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- Dec 28, 2008
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I took my DATs yesterday and it's really not as intimidating as I once thought. There were certain questions that had my heart beating fast, but overall I think it's a very reasonable exam.
PAT 22
QR 18
RC 20
BIO 24
GC 22
OC 23
TS 23
AA 21
My TopScore AAs were 19/20/20 , so it was pretty close to my real performance.
PAT (22): I used CDP, it's all you really need. I purchased the ace edition and did a practice test every 3-4 days for several weeks leading up to my exam. I didn't think any section of the PAT was harder than CDP (except for angles and pattern folding), it was just surprising to see objects out of the trend of CDP.
[Key Holes]: About the same difficulty as CDP. I had 1 or 2 questions where the object wasn't clear because the image was pixelated, but those questions were easy to solve.
[TFE]: I can't really rate the difficulty of this section because it depends how you solve TFE - by line counting or visualizing. I found that line counting only narrowed the answer choices, but in order to select the correct answer, I had to visualize the object. I always practiced by visualizing so I didn't think this section was too bad.
[Angles]: Insane. No one likes angles but just go with your gut feeling. I thought the angles were substantially harder than CDP only because I had a good amount of angles greater than 90 degrees. I was never good at those so I'm pretty sure I messed up here.
[Hole Punching]: Cake. If you can do CDP you can do anything. It took me under 5 minutes to complete this section. Nothing tricky, very straight foward.
[Cube Counting]: Cake. There was a combination of 2 or 3 questions per image so be attentive to which image the question is referring to. CDP consistently asked 3 questions per image and I was conditioned to expect the same trend on the real DAT.
[Pattern Folding]: Much harder than CDP and VERY VERY similar to Topscore. I don't have much advice for this part because I was never good at it.
QR (17): I used Math Destroyer but only did 4 of the 11 tests. I'm not very good at math so I wasn't aspiring for a high score. If you study off Math Destroyer, I'm very confident that you'll perform well on the real DAT as the questions are very similar. Time wasn't an issue for me since I guessed on 10-15 questions and moved on without hesitation
RC (20): I used CDR (5 version test) and I'm glad I used it because I had a passage that asked numerous inference and tone questions. The other 2 passages were really straight forward and SnD will do the trick. Time wasn't an issue here, I usually make an effort to finish 1 passage within 15 mins, allowing me 15 minutes at the end to review the passages again.
BIO (24): I used AP Cliffs, and KBB. I studied more extensively from AP Cliffs and I think it's all you really need. Also, big thanks to Mashinka for posting the Campbell's Biology notes. I looked over them the day before my exam and found it very helpful for 1-2 questions that I may not have answered correctly otherwise. This section was seriously not too detailed and I felt that the test makers did a fair job in asking diverse questions. I avoided destroyer bio since it's beyond the scope of the DATs and only made me feel less prepared.
GC (22): Chad's videos are all you really need. I'm really curious what questions I missed because I didn't struggle with any of it. The concepts that they test aren't surprising and are very straight forward. I also used destroyer and although it isn't a must-have study material, it'll make you feel more confident and prepared going into the exam. The combination of Chad's vids and destroyer are all you really need.
OC (23): I used my notes from my orgo classes, KBB and destroyer. If you know your roadmaps from destroyer, you'll have no difficulty solving the reactions here. This section is by far the fairest section of the sciences to score a 30 on and I finished this section a little over 10 minutes.
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I didn't experience any time-constraints and finished every section about 10-15 minutes early. During the 15 minute tutorial, I relaxed and just chewed my gum (I heard chewing stimulates your brain? Not sure if it's true but I do it anyways lol). If you finish early, don't rush to the next section. Use that extra time to review your questions, write formulas for math, or just relax. You've studied so hard and the last thing you want to do is wear yourself out and rush into the next section with a frazzled mind.
I'm usually not a nervous test taker but I was feeling too calm on my drive to the prometrics center so I blasted my music and got all hyphy in my car while people shared awkward stares with me. Do something that will make you feel excited to rock the exam.
For those who are about to take the DATs and are wondering what I did the week of my exam - I did a ton of problems. I went over destroyer GC and OC about 3 times total and reviewed which problems I got right, and which ones I got wrong. This took me like 3 days. The following 2 days, I passively read through all my notes because I didn't want to overwork myself. And the final 2 days before my exam, I went over all the problems that I recently got wrong on destroyer and reviewed a pile of notes I made from topscore questions that I got wrong. It was difficult to study and I had major migraines at the end of every day, but I didn't want to retake this exam so I hammered as many concepts no matter how much it sucked. But the best way to study for this exam, like many before me have stated, is to do well on your classes, this is the best way to ace your class and ace this exam.
Overall, I'm satisfied with my score, but like everyone else, I wish I scored higher. This exam is not that bad so don't feel intimidated. You've studied too hard to let this single exam intimidate you. It's a long journey but will pay off in the end. Keep studying hard and good luck on the exam!
