- Joined
- Apr 30, 2013
- Messages
- 242
- Reaction score
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22AA/22TS/21PAT
I benefited from SDN tremendously. I found the breakdown collection to be an invaluable resource in my studies. Although my scores certainly aren't the best, I am very happy with them. I studied for about 2 months and took breaks every once in a while. So I would say I studied for a solid 7 weeks at 7 hours a day. My productivity definitely suffered towards the end of those 2 months (thanks to YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter). I owe much of my success to SDN, and as cliche as it is going to sound- I want to give back to the community.
About me: I am currently a biology major entering my senior year at a public state university. I have a 3.9 GPA and 3.8 BCP GPA. I will be applying this cycle. I took General Biology and General Chemistry during my sophomore and freshman years, so I had to do a lot of reviewing in those areas. I just finished O chem this past semester and did well in the class so I did not need to study for it very much.
Studying:
Crack the DAT/PAT: I used it sparingly and just to practice for certain areas because I have heard that it is too easy.
Cliff's AP Bio: Read it cover to cover 2x
Barron's AP Bio: Read it cover to cover 2x
Feralis' Notes: Honestly, it was too much information all at once. I read about 40 pages and called it quits. I can see how it would be a great resource, but it did not work well for me.
DAT Destroyer: It's been said many times, but I'll say it again. It is OVERKILL to the max. However, when you're used to solving problems in Destroyer, the actual DAT will be a breeze. I did the Gen Chem section 2x. I got ~50% correct the first time. I did the bio section 1X and took notes on the entire answer section (it's full of info). I did O-chem 1X and got around 75% correct.
Math Destroyer: It's beyond overkill. I'm kind of mad that I spent so much time doing tests 1-10.
Chad's Videos and Quizzes: I used Chad to brush up on G-chem. His videos are excellent. I watched all of them except for BIO and completed the associated quizzes. They definitely helped me build a strong foundation to tackle more difficult problems.
Bootcamp: I did all of the BIO tests, Gen chem tests, and O-chem tests. I did almost all of the PAT tests, 1 QR test, and 2 Reading comprehension tests. Bootcamp is gold. Buy it and do all of the tests. They are very representative of the real thing. My scores were predicted very well by Bootcamp.
Bootcamp Scores:
GC: 18/19/22/18/19
OC: 27/26/22/29/21
QR: 20
RC: x/19/19
PAT: 18/20/17/17/x/19/19/19/19
BIO: 23/20/19/22/20
Qvault: The bio section is a gold mine. I also found the QR section to be very helpful in working on my speed. Gen chem is also great practice.
Qvault Scores:
BIO: 18/18/20/21/19/23/19/22/19/19
GC: 24/18/20/21/21/20/21/22
QR: 22/21/22/18/22/20
PAT: I thought this section would be the death of me. The key is developing a method for most, if not all of the sections and then taking LOTS of practice tests.
Keyhole: I always struggled with this section, but I finally started to get the hang of it once I learned to trace the outline of the object with my eyes and search for irregularities.
TFE: This section just takes tons of practice
Angle: Rapid glance method worked wonders for me.
Hole Punch: Line of symmetry method netted me 15/15 nearly every time. It's unparalleled.
Cube Counting: I used the Kaplan tally method. The key for me was taking a second to look at each problem and decide what direction I was going to count the cubes. I initially tried going left to right or front to back etc. for every problem but I quickly found that the stacks can be so different that there is no one method that will work for any possible stack of cubes. You must take 2-3 seconds to decide how you want to count that specific stack of cubes and stick to it.
Pattern Folding: I found this section pretty easy to conquer when you just start looking for a single shape in the object that corresponds to one of your answer choices. Shading problems are difficult and I never fully mastered them
QR: I spent a week watching Chad's videos and going through Math Destroyer, which I now regret. I practiced with Bootcamp and Qvault. I would say Q vault is most representative here
RC: I took 2 practice exams on Bootcamp and took notes while reading the passages. That got me decent scores, so I stopped practicing for it.
