I took the DAT on demand online course for Kaplan and wanted to post a little review. I think people bash Kaplan too easily- it has a lot of pros and some cons for me.
First off, I took my first DAT yesterday after studying for about a week. So yes I crammed really bad and don't reccommend it. My schedule went:
Thursday Diagnostic
Fri: Tech support/didn't get to do anything but a couple of PAT tests
Sat+Sun:Bio
Mon+Tues:Gen chem
Wed+Thurs:Orgo
Friday:test
To explain Friday: The class videos didn't work for me so I called their support line, where I got an automated message to email them. I did, and the reply I got was to call them...where I was told to email them etc. Never-ending cycle. Poor customer support from them 👎 Meanwhile I only got some PAT practice in that day.
For my sciences, I took notes on the entire BB but I also did all of their online workshops and accompanying quizes. I think this is ESSENTIAL. The workshops add material that is nowhere to be found in the BB. And the quizes are HARD. Especially the chemistry ones. But they teach you a LOT in a short amount of time. Don't get discouraged by Fs on the small quizes. IMO they were much harder than the DAT. I never took a full practice test just b/c I couldn't afford to put aside that much time away from studying.
So anyways, this is how my scores changed in 7 days of studying (my diagnostic is really embarrassing but I'm posting it anyways)
Diagnostic: PAT:17QR:19RC:21Bio:14GC:13OC:12TS:13AA:16
ActualDAT PAT:17QR:19RC:23Bio:20GC:21OC:19TS:20AA:20
I think that's a pretty good gain in a short amount of time. Also, I ONLY used Kaplan. No other resources at all. I feel like Kaplan rewarded me for what I put in.
To summarize pros and cons
Cons:
Poor customer support for me.
They should allow marking questions in the total science quizes. I have no idea why they wouldn't put this option in.
The PAT practice is not too good using Kaplan, their angle quizes are WAY too easy. They're almost as easy as identifying circles vs rectangles. On the real DAT I ran out of time in this section, the only section I had that problem.
There were also some typos and mistakes in the BB. None that I can remember in the online material though.
Pros:
Online: I think the value of Kaplan is their online question and workshop bank. For me, I think if I had more time, I'd still only get the exclusively online package. I feel it is more efficient then going to classes to go over basics but to each their own.
Their science quizes taught a lot. Kaplan really shines here especially in general chemistry. Kaplan GenChem is excellent.
High yield for science. Their QR material looked good, just didn't have any time to devote to it.
You get reports of which topic within each subject you need to work on the most.
So at the end of the day I'd highly reccommend DAT on demand through Kaplan. I enjoyed their work, and don't give up hope if you start out really low! I would just reccommend supplementing your PAT material.
Hope to see everyone in a white coat soon 🙂
First off, I took my first DAT yesterday after studying for about a week. So yes I crammed really bad and don't reccommend it. My schedule went:
Thursday Diagnostic
Fri: Tech support/didn't get to do anything but a couple of PAT tests
Sat+Sun:Bio
Mon+Tues:Gen chem
Wed+Thurs:Orgo
Friday:test
To explain Friday: The class videos didn't work for me so I called their support line, where I got an automated message to email them. I did, and the reply I got was to call them...where I was told to email them etc. Never-ending cycle. Poor customer support from them 👎 Meanwhile I only got some PAT practice in that day.
For my sciences, I took notes on the entire BB but I also did all of their online workshops and accompanying quizes. I think this is ESSENTIAL. The workshops add material that is nowhere to be found in the BB. And the quizes are HARD. Especially the chemistry ones. But they teach you a LOT in a short amount of time. Don't get discouraged by Fs on the small quizes. IMO they were much harder than the DAT. I never took a full practice test just b/c I couldn't afford to put aside that much time away from studying.
So anyways, this is how my scores changed in 7 days of studying (my diagnostic is really embarrassing but I'm posting it anyways)
Diagnostic: PAT:17QR:19RC:21Bio:14GC:13OC:12TS:13AA:16
ActualDAT PAT:17QR:19RC:23Bio:20GC:21OC:19TS:20AA:20
I think that's a pretty good gain in a short amount of time. Also, I ONLY used Kaplan. No other resources at all. I feel like Kaplan rewarded me for what I put in.
To summarize pros and cons
Cons:
Poor customer support for me.
They should allow marking questions in the total science quizes. I have no idea why they wouldn't put this option in.
The PAT practice is not too good using Kaplan, their angle quizes are WAY too easy. They're almost as easy as identifying circles vs rectangles. On the real DAT I ran out of time in this section, the only section I had that problem.
There were also some typos and mistakes in the BB. None that I can remember in the online material though.
Pros:
Online: I think the value of Kaplan is their online question and workshop bank. For me, I think if I had more time, I'd still only get the exclusively online package. I feel it is more efficient then going to classes to go over basics but to each their own.
Their science quizes taught a lot. Kaplan really shines here especially in general chemistry. Kaplan GenChem is excellent.
High yield for science. Their QR material looked good, just didn't have any time to devote to it.
You get reports of which topic within each subject you need to work on the most.
So at the end of the day I'd highly reccommend DAT on demand through Kaplan. I enjoyed their work, and don't give up hope if you start out really low! I would just reccommend supplementing your PAT material.
Hope to see everyone in a white coat soon 🙂
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