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Hey everyone! I've been a lurker and occasional poster, but I have received an immense amount of help from the posters of this forum by reading their break downs, and I want to help others as well!
I am fresh from the testing center (after having eaten an extremely unhealthy lunch as a reward) and am pretty happy with my scores!
PAT 22
QR 21
RC 24
BIO 22
GC 29
OC 22
TS 23
AA 24
Trust me, some of these scores were quite the surprise, but whatever, I'll take ‘em!
Study time: 2.5 months (first 5 weeks were passive, last 5 weeks practice/extensive review)
Schedule: working 12.5 hours a week, taking a 3day/week microbio class, attempted to volunteer at 4 locations for a total of 16 hours a week (failed miserably, by the way). Initially started with dentalWorks 8-week schedule but ended up deviating from it a whole lot. (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=9544221#post9544221)
Study materials (with relative helpfulness):
1. Kaplan blue book (4/10): man, I hated reading from this book. I don't know what it was, but during my study month, this was the last book I wanted to touch. Maybe it was the font? The fact that this book was so fat that I hated lugging it around? It was actually because of this book that I dreaded studying for biology.
2. Cliff's AP biology (9/10): the knight in shining armor compared to KBB. Succinct, clear explanations and contains almost ALL you need to know for the test.
3. Chad's GC videos (10/10): this was the only thing I used to review for general chem. Everyone was right about this guy! He IS. THE. MAN. His videos are specifically for pre-healthers. He knows what you need to know for the exam and he explains everything so clearly. He is all you need. Seriously.
4. Chad's OC videos (9/10): another winner, but I didn't think they were as comprehensive as the gen chem videos (just by a bit). But how can they be, right? There are only so many reagents in the world that you can cover. But even so, this was all I used to review Ochem.
5. Chad's QR videos (6/10): these were OK... his best videos were the permutation/combination/probability videos. But that's probably because I suck at them... so anything that helped me with permutations/combinations/probability were pretty golden to me. Haha.
6. CrackDAT PAT (9/10): great great practice for PAT. I started from a measly 17 and maxed out at 25 by the end. For me, this was quite representative of the real PAT section in all sections. Did the first timed, failed miserably because I couldn't even get to the cubes or pattern folding. Second one untimed to get a real feel, then timed from then on.
7. Topscore (7/10): man, did Topscore suck (in my opinion). I've read that Topscore is the most representative of your scores... I don't think so. More on this later.
8. Achiever, PAT section only (9/10): wow, this section was beastly hard. CDP paled in comparison in the keyhole, TFE, and pattern folding section. The hole punches and angles were easier and quite representative of the real DAT.
9. 2009 ADA, BIO section only (5/10): wayyyy too easy and with mistakes.
10. DAT Destroyer 2012 (8/10): great chem and ochem section. Definitely a lot harder and more calculations involved than the real thing. The bio questions weren't that great, but they definitely did test your knowledge! It's a great way to find out what you need to work on. As for the QR section - the questions were really really watered down. Way too easy and I felt like they weren't worth doing. If you are really hazy in basic algebra/geometry, these are worth looking at for practice, but otherwise, spend your time doing something else.
11. Math Destroyer 2012 (10/10): the best practice for the math section! The questions were a tad bit harder than my test, but it definitely is perfect for your timing. Even though I ran out of time on the real DAT, I still think this is great practice that gives you the hardest questions you'll see on the real thing. I didn't do tests 11/12 - unreasonably long. I did the first 5 tests untimed to get a feel for the questions then the remaining 5 timed to work on timing (there are 13 tests in the 2012 version).
12. DatQVault BIO/GC/OC (10/10): one of the best sources! The questions are VERY VERY similar to the real thing in terms of difficulty, wording, and choice options. I consider this to be the best thing you can get for your DAT prep - seriously. I even recall some similarly worded questions that showed up on my real DAT. Also, the "Save question" function is great! You can save all the questions you missed or feel iffy on and test yourself on them later.