BIO: I read Cliff's and Barron's cover to cover 2x. Barron's is definitely a better read, but Cliff's may have an edge in content. I did the entire Bio section in Destroyer, did all 10 Qvault tests and did the 5 bootcamp tests.
GC: I spent a week going through Chad's videos and taking his quizzes. I spent another week doing destroyer GC 2x. I practiced with Bootcamp and Qvault. Bootcamp is most representative.
OC: I brushed up on everything from my previous two semesters of O-chem and that was all I needed. I practiced with bootcamp, and the scores were pretty representative of the real deal.
Test Day: I scheduled my test for 8:00 am. I woke up around 5:30 and had a good healthy breakfast. I watched TV for a bit and just relaxed until 7. I arrived at the testing center at around 7:30 am. I was extremely nervous. It took the lady 5 minutes to take my fingerprint because my hands were shaking so bad. We both had a good laugh about it which lightened things up a bit. The key for me to getting rid of anxiety was just taking slow deep breathes.
Section:
Tutorial: I used this time to setup my grids for hole punching and cube counting, as well as to take a moment to reflect on all of the hard work that I had put into this thing.
Sciences:
Biology: It was very different from what I had prepared for- in a good way. The questions were very basic. Some were worded funny and others I made educated guesses on but it was pretty simple.
General Chemistry: Extremely basic. I'm not sure where I messed up at. Very heavy on the concepts and not so many calculations.
Organic Chemistry: Again, extremely basic. However I guess I missed ~2. I only had one NMR question. I actually laughed to myself about some of the questions- they were just too easy.
PAT:
Angle: Skipped straight to angles. My angles were all very straight forward
Hole Punches: So easy.
Cube Counting: I had 6 different cube stacks which caught me off guard, but overall they were very simple. Nothing elaborate or excessive
Pattern Folding: I only had ~3 shading/dice questions. The rest were your standard PF questions. I breezed through this section.
Keyhole: I went back to keyhole after finishing PF. Most of the shapes were surprisingly simple. I did have one "rock", but I felt pretty confident overall
TFE: It was so easy. Bootcamp had conditioned me well for these. On the real DAT I was easily able to eliminate two answer choices right off the bat. I then honed in on specific areas to pick the right answer choice.
Break: Ate a granola bar and drank some water. I then used them bathroom and headed back to the testing room where I setup my paper for RC.
RC: Worst section of the whole test. I had a 23 paragraph passage on Fungus. I read the whole thing and took notes. By the time I was done answering questions I only had 30 minutes left. Reluctantly (and in a panic), I searched and destroyed the remaining two passages. I seriously thought I got a 16 because I was in such a frenzy.
QR: LOL. This section was a joke. I was so worked up after RC that I was completely prepared to get owned by the QR section. Much to my surprise it was literally 7th grade math with a few trig questions here and there. My initial plan was to mark any question that I did not know or could not answer within 30 seconds. Well, I ended up marking only one question and finished with 10 minutes to spare. I could not believe how simple it was. Like I said Math Destroyer was complete overkill. The only thing working against me in this section was that I was completely brain dead.
Survey: I rushed through the survey. My heart was pounding out of my chest. I kept telling myself I was going to get a 17. My scores popped up and I thought it was just a sample screen. However, I quickly realized that they were all mine. I was all smiles, and thrilled to be done.
PAT:21
QR:22
RC:22
BIO:23
GC:19
OC:25
TS:22
AA:22
I'm sort of disappointed in my GC score, but oh well- I've never been very good at it anyways. Going into the test I thought I would be lucky to get a 17 on BIO, so I was pretty surprised to see that I got a 23. Overall, I think bootcamp was the most representative practice material and I would recommend it to everyone. The key to succeeding on the DAT is knowing your BASICS.
I'm so glad to be done! No more STUDYING
All of my study materials are for sale here.
