- Joined
- Jul 12, 2010
- Messages
- 113
- Reaction score
- 1
Hello all,
Let me just say how great it feels to be done (sort of feels like this DINO STOMP). For all you studying hours a day... don't worry, it will all be worth it!
I'm writing this in thanks of SDN. I only discovered this site a month and a half ago, and since then I've been on here non-stop... probably read every breakdown posted since then, and I know personally that they helped me a lot, so here is mine.
The Scores
PAT - 20 (85.4%)
QR - 27 (99.1%)
RC - 21 (84.5%)
BIO - 23 (98.0%)
GC - 26 (98.4%)
OC - 26 (98.1%)
TS - 25 (99.6%)
AA - 25 (99.9%) 😀
The Breakdown
Obviously, I am very happy with my scores. Very, very happy. Still in disbelief of the AA.
PAT
I only used CDP to prepare for the PAT. On the whole, I think it did a pretty good job. I learnt some strategies from the Wicked Sick PAT Tutorial (a must see), but you really need to practice this stuff to get the hang of it. I thought that on the real DAT keyholes were easier, TFE was on par (a couple of tricky ones though), angles were about the same, hole punching was a joke (except for one, which was impossible), cube counting was slightly easier (less cubes), and I thought pattern folding was significantly harder.
The problem with pattern folding was that CDP prepared me really really well for shading questions. Unfortunately, there were only a couple of them on the actual DAT. Most of them were structural. I'm not talking about choose-the-overly-obvious-structure in CDP- they were a lot harder and the differences in the answer choices were more subtle. Check out the practice test from ADA to know what I'm talking about.
Angle ranking and pattern folding probably did me in here. I thought that I had a good angles strategy, but I never ended up improving, and it was always my weakest section in CDP (eg. I would get 7 angles wrong and one wrong from all the other sections combined). To tell the truth I was a bit disappointed with my score on the PAT, as I was averaging 22/23 on CDP.
Here were my scores on CDP:
19/20/20/22/25/23/23/22/22/(got aggravated with angles and never took the last one)
Reading Comprehension
I used CDR to prepare for this. My passages were cAMP, Aspirin, and the Piano. When I was preparing with CDR, I used Vicviper's strategy, and I thought it worked pretty well. I used the strategy on the test, but the actual DAT works differently than CDR (the passage always scrolls up when you move to a new question), so it might not have been as effective, but I still think it was pretty good. Most of the questions could be answered with search and destroy. The piano passage was significantly harder than the first two. I was actually hoping for the piano passage, since I play instruments and took a musical instrument design class. However, even with that knowledge the passage was still pretty hard (and I regretted hoping for it after the fact). There were a couple of tone questions (pun intended) thrown in throughout the section, but most were S&D. I consider myself an OK reader, and had enough time to finish the whole section, but apparently I got a bunch of Q's wrong. Then again, I always thought I did better on the CDR than what my scores turned out to be. I thought CDR was pretty good on the whole for preparing for this section, but there were a couple of times where I was really confused by the answer they gave, and a couple of times that I knew they were dead wrong.
Anyway, here were my CDR scores:
21/23/21/22/20
Bio
Like I said, I have only taken the first semester of Bio. Although I think Bio is fascinating, I really hate studying for it, and some of the topics and I do not get along so well. If you have not heard of Anki, do a search on SDN- one breakdown includes how to use it really well (here it is: Anki). I freakin loved Anki. I reviewed everything important from the notes and the Destroyer, in flash card form with Anki, multiple times. Before the DAT I knew the Destroyer cold, and I attribute my score largely to it. Anything that sounded really foreign I looked up on Wikipedia- it helps to have a concept and picture behind this stuff, it helps it stay. I went through the Destroyer by itself 3 times. For this deck in Anki I think I had around 425 cards. Some questions were a little random, but I'm very happy with this score- I was hoping for around a 20.
General Chemistry
So I am a Biochem major, I just haven't learned this stuff in a while, like I said, since AP Chem. A lot of stuff comes up tangentially in other Chem classes, but the bulk of it I had to learn fresh. I went through the Destroyer 2.5 times for this section. Anything that I didn't know from the Destroyer I would practice, and any concepts I would put down in Anki in a new Gen Chem section.
