quick kaplan test question and some app advice

[pbure]

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Whats up?
First off..I just took one of Kaplan's sample BIO tests and got 33/40 correct. Does anyone know what this would be in real DAT scores? 18? 22? I have no idea. Also, im writing the canadian DATS november 6th along with everyone else in Canada. Does anyone know whether we are graded in comparison to other test takers? Like if the test is particularly difficult..will that raise the curve for those who achieved high scores? not sure about that..

Also, i've seen a lot of posts from concerned people who worry that they will be applying late. I know all about the rolling basis policies in the States but I'd like to assure those with solid stats (3.3+ and 18AA+) that applying late probably won't pose a problem for you..even applying in october/november. Even those with decent stats like 3.0-3.2 and 17-18aa should keep cool. My advice is to make damn sure you are prepared for the DATS before you take the plunge..dont rush it guys. (of course,i am mostly referring to private schools whose deadlines are march.1st,2005..i know other schools have much earlier deadlines so be careful)

 

[1FutureDDS]

I dont know bro, but I took Kaplan course, and memorized every single test they have to offer (about 14 total or so) with explanations ( Studied 5 hours+ a day for 6 weeks, and then off and on pretty regular for 6 more weeks), and the dat questions were way different wording styles, not everyone should assume kaplan is worthless, but for 1000$ I GUARANTEE you can find better ways to spend your money, and find better study guides on your own.

By the way I got an 18 on the DAT.
I know a WHOLE LOT about every section of the DAT now, but my real DAT was just way different. I got no questions about ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm. no questions about body parts/functions, no questions about DNA like ACTG what is the complementary strand? no questions about anything dealing with blood..... It was quite weird.

 

[Dentist 2 be]

I dont know bro, but I took Kaplan course, and memorized every single test they have to offer (about 14 total or so) with explanations ( Studied 5 hours+ a day for 6 weeks, and then off and on pretty regular for 6 more weeks), and the dat questions were way different wording styles, not everyone should assume kaplan is worthless, but for 1000$ I GUARANTEE you can find better ways to spend your money, and find better study guides on your own.

By the way I got an 18 on the DAT.
I know a WHOLE LOT about every section of the DAT now, but my real DAT was just way different. I got no questions about ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm. no questions about body parts/functions, no questions about DNA like ACTG what is the complementary strand? no questions about anything dealing with blood..... It was quite weird.

The same thing happened to me. I didn't get any questions about hormones, body functions, carbs/lipids/proteins, urine/kidneys...just some bs about lakes and ponds and a lot of it too. KAPLAN SUCKS

I got a 17 AA and 15 PAT which is horrible!!! In kaplan I was getting 20s+ on all my exams in the PAT section. I am so mad!!! But I'm retaking it within the next month. I got TopScore which has some really great practice for the PAT section. We'll see what happens.

 

[swolf]

I just took the DAT (post kaplan) also and I fully agree with everyone. I was killing the PAT in kaplan (mid 20's) and I ended up getting an 18 on that section. I was very disappointed. The same thing happened to a bunch of other guys in my "class" too. I was very disappointed from the start of the Kaplan course when our "main" instructor told us that he had never actually taken the DAT. That is just rediculous. The problem with kaplan; THEY ARE A MONOPOLY. Why would they change when they know full well worried and anxious pre-dental students will fork out 1000 bucks in any attempt to get a higher score. 😡

 

[Dentist 2 be]

I just took the DAT (post kaplan) also and I fully agree with everyone. I was killing the PAT in kaplan (mid 20's) and I ended up getting an 18 on that section. I was very disappointed. The same thing happened to a bunch of other guys in my "class" too. I was very disappointed from the start of the Kaplan course when our "main" instructor told us that he had never actually taken the DAT. That is just rediculous. The problem with kaplan; THEY ARE A MONOPOLY. Why would they change when they know full well worried and anxious pre-dental students will fork out 1000 bucks in any attempt to get a higher score. 😡

Yeah If I had known what a waste it would b, I would have borrowed my friend's Kaplan books. The course and coming to class did absoluytely nothing for me. Not even their practice tests helped, which they make so easy that everyone aces to make them feel like, "Oh yeah i'm learning because i'm scoring high."

 

[pbure]

Yeah If I had known what a waste it would b, I would have borrowed my friend's Kaplan books. The course and coming to class did absoluytely nothing for me. Not even their practice tests helped, which they make so easy that everyone aces to make them feel like, "Oh yeah i'm learning because i'm scoring high."