I benefited from SDN tremendously. I found the breakdown collection to be an invaluable resource in my studies. Although my scores certainly aren't the best, I am very happy with them. I studied for about 2 months and took breaks every once in a while. So I would say I studied for a solid 7 weeks at 7 hours a day. My productivity definitely suffered towards the end of those 2 months (thanks to YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter). I owe much of my success to SDN, and as cliche as it is going to sound- I want to give back to the community.
About me: I am currently a biology major entering my senior year at a public state university. I have a 3.9 GPA and 3.8 BCP GPA. I will be applying this cycle. I took General Biology and General Chemistry during my sophomore and freshman years, so I had to do a lot of reviewing in those areas. I just finished O chem this past semester and did well in the class so I did not need to study for it very much.
Studying:
Crack the DAT/PAT: I used it sparingly and just to practice for certain areas because I have heard that it is too easy.
Cliff's AP Bio: Read it cover to cover 2x
Barron's AP Bio: Read it cover to cover 2x
Feralis' Notes: Honestly, it was too much information all at once. I read about 40 pages and called it quits. I can see how it would be a great resource, but it did not work well for me.
DAT Destroyer: It's been said many times, but I'll say it again. It is OVERKILL to the max. However, when you're used to solving problems in Destroyer, the actual DAT will be a breeze. I did the Gen Chem section 2x. I got ~50% correct the first time. I did the bio section 1X and took notes on the entire answer section (it's full of info). I did O-chem 1X and got around 75% correct.
Math Destroyer: It's beyond overkill. I'm kind of mad that I spent so much time doing tests 1-10.
Chad's Videos and Quizzes: I used Chad to brush up on G-chem. His videos are excellent. I watched all of them except for BIO and completed the associated quizzes. They definitely helped me build a strong foundation to tackle more difficult problems.
Bootcamp: I did all of the BIO tests, Gen chem tests, and O-chem tests. I did almost all of the PAT tests, 1 QR test, and 2 Reading comprehension tests. Bootcamp is gold. Buy it and do all of the tests. They are very representative of the real thing. My scores were predicted very well by Bootcamp.
Bootcamp Scores:
GC: 18/19/22/18/19
OC: 27/26/22/29/21
QR: 20
RC: x/19/19
PAT: 18/20/17/17/x/19/19/19/19
BIO: 23/20/19/22/20
Qvault: The bio section is a gold mine. I also found the QR section to be very helpful in working on my speed. Gen chem is also great practice.
Qvault Scores:
BIO: 18/18/20/21/19/23/19/22/19/19
GC: 24/18/20/21/21/20/21/22
QR: 22/21/22/18/22/20
PAT: I thought this section would be the death of me. The key is developing a method for most, if not all of the sections and then taking LOTS of practice tests.
Keyhole: I always struggled with this section, but I finally started to get the hang of it once I learned to trace the outline of the object with my eyes and search for irregularities.
TFE: This section just takes tons of practice
Angle: Rapid glance method worked wonders for me.
Hole Punch: Line of symmetry method netted me 15/15 nearly every time. It's unparalleled.
Cube Counting: I used the Kaplan tally method. The key for me was taking a second to look at each problem and decide what direction I was going to count the cubes. I initially tried going left to right or front to back etc. for every problem but I quickly found that the stacks can be so different that there is no one method that will work for any possible stack of cubes. You must take 2-3 seconds to decide how you want to count that specific stack of cubes and stick to it.
Pattern Folding: I found this section pretty easy to conquer when you just start looking for a single shape in the object that corresponds to one of your answer choices. Shading problems are difficult and I never fully mastered them
QR: I spent a week watching Chad's videos and going through Math Destroyer, which I now regret. I practiced with Bootcamp and Qvault. I would say Q vault is most representative here
RC: I took 2 practice exams on Bootcamp and took notes while reading the passages. That got me decent scores, so I stopped practicing for it.
