Should I retake the DAT?

[CaliforniaCrentist]

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I took the DAT today and while I was pretty happy with my scores, I don't know if my science will be good enough to get into California schools (CA resident). Should I retake or just take it and run with it?

PAT/QR/RC/BIO/GC/OC/TS/AA
20 / 20/ 30/ 17/ 17/ 18/ 18/ 20

I'm happy and knew that I would struggle with Bio since I didn't have as much time to study as I'd hoped but I'm not sure if I can replicate those RC and QR while still improving my sciences

 

[lonelyplanet]

Hey,
Congrats on your RC's score? What was your method if u don't mind i'm asking? I think your AA is great, if u have a high GPA, then why not?

 

[Iroh]

Not entirely sure about California schools, but it seems like the Science based sections are ~low, while the AA is being artificially inflated by RC

 

[Veni vidi vicii]

I agree with @ThirdTimesTheCharm your RC is inflating your AA. Your science scores aren't good, considering some schools have a cutoff at 17 and your science scores are at 17 should give you a hint. Your QR,PAT,RC are all good, but science is the most important section. You'd have to contact some schools and ask.

Anyway what did you do for RC and QR?

 

[CaliforniaCrentist]

Thanks for the input! I know that the sciences are low, I just didn't have as much time to study and memorize as I would have liked to! I know that my RC is really inflating the AA, but I'm not sure if I can replicate the good scores and improve the science at the same time. I'm going to contact my top schools and see what they say regarding a retake.

For RC I mainly used search and destroy, and if I couldn't find an answer immediately I skipped the question and kept it in the back of my mind and went back to it if I found it. Then by the time I had read the whole passage through search and destroy I could answer the subjective questions like "what would the author think of ___ statement". It was really helpful to mark questions I wasn't sure about and come back to them once I had done the easy ones since I had a good amount of time left.

For QR I had a similar strategy of making sure I answered the easiest correctly and coming back to the harder questions. I practiced QR a lot and didn't get any trig function questions that my practice tests had (which I was really worried about).

 

[lonelyplanet]

Thanks for the input! I know that the sciences are low, I just didn't have as much time to study and memorize as I would have liked to! I know that my RC is really inflating the AA, but I'm not sure if I can replicate the good scores and improve the science at the same time. I'm going to contact my top schools and see what they say regarding a retake.

For RC I mainly used search and destroy, and if I couldn't find an answer immediately I skipped the question and kept it in the back of my mind and went back to it if I found it. Then by the time I had read the whole passage through search and destroy I could answer the subjective questions like "what would the author think of ___ statement". It was really helpful to mark questions I wasn't sure about and come back to them once I had done the easy ones since I had a good amount of time left.

For QR I had a similar strategy of making sure I answered the easiest correctly and coming back to the harder questions. I practiced QR a lot and didn't get any trig function questions that my practice tests had (which I was really worried about).

Hey, if u decide to retake the DAT again, I suggest that u use Destroyer alone and join the Destroyer Facebook page. Dr. Romano has many free video and free resources including QR, G.chem, Ochem. His bio notes is also amazing and only hit DAT topics. Good luck and thanks for sharing your methods for RC and QR.