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So just finished the DAT earlier today. Not really excited about my scores, most of you would def. say its fine but I'm kind of disappointed, maybe its because of my subpar GPA... 3.1 from Cal or that I really studied my ass off for the test.
Anyways, scores were
Perceptual Ability: 26
Quantitative Reasoning: 19
Reading Comp: 21
Bio: 20
GChem: 21
OChem: 23
TS: 21
AA:21
Honestly, the test is much much easier then anything I've seen out there. It's just pretty simple in general. I'll write a complete breakdown later, time to mope around and see whether or not I want a retake. By the way, Ill be applying next cycle.
Any comments? I'm done with school, was planning on working for the next year or two. But now, I was wondering if I should do a postbac or something like that. Schools Im really interested in are UOP, UCLA, USC, Tufts, and Boston.
BREAKDOWN
I don't want to type too much as studying for this thing is different for everyone and depends on the background that they have, so I'll just say what worked and what didn't for me.
Materials Used: Berkeley Review MCAT Material, Kaplan BB + Online Material, DAT Destroyer, CDP, TopScore, Achiever, GRE Math, Campbells Textbook, Barrons Bio
I tried to get my hands on everything I could find, it's really not necessary but I just thought that the more resources you had, the better. It's good in a sense to see things in different perspectives, some books can really clarify on a particular subject just by how to put it in words for you.
Out of all the material, I found the MCAT Review books, Kaplan Online and CDP to be the most helpful. Everything else is good but just way overkill for the DAT.
BIO: Basics, Like most people had said, no physiology really, maybe a plant question but nothing difficult. Know your basics! Type of questions are similar to Kaplan Online and TopScore.
GChem and Ochem: Like most people has said, this is the most straightforward section. Gchem is conceptual, had about 5 calulation questions tops and they were all just to set up the equation. Ochem was also very conceptual. Again, know your basics! Reactions are very basic. SN1, SN2, E1, E2, Acidity, Resonance, Induction just stuff like that. Know your basics and you're good to go. I studied the most for these two sections because it was my weakest area. Im a bio major so I kind of winged the bio a bit. Last time I took Chem was 4 years ago, got all Cs in Gchem and Ochem. =X. So if I could pull 20s Im sure you guys can.
PAT: Most similar to CDP. I hate PAT on Kaplan, Topscore and Achiever. Achiever is just too hard. TopScore is just ugly looking (lines arent straight, figures are just crappy looking). Kaplan is a bit on the easy side, although I thought their Keyholes, TFE, and Pattern Folding is pretty good. Just Practice with it and you should be good.
Best technique I found for the TFE, is line counting, it really does work and can eliminate basically 2 choices. The last two, just kind of look at it and figure it out. They're usually subtle differences but shouldn't be too bad to get.
Angles: I was doing so well with this on Kaplan until I switched over to CDP. Man, I would get like 8 or 9 right out of 15. I was so worried about this but what helped me most is to look at it once and just choose. Don't stare at it too long because your eyes start playing tricks with you. On the tougher ones, I tried the HILL technique (usu on obtuse angles). Rotate the image so one side is flat, then just imagine a small man hiking up the hill. The easier route is the larger angle (lower slope).
Don't remember my practice scores but on CDP, theyre all around 22-24. Achiever, I only did one of it b/c it was so hard my head hurt afterwards. haha, and I got an 18 on that single one. Topscore I got like 20-21. I just thought pictures sucked, looks like the program was made in the 80s or something. Kaplan, again around 21-23.
Reading Comprehension:
This is where I started feeling some pressure. Not sure If I can tell you guys what passages I got b/c that might be considered cheating but if it's OK, then I don't mind posting it afterwards. I hate this section. Did practice on TopScore only because somehow, their passages were much easier reads. Scored around 19-21 which was what I expected to do on the actual. Well, it sucked, Im surprised I got a 21. I used Search and Destroy for the first passage but skipped at least 5 questions. Then I realized Search and Destroy isn't going to work. So I ended up reading the passage super fast. The second passage came and I read it. But the questions were alll factual and I could've done the Search and Detroy method. Anyways, it really depends on the passage you get and the questions you get. Can't really help you here. I thought I bombed this section, so was pretty happy to get a 21.
