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- Apr 23, 2009
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So, dear friends, the walk down this perilous road has come to an end.
Haha, I'm full of ****, but at least the exam's done.
I didn't take topscore before taking the DAT, so I can't mention previous scores for comparison. My CDP before taking the DAT tended to be 20/section when doing sections individually, 18 when doing the full exam - I never had a problem completing it in an hour.
To begin, the scores:
Perceptual 16
Math 19
Reading 25
Biology 23
GChem 23
OChem 20
TS 22
AA 22
Clearly, I'm in mourning for my perceptual score. This does seem to continue the trend of "CDP minus 2" that I noticed on SDN. I did ~4 full exams, and a lot of the "2500 X Questions" questions on CDP. More practice was clearly needed here and I'm kicking myself in the butt for not devoting more time to it. In hindsight, I should have done ~30 minutes/day. Instead, I really just crammed for it, since I was content with the 18-20 I was doing. CDP is still the best resource that I've seen, though I wish they had more "2500 X question" sections.
Math I prepped for with the Math destroyer and a princeton review GRE Math workbook. I think the math destroyer was sufficient, though possibly lopsided. I find that there were some "work it through" problems that required calculation (which is what the destroyer focuses on), but a lot more were problems of elegance. I think the key is to either solve the problem in a few seconds, or move on to the next one - most of them just required spotting the elegance. It helped that my precalc teacher in HS, a wonderful man by the name of Mr Lostal, would mark us wrong for correct but inelegant answers. Math, he would say, was a scalpel not a hammer. Destroyer seems the best prep for the calculation problems; I can't think of any good preps for the elegance problems.
Reading. I dislike S&D, and did not do it. I read through the entire passages, and then answered the questions, going back when needed. I finished this section with 20 minutes to spare. I guess it helps that I read quickly. I got piano, and see why it pissed people off: one of the questions was actually f'n nonsensical (I could have written essays supporting every one of the four answers, due to the extremely ambiguous nature of the word "related" in the context used).
I did not prepare for reading at all. Sorry, I know that doesn't help. I did hardcore reading prep when I was about 12 (for about a year), and that combined with a lifelong love of critical reading was pretty much sufficient with regard to reading. That said, however, I've taught people reading before and I can confidently say that one of *the best* resources for reading prep is Whimbey & Lochhead's books on critical problem solving (one of their newer books: http://www.amazon.com/Problem-Solving-Comprehension-Arthur-Whimbey/dp/0805832742). Their books require partners. I've worked through 2 whimbey books with a friend for his MCAT, and we got his reading from an 11 to a 14.
Read a lot! The best way to become a fast reader is to read a lot. The best way to become an attentive reader is to ask critical questions while you read. This is a wonderful life-long habit for being an intelligent and perceptive person; the fact that it helps on standardized tests is a bonus.
Biology. I used Crack DAT Science to identify weak spots. I read up in Campbell & Reeves on those weak spots. I also read through the entirety of the Cliff's AP Bio book a couple of times to establish a general review. I'd say the vast majority of my bio review came from doing the Destroyer time and again. It's priceless. Almost none of the bio questions on the DAT were new to me - they all had counterparts in the destroyer that prepared me. I was very delighted in that regard. I did get nailed on a phylogenetic tree question, though, and writing them up was in none of those resources. If I had to do it over again, I think I would throw in a chapter from an evolution or zoology text.
GChem. I reread my GChem book (the phenomenal Brown, LeMay, and Bursten) and did all of the end-of-chapter problems. This was extreme overkill, but I was being zealous. I don't think I'd recommend this to others in the future. I also relied very heavily on the Destroyer GChem. Destroyer covered everything that landed on the exam, so I think the heavy question practice from my gchem text was not needed, but it gave me confidence. I had a few set-up questions, some stuff on equilibria, basic Molarity questions, Hess' law, and so on. Basically, just know your concepts.
OChem. I prepped here by reviewing my OChem book (it's buried under a pile of papers right now, so, whatever it was named), my OChem notes, and the Destroyer. Again, going through the textbook was overkill, and the destroyer sang all the right notes. I did have an NMR problem *and* an IR problem, so I do recommend brushing up on spectroscopy.
I was a bit put off by the disparity of my OChem score and my preparations. By the end of the summer I was hitting 100% of my textbook practice tests (from the solutions manual) and about 95% of the destroyer problems (though obviously there was a familiarity bias there). Given that nothing new landed I was expecting high 20s. Obviously I'm not upset with my score, there, but I'm not very clear on how I could have better gone about translating OChem knowledge to OChem points.
Obviously the big downer here is the PAT, but in light of everything else, and my GPA (3.94 sciences, 4.06 non-science, according to AADSAS, majoring in biology), I don't think I'm going to concern myself with a retake.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to say thank-you. I got a lot of useful tips and a lot of helpful comments from the community here during my DAT prep cycle, and I'm sure that I would have been poorer for your absence. I appreciate your collective contribution and good will a great deal.
