my dat

[firstwavedown]

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so i've been a silent observer of these forums for quite awhile, and its definitely been a help. so i figure should give back a little. and though im sure quite a few of you are sick of DAT success stories...bare with me.

Here are me pre test results
DAT achiever
Test 1: AA 19, PA 18, QR 22, RC 20, B 14, GC 19, OC 14, TS 17
Test 2: PA 18, QR 22, B 17, GC 17, OC 17, TS 17
Test 3: PA 21, QR 21, B 17, GC 17, OC 19, TS 17

I took test 1 before studying too much. I didnt take the reading in tests 2 and 3 so theres no RC or AA.

Top Score
Test 1: AA 20, PA 24, QR 18, RC 23, B 21, GC 23, OC 17, TS 20
Test 2: AA 21, PA 25, QR 20, RC 22, B 21, GC 21, OC 19, TS 21
Test 3: AA 22, PA 23, QR 21, RC 22, B 21, GC 25, OC 23, TS 23

and for all you online kaplan course takers

Diagnostic: AA 19, PA 22, QR 20, RC 21, B 17, GC 18, OC 14, TS 16.4
Midterm: AA 19, PA 23, QR 19, RC 19, B 19, GC 18, OC 19, TS 19
Final: AA 22, PA 22, QR 20, RC 24, B 21, GC 19, OC 25, TS 22

Real Thing
DAT: AA 24, PA 23, QR 22, RC 26, B 24, GC 25, OC 22, TS 24

keep in mind that i had the luxary of being free to do absolutely nothing but study for two and a half months. I studied a ridiculous amount...mostly because my gpa sucks (3.1). I used kaplan stuff, schaums bio, and some cliff notes AP reviews (never touched a text book). However, I memorized the kaplan book...and i mean memorized. I personally think as long as you have a working memory and time...anyone can score reasonably well. With some added luck you can score really well. That said...thanks everyone for your help on the forum.

 

[golfmontpoker]

so i've been a silent observer of these forums for quite awhile, and its definitely been a help. so i figure should give back a little. and though im sure quite a few of you are sick of DAT success stories...bare with me.

Here are me pre test results
DAT achiever
Test 1: AA 19, PA 18, QR 22, RC 20, B 14, GC 19, OC 14, TS 17
Test 2: PA 18, QR 22, B 17, GC 17, OC 17, TS 17
Test 3: PA 21, QR 21, B 17, GC 17, OC 19, TS 17

I took test 1 before studying too much. I didnt take the reading in tests 2 and 3 so theres no RC or AA.

Top Score
Test 1: AA 20, PA 24, QR 18, RC 23, B 21, GC 23, OC 17, TS 20
Test 2: AA 21, PA 25, QR 20, RC 22, B 21, GC 21, OC 19, TS 21
Test 3: AA 22, PA 23, QR 21, RC 22, B 21, GC 25, OC 23, TS 23

and for all you online kaplan course takers

Diagnostic: AA 19, PA 22, QR 20, RC 21, B 17, GC 18, OC 14, TS 16.4
Midterm: AA 19, PA 23, QR 19, RC 19, B 19, GC 18, OC 19, TS 19
Final: AA 22, PA 22, QR 20, RC 24, B 21, GC 19, OC 25, TS 22

Real Thing
DAT: AA 24, PA 23, QR 22, RC 26, B 24, GC 25, OC 22, TS 24

keep in mind that i had the luxary of being free to do absolutely nothing but study for two and a half months. I studied a ridiculous amount...mostly because my gpa sucks (3.1). I used kaplan stuff, schaums bio, and some cliff notes AP reviews (never touched a text book). However, I memorized the kaplan book...and i mean memorized. I personally think as long as you have a working memory and time...anyone can score reasonably well. With some added luck you can score really well. That said...thanks everyone for your help on the forum.

Awesome scores! Your studying has paid off! Anything questions come up that were a suprise? BTW, i plan on doing what u did, memorize the kaplin book, seems to have worked well for u! Anyways, good job! 👍

 

[_veo_]

so i've been a silent observer of these forums for quite awhile, and its definitely been a help. so i figure should give back a little. and though im sure quite a few of you are sick of DAT success stories...bare with me.

