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DAT Taken: January 25, 2013
Scores and Percentile:
Perceptual Ability: 20 81.0
Quantitative Reasoning: 18 86.6
Reading Comprehension: 19 67.6
Biology: 19 83.5
General Chemistry: 23 97.3
Organic Chemistry: 21 89.7
Total Science: 21 96.2
Academic Average: 20 93.4
I called this thread your average Joe because I do believe that I am like most of the people who check out this site. I studied a good amount without sacrificing my social life. Also when I first started to study it looked like I would not do well at all, the diagnostic for Kaplan I got a 13 and was in the seven percentile for biology (yeah not seventeenth, not seventieth, seven). But with a good study ethic and a good attitude I turned it around. I'm going to talk about how I studied and some tips for test day.
I started studying this past summer, tried to also study during the semester. By tried, I mean in September-October I barely studied, however once November hit, I started cracking down.
Biology: I used the Princeton Review DAT/OAT books to study material, and for questions I used the Kaplan online class, DAT Qvault, and Topscore. The Princeton Review Book I think is pretty good in preparing you to know the material for the DAT. They also provide questions which are a good for you to understand the material, but Kaplan, Qvault, and Topscore are much better for test questions. The Kaplan online class was basically just awful, however, the resources that they have with the syllabus does help out a lot, especially if your just starting to study. Those resources helped me out to see my weaknesses and my strengths. Qvault was great, it might seem a little random, but that is exactly how the real DAT is, you are going to get really random questions. The last couple of Qvault exams did reflect my actual DAT bio score. I liked Topscore in how they presented their questions because it represents DAT fairly well. These were the last exams I did, and my scores were in the 17s, so I do think that the DAT grades easier, but the difficulty is around the same for bio.
Chemistry: I was already decent at chem, but I did need to brush up on a couple of things and get better with the timing on questions. Same as Bio for the material I used. Kaplan subject test, I thought were fairly hard, because I felt you need more time to answer those questions. However, this was probably the best to prepare me for chem. Qvault again my score on their exams did reflect my score on the actual DAT, however, I do think that the questions were easier than the actual DAT. Topscore again has a good representation but I was scoring in the 18s.
Organic Chemistry: This is actually my best subject, I took Rutgers orgo, and if anyone goes to Rutgers or knows of Rutgers organic chemistry, then you'll how ridiculous it is and you will know organic chemistry inside and out for the rest of your life, fortunately for the DAT and unfortunately for the rest of your life (as depressing as it sounds I'm very serious). Kaplan-closest assessment I believe to the actual DAT, but a bit easier I think. Qvault-way too easy compared to the real thing. Topscore-didn't like it, maybe because I did the worst on them lol but I say kaplan is the best choice out of these three. I do think I should of scored a bit higher, I probably made silly mistakes most likely because I barely spend anytime working on organic chemistry i.e. practice questions even if your already super comfortable with that subject.
Perceptual Ability: This was the section I was most scared about (besides bio) when I first started to study. I actually kept putting this off and only starting to study for this in early January. I suggest not to do that lol. I do recommend CRACK DAT PAT (CDP), it is extremely helpful. Keyholes: easier than the actual DAT, the DAT had more close to the answer choices (while CDP usually only had one good answer), but CDP does really help in this section. TFE: Its good if you can visualize the shape, however, on my DAT it was much easier to count the lines instead of visualizing the shape. Angles: This I think is ridiculous, CDP is good because it has the practice angles section which differ by like 3-6 degrees from each other (you get to set it) and all are orientated in different ways, sounds impossible right? yeah it really is and thats how it is on the real DAT, maybe a bit easier but not by much. Don't spend too much time on this, I spent the most time TFE, and Pattern Folding. Hole Punches: This section for me was the section I got the quickest, CDP also has a practice section for this and its great, very comparable to the DAT, this should be one of the quickest sections. Cube counting: This one should be your quickest section, CDP has a practice section for this, use it, and learn ways to count cubes faster, eventually you should get to a point where when you see a cube and it's surrounding cubes, you should easily know how many sides would be covered, without actually trying to count each side that would be covered. Pattern folding: For me this was the hardest section (next to angles, seriously that angles section is ridiculous). I don't know any tips for this, what I did was look at the answers first and then start crossing off. CDP is very comparable in this section to the actual DAT. So for PAT get CDP it is really worth it. This is the section of the DAT where practice really does make perfect. Side note: don't trust kaplan's PAT it sucks-way too easy.