13. scsc7211's "beefed up Alan's bio notes" (9.5/10): this became my savior for biology. I have no idea what Alan's original notes look like, and although it's missing a section dedicated to only plants, this compilation of notes IS THE BEST. (scsc7211, if you're reading this, you are awesome for posting these up!!!). Scsc7211 took Alan's bio notes and added to them. I even saw elements of the DAT Destroyer bio section in there, which was handy because I didn't have time to review the ones I missed. I became limited on time and this was my last and final resort. I didn't start serious review of biology until 3 days before my test. I printed out the notes and cooped myself in the bathroom, highlighting and talking out loud to myself. (Studied in the bathroom so I wouldn't bother my roommate, not because I was doin' business or anything. xD)
(http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=968243)
Study advice:
1. Study the way you feel comfortable, but keep it reasonable. I'm a strong believer in writing down things to retain them better, but this wasn't working for me while I was studying for biology, at all. During the first week, I was spending 3-5 hours on biology alone... not good if you have a busy schedule and have a crap ton of other stuff to study. This led me to drop biology altogether for a couple of weeks (procrastination) and caused a cascade of other problems. If I could go back in time, I would have done my studying a lot more differently. I eventually bought myself an early "good score" gift - an iPad (if I did well, I get to keep it - good incentive to study) - and downloaded a flashcard app and used that to type up biology flashcards. A lot more efficient and better.
Also for the record, I only went through DAT Destroyer once, but the ones I missed/were fuzzy about twice. I read a lot of breakdowns where people went through the entire thing 2-3 times... I don't think that's necessary. Just mark the ones you miss or feel uncomfortable with, then redo those. Why do the ones you already know how to do? Chances are you'll get them right the second time.
2. DO. NOT. PROCRASTINATE. You will eventually hate yourself. I consider myself a "professional procrastinator" and eventually ended up procrastinating, but this came with an emotional break down and a sobby phone call to my parents while in an upright fetal position on the bathroom floor. DON'T DO IT!
3. If you feel like you need to reschedule, DO IT!!! So after that depressing phone call, I rescheduled my test to 1.5 weeks after my original test date. The cause of this, like I said, was procrastination. I freaked out in the cafe while studying biology and started tearing up because I knew I wasn't going to be ready in time for my original date. Went home and rescheduled. It cost me $60... but what's more expensive? $385 for the test + subsequent studying materials, delaying your test by another whopping 90 days, or $60 and 1.5 weeks? I don't regret rescheduling one bit.
4. Don't be concerned with practice test scores. Being in a testing environment is a lot different than sitting at home in your PJ's with one leg propped up on the chair. The focus is different and the mentality of needing to do well is enhanced (at least in my case). My one and only Topscore exam was abysmal... but I looked past that.
5. Surround yourself with positive people. I have an amazing roommate and an absolutely amazing boyfriend, both of whom stayed by my side the whole time, watched my emotional breakdowns and mental break downs (both of which happened often) and told me that everything would be okay... without my friends, roommates, and the best boyfriend in the world, I wouldn't have been able to make it through.
6. Don't be afraid to take rest days. There are just some days where studying will only make your day worse. I had about 4 of these days during the 2.5 months. It's okay. Don't punch yourself in the face for taking a few rest days. You need them to be more focused the following day.
7. Don't put yourself down. That's the first step to failure. If you don't believe in yourself, then you're already one step behind when you walk into that test room. Tell yourself that you can do it. You studied hard over the last few weeks/months and you know your ****. Walk in with a can-do 25+ attitude.
Days before the exam:
Cram cram cram~~~ Like I said, I did passive review of biology by going through both KBB and Cliff's for the first month - making flashcards on my iPad. Did I ever use those flashcards again...? Um, no. I whipped out scsc7211's notes and, like I said, locked myself in the bathroom and hammered everything into my head. I went through the notes a total of 4 times, extensively and very thoroughly over the course of 2.5 days.
I also needed to lightly review Ochem.
Ended up studying about 10+ hours straight up for 3 days before my exam (averaged about 3-5 hours for all the other days).