I have heard that Kaplan's General Chem is actually harder than the real DAT. I don't know about BIO though. I was pretty happy getting 33/40 right but now I feel like a putz bragging about that score. I don't think it's fair to call Kaplan a rip-off. If you study their materials and put in the time it will no doubt leave you well prepared for the actual exam. Although I do agree that their angles and hole punching are easier than the real DAT. Not sure about pattern folding,top right end and keyholes..those are always hard as far as i'm concerned.

 

[Eddie830]

I found Kaplan's course to be very useful.

First off, not everyone has the innate ability to come in and simply understand the PAT. Some people really need Kaplan's strategies and methods to help them just learn how to tackle a problem. While I agree most of Kaplan's PAT problems are on the easy-medium side, I felt they had a lot of great problems to help you start visualizing for the PAT. Sort of just to get your mind in gear. The truth is it would be torture to come in and see actual DAT difficulty problems. You would get easily discouraged. There are plenty of other sources out there to help you practice the harder problems for the PAT.

Second, some people need the live instructor to really "get" the material. I understand there are some Kaplan centers that do not have actual DAT teachers (rather they are MCAT teachers), yet there is still something to learn from these people because Kaplan's DAT course is designed to have consistency from teacher to teacher. But I do agree that actual DAT teachers are better to learn from than MCAT teachers, just b/c they understand the scope (ie type of questions) of the exam better (but not necessarily the material; bio will be bio whether it is for the DAT or for the MCAT).

Third, Kaplan is the king of mastering Ochem and Gchem hands down. All their subject exams and full length exams hit the scope of the DAT right on.

Fourth, while it's true that Kaplan's course does not hit Bio as well as the other two, mastery of Kaplan's material ALONE should get you at least a 19-20. There are some curve ball questions on the real DAT that Kaplans never tested, but most of the material has been in Kaplan in one form or another (ie. subject exams). It's just that those "curve ball" questions are the ones that stick in your mind when you think of the DAT. There were plenty of other problems that you breezed through and didn't think twice about.

Fifth, RC and QR. Kaplan's course has alot of great RC strategies for people who are not the most talented of readers (myself including). I consider myself a somewhat slow reader and I found Kaplan's strategies and wealth of practice material to help improve my score on the DAT. As for the QR, Kaplan hits about 3/4 of the DAT's material. Their practice material gives you tons of practice for getting quick at doing math, in general. A lot of us are rusty at doing calculations and manipulations in our head (stupid calculators). I remember how hard it was at first just to multiply 2 2-digit numbers. By the time I got through all of Kaplan's subject exams (ie. 500 hours later...pfft...25 min each my ass), my mind was warmed up again to tackle the long forgotten math.

Finally, Kaplan provides discipline and confidence for the exam. We are given a handy syllabus with exactly how we should be preping for the DAT. I'm sure there are some people that were able to self discipline, but for $1000 we get the luxury of having the organization all done out for us and Kaplan pressured us to do the work week by week rather than having all that pressure pushed upon you the week before the DAT (had we self studied). We have also had plenty of simulation of the DAT, which makes us more confident of what we can expect.

Kaplan provides most of the groundwork for the DAT. People have to go the extra mile by using outside sources (ie. topscore) to help them cover the bit that Kaplan does not.

Is Kaplan's live DAT course enough to do spectacular on the DAT? No.
Is Kaplan's live DAT course enough to do well on the DAT? Yes.
Is Kaplan's live DAT course worth $1000? Yes, IMHO. Hands down. 👍

Good luck with your studies!

 

[Dentist 2 be]

Well my teacher in Kaplan spoke very poor Russian. He didn't explain any strageties at all. All he did was put parts of the body on the marker board and identified them. The only useful thing about Kaplan is their review notes. That's about it. The lessons were exactly like the notes so I really don't see any point in even going to the lectures. Oh yeah and the quantitave stargeies were very helpful. however, another teacher came in to teach those to us. Reading also and honestly those are the only sections I excelled on.

 

[Eddie830]

Sounds like you had a problem w/ the teacher, not so much the course.

I thought my Bio 1 Kaplan teacher was pretty bad as well (she was an MCAT teacher). In that session, I had a similar experience as you.

 

[justletmein]

Whats up?
First off..I just took one of Kaplan's sample BIO tests and got 33/40 correct. Does anyone know what this would be in real DAT scores? 18? 22? I have no idea. Also, im writing the canadian DATS november 6th along with everyone else in Canada. Does anyone know whether we are graded in comparison to other test takers? Like if the test is particularly difficult..will that raise the curve for those who achieved high scores? not sure about that..

