Just defeated the DAT!
PA 26 (99.5%)
QR 25 (99.8%)
RC 27 (99.9%)
Bio 30 (100%)
GC 29 (99.9%)
OC 28 (99.5%)
TS 30 (100%)
AA 28 (100%)
Here's the TL;DR version: Kaplan book not enough detail on its own; Kaplan PAT stuff somewhat easy compared to the real thing; Kaplan math too easy; Destroyer useful; flashcards help; use practice test/questions to identify areas where you need to study more.
I know these scores sound fishy (I didn't believe it myself). I've been a long-time lurker here and found some of the info here helpful, so I wanted to share my insights (without running afoul of the ADA prohibition on test material disclosure, of course).
I was scared because I didn't want to spend 8-10 weeks studying 5-6 days a week 8-10 hours a day or whatever the usual recommendation here is. I ended up studying off and on for about 6 weeks, during which I used primarily the Kaplan online course, and followed that up with a round of the regular DAT Destroyer book.
Weeks 1-3:
I spent the first 3 weeks working through the Kaplan course off and on (more off than on). I made flashcards of everything, using studyblue. I saved the Kaplan practice test for later. I also went to a ton of family/friend events and got a new puppy. Like I said, my studying was more off than on.
Week 4:
I spent week 4 slacking off, and spent 4-5 days working through flashcards for maybe 3-6 hours a day. I didn't worry about getting them right at this point, I just reviewed them from start to finish. I had gone a bit overboard on the flashcard making, and ended up with >2000 of them.
Week 5:
I finally ordered the main DAT Destroyer book and spent the first 3 days going through the 3 science sections (1 subject per day, 30 questions at a time). Each day I also made extra flashcards of all the stuff that was not covered in Kaplan. I had about 170 cards from the Destroyer Bio section alone. These 3 days were long, about 10-12 hours of studying, probably. I didn't do the Math portion of Destroyer. Instead I spent the second half of this week taking one Kaplan practice test per day, and spending maybe 1 hour per day on flashcard review.
Week 6 (final week):
I took the ADA 2007 test early on, and then spent the rest of the week reviewing flashcards, 3-6 hours per day. At this point I focused on the cards I was getting wrong the most. I was also going to make another pass through destroyer, but didn't have the motivation. Instead I spent a few hours reviewing the end of chapter summaries in my old O Chem text (McMurry), making sure I was at least vaguely familiar with the reactions.
My thoughts on the material:
Kaplan book: Not enough detail. Whole reactions were left out in O-Chem, for example. And some of the stuff in Bio was wrong. But it still provided a decent foundation and structure for my studying, I suppose. The Kaplan math section skipped entire topics that would have been very helpful to me during the test.
Kaplan online stuff: The online workshops were useful, covering a lot of material that, frankly, should have been included in the book. I made flashcards from the workshops, because there was that much stuff in them that wasn't in the book. The Kaplan PAT stuff was sort of a joke though. Keyholes/top-front-end/cubes were okay, but I thought the angles and hole punching were way too easy, and the Kaplan pattern folding had a bunch of images that looked like scans of photocopies of dittos of some toddler's drawing. They were not helpful. Overall, I suppose the practice was still worth it. I felt that the science portion of the Kaplan tests was accurate, maybe a little too easy. The tests were useful though, for getting used to the online format and the test length.
DAT Destroyer: Definitely not enough on its own, but totally helpful for practicing in format questions and for identifying holes in my knowledge. Doing that many questions in format was very useful in getting me up to speed for the real thing.
Studyblue: I'm not affiliated with them at all, but this was way better than having to hand-write that many flashcards. I ended up springing for the premium membership ($10/month) in order to be able to sort flashcards by least studied, or most difficult (most wrong answers). The system is cool, in that you can mark whether you got a card right or wrong, and it keeps a tally for each card. The system sucks, however, in that when the server goes down, you're SOL. This happened to me about a week out, when the Amazon ECC servers went down in that huge storm. No flashcard access for 1-2 days. I was freaking out for a while.
I hope others find this useful. It is possible to achieve an awesome score, and you don't necessarily need to spend 60 hours a week for 3 months to do it. My initial scores on the free Kaplan test were not awesome: AA18, NS16, Bio17, GC17, OC14, RC19, QR24, PA21. I think the most effective strategy for me was using DAT Destroyer, practice tests and flashcards to identify areas where I was weakest, and then focusing my efforts on these areas.
