I just took DAT today and my scores are:
PAT 20
Biology 22
Gen Chem 26
O Chem 22
RC 18
QR 18
TS 23
AA 21
My cGPA is 3.0 and sGPA is 3.2. I also have a BS in Chemical Engineering. Should I retake? Will those two 18s hurt my application later?
As promised, I decide to do my breakdown today. It took me 3 and half months to study for the test. I studied 5 or 6 hours per day exclude Sunday (family day
). I'd say that I am not smart but I am a hard-working type of person. First month is for Gen/O-Chem. Second is for Bio. Half of month is for RC/PAT/QR (as you can see, my scores on those sections are not that great, I should've spent more times). And the last month is for everything combined together, which means practice practice and practice.
Materials used: Feralis Notes, Cliff AP, Chad's quizzes, Bootcamp, qVault, Destroyer (not include Math Destroyer), and CDP.
Biology: Bootcamp, QVault, and Bio Destroyer are highly recommended practices tests. I probably saw a few questions taken from these 3 resources and put on the test. So I recommend you to know them well, especially Destroyer and Bootcamp. Chad quizzes on bio are also excellent resources although they don't cover all needed topics.
How to study: I went over Cliffs AP once and never came back again. Feralis notes was what I crammed day after day. After Feralis notes, I took Chad quizzes to test my knowledge. Before you take practice tests from Bootcamp and QVault, you need to make sure your mind to have a thought that scores on these practices tests are no big deal. The big deal is what you learn from them. I went over these 2 resources as many times as I could. Before the test a few days, I was able to score 30 on all of them in 15 minutes (maximum) including understanding why this is the correct answer and not the others. For Bio Destroyer, I recommend you to spend a lot of time on it. I know it's like over 500 questions but it's totally worth your time. I went over Bio Destroyer three time. The first time was to get a feel of it. I think I got like 60% correct. When I went over the second time, I wanted to understand and memorize as many questions as I could. Before the test a few days, I went over it one last time. This is crucial because the first section of the test is Bio and Bio is facts so I needed to refresh my memory on this. Also, the chance of questions taken from Destroyer is high. So it's worth it.
Real Test: Questions were totally fair. I think I had many application questions but they were all doable. There was a few types of questions I never saw before so I used educated guess. I did not get any plant questions. Yay! I studied plant section for the least amount of time (except photosynthesis) haha.
Gen/O-Chem: Chad's videos/quizzes and Bootcamp are again highly recommended. No doubt! Destroyer is for 22+ score. For QVault, I didn't buy its chem practice tests because I have seen someone here saying that they are too easy compared to the real test and they got a really high score so I believed them and yea, saved me some money.
How to study: Watch Chad's videos, take notes just like going to college, and do his quizzes two times (say today you watch one vid, you do its quiz afterwards and the next day before watching second vid, re do the quiz from yesterday). For Bootcamp, I will repeat what I said above, make sure your mind to have a thought that scores on these practices tests are no big deal. The big deal is what you learn from them. I went over practice tests as many times as I could just like Bio. Before the test day, I was able to score 30 on all of them in 20 minutes (maximum) including understanding why this is the correct answer and not the others. Just like everyone said, Destroyer is overkill for this section. But if you want to have a 22+ score, you gotta invest your time in it.
Real Test: For Gen-chem, conceptual question is a majority. Totally straight forward. For O-chem, I got one reaction that is not covered on Chad's outline but covered slightly on Destroyer (even not on Destroyer Road Map) but since I understood its mechanism so I could pick the answer with the educated guess. Again straight forward section.
PAT: CDP and Bootcamp are highly recommended. Bootcamp is a little bit harder than CDP. My average score on CDP is 20 and on Bootcamp is 19. So yea, you can see they represents my real score.
How to study: I went over 10 test version of CDP once and never came back again. I think my weakness is TFE, Fold Pattern and Keyhole. I went over Bootcamp tests 2 times for each. Angle Ranking Generator of Bootcamp is what you will most likely see on the real test for angle ranking, so take advantage of it.
Real Test: I think it's easier compared to Bootcamp, even CDP. My strategy is to skip Keyhole and TFE (do last) and do Angle Ranking first. I even finished with 2-3 minutes to spare (yes, 3 minutes in PAT are a lot, I almost ran out of time in CDP and Bootcamp)
RC: Bootcamp.