Also, i've seen a lot of posts from concerned people who worry that they will be applying late. I know all about the rolling basis policies in the States but I'd like to assure those with solid stats (3.3+ and 18AA+) that applying late probably won't pose a problem for you..even applying in october/november. Even those with decent stats like 3.0-3.2 and 17-18aa should keep cool. My advice is to make damn sure you are prepared for the DATS before you take the plunge..dont rush it guys. (of course,i am mostly referring to private schools whose deadlines are march.1st,2005..i know other schools have much earlier deadlines so be careful)

pbure! whats up? in the barron's book it has a guide on how many you can miss and what score you'll get. This is also available from the ADEA. anyway, to answer your question, if you miss 7-8 on bio you'll get a 19. to score a 22, you can only miss 3... 😱

 

[HBomb]

Wow Eddie830, nice reply. I agree that Kaplan course was useful. I don't think I would have been very successful at the DAT w/o the Kaplan material. The most useful part to me was the subject tests (question bank). And your analysis of the sections was very accurate, IMO. GChem and OChem on Kaplan was harder and prepared you to be very good on the real DAT. Bio was a little weaker, but still allowed you to be at least have good scores. I used the Kaplan roadmapping technique for RC and my scores continued to improve. PAT though gets a 3 point drop on the actual DAT...but we've been saying that here in this forum for a long time now.

Oh, but finally, I wanted to mention this: you'll only be as good on the DAT as the amount of time you put into it. People should use the classroom time as a review or a refresher. The class is not good for teaching you the material. You have to do that on your own. Finally, there have been too many references to "memorizing". The key on the DAT is understanding, not memorizing. Work problems over and over again. Go for understanding why an answer choice is correct. At least that's my 2 cents.

 

[swolf]

I don't think that kaplan is a COMPLETE waste of money, but my expectations where just too high. I forgot to mention one thing that I was maybe the most disappointed in; if you are going to have a company that teaches TEST PREPERATION, you need to make sure that every single answer that you provide to your customer is correct. Now I'm not saying that kaplan has reached Barron's level of imcompatance, but it happened enough during my class disrupt my study.

 

[adamlc18]

I thought Kaplan was useful. Like it was said earlier, it provides a good study schedule. It does sound crappy though if you don't have a real DAT teacher but an MCAT teacher. I had a DAT teacher and he was a really good resource. Not only could he teach us the material that was in the books, he could actually tell us if he saw this question or that question on the exam, what we had to know for sure, and what was more of useless trivia.

I didn't know you could teach the DAT without having taken the DAT. I worked for kaplan for a year after taking the DAT, and I was under the impression that you had to have taken the DAT to teach. On the application, they ask for your scores, and you have to provide them with your actual score printout to photocopy.

That said, I think kaplan is a great resource for those who want to use it, but it certainly isn't required to do well on the DAT. It certainly can't hurt your scores. It just depends on your level of motivation.

 

[LSN]

Everyone told me not to take the Kaplan course because it was a waste of time and money, but I took it anways. Personally, I really liked the class. I thought I had some great teachers. The only thing that I would have preferred was teachers who actually took the DAT. But all in all, I had the BEST QR teacher, Bio teacher, RC teacher, and OChem teacher.

 

[blumnday99]

Whats up?
First off..I just took one of Kaplan's sample BIO tests and got 33/40 correct. Does anyone know what this would be in real DAT scores? 18? 22? I have no idea. Also, im writing the canadian DATS november 6th along with everyone else in Canada. Does anyone know whether we are graded in comparison to other test takers? Like if the test is particularly difficult..will that raise the curve for those who achieved high scores? not sure about that..

Also, i've seen a lot of posts from concerned people who worry that they will be applying late. I know all about the rolling basis policies in the States but I'd like to assure those with solid stats (3.3+ and 18AA+) that applying late probably won't pose a problem for you..even applying in october/november. Even those with decent stats like 3.0-3.2 and 17-18aa should keep cool. My advice is to make damn sure you are prepared for the DATS before you take the plunge..dont rush it guys. (of course,i am mostly referring to private schools whose deadlines are march.1st,2005..i know other schools have much earlier deadlines so be careful)

I Kaplan courses and consistently scored 33/40 on their tests. On the DAT I got a 21 on bio.

