- Joined
- Jan 31, 2008
- Messages
- 1,270
- Reaction score
- 3
WOW ... what a relief. I took the DAT in Aug. 07 and as you can see below I didn't do so well. In fact, I didn't get one interview last year after applying to 5 schools. July, 31 was my retake day and after a much improved score and 19 school applications submitted hopefully ill get a few interviews this year. what do you guys think?
07/08
PAT 22/22
QR 14/17
RC 18/20
BIO 15/20
GC 15/21
OC 17/20
TS 16/20
AA 16/20
How did I study? lets see ... I started by reading much of what has been posted on here for about the past year ... just about everything that most people on here have suggested is what I decided must work for others and hopefully would work for me.
Last year I relied on the fact that I was taking the Kaplan course and thought it would take me to the promise land ... terrible mistake. The course was good for providing tips and tricks but terrible at the detailed, basics that must be known in order to even have a chance. To anyone wondering ... I would not take the course again if I had it to do all over again I would suggest saving the money and using it to buy many of the other better goodies that many have used in order to be successful.
Achiever Scores:
Test 1:
PAT:18
QR: 20
RC: 21
BIO: 18
GC: 17
OC: 17
TS:18
Test 2:
QR:20
BIO:18
GC: 16
OC: 15
TS: 17
Test 3:
QR:19
BIO: 15
GC: 18
OC: 18
TS: 17
BIO - Kaplan, briefly Destroyer, course textbook, schaum's, Achiever, and the big winner = Cliffs. Ive become a huge fan of Cliffs AP bio. I must have read it 5 times cover to cover over the past year ... underlining and paper clipping the most important details and pages. I memorized many of the charts and diagrams and would reproduce them from memory on extra paper. Achiever was great, especially for timing and explanations but for almost every sections was way harder than the actual test.
GC - Kaplan blue was good for this section. I read it many times and did the review problems. I again used Destroyer only briefly but it was helpful. Achiever, again over kill city, but good for timing and practice. Cliffs college chemistry was ok but overall I think Kaplan blue was a good resource and if you're good with all the formulas and review problems I don't think you'll be shocked come test day. One of the best resources that I used was a DVD (http://www.t2i2edu.com/GS_Overview.asp) that was used in my college gen chem classes. PM me if you're interested in buying mine.
OC - ScienceAide review cards, Kaplan blue, Achiever, the maps in the answers section of Destroyer was great reaction references. For this section however, I concentrated on my class notes as they were a well organized easy review and the information was exactly as I remembered it from class.
RC - I did one Achiever for practice about 2 weeks before test time and thats about it. I think all the reading that was needed for studying helped and it kills multiple birds with one stone. I used the Kaplan method and mapped out the article. As time became scarce I moved to the search and destroy. The first 2 articles were very easy reads, the final article on the other hand was the longest and most involved and unfortunately gave me the most trouble which was compounded by zero time remaining.
QR - Kaplan BB and then I really went to work on Destroyer for this section and probably went through the questions at least 10 times. I also used Achiever. With this section time is your worst enemy as the content isn't that difficult. If only the easy button could be used to give you more time.
PAT - I learned some great tricks in the Kaplan course and it was also a good intro course in the ways of the PAT world. I used Achiever and I really loved Crack DAT PAT, I purchase the 5 test King Edition - each is good and bad in its own way. PAT is all about practice and the more you do i think the better you'll get ... up to a certain level which for me was obviously a 22.
I would love to hear any and all feedback. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or want to know anything about ... well anything.
07/08
PAT 22/22
QR 14/17
RC 18/20
BIO 15/20
GC 15/21
OC 17/20
TS 16/20
AA 16/20
How did I study? lets see ... I started by reading much of what has been posted on here for about the past year ... just about everything that most people on here have suggested is what I decided must work for others and hopefully would work for me.
Last year I relied on the fact that I was taking the Kaplan course and thought it would take me to the promise land ... terrible mistake. The course was good for providing tips and tricks but terrible at the detailed, basics that must be known in order to even have a chance. To anyone wondering ... I would not take the course again if I had it to do all over again I would suggest saving the money and using it to buy many of the other better goodies that many have used in order to be successful.
Achiever Scores:
Test 1:
PAT:18
QR: 20
RC: 21
BIO: 18
GC: 17
OC: 17
TS:18
Test 2:
QR:20
BIO:18
GC: 16
OC: 15
TS: 17
Test 3:
QR:19
BIO: 15
GC: 18
OC: 18
TS: 17
BIO - Kaplan, briefly Destroyer, course textbook, schaum's, Achiever, and the big winner = Cliffs. Ive become a huge fan of Cliffs AP bio. I must have read it 5 times cover to cover over the past year ... underlining and paper clipping the most important details and pages. I memorized many of the charts and diagrams and would reproduce them from memory on extra paper. Achiever was great, especially for timing and explanations but for almost every sections was way harder than the actual test.
GC - Kaplan blue was good for this section. I read it many times and did the review problems. I again used Destroyer only briefly but it was helpful. Achiever, again over kill city, but good for timing and practice. Cliffs college chemistry was ok but overall I think Kaplan blue was a good resource and if you're good with all the formulas and review problems I don't think you'll be shocked come test day. One of the best resources that I used was a DVD (http://www.t2i2edu.com/GS_Overview.asp) that was used in my college gen chem classes. PM me if you're interested in buying mine.
OC - ScienceAide review cards, Kaplan blue, Achiever, the maps in the answers section of Destroyer was great reaction references. For this section however, I concentrated on my class notes as they were a well organized easy review and the information was exactly as I remembered it from class.
RC - I did one Achiever for practice about 2 weeks before test time and thats about it. I think all the reading that was needed for studying helped and it kills multiple birds with one stone. I used the Kaplan method and mapped out the article. As time became scarce I moved to the search and destroy. The first 2 articles were very easy reads, the final article on the other hand was the longest and most involved and unfortunately gave me the most trouble which was compounded by zero time remaining.
QR - Kaplan BB and then I really went to work on Destroyer for this section and probably went through the questions at least 10 times. I also used Achiever. With this section time is your worst enemy as the content isn't that difficult. If only the easy button could be used to give you more time.
PAT - I learned some great tricks in the Kaplan course and it was also a good intro course in the ways of the PAT world. I used Achiever and I really loved Crack DAT PAT, I purchase the 5 test King Edition - each is good and bad in its own way. PAT is all about practice and the more you do i think the better you'll get ... up to a certain level which for me was obviously a 22.
I would love to hear any and all feedback. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or want to know anything about ... well anything.
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