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Hey everyone, once again thanks so much for the support!
I'll tell you what I got on Topscore, Crack DAT PAT, and the real thing, what I used to study, and any tips I think may be helpful.
I'd also like to thank God for these scores.
Actual DAT:
PAT: 21
RC: 18
QR: 19
Bio: 21
Chem: 26
Orgo: 26
TS: 23/AA: 22/ PAT: 21
So I took the test and the Livingston site in Brooklyn. Great place, vey comfortable. Definitely recommend it. Right before I sat down, I did a little stretching to get comfortable (thanks for the idea!)
Topscore:
PAT: 23, 20 (for the second one, I used a CDP test 7 instead of topscore)
RC: 22, 19
QR: 18, 19, 21 (I took this one by itself)
Bio: 17, 19
Chem: 19, 17
Orgo: 19, 20
TS and AA for both were all 19's
I'll go through each section and give over whatever I can.
Biology: I used a few books for this. The first is Cliffs AP Bio. It provided a great review of information and had I had more time to study, I would have read it over first, cover to cover before studying anything else. The second is the DAT Destroyer. The Destroyer was extremely on target for the Bio section. The key to my knowing bio for the DAT was going over every question and explanation in the book. What I'd like to add is that for any explanation I didn't understand completely or wasn't familiar with, I went to the Cliffs for and read over the whole topic, to really understand it. Occasionally I would also go to wikipedia or a physiology text book I borrowed from a friend (I forgot the name of the textbook sorry
) if the Cliffs didn't cover it.
Chemistry: 2 books: Brown and LeMay Text Book (any edition) and Destroyer. Once again, the Destroyer was on target. I went through every question and explanation, and any topic I was even familiar with but didn't understand COMPLETELY, I looked up in Brown and LeMay and made sure I understood it. I really just took my time to avoid careless mistakes.
Organic: 2 books: Morrison and Boyd (textbook) and Destroyer. Same deal as with Chem. I just pounded whatever I wasn't positive of, and took it very slow on the test.
Reading: The only practice I did for this was Topscore and one Kaplan test. This was a mistake. Topscore and Kaplan are decent for timing, but all the questions are straight forward facts from the passages. On the actual test, there were a number of questions which forced me to infer info from the passage. In my opinion I'd say do MCAT Reading practice (I took the MCAT a couple of years ago). I think it would prepare much better for those passages.
Math: This was a tricky one. I stressed a bit over this section b/c everyone was telling me it was impossible. 40 questions in 45 minutes is crazy. But I'm actually realy happy with my score. In the last couple of weeks before the test, I tried very hard to dedicate time to this section.
I used Topscore , DAT Destroyer, and a textbook to just review a few concepts I felt I needed top teach myself or review b/c I hadn't seen them in like 6 years. The topics I reviewed after doing Topscore and Destroyer were: Binomial expansions, Laws of Logs, angles and arcs of Circles, and Graphing different shapes (Hyperbolas, Circles, etc.)
The main thing is SPEED. Practicing your tush off is the way to gain speed. Even if you know the topics, it doesnt necessarily help because the time pressure can be very overwhelming. After going trough all of Destroyer and three Topscores I felt I had built up more speed.
PAT: All I can say is Crack DAT PAT. It's a great program. It helps you build familiarity and comfort with the PAT section. I bought the 10 test package, and did 7 of them. Worth every penny.
CDP scores: 18, 19, 21, 19, 22, 23, 20
I also went throught whatever I got wrong for the first 4 or 5 tests, and even retook the first one section by section to make sure I could do each in 10 minutes. On the actual DAT, certain things were different.
Be aware that the picture quality os so great on CDP that it can spoil you a little. For Keyholes and TFE, the actual wasn't as pretty , but was definitely still good enough for most of the pictures. Hole punches was significantly less clear and made it a little ambiguous, but only for like 1 or 2 of them. Angles were much easier than CDP. Cubes were easier than CDP- no illusions or craziness. I guess I'll share my strategy too: I'm sure other people or companies have the same strategy, but I figured this one and in case people dont know it:
1) I'd map out the diagram in a 2-D format lieka friend showed me. Basically look at the stucture from either the front or the side and draw the base as many squares as there are cubes across. Then do the same for vertically arranged cubes. I then filled in each box with the number of sides for each cube. For example, if there were 3 cubes, one infront of the other, I'd put 3 numbers in that one box.(sorry if that's a little unclear). For each cube on top by itself, its a 5. For everything else, I used my little "neighbor" system. A neighbor is any cube found directly adjacent or above the given cube. (those below do not count). For example if the cube has 1 neighbor, its a 4. If its got 2 neighbors, its a 3. If it has 3 neighbors, its a 2. 4 neighbors, its a 1. And if it's covered completey, its a 0.
