- Joined
- Feb 27, 2009
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I've always wondered what it would be like to post my breakdown. So here it is. This is what I got:
PAT:--25 (99.8%)
QR:---25 (97.4%)
RC:---23 (92.6%)
Bio:---30 (100%)
GC:---30 (100%)
OC:---29 (100%)
TS:---30 (100%)
AA:---27 (100%)
I took the Kaplan course in July. I thoroughly went through their material, and I thought it was pretty good. People say it wasn't enough, but I thought it was sufficient. During the course, I was studying about 4 hr/day, 4-5 day/wk. And I was mostly just doing the Kaplan coursework. I took a break from studying during August to take summer school. I resumed studying in September for about 3-4 hr/day, 4 day/wk. In September, I basically finished my Kaplan online stuff, did Achiever, and looked at info online. I also compiled notes from every science question I missed on practice tests. And in the week before the exam, I did 10 CDP tests and 11 CDM tests. These were my practice test results in the order I took them:
(Test:-----PAT-QR-RC--Bio-GC--OC--TS--AA)
KapDiag:--25--18--22--19--18--20--19--19
KapMid:---26--21--20--21--19--20--20--20
KapFin:----26--23--21--24--19--28--24--23
Kap2:------29--26--22--24--24--25--24--24
Kap3:------21--19--23--21--19--19--20--20
Achv1:-----21--22--15--19--21--25--21--20
Kap1:------25--26--25--29--23--28--27--26 (most similar to the real thing)
Achv2:-----21--20--19--19--19--19--19--19
Achv3:-----22--20--18--21--20--23--21--20
CDP's: 26, 23, 23, 22, 26, 28, 25, 25, 25, 28
CDM's: 21, 18, 20, 23, 21, 18, 23, 23, 24, 20, 25
Breakdown:
PAT: Kaplan, Achiever, CDP. Kaplan actually wasn't that bad for the PAT. Sure, the angles were giveaways. But key holes, cube counting, and pattern folding were pretty similar to the real thing. Achiever was just harder overall. CDP had harder cube counting and angles, and the rest was comparable to the real one. I ended this section with about 12 min left. I think I missed one key hole question and a couple of angle Q's. Overall, I'd say CDP was the best resource.
QR: Kaplan, Achiever, CDM. Throughout my preparations, I definitely struggled for time in this section. I didn't finish any Achiever QR's on time. Kaplan was similar to the real thing in difficulty. And I only finished about 5 out of 11 CDM's on time. I would say CDM helped me the most for time management. On the real thing, I ended with 10 min left. I guess I rushed a bit. After I went over my marked Q's, I still had 7 min. left. I decided to end it early cuz I had a really bad headache (my test endurance isn't the best). I guess i'll always wonder what AA I could have got if I decided to go over all of my QR answers (it would've only taken an extra point to push my 27.4 to a 28)... Oh well.
RC: Kaplan, Achiever. This has always been my worst section (even on the SAT). I hate reading. I even avoid it during my classes. My preparation for RC was minimal. I found that Achiever was most effective in preparing for RC. The real thing was a little easier, but I'm glad I was expecting something harder. Kaplan RC passages were too short and too straightforward. For the real RC, I just used S&D, and made my best guess on inference questions. I (surprisingly) finished this section with 5 min left (I didn't finish any of the Achiever RC's). However, I forgot to mark any of the hard questions, so I just moved on to QR.
Bio: Kap, Achiever, class. I got a couple of oddballs in this section. Otherwise, it was very straightforward, and it was more conceptual rather than tediously detailed. To prepare, I basically took all Kap and Achiever tests and compiled notes consisting of questions that I got wrong. I studied these notes in my last week of studying. However, I think the reason I got this score is that I actually learned a lot in my bio classes. So thanks UCLA.
GC: Kap, Achiever, my roommate. Kaplan was very good for this section. Almost exactly the same. Achiever was unnecessarily harder than the real DAT. Anyone should be fine just using Kap for GC. I don't remember anything from class freshman year, so refreshing myself was a hefty task. Luckily, my roommate is a chem genius, so he helped with the process.
OC: Kap, Achiever. I've always had a good sense for ochem. So I didn't really study for OC outside of doing Kap and Achiever tests. Both resources were pretty good practice. Unfortunately, I don't know any other good study tools for OC. I ended up finishing the science section with 40 min left. This gave me a chance to go back over all of the science questions again. After going through the science section twice, I was 99% sure that I didn't miss anything.
That's about it. I just started my third year, so I have one school year to get ready for apps. I have a little over a 3.9, and a few decent ECs. For now, I'm just really glad that this part of the battle is over...
