I've been a long time reader and first time poster. I feel this site is great and wish I found it during my DAT prep..
The exam:
I don't know where to start. It was HARD. Very hard. I don't know if it's the new breed of exams cuz my friend took it and had similar reactions. The format was all mixed up and questions in random order. The testlets and ethics ques were fairly easy. You should all prob know it without studying. Old questions weren't repeated much, maybe a total of 10 questions (cant remember)...I think the decks are VERY GOOD if you spend the time going thru them slowly. I recommend looking everything up. I went thru the decks 1.5x, the 1/2 being only questions I didn't know. It took me a while but I knew it well. I went thru all the released exams - but in retrospect I wouldn't have wasted my time and rather revise my notes and skim the decks again.
Specifics that I can remember:
Had a lot of new limb questions that I didn't see before. Nerves arteries function. Immunology, decks were more than enough. Stuff on bacteria and such I found the hardest. Path as well. Most likely to be my lowest scores by alot. DA is way easier than I thought which got me running thru it quick but then I kept going back to check the answers and it lead me to run out of time at the end and had to rush answers. I would say know the basics and know it well, don't focus too much on TMJ as others have said to - didn't see a hell of alot. Some ques on regulation in biochem. Some biosynthesis ques. enzyme function.
Looking back, the exam had its ups and downs. I hope other sections aside from Path micro can boost my grade. All in all I think the decks are good to focus on but maybe look up more stuff in path and micro.. Maybe it was just my weak subject. If you have nothing better to do go thru old exams. I'll be applying to law school and I don't know how much law schools will look at the scores, maybe I should have taken it as P/F...???
The exam:
I don't know where to start. It was HARD. Very hard. I don't know if it's the new breed of exams cuz my friend took it and had similar reactions. The format was all mixed up and questions in random order. The testlets and ethics ques were fairly easy. You should all prob know it without studying. Old questions weren't repeated much, maybe a total of 10 questions (cant remember)...I think the decks are VERY GOOD if you spend the time going thru them slowly. I recommend looking everything up. I went thru the decks 1.5x, the 1/2 being only questions I didn't know. It took me a while but I knew it well. I went thru all the released exams - but in retrospect I wouldn't have wasted my time and rather revise my notes and skim the decks again.
Specifics that I can remember:
Had a lot of new limb questions that I didn't see before. Nerves arteries function. Immunology, decks were more than enough. Stuff on bacteria and such I found the hardest. Path as well. Most likely to be my lowest scores by alot. DA is way easier than I thought which got me running thru it quick but then I kept going back to check the answers and it lead me to run out of time at the end and had to rush answers. I would say know the basics and know it well, don't focus too much on TMJ as others have said to - didn't see a hell of alot. Some ques on regulation in biochem. Some biosynthesis ques. enzyme function.
Looking back, the exam had its ups and downs. I hope other sections aside from Path micro can boost my grade. All in all I think the decks are good to focus on but maybe look up more stuff in path and micro.. Maybe it was just my weak subject. If you have nothing better to do go thru old exams. I'll be applying to law school and I don't know how much law schools will look at the scores, maybe I should have taken it as P/F...???
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