I wish I could explain the feelings i went through when I saw my scores on the scree, but there are no no words to describe it.
First of all I want to say thank you to those who took their time to answer some of the questions I posted here, your help guys does make a difference, and I appreciate it a lot.
I studied very hard and all I can say now is that the hard work does pay off, you just have to keep going.
So here it is:
PAT 20
QR 19
RC 25
BIO 21
GC 30
OC 26
TS 25 (99.6%)
AA 24 (99.4%)
I will be writting a breakdown some time tomorrow, so if you guys have any questions just post it here.
Now I'm going to catch some slleep!!!
AS I promised I would post the breakdown, so here it is.
First I will list the materials used and their respective effectiveness.
1. Destroyer- I can tell you that this study guide is the best thing on the market at this point for the DAT.
2. Math Destroyer- I was shocked how similar the actual test was, get it and make sure you understand how to do every single type of problems. I had logs on my exam, and if not for the destroyer I would have probably never even looked into that.
3. AP Bio Barron's, AP bio cliffs, DAT to go BIO, Campbell(for references only)- I think bio is something that's very hard to prepare for, the subject is just so broad...My best advice would be to take the A&P, and embryology, besides taking the bio 1 and 2.
4. Achiever- it was a good practice in general. But not at all reflective, my AA on Achiever was 19-20.
5. ACS OChem and Gchem- both of these are good for practice, and the more you practice the better.
6. My text books from college for ochem, A&P, and precalc mainly for trigs.
7. KBB- I didn't use it a lot, I looked over gChem section in the beginning and that was it.
8. CDP 5 test version- I highly recommend it. It was worth all the money.
9. Godfrey reading tests- they are killers, I couldn't even finish one test on time those passages are 27 paragraphs long(some of them, like 1 in every test, the other two are 20-22). I was getting 17.
I think this is it.
Now about my study habits.
Just to let everyone know I think your character plays an important role when it comes to dedicating yourself to something, and giving it your best is the key.
I am the type of person who wouldn't go to sleep if let's say there was something I had to do and didn't finish. Discipline is everything. What's the use of all those study guides if you can't get yourself to learn from them?
I learned to prioritize things. I think it also played a huge role especially when taking a full time class schedule. When and what to study was an everyday decision I had to make.
I would come home from school, eat, take a bath just to relax, or maybe go to break.com to watch some stupid/funny videos, and then go back to studying. You HAVE TO take some time to relax otherwise you can easily have a mental breakdown, it's a lot of stress and pressure, learn how to deal with it and be optimistic.
Now the test day:
The night before I only got about 4 hours of sleep, my test was for 10 A.M. In my opinion this is the best time, since it's neither early nor late just perfect. I had a cup of coffee, with some sandwich, since I stayed that night at my parents house my mom made me a nice breakfast. Thank you Mom!!!
Usually I never eat in the morning.
I got to the test center a bit earlier around 9:20. Set in my car and reviewed some of the questions I got wrong on the Achiever. My advice to everyone would be to make a note of thing in some notebook that you got wrong in the course of your studies, just so you never make them again. Review these notes once in a while so that it stays in your head. For example, there was one question in bio I had no clue about, I would write the question and then the answer choices with the correct answer and then some explanation which I could refer to and know right the way what I meant by it. You might think it's too much but I believe that's why I got 24AA.
How to work with Destroyer????
DO not DO NOT use it as practice tests, you will get absolutely nothing out of it. Do every single problem, take your time with it, learn different approaches if possible, and don't just rely on the explanations in the back. I did read all the explanations but I would also google, or look in the book for everything I wasn't sure of. For example in the Destroyer you have a problem in general chem where it asks you molecular geometry. in the back it has that molecule drawn and it's Lewis structure. Don't stop there. google and see why it's trigonal planar, octahedral or linear. What those lone pair of electrons do? And why? Again make a note, if something is not clear ask a question here. There are many smart kids on this forum who will help you. After going through Destroyer once in this manner you will see that once you finish it you will be in excellent shape. I went through it about 4 times. The last two day before the test I went over sciences again. I did half of it day one and half of it day two. it really sharpened my mind right for the test.
Now about the test itself.
After doing all this studying it was easy. Bio was somewhat random as everyone says but not too bad.
Gchem was also easy, but all of my questions were calculations except for two questions, so be ready. Nothing too hard, once again destroyer will prepare you so don't be afraid it's not that bad, but be careful not to make some stupid mistakes since it's math.
OChem was very basic except for two questions in one of them you had to use analytical thinking in the other it was just a fact which you either know or don't know. Know the main reactions like, witting, aldol, williamson ext.
PAT was ok. Not to hard but not too easy either. I saw some hole punches I had never seen before but you can figure it out, just take a couple of seconds to think about it. Angles were easier than CDP. cube counting was also easy.
Math was NOT easy. I mean it's not hard but with the amount of time they give us it puts lots of pressure, since every problem was like a paragraph to read, speed is the key so practice a lot!!!
Reading was not bad. I had DNA microarray, calcium channels and language.
I strongly advise reading the passage. Read the first question than go read the passage. If you see that you read 4 paragraphs and still don't have an answer guess, mark and go to the next one and so on. This way you do two things at once, reading the passage and answering the questions. I believe this is the best strategy and trust me I'm not a fast reader at all. I came to this country six years ago so if I did it most of you will do it too.
My last advice would be to bring earplugs. They helped me to concentrate on the test and I wasn't distracted by any of the random sounds or typing. It really helped, for the reading especially.
I'm sorry if there were some spelling mistakes, and I hope all this that I wrote makes sense.
The high grade doesn't come easy, as you can see I put lots of work into this. Be optimistic, understand that you do it for yourself and not for someone else. Do whatever it takes but don't over stress.
Lastly I want to say thank you to those around here who help many students all the time. I was never discouraged by the high scores I saw. If anything I was even more motivated.
Good luck to all of you who are on their way to DS. 12 more days guys, 12 more days!!!!!
P.S. Anyone has a Stony Brook interview on 30th? Would like to meet some fellows SDNers.
