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So I'm about to retake my DAT for the second time on Wednesday. I'm trying to figure out where I went wrong the first time so that I can improve. So I thought I would share some of my thoughts with you all so hopefully you can learn from my mistakes.
Find your weakest subject and practice it! Mine is Gchem so I wrote down (from destroyer) the type of problem (pH, Ksp, Normality) and all the problem numbers that fall under that catagory. I have been doing through them like no other. My problem was that I would come up to that problem and not be 100% clear on the STEPS to solve it. Catagorizing and practicing helps me 'mentally grasp' the concept better than having it scattered all around the book. On my first dat attempt, I wasn't 100% on Ksp& pH and I definately got a bunch of those problems which I ended up guessing on. That and running out of time because I spent too much time trying to figure out why there is a freakin' beak growing on a mouse!!! Lesson learned! MOVE ON!
During my DAT after I was bombared with question after question that I didn't know, I started having really discouraging thoughts-things like, maybe I should just get up and leave...WTF am I doing!? then on QR I gave up because I felt that the rest of my test was so bad that I didn't care anymore. Well, with all that I still ended up getting a 17/17/20, which I know are not good scores, but they could've been a lot worse!
So my advice to all you first timers out there... BE POSITIVE! I went into my first DAT thinking I was going to do terrible, and for a couple of weeks before I kept telling everyone that I wasn't going to do well, and I pretty much caused my own downfall because I doubted myself so much.
So now I'm going into wednesday's test with a positive attitude. So here are a couple of things that I learned the first time:
1) BE POSITIVE
- I think I was so negative because I felt that if everyone knew that I thought I was going to do poorly, then it wouldn't be such a big deal to fail. Kinda instead of everyone expecting a 25 and coming back with a 15.
2) if you don't know the answer to the question, mark an answer and move on! (Don't leave blank and mark-you might run out of time and not be able to go back)
3) RELAX, take a deep breath if you get flustered, if you don't know it, move on!!
4) My approach for gchem this time: What is this problem asking for? What does it give me to work with? -- last time I would look a pH problem and get flustered because I didn't have enough practice first of all combined with running out of time--I just plain freaked out.
5) RC-- REMEMBER to NOT erase your boards! You might have to go back to a problem and your outline can save you. Especially if it was your first passage. Those few seconds of not having to skim to find the topic of the paragraph might be a question you get right.
6)QR-Don't know it right away? SKIP IT! Do all the probs you know how to do!! Then go back and get nasty on the long/complicated ones. If you don't get it right the first time...guess and move onto another problem. Time is your worst enemy here!
Hopefully some of this will help you guys. Now I hope I can take my own advice and kick ass on Wednesday!!!
Find your weakest subject and practice it! Mine is Gchem so I wrote down (from destroyer) the type of problem (pH, Ksp, Normality) and all the problem numbers that fall under that catagory. I have been doing through them like no other. My problem was that I would come up to that problem and not be 100% clear on the STEPS to solve it. Catagorizing and practicing helps me 'mentally grasp' the concept better than having it scattered all around the book. On my first dat attempt, I wasn't 100% on Ksp& pH and I definately got a bunch of those problems which I ended up guessing on. That and running out of time because I spent too much time trying to figure out why there is a freakin' beak growing on a mouse!!! Lesson learned! MOVE ON!
During my DAT after I was bombared with question after question that I didn't know, I started having really discouraging thoughts-things like, maybe I should just get up and leave...WTF am I doing!? then on QR I gave up because I felt that the rest of my test was so bad that I didn't care anymore. Well, with all that I still ended up getting a 17/17/20, which I know are not good scores, but they could've been a lot worse!
So my advice to all you first timers out there... BE POSITIVE! I went into my first DAT thinking I was going to do terrible, and for a couple of weeks before I kept telling everyone that I wasn't going to do well, and I pretty much caused my own downfall because I doubted myself so much.
So now I'm going into wednesday's test with a positive attitude. So here are a couple of things that I learned the first time:
1) BE POSITIVE
- I think I was so negative because I felt that if everyone knew that I thought I was going to do poorly, then it wouldn't be such a big deal to fail. Kinda instead of everyone expecting a 25 and coming back with a 15.
2) if you don't know the answer to the question, mark an answer and move on! (Don't leave blank and mark-you might run out of time and not be able to go back)
3) RELAX, take a deep breath if you get flustered, if you don't know it, move on!!
4) My approach for gchem this time: What is this problem asking for? What does it give me to work with? -- last time I would look a pH problem and get flustered because I didn't have enough practice first of all combined with running out of time--I just plain freaked out.
5) RC-- REMEMBER to NOT erase your boards! You might have to go back to a problem and your outline can save you. Especially if it was your first passage. Those few seconds of not having to skim to find the topic of the paragraph might be a question you get right.
6)QR-Don't know it right away? SKIP IT! Do all the probs you know how to do!! Then go back and get nasty on the long/complicated ones. If you don't get it right the first time...guess and move onto another problem. Time is your worst enemy here!
Hopefully some of this will help you guys. Now I hope I can take my own advice and kick ass on Wednesday!!!
