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I am finally finished! I thought the day of the DAT would never come. I took the test this morning, and here are my results.
AA: 23
PAT: 21
QR: 20
RC: 23
Bio: 21
Chem: 29
OChem: 21
Science: 22
I couldn't believe the chemistry score--29! Anyway, to say the least, I was pretty darn stoked. In fact, last Sunday, I was so sure that I wasn't ready for this test, that I nearly rescheduled the thing for another two weeks. Glad I didn't do that. To say the least, I am very pleased. I'm also very relieved. I've never put more time and effort into a stinking test in my life!
Before I report on the test, let me give you this background info. I graduated two years ago with an accounting degree. Last fall, I decided to come back to school and start the pre-reqs. Before last fall, I had zero science classes. So, during the fall I took the first half of Gen Chem, and that is it. During the winter, I took Human physiology, 2nd half of Gen Chem, and a vertebrate/invertebrate anatomy course. This spring (i.e. the last 6 weeks) I took the first half of Org Chem. I also studied for the DAT from Apr. 20 until this morning (20 minutes before the exam). My advisor told me that I didn't need the 2nd half of Ochem to do well, and I guess he was right. To prepare for the DAT, I enrolled in the Kaplan course and that is it. I did reference some old text books a couple of times. But, 95% of my studying was from Kaplan. No Topscore or Barrons or anything else.
As for my test this morning. I was actually really excited when the time came. I wrote down a bunch of trig formulas, identities, and other math stuff during the tutorial, which saved my bacon about 5 times during the QR section. The bio section was pretty straight forward. I was surprised at how many questions I had seen before from my Kaplan stuff. I pretty much had memorized all of the flash cards, and I read the entire bio section of the giant white kaplan book. Most of the questions were pretty generic bio questions with a good sampling from all of the different areas in Kaplan.
The Gen Chem section was much easier than anything I had seen during my Kaplan practice tests. In fact, two days ago, I took my final Kaplan practice test, and I scored an 18 on the Gen Chem section. So, I thought I wouldn't do very well on the real deal. But, as you can tell, I was really surprised with the results. I couldn't believe how easy the questions were. There weren't really any complex math calculations.
The OChem section was also much easier than the Kaplan stuff. Out of the 5 practice tests I took with Kaplan, I scored a 12, 13, 15, 13, 20. The real DAT was very straight forward with no tricky stuff. I had reviewed a few of the reactions from the 2nd half of Ochem in the Kaplan book (actually, last night, I read the entire Ochem section, and I think it paid off). On the test, I think I counted about 4 or 5 reactions that involved reactions we hadn't covered in the first half of Ochem. I was really glad!! Because I thought I'd be in trouble on this section.
The PAT wasn't that bad. I thought the keyholes, top-front-end, and pattern folding were easier than what I had seen with KAPLAN. I thought the angles were a little tougher than KAPLAN, but not by much. I took the online course, and most of my practice tests were just as pixelated as the real thing. The angles were close, but I thought they were manageable. I thought the hole-punching was a little tougher than KAPLAN. There were a few folds that I hadn't seen, but I was able to figure them out with just a little bit of effort. The cube counting was also a little different than KAPLAN. I thought the cubes were sometimes a little more tricky than normal. But, nothing unbearable.
The RC section was harder and easier than the KAPLAN tests I took. All three of my passages were MUCH longer than anything I had seen at KAPLAN. My first two passages were each 17 paragraphs long, and my supposedly short passage was 14 paragraphs. It took me 25 minutes to get through the first passage, 20 minutes to get through the second passage, and 15 minutes to get through the last passage. I thought the questions were easier than KAPLAN, and sometimes they seemed to go in order (the 1st question's answer was in the first paragraph, etc.) I thought I had done worse on this section, and I was relieved to find out I had done alright.
The QR section was also much easier than KAPLAN. I kept waiting for a really tough question to pop up, but none did. The hardest questions were the 3 ro 4 trig questions I got. I anticipated the QR section to give me a lot of problems, and I was relieved when I moved through this section easily.
Overall, I feel like my preparation for the DAT was adequate. I'd do the same thing again. These tests probably vary quite a bit from each other, and I was probably lucky to get a really easy test.
Anyway, I'm so excited. I couldn't have hoped for better scores!
Also, I have the big blue Kaplan book, the big white Kaplan book (brand new book given to folks who enroll in their $1000 course), the topscore CD (that I never used because I didn't want to get discouraged by a really hard test), and all of the KAPLAN flash cards (I think there are over 1200 questions) for sale. If you are interested, PM me and we'll talk.
