DAT done! Still Dazed.

[Mackerel]

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My scores:


PA: 17 (66.8%)
QR: 16 (57.7%) 😡
RC: 21 (82.1%)
Bio: 23 (98.9%)
GC: 22 (92.0%)
OC: 24 (95.5%)
TS: 23 (98.6%)
AA: 21 (94.4%)

Ate sushi the day before (gf paid for it), stopped studying two days before the exam to relax.

Morning of the test i forgot to get driving directions. I found myself in the wrong side of the city. I ran into an empty post office and asked what zipcode I was in (80220). I thought to myself oh ****, then asked where was 80111. The three guys at the counter knew exactly where I had to go! (I think they memorize every zipcode in the area.) Anyways I finally arrived at the prometric center five minutes before my appointment (I also stopped to pee at a gas station); I was out of breath and NOT RELAXED. 😳

Had to pee again before the test.

So I start...

SNS:
Overall finished 18 minutes early

Bio:
Questions were straight foward. Preparing for this section is like preparing for any other bio exam, except they dont tell you about the baseball bat swing to the stomach. (Thats how I felt after the first few questions.) After the swing, you have to regain your COMPOSURE! One plant question, no classification, lots of genetics, everything else is blurry. I marked a few and came back, but didnt change any answers. Shaums is out of date with the genetics chapter btw. Kaplan BB is good to start, subject exams I got from this board REALLY helped to show me where I was weak at.

GenChem:
Again, you need confidence and COMPOSURE! Memorize those formulas! I just remembered PV=nRT...mistake! I figured I could derive other formulas from this when needed but when the adreneline is flowing i started to blur out. I skipped a bunch of problems, but when I came back to them later they seemed so simple. Kaplan BB = plenty of help!

O-Chem:
easy, mostly reactions, no suprises if u surf the boards on here.

PAT:
Cant say much due to my results. I only used Kaplan BB to familarize myself with what they wanted, (knowing the real deal would be harder!) Apeture was easier than ADA practice, angles were slightly easier than ADA practice, hole-punching was HARD, cube counting was straight foward, pattern folding was hard.
During the break I had to pee badly.

RC:
Cant say much, had to pee at the end but finished 25 min early. I just scanned for answers. I saved the "infer the meaning" stuff for last. After I peed I came back and changed some answers.

QR:
My biggest mistake was TIME MANAGEMENT! When I skipped some questions I did not click on an answer before I marked it and continued! When time was running out I looked at the review table and saw that I had EIGHT questions unmarked with 30 seconds to go. Loading each question took 8-9 seconds EACH. Needless to say ANSWER EVERY QUESTION EVEN IF YOU DONT KNOW THE ANSWER AND YOU PLAN ON COMMING BACK TO IT ANYHOW! I had to pee the whole time while this was going on. The questions were simple ALG and easy stats (except for the ones I skipped of course) Bottom line I would get one minute into a question and realize it will take 1-2 minutes longer to solve, so I felt like I was in a pickle between finishing or skipping. I knew how to do all the questions I just didnt know how to do them FAST!

Anyways I peed alot (normal h20 consumption, the diuretic fairy must have blessed me today), I need to pee now. Feel free to ask questions!

 

[Kane]

i'll save the analysis for others, as i'm far away from taking the test -- but trying to get a feel for what's to come.

but i appreciated your play-by-play.

question: so not only does one have to take the DAT on the computer...but you have to overcome the learning curve of understading how to deal with the mechanics of simply taking the test?! do these prometric places offer a tutorial session to help a person familiarize themselves with test protocals (for lack of a better term)?

 

[messenger]

congrats! i noticed the zip code to be in colorado!
im in colorado too, taking the test soon!
where did you take your exam, and how cool were they about PAT with what you can or cant do with the screen! and how did you get lost! i think i am gonna go there before me test and check things out.
congrats and thanks! 🙂
messenger.

 

[ddsjymaeng]

congratulation dude... nice scores u got
sushi the day before hahahaha
I love sushi.... I had peanuts and tuna the night before the test... 😀

 

[Mackerel]

i'll save the analysis for others, as i'm far away from taking the test -- but trying to get a feel for what's to come.

but i appreciated your play-by-play.

question: so not only does one have to take the DAT on the computer...but you have to overcome the learning curve of understading how to deal with the mechanics of simply taking the test?! do these prometric places offer a tutorial session to help a person familiarize themselves with test protocals (for lack of a better term)?

They do offer a tutorial which is also on their website, i thinks i would have handled the format better if i tried topscore or DAT Acheiver.

 

[Mackerel]

congrats! i noticed the zip code to be in colorado!
im in colorado too, taking the test soon!
where did you take your exam, and how cool were they about PAT with what you can or cant do with the screen! and how did you get lost! i think i am gonna go there before me test and check things out.
congrats and thanks! 🙂
messenger.

I did not use the paper folding method over there (Greenwood Village), though I'm sure they wouldnt care. The place seemed lax.

 

[issa]

what was hard in the hole punching section??
were they different than kaplan bb questions??

 

[Mackerel]

what was hard in the hole punching section??
were they different than kaplan bb questions??

The folds were more complicated, some were punched more than once.

 

[Dr.Dientes]

How did your scores compare to Kaplan?

 

[issa]

did you get any general chem question about nuclear??

congrats
your scores are great

 

[Mackerel]

How did your scores compare to Kaplan?

On the kaplan subject tests 1-5

Bio
I would miss anywhere from 4-12 questions

Chem
I missed usually around 4

OChem
I missed 2 on my best exam and 11 on my worst

I didnt bother with QR or PAT scoring

In the kaplan BB I was scoring 19's (this was 6 months ago when I first started studying)

 

[adorable]

The folds were more complicated, some were punched more than once.

Mackerel, can you explain to us what you mean by some were punched more than once? 😕 Do you mean there were two separate holes punched for each paper fold question?

 

[issa]

Mackerel, can you explain to us what you mean by some were punched more than once? 😕 Do you mean there were two separate holes punched for each paper fold question?

he meant that the final folding had 2 holes, so after unfolding it the papar will have more than 4 holes total. i am good at these hole punching. i can get questions right even if 4 or more holes were punched. this section is too wasy for me because i practiced a lot.

 

[adorable]

he meant that the final folding had 2 holes, so after unfolding it the papar will have more than 4 holes total. i am good at these hole punching. i can get questions right even if 4 or more holes were punched. this section is too wasy for me because i practiced a lot.

Issa or Mackerel, I think i still don't really understand. Is there a link that has an example of what you are talking about?

 

[kokobean]

Issa or Mackerel, I think i still don't really understand. Is there a link that has an example of what you are talking about?

Usually after the paper is folded a couple times, they show the paper being punched ONCE. Then it's up to you to unfold it in your head.

on his exam, after the paper was folded a couple times, the paper was punched TWICE. so now you have to keep track of more holes, and where'd they end up.

make sense hopefully?

 

[Dan3223]

The QR kicked my butt too.... There just isnt enough time to do every question. My strategy was similar to yours.... I skipped all the questions that I figured would take a while.. but when I got to the end, I had about 10 minutes left and at least 10 questions marked. What really annoyed me is that the first few quesitons I went back over..... ended up being the same answer as I had already marked!