EDIT: I've added a photo of the score report for those who wanted to see it.
PAT:--25 (99.8%)
QR:---25 (97.4%)
RC:---23 (92.6%)
Bio:---30 (100%)
GC:---30 (100%)
OC:---29 (100%)
TS:---30 (100%)
AA:---27 (100%)
I took the Kaplan course in July. I thoroughly went through their material, and I thought it was pretty good. People say it wasn't enough, but I thought it was sufficient. During the course, I was studying about 4 hr/day, 4-5 day/wk. And I was mostly just doing the Kaplan coursework. I took a break from studying during August to take summer school. I resumed studying in September for about 3-4 hr/day, 4 day/wk. In September, I basically finished my Kaplan online stuff, did Achiever, and looked at info online. I also compiled notes from every science question I missed on practice tests. And in the week before the exam, I did 10 CDP tests and 11 CDM tests. These were my practice test results in the order I took them:
(Test:-----PAT-QR-RC--Bio-GC--OC--TS--AA)
KapDiag:--25--18--22--19--18--20--19--19
KapMid:---26--21--20--21--19--20--20--20
KapFin:----26--23--21--24--19--28--24--23
Kap2:------29--26--22--24--24--25--24--24
Kap3:------21--19--23--21--19--19--20--20
Achv1:-----21--22--15--19--21--25--21--20
Kap1:------25--26--25--29--23--28--27--26 (most similar to the real thing)
Achv2:-----21--20--19--19--19--19--19--19
Achv3:-----22--20--18--21--20--23--21--20
CDP's: 26, 23, 23, 22, 26, 28, 25, 25, 25, 28
CDM's: 21, 18, 20, 23, 21, 18, 23, 23, 24, 20, 25
Breakdown:
PAT: Kaplan, Achiever, CDP. Kaplan actually wasn't that bad for the PAT. Sure, the angles were giveaways. But key holes, cube counting, and pattern folding were pretty similar to the real thing. Achiever was just harder overall. CDP had harder cube counting and angles, and the rest was comparable to the real one. I ended this section with about 12 min left. I think I missed one key hole question and a couple of angle Q's. Overall, I'd say CDP was the best resource.
QR: Kaplan, Achiever, CDM. Throughout my preparations, I definitely struggled for time in this section. I didn't finish any Achiever QR's on time. Kaplan was similar to the real thing in difficulty. And I only finished about 5 out of 11 CDM's on time. I would say CDM helped me the most for time management. On the real thing, I ended with 10 min left. I guess I rushed a bit. After I went over my marked Q's, I still had 7 min. left. I decided to end it early cuz I had a really bad headache (my test endurance isn't the best). I guess i'll always wonder what AA I could have got if I decided to go over all of my QR answers (it would've only taken an extra point to push my 27.4 to a 28)... Oh well.
RC: Kaplan, Achiever. This has always been my worst section (even on the SAT). I hate reading. I even avoid it during my classes. My preparation for RC was minimal. I found that Achiever was most effective in preparing for RC. The real thing was a little easier, but I'm glad I was expecting something harder. Kaplan RC passages were too short and too straightforward. For the real RC, I just used S&D, and made my best guess on inference questions. I (surprisingly) finished this section with 5 min left (I didn't finish any of the Achiever RC's). However, I forgot to mark any of the hard questions, so I just moved on to QR.
Bio: Kap, Achiever, class. I got a couple of oddballs in this section. Otherwise, it was very straightforward, and it was more conceptual rather than tediously detailed. To prepare, I basically took all Kap and Achiever tests and compiled notes consisting of questions that I got wrong. I studied these notes in my last week of studying. However, I think the reason I got this score is that I actually learned a lot in my bio classes. So thanks UCLA.
GC: Kap, Achiever, my roommate. Kaplan was very good for this section. Almost exactly the same. Achiever was unnecessarily harder than the real DAT. Anyone should be fine just using Kap for GC. I don't remember anything from class freshman year, so refreshing myself was a hefty task. Luckily, my roommate is a chem genius, so he helped with the process.
OC: Kap, Achiever. I've always had a good sense for ochem. So I didn't really study for OC outside of doing Kap and Achiever tests. Both resources were pretty good practice. Unfortunately, I don't know any other good study tools for OC. I ended up finishing the science section with 40 min left. This gave me a chance to go back over all of the science questions again. After going through the science section twice, I was 99% sure that I didn't miss anything.
That's about it. I just started my third year, so I have one school year to get ready for apps. I have a little over a 3.9, and a few decent ECs. For now, I'm just really glad that this part of the battle is over...
EDIT: I've added a photo of the score report for those who wanted to see it.
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