Reading Comp.: The same material as the sciences. I'm not much of a reader lol and I was hoping for an 18 and ended up getting a 19 so not complaining about that at all lol. I think the best thing to do is skim the reading, then search and destroy. Another tip is watch your time on this section, I don't know about anyone else, but while taking the practice exams I really had to work on my timing.
Quantitative Reasoning: Same material as the sciences. This was my best section, next to Organic chemistry. However, on the DAT I had a good amount of trig questions and a couple of geometry questions. I knew I should study trig and some geometry stuff, but I didn't think it'll affect me that much. So the lesson here is even if you have trouble with material that seems like its only a very small part of your practice exams, study it anyways because it might not be a small part on your actual DAT.
Tips for preparing for test day: I studied a good amount during the summer, and from november-decemeber I would study about 4 hours a week for the DAT. Once winter break started, I studied about 4-5 hours a day. By this time though I already knew my weaknesses and strengths were. The week before test day was about 6 hours a day. The majority of the practice exams I took were during the break.
Relax: The day before my exam my brother and his wife flew in and I hadn't seen them for months, my mom was worried that I would be distracted and not focus on my DAT. Honestly, I was, but it helped me out so much. A common problem when people take important tests is that they study way too much the day before and have a burn out on test day, or stress so much that they can't sleep and not be 100 percent taking the test. One of the best advice is after you poured your heart studying (or I guess your brain right? whatever) take a day to relax, only study a little the day before the DAT. My brother coming home basically took over my stress feeling for the exam, and having him home made me feel good, and when your feeling good you do good (I know it's well, not good who cares).
Tips for test questions: From the name you obviously can tell I like tennis a lot. One of the things I learned in tennis is that if you ever play a bad point, which causes you to lose a game, or a set, you have to look pass that and move on and not go hulk crazy by yelling and smashing racquets. The same applies during test day answering questions. The bio section had a lot of ecology and evolution and taxonomy questions. I didn't expect this, I was hoping for much more physiological systems questions because that was what I was good at. After the section I was sad, angry, I wanted to break the noise-canceling headphones because those things suck and irritates your ears. But time is still going and I used the same mentality in tennis, move onto the chem section don't think about the bio and focus one question at a time. And I ended up getting a 23 in the chem section. Also I had enough time after the chem and ochem that I went back to the bio section and was much more calm and answered questions that I would of gotten wrong if I didn't go back.
Scores and Percentile:
Perceptual Ability: 20 81.0
Quantitative Reasoning: 18 86.6
Reading Comprehension: 19 67.6
Biology: 19 83.5
General Chemistry: 23 97.3
Organic Chemistry: 21 89.7
Total Science: 21 96.2
Academic Average: 20 93.4
I called this thread your average Joe because I do believe that I am like most of the people who check out this site. I studied a good amount without sacrificing my social life. Also when I first started to study it looked like I would not do well at all, the diagnostic for Kaplan I got a 13 and was in the seven percentile for biology (yeah not seventeenth, not seventieth, seven). But with a good study ethic and a good attitude I turned it around. I'm going to talk about how I studied and some tips for test day.
I started studying this past summer, tried to also study during the semester. By tried, I mean in September-October I barely studied, however once November hit, I started cracking down.
Biology: I used the Princeton Review DAT/OAT books to study material, and for questions I used the Kaplan online class, DAT Qvault, and Topscore. The Princeton Review Book I think is pretty good in preparing you to know the material for the DAT. They also provide questions which are a good for you to understand the material, but Kaplan, Qvault, and Topscore are much better for test questions. The Kaplan online class was basically just awful, however, the resources that they have with the syllabus does help out a lot, especially if your just starting to study. Those resources helped me out to see my weaknesses and my strengths. Qvault was great, it might seem a little random, but that is exactly how the real DAT is, you are going to get really random questions. The last couple of Qvault exams did reflect my actual DAT bio score. I liked Topscore in how they presented their questions because it represents DAT fairly well. These were the last exams I did, and my scores were in the 17s, so I do think that the DAT grades easier, but the difficulty is around the same for bio.
Chemistry: I was already decent at chem, but I did need to brush up on a couple of things and get better with the timing on questions. Same as Bio for the material I used. Kaplan subject test, I thought were fairly hard, because I felt you need more time to answer those questions. However, this was probably the best to prepare me for chem. Qvault again my score on their exams did reflect my score on the actual DAT, however, I do think that the questions were easier than the actual DAT. Topscore again has a good representation but I was scoring in the 18s.
