Why do buy DAT Achiever?

[nondescriptive]

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We all agree DAT achiever is a confidence killer, unrealistic compared to the real exam and way too hard; so why buy it? Why waste four hours exhausting yourself when you could be studying?

 

[wired202808]

We all agree DAT achiever is a confidence killer, unrealistic compared to the real exam and way too hard; so why buy it? Why waste four hours exhausting yourself when you could be studying?

its not a waste; i took a few exams and learned from their organic section and bio. gc might be a bit overkill but its harder stuff for RC and PAT which is also good practice.

I never needed a program to tell me a score that I was happy living with... unless its the real DAT... I only do practice exams to learn from them; not to give myself some arbitrary number that means absolutely nothing.

I personally feel like I gained and learned from Achiever. but to each his own. I mean I did the Destroyer like 5x times already. what else am i gonna do? Topscore with its Ochem for Freshmen hahah I mean some of the stuff in there is so basic that I feel I waste my concentration by focusing so hard only to get EAS questions like 5 times.

 

[Clancyp]

We all agree DAT achiever is a confidence killer, unrealistic compared to the real exam and way too hard; so why buy it? Why waste four hours exhausting yourself when you could be studying?

Achiever is like the practice test version of Destroyer. I just dont advice you to get it, it hurts your confidence if you take it after studying for 2 months. I got it because my family, friends and myself have Mac's and it was the only software (without Bootcamping my computer), that would work. I regret buying it, even though it was my only 'practice test' option other than Kaplan's free online test.

 

[rmm30]

Only people who hate themselves buy DAT Achiever. And people who enjoy pain and the feeling of worthlessness.

 

[Dusk]

Well I'm planning on taking at least one achiever test after I'm done going through destroyer, etc 2x +
And most likely after taking it, I'll see how bad I do, freak the f out, and study more. Which will be good for me.. So I guess I enjoy pain.

 

[indigenoustw]

I would rather destroy myself first before the test day than ON the test day because you can always build up your confidence again (but you can't on the test day). I'm the kind of person who needs motivation and pressure to propel me through all the studying I'm doing so I will feel prepared going into the real deal. Plus, why would you want a program that precisely measures your score? No program will give you the real score other than the real DAT.

I also think that it's stupid to feel comfortable getting a good score from practice tests because that lowers your guard down and gives you false confidence, making you feel like you are ready for everything. But really, can you be sure? lol nah, you can't. You aren't the one that writes the questions on the test day.

So the biggest advantage of Achiever is really to prepare you for the worst so you don't get freaked out when you see questions like those and will be capable of destroying those questions because they destroyed you before and now you know how to answer them.

 

[Sunspear]

I loved Achiever - obviously not because of the scores it gave me - but because of the STUDY opportunities! Whenever I missed a question on Achiever (and I missed a lot!), I would go back and make flash cards. Often times, on the Bio for example, I would then look up more info in my textbook to figure out why I got the question wrong. It worked really well and it was an awesome study tool.

 

[tayloreve]

Confidence killer might serve as a motivator to get into hardcore studying mode 😱

 

[vicsin]

Achiever is definitely a great study tool. For one thing, the real DAT looks identical to Achiever so that eases your mind a bit on test day. Also, the RC and PAT are great practice for the worst possible hardest section you can get in these. You should not try to gauge your score but LEARN from it. I thought RC on Achiever honestly helped me improve my RC because I thought the passages were good though the actual questions were way too hard. But you can't S&D for this so it is great for simply practicing reading a difficult passage on time and answering difficult questions about it to your best ability. Good mix of s&d type q's along with tone ones (though they are high level difficulty q's). I got 17 on all the RC's so that pretty much told me I probably won't get lower than 17 on the real DAT and this helped my confidence (got 21 on real). Also the PAT...I was scoring 17-18 on their PAT...got 18 on the real. You folks may not want to believe it...but PAT is getting HARDER. It is harder than CDP generally now according to many breakdowns. Achiever is good for difficult PAT practice/training your mind.
I didn't do the sciences but I wish I did cause of the extra info I could've gotten out of them. Use Topscore to gauge your lowest possible real DAT scores...not Achiever.

 

[Sunspear]

And also it's really good for just giving you the sense of the timing of the test. I can't recommend enough taking lots and lots of full-length, uninterrupted practice tests.

 

[nondescriptive]

I actually disagree, it may be only me, about taking a lot of full length practice test. When I do this, it drains the energy out of me and I end up not studying for a while. I think its more important to tighten up you knowledge and prevent it from "leaking". I actually never finished a full test and finished every section of the DAT with 10 minutes left. I only did subsection tests, because of the energy concern. But I am also a fast test taker in general, usually finishing first in class. But I suggest everyone do what works for them. If they have timing issue then do it, but I never did and I just want people to know that they should be careful the last week of taking too many tests and not enough tightening up.