All the exams are about the same level of difficulty and a little more difficult than the real exam. The way that the exam asks is not exactly like any material but it is very direct and sometimes easier to read than the practice exams. Lets say for biology the questions were small and direct, which was good. The idea is being exposed to a lot of information and know about everything a little bit. It is random, yes, so don't try to memorize specific things, just try to understand while you study the overall concepts/ideas.
For organic chem don't focus so much or weird reactions, try to get the grasp of how everything works, sn1, sn2, where are you going to attack, if the more substituted or less substituted etc...
If you score that on the first round you will be ok (if you keep doing well on the rest or ranging above 18) It is ok to get a lower one from now and then. Remember it is not so representative of the exam, it just helps you to prepare. Since I freaked out about the grades at first I just went with not caring about the scores anymore. So i would do exams and w.e I got it wouldn't affect me. But I knew if i would take them again I would get a 30 because I learned the info.
I thought I was going to get a nicer grade for orgo because I like it and I am good at it. I know every reaction out there, but the test is random like I told you and they have more conceptual questions. I also marked many many questions for all the sections and I couldn't go back... Time is what killed me. For Orgo i got 22. In bootcamp my scores varied. In the first one I got a 23 and I did not practice before taking it. Then it was lower in some other tests, in another I got a 24, but they have a lot of reactions and other things I know well (Chem major) that I did not see in the real exam. I also had a question that I knew how to do but it required several steps/calculations so I skipped it with the idea of going back and do it at the end. At the end I didn't have time to go back in any section. Time flew by.
For gen chem I got a lot of calculations. I didn't get so lucky in my exam, math was insane for me.
PAT was easier than bootcamp, I just did 3 bootcamp PATs and I never got a 20, and I got it in the real exam.
Reading... Easy! Well, English isn't my first language and I never did search and destroy before, I kind of did it in the exam. I read the passage quickly then I read the question and I looked around the paragraphs that talked about that specific topic. Very straight forward and easy readings.
I used crack the PAT and in the first reading I got like a 15, then I went to 17, and I got a 19 in the last one I did and I decided not to keep doing reading because it would stress me out. I thought I couldn't improve much so I did not keep practicing. I did One reading from bootcamp, I got a 17 I believe. The second one I closed it because the reading gave me a headache. In the real one I got a 19 (not great but I wasn't expecting a high one there)
So yeah, try not to worry about the grades you get so much, it is not so representative.
Bootcamp does a good job for the PAT. I think I saw like 2 of them that were exactly the same. Keyhole was easier. Most of the time you had to compare only two of them because the others had nothing to do with the real image. Its not like bootcamp that has little details.
I hope this helps all the people who read it. It is kind of a small breakdown for my beautiful and cheerful group
Good luck to everyone who is taking it soon. Don't stress out. The time will pass by quick and it will be over super fast. Overall, it is better (EASIER) than any practice test you can take.
Good Luck!
Ciao
