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Hello and good morning friends! I'm currently in the application cycle and I would like to share with you my study methods! First I will give you a breakdown of my scores and tell you a tiny bit about myself and how I study.
DATE I TOOK THE DAT: 06/03/2015
PAT 23
QR 24
RC 26
BIO 21
GC 24
OC 27
TS 23
AA 24
A bit about myself and how I study. I'm actually an 18 year old that will be graduating from the University of Pittsburgh this year with a degree in Chemistry with a GPA ~3.6. I would like to tell you what materials I used to study, but first I would like to tell you which areas I actually felt the need to study for. Biology was my biggest area of concern. I was scoring well below average when I began studying, largely because I knew close to no biology, had never taken a course in human anatomy and physiology, and just am not good at memorizing things. The 2 chemistry were, to no surprise, not a problem for me and therefor not my focus when studying. In regards to the math and reading, I only did practice exams. Now in regards to the PAT, I didn't have a problem DOING them, I just had a problem FINISHING them. My cure to this problem was just some more practice exams.
My total time spent studying was 6 weeks for 6-8 hours/day.
Now, here is a breakdown of the study materials:
>> Cracking the DAT (Princeton Review, Book)
(8/10) - If you know close to zero biology then this book is true gold. I read through this book cover to cover. When I was about halfway through the book. I started the book again from the beginning as I wrote note cards. So everyday I read, say, 1 old chapter and wrote cards and 1 new chapter and just took in new information. The chemistry and organic chemistry are a breeze in this book, so if you are good at those subjects then this book may not be to helpful. That being said, the practice problems in the organic chemistry sections are quite representative of the organic questions on the real DAT. I personally found that the general chemistry questions, however, were just a waste of my time. The PAT in this book is a bit easier than the real exam, so it isn't too preparing. The math was good in this book - that being said, it's kinda hard to screw up the math review section for the DAT. I included a link because for some reason people have a hard time finding it. Also, I am reviewing just the book here, NOT A PREP COURSE. I TOOK NO PREP COURSE so NONE OF THIS ENTIRE ARTICLE IS ABOUT PREP COURSES. I think they can be a waste of money to be honest. If you have the discipline to force yourself to study then do NOT take a prep course.
Amazon product
?ie=UTF8&qid=1437062269&sr=8-1&keywords=princeton+review+dat&pebp=1437062274887&perid=12PX1T9BMEPSTB0M5HPM
>> DAT Destroyer (Book)
(6.5/10) - This book is truly a book of one off questions. I reviewed all the general and organic chemistry questions once and I must say that the general chemistry questions are 10 orders of magnitude harder than the real DAT and the organic questions are either spot on or TOTALLY irrelevant. Like all the questions about Tollens test and crap like that weren't on my exam or the exams of anyone I know. If you have time to spare then do those sections because they won't hurt but if you're cramming don't waste your time. I did about 100 out of 500 of the biology questions and they were fantastic. I'm sure the other 400 were great as well, but I ran out of time. Take those questions and turn them into questions on notecards and you will be GOLDEN. I give this book a (6.5/10) because I don't think the whole book is helpful but if I had to rate the bio section separately, it would get a solid (11/10). I can't say much about the other sections because I didn't look at them.
>> DAT Achiever (Software)
(9/10) - WOW just WOW. this software is fantastic. This software alone probably brought me up anywhere from 2 to 4 points in all sections, not necessarily because I learned new content, but because I started to understand the testing environment. The software is nearly spot on with the real software. The reason this software gets a (9/10) is because the tests are SO ABSURDLY HARD that you HAVE to develop some new skills to finish on time. You learn which sections of the PAT you aren't good at, which shows you what parts to skip. You learn which portions of the sciences are your weaknesses, which helps you with time management. Anyone who tells you time management isn't an integral part of this exam is an absolute FOOL! This exam (especially the PAT and, in some of the practice exams, the reading sections) were so unbelievably hard that you learned how to deal with anxiety of not finishing. By the way, on the real exam you WILL finish, but this prepares you to come up with tactics to get the most points in case you CAN'T finish. I was scoring between 16-19 AA on these exams and I got a 24 in real life. VERY preparatory. They have versions of this software with 3 practice exams, 5 practice exams, and 7 practice exams; if you have time to do all 7, then go ahead and get that, but I do not recommend you get anything below the 5. The 5 was perfect for me.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me! Best of luck to everyone!!!
