Kaplan Course Takers - Practice vs. Actual?

[sopie123]

If you have taken the Kaplan course and the DAT, how similar are the practice exams to the real deal?
Cheers

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[blankguy]

I also want to know how the course material stacks up to the real deal aside from the diagnostic test.

 

[food4thots]

i think the sciences on the practices is pretty thorough, enough to help you do well on the those section. but the pat is easier than the actual.

 

[blankguy]

I take it you also mean the practice exercises??

 

[whitee_84]

I took DAT today, I really felt that Kaplan itself is not enough. I read all the Kaplan notes and do practice exams, but there were some questions in actual DAT that never mentioned in Kaplan book or exam. I was very frustrated because there were like 10 questions in whole DAT. Specially, QR like to have unit converstions which Kaplan rarely tests on. So I am going to take DAT again and this time I am going to buy different books and practice exams!!

 

[E. coli]

If you have taken the Kaplan course and the DAT, how similar are the practice exams to the real deal?
Cheers

Kaplan PAT is a joke compared to the real thing. Top Score and Barrons is more realistic to the real PAT. DAT achiever is harder than the real PAT.

 

[food4thots]

biology has a very broad spectrum of questions, kaplan doesn't address all of them.

 

[BenignDMD]

I took the Kaplan course and found it very beneficial. I did not like the actual lectures, but the material and practice questions they provide were key to my success. I did every problem they have, and there are a bunch! If I did it again though, I would only take the online version. I also used topscore and DAT Achiever and found topscore good for the sciences and DAT Ach. good for PAT. Overall, I think Kaplan was sufficient. Of course I read the Kaplan book a few times through and used my old textbooks to reinforce subjects and topics that I was not fully comfortable with. I liked the Kaplan flash cards too especially for organic. It all depends on how comfortable you feel with the material. The more you have the better, but don't overload yourself with too much study material. I recommend using the Kaplan book. Read it and take notes in the margins as you do so. Use online resources (google bio tutorial...chem tut...) to get some animations for glycolysis and stuff. I thought it worked very welll for me

 

[Demeter]

I had similar scores as benignDMD and Kaplan helped me achieve them. My advice is read the book once and then start taking as many texts as possible. If you miss a section mark the section in your book. This way you notice which areas you are weak in.

 

[DMD to Be]

Is the free dat practice test on kaplan.com anything like the real thing? say you get a 19 on the practice test...does that say anything about the real thing? Is the actual dat much harder? comparable at all?

 

[TomT]

On the DAT I just took today I have to say that NOTHING was similar to the Kaplan or Scholarware stuff. I cannot believe it! The Chem and Ochem sections especially were nothing like what's on the Kaplan or Scholaware exams. Who the hell has said that these sections are easier on the real thing. You may be really comfortable with the stuff because your familiar with the way it's being asked, but if you're not able to recognize the question type... watch out!

Overall, the PAT section is definitely harder. I figure if you generally score between a 20-24 on the Kaplan and Scholarware, expect an 18-19 on the real thing. The angle ranking which should be the easiest thing, is made harder because they are REALLY REALLY similar in most cases, making it impossible to choose correctly. I found the top-front-end and pattern folding much easier than the Kaplan stuff however. I thought the graphics were just fine. Just a little bit smaller than the practice stuff.

I was scoring an average of 19 AA and a 22-24 PAT on the Kaplan and Scholarware stuff. I got a 16 AA and an 18 on the PAT (gulp, I admitted it) I figure it's simply because there were so many questions that were unrecognizable. Question styles I was unfamiliar with and didn't know WHAT THEY WERE ASKING ME TO DO. Yes, one can argue that I should have been able to work it out if I had digested all the material well enough. It's a good arguement.


Guess I'm going to have to get DAT achiever.

 

[DMD to Be]

ugh, that's lovely. I just took the practice test on kaplans website today and did fair. I haven't even began studying...don't really know where to start. I bought the kaplan book and I guess I'll start working on that pretty soon. I plan on taking the actual dat in july. Hopefully, 2 or 3 months of studying will do it. I wonder if dental schools take gpa and dat scores and actually look at them collectively. Some say if you don't get a good dat score, the gpa means absolutely nothing...hmmm. I have a good gpa but I'm somewhat scared of the dat. The pat practice I took today was really easy, but with what everyone's saying about the actual test being so much more difficult, holy crap...

 

[TomT]

ugh, that's lovely. I just took the practice test on kaplans website today and did fair. I haven't even began studying...don't really know where to start. I bought the kaplan book and I guess I'll start working on that pretty soon. I plan on taking the actual dat in july. Hopefully, 2 or 3 months of studying will do it. I wonder if dental schools take gpa and dat scores and actually look at them collectively. Some say if you don't get a good dat score, the gpa means absolutely nothing...hmmm. I have a good gpa but I'm somewhat scared of the dat. The pat practice I took today was really easy, but with what everyone's saying about the actual test being so much more difficult, holy crap...

I just purchased the DAT achiever. I need a couple of days off before I venture into it. I will let you know what I think about it relative to the real thing, as I am real curious too. Now I am no expert and I would certainly check other peoples experiences (as I am continuing to do myself) and thoughts on the subject.

TomT

 

[caroochy]

The PAT is sooooo much harder on the test than kaplan prep.

 

[philicity]

I think the OP is referring specifically to the Kaplan classroom courses, not just the studybook. So far, two people who have replied to this thread who have taken the courses have done well. It'll be interesting to see if there is anyone who doesn't do well despite having taken the course.
To those who are saying that Kaplan is insufficient, I don't think you can compare the Kaplan courses to the studybook. Afterall, the study book is only $60 compared to the >$2000 course and you get what you pay for.

