First of all, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who posted their DAT breakdowns. I cannot imagine how much time I spent perusing this website and looking at everyone's detailed success stories that helped contribute to my own success on the DAT. I thought I would return the favor!
Materials that I used to study for the DAT:
Chemistry - CHAD'S VIDEOS (10/10), DAT Destroyer (7/10), DAT Bootcamp (10/10), class notes.
Biology - Cliff's (9/10), Barron's (8/10), KBB (6/10). DAT Bootcamp (10/10)
Math - DAT Destroyer and Math Destroyer (5/10). DAT Bootcamp (7/10).
PAT - Crack the DAT PAT 10 test edition (10/10). DAT Bootcamp (9/10).
Reading Comprehension: DAT Bootcamp (10/10).
I literally just finished finals last Thursday. Although I had been studying on and off since the end of July, I knew that I was going to forget most of the stuff that I had learned in the past few months, so I practically spent the last five days cramming.
I studied for the Biology section by reading through Cliff's AP Biology fourth edition, Barron's AP biology book, and the Kaplan Blue Book. Kaplan Blue Book was a good primer for what you need to know, especially for taxonomy and basic physiology, but it was very incomplete in certain topics. I supplemented by reading through Cliff's and Barron's several times and making flashcards of everything that could possibly be asked on the test. After that, I did the 5 DAT Bootcamp Bio Tests, scoring probably an average of 19 between the five of them.
I studied for the Organic Chemistry section by first watching every single one of Chad's Videos... and then taking Organic II (lol). I had an amazing organic professor this semester who provided me with more than enough knowledge to do well on the organic section of the DAT. Similarly, I had all my notes from Gen Chem from another excellent professor who covered every topic that could possibly be on the DAT. Nonetheless, I did all of the DAT Destroyer questions, DAT Bootcamp tests (averaging about a 22 on the gen chem and a 20 on the organic chem), and went through every one of Chad's videos and quizzes yesterday (the day before my exam).
I studied for the PAT section by watching YouTube videos and then using Crack the DAT PAT 10 test edition. I went through all 10 tests and got 17/18/17/19/19/18/20/22/21/19. Practicing is the only way to improve. Pattern folding and angle ranking were my least favorite sections. Hole punch and TFE were my two favorite sections.
The only thing that I did to study for Reading Comprehension was by going through all 5 of the RC tests on DAT Bootcamp. Some of the passages were tougher than you will get on the DAT, so your score may jump up a little bit on the real thing.
I studied for QR by going through the math section of the DAT destroyer. Math Destroyer was overkill and I did not have time to do it. I also took all 5 of the QR tests on DAT Bootcamp. There's a disclaimer before you take these tests that basically says they are designed to be harder than the real DAT. I thought that the questions on this test were not realistic of the questions that would be on the DAT. Nonetheless, they were good practice!
The night before my exam I purchased and took the 2009 DAT from the ADA website. I do not really know what the conversions are, but I got 83/100 on science, 76/90 PAT, 36/50 RC, 23/40 QR. Make sure to take this test! There were a couple questions on my DAT that were very similar to the 2009 DAT!
DAT SCORES!
19 PAT
22 QR
21 RC
21 BIO
23 GC
25 OC
22 TS
22 AA
DAT Testing Experience and Advice
Make sure to eat something before your test, but limit the amount of fluids you drink. Use the bathroom before you go into the testing center. Use the headphones that they give you to muffle the sound from the surroundings, and use spit to erase your board if you are in a hurry. Before you start the test, know that there are going to be several "what the heck!" questions that you do not know. Skip them and come back to them later. You have plenty of time to finish the science section.
BIO: I started this test and I literally did not know the first 5-6 questions off the top of my head. I thought I was going to fail the test and have to take it again, but I kept telling myself to just do the best I can. Eliminate answer choices and look at problems that have two or three answer choices that differ by only a word or two.
Gen Chem: This test was at the difficulty of all of the practice tests that I had taken. Gas Laws, equilibrium, and thermodynamics topics had several questions. Look at what the question gives you (i.e. moles, enthalpy, equilibrium equations) and try to deduce as much information from those as possible. Put the pieces together. If you get stuck on a question, look at answer choices that are similar but differ by only a couple words or by a positive versus a negative charge.
Organic Chem: I was able to go through this section really quickly. There was not anything on it that had not been covered in my class this semester, in Chad's videos, or in the DAT Destroyer. Resonance, NMR, Hybridization, and how to rank acids and bases and label conjugate acids and bases were pertinent topics on my test.
PAT: This section was at the level of difficulty of Crack the DAT PAT tests. There was not anything that was totally out of the blue; although, some of the images were blurry. I just wasn't ever really good with this section.
RC: I stuck with my method of taking notes while reading the passage and then after about 6-7 paragraphs I would start looking at the questions and searching for answers. This method worked best for me because I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to answer tone questions if I didn't actually read the article. I got through the first 2 passages with about 25 minutes to spare for the third passage.
QR: MUCH much easier than any of the practice tests I had taken while studying. Most questions were algebra, probability, or trig. If I got stuck, I would plug and chug. I skipped any question that I didn't know off the top of my head and at the end, there were a few that I had to just pick an answer for because I was running out of time.