How to study: As you can see my score on this section is not that good because I did not put much time to practice. I only practice on Bootcamp and that's it. So I really have no suggestions for you on this.
Real Test: The format is upside down compared to practice tests. Question is above passage. I got 3 passages and I was only interested in one. First one is about brain or how scientists take picture of human brain, second one about Komodo dragon which I found it interesting (I think I got most of questions correct on this), and last one is about tick.
QR: QR Destroyer (not Math Destroyer), Chad's Videos/Quizzes, and Bootcamp
How to study: Again, my score on this section is not that great either. But I'd say that the most representative practice test for this section is Chad's quizzes. I don't think QR destroyer is reflecting enough this section on real test or it could be because of my version and I didn't buy Math Destroyer. Don't know. I saw a lot of sad faces on Bootcamp QR (I'm one of them too). But when I figured out the reason why they made it so hard, it's understandable and worth the time to spend on. Bootcamp is for teaching you when to skip questions that are not worth to spend over 1 minute on. That's exactly the point of the test in my opinion.
Real Test: word problems are more than number problems. I'd say it's a fair test. If I spent more time on practicing, I would've scored higher.
And last but not least, 2 days before the test date, take DAT 2007 and learn from it, do not think about the scores if you get low. I suggest to spend a whole day to take and learn. Same thing applies to DAT 2009.
Credits: I wanna thank Feralis (Feralis notes), Chad (coursesaver), Ari (creator of Bootcamp), Dr. Romano (Destroyer), QVault Bio creators, and CDP creators for helping me to get this DAT score. Hopefully I will get in one of the schools that I want.
I have Bootcamp account (valid until June 7, 2014) (SOLD!), Qvault Biology Only (valid until July 20, 2014) (SOLD!), and Chad's DAT videos (valid until somewhere in mid July 2014, I bought 180 day-subscription in mid January 2014, I don't know how to check my expired date) for sale, so inbox me if you're interested. Thx.
I also have DAT Destroyer 2014 version (new condition) for sale (SOLD!).
PAT 20
Biology 22
Gen Chem 26
O Chem 22
RC 18
QR 18
TS 23
AA 21
My cGPA is 3.0 and sGPA is 3.2. I also have a BS in Chemical Engineering. Should I retake? Will those two 18s hurt my application later?
As promised, I decide to do my breakdown today. It took me 3 and half months to study for the test. I studied 5 or 6 hours per day exclude Sunday (family day
). I'd say that I am not smart but I am a hard-working type of person. First month is for Gen/O-Chem. Second is for Bio. Half of month is for RC/PAT/QR (as you can see, my scores on those sections are not that great, I should've spent more times). And the last month is for everything combined together, which means practice practice and practice.Materials used: Feralis Notes, Cliff AP, Chad's quizzes, Bootcamp, qVault, Destroyer (not include Math Destroyer), and CDP.
Biology: Bootcamp, QVault, and Bio Destroyer are highly recommended practices tests. I probably saw a few questions taken from these 3 resources and put on the test. So I recommend you to know them well, especially Destroyer and Bootcamp. Chad quizzes on bio are also excellent resources although they don't cover all needed topics.
How to study: I went over Cliffs AP once and never came back again. Feralis notes was what I crammed day after day. After Feralis notes, I took Chad quizzes to test my knowledge. Before you take practice tests from Bootcamp and QVault, you need to make sure your mind to have a thought that scores on these practices tests are no big deal. The big deal is what you learn from them. I went over these 2 resources as many times as I could. Before the test a few days, I was able to score 30 on all of them in 15 minutes (maximum) including understanding why this is the correct answer and not the others. For Bio Destroyer, I recommend you to spend a lot of time on it. I know it's like over 500 questions but it's totally worth your time. I went over Bio Destroyer three time. The first time was to get a feel of it. I think I got like 60% correct. When I went over the second time, I wanted to understand and memorize as many questions as I could. Before the test a few days, I went over it one last time. This is crucial because the first section of the test is Bio and Bio is facts so I needed to refresh my memory on this. Also, the chance of questions taken from Destroyer is high. So it's worth it.
