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- Sep 18, 2004
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hey guys. i took the dat wednesday afternoon and here are my results:
AA 21
TS 21
BIO 20
GC 20
OC 25
RC 19
QR 19
PA 19
i would like to thank all the great contributers to this forum. since i found out about this site a month ago (thanks justletmein), i've found it to be a good place to get some good information on the actual test. here are my thoughts:
Bio
this was a bit harder than i thought. i must've seen about 5 questions i wasn't sure of. the best thing was to eliminate what i could and went for the kill. i remember seeing some ecology, cell biology, respiration, plant topics, photosynthesis. the bottom line is that there's just too much for them to choose from so i say the best strategy is to learn everything! some questions were very very straight forward and others made more sense after i skipped it and returned to it later.
Chem
pretty straightforward overall. there weren't any crazy-difficult calculations. i saw stoichiometry, pH calculations, thermodynamics, kinetics, nuclear decay. the key here is to practice practice practice! i thought i did better but can't complain.
O-Chem
this was quite a surprise. i was expecting to see a lot of sn1, e1...etc. however, i did see a few and they were pretty straight forward. example..."which would undergo sn1/sn2 etc? given these primary, secondary, tertiary structures" i actually saw a lot of synthesis questions and one proton nmr. i also recall seeing some ortho/meta/para questions too. kaplan does a pretty good job preparing you. so read the book!
PAT
wow, harder than kaplan and barrons. i was averaging mid 20's on this portion usually. thoughts: (keyholes) pretty straightforward. some were oddly shaped and it took a few more seconds to figure it out due to the minor differences in answer choices. (top end/ front end) pretty easy. the ones i saw were of kaplan's difficulty level. not too bad, except one...it looked like the nbc peacock with propellers in the front. (angle ranking) yup, they're a bit harder. i spent too much time staring at the answers. i say just go with your first instinct and move on, or skip. (hole punch) i considered this section to be the easiest...but wow, the paper folded in some strange ways. it wasn't too bad but for me, it took a bit longer on each. (cube counting) pretty straight forward, nothing difficult here. (pattern folding) nothing too bad here either. kaplan prepares you well. for this section, all i can say is PACE yourself! i used to finish 15 min. early but on the real test i cut it pretty damn close! i'd recommend practicing this section more regularly. i overestimated myself on this one.
RC
my subjects were asteroids, brain imaging, and glutamate receptors. there were quite a bit of detail finding questions, so find the information quickly!
QR
i was expecting a score in the 20's...oh well. don't underestimate trig functions either! i saw 4 questions on trig! i wish i studied this area more. pretty straight forward overall...just practice a crapload so you know how to set it up when you see the problem.
My prometric experience
if anyone here takes the test in alameda, ca...go a little early because the parking was a pain. during my break, i had to run around the block to put more quarters in the meter while eating my chocolate and drinking my water. try to get a ride there or leave a little early to find parking. overall, the location's clean and has good monitors. for those of you taking the test at this site, PM me for questions.
if anyone of you guys are taking kaplan here are my diag scores if you want to compare.
Diag Midterm Final
AA 13 14 17
TS 14 14 16
BIO 15 13 17
GC 13 14 16
OC 12 15 16
RC 14 14 18
QR 10 14 16
PA 16 20 21
i was pretty half assed about studying for the first 2 months but i began to study much harder for the final month, trying to cover as much ground as i could. i pretty much got scared into studying harder after i saw my scores for the final. as for any advice i would give in hindsight, (someone in another thread quoted this but i forgot...sorry) study smart! i too feel that i made the mistake of focusing on bio for week, then chem for a week, etc. try to break up your studies into sections by studying bio for 2 hours, chem for 2 hours, math for 2 hours etc. i would think that more frequent exposure to the material would allow you to retain the material better.
i was a science major and graduated with a 2.85. in addition, i retook 2 classes so i'm sure my application gpa should be a bit lower =(. in college, i worked a lot and kept myself busy with extracurriculars. now i'm not trying to ask, "what are my chances? just lay it on me!". seriously though, i just got done with the hardest part of the application process. my applications were sent in last month and i'm just going to hope for the best. if i don't get in, i know that i'll just have to take more classes to show them i'm capable of handling the material and apply the following cycle.
to all you who are taking the test in the future, i wish you all the best! i know how nerve racking it is just thinking about it. hell, just reading this forum even made me nervous! if anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me! a very big thanks to all those who wrote about their experiences on this forum! good luck to all on your DAT's and applications!
sorry for the long post.