[Just memorize: 1's and 4's are flipped, and 3's and 2's are flipped]
Finally, if you see symmetry in any structure, you know you've just saved yourself half the time. Just do the work for the first half of the structure and double it and you're done.
As for Pattern Folding, I think CDP was good, but the real thing got a little trickier. I'd been hearing this for a while but no one ever explained what they meant. I think its basically this: On CDP or other practice programs, you sometimes get these weird shapes and the trick is finding the big piece that is basically what defines the shape, and you don't really have to understand the rest of the pieces and how they fold up. For the real thing try to be aware that it might be a little more difficult, with more than one defining "big piece." Just the mental preparation should make it a little easier.
So TopScore.
Here's my opinion: It's a great program. The fact that I had taken a full-length practice test twice before the actual DAT made it a thousand times more comfortable and got rid of most of my nerves on the actual test. I can't stress enough how much of a difference this makes. It definitely helped me up my score a couple of points. to know how everything works ahead of time.
Clearly the sciences weren't directly on target the way the DAT Destroyer was-but it didn't matter, because it still helped me focus in on all my careless mistakes and how to avoid them on test day. I went over all my mistakes in Sciences and Math.
So overall for TopScore:
Sciences were a little off the mark, but very useful.
PAT was way too easy, so I didn't even take the second one b/c I figured I'd rather challenge myself with a CDP test. (but it was good to get exposure to a different type of image).
Reading, too easy, as mentioned above.
and Math, I felt was good. Test 3 was a little easier, but definitely helped a lot with timing and filling in some problems Destroyer didn't have.
If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Thanks again. I hope this was helpful and Goodluck!!!
-DocHowell
I'll tell you what I got on Topscore, Crack DAT PAT, and the real thing, what I used to study, and any tips I think may be helpful.
I'd also like to thank God for these scores.
Actual DAT:
PAT: 21
RC: 18
QR: 19
Bio: 21
Chem: 26
Orgo: 26
TS: 23/AA: 22/ PAT: 21
So I took the test and the Livingston site in Brooklyn. Great place, vey comfortable. Definitely recommend it. Right before I sat down, I did a little stretching to get comfortable (thanks for the idea!)
Topscore:
PAT: 23, 20 (for the second one, I used a CDP test 7 instead of topscore)
RC: 22, 19
QR: 18, 19, 21 (I took this one by itself)
Bio: 17, 19
Chem: 19, 17
Orgo: 19, 20
TS and AA for both were all 19's
I'll go through each section and give over whatever I can.
Biology: I used a few books for this. The first is Cliffs AP Bio. It provided a great review of information and had I had more time to study, I would have read it over first, cover to cover before studying anything else. The second is the DAT Destroyer. The Destroyer was extremely on target for the Bio section. The key to my knowing bio for the DAT was going over every question and explanation in the book. What I'd like to add is that for any explanation I didn't understand completely or wasn't familiar with, I went to the Cliffs for and read over the whole topic, to really understand it. Occasionally I would also go to wikipedia or a physiology text book I borrowed from a friend (I forgot the name of the textbook sorry
) if the Cliffs didn't cover it.Chemistry: 2 books: Brown and LeMay Text Book (any edition) and Destroyer. Once again, the Destroyer was on target. I went through every question and explanation, and any topic I was even familiar with but didn't understand COMPLETELY, I looked up in Brown and LeMay and made sure I understood it. I really just took my time to avoid careless mistakes.
Organic: 2 books: Morrison and Boyd (textbook) and Destroyer. Same deal as with Chem. I just pounded whatever I wasn't positive of, and took it very slow on the test.
