- Joined
- Dec 12, 2006
- Messages
- 32
- Reaction score
- 0
PAT 20
QR 19
RC 21
BIO 22
G CHEM 21
ORGO 20
TS 21
AA 21
Well the DAT is finally over! What a HUGE relief!
First I would like to thank the SDNers for their help and study advice, seeing which materials worked and which materials werent as good definitely saved me some time.
second- id like to throw in my two cents, since the posts that i found most helpful were the Post-Test Breakdowns, ill try for one now. I hope it helps!
PAT-
On kaplans pat i consistently scored very high, like 25s. Then i took achiever and freaked out. keyholes, TFE, pattern folding, i had a very hard time figuring out what i was looking at. i settled on crack DAT PAT and felt a bit better, everything was much clearer and there was a good level of difficulty. i didnt do topscore, so i dont know what its like, but i think CDP was closest to the real PAT.
I did a bit lower on the PAT than i expected. in cube counting i got 6 figures which annoyed me a bit- it was like 2 or 3 questions per figure. pattern folding was a bit tricky- for a bunch of the choices you had to really fold the pattern mentally and rotate it with its details, i noticed a bunch of trick "obvious" choices with some small errors. hole punching i think was a bit easier on the dat than CDP.
All in all not a bad section- just keep an eye on the clock and dont spend too much time on any one section- its not worth it there will be easier questions down the line.
QR
Going in I was most worried about this section, its timed high school math that really i should be able to fly through , except for the fact that ive been using a calculator for like the last 8 years (TI 89 got me through a lot of hard times). i read kaplans blue and new white book,they were the same and both worthless. kaplans online material and subject tests were more helpful and i did a few but i wasnt a fan. achiever math was actually pretty good- their solutions were helpful and their material was similar to the test difficulty. On the same note i really started studying math with the Destroyer- the problems were good and solutions and the were well worked out. i also used crack MATH- it was much harder other the other materials i used, if you have the time to go through the tests and work out the problems ( after a few tests from 10 test version) you should have no problem on this section.
My biggest problem on this section- along with everyone else, is the time, or lack there of. I had my eye on the clock the whole time. Its best to figure out your own strategy and know what you have the most problems with, but for me any question that i wasnt able to immediately start working on(there were a few of those, not too many) i guessed, marked and moved on.
I had a mix of word problems, some trig, algebra, a bit of geometry. it was a pretty balanced version and im happy with my score.
RC
I didnt do too much practice on this section going in, except for some kaplans achiever and a couple of mcat passages. the kaplans and achiever were too easy, the mcat was harder than the dat, but, i think any practice is good and its probably better to do the harder stuff so you dont get flustered on the actual test.
As for my passages-- the first passage was SO INCREDIBLY TECHNICAL! it was about the human spine, different nerves etc, it was VERY hard. i tried outlining it but when i got to the questions(19 of 50) i realized that i didnt get the whole gist of the passage, i spent like 30 minutes on the first passage. also the first screen that you get is a full screen of the passage, and if you press the exhibit button (like i did) you just got the passage in another window. So i figured that the dat was different than the practice tests and i would have to open the exhibit window for each question(highly inconvenient)...until i pressed the next button and it was exactly the same as the practice tests. for the next two passages (epidemiology and pontoon bridges) i used a slight outline but mostly search and destroy with the questions above the passage.
NOW FOR THE SCIENCES
-main study tools-Cliffs, Kaplans, old class notes, DESTROYER, various textbooks(Bio-campbell, etc) some exam krackers
-for timing practice- i used kaplans section tests achiever. i think achiever was a more realistic difficulty BUT I DONT think that there is much of a correlation between how you do on a practice test and the real thing(excluding if you get a 5 on the practice- then you know you have to study). I think the only thing they are good for is teaching yourself how to finish in time.
BIO
I read the Kaplans blue book, it was an ok start but too detailed in some places and not enough detailed in others. After that i moved on to Cliffs bio, which i thought was a very good foundation book. Destroyer really hit the mark here, i personally learn best from questions that challenge my knowledge and understanding of the material. In general the destroyer was very good, a lot of similar style questions to the dat, some VERY similar. Over all if you know it cold you'll do fine.
G CHEM
Again I read the kaplans once, i thought it was better than their bio, but my main foundation was laid using my old class notes. i really polished up my problem solving skills with the destroyer which i thought was once again really on the mark(if not a bit too hard in some places, which i liked). i had a mix of theory and calculations - standard ones- limiting reagents, percent composition, reaction rate etc. This section always took up the most time for me in practice tests and its a good idea to keep an eye on the clock, i think i spent 35-40 minutes on chem on the dat- thats way longer than i should have, i started orgo with 25 minutes left on the clock, and i wish i had a few extra minutes to go over my marked questions
ORGO
this is one section that im a bit upset about, i felt that i knew orgo much better than a 20. I read kaplans with same critique as above, i used mostly my old class notes and the destroyer, road maps and theory problems were great. On the dat i had a couple of tough rxn problems, an IR and a CNMR graph which were a bit hard also. (In studying i was a bit over confident on this section so i studied a bit more of bio and gchem than orgo)
All in all
The dat wasnt so bad, i was very nervous for the few weeks before but the day of, i realized there wasnt much else i could do and i just relaxed. i went into the test calm, caffeinated and pumped. I took it at 1 penn plaza the center was very quiet, had flat screens, gave me three boards, 2 markers and one eraser it was enough.