Real Test: Questions were totally fair. I think I had many application questions but they were all doable. There was a few types of questions I never saw before so I used educated guess. I did not get any plant questions. Yay! I studied plant section for the least amount of time (except photosynthesis) haha
.Gen/O-Chem: Chad's videos/quizzes and Bootcamp are again highly recommended. No doubt! Destroyer is for 22+ score. For QVault, I didn't buy its chem practice tests because I have seen someone here saying that they are too easy compared to the real test and they got a really high score so I believed them and yea, saved me some money
.How to study: Watch Chad's videos, take notes just like going to college, and do his quizzes two times (say today you watch one vid, you do its quiz afterwards and the next day before watching second vid, re do the quiz from yesterday). For Bootcamp, I will repeat what I said above, make sure your mind to have a thought that scores on these practices tests are no big deal. The big deal is what you learn from them. I went over practice tests as many times as I could just like Bio. Before the test day, I was able to score 30 on all of them in 20 minutes (maximum) including understanding why this is the correct answer and not the others. Just like everyone said, Destroyer is overkill for this section. But if you want to have a 22+ score, you gotta invest your time in it.
Real Test: For Gen-chem, conceptual question is a majority. Totally straight forward. For O-chem, I got one reaction that is not covered on Chad's outline but covered slightly on Destroyer (even not on Destroyer Road Map) but since I understood its mechanism so I could pick the answer with the educated guess. Again straight forward section.
PAT: CDP and Bootcamp are highly recommended. Bootcamp is a little bit harder than CDP. My average score on CDP is 20 and on Bootcamp is 19. So yea, you can see they represents my real score.
How to study: I went over 10 test version of CDP once and never came back again. I think my weakness is TFE, Fold Pattern and Keyhole. I went over Bootcamp tests 2 times for each. Angle Ranking Generator of Bootcamp is what you will most likely see on the real test for angle ranking, so take advantage of it.
Real Test: I think it's easier compared to Bootcamp, even CDP. My strategy is to skip Keyhole and TFE (do last) and do Angle Ranking first. I even finished with 2-3 minutes to spare (yes, 3 minutes in PAT are a lot, I almost ran out of time in CDP and Bootcamp)
RC: Bootcamp.
How to study: As you can see my score on this section is not that good because I did not put much time to practice. I only practice on Bootcamp and that's it. So I really have no suggestions for you on this.
Real Test: The format is upside down compared to practice tests. Question is above passage. I got 3 passages and I was only interested in one. First one is about brain or how scientists take picture of human brain, second one about Komodo dragon which I found it interesting (I think I got most of questions correct on this), and last one is about tick.
QR: QR Destroyer (not Math Destroyer), Chad's Videos/Quizzes, and Bootcamp
How to study: Again, my score on this section is not that great either. But I'd say that the most representative practice test for this section is Chad's quizzes. I don't think QR destroyer is reflecting enough this section on real test or it could be because of my version and I didn't buy Math Destroyer. Don't know. I saw a lot of sad faces on Bootcamp QR (I'm one of them too
). But when I figured out the reason why they made it so hard, it's understandable and worth the time to spend on. Bootcamp is for teaching you when to skip questions that are not worth to spend over 1 minute on. That's exactly the point of the test in my opinion.Real Test: word problems are more than number problems. I'd say it's a fair test. If I spent more time on practicing, I would've scored higher.
And last but not least, 2 days before the test date, take DAT 2007 and learn from it, do not think about the scores if you get low. I suggest to spend a whole day to take and learn. Same thing applies to DAT 2009.
Credits: I wanna thank Feralis (Feralis notes), Chad (coursesaver), Ari (creator of Bootcamp), Dr. Romano (Destroyer), QVault Bio creators, and CDP creators for helping me to get this DAT score. Hopefully I will get in one of the schools that I want.
I have Bootcamp account (valid until June 7, 2014) (SOLD!), Qvault Biology Only (valid until July 20, 2014) (SOLD!), and Chad's DAT videos (valid until somewhere in mid July 2014, I bought 180 day-subscription in mid January 2014, I don't know how to check my expired date) for sale, so inbox me if you're interested. Thx.
I also have DAT Destroyer 2014 version (new condition) for sale (SOLD!).
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