It was the best feeling in the world to see those scores pop up on that screen. I hope that I conquered the DAT! You can too!!
Materials that I used to study for the DAT:
Chemistry - CHAD'S VIDEOS (10/10), DAT Destroyer (7/10), DAT Bootcamp (10/10), class notes.
Biology - Cliff's (9/10), Barron's (8/10), KBB (6/10). DAT Bootcamp (10/10)
Math - DAT Destroyer and Math Destroyer (5/10). DAT Bootcamp (7/10).
PAT - Crack the DAT PAT 10 test edition (10/10). DAT Bootcamp (9/10).
Reading Comprehension: DAT Bootcamp (10/10).
I literally just finished finals last Thursday. Although I had been studying on and off since the end of July, I knew that I was going to forget most of the stuff that I had learned in the past few months, so I practically spent the last five days cramming.
I studied for the Biology section by reading through Cliff's AP Biology fourth edition, Barron's AP biology book, and the Kaplan Blue Book. Kaplan Blue Book was a good primer for what you need to know, especially for taxonomy and basic physiology, but it was very incomplete in certain topics. I supplemented by reading through Cliff's and Barron's several times and making flashcards of everything that could possibly be asked on the test. After that, I did the 5 DAT Bootcamp Bio Tests, scoring probably an average of 19 between the five of them.
I studied for the Organic Chemistry section by first watching every single one of Chad's Videos... and then taking Organic II (lol). I had an amazing organic professor this semester who provided me with more than enough knowledge to do well on the organic section of the DAT. Similarly, I had all my notes from Gen Chem from another excellent professor who covered every topic that could possibly be on the DAT. Nonetheless, I did all of the DAT Destroyer questions, DAT Bootcamp tests (averaging about a 22 on the gen chem and a 20 on the organic chem), and went through every one of Chad's videos and quizzes yesterday (the day before my exam).
I studied for the PAT section by watching YouTube videos and then using Crack the DAT PAT 10 test edition. I went through all 10 tests and got 17/18/17/19/19/18/20/22/21/19. Practicing is the only way to improve. Pattern folding and angle ranking were my least favorite sections. Hole punch and TFE were my two favorite sections.
The only thing that I did to study for Reading Comprehension was by going through all 5 of the RC tests on DAT Bootcamp. Some of the passages were tougher than you will get on the DAT, so your score may jump up a little bit on the real thing.
I studied for QR by going through the math section of the DAT destroyer. Math Destroyer was overkill and I did not have time to do it. I also took all 5 of the QR tests on DAT Bootcamp. There's a disclaimer before you take these tests that basically says they are designed to be harder than the real DAT. I thought that the questions on this test were not realistic of the questions that would be on the DAT. Nonetheless, they were good practice!
The night before my exam I purchased and took the 2009 DAT from the ADA website. I do not really know what the conversions are, but I got 83/100 on science, 76/90 PAT, 36/50 RC, 23/40 QR. Make sure to take this test! There were a couple questions on my DAT that were very similar to the 2009 DAT!
DAT SCORES!
19 PAT
22 QR
21 RC
21 BIO
23 GC
25 OC
22 TS
22 AA
DAT Testing Experience and Advice
Make sure to eat something before your test, but limit the amount of fluids you drink. Use the bathroom before you go into the testing center. Use the headphones that they give you to muffle the sound from the surroundings, and use spit to erase your board if you are in a hurry. Before you start the test, know that there are going to be several "what the heck!" questions that you do not know. Skip them and come back to them later. You have plenty of time to finish the science section.
BIO: I started this test and I literally did not know the first 5-6 questions off the top of my head. I thought I was going to fail the test and have to take it again, but I kept telling myself to just do the best I can. Eliminate answer choices and look at problems that have two or three answer choices that differ by only a word or two.
Gen Chem: This test was at the difficulty of all of the practice tests that I had taken. Gas Laws, equilibrium, and thermodynamics topics had several questions. Look at what the question gives you (i.e. moles, enthalpy, equilibrium equations) and try to deduce as much information from those as possible. Put the pieces together. If you get stuck on a question, look at answer choices that are similar but differ by only a couple words or by a positive versus a negative charge.
Organic Chem: I was able to go through this section really quickly. There was not anything on it that had not been covered in my class this semester, in Chad's videos, or in the DAT Destroyer. Resonance, NMR, Hybridization, and how to rank acids and bases and label conjugate acids and bases were pertinent topics on my test.
PAT: This section was at the level of difficulty of Crack the DAT PAT tests. There was not anything that was totally out of the blue; although, some of the images were blurry. I just wasn't ever really good with this section.
RC: I stuck with my method of taking notes while reading the passage and then after about 6-7 paragraphs I would start looking at the questions and searching for answers. This method worked best for me because I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to answer tone questions if I didn't actually read the article. I got through the first 2 passages with about 25 minutes to spare for the third passage.
QR: MUCH much easier than any of the practice tests I had taken while studying. Most questions were algebra, probability, or trig. If I got stuck, I would plug and chug. I skipped any question that I didn't know off the top of my head and at the end, there were a few that I had to just pick an answer for because I was running out of time.
It was the best feeling in the world to see those scores pop up on that screen. I hope that I conquered the DAT! You can too!!
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