 

[xiaoxiao]

I don't think that kaplan is a COMPLETE waste of money, but my expectations where just too high. I forgot to mention one thing that I was maybe the most disappointed in; if you are going to have a company that teaches TEST PREPERATION, you need to make sure that every single answer that you provide to your customer is correct. Now I'm not saying that kaplan has reached Barron's level of imcompatance, but it happened enough during my class disrupt my study.

I took kaplan course because of all the ad..however..i find that it's not only the material that helped me...i did those kaplan practise test..and i did badly on them...so i kept on studying and reviewing...the day before the test...my practice test score was not too high...bio= 18 gchen 18 ochem=20 ...
but i score bio 23 gchem 25 and ochem 29 in actual test..
kaplan material is helpful in a sense of guide..where u should focus on..still u need to study more than that...i suggest reviewing those science course you took during 1st and 2nd year...
do take time...i re-scheduled my test because i felt i was not ready..but now i am so happy with my score!
keep studying!
the PAT is not enough..the actual test is way harder...make sure do more practice every day.it helps

 

[swolf]

wow..... 😱 ..... those are some great numbers. good job. There are those that are gifted at test taking and then there is me. DANG

 

[Sprgrover]

To the OP: you can find a very useful score conversion chart in Kaplan's blue book - it's located near the back.

Moving on to the subject of Kaplan courses and studying - it all depends entirely on the person. I know individuals that forked over the money to enroll in a Princeton Review MCAT course as they reasoned that, at the thought of wasting a thousand dollars, they would study harder to make it worth their money. Consequently I also knew a girl that enrolled in a similar program and it had the opposite effect: she studied less as the course turned out to be more of a security blanket that wrapped her up in a false sense of security. Furthermore, everyone's study habits are different - some might benefit from the structured environment and schedule that Kaplan provides while others might prefer to wing it on their own. I probably would have enrolled in the course had it been available in my area. It wasn't so I split my study time between studying alone and with a group of other pre-dental guys (we formed our own 'Kaplan' study group - each of us picked from a set of given topics and prepared a lecture on it and then presented it to the group. It was very helpful.). Basically, what I am trying to say is, if anyone is reading this thread and is seriously considering enrolling in Kaplan and feel that they would benefit from it - then do it if what they offer will compliment your study habits. Plenty of people do well on the DAT with and without their help.

 

[Veneto]

I thought Kaplan was great. It had been a while for most of the general bio and the GChem for me and Kaplan helped review and refresh the information. I would redo the course again in a heartbeat. I have to say though it sounds like the quality of the course, at least the lecture part, really depends on the teacher. For my class there was a Chemistry PhD teaching the gchem and organic, and then an MCAT person for the bio. Needless to say I got in the 90% for both chem sections and lower for the bio. The resources alone though were worth the money.

 

[pbure]

I thought Kaplan was great. It had been a while for most of the general bio and the GChem for me and Kaplan helped review and refresh the information. I would redo the course again in a heartbeat. I have to say though it sounds like the quality of the course, at least the lecture part, really depends on the teacher. For my class there was a Chemistry PhD teaching the gchem and organic, and then an MCAT person for the bio. Needless to say I got in the 90% for both chem sections and lower for the bio. The resources alone though were worth the money.

I agree with you. I think the smart thing to do is to to find someone that took the course and toss them a couple of bucks for all their resource materials. If you are disciplined and serious about doing well on the DATs then all you need is Kaplans review books and cd,their practise tests and maybe the topscore cd. Barrons PAT is also a nice cherry on top. I find Schaums stuff too detailed.

 

[Eddie830]

I agree with you. I think the smart thing to do is to to find someone that took the course and toss them a couple of bucks for all their resource materials. If you are disciplined and serious about doing well on the DATs then all you need is Kaplans review books and cd,their practise tests and maybe the topscore cd. Barrons PAT is also a nice cherry on top. I find Schaums stuff too detailed.

I believe he was referring to the resources that are only available at the center as well (subject tests, videos, and more full length exams).

 

[Veneto]

I believe he was referring to the resources that are only available at the center as well (subject tests, videos, and more full length exams).

Actually I never went to the kaplan center other than for the lecture. When I had my Kaplan course they had a website that every subject test/video they offered could be found on. They also had the full lenght tests on the website and they would grade them and offer explanations online as well. I thought it was worth it to be able to study anytime of day or night and have the tests right there, and on a computer. Topscore was also worth its weight in gold, cause it was almost exactly like the DAT, but harder. Plus they give you cash if you can prove they had a wrong answer on one of their exams. I found one and it paid for the price of it.