Didn't even have enough time to complete two of the Topscores and the 2009 ADA, and I didn't even review the taxonomy section. People say to relax the day before the exam... not in my case.
Day of exam:
Um... so I only ended up getting 4 hours of sleep. Partially because of the nervousness of the actual exam, partially because I kept reviewing biology concepts in my head and therefore couldn't fall asleep.
I woke up at 5:20AMish in order to catch the bus to the testing center. Even on the way, I was holding my Ochem notes and looking through them.
Got there 50 minutes early and started 30 minutes early. My testing center was pretty good - noise canceling earphones, great computers, great comfy chairs. The downside is that the laminated sheets of paper/markers aren't really erasable anymore... so if you use up all the room on your sheets, you have to raise your hand to get more. This could be a problem if you're in a time bind. Fortunately, I didn't have this issue. I traded in my sheets during my break for new ones (which I recommend you do if your sheets are like mine).
Getting only 4 hours of sleep, my eyes were super hazy and felt like they were glazed. I'm normally pretty good with waking up during an exam, but this was computerized, not written, so I stared at the screen with glazed eyes anyway. xD
I made myself as comfortable as possible - I took off my shoes and sat cross legged in the chair. I tried putting on my hood from my hoodie on, but the proctor said I had to take it off.
Test... START.
BIO: datQvault all the way! Question wording was the same, difficulty was about the same. I thought I was ready for this section despite cramming, but there were a few curveball questions (some that I had no clue about). I marked about 7 of them and felt like I purely guessed on 3 and made educated guesses on the others. I got super lucky and got only 1 taxonomy question that I knew the answer to. No plant questions. But there were quite a few "apply your knowledge" type of questions that made me think.
Compared to Topscore: a bit easier in the sense that Topscore has too many taxonomy questions! That's what brought my score down when I took it. Those darn taxonomy questions...
Compared to 2009 ADA: harder! I did the bio section the night before and got 38/40 correct (29).
GEN CHEM: Cake walk. I was most confident about this section when I walked in. Destroyer really solidified my confidence. Very similar to datQvault as well. Chad covered everything you need to know in this section. Not many calculations, and some of the calculations were set up as the answer choices.
Compared to Topscore: around the same difficulty.
OCHEM: Eek. The questions were pretty basic... and I thought I would have gotten around a 24, but whatevs. Destroyer is WAY overkill for this section, more so than the gen chem section. First time through Destroyer, I was hitting 56% correct. Yikes.
Compared to Topscore: Topscore is a bit more difficult.
PAT: I'm a little upset with my score because this section turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. I was expecting keyholes on the Achiever level... but it was a lot more simpler.
KH: WTF section. Not that it was "hard" per say, but I can swear to you that one question had the exact same keyhole but flipped upside down. Same proportions - I stared at it for a good 5 minutes just to check.
Compared to CDP: very comparable. Probably a smidge harder.
Compared to Achiever: cake.
TFE: VERY comparable to CDP.
ANGLES: Easier than CDP, comparable to Achiever. At least they were discernible and didn't look almost the same like in CDP.
HOLES: Easy easy. Easier than CDP for sure, comparable to Achiever. I used the symmetry method.(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ud0ZX0eEFA).
CUBES: Easier than CDP because there are less to count. Comparable to Achiever.
FOLDING: WAY easier than Achiever, slightly easier than CDP. Although there was one that really tripped me up and took a good 4-5 minutes of my time (and I probably got it wrong anyway).
RC: Just plain ole search and destroy. My only prep for this was the one Topscore exam I did. English is technically my 3rd language... but it has become my dominant language. For the tone questions/critical thinking questions, I just skimmed the paper to get a good idea of what the answer would be. Time was of the essence here, and I escaped by a smidge.
QR: Easier than Math destroyer! But I ran out of time. I really like algebra/geometry, but when it comes to timed tests, I tend to freak out a bit. I had about 5 questions to finish with only 4 minutes to go. Wasn't good. The sad thing is that I didn't even have enough time to guess on one question (time ran out right when I was about to click "next"!).
