Need some confort!! HELP! PLS I'm going crazy...

[asdfray]

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Fellow SNDers,

Started the DAT destroyer books 2 days ago (did content review for 2.5 months before that), and boy am I getting slammed. First 50 questions for each section, I'm getting around only 20-25% right (maybe less!) and I only have 29 days left! (yes, I do the countdown to modivate myself to work hard). Ironically, the best part for me is Bio right now (50% right?) At this point, I feel that at this pace and knowledge level, I'm not ready to take the DAT in less than a months time, even though I put lots of hours in studying for it (just finished a 20hr of it and still feel very nervous). I feel so dumb right now.. Also, with all this time, I'm not getting better, but worse(maybe I'm just tired.. idk). Can someone tell me how it was for you, when you started the book? Did anyone have this much trouble?!

For now, I kind of want to lean towards rescheduling, even though I spend so much time studying already, but this is better than doing bad on it and wait 3 months.

Sorry, had to vent - nervous and scared.. someone provide me with some comfort pls?

Ray

 

[asdfray]

Ohh yeah, I knew I forgot to do something this morning..

It's not pretty..

Achiever test #1
PA - 18
QR - 16
RC - 11 (...don't ask - I'm implying the search and destroy method, and it totally blew up in my face.. I'm so scared of RC at this point, idk what to do) - WTH is a 11!!!!! I bet teenagers could've done better at this section. -.- so ashamed!!
Bio - 18
GC - 17
OC - 18

TS - 18
AA - 16 (omg..)

this is terrible. idk what to do that this point. can someone with experience with topscore let me know how my scores are?

The RC i totally panic b/c it took me forever to find things in the passages. some tips? holy crapper that was hard. For QR I also ran out of time, idk what to do about these two sections. I'm doing CDR and math destroyer everyday too! helppp <---!!!

Is the reading comprehension more like topscore or achiever on the actual DAT? or is it more like CDR?

also, I can't believe I hit 2 pages.. LOL!

 

[r4nb]

That was your Achiever results right? Not Topscore?

Great start! I honestly think you'll do really well on the exam. I can only go off of my experience, but I was scoring between 14-17 TS for Achiever, and scored a 22 TS on the real thing. I'm sure you'll be fine! As for RC, I found it difficult to do S&D on Achiever, so I just tried to read through the entire passage and then answer questions. Keep practicing, and you'll find a method that works for you!

One more week left right? Yayyy! Lol, then freedom! For a bit, at least haha.

 

[TXpredent]

That was your Achiever results right? Not Topscore?

Great start! I honestly think you'll do really well on the exam. I can only go off of my experience, but I was scoring between 14-17 TS for Achiever, and scored a 22 TS on the real thing. I'm sure you'll be fine! As for RC, I found it difficult to do S&D on Achiever, so I just tried to read through the entire passage and then answer questions. Keep practicing, and you'll find a method that works for you!

One more week left right? Yayyy! Lol, then freedom! For a bit, at least haha.

Does SnD work on the real thing? I'm worried about the same thing. I could use SnD on the Kaplan full-lengths and it works out beautifully.

Now to my friend the OP, dude I think your scores on Achiever are right where they should be. Make sure you go over the wrong answers and learn from them. Don't stress out, you're right where you want to be. Although you do need to improve the RC score, but it's a matter of finding a technique right now, not a lack of intelligence. You're doing fine!

 

[ushaseos]

SnD is very much like the princeton strategy on the SAT. It works for the real thing, but reading the passage is the sure-fire way of doing well in RC. I used to read passages, make notes then revisit portions of the passage when questions came up (like SnD).

Achiever isn't something you can SnD on, but Achiever's RC is NOTHING like the real thing. It is really really terrible on Achiever.

 

[asdfray]

Just took another topscore exam - Take a look

Topscore Test #2

Bio - 18
GC - 18
OC - 18
(Shows that I'm not spending enough time covering of these sections..GC took up a majority of my time had to rush though OC. dammit!)
PAT - 22
QR - 18
RC - 20
TS - 18
AA - 18

Suggestions?
Now it's officially too late to change/ postpone date. Regardless I'm going to have to take it, so please be brutally honest with me. Do I have a shot? So i can prepare for the worse..

How close is the RC of Topscore compared to that of the actual DAT? (I'll be flying out of my seat filled with joy, if I get a 20 on the actual)

EDIT: LOL don't you hate it when you know the answer to a question you got a wrong, but you could've gotten right if you spent 10 more seconds on haha!

