the battle continues...retaking again

[Ramil]

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ok so i'm planning to retake DAT by june for the third time. This time i'm not planning to take the kaplan course, but i will be using these materials.

1. CLiffs ap biology
2. Chads videos
3. KBB just for ochem, Gchem, math and reading.
4. Crack the PAT
5. Destroyer
6. Achiever or Topscore ( Which one should i use????)

Now i think that not taking the actual online kaplan course will not give me enough practice problem. So what do you guys suggest me to get for practice problems for all topics.

 

[OU11BB]

maybe get both achiever and topscore.

 

[Avery07]

ok so i'm planning to retake DAT by june for the third time. This time i'm not planning to take the kaplan course, but i will be using these materials.

1. CLiffs ap biology
2. Chads videos
3. KBB just for ochem, Gchem, math and reading.
4. Crack the PAT
5. Destroyer
6. Achiever or Topscore ( Which one should i use????)

Now i think that not taking the actual online kaplan course will not give me enough practice problem. So what do you guys suggest me to get for practice problems for all topics.

With all those resources you will have more than enough problems. Just make sure to get Achiever and Topscore both. It's a small price to pay.

 

[Ramil]

i'm planing to retake in june, when do you think i should get topscore and achiever

 

[FutureDent020]

What strategy are you using for RC?

 

[Blue Panther]

i'm planing to retake in june, when do you think i should get topscore and achiever

Anytime, both of the programs expire in 6 or 7 months. Take a practice test, go over both the CORRECT and wrong answers. For wrong answers, read up on the subject matter more.

 

[Ramil]

What strategy are you using for RC?

English being my 5th language, i'm still struggling in reading fast enough. To answer your question tho i would say i write all the key points from every paragraph with the corresponding number next to it. Then i read the question and refere to that keyword in the correct paragraph then read the entire paragraph to answer the question, and at the end i'm still left with 10 minutes and a full passage to go, then i just guess.

 

[FutureDent020]

English being my 5th language, i'm still struggling in reading fast enough. To answer your question tho i would say i write all the key points from every paragraph with the corresponding number next to it. Then i read the question and refere to that keyword in the correct paragraph then read the entire paragraph to answer the question, and at the end i'm still left with 10 minutes and a full passage to go, then i just guess.

Alright, that's the method kaplan teaches. It can be affective, but can also be incredibly time consuming. Have you tried search and destroy on practice tests? I'm terrible at reading comprehension, and still managed a 19 using search and destroy. You just look for key words or subjects that relate to the question being asked. Most of the time it takes less than a minute and sometimes you get lucky and find the answer in a matter of seconds. If you can't get a question just skip it after a minute goes by. You will most likely come across it later while skimming for other answers.

 

[Ramil]

no i have not try that, but i'm willing to try it on my practice tests. will keep you updated on how i do on my practice tests.

 

[K Niner]

ok so i'm planning to retake DAT by june for the third time. This time i'm not planning to take the kaplan course, but i will be using these materials.

1. CLiffs ap biology
2. Chads videos
3. KBB just for ochem, Gchem, math and reading.
4. Crack the PAT
5. Destroyer
6. Achiever or Topscore ( Which one should i use????)

Now i think that not taking the actual online kaplan course will not give me enough practice problem. So what do you guys suggest me to get for practice problems for all topics.

1. What is your GPA & sGPA?
2. What is your history?(how is english your fifth language? where did you go to school? major? when did you graduate?)
3. How much time did you spend studying and what resources did you use when you received the scores from your second DAT?
4. How did you do in your pre-req courses like Bios, but mainly the Chem's?
5. I would suggest that you get your chem textbook and go through the whole thing, so that you understand all the parts. Obviously you will want to skip the sections that are not on the DAT and the parts that you know already. This will give you a good basic understanding of all the concepts, then you can go through cliffs and know it well (supplementing it with a textbook for the parts that you do know know perfectly).

After that get a kaplan book (just the book, not the course. You will waste time in the course, believe me, I took one for the MCAT & got a 31. Studied like above for the DAT and got 22 in each section). Go through the kaplan book supplementing it with other resources when necessary. You will want to go through the book perhaps more than once. So that you can go through it rapidly ensuring that you understand all the concepts without having to look anything up. THEN go through destroyer practice problems (realize that destroyer is excessive in regards to both difficulty & number of problems). So just go through destroyer with the small time you have left and don't stress about hard problems b/c the DAT, as you know, doesn't go that far in depth. Woo! Continue to go through the kaplan book & cliffs occasionaly to ensure you know all the material. Don't wait too long to take the exam either, you'll forget.

Answer those other questions though at the beginning of my post though.