Aftermath:
After the horrible QR section, I felt defeated. I took the survey at the end and was surprised to see the scores pop up on the screen. I freaked out and covered them up with my laminated sheets and unveiled them one by one (in the tens place) while my heart was literally pounding in my ears. When I saw all 2's, I got super excited. Lo and behold, my scores were better than expected, especially in bio, qr, and ochem.
---
Whew, that was long. Sorry, but I really wanted to be thorough! I remember going through a ton of break downs to get some of my questions answered, and I wanted to answer them all here and now for people that may have similar questions about the DAT experience.
As a final note, please remember that everyone is different. Heck, everyone gets different test versions. The best you can do is prepare for the worst and come out standing tall. I was dreaming about a 22+ in everything and hoped for a 20+. I got pretty much what I wanted. Juggling part time work, part time school, part time volunteer, a long distance relationship (gotta add this in... this IS tough)... although my road was bumpy, it paid off. I worked hard for this for 2.5 months, going through a fiery pit and back (and needless to say, I think I can keep my iPad... hooray!) You did too or you will too. So believe in yourself! You can do it too!
Now I can either go roll around in the grass... or take a nap... probably the latter. Hehe.
----------------
PRACTICE TEST SCORES:
Topscore 1, full (before bio review):
BIO 17, GC 19, OC 19, TS 19, PAT 20, RC 21, QR 21, AA 19.
Topscore 2, bio: 19
Topscore 3, bio: 19
Achiever PAT 1: 19
Achiever PAT 2: 19
CDP Tests 1-10:
17/18/19/20/21/24/23/23/25/24
datQvault:
Bio (first 3 - no studying at all/last 4 during and after cramming): 18/17/18/19/18/19/20/22/22/20
Chem (first 1 - no studying at all/a lot of simple mistakes made throughout): 19/20/17/20/22/21/21/21/22/20
Ochem (only did the free one): 26
Math Destroyer: (first 5 untimed, remaining 5 timed, excluded tests 11/12)
16/21/24/22/23/18/20/20/21/18
I hope this post helps at least one person out there...
I am fresh from the testing center (after having eaten an extremely unhealthy lunch as a reward) and am pretty happy with my scores!
PAT 22
QR 21
RC 24
BIO 22
GC 29
OC 22
TS 23
AA 24
Trust me, some of these scores were quite the surprise, but whatever, I'll take ‘em!
Study time: 2.5 months (first 5 weeks were passive, last 5 weeks practice/extensive review)
Schedule: working 12.5 hours a week, taking a 3day/week microbio class, attempted to volunteer at 4 locations for a total of 16 hours a week (failed miserably, by the way). Initially started with dentalWorks 8-week schedule but ended up deviating from it a whole lot. (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=9544221#post9544221)
Study materials (with relative helpfulness):
1. Kaplan blue book (4/10): man, I hated reading from this book. I don't know what it was, but during my study month, this was the last book I wanted to touch. Maybe it was the font? The fact that this book was so fat that I hated lugging it around? It was actually because of this book that I dreaded studying for biology.
2. Cliff's AP biology (9/10): the knight in shining armor compared to KBB. Succinct, clear explanations and contains almost ALL you need to know for the test.
3. Chad's GC videos (10/10): this was the only thing I used to review for general chem. Everyone was right about this guy! He IS. THE. MAN. His videos are specifically for pre-healthers. He knows what you need to know for the exam and he explains everything so clearly. He is all you need. Seriously.
4. Chad's OC videos (9/10): another winner, but I didn't think they were as comprehensive as the gen chem videos (just by a bit). But how can they be, right? There are only so many reagents in the world that you can cover. But even so, this was all I used to review Ochem.
5. Chad's QR videos (6/10): these were OK... his best videos were the permutation/combination/probability videos. But that's probably because I suck at them... so anything that helped me with permutations/combinations/probability were pretty golden to me. Haha.
