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I just took my exam 2 hours ago and it feels great to say "I am finally done!" It feels as if a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I am glad to have done so well too, considering how poorly I did on my first DAT. I would honestly like to thank all those that took the time to type out their whole study process in order to help others. It was all of those breakdowns that motivated me and help me come up with a study plan of my own.
DAT Scores:
PAT: 21
Bio: 23
GC: 23
OC: 23
RC: 21
QR: 20
TS: 23 (97.3%)
AA: 22 (95.7%)
The most important advice that I can give, which i know has been said millions of times before, is to STAY CALM. I am pretty sure I had a panic attack the first time I took it which is what I believe contributed most to my 17AA; after all I didnt study anything different this time, other than using Achiever (3 Test) for PAT. Maybe going over Destroyer 2 more times helped also
. Going into the test the second time around, I would try and trick myself into believe I was walking into a practice test that would gauge where I was at with my studies. As dumb as it sounds, it did keep me calm about the whole situation lol.
The second time around I studied for two months with about a week worth of days off due to finals. I had studied for two months when I took it the first time and felt I still had a good grasp of the information.
Biology: Cliffs, Destroyer, DatQVault,
Cliff's was by far the best resource for this section for me but Destroyer was amazing too. I must have read Cliffs front to back 3 times (excluding lab section) and was constantly reviewing chapters between using Destroyer. I also went over some chapters on KBB like Endocrinology because it went a little more in depth and the pictures brought it
all together
Although Destroyer could be overkill sometimes, don't underestimate it, There was specifically one question on the dat about meniscus' and I chuckled out loud having remembered the question from DAT Destroyer and, at the time thinking "this will never show up on the test" but i wrote it down anyway lol. I went over Destroyer twice fully and skimmed it a third time.
Datqvault was good because it did go over some topic not covered in destroyer and the charts helped out a lot. It was also useful for timing and to know where your weak areas were.
GC: Chad's Videos, Destroyer, Qvault
Chad's videos were the first things I used and it is the best! I filled up an entire notebook with the notes I took. I wrote down everything that was said, constantly pausing the video to write. It took me a while (I had already done it the first time around so I didnt have to rewrite it) but it is well worth it because I didnt have to watch the video to refresh my memory, I would just skim my notes. The quizzes are great too, went through those once.
I only used GC Destroyer for the theoretical questions and skipped over the ones that were heavy on the math. One mistake I made the first time around also was thinking that going over GC Destroyer once was fine, bc "I would remember." 🙄 That didint go over too well so make sure to go through it at least twice!
Datqvault was very repetitive but it is what I used for the math type gen chem questions and it was more than enough.
On the test, I found this section to be most difficult and I expected a lower score to be honest so I am glad to have gotten a 23!
OC: Chad's Videos, Destroyer
Chad's videos were even better for OChem. I had barely paid attention in my OChem class so I was completely lost when it came to this subject. Chad was there to pick up where my OChem professor left me off, the beginning! Again, I took extensive notes (filled up another notebook) and did the quizzes.
Destroyer was the only material I used for practice questions and I think it is more than enough. I went over it around 3 times and it helped solidify a lot of concepts. Road Maps were great too, felt like little quick cheat sheets.
On the test, I felt most questions were pretty simple. Although there were one or two that threw me off a little, i still had enough knowledge to make an educated guess.
I also didnt time myself when doing destroyer problems because they are much more difficult. It didnt really matter much because I had finished this section the fastest out of the three sections and spent the rest of my time on gen chem questions.
PAT: CDP, Achiever
I decided to do CDP again the second time around, having done all 10 tests the first time and a few of them twice. And, of course, after it a while it felt like I had just memorized the answers as my mouse would hover over the one I knew was the correct answer but chose to skim the wrong answers first to convince myself i was "learning." lol
So, a few days before the DAT i decided to invest the $80 on the 3 Test version of Achiever to use only for PAT. It was a good decision! Though some keyholes and TFE problems were overkill, I felt it was much more representative of what was on the DAT, especially the way the shapes were drawn.
