Last 5 days. Advice appreciated.

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acemason

acemason

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Hi guys,

So I take my DAT in 5 days. I'm just trying to figure out what to do in these last 5 days. There is so much that I could focus on but I might not have time to finish everything. I've finished GC and OC Destroyer once. I've done about 250 bio questions. I've also done 6 Math Destroyer tests. Most likely won't have time to go over the entire book.

This is where I stand.

qVault Bio scores (taken last week and the week prior):

22/19/27/20/22/22/25

Individual Subject BC Scores from exams taken 7 -14 days ago:

Bio: 24/24/20
RC: 24/21
GC: 18/22
OC: 18
PAT: 20
QR: 17/21

So today I took my first full length BC exam and got the following scores. These are brand new questions from Test 4 which I haven't gone through before.

BIO: 23
GC: 24
OC: 22
PAT: 18
RC: 25
QR: 19


I honestly have neglected PAT the past month studying so I'm not sure if I can bring that up. I think I can bring QR up for sure in the next 5 days but I feel like maybe I should focus on sections of the sciences where I am weak?

Please advise. I would greatly appreciate any help!
 
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Thanks! I'm mainly making stupid mistakes on QR. Or sometimes I get 3/4 of the answer but forget the last step. I'm sure if I kept doing practice problems I could bring it up.

Also, if my test is next Wednesday, when should I take the 2009 ADA DAT?
 
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Yeah, you just gotta get used to those tricky problems (permutations and probability usually messed me up).

I would take it like 2 days before your test. This'll give you ample time to review what you missed.
 
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Those bootcamp scores seem pretty solid.

In a perfect world, you'd work on all sections. However, life gets in the way and you'll never feel 100% ready for any of these standardized exams. Personally, I recommend studying QR and PAT over the sciences, since your scores on QR/PAT are a little lower. QR and PAT are just practice and getting your speed up whereas I feel like memorizing some random science fact (that all evidence says you are already awesome at) is kind of low(er) yield. Personally, I wish I spent a little more time on QR in the last week leading up to my exam, since I feel that I sort of plateud in PAT (never clicked for me like it does for other people).

With regards to QR vs PAT, it honestly depends and there's no right answer. If you are focusing on canadian schools, probably PAT. If you are applying to american schools, probably QR?
 
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Wow! you are doing great. I am actually studying for the DAT right now for the second time. I know you are busy studying but i was wondering how you were doing so great on Qvault. the most i have gotten right was 31/40. which turned out to be a 19. i went through feralis and cliffs.
 
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@8_man Did you get better at those permutation/combination problems? Those are giving me trouble as well. I just don't "get" those problems. I watched youtube videos and they explained the difference and it made sense but when I actually do the problems I am not 100% sure what approach to take. Sometimes I get them right and sometimes I have no idea what to do.
 
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acemason said:
@8_man Did you get better at those permutation/combination problems? Those are giving me trouble as well. I just don't "get" those problems. I watched youtube videos and they explained the difference and it made sense but when I actually do the problems I am not 100% sure what approach to take. Sometimes I get them right and sometimes I have no idea what to do.
Click to expand...

Do you have a subscription to Chad's/Coursesaver? They do an excellent job explaining how to do these problems. The main difference is that for permutations, order matters. In combination problems, order does not matter.

For example:
How many different ways can you choose 3 apples from 7 apples? Note that each apple is unique.

This would be a permutation problem, since each apple is unique and thus, order matters. You need to look for keywords/phrases or common sense to determine if order matters or not. Some keywords/phrases are "unique," or "different ways," but this isn't always the case.

Another example:
How many different sets of 3 cards can Tom choose from a deck of 10 cards?

This would be a combination problem since we are looking for "different sets." This sort of implies that we are not concerned about the order of cards themselves, but rather, the collective difference between sets. For example, in a deck of 10 cards, you have them numbered as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. If you were to draw 3 cards randomly in two separate instances, and the drawn sets are 1, 2, 3, and 3, 2, 1, is there any collective difference between the two? No, since both sets contain the cards numbered 1, 2, and 3. The order in which the cards are drawn may be different, but this isn't what the problem is asking for.

This is a very general explanation on how to differentiate between the two. There are several other types of permutation/combination problems that you may encounter. But once you can determine if order matters or not, you should be able to solve most problems. So here's the two different equations you should have memorized by now:
combinations.png


The only difference between the two is the presence of, or absence of, r!. To know which one to use, just think about it: if order matters, does that increase or decrease the number of possibile answers? It would increase, since each unique combination is a different possibility. Hence, you would divide by a smaller number to yield a larger answer.

