Quanticks Posted July 3, 2015 Report Share Posted July 3, 2015 Hey, does anyone have any insight if the CDA prep materials are worth it? Its $70 for the pack. From the website: http://www.cda-adc.ca/en/becoming/dat/information/preparation/ The DAT Preparation Kit includes: A marker Flexible ruler DAT Preparation Manual Contains sample tests with detailed information outlining the types of tests encounter at the examination 6 pieces of carving material Similar in texture and size to material provided at the examination knife handle and blade The knife and blade are similar to, but may not be exactly identical to, the knife and blade provided at the examination Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Fried Blaziken Posted July 3, 2015 Report Share Posted July 3, 2015 I did not do the manual dexterity, but the practice exam was similar to the real thing. It does feel far too easy compared to some of the other materials out there (DAT destroyer, for example) but it is good practice for the few days before the test, I wouldn't start off with it however, it may put you too much at ease Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lebron James Posted July 3, 2015 Report Share Posted July 3, 2015 If you're not planning to do the carving portion of the exam, then no it's not even close to worth it. It'll amount to about 1/3 of a practice DAT for $70 in this case. If you are carving, then it's sort of worth it because of the $35 soap pack, the knife, and the ruler that are included in the kit. Even then I'd look at Kijiji or something before buying a brand new kit. I ended up getting 3 good packs of soap for 60 bucks off classifieds. So do a little bit of hunting before considering ordering from the CDA website. And that same knife can be found at hardware or hobby stores for $5-10. Edit: some elaboration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aravis Posted July 4, 2015 Report Share Posted July 4, 2015 Yeah, search for a used kit/book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andysim Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 Hey, does anyone have any insight if the CDA prep materials are worth it? Its $70 for the pack. From the website: http://www.cda-adc.ca/en/becoming/dat/information/preparation/ The DAT Preparation Kit includes: A marker Flexible ruler DAT Preparation Manual Contains sample tests with detailed information outlining the types of tests encounter at the examination 6 pieces of carving material Similar in texture and size to material provided at the examination knife handle and blade The knife and blade are similar to, but may not be exactly identical to, the knife and blade provided at the examination I was given carving material from my sister's friend. The carving soap is 2 years old, and I noticed it's extremely brittle. I bought new ones from CDA, and there's a remarkable difference in the brittleness. I think overtime or temperature the material is stored under can have an effect on the soap. Just letting you know to keep this in mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannny Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 For me, the manual dexterity kit helped a TON. The rest was sort of just an official practice exam, which you could get from other sources. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ottawaliquid Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 Are... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
widget Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 I was given carving material from my sister's friend. The carving soap is 2 years old, and I noticed it's extremely brittle. I bought new ones from CDA, and there's a remarkable difference in the brittleness. I think overtime or temperature the material is stored under can have an effect on the soap. Just letting you know to keep this in mind Noticed the same thing. The first pack of soap I ordered was yellow/green and it was so brittle and it cut more like a dry/hard bar of soap. Second pack of soap I ordered was purple, and it cut like a soft wax candle. On the day of the DAT I think the soap was a light grey, and the texture was in between the two I had practiced with, and it was a bit stickier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psmith Posted July 14, 2015 Report Share Posted July 14, 2015 I felt the prep from the CDA was easier than other prep materials (DAT destroyer, Kaplan practice) but much more similar to the real thing. The booklet was TOTALLY worth it for me. I also bought the IQ publications materials and liked the PAT/RC sections but I thought the sciences section was not written too well and was not very helpful. No answer booklet which I would have liked (just which answers were correct but not why...) and lots of typos/repeated questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleanup Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 Yeah, search for a used kit/book. IQ publications were more worth it for me. YMMV. I felt like IQ Pubs was terrible. At least the PAT portion. So many blatantly wrong answers. If that extends to the carving section then I'd avoid it at all costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sktoddl Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 I personally read through IQ publications and it didnt help at all. Their reading is far off from the real thing and their PATS are far too easy. I would recommend using DAT destroyer, AP bio and Chad for science sections and just read through reading samples on DAT bootcamp (if you need more practice ask someone with Kaplan online material - it can help you increase your reading speed, but they are not too representative of the real deal.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms. Chip Skylark Posted July 16, 2018 Report Share Posted July 16, 2018 Does anyone have any thoughts on a more recent version of the CDA DAT Preparation Manual? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starburst Posted July 21, 2018 Report Share Posted July 21, 2018 On 7/15/2018 at 10:18 PM, Ms. Chip Skylark said: Does anyone have any thoughts on a more recent version of the CDA DAT Preparation Manual? It's the same as the old one from what I remember. I'm not sure if they changed it next cycle but when I wrote it I compared the free online 2009 version to the one I got from the CDA manual, it was identical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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