*fwew* Done 7/13

[UCB05]

First off, I'd like to thank everyone on SDN for the input, advice, questions, and comments over the past two months. This site has been an invaluable resource for guiding and refining my studying and practice strategies.
My scores came out:
PA - 30 (100%)
QR - 25 (97.4%)
RC - 23 (92.6%)
Bio - 26 (99.6%)
GC - 30 (100%)
OC - 26 (97.7%)
TS - 27 (99.8)
AA - 26 (99.9)

Basically I sat down for a full two months to cram in everything I could. I began with textbooks. After reading through the sciences once or twice, I moved on to Kaplan BB(bummed off of my sister's friend), and Schaum's Bio, GChem, and OChem. I also read through Cliff's and Barron's AP Bio twice. After that I went through Destroyer 2008. I can say without a doubt my OChem would be a few points lower had I not gotten my hands on a copy of Destroyer. It really touches on important and less-well-known concepts, and I actually delayed my test a week after I realized how much more I had to polish up OChem. Destroyer Bio is great for covering a wide array of topics. Destroyer GChem was a little over the top in terms of difficulty compared to the actual exam though

As for PA, I absolutely recommend CDP. I got the 10-test version and did one every week (1 every day in the last week), and the questions are great for familiarizing yourself with TFE shapes and Keyhole perspectives, and for practice recognizing cube counting trends. The hole-punch section of the actual exam was a bit different in terms of question diagramming. Angles were my weakest section starting off, so I practiced CDP angles every day. The actual exam had much easier angles.

I also got my hands on most every practice exam I could: Acethedat, Topscore, Achiever, which i took in roughly that order.

AA PA QR RC Bio GChem Ochem TS
Ace 1 21.4 14 29 28 17 18 15 17
Ace 2 21.8 17 28 28 18 19 16 18
Ace 3 23 17 29 30 20 19 17 19
TopScore1 19 22 20 23 20 19 15 18
TopScore2 20 23 21 23 18 18 19 18
TopScore3 22 23 26 23 19 21 19 20
Achiever1 22 18 22 23 19 23 21 21
Achiever2 21 20 23 25 18 19 18 19
Achiever3 22 20 30 22 18 19 25 20
I also wiped my Topscore numbers and retook them more recently
TopScore1 27 25 29 29 22 28 28 26
TopScore2 26 26 30 22 26 25 28 27
CDP 21/21/22/22/23/28/25/23/25/26

Obviously my retakes would be higher seeing as how I specifically covered questions i got wrong in the past. IMO AcetheDat is a terrible representation of the actual test, but the PAT section is wicked hard and good practice. Achiever seemed over the top in the science depth. Topscore seemed to represent the actual exam closest.

In summary, I'd like to thank everyone again for either directly or indirectly helping me during my time lurking the forum. I know there have been a few threads about people discouraged by the types of scores posted on this site. Don't be! Remember this place represents a very small, overachieving sample of people in the nation And I don't want anyone to take this post as my bragging (well, maybe a little ), but I wanted to do what others have been doing and contributing my experience and advice to the pool in the hopes that they will help someone else.

That said, **fweeew** ...now I have to get to completing my personal statement and sending out my apps. As great as my scores may be, I do have some blemishes on my graduate record that have to be taken into account, so Ill be busy in the coming weeks/months

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[taptapgrind]

"If you're cracking down as hard as I did, make sure to find something to do to keep your sanity! A stale mind just leads to wasted time."

...I was wondering what you did to 'keep your sanity'. Was it the exercising you mentioned? What do you actually do during your long hours of studying?
..have to keep myself from the 'stale mind' you are talking about..
Thanks.

 

[UCB05]

"If you're cracking down as hard as I did, make sure to find something to do to keep your sanity! A stale mind just leads to wasted time."

...I was wondering what you did to 'keep your sanity'. Was it the exercising you mentioned? What do you actually do during your long hours of studying?
..have to keep myself from the 'stale mind' you are talking about..
Thanks.

Basically my routine was to sit down and study something for a solid hour or two, get up, walk around, run an errand, read something recreationally, surf the web, then go back to reading again. By about 6 or 7pm I winded down, had dinner, relaxed and eventually went to sleep.

When I really felt listless, my "pasttime" is to just drive around. I can clear my mind, just play some music, and see moving scenery. I watched movies on the weekends, and didn't do any studying on Sundays The exercise I did in the mornings, before anything else. It helped me freshen up before I hit the books for the day. I'm also kinda overweight lol.