If order does not matter, then the number of answers decreases. This is because unique combinations can be grouped into sets when there is no collective difference between their contents.
 
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8_man said:
Do you have a subscription to Chad's/Coursesaver? They do an excellent job explaining how to do these problems. The main difference is that for permutations, order matters. In combination problems, order does not matter.

For example:
How many different ways can you choose 3 apples from 7 apples? Note that each apple is unique.

This would be a permutation problem, since each apple is unique and thus, order matters. You need to look for keywords/phrases or common sense to determine if order matters or not. Some keywords/phrases are "unique," or "different ways," but this isn't always the case.

Another example:
How many different sets of 3 cards can Tom choose from a deck of 10 cards?

This would be a combination problem since we are looking for "different sets." This sort of implies that we are not concerned about the order of cards themselves, but rather, the collective difference between sets. For example, in a deck of 10 cards, you have them numbered as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. If you were to draw 3 cards randomly in two separate instances, and the drawn sets are 1, 2, 3, and 3, 2, 1, is there any collective difference between the two? No, since both sets contain the cards numbered 1, 2, and 3. The order in which the cards are drawn may be different, but this isn't what the problem is asking for.

This is a very general explanation on how to differentiate between the two. There are several other types of permutation/combination problems that you may encounter. But once you can determine if order matters or not, you should be able to solve most problems. So here's the two different equations you should have memorized by now:
View attachment 211229

The only difference between the two is the presence of, or absence of, r!. To know which one to use, just think about it: if order matters, does that increase or decrease the number of possibile answers? It would increase, since each unique combination is a different possibility. Hence, you would divide by a smaller number to yield a larger answer.

If order does not matter, then the number of answers decreases. This is because unique combinations can be grouped into sets when there is no collective difference between their contents.
Click to expand...

#mathking
 
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Dental_Dream101 said:
Wow! you are doing great. I am actually studying for the DAT right now for the second time. I know you are busy studying but i was wondering how you were doing so great on Qvault. the most i have gotten right was 31/40. which turned out to be a 19. i went through feralis and cliffs.
Click to expand...

Hi, sorry for the late reply! And thanks!

So I actually had a decent biology background since I have taken some kind of biology class pretty much every year since 9th grade. That being said, I had a two year gap between graduating and studying for the DAT and so I had to refresh a lot of the material. For me however, going through Cliff's and Destroyer was enough. I actually didn't finish all of Destroyer, I only did 200 bio questions. But I did use my class notes from Anatomy or Microbiology to look up information more in depth whenever I felt it was needed.

I would say keep using practice materials to gauge which areas you are weak in. If you keep getting questions wrong in a certain area, go and watch a video on YouTube on that topic. Then, do a quick reading of either Feralis or Cliff's if you want. Sometimes, I even quickly read up on the topic in Campbells. Good luck! I can help out more after Wednesday!
 
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acemason said:
Hi, sorry for the late reply! And thanks!

So I actually had a decent biology background since I have taken some kind of biology class pretty much every year since 9th grade. That being said, I had a two year gap between graduating and studying for the DAT and so I had to refresh a lot of the material. For me however, going through Cliff's and Destroyer was enough. I actually didn't finish all of Destroyer, I only did 200 bio questions. But I did use my class notes from Anatomy or Microbiology to look up information more in depth whenever I felt it was needed.

I would say keep using practice materials to gauge which areas you are weak in. If you keep getting questions wrong in a certain area, go and watch a video on YouTube on that topic. Then, do a quick reading of either Feralis or Cliff's if you want. Sometimes, I even quickly read up on the topic in Campbells. Good luck! I can help out more after Wednesday!
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot! i wish you best of luck! hope you score really high!
 
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Relax your mind. SERIOUSLY!!! Play some games, all day eat and sleep. You want to feel fresh for a 5 hour exam day. make sure you get sleep schedule down if its an early timing.

Also like 1-2 days before. I would eat a lot of fruits, and carbs, and balanced diet. But more fruits and carbs. I say this as your mind will burn A LOT of glucose. So you basically want to restore your brain to normal after all the studying and then increase the supply in your body so you have good stores available to draw from.

I found massaging my shoulders, back, and neck helped me ease up. I was really tense.

Oh yea Relax a bit more haha. You will not learn masses of anything new at this point, so stick to the light reviews and PAT practice.


Sorry for the weird sentences. I was typing as I went and I just wanted to convey the info lol.
 
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Be confident.

When in doubt, C.

In the infamous words of Aaron Rodgers, "R-E-L-A-X." You'll do well.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
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