)
DATE I TOOK THE DAT: 06/03/2015
PAT 23
QR 24
RC 26
BIO 21
GC 24
OC 27
TS 23
AA 24
A bit about myself and how I study. I'm actually an 18 year old that will be graduating from the University of Pittsburgh this year with a degree in Chemistry with a GPA ~3.6. I would like to tell you what materials I used to study, but first I would like to tell you which areas I actually felt the need to study for. Biology was my biggest area of concern. I was scoring well below average when I began studying, largely because I knew close to no biology, had never taken a course in human anatomy and physiology, and just am not good at memorizing things. The 2 chemistry were, to no surprise, not a problem for me and therefor not my focus when studying. In regards to the math and reading, I only did practice exams. Now in regards to the PAT, I didn't have a problem DOING them, I just had a problem FINISHING them. My cure to this problem was just some more practice exams.
My total time spent studying was 6 weeks for 6-8 hours/day.
Now, here is a breakdown of the study materials:
>> Cracking the DAT (Princeton Review, Book)
(8/10) - If you know close to zero biology then this book is true gold. I read through this book cover to cover. When I was about halfway through the book. I started the book again from the beginning as I wrote note cards. So everyday I read, say, 1 old chapter and wrote cards and 1 new chapter and just took in new information. The chemistry and organic chemistry are a breeze in this book, so if you are good at those subjects then this book may not be to helpful. That being said, the practice problems in the organic chemistry sections are quite representative of the organic questions on the real DAT. I personally found that the general chemistry questions, however, were just a waste of my time. The PAT in this book is a bit easier than the real exam, so it isn't too preparing. The math was good in this book - that being said, it's kinda hard to screw up the math review section for the DAT. I included a link because for some reason people have a hard time finding it. Also, I am reviewing just the book here, NOT A PREP COURSE. I TOOK NO PREP COURSE so NONE OF THIS ENTIRE ARTICLE IS ABOUT PREP COURSES. I think they can be a waste of money to be honest. If you have the discipline to force yourself to study then do NOT take a prep course.
Amazon product
?ie=UTF8&qid=1437062269&sr=8-1&keywords=princeton+review+dat&pebp=1437062274887&perid=12PX1T9BMEPSTB0M5HPM
>> DAT Destroyer (Book)
(6.5/10) - This book is truly a book of one off questions. I reviewed all the general and organic chemistry questions once and I must say that the general chemistry questions are 10 orders of magnitude harder than the real DAT and the organic questions are either spot on or TOTALLY irrelevant. Like all the questions about Tollens test and crap like that weren't on my exam or the exams of anyone I know. If you have time to spare then do those sections because they won't hurt but if you're cramming don't waste your time. I did about 100 out of 500 of the biology questions and they were fantastic. I'm sure the other 400 were great as well, but I ran out of time. Take those questions and turn them into questions on notecards and you will be GOLDEN. I give this book a (6.5/10) because I don't think the whole book is helpful but if I had to rate the bio section separately, it would get a solid (11/10). I can't say much about the other sections because I didn't look at them.
>> DAT Achiever (Software)
(9/10) - WOW just WOW. this software is fantastic. This software alone probably brought me up anywhere from 2 to 4 points in all sections, not necessarily because I learned new content, but because I started to understand the testing environment. The software is nearly spot on with the real software. The reason this software gets a (9/10) is because the tests are SO ABSURDLY HARD that you HAVE to develop some new skills to finish on time. You learn which sections of the PAT you aren't good at, which shows you what parts to skip. You learn which portions of the sciences are your weaknesses, which helps you with time management. Anyone who tells you time management isn't an integral part of this exam is an absolute FOOL! This exam (especially the PAT and, in some of the practice exams, the reading sections) were so unbelievably hard that you learned how to deal with anxiety of not finishing. By the way, on the real exam you WILL finish, but this prepares you to come up with tactics to get the most points in case you CAN'T finish. I was scoring between 16-19 AA on these exams and I got a 24 in real life. VERY preparatory. They have versions of this software with 3 practice exams, 5 practice exams, and 7 practice exams; if you have time to do all 7, then go ahead and get that, but I do not recommend you get anything below the 5. The 5 was perfect for me.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me! Best of luck to everyone!!!
)
