Just finished the DAT.

[savvysearch]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Thanks so much to all who helped me with question I posted~! ! It is really appreciated.


Well, I'm happy about my scores but with reservations. I did better on all portions of the exam except for math and biology which I scored exactly the same.

Today:

AA:19
Total Science:20
PAT: 19
quant: 17
Reading: 21
Bio:18
Chem: 20
O.Chem 21

Formerly:

AA:18
Total Science:18
PAT:18
Quant:17
Reading:17
Bio:18
Chem:17
O.chem:18

Biology section seemed to have no classification, but questions seemed to have nothing to do with Kaplan. A lot of genetics, lots of cell questions. It was just weird. I can't explain it. It was like I never took Biology before.

Ochem and chem were pretty much like Kaplan and topscore.

PAT is, as expected, much more difficult than topscore/kaplan

Math: Oh. My. God. It was deja vu. Like last time, I had to guess on the last 10 questions. I guess I didnt learn my lesson. All very easy word questions that topscore/kaplan prepares you for, IF ONLY THERE WAS TIME!! My suggestions is to keep calculations to a minumum and spend no longer than 50 seconds per question.
I spend so much time working out complicated questions from topscore/kaplan, when I really should have been working on quickening my division and addition skills! I shouldnt have even studied for this section.

 

[critterbug]

Great job!!

I'm getting a little nervous. I should take it this week. I am scoring 19-22 on all AA sections of topscore (I have taken the first two Topscore tests) HOWEVER, I am only scoring 17 on PAT. I'm a little worried about it. PAT is by far my hardest section. Guess I'll have to suck it up and dive into it because i am not seeing much improvement. The top/front/end problems are the hardest for me, and usually just end up guessin on most of them. IF there are any last minute suggestions out there, I sure would appreciate them. Is the Barron's book worth buying for the PAT? My GPA is high, so maybe I shouldn't worry so much about one section of the DAT?

 

[croco]

Nice job on the DAT(s). Your first DAT is fairly good 18. Why did you decide to retake it?

 

[PERFECT3434]

great scores savvysearch!

i am very glad that you improved almost every section of your scores. you'll have no problems getting in this year.

congrats to you man!

 

[vondy60]

In the last few DAT experience posts, people have noted that their biology section was not what they expected. Can someone elaborate a little more about this. I take the DAT in 3 weeks and it is my worst fear to take this test and feel like I am looking at some foreign material I have never seen before. What is meant by questions being weird or very detailed. Can I get some examples please? I would really like to know what I sould focus on in these last few weeks. Thanks a bunch.

 

[PERFECT3434]

vondy,

if you have studies your bio section well, then you don't have anything to worry about. i think that the word "weird" here could have many diff meanings.

for me i had some questions that i had never seen b4, but i could still get the answer just based on the knowledge of bio that i had.

for example, you could have a question like an eukaryotic cell whose cell diameter is 10 then by how many folds is it larger than a prok?

these are questions that u may not have seen b4 but you should be able to answer it from your prior knowledge.

my advice to you my friend is to do nothing but taking practice exams for the last 2 weeks. forget about SDN unless you have some questions. i think that people waste waaaay too much time on SDN when they could be studying. SDN will be here for ya when you are done.

Good luck and study hard. only 3 more weeks and you will make it!

 

[savvysearch]

thanks everyone!

Originally posted by croco
Nice job on the DAT(s). Your first DAT is fairly good 18. Why did you decide to retake it?

Hi, croco. I took it again because my gpa is lower than average. I needed something that stood out in my application.

About the weirdness of the bio section, a lot of the questions had little to do with biology and a lot to do with reasoning. Sometimes the questions seemed more like math questions. It just seemed really polar. If know the answer, then you really know it. But for the questions you don't know, you REALLY don't know, as if youve never even seen it before, and you can't even eliminate one of the choices.

That's what I mean by weird. You expect the bio section to be mostly ruled by moderate questions, where you sort of know the answer and so you can eliminate some of the choices, neither too hard nor too foreign. But instead, the mix seemed to be really hard, or ridiculously simple. And a LOT of math thrown in for the rest.

Atleast from a Kaplan/topscore perspective.