AA 21
TS 21
BIO 20
GC 20
OC 25
RC 19
QR 19
PA 19
i would like to thank all the great contributers to this forum. since i found out about this site a month ago (thanks justletmein), i've found it to be a good place to get some good information on the actual test. here are my thoughts:
Bio
this was a bit harder than i thought. i must've seen about 5 questions i wasn't sure of. the best thing was to eliminate what i could and went for the kill. i remember seeing some ecology, cell biology, respiration, plant topics, photosynthesis. the bottom line is that there's just too much for them to choose from so i say the best strategy is to learn everything! some questions were very very straight forward and others made more sense after i skipped it and returned to it later.
Chem
pretty straightforward overall. there weren't any crazy-difficult calculations. i saw stoichiometry, pH calculations, thermodynamics, kinetics, nuclear decay. the key here is to practice practice practice! i thought i did better but can't complain.
O-Chem
this was quite a surprise. i was expecting to see a lot of sn1, e1...etc. however, i did see a few and they were pretty straight forward. example..."which would undergo sn1/sn2 etc? given these primary, secondary, tertiary structures" i actually saw a lot of synthesis questions and one proton nmr. i also recall seeing some ortho/meta/para questions too. kaplan does a pretty good job preparing you. so read the book!
PAT
wow, harder than kaplan and barrons. i was averaging mid 20's on this portion usually. thoughts: (keyholes) pretty straightforward. some were oddly shaped and it took a few more seconds to figure it out due to the minor differences in answer choices. (top end/ front end) pretty easy. the ones i saw were of kaplan's difficulty level. not too bad, except one...it looked like the nbc peacock with propellers in the front. (angle ranking) yup, they're a bit harder. i spent too much time staring at the answers. i say just go with your first instinct and move on, or skip. (hole punch) i considered this section to be the easiest...but wow, the paper folded in some strange ways. it wasn't too bad but for me, it took a bit longer on each. (cube counting) pretty straight forward, nothing difficult here. (pattern folding) nothing too bad here either. kaplan prepares you well. for this section, all i can say is PACE yourself! i used to finish 15 min. early but on the real test i cut it pretty damn close! i'd recommend practicing this section more regularly. i overestimated myself on this one.
RC
my subjects were asteroids, brain imaging, and glutamate receptors. there were quite a bit of detail finding questions, so find the information quickly!
QR
i was expecting a score in the 20's...oh well. don't underestimate trig functions either! i saw 4 questions on trig! i wish i studied this area more. pretty straight forward overall...just practice a crapload so you know how to set it up when you see the problem.
My prometric experience
if anyone here takes the test in alameda, ca...go a little early because the parking was a pain. during my break, i had to run around the block to put more quarters in the meter while eating my chocolate and drinking my water. try to get a ride there or leave a little early to find parking. overall, the location's clean and has good monitors. for those of you taking the test at this site, PM me for questions.
if anyone of you guys are taking kaplan here are my diag scores if you want to compare.
Diag Midterm Final
AA 13 14 17
TS 14 14 16
BIO 15 13 17
GC 13 14 16
OC 12 15 16
RC 14 14 18
QR 10 14 16
PA 16 20 21
i was pretty half assed about studying for the first 2 months but i began to study much harder for the final month, trying to cover as much ground as i could. i pretty much got scared into studying harder after i saw my scores for the final. as for any advice i would give in hindsight, (someone in another thread quoted this but i forgot...sorry) study smart! i too feel that i made the mistake of focusing on bio for week, then chem for a week, etc. try to break up your studies into sections by studying bio for 2 hours, chem for 2 hours, math for 2 hours etc. i would think that more frequent exposure to the material would allow you to retain the material better.
i was a science major and graduated with a 2.85. in addition, i retook 2 classes so i'm sure my application gpa should be a bit lower =(. in college, i worked a lot and kept myself busy with extracurriculars. now i'm not trying to ask, "what are my chances? just lay it on me!". seriously though, i just got done with the hardest part of the application process. my applications were sent in last month and i'm just going to hope for the best. if i don't get in, i know that i'll just have to take more classes to show them i'm capable of handling the material and apply the following cycle.
to all you who are taking the test in the future, i wish you all the best! i know how nerve racking it is just thinking about it. hell, just reading this forum even made me nervous! if anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me! a very big thanks to all those who wrote about their experiences on this forum! good luck to all on your DAT's and applications!
sorry for the long post.
but my gpa is a little higher yours, 3.5 (BSEE from Davis). I hope we will be classmates someday!!! I keep my fingers crossed.
