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- Nov 12, 2010
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Took the DAT on 11/05/10, here are my scores:
PAT: 26 (99.6)
QR: 27 (99.7)
RC: 28 (99.7)
Bio: 20 (88.0)
GC: 20 (79.8)
OC: 24 (95.7)
TS: 21 (91.6)
AA: 24 (99.6)
A little background: I knew going in that the sciences would be my weakest area. I took the classes like 3 years ago so I knew I had a lot of reviewing to do. PAT/QR/and RC were pretty easy for me but I still did a lot to prepare for these sections as well.
Kaplan Blue Book:
I bought the Kaplan Blue Book in the summer and read through it. Didn't intensely study it but just skimmed through to get reacquainted with the material. It also did a good job of explaining the other sections of the DAT and giving practice problems.
Kaplan Course:
I'd heard good things about the Kaplan classroom course so I decided to take it in September and October. I thought it was great review for the sciences. The actual class wasn't that great but the review notes and online material were very useful and it was nice to have everything scheduled out for you. PAT and QR lessons were pretty useless for me but if you are weak in those areas then I can see the class being helpful for you. The RC lessons/workshops were actually surprisingly helpful and the techniques really helped me on test day.
Following the class I felt like I had a good handle on the material so it was time to get as many practice tests in as I could before the test (I had about 2 1/2 weeks until the test), so I got DAT Destroyer, TopScore, and Achiever.
DAT Destroyer:
Tons of review problems. Really helped me in Bio and Orgo. Didn't get through too many of the GC because of time (wish now that I had done more).
Achiever:
Extremely difficult. My scores were all pretty bad in the sciences. PAT also extremely hard and a lot harder than the actual DAT. It actually is great practice as long as you don't freak out and get discouraged.
TopScore:
More accurate to the actual DAT difficulty-wise. Good review overall.
General studying advice:
I definitely recommend doing at least few full-length practice tests. They are pretty exhausting, however, so I wouldn't do too many close to test time. Towards the end of my studying I was mainly just doing science section practices because I needed the practice there the most.
The Test:
Bio:
Hard. Very broad subject so I'm not sure what else to say but study your a#% off and get as many practice problems in as you can.
GC:
Thought I would do better on this one but still happy. Wish I could've got more practice in with more Destroyer problems.
Orgo:
Very happy with this one. I think Destroyer helped a lot. I also made a practice test of about 70 reactions that I made from going through the Kaplan class Review Notes.
PAT:
Easier than Achiever for sure. My best advice is just to work as fast as you can and if you get a little stuck on one then just skip it and come back to it at the end. It helped me to come back and get a second look at some. For the paper folding I made a large 4x4 grid and put dots in each square as I visualized the paper unfolding. Helped me to draw them out as opposed to visualizing everything. Angle ranking was difficult but I'd say just work as fast as you can and mark the ones you're not sure about. It can be really helpful to take a second look. One thing I sometimes do for angle ranking if I have two similar angles is to try to visualize either the complimentary or supplementary angle to the angle. Those can sometimes be easier to differentiate.
RC:
I took about 8-9 minutes to read the passage. As I read I wrote down the key words for each paragraph. I then took 11-12 minutes to answer the questions for each passage. This method worked really well for me. If you don't get a question relatively quickly just skip it and you might see the answer as you search for the answers to other questions.
QR:
Best advice is just work as fast as you possibly can. Once you get an answer go with it and move on. Calculator worked fine, but I did have some clearing issues so I just pressed CE and C a couple times each if I wanted to clear.
Let me know if you guys have any questions! Study hard and be confident and focused and you'll do great!
One question for you guys:
What do ya'll think about my chances if I were to apply now? I was going to wait and apply next cycle but maybe this score is good enough to get in this late? I'm an NC resident so UNC is my number 1 choice right now. GPA is not that great: 3.1 (mercy for Duke Biomedical Engineering?) Let me know what you guys think, thanks!
PAT: 26 (99.6)
QR: 27 (99.7)
RC: 28 (99.7)
Bio: 20 (88.0)
GC: 20 (79.8)
OC: 24 (95.7)
TS: 21 (91.6)
AA: 24 (99.6)
A little background: I knew going in that the sciences would be my weakest area. I took the classes like 3 years ago so I knew I had a lot of reviewing to do. PAT/QR/and RC were pretty easy for me but I still did a lot to prepare for these sections as well.
Kaplan Blue Book:
I bought the Kaplan Blue Book in the summer and read through it. Didn't intensely study it but just skimmed through to get reacquainted with the material. It also did a good job of explaining the other sections of the DAT and giving practice problems.
Kaplan Course:
I'd heard good things about the Kaplan classroom course so I decided to take it in September and October. I thought it was great review for the sciences. The actual class wasn't that great but the review notes and online material were very useful and it was nice to have everything scheduled out for you. PAT and QR lessons were pretty useless for me but if you are weak in those areas then I can see the class being helpful for you. The RC lessons/workshops were actually surprisingly helpful and the techniques really helped me on test day.
Following the class I felt like I had a good handle on the material so it was time to get as many practice tests in as I could before the test (I had about 2 1/2 weeks until the test), so I got DAT Destroyer, TopScore, and Achiever.
DAT Destroyer:
Tons of review problems. Really helped me in Bio and Orgo. Didn't get through too many of the GC because of time (wish now that I had done more).
Achiever:
Extremely difficult. My scores were all pretty bad in the sciences. PAT also extremely hard and a lot harder than the actual DAT. It actually is great practice as long as you don't freak out and get discouraged.
TopScore:
More accurate to the actual DAT difficulty-wise. Good review overall.
General studying advice:
I definitely recommend doing at least few full-length practice tests. They are pretty exhausting, however, so I wouldn't do too many close to test time. Towards the end of my studying I was mainly just doing science section practices because I needed the practice there the most.
The Test:
Bio:
Hard. Very broad subject so I'm not sure what else to say but study your a#% off and get as many practice problems in as you can.
GC:
Thought I would do better on this one but still happy. Wish I could've got more practice in with more Destroyer problems.
Orgo:
Very happy with this one. I think Destroyer helped a lot. I also made a practice test of about 70 reactions that I made from going through the Kaplan class Review Notes.
PAT:
Easier than Achiever for sure. My best advice is just to work as fast as you can and if you get a little stuck on one then just skip it and come back to it at the end. It helped me to come back and get a second look at some. For the paper folding I made a large 4x4 grid and put dots in each square as I visualized the paper unfolding. Helped me to draw them out as opposed to visualizing everything. Angle ranking was difficult but I'd say just work as fast as you can and mark the ones you're not sure about. It can be really helpful to take a second look. One thing I sometimes do for angle ranking if I have two similar angles is to try to visualize either the complimentary or supplementary angle to the angle. Those can sometimes be easier to differentiate.
RC:
I took about 8-9 minutes to read the passage. As I read I wrote down the key words for each paragraph. I then took 11-12 minutes to answer the questions for each passage. This method worked really well for me. If you don't get a question relatively quickly just skip it and you might see the answer as you search for the answers to other questions.
QR:
Best advice is just work as fast as you possibly can. Once you get an answer go with it and move on. Calculator worked fine, but I did have some clearing issues so I just pressed CE and C a couple times each if I wanted to clear.
Let me know if you guys have any questions! Study hard and be confident and focused and you'll do great!
One question for you guys:
What do ya'll think about my chances if I were to apply now? I was going to wait and apply next cycle but maybe this score is good enough to get in this late? I'm an NC resident so UNC is my number 1 choice right now. GPA is not that great: 3.1 (mercy for Duke Biomedical Engineering?) Let me know what you guys think, thanks!
