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I?m done.
Yep, took the DAT yesterday and all in all I?m happy with my scores. Here they are:
AA: 22 96.1 percentile
Bio: 22 96.5
GC: 23 93.8
OC: 22 91.8
TS: 22 96.6
PA: 22 96.9
RC: 23 92.0
QR: 19 82.1
Can you pick the section that doesn?t quite match?
Well, where to begin? how about from the beginning. I started studying for the DAT in the last week of June, and I was pretty dedicated about it. I?d say overall I averaged about 6 hrs/day for about 5 days a week. My main study tools were Kaplan, TopScore, and Barron?s. I also used the following for reference: Schaums outlines of bio, chem, and easy outlines of genetics, my orgo textbook, and Williams and Wilkins Complete Prep for the DAT (outdated, but useful). I also had a set of Princeton Review MCAT books I borrowed from someone who took the course (very useful for bio and orgo).
Now, one thing I should mention before going on to describe test day is something I wish I had realized. I knew that I?d be nervous the night before and that I might have problems falling asleep. So, instead of taking something that might make me sleepy the next day, I figured I?d just go to bed an hour early and it would be fine. I was wrong. I didn?t fall asleep until 3:30am, and I had to wake up at 6am to get to the testing center. Let me tell you this, its not fun when you begin equating the amount of sleep you get to your score the next day while laying in bed. So, I?d recommend doing whatever it takes to ensure a good nights sleep. Maybe test out taking a benadryl to see how it affects you the next day, I don?t know. I just don?t want anyone to go through what I did.
Ok, so now on to test day. A few things I encountered at the test center that you should be aware of? I brought a power bar as a snack for my 15 minute break, but they told me I couldn?t go to my locker at any point during the exam. That sucked. However, on the plus side, they didn?t say anything about using fingers or holding things up to the screen. I did this maybe only twice because it really didn?t help all that much and I was still somewhat paranoid about getting tests voided.
The test layout was VERY similar to topscore. One small difference I noticed was that when the question and answers exceed the length on the screen, the next button displays something like ?scroll down? (can?t remember exactly) that will scroll all the way down when clicked. The button then changes to next. Come to think of it, this may be how topscore was (I wouldn?t know because I always used a higher resolution for topscore and did not have to scroll).
Bio: This was the section I was most concerned with. I realized today that the question pool is probably large because all of the descriptions given in previous posts about content didn?t quite fit. Overall, I?d say it was a pretty broad range of questions. I was surprised to find maybe only 2-3 questions on evolution/speciation. Many had said there were a bunch before. I did have more than a couple questions about taxonomy, and yes, some were just as crazy as topscore?s (well, maybe just 1). Many questions were pretty straightforward, but some required some thought. My advice here is learn the concepts and be able to take what you know and eliminate choices on those crazy questions.
Chem: Similar to Kaplan, much, much less calculation than TS. Some questions required some thought (not just stick the numbers in the formula). A couple questions were just plain easy (very easy). Nothing much else to say here.
OChem: I was surprised that I didn?t do better here. I just finished orgo II last spring and got an A. I didn?t think this section was that hard either. There were a few Sn1/Sn2/E1/E2 like everyone says, stereochem, nomenclature, a few multiple rxn questions but nothing weird.
Side note?I finished Science section with 30 min to spare. I think I was nervous and got confused with time and rushed chem and ochem.
PA: I didn?t think angles were as bad as people made them out to be. Only a few questions were really that bad. They key for them is to use what you can figure out and eliminate. Some were very easy if you looked at the choices. Cubes were not that bad. 6 structures maybe. Be sure you are careful because these are easy points that you need. Paper folding wasn?t that bad, maybe one or two weird ones. Aperture passing was tricky, maybe 3-4 I had to come back on and think about. Folding was ok, but I swear there was one that had no correct answer. I just picked the best one. Resolution was only a problem on 1-2 problems on the entire section, and it just took a little squinting to figure it out.
15 min break: I used this time to relax a bit and use the restroom. I had already written all my math formulas during the 30 minute tutorial.
RC: I used the hunt for answers method. It worked very well in the first passage which I finished in 12 minutes marking maybe 2 to come back to. It was very word for word. The second passage was very much intention based and inference. It did not work very well with my strategy. Some questions I thought were open to interpretation. The third passage was sort of a mix, but more on the word for word side (only not at blatantly obvious as topscore sometimes is)
QR: I was a bit disappointed with this section only because I know I could have done better. I wouldn?t say it was hard. Similar to Kaplan and TS (without some of the more advanced topics from topscore like combinations/permutations). It was the last test and I was tired. My brain just wasn?t working as well as it could have.
Some background info on me--- graduated from Washington University this past May (taking a year off) with a 3.37 overall GPA and a 3.08 science GPA.
Lastly, THANK YOU everyone who has helped me in this forum. I would have been lost without it.
