How to study bio!?

[witeteath]

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hi, so here is the situation, i'm taking DAT in three and half weeks, and so far i read the Kaplan Blue book 2.5 times (2 times thoroughly and scanned over 1 more time). For the bio section, i felt like i knew the material pretty well, and yesterday i started doing the Destroyer. I did 40 questions per time, then checked and went over the answers, and then went on for the next 40 questions. The problem is, i seem to get AT LEAST 8 questions wrong every time, which according to the kaplan score estimate, it's a 19. Now i have finished all 325 problems, and the numbers didn't go down. This is very frustrating, i feel like i'm not improving. It seems to be really hard to jump to that 20 level. Did this ever happen to u guys? How did u improve? Thx for the input and happy holidays to all 😀

 

[wantVCUdental]

hi, so here is the situation, i'm taking DAT in three and half weeks, and so far i read the Kaplan Blue book 2.5 times (2 times thoroughly and scanned over 1 more time). For the bio section, i felt like i knew the material pretty well, and yesterday i started doing the Destroyer. I did 40 questions per time, then checked and went over the answers, and then went on for the next 40 questions. The problem is, i seem to get AT LEAST 8 questions wrong every time, which according to the kaplan score estimate, it's a 19. Now i have finished all 325 problems, and the numbers didn't go down. This is very frustrating, i feel like i'm not improving. It seems to be really hard to jump to that 20 level. Did this ever happen to u guys? How did u improve? Thx for the input and happy holidays to all 😀

only 8 wrong per every 40Q is very good, by my personal experience, you are ready to score over 22 🙂. I was getting about 27-30/40 (i also went 40 at a time), and i scored 22 on real DAT bio (real DAT bio is way easier than destroyer).
scored 19 on Kaplan
16 and 17 on topscore
15/16 on acheiver
good luck

 

[TexasOMFS]

Idk about Destroyer Bio since I'm starting on Biology tmrw. But I do know that Destroyer gchem and ochem are harder than the real DAT. Most likely it's the same thing with the biology.

 

[FutureDent020]

Don't worry about getting a wrong answer on the destroyer. It's formulated so that you have to know each possible answer as a fact in order to get the question right. That's why most answers for biology are e) all the above. Study each answer and the explanations and you will be fine. And if you are getting that many correct out of 40, then that's pretty good. Don't look at the Destroyer as test questions. Try to answer the questions, but also study all the possible answers. Don't just circle the right answer and move on.

 

[TexasOMFS]

Btw I happen to have just downloaded a copy of Alan's notes. Does anyone know if those are enough prep for biology or should I still go through my Barron's AP?

 

[299678]

Always remember ! Text book will be your best resource. BTW, it will be nice if you e mail me the allan's note , [email protected]

 

[TurkTurkleton]

Btw I happen to have just downloaded a copy of Alan's notes. Does anyone know if those are enough prep for biology or should I still go through my Barron's AP?

I remember reading in a couple people's breakdowns that Alan's notes were really good. They're obviously not complete, though, so I'm planning to go through Cliff's Bio just to be sure I got everything.

I have another set of epic bio notes, but even though it's all in outline form, it's still 150 pages long or something insane. I can't even think about where I would start with all that information. I'm using the fact that it's saved in a format my computer doesn't really like as an excuse to not look through it lol.

 

[wantVCUdental]

Btw I happen to have just downloaded a copy of Alan's notes. Does anyone know if those are enough prep for biology or should I still go through my Barron's AP?

Alan's notes are good, however, if you study from cliffs ap bio and kaplan thoroughly, you will eventually master all that's in alan's notes and more.

Now, if you can memorize alan's notes (which i remember is about 10pages) inside out, you can probably get 20+. But it's too dry, i took a brief look at it 3 days before my exam and noticed i knew most of what's on the notes based on my studying.

 

[299678]

do you know where i can download alan's note? or could you e mail me?
[email protected]

 

[TexasOMFS]

^Didn't you already finish ur DAT.....?
http://rapidshare.com/files/301270076/BIO_Review_-_Final_Version.doc
Thanks for the replies I think I'll probably just do a quick read-through of Barron's and go over Alan's notes thoroughly. Running short on time, my test is in 12 days and I haven't even looked at PAT, RC, QR ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

 

[TheGreenWave]

^Didn't you already finish ur DAT.....?
http://rapidshare.com/files/301270076/BIO_Review_-_Final_Version.doc
Thanks for the replies I think I'll probably just do a quick read-through of Barron's and go over Alan's notes thoroughly. Running short on time, my test is in 12 days and I haven't even looked at PAT, RC, QR ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

I think I can help you TexasOMFS. The notes that are circulating around SDN are a few study guides I made while preppin for the DAT. When I was distributing them, my bio study guide was around 18pgs long, I dont know whether they have been modified or not (if you want the O.G. version of them Id be happy to send them before next semester starts).

Since the foundation for the study guide was kaplans book, I believe they are best utilized when one has already read through Kaplan, to understand why I worded certain things in certain ways. To be honest, if you know the study guide inside and out you should be able to score a 19/20 on the Bio section. (Someone mentioned that if you know the bio well, you dont really need the study guide - this is definitely true, but if there are things on there you dont know, you should memorize them.)

Since you seem to be pressed for time this is how I would go about using my notes: Read through them a few times, then when you think you have a good grasp on them have someone test you (parent/sibling/friend - surely you have one of those). Have them highlight things you miss. Read through it a few more times, focusing on the highlighted info. When you think youre ready, print off a fresh one and try it again. This method may be bad for the environment, but sometimes you have to be selfish to succeed 🙂.

PM me if you have questions. Best of luck to you.

 

[TexasOMFS]

^The copy I have is precisely 18 pages so it's probably the same one you made that Alan passed around. Thanks I think that's what I'll do and thanks for making those available to the SDN community, it's really great of you! =]