Achiever Test #2
PAT - 19
QR - 15
RC - 17 (wth?)
Bio - 17
GC - 15 (OMG! I'm forgetting fundamentals..)
OC - 17
TS - 17
AA - 16

At at this point, idk what to think about my performance. I started freaking out throughout the achiever exams due to the amount of time I spent on certain sections (GC.., QR, RC)
GOD DAMN! RAN OUT OF TIME FOR QR again and ended up guess 10-12 questions my god. I'm going to so fail.

Is achiever QR representative of what's actually on the real DAT? If it is, I'm beyond screwed.

 

[ushaseos]

Just took another topscore exam - Take a look

Topscore Test #2

Bio - 18
GC - 18
OC - 18
(Shows that I'm not spending enough time covering of these sections..GC took up a majority of my time had to rush though OC. dammit!)
PAT - 22
QR - 18
TS - 18
AA - 18

Suggestions?
Now it's officially too late to change/ postpone date. Regardless I'm going to have to take it, so please be brutally honest with me. Do I have a shot?

Abandon all hope...of not doing well. Top Score is closer (scores wise) to the real thing. You'll be fine on the sciences. I personally liked doing GC last. Bio and Ochem go by really quick since there are no calculations. So once you finish those two you can spend your energy on GC and deal with it. RC is pretty strange but you'll be fine with enough practice. Just keep calm and keep on working 🙂

As for approximating your scores, I got around 19s or rarely low 20s on topscore and still got a 2-3 point improvement. Achiever I had like a 5-6 point improvement.

 

[TXpredent]

looking good! let us know how you do!! I appreciate the comfort on my thread!

 

[ataha]

Hey, I've read through your thread, and if you notice when you first posted you were complaining about 30% scores, and if you look at the time line in the thread you'll notice your scores improved immensely so I don't think you should worry. These tests are usually harder than the actual exam and most of us notice increase in scores when we take the actual dat.

So chin up and good luck I'm sure you'll do fine if you've given it this much effort.

 

[asdfray]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I've been working hard to get my RC and QR up (while getting timing down for each section), I think I'm forgetting stuff that truly the most important - the sciences.
Also, not once have I successfully finished any section on time (mb onces on the PAT section - but that's it!! So beyond stuck at this point)

Since I'm taking my exam on the 16th, I don't have much time left and likely only going to take one more full length (probably topscore test # 3) and then head back to destroyer to refresh on the sciences - Feel like their getting weaker as days progress.

day before (14-15th), I'm going to do a full fledge review on each science and hopefully get practice in for RC and QR and that's probably it.

Though I don't have timing down for any of the sections (esp. QR and RC), I don't have much choice at this point and just got to hope for the best. Thank you though for all the support.
Anyone think this is a good idea? or should I just continue working on RC and QR only?

 

[intnpredent]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I've been working hard to get my RC and QR up (while getting timing down for each section), I think I'm forgetting stuff that truly the most important - the sciences.

Since I'm taking my exam on the 16th, I don't have much time left and likely only going to take one more full length (probably topscore test # 3) and then head back to destroyer to refresh on the sciences - Feel like their getting weaker as days progress.

day before (14-15th), I'm going to do a full fledge review on each science and hopefully get practice in for RC and QR and that's probably it.

Though I don't have timing down for any of the sections (esp. QR and RC), I don't have much choice at this point and just got to hope for the best. Thank you though for all the support.
Anyone think this is a good idea? or should I just continue working on RC and QR only?

I think reviewing for the science section is much more efficient and helpful rather than working on RC at this point.. and also going over for any missed QR questions will be the best time spending for QR. I'm taking mine on 19th..

 

[asdfray]

Well.. i guess I didn't have time to run another topscore exam...

Today I just went over my old achiever exams and realized why I got things wrong..
And though the destroyer again (only questions I got wrong the 2nd time through) and that already wasted a whole days worth of time (whatta stinker..) I wont have time to run another practice exams unless I do it on my last day before my "big day."

At this point, I'm going to just try my best and manage my time as best as possible (maybe finish bio and ochem in 20 min and leaving the rest of the time for GC for the science sections.

RC.. I've been getting 18-20 for CDR (2nd time through 10 test though, maybe I'm remembering answers who knows) and don't know how to deal with this section right now. If I see "piano," I'm going to just switch up from S&D and read the passage (Not much of a strategy, I know lols)

QR.. I'm beyond scared for this at this point. I found going though the past test questions, if time was not a factor, I probably would of gotten 80% correct - but damn, I have no idea how this will go.. hope for the best I guess.


Tomorrow is my last day of studying, so I'm going to take it easy and probably just study till mid-afternoon haha!

IN CONCLUSION (offically ending this thread for those getting annoyed hehe), Thank you for the support and guidance everyone. Good or bad, I'm going to post up a breakdown, incase someone wants to see what NOT to do, when prepping for the DAT

Take care,
Ray