If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask!
PAT 22
QR 18
RC 20
BIO 24
GC 22
OC 23
TS 23
AA 21
My TopScore AAs were 19/20/20 , so it was pretty close to my real performance.
PAT (22): I used CDP, it's all you really need. I purchased the ace edition and did a practice test every 3-4 days for several weeks leading up to my exam. I didn't think any section of the PAT was harder than CDP (except for angles and pattern folding), it was just surprising to see objects out of the trend of CDP.
[Key Holes]: About the same difficulty as CDP. I had 1 or 2 questions where the object wasn't clear because the image was pixelated, but those questions were easy to solve.
[TFE]: I can't really rate the difficulty of this section because it depends how you solve TFE - by line counting or visualizing. I found that line counting only narrowed the answer choices, but in order to select the correct answer, I had to visualize the object. I always practiced by visualizing so I didn't think this section was too bad.
[Angles]: Insane. No one likes angles but just go with your gut feeling. I thought the angles were substantially harder than CDP only because I had a good amount of angles greater than 90 degrees. I was never good at those so I'm pretty sure I messed up here.
[Hole Punching]: Cake. If you can do CDP you can do anything. It took me under 5 minutes to complete this section. Nothing tricky, very straight foward.
[Cube Counting]: Cake. There was a combination of 2 or 3 questions per image so be attentive to which image the question is referring to. CDP consistently asked 3 questions per image and I was conditioned to expect the same trend on the real DAT.
[Pattern Folding]: Much harder than CDP and VERY VERY similar to Topscore. I don't have much advice for this part because I was never good at it.
QR (17): I used Math Destroyer but only did 4 of the 11 tests. I'm not very good at math so I wasn't aspiring for a high score. If you study off Math Destroyer, I'm very confident that you'll perform well on the real DAT as the questions are very similar. Time wasn't an issue for me since I guessed on 10-15 questions and moved on without hesitation
RC (20): I used CDR (5 version test) and I'm glad I used it because I had a passage that asked numerous inference and tone questions. The other 2 passages were really straight forward and SnD will do the trick. Time wasn't an issue here, I usually make an effort to finish 1 passage within 15 mins, allowing me 15 minutes at the end to review the passages again.
BIO (24): I used AP Cliffs, and KBB. I studied more extensively from AP Cliffs and I think it's all you really need. Also, big thanks to Mashinka for posting the Campbell's Biology notes. I looked over them the day before my exam and found it very helpful for 1-2 questions that I may not have answered correctly otherwise. This section was seriously not too detailed and I felt that the test makers did a fair job in asking diverse questions. I avoided destroyer bio since it's beyond the scope of the DATs and only made me feel less prepared.
GC (22): Chad's videos are all you really need. I'm really curious what questions I missed because I didn't struggle with any of it. The concepts that they test aren't surprising and are very straight forward. I also used destroyer and although it isn't a must-have study material, it'll make you feel more confident and prepared going into the exam. The combination of Chad's vids and destroyer are all you really need.
OC (23): I used my notes from my orgo classes, KBB and destroyer. If you know your roadmaps from destroyer, you'll have no difficulty solving the reactions here. This section is by far the fairest section of the sciences to score a 30 on and I finished this section a little over 10 minutes.
-------------------
I didn't experience any time-constraints and finished every section about 10-15 minutes early. During the 15 minute tutorial, I relaxed and just chewed my gum (I heard chewing stimulates your brain? Not sure if it's true but I do it anyways lol). If you finish early, don't rush to the next section. Use that extra time to review your questions, write formulas for math, or just relax. You've studied so hard and the last thing you want to do is wear yourself out and rush into the next section with a frazzled mind.
I'm usually not a nervous test taker but I was feeling too calm on my drive to the prometrics center so I blasted my music and got all hyphy in my car while people shared awkward stares with me. Do something that will make you feel excited to rock the exam.
For those who are about to take the DATs and are wondering what I did the week of my exam - I did a ton of problems. I went over destroyer GC and OC about 3 times total and reviewed which problems I got right, and which ones I got wrong. This took me like 3 days. The following 2 days, I passively read through all my notes because I didn't want to overwork myself. And the final 2 days before my exam, I went over all the problems that I recently got wrong on destroyer and reviewed a pile of notes I made from topscore questions that I got wrong. It was difficult to study and I had major migraines at the end of every day, but I didn't want to retake this exam so I hammered as many concepts no matter how much it sucked. But the best way to study for this exam, like many before me have stated, is to do well on your classes, this is the best way to ace your class and ace this exam.
Overall, I'm satisfied with my score, but like everyone else, I wish I scored higher. This exam is not that bad so don't feel intimidated. You've studied too hard to let this single exam intimidate you. It's a long journey but will pay off in the end. Keep studying hard and good luck on the exam!
If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask!