AA: 23
PAT: 21
QR: 20
RC: 23
Bio: 21
Chem: 29
OChem: 21
Science: 22
I couldn't believe the chemistry score--29! Anyway, to say the least, I was pretty darn stoked. In fact, last Sunday, I was so sure that I wasn't ready for this test, that I nearly rescheduled the thing for another two weeks. Glad I didn't do that. To say the least, I am very pleased. I'm also very relieved. I've never put more time and effort into a stinking test in my life!
Before I report on the test, let me give you this background info. I graduated two years ago with an accounting degree. Last fall, I decided to come back to school and start the pre-reqs. Before last fall, I had zero science classes. So, during the fall I took the first half of Gen Chem, and that is it. During the winter, I took Human physiology, 2nd half of Gen Chem, and a vertebrate/invertebrate anatomy course. This spring (i.e. the last 6 weeks) I took the first half of Org Chem. I also studied for the DAT from Apr. 20 until this morning (20 minutes before the exam). My advisor told me that I didn't need the 2nd half of Ochem to do well, and I guess he was right. To prepare for the DAT, I enrolled in the Kaplan course and that is it. I did reference some old text books a couple of times. But, 95% of my studying was from Kaplan. No Topscore or Barrons or anything else.
As for my test this morning. I was actually really excited when the time came. I wrote down a bunch of trig formulas, identities, and other math stuff during the tutorial, which saved my bacon about 5 times during the QR section. The bio section was pretty straight forward. I was surprised at how many questions I had seen before from my Kaplan stuff. I pretty much had memorized all of the flash cards, and I read the entire bio section of the giant white kaplan book. Most of the questions were pretty generic bio questions with a good sampling from all of the different areas in Kaplan.
The Gen Chem section was much easier than anything I had seen during my Kaplan practice tests. In fact, two days ago, I took my final Kaplan practice test, and I scored an 18 on the Gen Chem section. So, I thought I wouldn't do very well on the real deal. But, as you can tell, I was really surprised with the results. I couldn't believe how easy the questions were. There weren't really any complex math calculations.
The OChem section was also much easier than the Kaplan stuff. Out of the 5 practice tests I took with Kaplan, I scored a 12, 13, 15, 13, 20. The real DAT was very straight forward with no tricky stuff. I had reviewed a few of the reactions from the 2nd half of Ochem in the Kaplan book (actually, last night, I read the entire Ochem section, and I think it paid off). On the test, I think I counted about 4 or 5 reactions that involved reactions we hadn't covered in the first half of Ochem. I was really glad!! Because I thought I'd be in trouble on this section.
The PAT wasn't that bad. I thought the keyholes, top-front-end, and pattern folding were easier than what I had seen with KAPLAN. I thought the angles were a little tougher than KAPLAN, but not by much. I took the online course, and most of my practice tests were just as pixelated as the real thing. The angles were close, but I thought they were manageable. I thought the hole-punching was a little tougher than KAPLAN. There were a few folds that I hadn't seen, but I was able to figure them out with just a little bit of effort. The cube counting was also a little different than KAPLAN. I thought the cubes were sometimes a little more tricky than normal. But, nothing unbearable.
The RC section was harder and easier than the KAPLAN tests I took. All three of my passages were MUCH longer than anything I had seen at KAPLAN. My first two passages were each 17 paragraphs long, and my supposedly short passage was 14 paragraphs. It took me 25 minutes to get through the first passage, 20 minutes to get through the second passage, and 15 minutes to get through the last passage. I thought the questions were easier than KAPLAN, and sometimes they seemed to go in order (the 1st question's answer was in the first paragraph, etc.) I thought I had done worse on this section, and I was relieved to find out I had done alright.
The QR section was also much easier than KAPLAN. I kept waiting for a really tough question to pop up, but none did. The hardest questions were the 3 ro 4 trig questions I got. I anticipated the QR section to give me a lot of problems, and I was relieved when I moved through this section easily.
Overall, I feel like my preparation for the DAT was adequate. I'd do the same thing again. These tests probably vary quite a bit from each other, and I was probably lucky to get a really easy test.
Anyway, I'm so excited. I couldn't have hoped for better scores!
Also, I have the big blue Kaplan book, the big white Kaplan book (brand new book given to folks who enroll in their $1000 course), the topscore CD (that I never used because I didn't want to get discouraged by a really hard test), and all of the KAPLAN flash cards (I think there are over 1200 questions) for sale. If you are interested, PM me and we'll talk.
