what should I do different this time?

[UnimaasMED]

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I am going to retake the DAT in October and I really don't know what I should do different to score higher. I am aiming for 19+ in each category. My old DAT scores:
Biology 16 😱
Gchem: 18
Ochem:19
QR: 18
RC: 17
PAT:16 😡
AA:18
TS:18
The first time studying I used Kaplan BB, Cliff, Destroyer, Chad, Topscore, CDR and CDP. I was getting 18 AA, 18 TS, 18 PAT and 19 RC on topscore. From what I had heard on this forum I was expecting to do much better on the real thing . But boy how I was wrong.😡
Honestly, looking back I don't even know what I did wrong or what I should do better this time. I did study my ass off because I didn't want to go through this again but my nightmare became true 🙁.
As you can imagine my confidence is really down right now and I don't know if I can put so much energy into the DAT again. 🙁
When I think back on the testing day it was the worst day of my life. Just thinking about it makes me wanna through up. 😳
I started with Bio I read through the first couple questions and I didn't know any of them. For most of the Bio questions KBB and Cliff were simply not enough to know the answers. A lot of them dealt with viruses and some of the questions were from anatomy and physiology. I never had any upper level bio classes so I had to guess on most of them. From that point everything went wrong. Thinking that I screwed up the bio I barely could motivate myself to keep going. Most of the questions in Gchem were calculation-based. I ran out of time (I had always 10-20 min left to go through the questions on my practice tests).
The PAT section was much harder than the CDP. I am not very good at it but I never expected to score that low. I was getting 18 in the last 5 tests on CDP.
For the reading section the search and destroy didn't work at all and I ran out of time trying to search for the stupid answers 😡. CDR didn't help at all.

I have applied for this cycle. I haven't got any rejections yet but most schools want me to retake the DAT. I think that I have a overall good application but my low DAT scores are keeping me from getting interviews. So I am planning to retake the DAT in a month but I don't want to fail again.

Please help me out by making suggestions what I should do different this time. Thanks!

 

[Chemboy23]

I have to retake as well (Nov 3) and my scores were 1 point lower than your scores, AA-17/TS-17/PAT-17! Don't give up! We can do this...you have to really want it. I am very disheartened as well, but I will NOT let this stupid test get the best of me. You did something wrong (just as I did) a probably had a silly version of the test, like myself. Use your scores as motivation to do better, not to give up. Trust me, I am a grown man...and tears began to roll down my cheek when I saw my score report. I looked silly to everyone at the Prometric testing site. But, it wasn't so funny to me, my dreams were like a trillion pieces of shattered glass. During all of my bad times though...I never doubted myself...you CANNOT do this. Studying the second time around (I just started again today) is not that bad. Your brain recalls a lot more than you think it does. Just look at the circumstances, you've come this far...it would be a waste for you not to acheive your dreams after all of this hard work. My stress is combated with praying and trusting in God to help me through these obstacles. He can work wonders, and if you just work really hard and put trust in Him, you will do well. Best of luck to you and I hope you do very well my friend! You may still be able to get in somewhere with your scores though. I mean an 18 isn't that bad. I don't know your GPA, but if you have 3.5+....I'd say you have a fair shot, if you apply to A LOT (~15) schools. Again, best of luck!

 

[doc toothache]

You could start by reviewing your textbooks.

 

[Chemboy23]

Oh...sorry I didn't realize the 16 in Bio, I had a 16 in GC! We definitely need to retake. Biology was really weird for me...I think to do well in this, you need to have pretty much been a Bio major. I scored an 18 in this section and I was a Bio major, that should tell you how random it was. Don't let all this get the best of you...just work like hell in your weak areas! If I were you, I'd review the GC, OC, QR...and then....

-Bio - spend a decent amount of time here, but study the material you do NOT know. Start basic, then go into the details. A Biology textbook would be better for you since you haven't taken a lot of upper levels.

GC- Keep working through the destroyer

OC- " "

PAT- Take 1 test (full) per day! Start by doing a "diagnostic" to see what you're weakest in. Take those weaknesses (for me, Pattern Folding and Hole Punching) and keep doing those, JUST THOSE, over and over and over! After you show significant improvement in your scores, and you will, start taking the full-lengths. If you get a lot of confidence and don't mind destroying it...practice on the Acheiver PATs as well lol!

