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- Sep 10, 2008
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This is the best feeling I've had in a while . No more studying for the rest of the summer ! Anyway, I finished the DAT on Friday 7/17/09. My scores are as follows:
PAT 21
QR 18 (hard)
RC 23
BIO 22 (pumped about this because it was my lowest of the sciences in Topscore)
GC 20
OC 21
TS 21
AA 21
My overall thoughts:
I thought the sciences were comparable to Topscore, although I did better on Bio than I was expecting. However, the rest I thought was harder than Topscore, with perhaps the exception of RC.
Bio: I used Kaplan BB, Destroyer, and reviewed Cliff's/Barron's AP Bio just 2 days before the test. I recommend, if you have time, to at least go over either Cliff's or Barron's. I came across a bunch of problems in Destroyer and Topscore that were covered in Cliff's/Barron's and not in Kaplan.
GC: This was easier than what I was used to in Topscore and Destroyer. I think you're fine with Kaplan, Destroyer, and Topscore.
OC: Also a bit easier, but comparable to Topscore. Destroyer and Kaplan are enough. Make the road maps in Destoryer your friend
QR: This, I thought, was much harder than anything I came across in Kaplan or Topscore. I didn't really use Destroyer much for this. There were a lot more word problems that probably needed formulas that I didn't care to memorize. Honestly, I didn't study QR much at all. I was more focused on sciences because that's a lot of memorization and I'm just good at math, so I thought I would be okay. I didn't know any probability formulas or anything like that. The only actual "formulas" I knew were things with trig functions. That being said, I got a 19, 20, and 22 on Topscore, and only an 18 on the real thing. So that was certainly harder.
PAT: The only thing I ever "studied" for this was that wicked sat PAT thread. I did well without ever studying anything though, and then I finally realized that I was folding the pattern folding things the wrong way lol, so that jumped my score up a little. This was harder than Topscore, but obviously still doable. I thought the angle ranks were rough and hole punch harder too, and I have never gotten a hole punch question wrong on any pratice test.
RC: This is another one that I didn't study at all. The only practice I got were practice tests from Kaplan and Topscore, and that was fine for me. I don't have a secret method, and I didn't use search and destroy. I actually read the whole passage quickly enough so that I can remember where main points were. That way, I can find answers easily and also can answer inference questions. That works for me. However, there were some weird questions on there, and IMO they were things you couldn't get with search and destroy.
Some of you may have seen what I've recently written, but if not, I studied for about 6 weeks (maybe 6 1/2, but not every day). In the beginning, it was 3-5 hours a day, 6 days a week until I got through Kaplan, taking notes on things. Then I went back through all the notes I took and studied them. Then I went through Destroyer. Once I did all that, I started taking Topscore tests. I was studying more like 6-8 hours a day for about the last week. I finished my last Topscore 3 days before the test and I reviewed whatever I felt necessary 2 days before. The day before I relaxed and hung out, no studying. I did a few practice problems before I left to it on the day of, just to get me in that mindset. I'm just sharing that for people to hopefully get a decent gauge of what they can do in that amount of time. Obviously, everyone is different, but I'm just saying that 6 weeks can be enough, for those who are freaking out about that.
I have a 4.0 gpa and I applied to NJDS, Columbia, NYU, and UPenn. Those are actually my choices in that order. I feel extremely relieved that this is over and I feel like I should no longer be worried. Looks like I'm good to go, no?
PAT 21
QR 18 (hard)
RC 23
BIO 22 (pumped about this because it was my lowest of the sciences in Topscore)
GC 20
OC 21
TS 21
AA 21
My overall thoughts:
I thought the sciences were comparable to Topscore, although I did better on Bio than I was expecting. However, the rest I thought was harder than Topscore, with perhaps the exception of RC.
Bio: I used Kaplan BB, Destroyer, and reviewed Cliff's/Barron's AP Bio just 2 days before the test. I recommend, if you have time, to at least go over either Cliff's or Barron's. I came across a bunch of problems in Destroyer and Topscore that were covered in Cliff's/Barron's and not in Kaplan.
GC: This was easier than what I was used to in Topscore and Destroyer. I think you're fine with Kaplan, Destroyer, and Topscore.
OC: Also a bit easier, but comparable to Topscore. Destroyer and Kaplan are enough. Make the road maps in Destoryer your friend
QR: This, I thought, was much harder than anything I came across in Kaplan or Topscore. I didn't really use Destroyer much for this. There were a lot more word problems that probably needed formulas that I didn't care to memorize. Honestly, I didn't study QR much at all. I was more focused on sciences because that's a lot of memorization and I'm just good at math, so I thought I would be okay. I didn't know any probability formulas or anything like that. The only actual "formulas" I knew were things with trig functions. That being said, I got a 19, 20, and 22 on Topscore, and only an 18 on the real thing. So that was certainly harder.
PAT: The only thing I ever "studied" for this was that wicked sat PAT thread. I did well without ever studying anything though, and then I finally realized that I was folding the pattern folding things the wrong way lol, so that jumped my score up a little. This was harder than Topscore, but obviously still doable. I thought the angle ranks were rough and hole punch harder too, and I have never gotten a hole punch question wrong on any pratice test.
RC: This is another one that I didn't study at all. The only practice I got were practice tests from Kaplan and Topscore, and that was fine for me. I don't have a secret method, and I didn't use search and destroy. I actually read the whole passage quickly enough so that I can remember where main points were. That way, I can find answers easily and also can answer inference questions. That works for me. However, there were some weird questions on there, and IMO they were things you couldn't get with search and destroy.
Some of you may have seen what I've recently written, but if not, I studied for about 6 weeks (maybe 6 1/2, but not every day). In the beginning, it was 3-5 hours a day, 6 days a week until I got through Kaplan, taking notes on things. Then I went back through all the notes I took and studied them. Then I went through Destroyer. Once I did all that, I started taking Topscore tests. I was studying more like 6-8 hours a day for about the last week. I finished my last Topscore 3 days before the test and I reviewed whatever I felt necessary 2 days before. The day before I relaxed and hung out, no studying. I did a few practice problems before I left to it on the day of, just to get me in that mindset. I'm just sharing that for people to hopefully get a decent gauge of what they can do in that amount of time. Obviously, everyone is different, but I'm just saying that 6 weeks can be enough, for those who are freaking out about that.
I have a 4.0 gpa and I applied to NJDS, Columbia, NYU, and UPenn. Those are actually my choices in that order. I feel extremely relieved that this is over and I feel like I should no longer be worried. Looks like I'm good to go, no?
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