My DAT Results 8/24

[neurotic]

---

Members don't see this ad.

PAT 18
QR 14 👎
reading 18
bio 22
gchem 18
ochem 20

TS 20
AA 18

I studied for 2 months, primarily with destroyer (I went through it 4 times in detail) while supplementing it with wikipedia, textbooks, the blue book, etc. I bought Topscore and Achiever as well. Overall it was exactly what I expected except for a couple weird questions out of nowhere.

PAT: Much easier than Achiever, in fact I barely finished one PAT test with Achiever because I did not feel the real test would be anything like it. In retrospect I probably should have attempted the 2 other tests just for practice since my score wasn't fantastic. Topscore seemed to be very close in difficulty for the most part. Depending on your natural ability in this section, you can probably get by using only Topscore to prepare. There were a few really difficult ones on the real thing that I spent my last couple minutes scratching my head on though.

Reading: I only did two Achiever tests for this section and scored 20+ so I felt I was prepared. I guess I was over confident. My first passage really through me off and I struggled to finish with only a few seconds on the clock. The questions seemed to come in cycles of really easy "find this word" to the ridiculous. It also seemed that I was asked the exact same question more than once on two occasions. If you are preparing for this section, do more practice tests than I did!

Bio: I felt I should have gotten a higher score here for how easy it seemed. Destroyer covered roughly 80% of what was on this section. I think there were a few questions that Topscore may have given me entirely. Again, Achiever seemed far too difficult to really be worth it for biology practice...

gchem: Overall this section was super easy. Next to math, gchem is my worst subject and I was pleased with my 18 here. I had about 5 or 6 calculations and the whole thing was a lot like Destroyer's stuff.

ochem: I was hoping to do a little better here, but I can't complain. Very simple and straight forward questions. Topscore and Destroyer should throughly prepare you for this. I sometimes went back to my textbook because the ends of chapters had reaction summary's. I ignored the blue book for ochem.

QR: Dear God what went wrong here? The questions seemed difficult and I had many many word problems. I studied less than a week for math and I guess it will be my downfall. I can't give much advice in this section. If you suck at math like I do, study everything a lot. Otherwise, you will probably just be fine.


Now, the big question. Everyone asks it, even with their damn 25's across the board.. Do I have any chance on getting an interview this cycle? I have a 3.91 GPA at my current school for the last 2 years. My cum gpa is 3.67 and I have tons of research in genetics (anthrax primarily) - still, will they even look at my application with a bloody 14 in QR? I am feeling I just wasted my entire summer studying for nothing...

 

[anonymuz]

congrats man. im taking 9/4 and im studying from destroyer. gchem is a little difficult from destroyer, or maybe i just suck at it. you should be fine.

 

[neurotic]

Don't stress about the gchem, there are nowhere near as many calculations as destroyer would have you believe. Just know the problems without them like orbitals, ionization energy, that kinda stuff.

 

[whoaaitzkyle]

PAT 18
QR 14 👎
reading 18
bio 22
gchem 18
ochem 20

TS 20
AA 18

I studied for 2 months, primarily with destroyer (I went through it 4 times in detail) while supplementing it with wikipedia, textbooks, the blue book, etc. I bought Topscore and Achiever as well. Overall it was exactly what I expected except for a couple weird questions out of nowhere.

PAT: Much easier than Achiever, in fact I barely finished one PAT test with Achiever because I did not feel the real test would be anything like it. In retrospect I probably should have attempted the 2 other tests just for practice since my score wasn't fantastic. Topscore seemed to be very close in difficulty for the most part. Depending on your natural ability in this section, you can probably get by using only Topscore to prepare. There were a few really difficult ones on the real thing that I spent my last couple minutes scratching my head on though.

Reading: I only did two Achiever tests for this section and scored 20+ so I felt I was prepared. I guess I was over confident. My first passage really through me off and I struggled to finish with only a few seconds on the clock. The questions seemed to come in cycles of really easy "find this word" to the ridiculous. It also seemed that I was asked the exact same question more than once on two occasions. If you are preparing for this section, do more practice tests than I did!

Bio: I felt I should have gotten a higher score here for how easy it seemed. Destroyer covered roughly 80% of what was on this section. I think there were a few questions that Topscore may have given me entirely. Again, Achiever seemed far too difficult to really be worth it for biology practice...

gchem: Overall this section was super easy. Next to math, gchem is my worst subject and I was pleased with my 18 here. I had about 5 or 6 calculations and the whole thing was a lot like Destroyer's stuff.

ochem: I was hoping to do a little better here, but I can't complain. Very simple and straight forward questions. Topscore and Destroyer should throughly prepare you for this. I sometimes went back to my textbook because the ends of chapters had reaction summary's. I ignored the blue book for ochem.

QR: Dear God what went wrong here? The questions seemed difficult and I had many many word problems. I studied less than a week for math and I guess it will be my downfall. I can't give much advice in this section. If you suck at math like I do, study everything a lot. Otherwise, you will probably just be fine.


Now, the big question. Everyone asks it, even with their damn 25's across the board.. Do I have any chance on getting an interview this cycle? I have a 3.91 GPA at my current school for the last 2 years. My cum gpa is 3.67 and I have tons of research in genetics (anthrax primarily) - still, will they even look at my application with a bloody 14 in QR? I am feeling I just wasted my entire summer studying for nothing...

I know some schools automatically have cutoffis if a certain score is below a set point. Unfortunately, we can't do anything about that. However, I know there are plenty of schools that don't have the cutoffs and with your great looking application and extracurriculars I'm almost positive you'll get an invite somewhere.

Congrats on your scores and chill out now you deserve it 🙂

 

[TAUCLA]

was the math from Destroyer and topscore similar to the DATs?

 

[neurotic]

It will give you a good idea of how the questions are, but it isn't identical. Most of the questions I had on the real test were things I never practiced directly.

 

[z3u2]

just FYI, wikipedia may not be the BEST place for sources, it's a good place, but the information there isn't always correct

 

[BodybldgDoc]

you are in for sure. dont worry about the math, just apply smart

 

[neurotic]

I applied to Columbia, Marquette, OHSU, Tufts, Buffalo, UCSF, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Penn, Pittsburgh, UoP, UW, and VCU

I am thinking I aimed a little too high going by predents.com and last years entering classes for these schools. I've already finished my aadsas application but should I add some more schools? Any suggestions?