6. CrackDAT PAT (9/10): great great practice for PAT. I started from a measly 17 and maxed out at 25 by the end. For me, this was quite representative of the real PAT section in all sections. Did the first timed, failed miserably because I couldn't even get to the cubes or pattern folding. Second one untimed to get a real feel, then timed from then on.
7. Topscore (7/10): man, did Topscore suck (in my opinion). I've read that Topscore is the most representative of your scores... I don't think so. More on this later.
8. Achiever, PAT section only (9/10): wow, this section was beastly hard. CDP paled in comparison in the keyhole, TFE, and pattern folding section. The hole punches and angles were easier and quite representative of the real DAT.
9. 2009 ADA, BIO section only (5/10): wayyyy too easy and with mistakes.
10. DAT Destroyer 2012 (8/10): great chem and ochem section. Definitely a lot harder and more calculations involved than the real thing. The bio questions weren't that great, but they definitely did test your knowledge! It's a great way to find out what you need to work on. As for the QR section - the questions were really really watered down. Way too easy and I felt like they weren't worth doing. If you are really hazy in basic algebra/geometry, these are worth looking at for practice, but otherwise, spend your time doing something else.
11. Math Destroyer 2012 (10/10): the best practice for the math section! The questions were a tad bit harder than my test, but it definitely is perfect for your timing. Even though I ran out of time on the real DAT, I still think this is great practice that gives you the hardest questions you'll see on the real thing. I didn't do tests 11/12 - unreasonably long. I did the first 5 tests untimed to get a feel for the questions then the remaining 5 timed to work on timing (there are 13 tests in the 2012 version).
12. DatQVault BIO/GC/OC (10/10): one of the best sources! The questions are VERY VERY similar to the real thing in terms of difficulty, wording, and choice options. I consider this to be the best thing you can get for your DAT prep - seriously. I even recall some similarly worded questions that showed up on my real DAT. Also, the "Save question" function is great! You can save all the questions you missed or feel iffy on and test yourself on them later.
13. scsc7211's "beefed up Alan's bio notes" (9.5/10): this became my savior for biology. I have no idea what Alan's original notes look like, and although it's missing a section dedicated to only plants, this compilation of notes IS THE BEST. (scsc7211, if you're reading this, you are awesome for posting these up!!!). Scsc7211 took Alan's bio notes and added to them. I even saw elements of the DAT Destroyer bio section in there, which was handy because I didn't have time to review the ones I missed. I became limited on time and this was my last and final resort. I didn't start serious review of biology until 3 days before my test. I printed out the notes and cooped myself in the bathroom, highlighting and talking out loud to myself. (Studied in the bathroom so I wouldn't bother my roommate, not because I was doin' business or anything. xD)
(http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=968243)
Study advice:
1. Study the way you feel comfortable, but keep it reasonable. I'm a strong believer in writing down things to retain them better, but this wasn't working for me while I was studying for biology, at all. During the first week, I was spending 3-5 hours on biology alone... not good if you have a busy schedule and have a crap ton of other stuff to study. This led me to drop biology altogether for a couple of weeks (procrastination) and caused a cascade of other problems. If I could go back in time, I would have done my studying a lot more differently. I eventually bought myself an early "good score" gift - an iPad (if I did well, I get to keep it - good incentive to study) - and downloaded a flashcard app and used that to type up biology flashcards. A lot more efficient and better.
Also for the record, I only went through DAT Destroyer once, but the ones I missed/were fuzzy about twice. I read a lot of breakdowns where people went through the entire thing 2-3 times... I don't think that's necessary. Just mark the ones you miss or feel uncomfortable with, then redo those. Why do the ones you already know how to do? Chances are you'll get them right the second time.
2. DO. NOT. PROCRASTINATE. You will eventually hate yourself. I consider myself a "professional procrastinator" and eventually ended up procrastinating, but this came with an emotional break down and a sobby phone call to my parents while in an upright fetal position on the bathroom floor. DON'T DO IT!
