Customer Reviews

Kaplan DAT with CD-ROM, 2007-2008 Edition (Kaplan DAT (W/CD))

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is absolutely HORRIBLE. Everything was just WAY too easy. The biology and chemistry portions consist of one-liners that barely scratch the surface of a topic. The spatial aptitude review problems are way too easy to even compare to anything you would see on the actual DAT. Plus, there aren't alot of them to practice on. I have never felt more "scammed" in the purchase of a book. I can't believe that such a well respected company like Kaplan would dare publish a test aid that was so watered-down.

The Kaplan review book is average at best. The DAT requires a greater understanding and detail than is presented in the review sections. For example, the probability section features only one of the three equations that examinees could be asked to utilize. Furthermore, I give the CD-ROM a poor rating because the reading comprhension passages can not be properly navigated. When the scroll tool is used, it jumps past several lines, making it difficult and sometimes impossible to read and/or retrieve the information needed to answer the question(s). This issue resurfaces when scrolling through any explanations with higher word counts.

The science portion of this book was pretty comprehensive in "topics" however I found myself referring back to my text book many times for details, clarification and examples. I am "horrible" and "slow" with math and QR in this book did not help at all. Putting off the math section until week before the test earned me 15 on QR though I ended up making a "wild", not educated, guess in more than half of the questions (I am still proud I managed 15 :) I have taken the Kaplan course and did not find the class itself useful other than instructions in how to take the test(it is not worth $1000+)! However, their online subject tests (similar to 6-7 full length test with explanation) were pretty darn useful. I thought it prepared me well for the science section, and was surprised how easy the science section felt while taking the actual DAT (got me 22 in science avg). I havent tried the "Top-score Pro computerized DAT product, but many be you can get the same benefit for $50 for what it cost at their website. Kaplan's perceptual section threw me off in the folding dotted page section as the ones on the actual test had much smaller dots. For some reason, this really distracted me and threw me off. I am an average joe and a slow learner but was able to manage 19 academic (with 15 on QR) and 20 pat. LOL, applied many but didnt get in! Perhaps a bad year (avg of 3000 applicant per school, insane!!)? Dont lose hope guys, apply and apply again and you'll eventually get in! I think this rout will give you an opportunity to appreciate things more? Most people dont even have this opportunity! SMILE~

I took a DAT pre-test and got a 14 overall, so I knew I had a lot of work to do before taking the actual test. I picked this up and started studying during my free time for about a month and then took the test. I did pretty decent ( academic average: 19 PAT: 20 ). With that said, there are a couple of things about this book you should know.



For starters, if you consider yourself a visual learner you probably shouldn't get this. The diagrams are pretty sparse and terrible when they do appear. I found this particularly painful in the biology section. Overall, I would say that the biology section of the book is pretty much worthless and really doesn't get deep enough into the subject.



With that said, the general chem section is pretty well done as it cuts the crap and gives you all the formulas you really need. The O. Chem section is also pretty decent. I didn't bother to read the quantitative reasoning section so I can't comment on that.



What I can tell you is that this book will build your confidence, but it comes at a price: a lot of the questions here seem a bit easier that the actual DAT. Maybe I just got unlucky with topics, but I felt as though the book left me with a false sense of accomplishment. On the practice CD-ROM I scored a 24 on the PAT...



But, if you don't want to drop 1000 dollars on the kaplan course (which I have not taken and no nothing about) and your the type of person like me who doesn't need a structured environment to learn, then have at it and good luck.

THIS BOOK DID NOT COME WITH THE CD ROM THAT IT CLAIMED TO COME WITH THE QUESTIONS ARE MOSTLY ON THE CD ROM ACCORDING TO THE BOOK BUT THIS BOOK DIDNT COME WITH IT LIKE IT SAID ON THE TITLE

If you know absolutely NOTHING about science or math, this is an excellent starting point. For the other 99.9999999% of us that are going into the DAT with at least half a college education, its completely and utterly worthless. I couldn't even call this an outline for what to study for. It is so basic and, for lack of a better word, retarded, that it is pretty much worthless for anyone. I would give this to an 8th grader and tell them to read it if they're interested and want to get a head start on high school.

Look to the DAT Destroyer, Achiever, your TEXT books and class notes, Wikipedia, [...], and maybe Top Score for real study materials.

Also, review courses aren't necessary to take the DAT as its not that difficult of a test. The PAT takes a decent amount of practice, but its definitely doable. As a UCSF Dental student, I can tell you that each exam is similar to if not much more difficult than studying for the DAT.

When I started, I was scared to know that they would expect us to start chopping up real peoples teeth in about 2 years. After the first 2 quarters I was begging to hack away at real teeth instead of taking more exams.

My husband only used this book to study for the DAT and he made an 18. It got him into dental school so I give it 5 stars!

I took the 2006 Kaplan DAT course and the booklet and the test are verbatim the same material. I bought this to have some more test questions and maybe learn something new from the 2008 edition. You might as well find a 2006 edition and save yourself some money.

This is an excellent product! It has 2 full length review tests. The book is broken into different sections which all give a decent explanation of the subject.

This is the only book I used to study for the DAT and I got a very good score (Academic Average 21 and PAT 19). I had already taken the classes covered in the book (minus the PAT part) so it was more for review rather than learning the test objectives. There are a few mistakes in the book and a couple mistakes in the PAT part of the CD-Rom, but most of the information is correct and very comprehensive. I felt that this book gave me ample preparation for the actual exam and would recommend it to anyone who learns well by reviewing texts and taking practice exams. The perceptual ability section was extremely helpful as well.