- Joined
- Sep 6, 2006
- Messages
- 29
- Reaction score
- 0
First off, Congrats to all who have taken DAT's and best of luck to those who haven't. This exam demands many sacrifices and hard work, and I hope it pays off in the end for all of you as it has for me, (except for QR, but F*** QR😎)
Here's the breakdown...
Bio-24
GC-22
OC-22
RC-20
QR-16😡
PAT-19
TS-22
AA-21
Bio- I love Bio, but more specifically the topics that relate to humans, which is why it was so easy to study. I could care less about plant bio and evolution for example; hence the non Bio major. I used the text for Bio along with exam crackers for the systems and lab manual for the funky lab questions. About 10 questions gave me a hard time at first, but when I came back to them, I noticed I missed major details, READ CAREFULLY each question but move on if u cant see the answer quickly.
GC- THank God for few calculations! My strengths are in concepts not numbers. Although I'm able to do the calcs pretty well, conceptual questions are answered much quicker, this gave me time at the end to do the sciences twice! Exam crackers to build general understanding, kaplan for technique and reinforcement, destroyer for ultimate concept and calcs test, topscore for timing and achiever for killing your confidence, but still very useful. (out of 90 min. I spent 55 on chem in acheiver)
OC- Easy s***. Didnt expect intramolecular rxns though but still doable. Start with Kaplan then move on to destroyer and finish with topscore and achiever for timing. You'll notice destroyer doesnt explain the solutions as well as the other sections which is ironic for someone who goes by the name "orgoman." But this turns out to be a good thing since it requires the reference of textbooks, the most feared entity for DAT preparation, but truly the most reliable route to scoring high.
RC- I strongly oppose the stucture of this section. I was taught since elementary school to read all the questions BEFORE attempting the passage, not a good idea for test day though, and it doesnt help that passage jumps to the top after every question. Also the text window could be much bigger. My prep for this section came from Topscore and achiever, both had the easiest passages at the end, and to no surprise identical situation on test day. RULE FOR RC- 16 min max per passage, no exceptions, come back if there's time.
QR- Once again F*** QR! I'm upset because I postponed my exam twice because of this section. Big mistake since the extra 3 weeks did not help one bit, in fact i was forgetting more sciences than getting better at math. I did all the easy stuff with 20 min left to do the harder ones. 3-5 ques I had no idea where to start, but the rest I thought I answered correctly. I blame myself though for not practicing with marker/board, i couldnt read my handwriting at times bec. I could still see numbers that didnt erase completely from before. I used Destroyer, Kaplan, Topscore and achiever, but I wouldnt take advice from someone who scored a 16. I have A's for pre-calc, calc, calc-2, and biobehavioral statistics, maybe that'll count for something and show that I'm more competent at math than a 9th grader.
PAT: Unless you're born with it, only practice will save you. I did PAT only when I got to the point (most of you can relate to this feeling) where I'm reading the same simple line or question and it doesn't make any sense at all. that's the indicator to switch to PAT.
Topscore useless here, but achiever, crack pat and kaplan are helpful.
Overall very difficult test since so many topics are covered and some questions were written while testmakers were on LSD. My tips are concepts before memorization, sure hits before oddballs, kaplan before destroyer before topscore and achiever, while textbooks throughout always.
I'm open to questions and comments and good luck to all.👍
Here's the breakdown...
Bio-24
GC-22
OC-22
RC-20
QR-16😡
PAT-19
TS-22
AA-21
Bio- I love Bio, but more specifically the topics that relate to humans, which is why it was so easy to study. I could care less about plant bio and evolution for example; hence the non Bio major. I used the text for Bio along with exam crackers for the systems and lab manual for the funky lab questions. About 10 questions gave me a hard time at first, but when I came back to them, I noticed I missed major details, READ CAREFULLY each question but move on if u cant see the answer quickly.
GC- THank God for few calculations! My strengths are in concepts not numbers. Although I'm able to do the calcs pretty well, conceptual questions are answered much quicker, this gave me time at the end to do the sciences twice! Exam crackers to build general understanding, kaplan for technique and reinforcement, destroyer for ultimate concept and calcs test, topscore for timing and achiever for killing your confidence, but still very useful. (out of 90 min. I spent 55 on chem in acheiver)
OC- Easy s***. Didnt expect intramolecular rxns though but still doable. Start with Kaplan then move on to destroyer and finish with topscore and achiever for timing. You'll notice destroyer doesnt explain the solutions as well as the other sections which is ironic for someone who goes by the name "orgoman." But this turns out to be a good thing since it requires the reference of textbooks, the most feared entity for DAT preparation, but truly the most reliable route to scoring high.
RC- I strongly oppose the stucture of this section. I was taught since elementary school to read all the questions BEFORE attempting the passage, not a good idea for test day though, and it doesnt help that passage jumps to the top after every question. Also the text window could be much bigger. My prep for this section came from Topscore and achiever, both had the easiest passages at the end, and to no surprise identical situation on test day. RULE FOR RC- 16 min max per passage, no exceptions, come back if there's time.
QR- Once again F*** QR! I'm upset because I postponed my exam twice because of this section. Big mistake since the extra 3 weeks did not help one bit, in fact i was forgetting more sciences than getting better at math. I did all the easy stuff with 20 min left to do the harder ones. 3-5 ques I had no idea where to start, but the rest I thought I answered correctly. I blame myself though for not practicing with marker/board, i couldnt read my handwriting at times bec. I could still see numbers that didnt erase completely from before. I used Destroyer, Kaplan, Topscore and achiever, but I wouldnt take advice from someone who scored a 16. I have A's for pre-calc, calc, calc-2, and biobehavioral statistics, maybe that'll count for something and show that I'm more competent at math than a 9th grader.
PAT: Unless you're born with it, only practice will save you. I did PAT only when I got to the point (most of you can relate to this feeling) where I'm reading the same simple line or question and it doesn't make any sense at all. that's the indicator to switch to PAT.
Topscore useless here, but achiever, crack pat and kaplan are helpful.
Overall very difficult test since so many topics are covered and some questions were written while testmakers were on LSD. My tips are concepts before memorization, sure hits before oddballs, kaplan before destroyer before topscore and achiever, while textbooks throughout always.
I'm open to questions and comments and good luck to all.👍
you're victim of the orgoman bashing 
