Its Over!

[Toothfairy08]

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Just wanted to give a big thanks to all of the SDNers who have lended me support and advice as I followed this forum over the last 3 weeks...all the studying paid off and I can finally relax! I thought I would add one piece of advice since I am sure many are wondering...while I was able to still pull off a 23 in Bio by just using Kaplan Blue Book (no course), I would not have known the answers to several questions without the prior knowledge from my upper division Bio classes....point being....DON'T JUST RELY ON KAPLAN UNLESS YOU HAVE A STRONG BIO BACKGROUND ALREADY! That said, here are my scores:

Bio 23 😀
GChem 19
OChem 25 😀
PAT 25 😍
RC: 22 😀
QR: 20 😀
AA: 22 👍
TS: 22 👍

 

[keikei]

good job. I will take my test tomorrow morning and hope for 20s.

 

[Toothfairy08]

Good Luck to you! Relax and after the first few ?'s, everything starts to calm down and you'll do great!

 

[Notoriousjae]

😀 good job toothfairy 👍

 

[Rook]

Just wanted to give a big thanks to all of the SDNers who have lended me support and advice as I followed this forum over the last 3 weeks...all the studying paid off and I can finally relax! I thought I would add one piece of advice since I am sure many are wondering...while I was able to still pull off a 23 in Bio by just using Kaplan Blue Book (no course), I would not have known the answers to several questions without the prior knowledge from my upper division Bio classes....point being....DON'T JUST RELY ON KAPLAN UNLESS YOU HAVE A STRONG BIO BACKGROUND ALREADY! That said, here are my scores:

Bio 23 😀
GChem 19
OChem 25 😀
PAT 25 😍
RC: 22 😀
QR: 20 😀
AA: 22 👍
TS: 22 👍

AWESOME!!!!

 

[docveda]

congrats!

 

[pre-dent]

Just wanted to give a big thanks to all of the SDNers who have lended me support and advice as I followed this forum over the last 3 weeks...all the studying paid off and I can finally relax! I thought I would add one piece of advice since I am sure many are wondering...while I was able to still pull off a 23 in Bio by just using Kaplan Blue Book (no course), I would not have known the answers to several questions without the prior knowledge from my upper division Bio classes....point being....DON'T JUST RELY ON KAPLAN UNLESS YOU HAVE A STRONG BIO BACKGROUND ALREADY! That said, here are my scores:

Bio 23 😀
GChem 19
OChem 25 😀
PAT 25 😍
RC: 22 😀
QR: 20 😀
AA: 22 👍
TS: 22 👍

WOW!! You did awesome!

I will take the DAT next year, but I am starting to go over the Kaplan Bio section now. I think this will help me better engrave the book's material in my memory. I will do what you did, only use the Kaplan book to prepare for the bio. Before the test I would have taken Cellular & Molecular Bio, Developmental Bio and Ecology (upper divison courses). What do you think Toothfairy08?? Note: I am majoring in Bio.

I would love to get scores like yours. For the other subjects did you also only use the Kaplan book?? 😕 I've heard the Kaplan book is good enough for the Chem sections. How about PAT, how did you prepare?? YOU DID PHENOMENAL!!!


How long did you study for?? 😱

Thanks in advanced

Mel

 

[bevzi]

well done. 👍

Just wanted to give a big thanks to all of the SDNers who have lended me support and advice as I followed this forum over the last 3 weeks...all the studying paid off and I can finally relax! I thought I would add one piece of advice since I am sure many are wondering...while I was able to still pull off a 23 in Bio by just using Kaplan Blue Book (no course), I would not have known the answers to several questions without the prior knowledge from my upper division Bio classes....point being....DON'T JUST RELY ON KAPLAN UNLESS YOU HAVE A STRONG BIO BACKGROUND ALREADY! That said, here are my scores:

Bio 23 😀
GChem 19
OChem 25 😀
PAT 25 😍
RC: 22 😀
QR: 20 😀
AA: 22 👍
TS: 22 👍

 

[Arsenalista]

good job! how did you study for PAT?

