Which one to buy?

Started by lr2014
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lr2014

lr2014

Full Member
10+ Year Member
So I am only able to buy one of the following:

Achiever ($140 version)
CDP ($129 version)
QVault ($150 - which sections?)

Which one should I buy?
Thanks guys!
 
That sucks. You should find a way to buy all of them. Loan money?

I only used CDP for their PAT practice tests.

I used Achiever for their full-length practice tests, which you need for your initial diagnostic and for building up endurance/familiarity.

QVault was somewhat representative of what was on the Biology section in the real thing.

Basically, each of those options you listed are for different purposes. You won't do well by depending on only one.

For Chemistry, you should use Chad's and DAT Destroyer.
For Biology, you use Cliff's AP Biology, DAT Destroyer, and QVault.
For PAT, you use CDP.
For full-length tests, you use Achiever, ADEA's practice tests that are available for purchase, and I think CDP has practice exams as well.

Full Disclosure: I didn't spend that much time on preparation and didn't do as well as I would have wanted to. I scored high enough (20's) to get in somewhere.
 
I have the DAT Destroyer, the Math Destroyer, the 2009 test, KBB and, of course, Cliffs. I like MedDevil suggestion, lately I have seen some people here saying the CDP is not so representative of the real thing, only good to get the basics down.
 
I used TopScore and was scoring around 21-22. On the real thing my scores improved, so I felt like it was an accurate and affordable representation of the real test ($59). It had 3 full-length tests. I also downloaded those old DATs from the ADA. I used my friend's achiever for one test and thought it was overkill. CDP was pretty on-par with the real thing I felt. I also used the pat materials from that predds site. I would get TopScore and cdp. Cdp is hard to find an equivalent for.
 
ATG20 said:
I used TopScore and was scoring around 21-22. On the real thing my scores improved, so I felt like it was an accurate and affordable representation of the real test ($59). It had 3 full-length tests. I also downloaded those old DATs from the ADA. I used my friend's achiever for one test and thought it was overkill. CDP was pretty on-par with the real thing I felt. I also used the pat materials from that predds site. I would get TopScore and cdp. Cdp is hard to find an equivalent for.
Click to expand...

Surprisingly I received very similar score from my TopScore test, but my actual exam was so different from Topscore that I panicked a little bit.

If I were to do DAT again, I would just get ALL the materials(or as many practice tests as possible, ie. achiever) and look over once. I regretted doing destroyer twice as many suggested since about 90 percent of genchem, bio were irrelevant to my exam. (guess it just depends on the luck of draw?)

If I had put the time and effort to look at Achiever, I think I would have been more prepared to that 'wtf is this' type of questions
 
pjkim192 said:
Surprisingly I received very similar score from my TopScore test, but my actual exam was so different from Topscore that I panicked a little bit.

If I were to do DAT again, I would just get ALL the materials(or as many practice tests as possible, ie. achiever) and look over once. I regretted doing destroyer twice as many suggested since about 90 percent of genchem, bio were irrelevant to my exam. (guess it just depends on the luck of draw?)

If I had put the time and effort to look at Achiever, I think I would have been more prepared to that 'wtf is this' type of questions
Click to expand...

I definitely think it's sheer luck of the draw. A few questions I had were from the Destroyer directly. The bio section was pretty random, but I had a strong life science background in my degree, so I lucked out. I did feel the destroyer was very useful.

For anyone out there considering buying the destroyer, buy used!! The author is no different from the textbook publishers, in that several questions are added and it's deemed a 'new edition.'
 
achiever is only really good for PAT in my opinion. if you're pretty proficient at PAT, investing in achiever will only crush your spirit because every other section was a whole lot easier on the real thing (for me at least).
 
Achiever is brutal, but good PAT and RC. I had a RC passage very similar to one on the actual DAT.
 
If you can only afford one, I'd vote for Achiever. It definitely prepares you very well for PAT, and it gives you the worst case scenario for any other section. I can almost guarantee you that you will perform considerably better on your actual DAT than the achiever. The key is to use Achiever as a study tool and not as a diagnostic tool.

Best bang for your buck in my opinion.
 
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