RC - don't know what to tell you. I sucked with this...I got pianoed. I would use (if you have it) the Acheiver for this. It's the only thing I am going to use the Acheiver for now...only because it has tone questions. More comparable to the real DAT than the TopScore RC section.

QR - you have me beat here...so all I can say is...do what you did before. I ordered the Math Destroyer (didn't have it last time) because I got a 16 in this section. Still, spend the least amount of your time in this section.

Overall thoughts: Most of the time, I would not say this...but you need to put a lot of time into your Bio studying. Find an outline of the Cliff's Bio and make some notecards with Anki software, the software is AWESOME! Also, PAT comes with practice...obviously you and I didn't have enough of it. We learn from our mistakes. You'll do great, just keep a positive attitude and suck it up. We got beat, will you let it beat you again? For me, HELL NO!!!

 

[lusity]

How did you take your topscore exams? Did you do the whole thing in one seating, or did you take periodic breaks and returned to them later? I know you used CDP, but what version did you get? How long was it from the time you took your last CDP to your actual exam? If you leave a gap, your ability to answer the questions might diminish. When I took the DAT, I thought the PAT was easier than CDP.. especially hole punching and cube counting. Did you utilize your resources to the best of your capacity? Did you take notes while reading KBB and Cliffs Bio? Did you understand the material while you read the book and tried to retain the information? Cliffs cover AnP, but Schaum's biology outline is good too. I suggest purchasing Schaum's and reading it while taking notes. Also, try the destroyer. The extra practice you get from that book is amazing. Some say it's overkill, but I think exposure to as many (tricky) questions as possible is beneficial.

 

[peanutb123]

Um... this is the same thing that i have posted for chemboy 123

you are telling everyone your end product which is fine... but how can someone help you fix your mistake if you do not tell us how you studied....

-how many hours (With concentration)?
-how often practice tests?
-how many months of prep? are there anything that you do along with studying ie. work, research, so on...
-why did you believe that you did bad?

tell us how you studied... someone will give you advice very effectively.

 

[peanutb123]

yeah being a non bio major means you need to study extra hard for bio section. And taking classes such as biochem, micro, genetics do help A LOT...

 

[UnimaasMED]

Thank you all for trying to motivate me.

Chemboy
I can totally understand how you felt when you saw your scores. I am glad that you are not dropping the ball and won't give up easily. I had a really hard time convincing myself to get up and start all over again but now that I think about what path I have gone so far to get here and how much energy and money (which I didn’t have) I have invested in this whole process it would be too pity to just let it go for a stupid exam that doesn’t truly reflect my skills and capabilities. Thanks for building me up. All we can do is try even harder and hope to have a better day.
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lucity
I took my topscore exams under similar conditions to the real thing. I took each test as a whole in one seating. For the CDP I started really low in this section. For my first test I got a 13 I believe. Then I started practicing everyday and then didn’t practice for a while. 3 days before exam I was doing CDP test like a freak and I was getting 18s. On the real thing cube counting and whole punching were a lot easier. Key hole, TFE and pattern folding were a lot harder. I wished I knew which section I did worse in.
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Penaut 123
I was hitting the library everyday. I started very easily (reading one chapter from KBB for each section each day). I did that for almost 4 weeks. I should add that I am not the fastest in reading and studying so sometimes it takes me longer to get through a text. Specially if my test date is 2 month away.
Then I started with destroyer and figured that they are too hard. So I stoped and watched chads videos instead. I was watching two videos each day and trying to understand everything. I sometimes get distracted easily . After I got through with Chads I went through destroyer and took a practice test. It turned out that my weakest point was QR so I spent a whole weak in doing the destroyer math problems and trying to memorize all the math formulas.
Now that I am thinking I believe that my biggest problem was that I didn’t have a plan. This time I would like to make a plan and cross off things as I get through them.



Can some of you who did well on the exam give me a perspective of how they did study?
How many hours each day did you invest on each section? Did you take any notes when reading? What were some obstacle you faced? How did you overcome it?

Thank you all!