3. If you feel like you need to reschedule, DO IT!!! So after that depressing phone call, I rescheduled my test to 1.5 weeks after my original test date. The cause of this, like I said, was procrastination. I freaked out in the cafe while studying biology and started tearing up because I knew I wasn't going to be ready in time for my original date. Went home and rescheduled. It cost me $60... but what's more expensive? $385 for the test + subsequent studying materials, delaying your test by another whopping 90 days, or $60 and 1.5 weeks? I don't regret rescheduling one bit.
4. Don't be concerned with practice test scores. Being in a testing environment is a lot different than sitting at home in your PJ's with one leg propped up on the chair. The focus is different and the mentality of needing to do well is enhanced (at least in my case). My one and only Topscore exam was abysmal... but I looked past that.
5. Surround yourself with positive people. I have an amazing roommate and an absolutely amazing boyfriend, both of whom stayed by my side the whole time, watched my emotional breakdowns and mental break downs (both of which happened often) and told me that everything would be okay... without my friends, roommates, and the best boyfriend in the world, I wouldn't have been able to make it through.
6. Don't be afraid to take rest days. There are just some days where studying will only make your day worse. I had about 4 of these days during the 2.5 months. It's okay. Don't punch yourself in the face for taking a few rest days. You need them to be more focused the following day.
7. Don't put yourself down. That's the first step to failure. If you don't believe in yourself, then you're already one step behind when you walk into that test room. Tell yourself that you can do it. You studied hard over the last few weeks/months and you know your ****. Walk in with a can-do 25+ attitude.
Days before the exam:
Cram cram cram~~~ Like I said, I did passive review of biology by going through both KBB and Cliff's for the first month - making flashcards on my iPad. Did I ever use those flashcards again...? Um, no. I whipped out scsc7211's notes and, like I said, locked myself in the bathroom and hammered everything into my head. I went through the notes a total of 4 times, extensively and very thoroughly over the course of 2.5 days.
I also needed to lightly review Ochem.
Ended up studying about 10+ hours straight up for 3 days before my exam (averaged about 3-5 hours for all the other days).
Didn't even have enough time to complete two of the Topscores and the 2009 ADA, and I didn't even review the taxonomy section. People say to relax the day before the exam... not in my case.
Day of exam:
Um... so I only ended up getting 4 hours of sleep. Partially because of the nervousness of the actual exam, partially because I kept reviewing biology concepts in my head and therefore couldn't fall asleep.
I woke up at 5:20AMish in order to catch the bus to the testing center. Even on the way, I was holding my Ochem notes and looking through them.
Got there 50 minutes early and started 30 minutes early. My testing center was pretty good - noise canceling earphones, great computers, great comfy chairs. The downside is that the laminated sheets of paper/markers aren't really erasable anymore... so if you use up all the room on your sheets, you have to raise your hand to get more. This could be a problem if you're in a time bind. Fortunately, I didn't have this issue. I traded in my sheets during my break for new ones (which I recommend you do if your sheets are like mine).
Getting only 4 hours of sleep, my eyes were super hazy and felt like they were glazed. I'm normally pretty good with waking up during an exam, but this was computerized, not written, so I stared at the screen with glazed eyes anyway. xD
I made myself as comfortable as possible - I took off my shoes and sat cross legged in the chair. I tried putting on my hood from my hoodie on, but the proctor said I had to take it off.
Test... START.
BIO: datQvault all the way! Question wording was the same, difficulty was about the same. I thought I was ready for this section despite cramming, but there were a few curveball questions (some that I had no clue about). I marked about 7 of them and felt like I purely guessed on 3 and made educated guesses on the others. I got super lucky and got only 1 taxonomy question that I knew the answer to. No plant questions. But there were quite a few "apply your knowledge" type of questions that made me think.
Compared to Topscore: a bit easier in the sense that Topscore has too many taxonomy questions! That's what brought my score down when I took it. Those darn taxonomy questions...
Compared to 2009 ADA: harder! I did the bio section the night before and got 38/40 correct (29).
GEN CHEM: Cake walk. I was most confident about this section when I walked in. Destroyer really solidified my confidence. Very similar to datQvault as well. Chad covered everything you need to know in this section. Not many calculations, and some of the calculations were set up as the answer choices.