Organic Chemistry: This is actually my best subject, I took Rutgers orgo, and if anyone goes to Rutgers or knows of Rutgers organic chemistry, then you'll how ridiculous it is and you will know organic chemistry inside and out for the rest of your life, fortunately for the DAT and unfortunately for the rest of your life (as depressing as it sounds I'm very serious). Kaplan-closest assessment I believe to the actual DAT, but a bit easier I think. Qvault-way too easy compared to the real thing. Topscore-didn't like it, maybe because I did the worst on them lol but I say kaplan is the best choice out of these three. I do think I should of scored a bit higher, I probably made silly mistakes most likely because I barely spend anytime working on organic chemistry i.e. practice questions even if your already super comfortable with that subject.
Perceptual Ability: This was the section I was most scared about (besides bio) when I first started to study. I actually kept putting this off and only starting to study for this in early January. I suggest not to do that lol. I do recommend CRACK DAT PAT (CDP), it is extremely helpful. Keyholes: easier than the actual DAT, the DAT had more close to the answer choices (while CDP usually only had one good answer), but CDP does really help in this section. TFE: Its good if you can visualize the shape, however, on my DAT it was much easier to count the lines instead of visualizing the shape. Angles: This I think is ridiculous, CDP is good because it has the practice angles section which differ by like 3-6 degrees from each other (you get to set it) and all are orientated in different ways, sounds impossible right? yeah it really is and thats how it is on the real DAT, maybe a bit easier but not by much. Don't spend too much time on this, I spent the most time TFE, and Pattern Folding. Hole Punches: This section for me was the section I got the quickest, CDP also has a practice section for this and its great, very comparable to the DAT, this should be one of the quickest sections. Cube counting: This one should be your quickest section, CDP has a practice section for this, use it, and learn ways to count cubes faster, eventually you should get to a point where when you see a cube and it's surrounding cubes, you should easily know how many sides would be covered, without actually trying to count each side that would be covered. Pattern folding: For me this was the hardest section (next to angles, seriously that angles section is ridiculous). I don't know any tips for this, what I did was look at the answers first and then start crossing off. CDP is very comparable in this section to the actual DAT. So for PAT get CDP it is really worth it. This is the section of the DAT where practice really does make perfect. Side note: don't trust kaplan's PAT it sucks-way too easy.
Reading Comp.: The same material as the sciences. I'm not much of a reader lol and I was hoping for an 18 and ended up getting a 19 so not complaining about that at all lol. I think the best thing to do is skim the reading, then search and destroy. Another tip is watch your time on this section, I don't know about anyone else, but while taking the practice exams I really had to work on my timing.
Quantitative Reasoning: Same material as the sciences. This was my best section, next to Organic chemistry. However, on the DAT I had a good amount of trig questions and a couple of geometry questions. I knew I should study trig and some geometry stuff, but I didn't think it'll affect me that much. So the lesson here is even if you have trouble with material that seems like its only a very small part of your practice exams, study it anyways because it might not be a small part on your actual DAT.
Tips for preparing for test day: I studied a good amount during the summer, and from november-decemeber I would study about 4 hours a week for the DAT. Once winter break started, I studied about 4-5 hours a day. By this time though I already knew my weaknesses and strengths were. The week before test day was about 6 hours a day. The majority of the practice exams I took were during the break.
Relax: The day before my exam my brother and his wife flew in and I hadn't seen them for months, my mom was worried that I would be distracted and not focus on my DAT. Honestly, I was, but it helped me out so much. A common problem when people take important tests is that they study way too much the day before and have a burn out on test day, or stress so much that they can't sleep and not be 100 percent taking the test. One of the best advice is after you poured your heart studying (or I guess your brain right? whatever) take a day to relax, only study a little the day before the DAT. My brother coming home basically took over my stress feeling for the exam, and having him home made me feel good, and when your feeling good you do good (I know it's well, not good who cares).
Tips for test questions: From the name you obviously can tell I like tennis a lot. One of the things I learned in tennis is that if you ever play a bad point, which causes you to lose a game, or a set, you have to look pass that and move on and not go hulk crazy by yelling and smashing racquets. The same applies during test day answering questions. The bio section had a lot of ecology and evolution and taxonomy questions. I didn't expect this, I was hoping for much more physiological systems questions because that was what I was good at. After the section I was sad, angry, I wanted to break the noise-canceling headphones because those things suck and irritates your ears. But time is still going and I used the same mentality in tennis, move onto the chem section don't think about the bio and focus one question at a time. And I ended up getting a 23 in the chem section. Also I had enough time after the chem and ochem that I went back to the bio section and was much more calm and answered questions that I would of gotten wrong if I didn't go back.
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