Taking the DAT in August

[yankpak786]

I have about 4 1/2 weeks left until D-Day lol.

I'm really beginning to get worried about my scores.. so far for the PAT: I've been getting 15, 16, 18
and QR and RC: 18 each

I can never seem to crack 20 with those 3 subjects.

I always run out of time for reading comprehension and PAT!!! Ugh, it's so aggravating.

What can I do to better my scores?!?! I suck real bad at TFE and folding for the PAT

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[jwan14]

Something that has helped me with PAT is perfecting the sections that I feel like I personally can almost perfect (cube counting, hole punching, angle ranking, and keyholes) by using Bootcamp's generators. I skip to those sections first and get as many of the 'easy' points as possible the go to the difficult ones. If I look at something for more than thirty seconds and have not a clue how to do it I just mark c and move on. My feeling is that you can miss several questions on the PAT and still get around a 20. (I met with the dean of admissions of a school and he mentioned that they don't even look at pat as long as it's not a terrible score it is meaningless to them but that may not be true everywhere else).

I use a similar strategy with QR (another 'less important' section to DS). I got 19's my first two tests on bootcamp but since then I've gotten 20+ because I've learned to just give up on some problems and come back if I have time at the end. Again, this is a section that you can miss a good chunk and still make a respectable score.

As far as RC goes...I've found it's really important to find a strategy that works for you. Mine is writing a sentence or a few words after each paragraph as a reference for the questions. Others are proficient at search and destroy and some just are very fast and good readers haha. Bottom line is practice makes perfect. Hope this helps! Good luck

 

[jwan14]

And heck you still have over a month left to figure it all out...you'll be fine I'm sure.

 

[yankpak786]

Thanks a lot! Yes, I've looked up some strategies, I think writing down keywords for RC after each paragraph should help. As for QR and PAT, you're right, spending more times on the one I know I can get will be beneficial. Thanks!

 

[yankpak786]

~ btw does anyone know if the 2nd bootcamp QR was significantly harder? Lol

I got a 17 and felt like I struggled like crazy *sigh* :'(

I'm getting worried