DAT FINISHED (08/12/06)! What do you think?

[drewdent]

I just finished the DAT yesterday. Before I took the test, I browsed this site to see other people's scores and got stressed out at how ridiculously high they were, so I figured I should post mine even though they're not nearly as high. Here are my scores:

PAT: 25 (99.8%)
AA: 22 (96.1%)

BIO: 21 (93.5%)
GCHEM: 21 (88.3%)
OCHEM: 23 (93.9%)
TS: 21 (92.8%)

RC: 18 (38.9%)
QR: 26 (99.0%)

I took the Kaplan course and studied for about 3-4 months using their materials, and Barron's. For my last few weeks of studying I just did practice test after practice test, using Kaplan, Topscore & Achiever programs. Overall, I found the real DAT to be easier than all the practice exams out there except for the reading comprehension (I don't know why I struggled so much with it), and the angle ranking section of the PAT. The sciences were all so straightforward I was surprised I didn't actually score higher. If your practice scores aren't as high as you hope, don't freak out - the real thing isn't as bad. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

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[KiTmAn]

wow...tell me more about PAT..how was it? how were your achiever scores...I am taking mine tomm..Please let me kno..

 

[shushu]

congrats! job well done...can u post ur achiever scores up? also how was the hole punching? is it more like achiever or kaplan? and was ochem just reactions? was QR as hard as kaplan? thanks in advance!!

 

[GoDucks69]

I just finished the DAT yesterday. Before I took the test, I browsed this site to see other people's scores and got stressed out at how ridiculously high they were, so I figured I should post mine even though they're not nearly as high. Here are my scores:

PAT: 25 (99.8%)
AA: 22 (96.1%)

BIO: 21 (93.5%)
GCHEM: 21 (88.3%)
OCHEM: 23 (93.9%)
TS: 21 (92.8%)

RC: 18 (38.9%)
QR: 26 (99.0%)

I took the Kaplan course and studied for about 3-4 months using their materials, and Barron's. For my last few weeks of studying I just did practice test after practice test, using Kaplan, Topscore & Achiever programs. Overall, I found the real DAT to be easier than all the practice exams out there except for the reading comprehension (I don't know why I struggled so much with it), and the angle ranking section of the PAT. The sciences were all so straightforward I was surprised I didn't actually score higher. If your practice scores aren't as high as you hope, don't freak out - the real thing isn't as bad. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Dude obviously most of the people that post their scores proudly post their high scores and the ones with lower scores wont post them as often. Your scores are great, nicely done.

 

[drewdent]

wow...tell me more about PAT..how was it? how were your achiever scores...I am taking mine tomm..Please let me kno..

My PAT practice scores were:
Achiever: 19/22/21 (They were HARD, but good practice)
Topscore: 20/28/23
Kaplan: 19/22/21/29/24/25/29

I'd say the real thing is most similar to Kaplan, and maybe Topscore, except for angle ranking - I'm sure I lost all my points from that section (a lot of the angles I got were ~1 degree differences). Normally I go through angle ranking really fast, but in the real thing I was staring at the screen for ages trying to rank them. Also, there was one challenging hole-punching question, and there were no surprises in keyholes, cube counting, and pattern folding.

 

[RING12]

can you help me with pat tricks for key holes and pattern folding? iam taking the test on 22 aguest and iam getting bad scores on kaplan and topscore 16,17.iam very worry.

 

[ConfusedOne]

My PAT practice scores were:
Achiever: 19/22/21 (They were HARD, but good practice)
Topscore: 20/28/23
Kaplan: 19/22/21/29/24/25/29

I'd say the real thing is most similar to Kaplan, and maybe Topscore, except for angle ranking - I'm sure I lost all my points from that section (a lot of the angles I got were ~1 degree differences). Normally I go through angle ranking really fast, but in the real thing I was staring at the screen for ages trying to rank them. Also, there was one challenging hole-punching question, and there were no surprises in keyholes, cube counting, and pattern folding.

damn you're awesome at the PAT, but i guess you already knew that. Congrats on the great scores.

 

[drewdent]

can you help me with pat tricks for key holes and pattern folding? iam taking the test on 22 aguest and iam getting bad scores on kaplan and topscore 16,17.iam very worry.

First: get BARRON'S DAT and read the section on PAT. It has great tips.
Second: PRACTICE and get ACHIEVER. They're incredibly hard, but they have 3D images of all their objects so you can play around with them and actually see what you missed.

This might be obvious, but it took me a while to realize that with pattern folding, you can only fold IN TO the page.

 

[pearlywhite]

First: get BARRON'S DAT and read the section on PAT. It has great tips.
Second: PRACTICE and get ACHIEVER. They're incredibly hard, but they have 3D images of all their objects so you can play around with them and actually see what you missed.