Keyholes: I flattened the shapes in my mind and always kept in mind where the appendages were placed (like if the tube sticking out of a square was in the middle or skewed to one side more) they tried to get me on a few that way. Also, watch out for proportions! and look at every option they give for this section! A few of the keyholes on the test were drawn so obscure that I completely guessed on one or two.
TFE: A little less difficult but I had lost so much time on the keyholes that I had to make up for it by speeding through and marking the first answer I thought was right. Not a good start
Angles: I could never get more than 10 right and was always changing methods so I decided to wing it on test day....and I did! 👍
Hole Punching: I thought I had this section downpacked the second time around, using the line of symmetry technique that someone posted on youtube (thanks to whoever that was btw, you're a beast!) but when I saw that the spacing was different on the outsides of the paper, it had me confused on a few of them, but I got through it, so keep that in mind!
Cube Counting: Simple, I didnt get too many cubes on any figure.
Pattern Folding: This section was the easiest this time around (this was not at all the case the first time around) so there was a sign of relief when I saw how quickly I was getting through them, especially since I was short on time.
One huge mistake I made was not timing myself on the PAT section when studying for the retake. I lost a lot of time in the beginning and had to rush through the rest which really tripped me up, so I am glad I got a 21.
RC: DatqVault
I dreaded RC going into this DAT because I only did two practice tests, which was certainly a risk seeing as I got a 16 the first time, I know 😱 I attributed that horrible score to the fact that I completely panicked during the RC section, had no strategy whatsoever and went into frantic mode trying to search and destroy everything, I dont recommend that at all!
This time around I followed AQZ's method (shout out to AQZ!) and it worked wonders. Though towards the end of the passages when there were 6-7 questions left and the last few paragraphs were getting dense, I would read the paragraph first and skim over the last few questions to see if that paragraph answered any of the questions. It did end up being a bit time consuming though because my passages were not that long ( btwn 10-12 paragraphs) and I had finished with just a few seconds left to take a deep breath and BAM, QR 😱
So, the moral of the story is, find something that works for you and stick with it!
QR - Math Destroyer, Datqvault
Don't have much to say about this section. I only did up to the 8th math destroyer test and went over it twice to make sure I had the concepts down. I also did some datqvault questions. I didnt feel too confident about this section going in but many of the questions were simple and there were some 😕 type questions that i just skipped over and came back to. I am more than happy with a 20 on this section.
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As far as practice tests go, I never took one lol. I bought topscore but I was afraid it would break my confidence and kept telling myself "ill do it tomorrow" until my parents laptop broke (i had it saved on theirs bc I have a mac) and took that as a sign (more of an excuse) that I shouldnt take topscore
I am glad that I scheduled my exam for 2pm because that gave me enough time to sleep and review each section (minus reading) for an hour, which kept it fresh in my mind. It definitely helped for PAT and kept all the math equations in my head. I also went over the taxonomy and plant charts for Bio because I hated it the most and could never remember all of it so it was the last thing I looked at.
All in all, I am more than pleased with my scores and am happy that I can relax for the rest of winter break.
Btw: I thought this was awesome for remembering Dicots and Monocots. lol!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBz1unaMr6I
I applied this cycle in June, thinking I would have done well on my DATs the first time, but have told most of the schools to place my application on hold. I know I am going to be considered a very late applicant but do you think I will still have a chance for this cycle.
As of now cumulative gpa is 3.53 and my science gpa is 3.47, and I have shadowed a dentist for about 150 hours and have a bunch of community service hours from a park that I volunteer.
I am sure that I can get my science gpa up passed 3.5 and my cumulative gpa up close to 3.6 after the fall semester. I don't however have any research credits but have signed up to do research this next semester.
I guess my question is, with what I have now, do you guys think I have a chance for this cycle or would it be best to wait until I have some research under my belt and get my gpa up a little.