Everybody has something they like to do to relax.

 

[Chrono]

Basically my routine was to sit down and study something for a solid hour or two, get up, walk around, run an errand, read something recreationally, surf the web, then go back to reading again. By about 6 or 7pm I winded down, had dinner, relaxed and eventually went to sleep.

When I really felt listless, my "pasttime" is to just drive around. I can clear my mind, just play some music, and see moving scenery. I watched movies on the weekends, and didn't do any studying on Sundays The exercise I did in the mornings, before anything else. It helped me freshen up before I hit the books for the day. I'm also kinda overweight lol.

Everybody has something they like to do to relax.

What would you say helped you the most in getting the scores you got? (doing lots of problems, repetition etc)? And any advice for future test-takers?

Thanks a lot.

 

[GOLF]

Basically my routine was to sit down and study something for a solid hour or two, get up, walk around, run an errand, read something recreationally, surf the web, then go back to reading again. By about 6 or 7pm I winded down, had dinner, relaxed and eventually went to sleep.

When I really felt listless, my "pasttime" is to just drive around. I can clear my mind, just play some music, and see moving scenery. I watched movies on the weekends, and didn't do any studying on Sundays The exercise I did in the mornings, before anything else. It helped me freshen up before I hit the books for the day. I'm also kinda overweight lol.

Everybody has something they like to do to relax.

what'd you do the day before the test?

 

[UCB05]

What schools ARE you applying to? (Very interested....)

In no particular order:

Tufts: My cousin just graduated from the DS there
Michigan: My dad got his MD and did his residency there and my lil sis may end up there for med school for 2010.
Harvard: Prestige and possibility of specializing, cool campus and facility. Used to walk around there when I was at BU thinking to myself "I'm not worthy...I'm not worthy" At least I didn't drop down on my kness and kowtow three times
UCSF: Born there (literally) and I love being with my grand parents who live in San Francisco, plus my uncle went there for DS
UOP: see above
UNLV: I'm from Las Vegas
UCLA: Great school and close to home
USC: see above
UPenn: Friend says it's a great school

Chrono, my advice is to build a solid foundation first. Read, try to understand and absorb what you're reading. Afterward you can focus on memorizing details. After that is when to do questions. Solving problems helps you refine what you know and serves as a wake-up call for what you missed in the reading. I would recommend saving Destroyer for last, after you've covered your material. I also lurked SDN so very much, hunting down questions other people asked. My father tells me "you don't know what you don't know." I can study something I'm aware of until my eyes bleed, but it takes other people and other people's questions, other resources to remind me when I dont know something.

On my last day, I woke up, did my morning jog, finished CDP 10, then basically did nothing the rest of the day. I rented Push thumbdown), idled for the afternoon, fell asleep to HBO in the evening and woke up at 6am test day.

 

[Murl]

Late nite HBO, Oh My, and there is the secret

 

[UCB05]

Late nite HBO, Oh My, and there is the secret

Actually, I was watching "Never Been Kissed". Amazing how a young Jessica Alba made me forget about the test.

 

[Murl]

Congrats on the scores, I strive to do the same.

Congrats to you and I UCBO5, we completely derailed a very productive thread.

 

[jay47]

I read all of your posts UCB05 and I would first like to thank you for sharing you experience with the DAT to all of us. I think your methods of studying are impeccable: truly trying to understand the materials, I think more students could learn from your approach.

Secondly, you raped this thing. 30 in PAT? That to me is, "inconceivable", to quote a famous movie character.....

Anyways, good luck and thanks for sharing your study habits and secrets!

 

[drstyller]

Congrats on your achievement!!

It's simply incredible..
and excellent motivation for others..


You mentioned about Barron's and Cliff's ap bios being not in-depth.

Would you still recommend doing them though? I have just finished the destroyer and was gonna go over Cliff's bio...

 

[UCB05]

Congrats on your achievement!!

It's simply incredible..
and excellent motivation for others..


You mentioned about Barron's and Cliff's ap bios being not in-depth.

Would you still recommend doing them though? I have just finished the destroyer and was gonna go over Cliff's bio...

I would totally recommend them for study. They give a great survey of what you need to know for the exam. By less in-depth, I just mean relative to the somnolent denseness of textbooks and Schaums that I was reading before I moved on to them.

 

[Dental Mom]

UCB05,

Thank you so much for sharing all those tips! I've been good about sleeping enough, eating healthy, taking vitamins (wow, huge difference in concentration), and I'm getting speed! I need to go back to exercising daily! I love that Cliff Bio book that looks like a huge bee!....You sure gave us a major inspiration!!!!

 

[SuperPink]

WOW, your scores have inspired me to study even harder.

 

[UCB05]

Mom & Pink, That's awesome if my scores can serve as a part of your motivation. Perhaps this recent upsurge of scores is a product of the collective effort of everyone here on SDN. Good luck everyone!

 

[Emmie]

Mom & Pink, That's awesome if my scores can serve as a part of your motivation. Perhaps this recent upsurge of scores is a product of the collective effort of everyone here on SDN. Good luck everyone!

You sound like a business executive officer giving a morning briefing, lol j/k

 

[namiie]

Congratulations on those incredible scores! Also, I see you're from the Bay Area. Represent!


I have a question--how would you compare Achiever to TopScore? If you only had access to one of those two, which would you pick (which one is closer to the actual DAT)? I'm asking because I only have Achiever at the moment (in addition to Kaplan and Destroyer) and I was wondering if I should get TopScore too. Thanks.

 

[UCB05]

You sound like a business executive officer giving a morning briefing, lol j/k

Seriously, lol

*Edit*

Achiever is overkill in terms of difficulty and not a great representation of the exam, but the challenge is nice. Even I sucked it up on all 3 achiever exams =/ Topscore is good approximation of what to expect for the real thing, give or take some points.

 

[Ding2daDong]

I am at a hookah bar right now with my friends and want to run home to study! lol I don't have to take the DAT for another year! This thread is gives me great motivation to strive for your scores.

CONGRATS!

So how did you study for RC? Everything else is in textbooks and can be memorized and understood over time but RC is a beast of its own kind.. or so I hear.

Thanks

-Matthew

Also what is your GPA?

 

[DrTootle]

strong e-stats

 

[UCB05]

I am at a hookah bar right now with my friends and want to run home to study! lol I don't have to take the DAT for another year! This thread is gives me great motivation to strive for your scores.

CONGRATS!

So how did you study for RC? Everything else is in textbooks and can be memorized and understood over time but RC is a beast of its own kind.. or so I hear.

Thanks

-Matthew

Also what is your GPA?

I basically didn't study for RC. That would be why it's my lowest score I got some experience with the practice exams and figured I read well enough to understand at a decent level and just went in hoping I'd do well on that section.

GPA is kinda weak... about 3.3 or 3.4 I haven't input all my courses for an estimate yet, and I have undergrad and graduate coursework. I was banking on shining in the DAT

 

[Dental Mom]

GPA is kinda weak... about 3.3 or 3.4 I haven't input all my courses for an estimate yet, and I have undergrad and graduate coursework.

I was banking on shining in the DAT

And you sure did!!!!! I need sunglasses to see your scores Now your GPA looks like a 4.3 to me

 

[jasmin3]

WOW!!im speechlessssss!!your scores are AMAZINGG!! CONGRATSS!!i really want to do good on my DATs this time....my GPA is around the same as yours....i need help for the QR section...how did you study for that??is CDM good for QR??

 

[UCB05]

WOW!!im speechlessssss!!your scores are AMAZINGG!! CONGRATSS!!i really want to do good on my DATs this time....my GPA is around the same as yours....i need help for the QR section...how did you study for that??is CDM good for QR??

Dead thread should be dead

Anyway, make sure you know your basic algebra and trig, and brush up on probability. When you're doing your practice exams, focus on speed. That's the #1 problem among test takers. All my practice involved just brushing up on my trig and probability and trying to blitz through (my first few exams I didn't make it past 35/40 before time ran out). If you have achiever and topscore, focus on setting up those word problems quickly. Always be conscious of how much time you're taking per question.

I did not use CDM or SAT Math prep books. Other people might have some useful advice about those.

 

[Dmitry Malayev]

OMG...am i glad i'm in the 2013 cycle after seeing this. I don't even remember any scores like this last year. WOW!

Congrats...with those scores, i think you'll get in anywhere.

 

[Maygyver]

Would you suggest getting AcetheDAT program?

Congrats again on the scores.

 

[mmmCookies]

hahahah. I can't stop laughing in disbelief with an added OMG. wow. Congrats. I am only hoping for 21 across, I might as well go buy a lotto ticket.