 

[RockstarDMD]

Just wanted to give a big thanks to all of the SDNers who have lended me support and advice as I followed this forum over the last 3 weeks...all the studying paid off and I can finally relax! I thought I would add one piece of advice since I am sure many are wondering...while I was able to still pull off a 23 in Bio by just using Kaplan Blue Book (no course), I would not have known the answers to several questions without the prior knowledge from my upper division Bio classes....point being....DON'T JUST RELY ON KAPLAN UNLESS YOU HAVE A STRONG BIO BACKGROUND ALREADY! That said, here are my scores:

Bio 23 😀
GChem 19
OChem 25 😀
PAT 25 😍
RC: 22 😀
QR: 20 😀
AA: 22 👍
TS: 22 👍

Hey great scores! Did you use topscore? if so what were your scores?

 

[Toothfairy08]

Thanks to all for the congrats! Let me try to answer your questions:

1) How did I study for PAT?
...Have no fear! This section started out rough for me too, and I mean ROUGH. I started looking at some PAT problems long before I actually started studying intensively to take the test--I would just look at a few every night. After awhile, I developed the ability to quickly spot the answer and look for minute details that often held the differences between right and wrong answers-...bottom line=practice makes perfect here! As I am sure you have all already heard, the angles are excrutiating, but the best advice I can give is to go with your first instinct and work quickly! When it actually came time to STUDY for the DAT, all I did for the PAT was some practice tests...I thought TopScore was the most help (for all sections actually), but I used Kaplan (relatively simple) and Achiever (very difficult!) as well.

2) How long did you study for?
...4 weeks...about 3-4 hours per day...I think it helped that I had just finished my final exams when I began to prepare for the DAT, so much of my recent bio and ochem classes were still in my memory...

3) How does the Kaplan book measure up?
All in all, I'd say the Kaplan book was a good purchase...I made flashcards for the bio and gchem sections and went through them once or twice before the big day (since there were probably 500 of them, it took a while to get all the way through...) Basic memorization was key. I would say that if Kaplan is all you used for Bio, you would be fine on 85% of the questions. For the other 15%, I think Bio majors definitely have the upper hand in this section (or those who used different preparatory books). While I liked Kaplan for a review, it definitely didn't cover EVERYTHING--I definitely think that my Cell Biology, Genetics, and Ecology classes from my university helped A LOT. That said, if you know Kaplan and can memorize well, I would still think you would be fine. As for Gen. and Org. Chem, I would say that Kaplan is enough, although I must say that I didn't do any additional studying for OChem besides the studying that I had done for my spring semester final in May....I guess I had a really good teacher. 😀 (By the way, for all those GChem haters...I'm with ya!...I really like OChem though!) As always, there are a few questions that seem to get thrown in out of nowhere, but Kaplan is plenty to give a solid background here.

I hope this has helped in easing some of your anxieties...I know I had quite a few and I was always thankful for the help I got from fellow SDNers! Any other questions, just ask! Good luck to those of you testing soon!

 

[Toothfairy08]

Whoa...sorry about that random boldness up there--got a bit out of hand!!! 😉

 

[vize]

thanks a lot, man... that clarification on bio was all i needed to know that i am still on track for a 20-22 AA!

 

[syn_apse]

I hope this has helped in easing some of your anxieties...

nothing relaxes your fellow applicants more than reading yet another 20+ DAT thread

 

[Toothfairy08]

RockstarDMD-- I used Kaplan, TopScore, Barrons, and Achiever. The Kaplan CD practice test was alright, however, I wish there would have been more practice tests on CD rather than the paper versions in the book. I would NOT advise Barrons to anyone...the material is way too generic and the practice exams are full of errors! As for Achiever and TopScore go, I used both (and was glad to have done so), however, TopScore is (in my opinion) a much closer reflection of the real thing.

Here is what I could salvage of my scores from the practice tests...Most of them aren't complete sets, as I had already taken TopScore and had to erase my scores to erase my previous answers as well (for tests I was retaking). I also didn't always take the full test, so if you don't see a section in there or an AA, that is why.

TopScore
#1 Bio 22/ GChem 19/ PAT 21
#2 Bio 22/ GChem 18/ OChem 20/ QR 21/ PAT 21
#3 Bio 22/ GChem 23/ OChem 18/ QR 24/ RC 29/ PAT 20 (AA=23, TS=21)

Achiever
#1 Bio 15/ GChem 18/ OChem 17/ QR 20/ PAT 18 (TS=17)
#2 Bio 16/ GChem 15/ OChem 17 (TS=16)
#3 Bio 16/ GChem 16/ OChem 19/ QR 18 (TS=17)

Hope this is what you were looking for...I recommend TopScore all the way! Sorry again about the incomplete score sets...I hope it helps you anyway! Good luck!!! 😀

 

[RockstarDMD]

RockstarDMD-- I used Kaplan, TopScore, Barrons, and Achiever. The Kaplan CD practice test was alright, however, I wish there would have been more practice tests on CD rather than the paper versions in the book. I would NOT advise Barrons to anyone...the material is way too generic and the practice exams are full of errors! As for Achiever and TopScore go, I used both (and was glad to have done so), however, TopScore is (in my opinion) a much closer reflection of the real thing.