Reading: The only practice I did for this was Topscore and one Kaplan test. This was a mistake. Topscore and Kaplan are decent for timing, but all the questions are straight forward facts from the passages. On the actual test, there were a number of questions which forced me to infer info from the passage. In my opinion I'd say do MCAT Reading practice (I took the MCAT a couple of years ago). I think it would prepare much better for those passages.
Math: This was a tricky one. I stressed a bit over this section b/c everyone was telling me it was impossible. 40 questions in 45 minutes is crazy. But I'm actually realy happy with my score. In the last couple of weeks before the test, I tried very hard to dedicate time to this section.
I used Topscore , DAT Destroyer, and a textbook to just review a few concepts I felt I needed top teach myself or review b/c I hadn't seen them in like 6 years. The topics I reviewed after doing Topscore and Destroyer were: Binomial expansions, Laws of Logs, angles and arcs of Circles, and Graphing different shapes (Hyperbolas, Circles, etc.)
The main thing is SPEED. Practicing your tush off is the way to gain speed. Even if you know the topics, it doesnt necessarily help because the time pressure can be very overwhelming. After going trough all of Destroyer and three Topscores I felt I had built up more speed.
PAT: All I can say is Crack DAT PAT. It's a great program. It helps you build familiarity and comfort with the PAT section. I bought the 10 test package, and did 7 of them. Worth every penny.
CDP scores: 18, 19, 21, 19, 22, 23, 20
I also went throught whatever I got wrong for the first 4 or 5 tests, and even retook the first one section by section to make sure I could do each in 10 minutes. On the actual DAT, certain things were different.
Be aware that the picture quality os so great on CDP that it can spoil you a little. For Keyholes and TFE, the actual wasn't as pretty , but was definitely still good enough for most of the pictures. Hole punches was significantly less clear and made it a little ambiguous, but only for like 1 or 2 of them. Angles were much easier than CDP. Cubes were easier than CDP- no illusions or craziness. I guess I'll share my strategy too: I'm sure other people or companies have the same strategy, but I figured this one and in case people dont know it:
1) I'd map out the diagram in a 2-D format lieka friend showed me. Basically look at the stucture from either the front or the side and draw the base as many squares as there are cubes across. Then do the same for vertically arranged cubes. I then filled in each box with the number of sides for each cube. For example, if there were 3 cubes, one infront of the other, I'd put 3 numbers in that one box.(sorry if that's a little unclear). For each cube on top by itself, its a 5. For everything else, I used my little "neighbor" system. A neighbor is any cube found directly adjacent or above the given cube. (those below do not count). For example if the cube has 1 neighbor, its a 4. If its got 2 neighbors, its a 3. If it has 3 neighbors, its a 2. 4 neighbors, its a 1. And if it's covered completey, its a 0.
[Just memorize: 1's and 4's are flipped, and 3's and 2's are flipped]
Finally, if you see symmetry in any structure, you know you've just saved yourself half the time. Just do the work for the first half of the structure and double it and you're done
.As for Pattern Folding, I think CDP was good, but the real thing got a little trickier. I'd been hearing this for a while but no one ever explained what they meant. I think its basically this: On CDP or other practice programs, you sometimes get these weird shapes and the trick is finding the big piece that is basically what defines the shape, and you don't really have to understand the rest of the pieces and how they fold up. For the real thing try to be aware that it might be a little more difficult, with more than one defining "big piece." Just the mental preparation should make it a little easier.
So TopScore.
Here's my opinion: It's a great program. The fact that I had taken a full-length practice test twice before the actual DAT made it a thousand times more comfortable and got rid of most of my nerves on the actual test. I can't stress enough how much of a difference this makes. It definitely helped me up my score a couple of points. to know how everything works ahead of time.
Clearly the sciences weren't directly on target the way the DAT Destroyer was-but it didn't matter, because it still helped me focus in on all my careless mistakes and how to avoid them on test day. I went over all my mistakes in Sciences and Math.
So overall for TopScore:
Sciences were a little off the mark, but very useful.
PAT was way too easy, so I didn't even take the second one b/c I figured I'd rather challenge myself with a CDP test. (but it was good to get exposure to a different type of image).
Reading, too easy, as mentioned above.
and Math, I felt was good. Test 3 was a little easier, but definitely helped a lot with timing and filling in some problems Destroyer didn't have.
If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Thanks again. I hope this was helpful and Goodluck!!!
-DocHowell
Last edited:
