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- Mar 16, 2007
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PAT 19
QR 19
RC 24
Bio 21
GC 26
OC 22
TS 22
AA 22
Wow...It has been a long journey but I can finally put this test behind me. Here are my thoughts on the test and how I studied:
The Sciences-
The way to study for this section, is to first go and get a basic understanding of the material. For me, that was through a bio text book and a chem text book, but that was extremely time consuming, and in retrospect, I feel that just going through schaums or cliffs for bio would have been enough. For chem, the book isn't as long, but if its still too much, Im sure a cliff's book wouldn't be too bad. Once you have a basic grasp on the knowledge, the best way to study for the material that will actually be asked on the DAT is through the DAT Destroyer. I had TopScore, Achiever, and Kaplan blue book, but i felt that all of these were all off focus from what the DAT was really testing on. I still think they are valuable tools, but only in accustoming you to the 41/2 hour testing environment. When it comes to knowing the material, my advice is to learn, understand, and then memorize every line in the Destroyer.
Bio- The thing about this sections is that it really is two sided. The majority of the questions, those that are testing what is actually written in a intro to bio text book, are very straightforward. These questions were not nearly as detailed as Achiever's were (I got a 16 in bio on my last achiever test on Wednesday). But these are not the questions people are worrying about. I felt that there were around 5 questions on material that I had never seen before. How the ADA expects us to know the answer to these questions is beyond me. My only adivce is, if you encounter these, to stay calm and just eliminate wrong answers. It definitely works.
GChem-As everyone is saying, there are very little calculations on this section. And I felt that, for the most part, the conceptual questions they asked on, where pretty straightforward too. Maybe a few confusing questions but really a docile section. Learn all the concepts in Destroyer and you should do just fine on this section.
OChem-I wouldn't complain about a 22 ever, but after this previous year in Orgo, I felt ready to nail a 30. Truth be told, I have no clue what I got wrong in the section so I couldn't really say what was difficult about it. I think btw Destroyer, Topscore and Achiever, you basically encounter everything you can see in this section. Word to the wise, learn the Destroyer road maps.
PAT-Honestly, I didn't think this section was all that bad. For the most part, none of the sections had anything harder than you would seen in achiever or crackthepat. I know everyone says these programs are very hard PAT, and they might be right, but it's worth using them to train yourself. I definitely encourage everyone to dig deep in their pockets and pull up the money to buy crackthepat. 10 practice tests not only give you a lot of experiance with the material, but also put you in the right frame of mind for the test. On the test itself, i thought the apperatures were basically the same to what you'd see elsewhere, and the tfe were much easier than the review programs. Hole punching was pretty straightforward too. My only complaints is that one of my cube counting figures was completely messed up-like one of those that people complain crackthepat uses-I'm upset about losing 4 questions to such an easy part of the test, but so it goes. Also, on aperatures and pattern folding, there were a couple of time were some of the answers choices looked practically identical. I tried to look for size differences, but sometimes, it just came down to a good ol fashioned guess. I'll take the 19 happily though.
RC-Its like everyone is saying-there are a lot of tone questions and "which would the author agree with" questions. Besides for the materials above, I also used an examcrackers MCAT verbal book to study. I dont think that any of these materials really has all aspects of what the DAT is testing, but I don't know of any good sources for reading review. I think that the best you can do is get your hands on as much reading practice as possible.
QR-This section was the bane of my test. Btw destroyer, kaplan, achiever, topscore, and a barrons SAT book, I still was not prepared to deal with a good number of the questions on this section. I was scoring 21-26 on all practice tests, but when that 19 come up at the end, I was so relieved bc i honestly thought i scored a 12. I wish i knew how to tell you to study, but i dont. My only advice, and this is what I did, when all else fails, plug in the answers. You run your time out, but getting 2/5 is better than 5 wrong.
So that's the test-I just thank G-d that everything really worked out and that I did well enough on the test. To anyone who is still preparing for the DAT....study hard but know that soon enough you will be done and that that feeling is just awesome. I wish you all the best of luck, and hope to see you in Fall '08.
Mr. Mike
QR 19
RC 24
Bio 21
GC 26
OC 22
TS 22
AA 22
Wow...It has been a long journey but I can finally put this test behind me. Here are my thoughts on the test and how I studied:
The Sciences-
The way to study for this section, is to first go and get a basic understanding of the material. For me, that was through a bio text book and a chem text book, but that was extremely time consuming, and in retrospect, I feel that just going through schaums or cliffs for bio would have been enough. For chem, the book isn't as long, but if its still too much, Im sure a cliff's book wouldn't be too bad. Once you have a basic grasp on the knowledge, the best way to study for the material that will actually be asked on the DAT is through the DAT Destroyer. I had TopScore, Achiever, and Kaplan blue book, but i felt that all of these were all off focus from what the DAT was really testing on. I still think they are valuable tools, but only in accustoming you to the 41/2 hour testing environment. When it comes to knowing the material, my advice is to learn, understand, and then memorize every line in the Destroyer.
Bio- The thing about this sections is that it really is two sided. The majority of the questions, those that are testing what is actually written in a intro to bio text book, are very straightforward. These questions were not nearly as detailed as Achiever's were (I got a 16 in bio on my last achiever test on Wednesday). But these are not the questions people are worrying about. I felt that there were around 5 questions on material that I had never seen before. How the ADA expects us to know the answer to these questions is beyond me. My only adivce is, if you encounter these, to stay calm and just eliminate wrong answers. It definitely works.
GChem-As everyone is saying, there are very little calculations on this section. And I felt that, for the most part, the conceptual questions they asked on, where pretty straightforward too. Maybe a few confusing questions but really a docile section. Learn all the concepts in Destroyer and you should do just fine on this section.
OChem-I wouldn't complain about a 22 ever, but after this previous year in Orgo, I felt ready to nail a 30. Truth be told, I have no clue what I got wrong in the section so I couldn't really say what was difficult about it. I think btw Destroyer, Topscore and Achiever, you basically encounter everything you can see in this section. Word to the wise, learn the Destroyer road maps.
PAT-Honestly, I didn't think this section was all that bad. For the most part, none of the sections had anything harder than you would seen in achiever or crackthepat. I know everyone says these programs are very hard PAT, and they might be right, but it's worth using them to train yourself. I definitely encourage everyone to dig deep in their pockets and pull up the money to buy crackthepat. 10 practice tests not only give you a lot of experiance with the material, but also put you in the right frame of mind for the test. On the test itself, i thought the apperatures were basically the same to what you'd see elsewhere, and the tfe were much easier than the review programs. Hole punching was pretty straightforward too. My only complaints is that one of my cube counting figures was completely messed up-like one of those that people complain crackthepat uses-I'm upset about losing 4 questions to such an easy part of the test, but so it goes. Also, on aperatures and pattern folding, there were a couple of time were some of the answers choices looked practically identical. I tried to look for size differences, but sometimes, it just came down to a good ol fashioned guess. I'll take the 19 happily though.
RC-Its like everyone is saying-there are a lot of tone questions and "which would the author agree with" questions. Besides for the materials above, I also used an examcrackers MCAT verbal book to study. I dont think that any of these materials really has all aspects of what the DAT is testing, but I don't know of any good sources for reading review. I think that the best you can do is get your hands on as much reading practice as possible.
QR-This section was the bane of my test. Btw destroyer, kaplan, achiever, topscore, and a barrons SAT book, I still was not prepared to deal with a good number of the questions on this section. I was scoring 21-26 on all practice tests, but when that 19 come up at the end, I was so relieved bc i honestly thought i scored a 12. I wish i knew how to tell you to study, but i dont. My only advice, and this is what I did, when all else fails, plug in the answers. You run your time out, but getting 2/5 is better than 5 wrong.
So that's the test-I just thank G-d that everything really worked out and that I did well enough on the test. To anyone who is still preparing for the DAT....study hard but know that soon enough you will be done and that that feeling is just awesome. I wish you all the best of luck, and hope to see you in Fall '08.
Mr. Mike
