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Thank you to "Lucky Tangerine" DentalDAT has begun an Archive of DAT breakdowns! "Lucky Tangerine" has some of the highest scores that I have seen on the DAT. If your scores do not match up, don't worry! The DAT breakdown is not meant to discourage anyone, but to encourage everyone to do well. Read through this breakdown in order to get an idea of what it takes to do well and what materials you should use. Good luck to all of you preparing for the DAT!
DAT 9.9.11
PAT: 30 (100.0)
QR: 23
(98.8)
RC: 23 (89.8)
Bio: 26 (99.5)
GC: 29 (99.7)
OC:
29 (98.9)
TS: 28 (100.0)
AA: 26 (100.0)
I studied beginning in mid-‐June all the way up to
a week into September. I divided my studying into two phases:
the review phase and the practice phase.
During the review phase,
I studied the material
for biology, general
chemistry, organic chemistry, and math for content and understanding of the topics.
During the practice
phase, I tested my knowledge and mastery of the material
to ensure that what
I reviewed was engrained into my head. If I missed
I problem during the practice phase, I read the
solution in its entirety and understood why the correct
answer is what it is. If I was
still rusty on a
certain topic, I referred to my books/notes to solidify my understanding of the material
so that I would not miss a
question on the topic again.
PAT [Kaplan + Crack DAT PAT + Topscore + Condog’s PAT
videos]
Review:
I learned about
all 6 sections of the
PAT and
the rules through Kaplan to
get
a general idea of how to attack
the questions. Then I
watched Condog’s videos
(I’m not sure if they’re still up
on YouTube) for tips on how to manage the different
sections.
Practice: I first
did all the practice
material Kaplan had for the PAT. The
material
was okay since it served to help build my perceptual ability. As many others have said, the angles are way too easy compared
to the real thing, but the
other sections are good.
I purchased CDP afterwards to really develop
my perceptual ability.
At first I practiced just
trying to get the right
answer and ignored
how long it took me to
complete all 90 questions. After a few tests or so on CDP, I started to get the hang of it
pushed myself to complete the section within
an hour. The most important thing is
to just keep doing these
PAT tests throughout the time you spend preparing for the DAT. Not only does it help you get used to the PAT section, but it
also serves to keep
your perceptual ability
at its prime when it comes
test day. After going through
CDP once, I did the
tests
over and was getting at least
24s on the tests.
Test
Keyholes:
I wasn’t sure what people meant
by proportions on
this section since all
the keyholes
I had matched the figure pretty
well. This section
was comparable to CDP
but the ones on the Kaplan practice tests were good in preparing
you to reorient the figure and deciding which keyholes is the
best.
TFE: CDP was a
good representation of this section.
I visualized what the object would look like and determined the answer. This section was one of the harder sections for me while
studying but by the end of my studying, this section was my
strong points due to practicing these problems repeatedly.
Angles: CDP was definitely harder
than what appeared
on my DAT. I always
struggled with this section the most on CDP because
I honestly could not tell the difference between some angles
on those practice
tests. The angles on the DAT was much
more discernable! Plus, boxes surrounded each angle so that might’ve
helped with orienting the angles to do the “hill method.”
Hole Punch: CDP was harder than the real thing. I used the “grid method” to keep
track of the holes just to make sure where
the holes lie. A
lot of the hole punches was doable in my head after practicing with CDP
so I probably could’ve
skipped on using the grid method.
Cube Counting: A lot
easier than CDP! The figure was huge on the screen and there
are way fewer cubes to count. I kept
track of my cubes by making tallies
for each figure.
Pattern Folding: Everyone is right in saying there
were fewer patterns/shading and more
complicated shapes. CDP was good for folding
with patterns, but Kaplan practice tests and
Topscore were good for folding
with more complex shapes.
I shouldn’t have spent too much time double checking my answers for this section.
By the time I got
to the last few questions
for pattern folding,
I was pressed for time and had to quickly
figure out the correct answer
by going with my gut. So
if you confidently determined an answer to be right, then it is 100% right and all the
other choices are completely wrong!
QR [Kaplan Book +
Chad’s QR Videos + Math Destroyer + Practice Tests] Review: I read through
all the chapters for QR
in the Kaplan book (the one that came with the class) and by the time I finished going through that, Chad released his QR videos so I went through the videos in a
couple of days. Chad’s QR videos were pretty good, but
they were especially good for permutation/combination problems with his method
of simplifying these
types of problems.