PA 26 (99.5%)
QR 25 (99.8%)
RC 27 (99.9%)
Bio 30 (100%)
GC 29 (99.9%)
OC 28 (99.5%)
TS 30 (100%)
AA 28 (100%)
Here's the TL;DR version: Kaplan book not enough detail on its own; Kaplan PAT stuff somewhat easy compared to the real thing; Kaplan math too easy; Destroyer useful; flashcards help; use practice test/questions to identify areas where you need to study more.
I know these scores sound fishy (I didn't believe it myself). I've been a long-time lurker here and found some of the info here helpful, so I wanted to share my insights (without running afoul of the ADA prohibition on test material disclosure, of course).
I was scared because I didn't want to spend 8-10 weeks studying 5-6 days a week 8-10 hours a day or whatever the usual recommendation here is. I ended up studying off and on for about 6 weeks, during which I used primarily the Kaplan online course, and followed that up with a round of the regular DAT Destroyer book.
Weeks 1-3:
I spent the first 3 weeks working through the Kaplan course off and on (more off than on). I made flashcards of everything, using studyblue. I saved the Kaplan practice test for later. I also went to a ton of family/friend events and got a new puppy. Like I said, my studying was more off than on.
Week 4:
I spent week 4 slacking off, and spent 4-5 days working through flashcards for maybe 3-6 hours a day. I didn't worry about getting them right at this point, I just reviewed them from start to finish. I had gone a bit overboard on the flashcard making, and ended up with >2000 of them.
Week 5:
I finally ordered the main DAT Destroyer book and spent the first 3 days going through the 3 science sections (1 subject per day, 30 questions at a time). Each day I also made extra flashcards of all the stuff that was not covered in Kaplan. I had about 170 cards from the Destroyer Bio section alone. These 3 days were long, about 10-12 hours of studying, probably. I didn't do the Math portion of Destroyer. Instead I spent the second half of this week taking one Kaplan practice test per day, and spending maybe 1 hour per day on flashcard review.
Week 6 (final week):
I took the ADA 2007 test early on, and then spent the rest of the week reviewing flashcards, 3-6 hours per day. At this point I focused on the cards I was getting wrong the most. I was also going to make another pass through destroyer, but didn't have the motivation. Instead I spent a few hours reviewing the end of chapter summaries in my old O Chem text (McMurry), making sure I was at least vaguely familiar with the reactions.
My thoughts on the material:
Kaplan book: Not enough detail. Whole reactions were left out in O-Chem, for example. And some of the stuff in Bio was wrong. But it still provided a decent foundation and structure for my studying, I suppose. The Kaplan math section skipped entire topics that would have been very helpful to me during the test.
Kaplan online stuff: The online workshops were useful, covering a lot of material that, frankly, should have been included in the book. I made flashcards from the workshops, because there was that much stuff in them that wasn't in the book. The Kaplan PAT stuff was sort of a joke though. Keyholes/top-front-end/cubes were okay, but I thought the angles and hole punching were way too easy, and the Kaplan pattern folding had a bunch of images that looked like scans of photocopies of dittos of some toddler's drawing. They were not helpful. Overall, I suppose the practice was still worth it. I felt that the science portion of the Kaplan tests was accurate, maybe a little too easy. The tests were useful though, for getting used to the online format and the test length.
DAT Destroyer: Definitely not enough on its own, but totally helpful for practicing in format questions and for identifying holes in my knowledge. Doing that many questions in format was very useful in getting me up to speed for the real thing.
Studyblue: I'm not affiliated with them at all, but this was way better than having to hand-write that many flashcards. I ended up springing for the premium membership ($10/month) in order to be able to sort flashcards by least studied, or most difficult (most wrong answers). The system is cool, in that you can mark whether you got a card right or wrong, and it keeps a tally for each card. The system sucks, however, in that when the server goes down, you're SOL. This happened to me about a week out, when the Amazon ECC servers went down in that huge storm. No flashcard access for 1-2 days. I was freaking out for a while.
I hope others find this useful. It is possible to achieve an awesome score, and you don't necessarily need to spend 60 hours a week for 3 months to do it. My initial scores on the free Kaplan test were not awesome: AA18, NS16, Bio17, GC17, OC14, RC19, QR24, PA21. I think the most effective strategy for me was using DAT Destroyer, practice tests and flashcards to identify areas where I was weakest, and then focusing my efforts on these areas.