 

[vondy60]

Thanks for the replies in trying to explain the bio section. But savvysearch could you give an example of "a lot of math" in the biology section. I do not understand there being much math in this section. Maybe I am studying the wrong material. And how many out of the 40 bio questions would you estimate as being hard and not knowing the answer at all. I am really started to get scared.

 

[ejoseph]

don't worry vondy60. The DAT is not hard at all. In fact, it is the easiest test I've taken in a long time. Just read the summaries given at the end of your biology book, and look at quiz questions in the back of your chapter. I did not use kaplan or anything else but my school books. I studied for the DAT for three weeks and scored an AA of 21 and a biology score of 22. I was a chemistry major and only had 1 year of biology, and I took it my freshman year. It's cake. trust me. just be sure to do what I told you.

 

[HSO]

Vondy60, and future DAT test takers. not everyone is like ejoseph. not everyone can neglect kaplan, study for 3 weeks, and score a 21. if you can, then good for you, you must be proud to be a such a naturally smart person. my advice is, do not take the DAT lightly. very few people i personally know, wait, none, spent only 3 weeks preparing for the DAT and scored a 21 AA and 22 biology. listening to advice like "the DAT is cake," "it's not hard at all" is serious b.s. and poor advice and you should rather listen to people who tell you to take test seriously. trust. good luck with your studies.

and ejoseph, wow, i admire ur intelligence.

 

[Dr. J MD/DDS]

I agree that biology can be pretty tough. Knowing everything in Kaplan won't get you in the high 20's. If you're shooting for the moon, you'll have to actually over-prepare (obviously). I personally am using Cliff's AP bio as primary bio prep. It's like a condensed bio book with very little dilution and has great practice problems that give you a heads up on how attentively you should be studying. Kaplan i memorized only as a supplement.

As to bio calculations, i'd say be ready for HWE/evolution, heredity/punnet sq, and ecological equations. Although most will be conceptual, you'll still have to know how to simplify the calc mechanics behind it. Remember that most of the questions are designed to be answered correctly by the majority of test takers, while the others serve to separate you from the pack.

Dr.

 

[savvysearch]

by math, I had questions requiring punnet square diagrams and questions like only x% is efficient in energy transfer. If a dog eats a plant that has X number of energy, how much did the dog get of X.

Or dad and mom have a kid. Mom's dad was colorblind. what is the chance of colorblindness. Or something to that affect.

But if you study Kaplan well, I think you will get atleast average 17 or 18 score. There are enough questions that you will know to get that score. And enough that are just plain logic.

If you want a guaranteed higher score in 20s, you might want to try some other bio materials. But really, I believe it is the luck of the draw. Though there seems to be many people who ONLY studied Kaplan who got in the 20s, so it could be just me.

But really, I think math is what you should be worried about. Easy word questions, but you only get 45 minutes. If you are studying for this section, I HIGHLY recommend that you concentrate most of your efforts in estimations/guessing and fast fraction-reduction.

 

[ejoseph]

sorry HSO. I didn't mean to come off as a narcissist. But honestly, I didn't think it was that tough, with the exception of the PAT section, which was mildly difficult. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion, and I was just putting in my $0.02 worth. I was just trying to calm vondy60 down. Vondy60, calm down!!! you will do fine, trust me.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Originally posted by ejoseph
sorry HSO. I didn't mean to come off as a narcissist. But honestly, I didn't think it was that tough, with the exception of the PAT section, which was mildly difficult. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion, and I was just putting in my $0.02 worth. I was just trying to calm vondy60 down. Vondy60, calm down!!! you will do fine, trust me.

You're right. The DAT is a cakewalk in comparison to the other exams you'll be taking throughout your career.

As I've said before: remember the scope of the exam. With such a broad scope it cannot be very detailed.

 

[HSO]

cool, i repsect your opinions ejoseph. good luck with your applications.

 

[superman]

Yes, I agree that the exam is not as bad as people think it is, but before taking the exam I was freaking out. I was getting scores of anywhere from 17-19 on the Topscore exams (after studying for a while), and occassional 20's on the Kaplan tests, but ended up with a Science average of 23 (I never dreamed i would get such a score). However, without good preparation I don't think that I could have done that well. Vondy, do try to calm down, but prepare yourself well, and you will understand what Ejoseph, ItsGavinC, and I are talking about--that the DAT isn't that bad.

 

[ejoseph]

you too HSO!!! ; )