Practice: Math destroyer is the one of the greatest investments in doing well in the QR section. A lot of the math is from high school, so you’ve probably
done a lot of these
problems back in the day. It’s just that you haven’t done it in so many years! At first
I went through all 12 tests in Math Destroyer just trying to figure out how
to solve the problems.
This was such a
grueling process since this would
take me more than double the time allotted
for the QR section. The most important
part is reading the solutions and understanding why and how they solved each question.
After enough practice, the questions they ask on destroyer become
so limited that you will be able to
set up and solve for the answer quickly. After going through
Math Destroyer once, I practiced all 12
tests within 45 minutes. This is the most important part since you have to practice and get used to doing
the QR section under limited
time.
Timed Math Destroyer Scores
(out of 40): 37, 31, 37, 38, 40, 37, 38, 37, 38, 39, 24, 30
Test
The DAT QR section was much easier
than Math Destroyer. Time is money on this section so you want to
be able to go through
all the easy problems
(they definitely appear around
questions 35-‐40
so don’t dwell on the earlier
problems; this is how
they get you!). If you see a problem that is time consuming or simply do not know what to do; pick an
answer, mark it, and move on! I think
I had about 5 or so questions that I’ve guessed
on and marked, so with 2 minutes
left I just made educated guesses before time ran out. Know your conversions (lbs, oz, kg; ft, mi,
km). Know how to do those rate problems, Distance
= Velocity *Time
problems, and probability problems
stone cold! Keep in mind that the calculator lags. Try clicking hard since it seemed to help with registering my inputs. You’ll
be able to test out
how reliable the calculator is during the tutorial before
the exam.
RC [Kaplan + Crack
DAT Reading + Practice Tests]
Practice: I practiced with the Kaplan reading sections in the book as well
as the ones
online. I thought these were a bit easier, but the
passages were about
the same. I also
used CDR to practice with more tone, inference, main idea questions and thought it was a pretty good. Pure search
and destroy doesn’t’
work for me since I end up
wasting more time trying to find the answer as opposed to reading and answering the questions. I don’t’ write anything
down since I find
it time consuming (even if it’s just a
few keywords) and my handwriting just comes out sloppy
anyways. Kaplan practice tests
and Topscore had comparable passages
but I found their questions to be very tricky
and much more difficult.
Test
The RC on the DAT was much easier
than any of the practice
material I used. The passages I got were antibiotics, herbal medicine, and bone fractures. They were all
14 paragraphs each. The first passage I read
all the way through
and answered the
questions accordingly in the order they came up
on the test. This method
took me longer than expected but I continued using this method for the second passage as well.
This left me with ~15 minutes for the last passage. I had
to change up my strategy
here so I could finish on time. So what I did
was read the first two paragraphs and the last two paragraphs. This was usually sufficient to tackle the tone/inference
questions (there aren’t too many overall and they were fairly easy to answer).
And then I skimmed through
the middle paragraphs taking note of the topics in my head.
I had to haul ass with the
5 or so questions left since time was ticking
by now. I read each question quickly, determined where in the reading it referred to, skimmed for the
answer, and answered the question hoping
it would be the correct
answer. I did this for the remaining
questions and had 10 seconds
to spare. I didn’t
have time to go over any marked
questions so I just
hoped that the answers I picked
were good enough and hopefully I’d get at least a 20 in RC.
Somehow
I scored a lot better
than any of the practice
reading I’ve done since I
could only manage to get as high as 21 if I
was lucky. Just to add on, I was
never able
to finish
any practice reading
on time and was always
rushed to answer
the last few questions.
Bio [Kaplan Book +
Cliffs AP Bio + Wikipedia +
Alan’s Notes+ Destroyer +
DATQvault]
Review: I went through the Bio section
in the Kaplan Book and then went
through
the corresponding topics in Cliffs.
I tried taking my own notes
but didn’t find it too
efficient so I just read through those
two books and highlighted main points/terms. I used Wikipedia for further explanations on some topics
I wanted to get clarification
on. I ended up just reading through both books just once and applied what I learned through practice
problems.
Practice: I honestly thought that doing practice
problems was the most important part in studying. After reviewing through
Kaplan and Cliffs, do I
really know what I reviewed from those two resources? It all comes down to applying
the material learned through
practice problems. Destroyer
was especially good in testing how well you actually know the biology topics.
Though the questions weren’t representative of the actual DAT, it served
to elaborate on biology topics and teach you new information through
reading the solutions
for each question.
I went through Destroyer bio two times
and moved on to DATQvault after.