Quantitative Reasoning: I actually studied quite a bit for this, got 23-24s on all my practice... So I was upset to see a 19. I think one reason for me is b/c I thought I did so bad on the Reading Comp section that I was just kind of bummed out. Anyways, the section isn't as hard as everyone says. Practice, practice, practice and youll do fine. Knkow your Geometry, trig. Lots of word problems but theyre pretty easy once you set up the equations. Anyways, I thought Kaplan Online was the best resource for this, although their trig section is a little weak. Everything else was awesome.
So overall, test isn't too bad. Of course, you'll have to put the work and effort in but try not to stress too much. I took the Kaplan course in Mid March, but didn't study too much during the course. Studied on and off for this since March... Had a fulltime job but quit at the end of August so that I could devote the entire month to study for the exam. I think I spent too much time studying for this, if you really decide to start studying for the DAT, and do it diligently everyday, you really only need maybe 2 months for it.
Read something everyday, learn to skim, do math problems everyday and you should do fine. Well, that's my take on it. Didn't proofread this so sorry for any grammatical errors. Feel free to PM me with any questions or post it on here and I'll be happy to answer.
Now, the reason Im not too excited about my scores...
For one, I did super bad in my lower div "weed out" classes. I got a couple C-, straight Cs in all the Bio, Gchem, OChem. I wonder if I even need to take those C- courses over again. Had like a 2.1-2.2 GPA at the time. It was so bad that I had a D+ in a class and retook the course just to get a C-... =X. Anyways, things happened, and I started to focus more in school and last two years got a 3.8 GPA with a couple semesters getting 4.0.
So what do you guys think my chances are? I really want to stay in CA. 3.1GPA/21TS/21AA/26PAT. Lots of other extracurriculars and research (paper in the process of getting published)
Anyways, scores were
Perceptual Ability: 26
Quantitative Reasoning: 19
Reading Comp: 21
Bio: 20
GChem: 21
OChem: 23
TS: 21
AA:21
Honestly, the test is much much easier then anything I've seen out there. It's just pretty simple in general. I'll write a complete breakdown later, time to mope around and see whether or not I want a retake. By the way, Ill be applying next cycle.
Any comments? I'm done with school, was planning on working for the next year or two. But now, I was wondering if I should do a postbac or something like that. Schools Im really interested in are UOP, UCLA, USC, Tufts, and Boston.
BREAKDOWN
I don't want to type too much as studying for this thing is different for everyone and depends on the background that they have, so I'll just say what worked and what didn't for me.
Materials Used: Berkeley Review MCAT Material, Kaplan BB + Online Material, DAT Destroyer, CDP, TopScore, Achiever, GRE Math, Campbells Textbook, Barrons Bio
I tried to get my hands on everything I could find, it's really not necessary but I just thought that the more resources you had, the better. It's good in a sense to see things in different perspectives, some books can really clarify on a particular subject just by how to put it in words for you.
Out of all the material, I found the MCAT Review books, Kaplan Online and CDP to be the most helpful. Everything else is good but just way overkill for the DAT.
BIO: Basics, Like most people had said, no physiology really, maybe a plant question but nothing difficult. Know your basics! Type of questions are similar to Kaplan Online and TopScore.
GChem and Ochem: Like most people has said, this is the most straightforward section. Gchem is conceptual, had about 5 calulation questions tops and they were all just to set up the equation. Ochem was also very conceptual. Again, know your basics! Reactions are very basic. SN1, SN2, E1, E2, Acidity, Resonance, Induction just stuff like that. Know your basics and you're good to go. I studied the most for these two sections because it was my weakest area. Im a bio major so I kind of winged the bio a bit. Last time I took Chem was 4 years ago, got all Cs in Gchem and Ochem. =X. So if I could pull 20s Im sure you guys can.