Haha, I'm full of ****, but at least the exam's done.
I didn't take topscore before taking the DAT, so I can't mention previous scores for comparison. My CDP before taking the DAT tended to be 20/section when doing sections individually, 18 when doing the full exam - I never had a problem completing it in an hour.
To begin, the scores:
Perceptual 16
Math 19
Reading 25
Biology 23
GChem 23
OChem 20
TS 22
AA 22
Clearly, I'm in mourning for my perceptual score. This does seem to continue the trend of "CDP minus 2" that I noticed on SDN. I did ~4 full exams, and a lot of the "2500 X Questions" questions on CDP. More practice was clearly needed here and I'm kicking myself in the butt for not devoting more time to it. In hindsight, I should have done ~30 minutes/day. Instead, I really just crammed for it, since I was content with the 18-20 I was doing. CDP is still the best resource that I've seen, though I wish they had more "2500 X question" sections.
Math I prepped for with the Math destroyer and a princeton review GRE Math workbook. I think the math destroyer was sufficient, though possibly lopsided. I find that there were some "work it through" problems that required calculation (which is what the destroyer focuses on), but a lot more were problems of elegance. I think the key is to either solve the problem in a few seconds, or move on to the next one - most of them just required spotting the elegance. It helped that my precalc teacher in HS, a wonderful man by the name of Mr Lostal, would mark us wrong for correct but inelegant answers. Math, he would say, was a scalpel not a hammer. Destroyer seems the best prep for the calculation problems; I can't think of any good preps for the elegance problems.
Reading. I dislike S&D, and did not do it. I read through the entire passages, and then answered the questions, going back when needed. I finished this section with 20 minutes to spare. I guess it helps that I read quickly. I got piano, and see why it pissed people off: one of the questions was actually f'n nonsensical (I could have written essays supporting every one of the four answers, due to the extremely ambiguous nature of the word "related" in the context used).
I did not prepare for reading at all. Sorry, I know that doesn't help. I did hardcore reading prep when I was about 12 (for about a year), and that combined with a lifelong love of critical reading was pretty much sufficient with regard to reading. That said, however, I've taught people reading before and I can confidently say that one of *the best* resources for reading prep is Whimbey & Lochhead's books on critical problem solving (one of their newer books: http://www.amazon.com/Problem-Solving-Comprehension-Arthur-Whimbey/dp/0805832742). Their books require partners. I've worked through 2 whimbey books with a friend for his MCAT, and we got his reading from an 11 to a 14.
Read a lot! The best way to become a fast reader is to read a lot. The best way to become an attentive reader is to ask critical questions while you read. This is a wonderful life-long habit for being an intelligent and perceptive person; the fact that it helps on standardized tests is a bonus.
Biology. I used Crack DAT Science to identify weak spots. I read up in Campbell & Reeves on those weak spots. I also read through the entirety of the Cliff's AP Bio book a couple of times to establish a general review. I'd say the vast majority of my bio review came from doing the Destroyer time and again. It's priceless. Almost none of the bio questions on the DAT were new to me - they all had counterparts in the destroyer that prepared me. I was very delighted in that regard. I did get nailed on a phylogenetic tree question, though, and writing them up was in none of those resources. If I had to do it over again, I think I would throw in a chapter from an evolution or zoology text.
GChem. I reread my GChem book (the phenomenal Brown, LeMay, and Bursten) and did all of the end-of-chapter problems. This was extreme overkill, but I was being zealous. I don't think I'd recommend this to others in the future. I also relied very heavily on the Destroyer GChem. Destroyer covered everything that landed on the exam, so I think the heavy question practice from my gchem text was not needed, but it gave me confidence. I had a few set-up questions, some stuff on equilibria, basic Molarity questions, Hess' law, and so on. Basically, just know your concepts.
OChem. I prepped here by reviewing my OChem book (it's buried under a pile of papers right now, so, whatever it was named), my OChem notes, and the Destroyer. Again, going through the textbook was overkill, and the destroyer sang all the right notes. I did have an NMR problem *and* an IR problem, so I do recommend brushing up on spectroscopy.
I was a bit put off by the disparity of my OChem score and my preparations. By the end of the summer I was hitting 100% of my textbook practice tests (from the solutions manual) and about 95% of the destroyer problems (though obviously there was a familiarity bias there). Given that nothing new landed I was expecting high 20s. Obviously I'm not upset with my score, there, but I'm not very clear on how I could have better gone about translating OChem knowledge to OChem points.
Obviously the big downer here is the PAT, but in light of everything else, and my GPA (3.94 sciences, 4.06 non-science, according to AADSAS, majoring in biology), I don't think I'm going to concern myself with a retake.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to say thank-you. I got a lot of useful tips and a lot of helpful comments from the community here during my DAT prep cycle, and I'm sure that I would have been poorer for your absence. I appreciate your collective contribution and good will a great deal.