This might be obvious, but it took me a while to realize that with pattern folding, you can only fold IN TO the page.

Where are you applying?

 

[Envision]

If its not to much trouble, do you think you can post up the rest of your practice scores? also, for the QR section, was it about the same as your practice test, or is it easier/harder. for bio, did you find kaplan sufficient? thanx. btw, awesome stats!! my test is wednesday and i would kill for those scores

 

[drewdent]

If its not to much trouble, do you think you can post up the rest of your practice scores? also, for the QR section, was it about the same as your practice test, or is it easier/harder. for bio, did you find kaplan sufficient? thanx. btw, awesome stats!! my test is wednesday and i would kill for those scores

It's a good thing I kept a note of all my practice scores. Here you go, hope this helps:

Kaplan: (Diag/Midterm/Final/PT1/PT2/PT3)
AA: 15.4 14.2 18.6 20.4 19.2 18.4
PAT: 19 22 21 25 29 24
SNS: 14.3 14.7 19.3 19.0 18.7 18.0
BIO: 15 16 18 19 20 21
GCHEM: 13 14 19 19 19 18
OCHEM: 15 14 21 19 17 15
RC: 18 14 17 21 19 19
QR: 16 13 18 24 21 19

Barrons: (1/2) + ADA
AA: 22.8 -- 25.0
PAT: 23 -- 23
SNS: 21.7 20.7 25.3
BIO: 18 18 21
GCHEM: 19 23 25
OCHEM: 28 21 30
RC: -- -- --
QR: 26 25 24

TopScore: (1/2/3)
AA: 18.4 18.6 19.8
PAT: 20 28 23
SNS: 17.3 18.0 17.3
BIO: 19 18 16
GCHEM: 17 18 17
OCHEM: 16 18 19
RC: 19 18 21
QR: 21 21 26

Achiever: (1/2/3)
AA: 20.4 -- 20.0
PAT: 19 22 21
SNS: 19.7 17.0 18.0
BIO: 17 19 17
GCHEM: 23 15 18
OCHEM: 19 17 19
RC: 20 -- 22
QR: 23 -- 24

High Scores/Average/Realistic (minus first few tries)
AA: 24.8 19.5 20.1
PAT: 29 24.2 25.1
SNS: 25.3 18.1 19.2
BIO: 21 18.1 18.6
GCHEM: 25 18.3 19.2
OCHEM: 30 18.1 19.9
RC: 22 19.6 19.0
QR: 26 23.6 23.7


QR was about the same/easier than practice tests. I might have been lucky, but I didn't get any conversion problems that required memorization of units, or any questions that I wasn't prepared for based on the Kaplan material. It was very do-able, just keep a good pace.

There were some things from the bio section that Kaplan didn't cover very well... I got a 21 based on their material, but if you want to get in the mid-high 20s you'll probably need to use other sources too (which I didn't do).

 

['11]

hey
congrats on scores
you are going to getting to top schools ...that is for sure
how did you istudy for quantitative reasoning? and what went wrong with your rc?

 

[drewdent]

[QUOTE='11]hey
congrats on scores
you are going to getting to top schools ...that is for sure
how did you istudy for quantitative reasoning? and what went wrong with your rc?[/QUOTE]

I just did a lot of practice problems/tests (everything Kaplan/Barron's/TopScore & Achiever) had to offer. All the questions were pretty basic, and nothing that Kaplan, or Barron's didn't cover. Just do a lot of practice tests to make sure your pace is up to speed.
For RC I did the roadmapping method which wasn't as effective in the real test for me because the paragraphs weren't as well organized or clearcut as the passages I got in practice tests. Also, most of the questions were "which one doesn't belong" with answer choices that were paraphrased and mixed throughout the passage instead of direct quotes. I've always been a slow reader though and I never exceeded a 22 on practice tests.

 

[jkh1886]

I just did a lot of practice problems/tests (everything Kaplan/Barron's/TopScore & Achiever) had to offer. All the questions were pretty basic, and nothing that Kaplan, or Barron's didn't cover. Just do a lot of practice tests to make sure your pace is up to speed.
For RC I did the roadmapping method which wasn't as effective in the real test for me because the paragraphs weren't as well organized or clearcut as the passages I got in practice tests. Also, most of the questions were "which one doesn't belong" with answer choices that were paraphrased and mixed throughout the passage instead of direct quotes. I've always been a slow reader though and I never exceeded a 22 on practice tests.

English your first language?

 

[drewdent]

English your first language?

yeah, haha

 

[jkh1886]

yeah, haha

so during the interviews, when they ask you how it is that these foreigners who don't speak the language are outscoring you, what would you say?

...you didn't finish the section? lol
...you'll be fine.

 

[who knows...]

This might be obvious, but it took me a while to realize that with pattern folding, you can only fold IN TO the page.

I never knew that! Thank you!