What subject did you study for the most?

[flin5845]

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So I realized that most people study from 4-8 weeks for this test. I have always been curious to see what subject people put in most of their time and effort. For me it has been Organic and General Chemistries. I figured that these are the 2 subjects (along with math) that you can see the biggest increase in scores.

What subject did you guys study most?

 

[chippy]

probably 90% of my time was put into bio....and it was still my lowest score by 4 points. annoying.

 

[tmirchel]

I would say I put the same into all 3 sciences because of chads. Watching those videos as much as I did it did not feel like studying towards the end. But reading through almost all of campbells bio book felt like it took forever. Spent around 2 hours a day with that book for 2+ weeks. Taking notes. Plus Bio is the most random and has the most info by far.

 

[Philippines03j]

General Chemistry (lots and lots of hours) - hadn't had it for 5 years or so

Biology (lots of hours)- Just refreshing and remembering facts from gen biology 4 years before

Organic chemistry(almost no time, except for whats on practice tests) - had it the two semesters before


Point in hand: It is going to depend on how recent it has been since you've had the class 🙂

 

[soosoolhastam]

I want to point out QR. It is the most underrated section on the dat. The results of this poll are going to make it seem least important. But it isn't. YOU NEED TO PRACTICE IT and get your timing down. It is mainly what hurts every bodies scores.

 

[Sunspear]

Gen Chem for me.

 

[tmirchel]

I want to point out QR. It is the most underrated section on the dat. The results of this poll are going to make it seem least important. But it isn't. YOU NEED TO PRACTICE IT and get your timing down. It is mainly what hurts every bodies scores.

I agree, I spent at least an hour and half each day two weeks before my test doing math review. I felt I would remember it better if I spent more time on it closer. I went to a tutoring center at my school and my of math teacher helped me with a lot of the destroyer problems that have poor explanations. I was real worried only getting 17 on practice test and got a 21 on the real thing which was 97%.

I also had 8 minutes left on the real test in QR if you don't no how to do a problem in the first few seconds its likely you wont no how to do it period.

 

[reely989]

Biology by far. And I would recommend against that. Biology is the least efficient science as far as time spent studying versus noticing an increase in scores.

 

[Bereno]

Bio hands down.

You can practice Gen Chem, O-chem, PAT, and QR... You cant practice Bio; either you know it or you don't. RC? well that's pretty much a crap shoot for me lol

 

[flin5845]

Biology by far. And I would recommend against that. Biology is the least efficient science as far as time spent studying versus noticing an increase in scores.

You bring up an interesting point. I am a week away from my DAT. My biggest concern is Biology, even with the studying I put in, I feel like the test could go anyway. With limited time left, I am trying to figure out the most beneficial way to use these remaining days.

I have been thinking about splitting up my days like this:
1-1/4 Barrons and Math
2-1/4 Barrons and Chemistry
3-1/4 Barrons and Organic
4-1/4 Barrons and review all of my notes for bio

But I do not know if this is smart, because I could put my time else were, and like you said be able to notice a score increase.

 

[Bereno]

Biology by far. And I would recommend against that. Biology is the least efficient science as far as time spent studying versus noticing an increase in scores.

That might be true... However, the Bio section is heavily weighted in most ADCOMs' view, especially since it holds the most weight in the TS section. Food for thought. 🙂

 

[reely989]

That might be true... However, the Bio section is heavily weighted in most ADCOMs' view, especially since it holds the most weight in the TS section. Food for thought. 🙂

I'd rather have a much higher TS than a point or two higher on Bio. My point is, that you can study as much as you want for Bio, and there is still a chance you just get unlucky on the test. With general chemistry, I feel like with a couple of weeks of prep, you can nearly guarantee a 22+. Same with organic. I think with modest preparation, a 19 in Biology isn't difficult, but beyond that, scoring into the mid 20's becomes increasingly more random/difficult. I'm not saying shoot for a 16, but I am saying that it isn't worth the time trying to get a 30 in Bio, when that isn't a farfetched goal for the other two sections. It is also fair to mention that this is probably an easier statement to make for people with a science major.

EDIT: This makes it sound like I crushed the other two sections: I didn't. But, I feel like I could, and should have scored high 20's in GC. I just flat out didn't put enough time into organic, or I feel like I could have scored high 20's there as well. After seeing my Bio section, I really didn't feel like I could have gotten much higher than a 20, because some of it was just based around stuff I would have never expected them to ask.

 

[reely989]

You bring up an interesting point. I am a week away from my DAT. My biggest concern is Biology, even with the studying I put in, I feel like the test could go anyway. With limited time left, I am trying to figure out the most beneficial way to use these remaining days.

I have been thinking about splitting up my days like this:
1-1/4 Barrons and Math
2-1/4 Barrons and Chemistry
3-1/4 Barrons and Organic
4-1/4 Barrons and review all of my notes for bio

But I do not know if this is smart, because I could put my time else were, and like you said be able to notice a score increase.

It depends. I never felt extremely confident about biology either. I knew most of Cliff's (I was a little shaky on a little bit of the plant stuff), and I knew the anatomy from the blue book. I had referred to Schaum's for some embryology stuff (though, apparently I wasn't thorough enough) as well. I never had a set study plan to be honest with you. I'd usually study something until I felt good about it that day, or I got bored with it. Near the end I put most of my time in organic because I was still terrible at it. Just take a topscore and see how it goes, if you have it that is.

 

[93geo]

helicopers.... look out below