Just took the DAT

[Barry20]

Hey all,

Finally, the friggin DAT is over! I might say that that was the most mentally/emotionally exhausting 4 hours I've ever had to go through. Here's how it turned out:

Academic Average: 20
Perceptual: 19

Quantitative Reasoning: 18
Reading Comp: 19

Biology: 21
GenChem: 19
OChem: 25
Total Science: 21

I am happy with my scores, but I thought I was kicking butt in the math part and ended up getting the lowest score on that section.

Perceptual wasn't as hard as everyone said. Just go into it thinking you are doomed and you will be happy with the score you get. A 19 is in the 92 percentile, so you dont have to get an AMAZING score to stand out. Angles are harder, but not insanely difficult. Pattern folding was easier because it gave you a lot of odd shaped objects that were easier to compare. Everything else was the same, if not easier than Topscore. I was getting 20 on topscore.

Reading was easy. Didn't read the paragraphs, just went straight to the answers. Surprised I did so poorly on this section.

QR was simple. Much easier than topscore, although I'm not sure what the heck happened to me. Maybe I was fatigued by the time I got there. Had about 4 trig problems that killed me.

Biology was a bear, I thought. Much harder than topscore and kaplan and Im glad that I studied this section harder than any other. Just a suggestion to those who haven't taken it yet. I wouldnt start studying the biology section until the last few weeks before. There is way too much info to remember and you feel like you have to brush over it all the time to remember the minor details. My DAT asked a lot of detailed questions.

GenChem was simple. Once again, not sure which questions I missed because they all seemed so straight forward.

OChem was very easy. Easier than topscore and kaplan. They didnt test much on all the reactions I had to memorize. A lot of the questions dealt with certain concepts in the reactions. Carbocation arrangement, absolute configuration etc. I finished this section thinking that I got them all right.

Thanks to all who have posted your scores. It really inspired me to devote all my energy into this and I think it paid off. Good luck to everyone!

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[NewNameForGoogleBot]

Great job - with your stats, you'll have your pick of schools. What is your top choice?

 

[rsweeney]

Great job Nic---did you photo copy my scores!!!!!

 

[Barry20]

Thanks guys. Sweeney, it's interesting that I bought study materials from you and scored almost the exact same as you!

Jaap, I have no idea what school I want to go to. Colorado is very appealing cuz I've always wanted to live there. What about you? You too sweeney, whats your top choice?

 

[HSO]

Hey NicolasPorter,
congrats on getting those awesome DAT scores! if i got your scores i would probably pass out!
i was just wondering about how you studied for the DATs.
also, you said that you didnt' read the passages in the reading comp. section. how did you pull that method off for questions that asked for the whole picture/implication questions etc. and not for "look for the detail" questions? thanks a lot for your help!

 

[Barry20]

Hey there,

The reading section asked a lot more direct questions than the indirect ones that you are referring to. The only ones that I can remember is that it asked which of the following sentences would be the best to conclude this pasage. I probably got them wrong, but what you do is go through all the direct questions first (mark the indirect ones) and then when you are through the end of the set of questions on that passage, you have a pretty good idea of what its all about and you can go back and answer the " what is the opinion..bla bla bla". If you do this, you will have a much better chance of getting them right because some of the answer choices are completely out there and if you know the basic idea of the passage, you will get them right.

As far as studying the rest of the DAT. First of all, give yourself some credit! Most likely, you are familiar with the topics in each of the sections. When people say to memorize the Kaplan book, don't take it literally. Moreover, study the sections that you don't know and forget about the stuff that you already know. This will save you a lot of time. Realize that people are naturally lazy. By this I mean that we kid ourselves into thinking that we are studying hard, but the stuff we are studying we already know. It takes a lot less energy to study what you already know ( its that conserve energy crap in our minds).

Find a study buddy. I found one 4 days before I took the DAT and I can tell you that if I had found someone to study with when I started, I would have done much better. If this is possible, do practice tests together and then study in your own time. It's great to discuss questions that come up.

Like I said, its all about finding out what you dont know. In order to find out, you have to take practice tests. A week before I took the DAT, I took all the practice tests at my disposal and on a seperate sheet of paper I wrote every answer to every problem I didn't know (mostly bio). This helped a lot and I used these few sheets as a review right before I went into the test. When you find out what you don't know, try to avoid telling yourself "I don't REALLY need to study this because I doubt it will be on the test". It probably will be. Hope this helps in some way. Be confident, you will do well. Being on SDN motivates people to do so.

Nic

 

[Barry20]

Many have PMed me about what study aides I used, so rather than respond to each of you, I've decided to post on here. Thank you all so much for your kind words.

I used the Kaplan Red Book as the core of my studies. I studied for a month (6 hours a day). This book was a great review. I also used topscore inside and out. I would keep uninstalling and reinstalling it so my previous answers would erase. I was scoring 18-19. I have a bunch of kaplan practice tests that I purchased as well as the diagnostic, midterm and final w/explanations that I used a ton.

Also, something that might interest people who get sick of reading all day. I bought the MCAT Audio Osmosis CDs, which helped A TON. I would sit in bed and listen to those each night and relax. These guys that do the cds present the material in a way that helps you remember.

Also, the traditional flashcards helped a lot. However, by the time I got to the cards I was so tired of looking at paper. Thats where the CDs came in handy..

For genchem I studied the ACS Exam study guide, which is a national standardized exam that we took for our genchem finals. It has GREAT explanations for each topic along with a 20-30 question quiz after each chapter. Not a lot of reading, just explanations and practice, so that helped.

I think thats it. PM me if you have any other questions..