I schools that still have my app on hold are NYU, UF, Tufts, BU, LECOLM, Midwestern Ill, VCU.
What do you guys think?
DAT Scores:
PAT: 21
Bio: 23
GC: 23
OC: 23
RC: 21
QR: 20
TS: 23 (97.3%)
AA: 22 (95.7%)
The most important advice that I can give, which i know has been said millions of times before, is to STAY CALM. I am pretty sure I had a panic attack the first time I took it which is what I believe contributed most to my 17AA; after all I didnt study anything different this time, other than using Achiever (3 Test) for PAT. Maybe going over Destroyer 2 more times helped also
. Going into the test the second time around, I would try and trick myself into believe I was walking into a practice test that would gauge where I was at with my studies. As dumb as it sounds, it did keep me calm about the whole situation lol. The second time around I studied for two months with about a week worth of days off due to finals. I had studied for two months when I took it the first time and felt I still had a good grasp of the information.
Biology: Cliffs, Destroyer, DatQVault,
Cliff's was by far the best resource for this section for me but Destroyer was amazing too. I must have read Cliffs front to back 3 times (excluding lab section) and was constantly reviewing chapters between using Destroyer. I also went over some chapters on KBB like Endocrinology because it went a little more in depth and the pictures brought it
all together
Although Destroyer could be overkill sometimes, don't underestimate it, There was specifically one question on the dat about meniscus' and I chuckled out loud having remembered the question from DAT Destroyer and, at the time thinking "this will never show up on the test" but i wrote it down anyway lol. I went over Destroyer twice fully and skimmed it a third time.
Datqvault was good because it did go over some topic not covered in destroyer and the charts helped out a lot. It was also useful for timing and to know where your weak areas were.
GC: Chad's Videos, Destroyer, Qvault
Chad's videos were the first things I used and it is the best! I filled up an entire notebook with the notes I took. I wrote down everything that was said, constantly pausing the video to write. It took me a while (I had already done it the first time around so I didnt have to rewrite it) but it is well worth it because I didnt have to watch the video to refresh my memory, I would just skim my notes. The quizzes are great too, went through those once.
I only used GC Destroyer for the theoretical questions and skipped over the ones that were heavy on the math. One mistake I made the first time around also was thinking that going over GC Destroyer once was fine, bc "I would remember." 🙄 That didint go over too well so make sure to go through it at least twice!
Datqvault was very repetitive but it is what I used for the math type gen chem questions and it was more than enough.
On the test, I found this section to be most difficult and I expected a lower score to be honest so I am glad to have gotten a 23!
OC: Chad's Videos, Destroyer
Chad's videos were even better for OChem. I had barely paid attention in my OChem class so I was completely lost when it came to this subject. Chad was there to pick up where my OChem professor left me off, the beginning!
Again, I took extensive notes (filled up another notebook) and did the quizzes.Destroyer was the only material I used for practice questions and I think it is more than enough. I went over it around 3 times and it helped solidify a lot of concepts. Road Maps were great too, felt like little quick cheat sheets.
On the test, I felt most questions were pretty simple. Although there were one or two that threw me off a little, i still had enough knowledge to make an educated guess.
I also didnt time myself when doing destroyer problems because they are much more difficult. It didnt really matter much because I had finished this section the fastest out of the three sections and spent the rest of my time on gen chem questions.
PAT: CDP, Achiever
I decided to do CDP again the second time around, having done all 10 tests the first time and a few of them twice. And, of course, after it a while it felt like I had just memorized the answers as my mouse would hover over the one I knew was the correct answer but chose to skim the wrong answers first to convince myself i was "learning." lol
So, a few days before the DAT i decided to invest the $80 on the 3 Test version of Achiever to use only for PAT. It was a good decision! Though some keyholes and TFE problems were overkill, I felt it was much more representative of what was on the DAT, especially the way the shapes were drawn.