Yep, took the DAT yesterday and all in all I?m happy with my scores. Here they are:
AA: 22 96.1 percentile
Bio: 22 96.5
GC: 23 93.8
OC: 22 91.8
TS: 22 96.6
PA: 22 96.9
RC: 23 92.0
QR: 19 82.1
Can you pick the section that doesn?t quite match?
Well, where to begin? how about from the beginning. I started studying for the DAT in the last week of June, and I was pretty dedicated about it. I?d say overall I averaged about 6 hrs/day for about 5 days a week. My main study tools were Kaplan, TopScore, and Barron?s. I also used the following for reference: Schaums outlines of bio, chem, and easy outlines of genetics, my orgo textbook, and Williams and Wilkins Complete Prep for the DAT (outdated, but useful). I also had a set of Princeton Review MCAT books I borrowed from someone who took the course (very useful for bio and orgo).
Now, one thing I should mention before going on to describe test day is something I wish I had realized. I knew that I?d be nervous the night before and that I might have problems falling asleep. So, instead of taking something that might make me sleepy the next day, I figured I?d just go to bed an hour early and it would be fine. I was wrong. I didn?t fall asleep until 3:30am, and I had to wake up at 6am to get to the testing center. Let me tell you this, its not fun when you begin equating the amount of sleep you get to your score the next day while laying in bed. So, I?d recommend doing whatever it takes to ensure a good nights sleep. Maybe test out taking a benadryl to see how it affects you the next day, I don?t know. I just don?t want anyone to go through what I did.
Ok, so now on to test day. A few things I encountered at the test center that you should be aware of? I brought a power bar as a snack for my 15 minute break, but they told me I couldn?t go to my locker at any point during the exam. That sucked. However, on the plus side, they didn?t say anything about using fingers or holding things up to the screen. I did this maybe only twice because it really didn?t help all that much and I was still somewhat paranoid about getting tests voided.
The test layout was VERY similar to topscore. One small difference I noticed was that when the question and answers exceed the length on the screen, the next button displays something like ?scroll down? (can?t remember exactly) that will scroll all the way down when clicked. The button then changes to next. Come to think of it, this may be how topscore was (I wouldn?t know because I always used a higher resolution for topscore and did not have to scroll).
Bio: This was the section I was most concerned with. I realized today that the question pool is probably large because all of the descriptions given in previous posts about content didn?t quite fit. Overall, I?d say it was a pretty broad range of questions. I was surprised to find maybe only 2-3 questions on evolution/speciation. Many had said there were a bunch before. I did have more than a couple questions about taxonomy, and yes, some were just as crazy as topscore?s (well, maybe just 1). Many questions were pretty straightforward, but some required some thought. My advice here is learn the concepts and be able to take what you know and eliminate choices on those crazy questions.
Chem: Similar to Kaplan, much, much less calculation than TS. Some questions required some thought (not just stick the numbers in the formula). A couple questions were just plain easy (very easy). Nothing much else to say here.
OChem: I was surprised that I didn?t do better here. I just finished orgo II last spring and got an A. I didn?t think this section was that hard either. There were a few Sn1/Sn2/E1/E2 like everyone says, stereochem, nomenclature, a few multiple rxn questions but nothing weird.
Side note?I finished Science section with 30 min to spare. I think I was nervous and got confused with time and rushed chem and ochem.
PA: I didn?t think angles were as bad as people made them out to be. Only a few questions were really that bad. They key for them is to use what you can figure out and eliminate. Some were very easy if you looked at the choices. Cubes were not that bad. 6 structures maybe. Be sure you are careful because these are easy points that you need. Paper folding wasn?t that bad, maybe one or two weird ones. Aperture passing was tricky, maybe 3-4 I had to come back on and think about. Folding was ok, but I swear there was one that had no correct answer. I just picked the best one. Resolution was only a problem on 1-2 problems on the entire section, and it just took a little squinting to figure it out.
15 min break: I used this time to relax a bit and use the restroom. I had already written all my math formulas during the 30 minute tutorial.
RC: I used the hunt for answers method. It worked very well in the first passage which I finished in 12 minutes marking maybe 2 to come back to. It was very word for word. The second passage was very much intention based and inference. It did not work very well with my strategy. Some questions I thought were open to interpretation. The third passage was sort of a mix, but more on the word for word side (only not at blatantly obvious as topscore sometimes is)
QR: I was a bit disappointed with this section only because I know I could have done better. I wouldn?t say it was hard. Similar to Kaplan and TS (without some of the more advanced topics from topscore like combinations/permutations). It was the last test and I was tired. My brain just wasn?t working as well as it could have.
Some background info on me--- graduated from Washington University this past May (taking a year off) with a 3.37 overall GPA and a 3.08 science GPA.
Lastly, THANK YOU everyone who has helped me in this forum. I would have been lost without it.