Thanks for the help once again, if i missed something or you have questions, feel free to ask.
QR 19
RC 21
BIO 22
G CHEM 21
ORGO 20
TS 21
AA 21
Well the DAT is finally over! What a HUGE relief!
First I would like to thank the SDNers for their help and study advice, seeing which materials worked and which materials werent as good definitely saved me some time.
second- id like to throw in my two cents, since the posts that i found most helpful were the Post-Test Breakdowns, ill try for one now. I hope it helps!
PAT-
On kaplans pat i consistently scored very high, like 25s. Then i took achiever and freaked out. keyholes, TFE, pattern folding, i had a very hard time figuring out what i was looking at. i settled on crack DAT PAT and felt a bit better, everything was much clearer and there was a good level of difficulty. i didnt do topscore, so i dont know what its like, but i think CDP was closest to the real PAT.
I did a bit lower on the PAT than i expected. in cube counting i got 6 figures which annoyed me a bit- it was like 2 or 3 questions per figure. pattern folding was a bit tricky- for a bunch of the choices you had to really fold the pattern mentally and rotate it with its details, i noticed a bunch of trick "obvious" choices with some small errors. hole punching i think was a bit easier on the dat than CDP.
All in all not a bad section- just keep an eye on the clock and dont spend too much time on any one section- its not worth it there will be easier questions down the line.
QR
Going in I was most worried about this section, its timed high school math that really i should be able to fly through , except for the fact that ive been using a calculator for like the last 8 years (TI 89 got me through a lot of hard times). i read kaplans blue and new white book,they were the same and both worthless. kaplans online material and subject tests were more helpful and i did a few but i wasnt a fan. achiever math was actually pretty good- their solutions were helpful and their material was similar to the test difficulty. On the same note i really started studying math with the Destroyer- the problems were good and solutions and the were well worked out. i also used crack MATH- it was much harder other the other materials i used, if you have the time to go through the tests and work out the problems ( after a few tests from 10 test version) you should have no problem on this section.
My biggest problem on this section- along with everyone else, is the time, or lack there of. I had my eye on the clock the whole time. Its best to figure out your own strategy and know what you have the most problems with, but for me any question that i wasnt able to immediately start working on(there were a few of those, not too many) i guessed, marked and moved on.
I had a mix of word problems, some trig, algebra, a bit of geometry. it was a pretty balanced version and im happy with my score.
RC
I didnt do too much practice on this section going in, except for some kaplans achiever and a couple of mcat passages. the kaplans and achiever were too easy, the mcat was harder than the dat, but, i think any practice is good and its probably better to do the harder stuff so you dont get flustered on the actual test.
As for my passages-- the first passage was SO INCREDIBLY TECHNICAL! it was about the human spine, different nerves etc, it was VERY hard. i tried outlining it but when i got to the questions(19 of 50) i realized that i didnt get the whole gist of the passage, i spent like 30 minutes on the first passage. also the first screen that you get is a full screen of the passage, and if you press the exhibit button (like i did) you just got the passage in another window. So i figured that the dat was different than the practice tests and i would have to open the exhibit window for each question(highly inconvenient)...until i pressed the next button and it was exactly the same as the practice tests. for the next two passages (epidemiology and pontoon bridges) i used a slight outline but mostly search and destroy with the questions above the passage.
NOW FOR THE SCIENCES
-main study tools-Cliffs, Kaplans, old class notes, DESTROYER, various textbooks(Bio-campbell, etc) some exam krackers
-for timing practice- i used kaplans section tests achiever. i think achiever was a more realistic difficulty BUT I DONT think that there is much of a correlation between how you do on a practice test and the real thing(excluding if you get a 5 on the practice- then you know you have to study). I think the only thing they are good for is teaching yourself how to finish in time.
BIO
I read the Kaplans blue book, it was an ok start but too detailed in some places and not enough detailed in others. After that i moved on to Cliffs bio, which i thought was a very good foundation book. Destroyer really hit the mark here, i personally learn best from questions that challenge my knowledge and understanding of the material. In general the destroyer was very good, a lot of similar style questions to the dat, some VERY similar. Over all if you know it cold you'll do fine.
G CHEM
Again I read the kaplans once, i thought it was better than their bio, but my main foundation was laid using my old class notes. i really polished up my problem solving skills with the destroyer which i thought was once again really on the mark(if not a bit too hard in some places, which i liked). i had a mix of theory and calculations - standard ones- limiting reagents, percent composition, reaction rate etc. This section always took up the most time for me in practice tests and its a good idea to keep an eye on the clock, i think i spent 35-40 minutes on chem on the dat- thats way longer than i should have, i started orgo with 25 minutes left on the clock, and i wish i had a few extra minutes to go over my marked questions
ORGO
this is one section that im a bit upset about, i felt that i knew orgo much better than a 20. I read kaplans with same critique as above, i used mostly my old class notes and the destroyer, road maps and theory problems were great. On the dat i had a couple of tough rxn problems, an IR and a CNMR graph which were a bit hard also. (In studying i was a bit over confident on this section so i studied a bit more of bio and gchem than orgo)
All in all
The dat wasnt so bad, i was very nervous for the few weeks before but the day of, i realized there wasnt much else i could do and i just relaxed. i went into the test calm, caffeinated and pumped. I took it at 1 penn plaza the center was very quiet, had flat screens, gave me three boards, 2 markers and one eraser it was enough.
Thanks for the help once again, if i missed something or you have questions, feel free to ask.
