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First off, I'm actually new to SDN and as I was browsing this past week I saw WAYYYY too many people posting and bragging about their 22+ scores, and it doesn't do much for the kids who want some assurance/morale for the test. I know for me I wanted to see some posts of people who didn't do as well as they wanted and know what they can fix or not make the same mistake. So I decided to talk about my first DAT I just finished 2 hours ago.
I actually laughed in disbelief as I was walking out of the testing center...
PA: 24
QR: 17
RC:26
Bio: 18
GenChem: 16
OChem: 16
Total Science: 16
AA: 19
Now, let's talk about how I studied. I actually only started studying only a week before the test. Even then I only focused on bio; I didn't even touch QR and RC in my studies. So as soon as I saw the 26 RC I was like WTF. I did about 100 problems a day of bio, but I found during the test that the vast scope and randomness in Biology is insane. They're not even hard questions, you just have to know it. Same with the O/Gen chemistry.
I totally bombed Ochem and Gchem, which I wasnt expecting, because I actually thought I did okay on those.
I'm slapping my own wrist because I'm a bio major and chem/business minor. So you'd think I'd actually do okay on the science sections. I kind of regret taking ochem so early in my college career, because now I forgot everything and relearning it wall DOES take more than a week xD.
What's even more interesting is that by the time I reached halfway through the QR, I only had about 20% of the time left to finish. So I started to do ALOT of guessing. At one point I had 5 seconds left and 6 questions so I legit just hit C-Next-C-Next...etc.
Anyways, I'm planning to retake and get a better DAT score in for this year's application cycle. If only I had studied at least a month beforehand I wouldn't have to deal with this S!@# again. My friends don't call me King Procrastinator for no reason. And no, I'm not proud of it. It's just a bad habit.
If you'd like to know my technique for RC (which I didn't actually study/learn any because I didn't even touch it in my studies), let me know. I legit just did what I thought was most efficient and I guess it worked out. For the PAT sections I developed my own techniques, for each different section of the PAT. Inquire if you'd like.
Not that it matters... a 16 Total Science.... FML
~~~~~~~EDIT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
despite the fact that there a lot of haters on SDN, since im getting lots of emails about how i did my reading and and pat sections, here is an extended version of the answers i replied back to them...
For keyholes, you really just have to visualize the figure in your mind. remember, everything is in scale for keyholes, thus two figures can actually look exactly the same but they are in fact different. if two answers look exactly the same, look for the smallest differences (ie, the size of the tiny rectangle jutting out). Also, you have to think about being able to put the figure in, in ALL directions. I used to habituate myself of turning the figure only one direction and seeing if that would fit into the keyhole. but you have to turn it all directions and check all posibilities.
I usually get 100% in the top/front/end: one trick is to count the lines that would be made from one side onto another side. for example: If i saw a front side with a simple Square with a circle inside I should be able to count 4 lines on the "top and end" side (from side to side, top to bottom or from bottom to top, stay consistent and make it a habit). MAKE SURE to account for lines that line up exactly the same so you don't over count.
I actually do the worst in angle ranking, but my trick is to NOT look at the ends of the of angles and only look at the vertexes; lines that make up the angles HIGHLY vary and can really throw you off if you look at the "size of the angle" versus just looking at the vertex itself. I look for the biggest angle and smallest angle, which usually rules out 50% of the answers, and thus increases your chance of getting the question right by 50%. then you compare the "middle two" for example, 1,4,2,3 vs 1,2,4,3. These are the hardest because 4 and 2 can look REALLY similar, you just have to look at the vertex and try and compare it correctly.
For counting faces, the trick is to NEVER forget about the "hidden side" of the cubes. when you try to tackle "how many cubes would have 2 sides painted" go through the whole figure in an organized fashion. for example go through the first row of cubes and count how many have 2 sides painted, then the next row, and so on. keep a mental note because if you forget you have to do it all over again.
Hole punching, I have a HUGE secret (or so i like to think). You just count the number of folds before the punch and sometimes you can answer it just by looking at how many holes are in the answer pieces. for example, if the square was folded once through the middle and the again once through the middle, and a hole was punched, that would make 4 holes. I look at the answer and I notice that only one of the answers even has 4 holes, so that HAS to be the answer (its a very simplified problem). I can usually answer an "incredibly hard" hole punch question in a matter of seconds saving me time for another hard question.
For RC, you just read as fast as you can (literally just skim) and look for key words they could ask about in the coming questions. Keep a mental bookmark of them using the paragraph numbering and then if a question has a word that you saw, it should set off a big light bulb and you can go back to the paragraph you saw it in and answer the question easily.
Too many people spend too much time reading!!! dont waste your time reading! You can make the mistake of reading the WHOLE passage and then sometimes the questions dont even ask about the whole passage! I know that in my DAT for one of the passages, all of the questions were regarding the last two paragraphs! In another passage, all of my questions were from the first half of the passage with the exception of one question. So if you read EVERYTHING from beginning to finish, you're just wasting time! Dont be afraid to use the skip/mark function. I actually skipped 5-6 questions for the sake of time. I went back with left over time to answer those questions i marked. sometimes you need to take a break from the passage because thinking too much on that one passage will fry your brain out. So moving on to the next passage and then coming back, you might see something you didnt see the first time you read the passage.