Here is what I could salvage of my scores from the practice tests...Most of them aren't complete sets, as I had already taken TopScore and had to erase my scores to erase my previous answers as well (for tests I was retaking). I also didn't always take the full test, so if you don't see a section in there or an AA, that is why.

TopScore
#1 Bio 22/ GChem 19/ PAT 21
#2 Bio 22/ GChem 18/ OChem 20/ QR 21/ PAT 21
#3 Bio 22/ GChem 23/ OChem 18/ QR 24/ RC 29/ PAT 20 (AA=23, TS=21)

Achiever
#1 Bio 15/ GChem 18/ OChem 17/ QR 20/ PAT 18 (TS=17)
#2 Bio 16/ GChem 15/ OChem 17 (TS=16)
#3 Bio 16/ GChem 16/ OChem 19/ QR 18 (TS=17)

Hope this is what you were looking for...I recommend TopScore all the way! Sorry again about the incomplete score sets...I hope it helps you anyway! Good luck!!! 😀

Thanks exactly what I was looking for.

 

[HC_smiles]

RockstarDMD-- I used Kaplan, TopScore, Barrons, and Achiever. The Kaplan CD practice test was alright, however, I wish there would have been more practice tests on CD rather than the paper versions in the book. I would NOT advise Barrons to anyone...the material is way too generic and the practice exams are full of errors! As for Achiever and TopScore go, I used both (and was glad to have done so), however, TopScore is (in my opinion) a much closer reflection of the real thing.

Here is what I could salvage of my scores from the practice tests...Most of them aren't complete sets, as I had already taken TopScore and had to erase my scores to erase my previous answers as well (for tests I was retaking). I also didn't always take the full test, so if you don't see a section in there or an AA, that is why.

TopScore
#1 Bio 22/ GChem 19/ PAT 21
#2 Bio 22/ GChem 18/ OChem 20/ QR 21/ PAT 21
#3 Bio 22/ GChem 23/ OChem 18/ QR 24/ RC 29/ PAT 20 (AA=23, TS=21)

Achiever
#1 Bio 15/ GChem 18/ OChem 17/ QR 20/ PAT 18 (TS=17)
#2 Bio 16/ GChem 15/ OChem 17 (TS=16)
#3 Bio 16/ GChem 16/ OChem 19/ QR 18 (TS=17)

Hope this is what you were looking for...I recommend TopScore all the way! Sorry again about the incomplete score sets...I hope it helps you anyway! Good luck!!! 😀

yea, barrons was awful, so many typos and wrong answers...how mite i obtain the topscore materials?? i gotta retake the dat

 

[aurora507]

RockstarDMD-- I used Kaplan, TopScore, Barrons, and Achiever. The Kaplan CD practice test was alright, however, I wish there would have been more practice tests on CD rather than the paper versions in the book. I would NOT advise Barrons to anyone...the material is way too generic and the practice exams are full of errors! As for Achiever and TopScore go, I used both (and was glad to have done so), however, TopScore is (in my opinion) a much closer reflection of the real thing.

Here is what I could salvage of my scores from the practice tests...Most of them aren't complete sets, as I had already taken TopScore and had to erase my scores to erase my previous answers as well (for tests I was retaking). I also didn't always take the full test, so if you don't see a section in there or an AA, that is why.

TopScore
#1 Bio 22/ GChem 19/ PAT 21
#2 Bio 22/ GChem 18/ OChem 20/ QR 21/ PAT 21
#3 Bio 22/ GChem 23/ OChem 18/ QR 24/ RC 29/ PAT 20 (AA=23, TS=21)

Achiever
#1 Bio 15/ GChem 18/ OChem 17/ QR 20/ PAT 18 (TS=17)
#2 Bio 16/ GChem 15/ OChem 17 (TS=16)
#3 Bio 16/ GChem 16/ OChem 19/ QR 18 (TS=17)

Hope this is what you were looking for...I recommend TopScore all the way! Sorry again about the incomplete score sets...I hope it helps you anyway! Good luck!!! 😀

Wow, your real scores were so much higher than your DAT achiever scores. Did you study a lot after taking the achiever tests, or do you think their exams were just a lot harder than the real thing?