PAT: Most similar to CDP. I hate PAT on Kaplan, Topscore and Achiever. Achiever is just too hard. TopScore is just ugly looking (lines arent straight, figures are just crappy looking). Kaplan is a bit on the easy side, although I thought their Keyholes, TFE, and Pattern Folding is pretty good. Just Practice with it and you should be good.
Best technique I found for the TFE, is line counting, it really does work and can eliminate basically 2 choices. The last two, just kind of look at it and figure it out. They're usually subtle differences but shouldn't be too bad to get.
Angles: I was doing so well with this on Kaplan until I switched over to CDP. Man, I would get like 8 or 9 right out of 15. I was so worried about this but what helped me most is to look at it once and just choose. Don't stare at it too long because your eyes start playing tricks with you. On the tougher ones, I tried the HILL technique (usu on obtuse angles). Rotate the image so one side is flat, then just imagine a small man hiking up the hill. The easier route is the larger angle (lower slope).
Don't remember my practice scores but on CDP, theyre all around 22-24. Achiever, I only did one of it b/c it was so hard my head hurt afterwards. haha, and I got an 18 on that single one. Topscore I got like 20-21. I just thought pictures sucked, looks like the program was made in the 80s or something. Kaplan, again around 21-23.
Reading Comprehension:
This is where I started feeling some pressure. Not sure If I can tell you guys what passages I got b/c that might be considered cheating but if it's OK, then I don't mind posting it afterwards. I hate this section. Did practice on TopScore only because somehow, their passages were much easier reads. Scored around 19-21 which was what I expected to do on the actual. Well, it sucked, Im surprised I got a 21. I used Search and Destroy for the first passage but skipped at least 5 questions. Then I realized Search and Destroy isn't going to work. So I ended up reading the passage super fast. The second passage came and I read it. But the questions were alll factual and I could've done the Search and Detroy method. Anyways, it really depends on the passage you get and the questions you get. Can't really help you here. I thought I bombed this section, so was pretty happy to get a 21.
Quantitative Reasoning: I actually studied quite a bit for this, got 23-24s on all my practice... So I was upset to see a 19. I think one reason for me is b/c I thought I did so bad on the Reading Comp section that I was just kind of bummed out. Anyways, the section isn't as hard as everyone says. Practice, practice, practice and youll do fine. Knkow your Geometry, trig. Lots of word problems but theyre pretty easy once you set up the equations. Anyways, I thought Kaplan Online was the best resource for this, although their trig section is a little weak. Everything else was awesome.
So overall, test isn't too bad. Of course, you'll have to put the work and effort in but try not to stress too much. I took the Kaplan course in Mid March, but didn't study too much during the course. Studied on and off for this since March... Had a fulltime job but quit at the end of August so that I could devote the entire month to study for the exam. I think I spent too much time studying for this, if you really decide to start studying for the DAT, and do it diligently everyday, you really only need maybe 2 months for it.
Read something everyday, learn to skim, do math problems everyday and you should do fine. Well, that's my take on it. Didn't proofread this so sorry for any grammatical errors. Feel free to PM me with any questions or post it on here and I'll be happy to answer.
Now, the reason Im not too excited about my scores...
For one, I did super bad in my lower div "weed out" classes. I got a couple C-, straight Cs in all the Bio, Gchem, OChem. I wonder if I even need to take those C- courses over again. Had like a 2.1-2.2 GPA at the time. It was so bad that I had a D+ in a class and retook the course just to get a C-... =X. Anyways, things happened, and I started to focus more in school and last two years got a 3.8 GPA with a couple semesters getting 4.0.
So what do you guys think my chances are? I really want to stay in CA. 3.1GPA/21TS/21AA/26PAT. Lots of other extracurriculars and research (paper in the process of getting published)
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