Im not sure how effective this is for other people, but even try reading all the questions first, and THEN skim the passage. look for key words!
I actually laughed in disbelief as I was walking out of the testing center...
PA: 24
QR: 17
RC:26
Bio: 18
GenChem: 16
OChem: 16
Total Science: 16
AA: 19
Now, let's talk about how I studied. I actually only started studying only a week before the test. Even then I only focused on bio; I didn't even touch QR and RC in my studies. So as soon as I saw the 26 RC I was like WTF. I did about 100 problems a day of bio, but I found during the test that the vast scope and randomness in Biology is insane. They're not even hard questions, you just have to know it. Same with the O/Gen chemistry.
I totally bombed Ochem and Gchem, which I wasnt expecting, because I actually thought I did okay on those.
I'm slapping my own wrist because I'm a bio major and chem/business minor. So you'd think I'd actually do okay on the science sections. I kind of regret taking ochem so early in my college career, because now I forgot everything and relearning it wall DOES take more than a week xD.
What's even more interesting is that by the time I reached halfway through the QR, I only had about 20% of the time left to finish. So I started to do ALOT of guessing. At one point I had 5 seconds left and 6 questions so I legit just hit C-Next-C-Next...etc.
Anyways, I'm planning to retake and get a better DAT score in for this year's application cycle. If only I had studied at least a month beforehand I wouldn't have to deal with this S!@# again. My friends don't call me King Procrastinator for no reason. And no, I'm not proud of it. It's just a bad habit.
If you'd like to know my technique for RC (which I didn't actually study/learn any because I didn't even touch it in my studies), let me know. I legit just did what I thought was most efficient and I guess it worked out. For the PAT sections I developed my own techniques, for each different section of the PAT. Inquire if you'd like.
Not that it matters... a 16 Total Science.... FML
~~~~~~~EDIT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
despite the fact that there a lot of haters on SDN, since im getting lots of emails about how i did my reading and and pat sections, here is an extended version of the answers i replied back to them...
For keyholes, you really just have to visualize the figure in your mind. remember, everything is in scale for keyholes, thus two figures can actually look exactly the same but they are in fact different. if two answers look exactly the same, look for the smallest differences (ie, the size of the tiny rectangle jutting out). Also, you have to think about being able to put the figure in, in ALL directions. I used to habituate myself of turning the figure only one direction and seeing if that would fit into the keyhole. but you have to turn it all directions and check all posibilities.
I usually get 100% in the top/front/end: one trick is to count the lines that would be made from one side onto another side. for example: If i saw a front side with a simple Square with a circle inside I should be able to count 4 lines on the "top and end" side (from side to side, top to bottom or from bottom to top, stay consistent and make it a habit). MAKE SURE to account for lines that line up exactly the same so you don't over count.
I actually do the worst in angle ranking, but my trick is to NOT look at the ends of the of angles and only look at the vertexes; lines that make up the angles HIGHLY vary and can really throw you off if you look at the "size of the angle" versus just looking at the vertex itself. I look for the biggest angle and smallest angle, which usually rules out 50% of the answers, and thus increases your chance of getting the question right by 50%. then you compare the "middle two" for example, 1,4,2,3 vs 1,2,4,3. These are the hardest because 4 and 2 can look REALLY similar, you just have to look at the vertex and try and compare it correctly.
For counting faces, the trick is to NEVER forget about the "hidden side" of the cubes. when you try to tackle "how many cubes would have 2 sides painted" go through the whole figure in an organized fashion. for example go through the first row of cubes and count how many have 2 sides painted, then the next row, and so on. keep a mental note because if you forget you have to do it all over again.
Hole punching, I have a HUGE secret (or so i like to think). You just count the number of folds before the punch and sometimes you can answer it just by looking at how many holes are in the answer pieces. for example, if the square was folded once through the middle and the again once through the middle, and a hole was punched, that would make 4 holes. I look at the answer and I notice that only one of the answers even has 4 holes, so that HAS to be the answer (its a very simplified problem). I can usually answer an "incredibly hard" hole punch question in a matter of seconds saving me time for another hard question.
For RC, you just read as fast as you can (literally just skim) and look for key words they could ask about in the coming questions. Keep a mental bookmark of them using the paragraph numbering and then if a question has a word that you saw, it should set off a big light bulb and you can go back to the paragraph you saw it in and answer the question easily.
Too many people spend too much time reading!!! dont waste your time reading! You can make the mistake of reading the WHOLE passage and then sometimes the questions dont even ask about the whole passage! I know that in my DAT for one of the passages, all of the questions were regarding the last two paragraphs! In another passage, all of my questions were from the first half of the passage with the exception of one question. So if you read EVERYTHING from beginning to finish, you're just wasting time! Dont be afraid to use the skip/mark function. I actually skipped 5-6 questions for the sake of time. I went back with left over time to answer those questions i marked. sometimes you need to take a break from the passage because thinking too much on that one passage will fry your brain out. So moving on to the next passage and then coming back, you might see something you didnt see the first time you read the passage.
Im not sure how effective this is for other people, but even try reading all the questions first, and THEN skim the passage. look for key words!
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