 

[Orthodox Bear]

Good Job!!
what advice can you give about scoring high on the PAT?

 

[Toothfairy08]

Thanks again guys for all of the congrats...I am so happy to be able to help you out! Here are some answers to the more recent questions you had:

1) TopScore Pro is available online at: www.scholarware.com You can also order it off of Amazon.com though or any site like that... it does have a limitation on the product though as it is only effective for like 7months after activation date so make sure you plan accordingly! (and don't throw your receipt away like I did...contains an important activation code!)

2) I ordered DAT Achiever with about 1 week left until my DAT actually, so not much extra studying came in afterwards except by taking the practice tests themselves...I heard so many people talk about it on SDN that I decided to just go for it... and yes, like the many others who have posted their Achiever scores, mine were lower than my actual scores... I would say that the Achiever test is more difficult than the real thing, however and exceptional study tool none the less! I would say that TopScore was most reflective of the difficulty on the real thing...due to the broad question base for sections like bio and chem though, this can be hard to judge.

3) PAT... My advice for this would be to practice, practice, practice. I started out looking at PAT problems long before I began to study for the sciences and math... each night I would look at ten or so problems... more than likely I would get them wrong at first, but then I would look at the answer and figure out where I made my mistake...what WASN'T I seeing... After doing this for awhile I developed an ability to pick out the small details immediately, and also to quickly rule out wrong answers... basically you just have to learn to cue in to the small details of the picture. Practice makes perfect here in my opinion!

😀

 

[kokobean]

hi toothfairy! GREAT scores! Did you do any Kaplan exams? Would you say their exams are easier/harder/ just as easy as the real thing? For some reason I am scoring lower on Kaplan than on top score and acheiver?? weird..

 

[mo magic carpet]

hey

good job... i was wondering how u studied for math (books and such) and for how long.

Thanks alot....

 

[FatalExtraction]

wow those are great scores! got anything exciting planned for the summer now?

after reading kokobean's question...i cant help but chime in ask the same thing...i too am scoring a bit on the low side when doing kaplan practice tests...however i have yet to start taking my topscore tests...just wondering as to how accurately they represent the real thing...thanks and congratulations!

 

[KOM]

nothing relaxes your fellow applicants more than reading yet another 20+ DAT thread

Lol. Yeah, I'm just soooo happy for your high scores. Hmmm. jk. Or am I?

 

[adorable]

your scores are absolutely amazing especially PAT. Right now i am having lots of difficulty with the PAT specifically the aperature passing and pattern folding. Can you give us some pointers on how you studied for each section of the PAT please?

 

[Toothfairy08]

A few more answers:

1) Do I have anything else planned for the summer now that the dat is over?
...No...now I have to go back to work as a nursing assistant at the nursing home...yay....😛

2) Did I take the Kaplan practice tests?
...I only took the one on the CD that came with the blue book...as for the other questions on the practice exams in the book...I only looked at them for reference, but never actually sat down and took any tests. Overall, I thought that Kaplan was about right for the sciences but easier than the actual DAT for the PAT section--especially the angles... I also think that the RC on the real test is much more difficult. I would say that Topscore is more reflective of the actual DAT in general, while TopScore is just about right 🙂

3) How did you study for PAT?
...Again, I just began looking at the questions a few at a time and with more and more practice, I developed the ability to tune into the small details and really pick out some of the small differences. In the keyhole section, i.e., it is often just one line that is different in right/wrong answers, and I somehow just knew which line to look at right away. As for top/front/end, I would count the lines...I believe I got this strategy straight out of the Kaplan blue book. Angles are just tough--go with your first instinct is about all I can say. I think cube counting is the easiest section of the PAT...I first count the total number of cubes and then go through the figure and make a big list of the # of sides painted....when I am done, I count up how many numbers I wrote down to double check that I got all of the cubes. From there, you can't go wrong 🙂 Hole punching is generally pretty straight forward I would say, and for me, pattern folding was always the worst. Its those dang dice, I tell ya. 🙂 Just practice and you'll do great!