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- May 23, 2007
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Just took the DAT yesterday. Here is how it went...
PAT- 18
QR- 16
RC- 20
Bio- 19
G.Chem- 18
O. Chem- 20
Total Science- 19
Academic- 19
PAT- This section is hit or miss for me. I for some reason could not visualize stuff during the test. I honestly wanted to cry half way through- so i can't complain about the 18. It was a little harder than topscore but easier than achiever.
QR- well, I am not a math person at all. I was usually geting 18 or 19 on the practice tests. I was really really flustered during the test. It had lots of word problems and I ran out of time. I would highly suggest just going through and trying to get all the easy problems first which is what i tried doing but didn't work out so well
RC- I outlined the passage in about 1 min and then went looking for the questions. My timing strategy was 20 min per passage. My first passage was all about finding the answers in the passage. I wasn't really rushing because I didn't want to make silly mistakes BUT the second passage was just a little bit harder with a few tone questions. The third passage was about 50% tone, author's throughts and those types of questions. My advice...if your first passage seems a little on the easier side- try to get through it in 15-17 min because chances are you will have a much harder passage later.
Bio- I didn' think this section was too bad- I honestly don't know why I got a 19. I had a couple classification questions. There were lots of application questions. No hormone questions. I can't really remember much from this section right now... but I will post it once i do.
Gen Chem- I thought i did better here too. I had 3 calculations the rest was conceptual. Make sure you know Le- Chatlier's, I had at least 2 questions on that. Very little acid base chemistry. Really, this section wasn't too bad, I am assuming I made a bunch of silly mistakes.
O Chem- Pretty straightforward. Just have your reagents memorized. There were a couple of naming questions. Know your SN1, SN2, E1, E2 reactions. Also, you have to know your reducing and oxidizing agents (LiAlH4, NaBH4, CrO3, K2CrO7 ect ect) like the back of your hand. If you have the destroyer, make sure you know those road maps. I had one aromaticity question but no carbohydrate chemistry questions
I studied using the Kaplan blue book, destroyer, topscore and achiever. The destroyer was GREAT for the sciences. If you are taking practice tests and not doing well don't stress over it too much. Achiever really really ruined my confidence because I was doing sooo horrible on those practice exams (especially in the sciences). Just remember, those exams are not always indicative of test day!
So please tell me what you guys think. I just graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bio degree. I will be doing a masters at Wayne State in the fall in medical sciences. My overall GPA is a 3.1 and science is a 3.0. I have shaddowing experience, 2 publications and lots of other activities. I wanted a more solid DAT to make up for my low grade point... what do you guys think I should do?
PAT- 18
QR- 16
RC- 20
Bio- 19
G.Chem- 18
O. Chem- 20
Total Science- 19
Academic- 19
PAT- This section is hit or miss for me. I for some reason could not visualize stuff during the test. I honestly wanted to cry half way through- so i can't complain about the 18. It was a little harder than topscore but easier than achiever.
QR- well, I am not a math person at all. I was usually geting 18 or 19 on the practice tests. I was really really flustered during the test. It had lots of word problems and I ran out of time. I would highly suggest just going through and trying to get all the easy problems first which is what i tried doing but didn't work out so well
RC- I outlined the passage in about 1 min and then went looking for the questions. My timing strategy was 20 min per passage. My first passage was all about finding the answers in the passage. I wasn't really rushing because I didn't want to make silly mistakes BUT the second passage was just a little bit harder with a few tone questions. The third passage was about 50% tone, author's throughts and those types of questions. My advice...if your first passage seems a little on the easier side- try to get through it in 15-17 min because chances are you will have a much harder passage later.
Bio- I didn' think this section was too bad- I honestly don't know why I got a 19. I had a couple classification questions. There were lots of application questions. No hormone questions. I can't really remember much from this section right now... but I will post it once i do.
Gen Chem- I thought i did better here too. I had 3 calculations the rest was conceptual. Make sure you know Le- Chatlier's, I had at least 2 questions on that. Very little acid base chemistry. Really, this section wasn't too bad, I am assuming I made a bunch of silly mistakes.
O Chem- Pretty straightforward. Just have your reagents memorized. There were a couple of naming questions. Know your SN1, SN2, E1, E2 reactions. Also, you have to know your reducing and oxidizing agents (LiAlH4, NaBH4, CrO3, K2CrO7 ect ect) like the back of your hand. If you have the destroyer, make sure you know those road maps. I had one aromaticity question but no carbohydrate chemistry questions
I studied using the Kaplan blue book, destroyer, topscore and achiever. The destroyer was GREAT for the sciences. If you are taking practice tests and not doing well don't stress over it too much. Achiever really really ruined my confidence because I was doing sooo horrible on those practice exams (especially in the sciences). Just remember, those exams are not always indicative of test day!
So please tell me what you guys think. I just graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bio degree. I will be doing a masters at Wayne State in the fall in medical sciences. My overall GPA is a 3.1 and science is a 3.0. I have shaddowing experience, 2 publications and lots of other activities. I wanted a more solid DAT to make up for my low grade point... what do you guys think I should do?