BIO: I read Cliff's and Barron's cover to cover 2x. Barron's is definitely a better read, but Cliff's may have an edge in content. I did the entire Bio section in Destroyer, did all 10 Qvault tests and did the 5 bootcamp tests.
GC: I spent a week going through Chad's videos and taking his quizzes. I spent another week doing destroyer GC 2x. I practiced with Bootcamp and Qvault. Bootcamp is most representative.
OC: I brushed up on everything from my previous two semesters of O-chem and that was all I needed. I practiced with bootcamp, and the scores were pretty representative of the real deal.
Test Day: I scheduled my test for 8:00 am. I woke up around 5:30 and had a good healthy breakfast. I watched TV for a bit and just relaxed until 7. I arrived at the testing center at around 7:30 am. I was extremely nervous. It took the lady 5 minutes to take my fingerprint because my hands were shaking so bad. We both had a good laugh about it which lightened things up a bit. The key for me to getting rid of anxiety was just taking slow deep breathes.
Section:
Tutorial: I used this time to setup my grids for hole punching and cube counting, as well as to take a moment to reflect on all of the hard work that I had put into this thing.
Sciences:
Biology: It was very different from what I had prepared for- in a good way. The questions were very basic. Some were worded funny and others I made educated guesses on but it was pretty simple.
General Chemistry: Extremely basic. I'm not sure where I messed up at. Very heavy on the concepts and not so many calculations.
Organic Chemistry: Again, extremely basic. However I guess I missed ~2. I only had one NMR question. I actually laughed to myself about some of the questions- they were just too easy.
PAT:
Angle: Skipped straight to angles. My angles were all very straight forward
Hole Punches: So easy.
Cube Counting: I had 6 different cube stacks which caught me off guard, but overall they were very simple. Nothing elaborate or excessive
Pattern Folding: I only had ~3 shading/dice questions. The rest were your standard PF questions. I breezed through this section.
Keyhole: I went back to keyhole after finishing PF. Most of the shapes were surprisingly simple. I did have one "rock", but I felt pretty confident overall
TFE: It was so easy. Bootcamp had conditioned me well for these. On the real DAT I was easily able to eliminate two answer choices right off the bat. I then honed in on specific areas to pick the right answer choice.
Break: Ate a granola bar and drank some water. I then used them bathroom and headed back to the testing room where I setup my paper for RC.
RC: Worst section of the whole test. I had a 23 paragraph passage on Fungus. I read the whole thing and took notes. By the time I was done answering questions I only had 30 minutes left. Reluctantly (and in a panic), I searched and destroyed the remaining two passages. I seriously thought I got a 16 because I was in such a frenzy.
QR: LOL. This section was a joke. I was so worked up after RC that I was completely prepared to get owned by the QR section. Much to my surprise it was literally 7th grade math with a few trig questions here and there. My initial plan was to mark any question that I did not know or could not answer within 30 seconds. Well, I ended up marking only one question and finished with 10 minutes to spare. I could not believe how simple it was. Like I said Math Destroyer was complete overkill. The only thing working against me in this section was that I was completely brain dead.
Survey: I rushed through the survey. My heart was pounding out of my chest. I kept telling myself I was going to get a 17. My scores popped up and I thought it was just a sample screen. However, I quickly realized that they were all mine. I was all smiles, and thrilled to be done.
PAT:21
QR:22
RC:22
BIO:23
GC:19
OC:25
TS:22
AA:22
I'm sort of disappointed in my GC score, but oh well- I've never been very good at it anyways. Going into the test I thought I would be lucky to get a 17 on BIO, so I was pretty surprised to see that I got a 23. Overall, I think bootcamp was the most representative practice material and I would recommend it to everyone. The key to succeeding on the DAT is knowing your BASICS.
I'm so glad to be done! No more STUDYING
All of my study materials are for sale here.
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I also am extremely grateful to everyone that has helped me along the way, you guys are the best! 
