DAT PREP: Topscore Pro & Kaplan

[smile_doctor]

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In general, did any of you find the practice exams in the Kaplan prep book and TopScore software to be easier, harder, or of about equal difficulty to the actual DAT?

Did you find any particular section to be significantly different in terms of difficulty between these practice tests and the real deal?

Smile_doc 😎

 

[al]

I found the actual test to be slightly more difficult than the Kaplan practices. I found that the actual test asked some questions that the "DAT Kaplan" book never covered. Don't get me wrong, I think the Kaplan book was pretty good, and I owe my dat results to that book/practice tests, etc, but there were some pretty random questions that totally threw me off on the real dat. Overall, the Kaplan materials are pretty good. The MCAT Kaplan books may actually help a little more, from what I hear..ask around.

 

[Yah-E]

Smile_Doctor,

Nice to see you on here again! Excited for the upcoming DAT? It's finally time, huh? It seems like it was just yesterday when I was studying for that "bad boy" 24/7! All that time I put in studying for that thing, god that was a bitc#!! It's all worth it my friend.

To answer your question, most people I talked to including my own experience, I find that Kaplan mock DATs are MORE challenging and the TopScore CD is fairly comparable to the real DAT. Al, is right though, the real DAT will throw in some wierd questions in the Biology section that you had no previous exposure to. But if you know your stuff, you can usually process eliminate all the wrong choices and narrow it down to 50/50. Overall, again, I can't stress enough....TopScore CD is great, but Kaplan Science Review book is the KEY studying tool. It was the nucleus of my DAT studies!!

Study hard, I expect you to beat my scores!!! 😀

 

[Regina330]

I found the following to be true:
TopScore - Bio section - comparable to real DAT
Chem - more difficult than the DAT b/c ut expected that you memorize a bunch of equations you really did not need to know for the test
OChem - pretty good
Reading Comp - good
Math - good
Perceptual - good for practice, but the DAT is much more difficult

Kaplan - Bio - good
Chem - good
OChem - good
Reading - good
Math - good
Perceptual - good for practice, but again, the DAT is much more difficult

Overall, I think that it is great to get as much practice as you can. I think TopScore may have been more difficult than Kaplan b/c the scores I got on my practice Kaplan tests were similar to my DAT scores, but I did between 4 and 7 points higher in each section on the DAT than I did in TopScore tests. So my word of advice, if you arent doing so well on the topscore tests, don't get discouraged!!

 

[JonR]

I would have to agree with Regina. Topscore is as hard or (IMHO) harder than the DAT in most sections but NOT in the PAT sections. Kaplan was comparable almost directly to the DAT, but, again, the PAT was not nearly as tough as it was on the real test.

So, review with Kaplan, take their tests, and then take the Topscore tests. Personally, I did better on the real DAT than I did on the Topscore, but some may have had other experiences. Dont get discouraged when you pull your first 15 total score on a Topscore test or your first 13 on the OChem section. Just go back to Kaplan, review, and (if you really work) eventually you will master Topscore and the real thing will be (honestly) pretty easy.

 

[sonrisa dentista]

What do you suggest for studying for the PAT part of the DAT? Any programs prepare you for the difficulty you'll see on the DAT?

 

[sonrisa dentista]

What do you suggest for studying for the PAT part of the DAT? Any programs prepare you for the difficulty you'll see on the DAT?

 

[al]

for the pat, its just practice, practice, practice, in my opinion. When you do a lot of them, you start picking up little tricks here and there, that's what its all about. and always time your self on every practice, it makes your thought processes more efficient. I'd have to say that I thought the pat was a lot harder than my practice ones, I swear there were NO differences in the degrees between the angles given!

 

[Regina330]

I completely agree with al. 3, if not 4 of the angles on the test looked identical as far as degree, plus, they are all facing different ways and the rays are of different lenghts, making it close to impossible to decide. The way I practiced for this was to give my self just a few seconds to decide the rank of the angles on practice exams. This I thought might train me better to decide on the more difficult ones on the DAT. I couldnt tell you how much better I did practicing this way, since they dont give you the perceptual breakdown, but I felt more confident. Also, the views and aperature passing get very complex on the DAT!

 

[Lin709]

For me, the Kaplan tests were harder than the real DAT exam (by that, I mean I scored better on the real DAT's than I ever did on a Kaplan practice exam)... but I'd say the Top Score exam was comparable to the real DAT's. But I definitely agree with everyone else that many of my bio questions on the real DAT's were never covered in the Kaplan book. Hope that helped!

 

[JonR]

I agree about the PAT...it's really all just practice; nothing I've seen can prepare you fully for the real thing.

 

[smile_doctor]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for the info. Now it's back to reviewing the Chem...

 

[Kung Foo]

TopScore was great preparation for the computer format of the DAT - it really helped with pacing myself, etc. i felt the TopScore tests were more difficult than my actual DAT (but then again my DAT reading sections were on my area of research - so that was just lucky) As far at the PAT...... practice, practice, practice - and I found the tips listed in the Barron's guide to the DAT really helpful - there are probably the same sort of hints in most study guides