 

[TomT]

I think the OP is referring specifically to the Kaplan classroom courses, not just the studybook. So far, two people who have replied to this thread who have taken the courses have done well. It'll be interesting to see if there is anyone who doesn't do well despite having taken the course.
To those who are saying that Kaplan is insufficient, I don't think you can compare the Kaplan courses to the studybook. Afterall, the study book is only $60 compared to the >$2000 course and you get what you pay for.

I took the course and not much was unfamiliar, except PAT stuff. When I'm reffering to the Kaplan stuff, I mean the Kaplan "text" book, the course and all the online Kplan homework assignments and subject test and full length tests.

 

[xxxTheDonxxx]

ugh, that's lovely. I just took the practice test on kaplans website today and did fair. I haven't even began studying...don't really know where to start. I bought the kaplan book and I guess I'll start working on that pretty soon. I plan on taking the actual dat in july. Hopefully, 2 or 3 months of studying will do it. I wonder if dental schools take gpa and dat scores and actually look at them collectively. Some say if you don't get a good dat score, the gpa means absolutely nothing...hmmm. I have a good gpa but I'm somewhat scared of the dat. The pat practice I took today was really easy, but with what everyone's saying about the actual test being so much more difficult, holy crap...

my school...UNC (probably one of best dental schools in the country, we rank top 3 for the last 10 yrs or so), they break it down like so: 30%GPA, 30%DAT, 40% interview (to make sure you're serious about dentistry)

 

[philicity]

I took the course and not much was unfamiliar, except PAT stuff. When I'm reffering to the Kaplan stuff, I mean the Kaplan "text" book, the course and all the online Kplan homework assignments and subject test and full length tests.

sorry for the confusion on my part

 

[TomT]

sorry for the confusion on my part

No harm, come on. I'm just gleaning for info like everyone else.

 

[jessica22]

u guys are freaking me out...geez..

 

[TomT]

u guys are freaking me out...geez..

Yeah I was worried this might happen. I really don't mean to. I can only give you my biased view. Now, when I say alien exam, I really am talking about the Chem and Ochem mostly, as they are usually my strong areas. I thought the RC and QR were the usual stuff one sees on Kaplan/Topscore. Even the Bio was off Kapln/Topscore topics for the most part, but I did get a 20 in that section only. So, O figure if I could get a 20 on th Bio, could be that I just plain messed up on the exam and wasn't prepared enough for the other sections or it could have been an alien exam, alien on the Chem and Ochem portions. Some could argue that I've rationalized this in a convenient way. That's valid.

 

[jessica22]

Yeah I was worried this might happen. I really don't mean to. I can only give you my biased view. Now, when I say alien exam, I really am talking about the Chem and Ochem mostly, as they are usually my strong areas. I thought the RC and QR were the usual stuff one sees on Kaplan/Topscore. Even the Bio was off Kapln/Topscore topics for the most part, but I did get a 20 in that section only. So, O figure if I could get a 20 on th Bio, could be that I just plain messed up on the exam and wasn't prepared enough for the other sections or it could have been an alien exam, alien on the Chem and Ochem portions. Some could argue that I've rationalized this in a convenient way. That's valid.

Hey. i'm also very strong in ochm and gen chm part too... .i did very well on the practices for these parts. what do you mean they were alien? can u tell me exactly what they ask? an example? thanks so much

 

[dlink]

Yeah I was worried this might happen. I really don't mean to. I can only give you my biased view. Now, when I say alien exam, I really am talking about the Chem and Ochem mostly, as they are usually my strong areas. I thought the RC and QR were the usual stuff one sees on Kaplan/Topscore. Even the Bio was off Kapln/Topscore topics for the most part, but I did get a 20 in that section only. So, O figure if I could get a 20 on th Bio, could be that I just plain messed up on the exam and wasn't prepared enough for the other sections or it could have been an alien exam, alien on the Chem and Ochem portions. Some could argue that I've rationalized this in a convenient way. That's valid.

Sounds like you've been unfortunate in getting the right set of tests. But a tougher exam should not vary a lot from the rest as far as the scoring goes. Bio in this case would not appear alien to you with a score of 20 you got here. If it ever would, chances are that some of those weird questions you saw probably fall under the beta pool and would not be scored in the test at all.

I think the same should apply to Chem and Ochem as well. It appears to me that your foundation in these two areas is still shaky. Challenge questions appearing at the end of your textbooks, problems from DAT Achiever together with their explanations, … should all be thoroughly attempted and looked at. These are the type of questions that truly test your knowledge and understanding to a greater extent and will adequately prepare you for the big day!

 

[TomT]

Sounds like you've been unfortunate in getting the right set of tests. But a tougher exam should not vary a lot from the rest as far as the scoring goes. Bio in this case would not appear alien to you with a score of 20 you got here. If it ever would, chances are that some of those weird questions you saw probably fall under the beta pool and would not be scored in the test at all.

I think the same should apply to Chem and Ochem as well. It appears to me that your foundation in these two areas is still shaky. Challenge questions appearing at the end of your textbooks, problems from DAT Achiever together with their explanations, … should all be thoroughly attempted and looked at. These are the type of questions that truly test your knowledge and understanding to a greater extent and will adequately prepare you for the big day!

My experience tells me otherwise. But I did think something along the same lines, initially. It is possible that my exam was peppered with these so-called beta questions and that just kept me frustrated and so basicaly I wigged out. Damn, it's like getting knocked out and waking up wondering what's everbody doing in my bedroom? Planning on looking at DAT achiever in a couple of days.

 

[DMD to Be]

xxxxTheDonxxxx That's nice to hear...maybe the DAT doesn't count more than 30% at other schools ...Thanks