exam. Also, when I was doing the problems in destroyer, I would always have a stack of notecards next to me and any time I was iffy or unfamiliar with a rxn, I made a notecard.. and then went through those a lot. That was (to me) a really easy way to drill the rxns into my head. Examkracker's for the MCAT had really neat flashcards, too. The text was nice for reviewing the little things (i didn't go through it that in depth) but I would say the best feature was the flashcards.
There sheh ehs. Let me know if you have any questions. And also, does anyone know if my QR score will have a big negative effect on me? or can I chillax?
THANKS EVERYONE AND GOOD LUCK TO THOSE WHO HAVE YET TO TAKE!!
This is my first actual post, but I've been browsing around here for quite some time and would like to say thank you to all other users! I definitely found a lot of the breakdowns/advice VERY useful. That being said, here's a little of my own:
First, the breakdown. dun DUN duunnn:
Perceptual Ability: 21 (92.2%ile)
Quantitative Reasoning: 18 (75.8%ile)
Reading Comprehension: 26 (99.1%ile)
Biology: 24 (98.7%ile)
Gen Chem: 27 (99.0%ile)
Organic Chem: 26 (98.1%ile)
Total Science: 26 (99.9%ile)
Academic Average: 24 (99.4%ile)
Practice Exam Scores:
Kaplan:
bio/gc/oc/pat/rc/qr
16/17/16/21/20/24
TopScore:
bio/gc/oc/pat/rc/qr
17/18/15/22/23/20
19/19/20/22/22/23
18/18/25/24/25/24
Achiever:
bio/gc/oc/pat/rc/qr
15/19/18/20/22/21
16/17/17/20/20/19
16/16/21/20/22/20
Overall, I'm very very happy! My day began with my getting very very lost on the way to the test center. It's about an hour from my house and usually I'm very good about making sure I know where things are (esp for something this big), but I thought the driving directions looked pretty simple. Which, they probably were, but I only had DAT on the brain.. so yeah learn frmo my mistake and MAKE SURE you know where it is, because it definitely threw my nerves. But once you get in the test, BE CALM. I pretended it was a practice exam... which sounds silly because it's such a big deal, but if you think about it like that ON test day, you might get worked up (I know I would...). Anyway, here is my take on everying:
Materials used/feelings toward each section:
PAT: KaplanBB, and TopScore and Achiever practice exams. I didn't purchase/use any supplemental programs or books other than those above.
I did better in my practice exams for this section, so I was a little surprised it wasn't higher because it seemed easy. However, the angles on the real DAT were more difficult than topscore and achiever. Everything else seemed very comparable.
QR: KaplanBB, STATs class notes, Destroyer (not math destroyer)
This section, I thought to be my strongest... like during practice exams I actually looked forward to this section. I think I was just surprised at the amount of word problems. I think where I went wrong was: I would read a question, and then think a little, but skip it bc it was a word problem. This cost me precious time. Decide beforehand, are you going to skip? or attempt?
RC:TopScore and Achiever practice exams
I used search and destroy. It worked pretty well with my passages. I got lucky and they were pretty straight forward. Advice: if it's a tone question: mark it and move on until you are more familiar with the passage.
Bio: KaplanBB, Freeman Biological Science textbook, supplemental anatomy textbook/notes from class, Destroyer, and Cliffs AP
This was much easier than Achiever. Much much easier. What helped me study most was making my own charts and diagrams and basically DRILLING all of the little memorization into my head. It's kind of a hit-or-miss because it's so random... and some of the things I focused most on didn't even appear on the test, but it could have, so you can never know too much, just keep delving deeper and deeper.
GC: PChem notes, KaplanBB, Atkin's Chemical Principles text, and Destroyer
Taking Pchem this spring and having that fresh in my mind helped IMMENSELY! But, other than that, I found destroyer really useful. Also, make sure you understand the concepts behind ALL calculations because for soem questions, it would seem like a calculation but if you knew the concept, you had the answer, and it saves time. So yeah, I guess just havign a deeper-than-surface-level understanding of it helps a lot and just sit there and memorize, but also thiiink about it. 🙂
OC: Orgo class notes, KaplanBB, ExamKrackers-Orgo, Destroyer (thank you, roadmaps!)
Destroyer, destroyer, destroyer. The roadmaps were so useful, go through and memorize them and quiz yourself DAILY. They dont' take to long to go through and it makes life a lot easier when you can recall that info on the exam. Also, when I was doing the problems in destroyer, I would always have a stack of notecards next to me and any time I was iffy or unfamiliar with a rxn, I made a notecard.. and then went through those a lot. That was (to me) a really easy way to drill the rxns into my head. Examkracker's for the MCAT had really neat flashcards, too. The text was nice for reviewing the little things (i didn't go through it that in depth) but I would say the best feature was the flashcards.
There sheh ehs. Let me know if you have any questions. And also, does anyone know if my QR score will have a big negative effect on me? or can I chillax?
THANKS EVERYONE AND GOOD LUCK TO THOSE WHO HAVE YET TO TAKE!!