 

[azar87]

keep the hope alive man been int he same position as you! what did i do? i started from scratch again. did the kaplan book all over made my notes........then i did all the kaplan subject tests which are great! and then i went on to destroyer and did the questions again and again and used topscore just keep going my friend nothing is impossible you will do fine but you have get serious but try not to memorize things try to understand them and it will make it a lot easier but don't give up this happens a lot man just keep ur head up and get math destroyer and do all the problems in that as well. cuz math sucks!

 

[Ramil]

1. What is your GPA & sGPA?
Junior college 2.65
University 3.65
Total GPA: 2.99 and sGPA 2.79


2. What is your history?(how is english your fifth language? where did you go to school? major? when did you graduate?)

I was born and raised in IRAN, speaking farsi in school and assyrian (native) at home, moved to germany when i was 15 and stated there for 4 years , moved to united statest in 2001 went to high school (entered as a sophomore) attend junior college in 2003 for 3 years and transfered to CSU Stanislaus in 2006 and graduated in 2009 with a BS in bio and minor in chem.

3. How much time did you spend studying and what resources did you use when you received the scores from your second DAT?
First time i took it i used just kaplan 2 months on and off
Second time i used kaplan, and for bio i used cliffs (It was recommended to me on SDN) and i sudied for 3 months a little more ass glue and strickt.
Both times i took it was going to school, working and studying for them.

4. How did you do in your pre-req courses like Bios, but mainly the Chem's?
Gne chem 1 C at JC
Gen chem 2 B at JC
Ochem 1 B at CSU
Ochem 2 C at CSU

Bio i got all A's and Bs except Baceriology lecture i took over the summer i got a C+

 

[Ramil]

By the way i applied for 2010 cycle I applied to 14 schools i got 8 rejects and 6 more schools have not responded yet. I got secondaries from UCLA and i still dont have my M3

 

[dentalWorks]

Honestly, when I used to do RC practice tests, I always scored 14-16. Why? Cause I was using "stupid' methods like kaplan writting method or even search and destroy. I was soooo disappointed that I gave up on RC, and decided to just "wing it" come exam time. The only thing I wrote down was I numbered 1 - 50. Everytime I anwered soemthing, I crossed it out.

by "wing it" I mean take the RC test and DONT' write anything down, read the first 2-3 paragraphs fast as hell and try your hardest to read questions and skim through stuff. Trust me I am a SLOWWWW reader (Im talking 150 words per minute or even less)

I got lucky with a 19 on the real DAT. By the way, English was 4th language I had to learn (at age 13), Im 28 now

 

[K Niner]

Ok so the GPA is low. No reason to get an awesome dat score and hve it expire before you can raise the GPA to get in. I would say take a postbac to improve the GPA while learning the prerequisites better, but you might want to do a full blown two years masters program. Whatever you choose make sure you get all As. Bs just won't cut it. While you do this study for the dat the entire time. Good luck you can do it if you invest the time necessary.

 

[dentalWorks]

Ok so the GPA is low. No reason to get an awesome dat score and hve it expire before you can raise the GPA to get in. I would say take a postbac to improve the GPA while learning the prerequisites better, but you might want to do a full blown two years masters program. Whatever you choose make sure you get all As. Bs just won't cut it. While you do this study for the dat the entire time. Good luck you can do it if you invest the time necessary.

Thats a great point. Unless your going to be packing a 25 on the DAT, your overall and science GPAs are very low and could really hurt your chances. If you retake it a 3rd time now, as K niner said, you might still not get accepted cause of that low GPA, by time you fix that GPA 1-2 years, your DAT is going to expire and you have to take it a 4th time.

 

[NewBee12]

It looks like QR is your weakest spot. get some algebra, trig books just to refresh the basics. Then work on your timing. if $$$$$ is not an issue Get the math destroyer ( the latest edition) it has 11 tests. try to do them while you restrict urself to the time limit. do them over and over untill ur time improves. fro Bio you can use cliff notes or whatever material you can get. orgo and general chem destroyer is good but is little hard than the actual test. if you can solve the destroyer problems ur in good shape. u can also get chad's videos.
the bottom line is : the more the better.
best of luck

 

[RING12]

Hi there,

I want say buy the barriba ap biology book isbn: 978-0-764195242 buy it from www.barronseduc.com it is just 18 dollar and has a cd. it's a great book and buy the dat to go bio. for Gchem just kaplan book is enough. oh buy the ap falsh cards too for bio. its really good, these books are better than kaplan book or cliff bio book. I have read all of them. these book are really good and you are lucky you have time to order dat to go chem and ochem too, bc they will come out in may. unfortunetly by then Im taking my test. This is my third time taking the exam too. I have tried every books and these are the best can help you for that hard section of bio, which is really hard. if you need any other help please let me know.

good luck!

 

[summer89]

How do i get the Kaplan subject tests? Do I have to take the test or can it be purchased online?
Also, I found a free practice DAT exam on Kaplan's site...it's only 3 hours long, but still, good practice.