I thought the actual Gen Chem on the DAT was a walk in the park. If you know the Destroyer well, you should do fine. I honestly can't think of any Q that I got wrong, but I guess I must have missed one or two. Still obviously very happy with a 26. Very straightforward, no tricks here.
Organic Chemistry
Same deal as Gen Chem. Notes from class, Destroyer, repeat. I also made flash cards from every reaction in the notes and in the Destroyer, as well as the road maps, and it probably came out to 150 flash cards or so. I knew them all before the test, which made the actual test seem like a breeze. I also went through this section of the Destroyer 3 times, and anything I didn't know I would put into a new Orgo deck in Anki. Again, not sure of which ones I got wrong on the test, I was really confident in this section and thought I got every one. The test was very straightforward and easy compared to Destroyer. I would again recommend knowing everything in Destroyer- you will know everything on the test. The longest reaction that I had on the test was 2 steps. Probably had around 6-8 reaction questions overall.
Quantitative Reasoning
Ahh, mathee math math, how I love thee.
I have always liked math. I had a feeling that I could do solid on this section on the DAT, so I drilled the hell out of it. This section is definitely breakable, and if you do well, it can really raise your AA (like it did for me).The issue for this section is really the timing. You have to be pretty fast. The only way to get this done is by doing as many practice tests as you can, all timed. I did every test from Math Destroyer by myself, and then I did a few more again. My recommendation is doing it in test conditions: 45 minutes, and using Windows calculator. Anything that I got wrong, I would try solving by myself after I finished the test. If I didn't get it, or even if I did, I would look at the solution and see how it was done, and understand the strategy. If I still didn't understand it, I would look it up on Wikipedia (like trig identities, log identities, etc.). The calculator on the real DAT lags a bit, so try not to rely on it. Also, don't get bogged down on one question, like I did. Try to mark and move along, a lot of the questions at the end can be solved in a few seconds (at least in my case). There were a couple of questions that I had trouble with on the DAT. For the most part, it was very similar to Math Destroyer, and I feel like it prepared me really well for it.
Here were my scores from Math Destroyer (out of 40):
Round 1: 32/25/31/28/36/34/36/36/27/26/31
Round 2: 36/37/35 /38
I took one full length practice test, which was the free test provided by the ADA on their website. Many people say that this test is too easy and not representative of the DAT. I thought it was really on par. In all of the sections these questions were the most similar, both in style and content, to the real questions on the DAT. My score was something along the lines of (I lost the sheet): OC 30 ; GC 25; Bio 20; RC 21; QR 23; PAT 23. I wish I had taken this test earlier so I could prepare better with it, instead I only took it the day before the DAT.
I didn't take any other practice tests. The only other preparatory material that I used save for Destroyer was Cliff's Bio to learn about photosynthesis and evolution, maybe a couple of other topics here and there. I also watched a couple of Thinkwell videos to teach myself some taxonomy. If I had 3 months to the DAT, I would watch them all- they are really great, and they seem pretty comprehensive. In fact, that's the second valuable thing mentioned here that I learned from Rlow04's excellent breakdown, which I shall link here: Rlow04's Excellence. I bought KBB, only used it to acquaint myself with the PAT, did that practice RC, and I actually did the whole practice test in there (don't know where my scores went, didn't do that well- those keyholes are hard!). And Wikipedia, of course.
Insofar as my scheduling went, in July I started to pick it up, did probably 2 CDP tests that month, maybe a few Math Destroyer tests. I probably studied on average 3-4 hours a day, including the course. In August I really started to heat it up. For those three weeks, I probably studied an average of 8-10 hours a day. The week before (i.e. last week), besides for 2 Phish concerts and a friend's wedding, all I did was eat, sleep, and study. This past Sunday through Tuesday I did the whole Destroyer again and cooled down a little bit. And of course I was doing Anki throughout, which is really so little time comparatively.
OK then! I think I'm more wiped from writing this breakdown then taking the actual DAT. I hope this helped you guys. If it didn't, check out Rlow04's breakdown, his was much better than mine. To sum it up- Destroyer is the $#!T. If you do it three times over and know everything in it well, including all the reactions, I can pretty much guarantee mid-twenties on the sciences. Good luck, sorry for the rambling, and feel free to PM with any questions.
I'm applying next cycle. 🙄
Let me just say how great it feels to be done (sort of feels like this DINO STOMP). For all you studying hours a day... don't worry, it will all be worth it!
I'm writing this in thanks of SDN. I only discovered this site a month and a half ago, and since then I've been on here non-stop... probably read every breakdown posted since then, and I know personally that they helped me a lot, so here is mine.
The Scores
PAT - 20 (85.4%)
QR - 27 (99.1%)
RC - 21 (84.5%)
BIO - 23 (98.0%)
GC - 26 (98.4%)
OC - 26 (98.1%)
TS - 25 (99.6%)
AA - 25 (99.9%) 😀
The Breakdown
Obviously, I am very happy with my scores. Very, very happy. Still in disbelief of the AA.
PAT
I only used CDP to prepare for the PAT. On the whole, I think it did a pretty good job. I learnt some strategies from the Wicked Sick PAT Tutorial (a must see), but you really need to practice this stuff to get the hang of it. I thought that on the real DAT keyholes were easier, TFE was on par (a couple of tricky ones though), angles were about the same, hole punching was a joke (except for one, which was impossible), cube counting was slightly easier (less cubes), and I thought pattern folding was significantly harder.
The problem with pattern folding was that CDP prepared me really really well for shading questions. Unfortunately, there were only a couple of them on the actual DAT. Most of them were structural. I'm not talking about choose-the-overly-obvious-structure in CDP- they were a lot harder and the differences in the answer choices were more subtle. Check out the practice test from ADA to know what I'm talking about.
Angle ranking and pattern folding probably did me in here. I thought that I had a good angles strategy, but I never ended up improving, and it was always my weakest section in CDP (eg. I would get 7 angles wrong and one wrong from all the other sections combined). To tell the truth I was a bit disappointed with my score on the PAT, as I was averaging 22/23 on CDP.
Here were my scores on CDP:
19/20/20/22/25/23/23/22/22/(got aggravated with angles and never took the last one)
Reading Comprehension
I used CDR to prepare for this. My passages were cAMP, Aspirin, and the Piano. When I was preparing with CDR, I used Vicviper's strategy, and I thought it worked pretty well. I used the strategy on the test, but the actual DAT works differently than CDR (the passage always scrolls up when you move to a new question), so it might not have been as effective, but I still think it was pretty good. Most of the questions could be answered with search and destroy. The piano passage was significantly harder than the first two. I was actually hoping for the piano passage, since I play instruments and took a musical instrument design class. However, even with that knowledge the passage was still pretty hard (and I regretted hoping for it after the fact). There were a couple of tone questions (pun intended) thrown in throughout the section, but most were S&D. I consider myself an OK reader, and had enough time to finish the whole section, but apparently I got a bunch of Q's wrong. Then again, I always thought I did better on the CDR than what my scores turned out to be. I thought CDR was pretty good on the whole for preparing for this section, but there were a couple of times where I was really confused by the answer they gave, and a couple of times that I knew they were dead wrong.
Anyway, here were my CDR scores:
21/23/21/22/20
Bio
Like I said, I have only taken the first semester of Bio. Although I think Bio is fascinating, I really hate studying for it, and some of the topics and I do not get along so well. If you have not heard of Anki, do a search on SDN- one breakdown includes how to use it really well (here it is: Anki). I freakin loved Anki. I reviewed everything important from the notes and the Destroyer, in flash card form with Anki, multiple times. Before the DAT I knew the Destroyer cold, and I attribute my score largely to it. Anything that sounded really foreign I looked up on Wikipedia- it helps to have a concept and picture behind this stuff, it helps it stay. I went through the Destroyer by itself 3 times. For this deck in Anki I think I had around 425 cards. Some questions were a little random, but I'm very happy with this score- I was hoping for around a 20.
General Chemistry
So I am a Biochem major, I just haven't learned this stuff in a while, like I said, since AP Chem. A lot of stuff comes up tangentially in other Chem classes, but the bulk of it I had to learn fresh. I went through the Destroyer 2.5 times for this section. Anything that I didn't know from the Destroyer I would practice, and any concepts I would put down in Anki in a new Gen Chem section.
I thought the actual Gen Chem on the DAT was a walk in the park. If you know the Destroyer well, you should do fine. I honestly can't think of any Q that I got wrong, but I guess I must have missed one or two. Still obviously very happy with a 26. Very straightforward, no tricks here.
Organic Chemistry
Same deal as Gen Chem. Notes from class, Destroyer, repeat. I also made flash cards from every reaction in the notes and in the Destroyer, as well as the road maps, and it probably came out to 150 flash cards or so. I knew them all before the test, which made the actual test seem like a breeze. I also went through this section of the Destroyer 3 times, and anything I didn't know I would put into a new Orgo deck in Anki. Again, not sure of which ones I got wrong on the test, I was really confident in this section and thought I got every one. The test was very straightforward and easy compared to Destroyer. I would again recommend knowing everything in Destroyer- you will know everything on the test. The longest reaction that I had on the test was 2 steps. Probably had around 6-8 reaction questions overall.
Quantitative Reasoning
Ahh, mathee math math, how I love thee.
I have always liked math. I had a feeling that I could do solid on this section on the DAT, so I drilled the hell out of it. This section is definitely breakable, and if you do well, it can really raise your AA (like it did for me).The issue for this section is really the timing. You have to be pretty fast. The only way to get this done is by doing as many practice tests as you can, all timed. I did every test from Math Destroyer by myself, and then I did a few more again. My recommendation is doing it in test conditions: 45 minutes, and using Windows calculator. Anything that I got wrong, I would try solving by myself after I finished the test. If I didn't get it, or even if I did, I would look at the solution and see how it was done, and understand the strategy. If I still didn't understand it, I would look it up on Wikipedia (like trig identities, log identities, etc.). The calculator on the real DAT lags a bit, so try not to rely on it. Also, don't get bogged down on one question, like I did. Try to mark and move along, a lot of the questions at the end can be solved in a few seconds (at least in my case). There were a couple of questions that I had trouble with on the DAT. For the most part, it was very similar to Math Destroyer, and I feel like it prepared me really well for it.
Here were my scores from Math Destroyer (out of 40):
Round 1: 32/25/31/28/36/34/36/36/27/26/31
Round 2: 36/37/35 /38
I took one full length practice test, which was the free test provided by the ADA on their website. Many people say that this test is too easy and not representative of the DAT. I thought it was really on par. In all of the sections these questions were the most similar, both in style and content, to the real questions on the DAT. My score was something along the lines of (I lost the sheet): OC 30 ; GC 25; Bio 20; RC 21; QR 23; PAT 23. I wish I had taken this test earlier so I could prepare better with it, instead I only took it the day before the DAT.
I didn't take any other practice tests. The only other preparatory material that I used save for Destroyer was Cliff's Bio to learn about photosynthesis and evolution, maybe a couple of other topics here and there. I also watched a couple of Thinkwell videos to teach myself some taxonomy. If I had 3 months to the DAT, I would watch them all- they are really great, and they seem pretty comprehensive. In fact, that's the second valuable thing mentioned here that I learned from Rlow04's excellent breakdown, which I shall link here: Rlow04's Excellence. I bought KBB, only used it to acquaint myself with the PAT, did that practice RC, and I actually did the whole practice test in there (don't know where my scores went, didn't do that well- those keyholes are hard!). And Wikipedia, of course.
Insofar as my scheduling went, in July I started to pick it up, did probably 2 CDP tests that month, maybe a few Math Destroyer tests. I probably studied on average 3-4 hours a day, including the course. In August I really started to heat it up. For those three weeks, I probably studied an average of 8-10 hours a day. The week before (i.e. last week), besides for 2 Phish concerts and a friend's wedding, all I did was eat, sleep, and study. This past Sunday through Tuesday I did the whole Destroyer again and cooled down a little bit. And of course I was doing Anki throughout, which is really so little time comparatively.
OK then! I think I'm more wiped from writing this breakdown then taking the actual DAT. I hope this helped you guys. If it didn't, check out Rlow04's breakdown, his was much better than mine. To sum it up- Destroyer is the $#!T. If you do it three times over and know everything in it well, including all the reactions, I can pretty much guarantee mid-twenties on the sciences. Good luck, sorry for the rambling, and feel free to PM with any questions.
I'm applying next cycle. 🙄
Last edited:
