Heres a little breakdown for all those that are interested. I spent approximately 1 month doing this. Most of my efforts were spent on the sciences.
PAT: I only did practice tests from kaplan because I was already somewhat familiar with all the different types of questions from having already taken the DAT once and studying for it then. My score actually went down this time around from a 22 from the first test which Im not exaclty thrilled about.
BIO: I read all through the Kaplan book. Understood the concepts and did many many MANY practice problems. First I went through all the practice problems at the end of each chapter in the Kaplan book until I knew them thoroughly, while taking notes and going back to learn anything I was even slightly unaware of. I went through the entire DAT Destroyer book TWICE. And by this I dont mean just doing the problems but also understanding the reasons behind it. I think this book does an amazing job with the science sections. I also took the three Top Score tests on their CD. I went up 3 points from the first DAT by doing this. The questions on the DAT are basically very random but very similar to DAT Destroyer. Also, around the same time that I took the DAT, I was taking Anatomy and Physiology 2 and had already taken Anatomy and Phys1 and I believe that these classes helped me tremendously with the bio section.
GCHEM: This is definately not my cup of tea but i basically did the same thing I did for bio for this section as well. I went up 4 points by doing this. THere were more conceptual questions than calculations...i recall about 6-8 calculations but they were pretty simple. If u understand the main ideas behind all the major equations, you should have no problem with the calculations.
OCHEM: I stayed the same on both tests in this section, although I felt like I studied much better this time around. I religiously memorized all the reactions but unfortunately was only faced with 4-5 reactions on the real test. There were only 2 Spectroscopy questions.
RC: For this section I used the "seach and destroy" method. I was in the zone throughout the whole thing and was even left with about 5 mins upon completing the 3rd passage. I didnt study or prepare myself at all for this section. Believe it or not, I didnt even read one passage prior to taking the real DAT.
QR: I dont know what to say about this secition. Although I went up 2 points I am still not happy with this score. I used DAT destroyer mainly and understood and memorized all the formulas. I just feel that no matter how much you study for this section or how many practice problems you do, you will always be thrown rediculous questions that just dont allow you to finish in time. I couldnt finish about 5 questions and was forced to guess on those. Im sure many of you can agree with me on this.
If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.
