Dat done!!! 9/22/2012

Started by abate21
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abate21

abate21

alb
10+ Year Member
To preface this, it feels SO GOOD to be done with this test. I can't believe that this day has come and gone so quickly. I want to thank all of you that have posted your breakdowns as they have helped guide my studies. Here are my scores:

PAT.........29 (99.9):soexcited:
QR...........18 (86.6)
RC...........20 (78.5)
BIO..........18 (72.1)😱
GC...........23 (97.3)
OC...........28 (99.5):soexcited:
TS............21 (96.2)
AA............21 (97.2)

About my breakdown, I have used CDP, Chads Videos, Destroyer, Cliffs AP Bio, DatQvault, & KBB. I found the materials to be very good and prepared me sufficiently.
My application has already been mailed out, so hopefully now that this test is done, I will get some positive responses.
 

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Great scores.. Congratulation..I have four more days to go..Do you have any last minute advice? Did you use topscore or achiever and if you did what is your opinion on those practice tests? Also, do you think studying Chemistry solely on Chad and Destroyer was enough for prepration? One last question, what was your strategy for RC?
 
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You did great! Don't take this the wrong way, but if you could do it all over, how would you have prepared differently for math and bio?

My main problem with Bio is that I have never taken a lot of the plant bio, taxonomy, evolution, etc classes. Because of this, I had a lot to learn on my own. If I could do it all over again, I would have made more flash cards that contained more detail regarding these subjects.
For math, I relied too much on DatQvault, which was a good source, but didn't prepare me enough. I should have used Math Destroyer more in my studies, because the QR section of the real DAT highly resembled MD.

Whattt... 29 on the PAT?!?!? Dudeeeee, what is your secret?

For the PAT, I just used CDP and found the techniques that worked best for me to get the best scores possible.

Great scores.. Congratulation..I have four more days to go..Do you have any last minute advice? Did you use topscore or achiever and if you did what is your opinion on those practice tests? Also, do you think studying Chemistry solely on Chad and Destroyer was enough for prepration? One last question, what was your strategy for RC?

Just keep studying in your weak areas. I didn't use Topscore or Achiever, I just used CDP and DatQvault for practice tests. I thought that DatQvault was great in most areas. For the RC, I thought that DatQvault was right on. I was averaging a 21 on the practice tests, and got a 20. For OC and GC, I also thought that it portrayed very similar types of questions as to what will be seen on the DAT. Interestingly, I was averaging a 19 on GC and a 20 on OC, and got a 23 and 28. The Bio section was also accurate, I averaged a 17-19 and got an 18. I just felt that the QR section was very misleading. I was averaging 21-22 on the practice tests, and got a 18. The questions on the real DAT were a lot harder, resembling more of Math Destroyer.
For the OC and GC sections, I watched Chad's videos one time through and I took very good notes on his outlines. Then I just did Destroyer a lot! Between those 2 things, and the DatQvault, I felt VERY prepared for the OC and GC sections. And those are the 2 sections that saved my score.
For RC, I basically used a form of Search and Destroy. While I was searching for 1-2 different questions, I would read the passage to get an overall idea. So I would be answering questions and reading at the same time. I think the key here is to do what works for you. Reading Comprehension is more of a skill that is developed overtime, and there really isn't a BEST way to cram/quickly prepare for this section.
 
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Hello,
I noticed you had great scores on the exam. May i ask what study materials you use in preparation for the exam? Thank you.

I used Chads videos, Dat Destroyer, and DatQvault for the OC and GC sections. I used Cliffs AP bio, KBB, Dat Destroyer, and DatQvault for Bio. I used Math Destroyer (not as much as I should have because the QR section is taken from Math Destroyer, I swear!) and mainly DatQvault for QR. CDP for PAT, and DatQvault for RC.
 
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How did you keep track of all the material that you need to cover? Did you make a list of the topics that you did not understand and then just used text books to learn them, or you just used the prep materials?
 
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How did you keep track of all the material that you need to cover? Did you make a list of the topics that you did not understand and then just used text books to learn them, or you just used the prep materials?

You can look on the ADA website for all the topics, or just know all of the commonly used study materials, and it should cover everything you need to know. Once you discover your weak areas, then you can focus on those. The practice tests will reveal those weak areas. The only problem with textbooks is that they go into far more detail than you truly need to know, and in my opinion, the prep materials should cover everything to the detail that you need.
 
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Awesome scores! If I may ask, how many times did you watch/review Chad's videos?

I watched them thoroughly one time through while taking very good notes on the outlines provided by chad. Then every once in a while I would refer to a video if I needed extra clarification.
 
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Can you mention the techniques you used for PAT section please?

I just used the typical techniques that most people mention on this website, nothing out of the ordinary, but you need to be able to visualize a 2D image in 3D.

What were you routinely scoring on the CDP tests?

I was routinely scoring between a 20-23 on the CDP tests. But the last day or two, I worked a lot on the weaker areas of the PAT, which I think reflected on my score.
 
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abate21 said:
I was routinely scoring between a 20-23 on the CDP tests. But the last day or two, I worked a lot on the weaker areas of the PAT, which I think reflected on my score.
Click to expand...

Great scores - if you don't mind me asking, which were your weakest sections and what specific steps did you take to improve on them?
 
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Great scores - if you don't mind me asking, which were your weakest sections and what specific steps did you take to improve on them?

I was struggling in the Key holes and cubes, so I just focused on doing them slower, more calmly, and I also changed my strategy for the cube counting. I felt like CDP really prepared me for what is on the DAT, it is almost identical, well my version was.
 
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hi..my DAT exam is in two weeks, i dun hav CDP, wish someone could help me with it,or show some techniques to get a decent score. OC and GC are pretty tough...no idea what to do now
 
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jimmy carter said:
hi..my DAT exam is in two weeks, i dun hav CDP, wish someone could help me with it,or show some techniques to get a decent score. OC and GC are pretty tough...no idea what to do now
Click to expand...

I should preface this by saying I haven't yet taken the DAT. I do have CDP, though, and I find the format, difficulty and variety of questions to be challenging, yet doable. The consensus around here is that CDP is around the same level of difficulty as the actual exam. I would highly suggest picking it up. http://crackdat.com/ I can only speak to the PAT section, I haven't bought any of the other material.

As for techniques for a better score, what sections are you struggling with?

Chad comes highly recommended for OC and GC - he's got a knack for explaining things in a concise way.
 
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