Compared to Topscore: around the same difficulty.
OCHEM: Eek. The questions were pretty basic... and I thought I would have gotten around a 24, but whatevs. Destroyer is WAY overkill for this section, more so than the gen chem section. First time through Destroyer, I was hitting 56% correct. Yikes.
Compared to Topscore: Topscore is a bit more difficult.
PAT: I'm a little upset with my score because this section turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. I was expecting keyholes on the Achiever level... but it was a lot more simpler.
KH: WTF section. Not that it was "hard" per say, but I can swear to you that one question had the exact same keyhole but flipped upside down. Same proportions - I stared at it for a good 5 minutes just to check.
Compared to CDP: very comparable. Probably a smidge harder.
Compared to Achiever: cake.
TFE: VERY comparable to CDP.
ANGLES: Easier than CDP, comparable to Achiever. At least they were discernible and didn't look almost the same like in CDP.
HOLES: Easy easy. Easier than CDP for sure, comparable to Achiever. I used the symmetry method.(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ud0ZX0eEFA).
CUBES: Easier than CDP because there are less to count. Comparable to Achiever.
FOLDING: WAY easier than Achiever, slightly easier than CDP. Although there was one that really tripped me up and took a good 4-5 minutes of my time (and I probably got it wrong anyway).
RC: Just plain ole search and destroy. My only prep for this was the one Topscore exam I did. English is technically my 3rd language... but it has become my dominant language. For the tone questions/critical thinking questions, I just skimmed the paper to get a good idea of what the answer would be. Time was of the essence here, and I escaped by a smidge.
QR: Easier than Math destroyer! But I ran out of time. I really like algebra/geometry, but when it comes to timed tests, I tend to freak out a bit. I had about 5 questions to finish with only 4 minutes to go.
Wasn't good. The sad thing is that I didn't even have enough time to guess on one question (time ran out right when I was about to click "next"!).Aftermath:
After the horrible QR section, I felt defeated. I took the survey at the end and was surprised to see the scores pop up on the screen. I freaked out and covered them up with my laminated sheets and unveiled them one by one (in the tens place) while my heart was literally pounding in my ears. When I saw all 2's, I got super excited. Lo and behold, my scores were better than expected, especially in bio, qr, and ochem.
---
Whew, that was long. Sorry, but I really wanted to be thorough! I remember going through a ton of break downs to get some of my questions answered, and I wanted to answer them all here and now for people that may have similar questions about the DAT experience.
As a final note, please remember that everyone is different. Heck, everyone gets different test versions. The best you can do is prepare for the worst and come out standing tall. I was dreaming about a 22+ in everything and hoped for a 20+. I got pretty much what I wanted. Juggling part time work, part time school, part time volunteer, a long distance relationship (gotta add this in... this IS tough)... although my road was bumpy, it paid off. I worked hard for this for 2.5 months, going through a fiery pit and back (and needless to say, I think I can keep my iPad... hooray!
) You did too or you will too. So believe in yourself! You can do it too! Now I can either go roll around in the grass... or take a nap... probably the latter. Hehe.
----------------
PRACTICE TEST SCORES:
Topscore 1, full (before bio review):
BIO 17, GC 19, OC 19, TS 19, PAT 20, RC 21, QR 21, AA 19.
Topscore 2, bio: 19
Topscore 3, bio: 19
Achiever PAT 1: 19
Achiever PAT 2: 19
CDP Tests 1-10:
17/18/19/20/21/24/23/23/25/24
datQvault:
Bio (first 3 - no studying at all/last 4 during and after cramming): 18/17/18/19/18/19/20/22/22/20
Chem (first 1 - no studying at all/a lot of simple mistakes made throughout): 19/20/17/20/22/21/21/21/22/20
Ochem (only did the free one): 26
Math Destroyer: (first 5 untimed, remaining 5 timed, excluded tests 11/12)
16/21/24/22/23/18/20/20/21/18
I hope this post helps at least one person out there...
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