my study tips

[anxiousone]

i believe ecdoesit wanted me to post some study tips on this board because of my dat scores--28/28. unfortunately, i didn't study very long because my boss said i wouldn't need to. He just told me to walk in there with confidence, and that i would be fine. i bought the kaplan book and took the 2 practice tests so i studied for about a week, 4-5 hours a day. didn't have too much time since i'm working 2 jobs this summer. i ended up not studying any of the sciences because i had taken the mcat last year and did fine. so i spent all my time on the pat. what i did was cut out 1-dimensional shapes of many of the objects, and folded them into 3-dimensional objects. then , i begin to mentally memorize all of these spatially. the angles were not difficult on kaplan as i never missed any, but on the actual test, they were extremely difficult. i'm surprised i didn't miss all of them. i think the rest of the sections are pretty straight forward...i have this theory that if you think about a problem long enough, your brain will solve the problem while your sleeping.

the math section was terribly easy, but i think to improve scores, just practice, practice, practice problems.

reading comprehension is extremely easy as well when you compare it to the mcat, i ended up with 20 minutes left over to check my answers. i basically just read the title of the story and the first sentence of the first paragraph, then went straight to the questions. but, i must confess that i have done tremendous reading in the past, and this most likely helped my score. i try to read an article everyday from each of the following magazines: american heritage, economist, atlantic monthly, harper's, washington post, new york times, scientific american, the new republic, and the new yorker. plus, i tried to read a couple of novels a month. i never read much in college or high school, so i'm trying to gain what i lost--my ability to communicate well.

anyway, that's about all the advice i can think of. if any of you guys need help or have questions about the dat, feel free to pm me.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[blankguy]

I am thinking of just doing more PAT sample problems and reading science journals to help me out. Will just doing more help or do you recommend any technique to study for them? I figure PAT is a matter of gaining enough exposure to the shapes so that I can recognize the patterns of holes being punched what the shapes look at various angles.

 

[anxiousone]

as far as hole punching goes, i would recommend folding a piece of paper the way the question asks you to, punching a hole in it, then unfolding it. do this for several questions. you will get to the point where your brain can mentally unfold the object so that you don't need the piece of paper. then it is a matter of quickness. basically, just keep working problems over and over again. i know for a fact that some of the questions that were on my practice dat were on the actual test. if you have the shapes memorized, it's a matter of 5 seconds to mark the right answer. but again, let me stress the importance of working and reworking the problems over and over again. always be mentally constructing and deconstructing images. your brain is a muscle, and the more you work it, the faster and stronger it will become.

 

[critterbug]

Originally posted by blankguy
I am thinking of just doing more PAT sample problems and reading science journals to help me out. Will just doing more help or do you recommend any technique to study for them? I figure PAT is a matter of gaining enough exposure to the shapes so that I can recognize the patterns of holes being punched what the shapes look at various angles.

IMO

The PAT is important, but I would rather have a 20-22/17-19 rather than a 17-19/20-22.

I would study science first then the PAT. Honestly, if I get a 17 on the PAT I will be more than happy. But, I will not be happy if I get below a 20 on the academic.

 

[mcataz]

What I'm realizing is that the people who score in the high 20's already had a strong fundamental knowledge of science. As jaap admitted that he took AP biology and chemistry in high school. And depending upon your college and major, your currently level of knowledge can vary. That's why I don't think there is a standard amount of studying that will guarantee certain scores. It really depends on how much you already know.

I think for those of us who feel deficient, we need the extra time to truly re-learn concepts that others like eco and jaap were comfortable with prior to taking the DAT.

 

[blankguy]

Originally posted by critterbug
IMO

The PAT is important, but I would rather have a 20-22/17-19 rather than a 17-19/20-22.

I would study science first then the PAT. Honestly, if I get a 17 on the PAT I will be more than happy. But, I will not be happy if I get below a 20 on the academic.

Yeah, but at this point I haven't taken or rather retaken any of the sciences and I might as well begin studying for sections that I can study. Doesn't hurt to think ahead and get this part nailed so I can give my undivided attention to the sciences.

For how long are the DAT scores good?