Here are me pre test results
DAT achiever
Test 1: AA 19, PA 18, QR 22, RC 20, B 14, GC 19, OC 14, TS 17
Test 2: PA 18, QR 22, B 17, GC 17, OC 17, TS 17
Test 3: PA 21, QR 21, B 17, GC 17, OC 19, TS 17

I took test 1 before studying too much. I didnt take the reading in tests 2 and 3 so theres no RC or AA.

Top Score
Test 1: AA 20, PA 24, QR 18, RC 23, B 21, GC 23, OC 17, TS 20
Test 2: AA 21, PA 25, QR 20, RC 22, B 21, GC 21, OC 19, TS 21
Test 3: AA 22, PA 23, QR 21, RC 22, B 21, GC 25, OC 23, TS 23

and for all you online kaplan course takers

Diagnostic: AA 19, PA 22, QR 20, RC 21, B 17, GC 18, OC 14, TS 16.4
Midterm: AA 19, PA 23, QR 19, RC 19, B 19, GC 18, OC 19, TS 19
Final: AA 22, PA 22, QR 20, RC 24, B 21, GC 19, OC 25, TS 22

Real Thing
DAT: AA 24, PA 23, QR 22, RC 26, B 24, GC 25, OC 22, TS 24

keep in mind that i had the luxary of being free to do absolutely nothing but study for two and a half months. I studied a ridiculous amount...mostly because my gpa sucks (3.1). I used kaplan stuff, schaums bio, and some cliff notes AP reviews (never touched a text book). However, I memorized the kaplan book...and i mean memorized. I personally think as long as you have a working memory and time...anyone can score reasonably well. With some added luck you can score really well. That said...thanks everyone for your help on the forum.

Great scores! Congratulations 👍

Questions.. questions..
Do you think schaums bio outline has too much info for the DAT? The Kaplan blue book seems pretty general, but I think schaums has a lot of info imo (specially for things that I didn't cover in school).. but I don't know if I need to know it for the DAT
Do you think the chem and math sections are pretty good in the kaplan book?
And finally.... how many hours would you say you studied per day? 🙂

Thanks!

 

[firstwavedown]

Thanks,

I wouldnt necessarily say schaums bio is too much...i'm certain i got questions (maybe 1 or 2) that wouldnt have even been covered in schaums. Knowing at least kaplan cold, however, can set you up for a good score (20) in bio, but in order to score in the mid to high 20's you have to either know quite a bit of detail (as in an inhuman amount) or at least be able to eliminate some and get a little lucky (like me apparently).

I would say chem and math section of kaplan are fine...though there's always going to be questions that seem to come out of nowhere, but not too many. I dont think kaplan covers probabilities and you need to know some basics of that.

I was a little shocked to see exact questions from achiever (i saw maybe 2 or 3). Those were questions i likely would have missed had i not studied it extensively.

i studied quite a bit. I would say on average 4-6 hrs a day including weekends...though i certainly had some days better than others...in my opinion its more important to have a long period of time (as in months) so that you can memorize a bunch of stuff...move on to something else...and then come back to the original stuff and rememorize it...i think its the repetition really makes it stick. It also makes for a painfully boring couple of months...but with my gpa problems...i didnt think i had much of a choice. Good luck

 

[wigglytooth]

Hey, Congrats on the scores!!

How did you handle RC? Did you use the note taking method or the read the answers first and skim the passage method? Something else? Thanks

 

[Fariba]

First off, congratulations on the scores! WELL DONE! 😉

It looks like TopScore gave you the most similar results. Especially test #3.

I would like to know how you prepared for PAT and QR. Do you have a strong math background or did you pretty much learn the material in the past few months. Thanks for your help and once again, congrats!

 

[fancymylotus]

whoa.you did an awesome job 👍

 

[firstwavedown]

Thanks.

RC: I would read the passage and take basic notes and then tackle the questions. I have found that if I skim or rush through the passage i really pay for it when im searching for answers. So i really tried to concentrate and fully understand the passage first. I would shoot for spending 8 minutes on the passage itself and then answer questions in the remaining time.

QR: I have a reletively strong math background. but i still had to take time to prepare and make sure i could work fast.

PAT: All i did to prepare for this was take practice tests. I hadnt really struggled too much with it so i was pretty confident. I thought the angles on the real test are pretty ridiculous.

good luck