Keyholes: I flattened the shapes in my mind and always kept in mind where the appendages were placed (like if the tube sticking out of a square was in the middle or skewed to one side more) they tried to get me on a few that way. Also, watch out for proportions! and look at every option they give for this section! A few of the keyholes on the test were drawn so obscure that I completely guessed on one or two.
TFE: A little less difficult but I had lost so much time on the keyholes that I had to make up for it by speeding through and marking the first answer I thought was right. Not a good start
Angles: I could never get more than 10 right and was always changing methods so I decided to wing it on test day....and I did! 👍
Hole Punching: I thought I had this section downpacked the second time around, using the line of symmetry technique that someone posted on youtube (thanks to whoever that was btw, you're a beast!) but when I saw that the spacing was different on the outsides of the paper, it had me confused on a few of them, but I got through it, so keep that in mind!
Cube Counting: Simple, I didnt get too many cubes on any figure.
Pattern Folding: This section was the easiest this time around (this was not at all the case the first time around) so there was a sign of relief when I saw how quickly I was getting through them, especially since I was short on time.
One huge mistake I made was not timing myself on the PAT section when studying for the retake. I lost a lot of time in the beginning and had to rush through the rest which really tripped me up, so I am glad I got a 21.
RC: DatqVault
I dreaded RC going into this DAT because I only did two practice tests, which was certainly a risk seeing as I got a 16 the first time, I know 😱 I attributed that horrible score to the fact that I completely panicked during the RC section, had no strategy whatsoever and went into frantic mode trying to search and destroy everything, I dont recommend that at all!
This time around I followed AQZ's method (shout out to AQZ!) and it worked wonders. Though towards the end of the passages when there were 6-7 questions left and the last few paragraphs were getting dense, I would read the paragraph first and skim over the last few questions to see if that paragraph answered any of the questions. It did end up being a bit time consuming though because my passages were not that long ( btwn 10-12 paragraphs) and I had finished with just a few seconds left to take a deep breath and BAM, QR 😱
So, the moral of the story is, find something that works for you and stick with it!
QR - Math Destroyer, Datqvault
Don't have much to say about this section. I only did up to the 8th math destroyer test and went over it twice to make sure I had the concepts down. I also did some datqvault questions. I didnt feel too confident about this section going in but many of the questions were simple and there were some 😕 type questions that i just skipped over and came back to. I am more than happy with a 20 on this section.
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As far as practice tests go, I never took one lol. I bought topscore but I was afraid it would break my confidence and kept telling myself "ill do it tomorrow" until my parents laptop broke (i had it saved on theirs bc I have a mac) and took that as a sign (more of an excuse) that I shouldnt take topscore
I am glad that I scheduled my exam for 2pm because that gave me enough time to sleep and review each section (minus reading) for an hour, which kept it fresh in my mind. It definitely helped for PAT and kept all the math equations in my head. I also went over the taxonomy and plant charts for Bio because I hated it the most and could never remember all of it so it was the last thing I looked at.
All in all, I am more than pleased with my scores and am happy that I can relax for the rest of winter break.
Btw: I thought this was awesome for remembering Dicots and Monocots. lol!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBz1unaMr6I
I applied this cycle in June, thinking I would have done well on my DATs the first time, but have told most of the schools to place my application on hold. I know I am going to be considered a very late applicant but do you think I will still have a chance for this cycle.
As of now cumulative gpa is 3.53 and my science gpa is 3.47, and I have shadowed a dentist for about 150 hours and have a bunch of community service hours from a park that I volunteer.
I am sure that I can get my science gpa up passed 3.5 and my cumulative gpa up close to 3.6 after the fall semester. I don't however have any research credits but have signed up to do research this next semester.
I guess my question is, with what I have now, do you guys think I have a chance for this cycle or would it be best to wait until I have some research under my belt and get my gpa up a little.
I schools that still have my app on hold are NYU, UF, Tufts, BU, LECOLM, Midwestern Ill, VCU.
What do you guys think?
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