DATQvault is very good in that the format
of the questions were similar
to the DAT. They have a good amount of questions that tests how well you know your bio by making
you apply what you
know when given a new situation-‐the DAT loves to test
you through these types of questions. I suggest going through all the questions that’s on DATQvault just to expose
yourself to more practice problems
and to solidify your bio knowledge. I also found the exhibits for taxonomy very good in reviewing the different phyla and such.
Remember to review
all the questions, even if it’s random.
Who knows, it might show up
on your DAT and at least
you’ve exposed yourself
to the topics.
DATQvault Benchmark scores: 21, 20, 20, 21, 21, 20, 22, 22, 19, 21
I also used Alan’s Notes,
which is very good to look over after going through Kaplan, Cliffs, and Destroyer. I added
onto the notes with information from DATQvault.
Test
The questions
that appeared on the DAT were a bit easier than Kaplan practice tests
and Topscore. After going through
Destroyer, DATQvault, and practice tests,
the majority of the questions on the DAT were mentioned in those resources in some shape or form (which
is why I think the more exposure to bio problems,
the better).
I was so happy to have Destroyer because some of the random facts from it actually
appeared on the DAT and saved me!
GC [Chad’s Videos + Destroyer]
Review: I went
through Chad’s videos
once and took notes. After each video I
did the
quizzes. A little
more than a week
before my DAT, I
reviewed my notes and did the
quizzes again.
Practice: I
jumped right into the Destroyer
after finishing the videos. I got 83%
the first time through
and 94% the second time. It’s very good for practicing
calculations and testing concepts. Chad’s quizzes are actually more on par with the real
thing.
Test
The questions
were pretty much straightforward. No tricks or surprises. Chad’s
+ Destroyer were sufficient in preparation for this section.
There was a lab technique question but it was fairly easy to figure out if you’ve
taken chem lab.
OC [Chad’s Videos + Destroyer]
Review: Exactly the same as GC
Practice: Again, after
finishing Chad’s videos
I started working on Destroyer. This was the hardest for me the first time through (69%),
but I was able to learn from my
mistakes and understand all those
rearrangements and tricks
the second time through (88%). Chad’s quizzes,
again, were similar
to the DAT.
Test
The questions asked on the DAT were very basic
and straightforward. Destroyer + Chad’s was more than sufficient for this section.
There was also another lab technique question for this section as well,
and again, it was pretty easy to figure out if you’ve taken o chem lab.
Practice
Tests
I did the Kaplan Diagnostic in mid-June,
then the Midterm sometime mid-July. A week before my exam, I did 7 practice tests
every day at the same time as my actual DAT to build up my testing endurance
and to get used to doing a full length exam. I did the following 7 in order:
Kaplan Final, Kaplan Practice Test 1, Kaplan Practice
Test 2, Kaplan Practice Test 3, Topscore
1, Topscore 2, Topscore 3. Here are all my practice test results:
Test---------PAT--QR--RC--Bio--GC--OC--TS--AA
KapDia------17---20---19--18---17---17--17--18
KapMid------25---16---17--18---18---16--17--17
KapFin-------25---24---21--19---18---25--21--21
Kap1---------24---22---22--20---21---25--22--22
Kap2---------25---25---21--20---20---21--20--21
Kap3---------22---24---20--26---18---20--22--22
Top1---------26---25---21--29---28---30--30--27
Top2---------25---22---20--26---25---28--27--24
Top3---------25---30---20--29---28---30--30--27
CDP: 21, 23, 23, 22, 24, 23, 25, 23, 25, 22
CDR: 18, 20, 19, 19, 20
Personally I thought the Kaplan tests were pretty difficult compared to the actual
DAT. I found the Topscore tests closely matched
the real DAT spot on. If anything they were slightly harder
but I can definitely say they’re a good
predictor of how you’d
perform on the real DAT under the same testing
conditions.
Day Before DAT
The day before, I looked
over Alan’s Notes
w/ the notes I added
on and looked over
Destroyer’s Roadmaps. Besides
that, I did nothing else but
hung out with a couple friends and enjoyed
some sunlight. Man did
it feel good!
Thoughts/Advice
-‐Take a day off or two if you need a
break from studying. I
personally ended up watching a movie every Friday
at the theaters during
the month of July.
-‐Keep track of your break time. It
takes a while to check in/out.
By the time I returned, there was a pop
up that said my break was already over.
Fortunately it didn’t start the RC until
I sat down. I guess I got pretty lucky there.
-‐Bring ear
plugs if you have them
-‐Work hard, stay positive,
and stay motivated!
-‐Try to stay calm during
test day and during the test. It helped
me to imagine how good it will feel once I finish.
-‐Pray. I could not have
done this on my own without God.
Other DAT Breakdowns:
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