Kaplan practice test vs. real DAT

[ems5184]

Sometime this weekend I was planning on taking my first full-length practice test. For anyone who has used the Kaplan blue book to review, how did you think the difficulty and types of problems compared to the real DAT? Also, what magnitude of score improvement did you notice either between practice tests or between a practice test and the real test?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Sprgrover]

It's tough to say as everything is relative. I found that for me it depended on the section: organic on the real DAT was much easier and more general than Kaplan, and Kaplan's general chemistry required a bit more number crunching than the real DAT and included more definition style questions. Like others have said, the biology section is a bit more challenging because the questions are pulled from a diverse pool of topics (I studied my class notes and used Exam Krackers for this section). Kaplan's PAT is easier than the actual thing and the RC section on DAT seemed a bit easier than Kaplan. One week before I wrote the DAT I went to Kaplan's site and took their free online exam. It is shorter than the actual thing (the science portions are full length), though I thought that it was closer to the DAT as far as level of difficulty, types of questions, etc. than the exam on the bluebook CD or those on Topscore. In regards to score improvement, some sections I consistently scored the same on while others I had up to a six point improvement on my Kaplan score. Use Kaplan to target your weak areas, focus your study efforts on them, and don't despair if your scores fall short of your ideal.

 

[DrTacoElf]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=134789

 

[ems5184]

thanks for your help guys, exactly what i was wondering cause my first kaplan score was alright, but my gen chem score was much lower than i expected.

 

[groundhog]

Based only on the responses I have read on SDN over the last three years I would say that a majority of folks who use the Kaplan material find that they score higher on the DAT portions but lower on the PAT portion than their Kaplan practice tests would predict.

 

[drtagman]

i took the mcats in april while i was still unsure about becoming a dentist but right after i wanted to go into dentistry and used the kaplan blue book to review for the test and learn the pat portion. the sciences were harder and the pat was easier. on the cd for the kaplan book i got
Academic avg:16
Bio:16
Chem:16
Ochem:18
PAT: 22

on the real test
AA: 21
Bio:22
Chem:19
Ochem:21
PAT: 20

The wierd thing about the PAT was that everyone told me that the keyholes and the 3-d projections were gunna be much harder than the practice tests- i personally thought, with good reason, that those sections were easier and the angles and the cube counting was much harder. I swear there seemed to be an impossible cube figure on my test and it made me go nuts, i almost ran outta time while on the practices i was finishing at least 10 min ahead. Work on the PAT, practice.

 

[SrVagas]

Where can I buy this PAT?
Please?

 

[Sprgrover]

Where can I buy this PAT?
Please?

The PAT is the perceptual ability portion of the DAT. Kaplan and Barron's all have a review section of it and you can test yourself on that section using Topscore, Kaplan, and acethedat.com .

 

[LissDentist]

Does anyone know of a good PAT cd that is helpful..one student i know used one and it seemed very good, but for some reason he won't tell me the name of it. thanks

 

[drtagman]

the thing that i used to study for the PAT was the kaplan blue book which didnt really help, but also the Barrons DAT book, its the thin one and it costs like 16 bucks. the thing is is that it has a section that gives you strategies to approaching the PAT problems, unlike the kaplan book which basically threw a bunch of practice problems at you. i didnt take a class so i had to learn it all on my own- the barrons book helped me out with the angle ranking, like "parking the angle" and it was even helpful in dealing with the reading comp. good luck

 

[Sprgrover]

Does anyone know of a good PAT cd that is helpful..one student i know used one and it seemed very good, but for some reason he won't tell me the name of it. thanks

If he was using a cd to study then my guess is Topscore. You can buy it directly from them or on Amazon.com.