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- Jan 14, 2014
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Hi everyone!
I just got back from my exam and can tell you honestly, I am ecstatic at my score. I am by no means a smart student and have always had to put lots of time towards studying and even during my undergrad, was constantly struggling to get A's and mostly ended up with B's. It's really dang hard to motivate myself to study and I tend to procrastinate like crazy. That explains my undergrad GPA of 3.4. My DAT journey felt mentally tumultuous to say the least and I have it covered below my scores/materials if you are interested in reading (kind of long though sorry!).
First of all here are my scores:
QR: 21
PAT: 21
RC: 24
Biology: 23
General Chemistry: 17
Organic Chemistry: 19
TS: 19
AA: 21
Materials used:
1. Chad's Videos GC and Orgo
- You know, I really liked Chad's for the concepts and the quizzes were great for reinforcing concepts. For me personally, I used his quizzes like a bible for my GC study because that was my worst subject. Turned out to be my lowest after all was said and done.... go figure.... I don't know if I just drew a blank at the test or what but it felt like I had learned nothing when I hit GC. I am still going to highly recommend Chad's because I'm probably just an idiot and didn't think through the problems right during my exam, and I learned more from Chad's videos in two months than I ever did in my two years of chemistries in undergrad. Chad's was all I did for Orgo besides Bootcamp.
2. DAT Bootcamp - last 3 weeks.
- I really like Bootcamp. I really REALLY like Bootcamp. I would say this is slightly harder than the actual DAT in terms of all the subjects. The explanations in the solutions were very helpful. I can tell you right now anything can happen. I was averaging 15-16 in GC and Orgo even up until two days ago when I took Bootcamp Test 5. I saw this breakdown by daldad and straight up told myself "this is how I am going to model my study." He mentioned that he used all the Bootcamp tests as practice and kept redoing them over and over, so I did the same and I think this really helped. Thank you Ari and team, and especially Ari for also taking the time to help me out with some questions I had.
3. AP Cliff's Bio
- Great resource. Highly recommend if you don't have the attention span of a squirrel like me. Due to my incredibly awful procrastination, I highlighted the book once, took notes up until page 150 and couldn't motivate myself to take notes on more than 10-20 pages at time and ended up not finishing it. Instead I switched to...
4. Feralis
- Feralis is AP Cliff's Bio condensed and then some extra really important stuff. Once again I am an idiot and read through the entire thing 2 days before my exam. Please don't do what I did. Take the time to read this through and understand it. Perhaps cause I am already a bio major but I felt like I had a good grasp on most of Biology already. If you don't have much time to commit to Bio, I think this is awesome to read through.
5. DAT Destroyer (no math destroyer, potentially a bad idea)
- Didn't buy Math Destroyer but I should have. I only made it halfway through DAT Destroyer before I lost motivation to continue it and didn't even end up going over what I had done cause I didn't plan my studying with Destroyer right. I am confident I would have done MUCH better all around if had not only completed Destroyer but also redone it. My opinion is that Destroyer is great for Gen Chem and Bio, overkill for Orgo.
STORY TIME
I graduated on May 10th from VCU and started my studies for the DAT immediately. My test date was set for July 30th. Before graduation, I spent a copious amount of time doing research into what materials to purchase and stumbled upon SDN, where I promptly picked up my study materials.
From May 10th to about mid June, I spent maybe 1-4 hours a day studying, and the four hour study sessions were far and few in between. I spent most of my time here researching what schools I wanted to apply to and working on my application. I submitted my application June 30th. During this time, I had family from overseas visiting and didn't have the motivation to study. I had this mentality that "Oh the exam is in July, I got plenty of time." I am a horrible, HORRIBLE procrastinator and in no way am I proud of this nor do I recommend this. By mid June, my family left and I began a part-time job at VCU School of Dentistry. I practically spent no time studying during the weekdays from then on, as I would be incredibly tired from 8 hour shifts of standing all day. My friends would constantly convince me to go out on weekends with them during this
Once it got to July, I started to kick it up a notch (another potential mistake). I was studying 2-4 hours a day on weekdays and 4-6 hours on weekends with LOTS of breaks and going out either Friday or Saturday night. I found daldad's breakdwon which condensed studying into 4 weeks and I decided this breakdown would be my bible. Two weeks before my original exam date, I limited myself to going out to once a weekend and trying my hardest to study on weekdays, especially Thurs. and Friday when I don't work 8 hours a day.
I found myself taking DAT Bootcamp tests and not doing well at all. One week before my original exam date, I averaged 18 on Bio, 16 on Gchem, and 16 in Orgo from three Bootcamp tests. This is when fear truly set in. I took the 2009 DAT as an evaluation of whether I should move my test date or not, on June 28th. 16 and 17 respectively for Gchem and Orgo. I decided to move my test date two weeks to Aug 12.
These last two weeks I really put my ass in gear and focused SO much on chemistry and it didn't end up mattering in the end. I studied a minimum 8-10 hours every single day. With those practice test scores ingrained in my mind, I started losing sleep and felt like a husk from the amount of stress the exam was causing me. The last couple days I just came to an acceptance that whatever happens, happens. The only practice I had with QR was one Bootcamp test, huge mistake on my part but I ended up doing pretty well on QR. I had spent so much time on trying to get GC down that I had realized that I had been neglecting the other subjects pretty hard and that added on to the stress.
I woke up this morning and tried to remain as calm as I could. It had been raining all night and morning when I left for the center. During Survey of Natural Sciences, the rain turned into a terrible thunderstorm and knocked out the power at one point, The test resumed after 10 minutes but it really messed with my momentum as I transitioned into GC. When break rolled around, I depressingly ate my snack, thinking I had just got straight 15's but with the mentality to keep my confidence high and remain optomistic. This helped me do well for the rest of the exam and I think it is massively important to ALWAYS remain optimistic. In terms of the entire test, I am pretty happy but kind of worried about GC, the 17 really sucks. My #1 choice is VCU so I'm just hoping it's enough to get an interview.
Thanks again to SDN for the hundreds of breakdowns I went through, advice, and questions you guys answered. Also thanks again to Chad, Ari and the bootcamp team, and finally daldad (breakdown: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...who-dont-have-a-lot-of-time-to-study.1074538/)
I just got back from my exam and can tell you honestly, I am ecstatic at my score. I am by no means a smart student and have always had to put lots of time towards studying and even during my undergrad, was constantly struggling to get A's and mostly ended up with B's. It's really dang hard to motivate myself to study and I tend to procrastinate like crazy. That explains my undergrad GPA of 3.4. My DAT journey felt mentally tumultuous to say the least and I have it covered below my scores/materials if you are interested in reading (kind of long though sorry!).
First of all here are my scores:
QR: 21
PAT: 21
RC: 24
Biology: 23
General Chemistry: 17
Organic Chemistry: 19
TS: 19
AA: 21
Materials used:
1. Chad's Videos GC and Orgo
- You know, I really liked Chad's for the concepts and the quizzes were great for reinforcing concepts. For me personally, I used his quizzes like a bible for my GC study because that was my worst subject. Turned out to be my lowest after all was said and done.... go figure.... I don't know if I just drew a blank at the test or what but it felt like I had learned nothing when I hit GC. I am still going to highly recommend Chad's because I'm probably just an idiot and didn't think through the problems right during my exam, and I learned more from Chad's videos in two months than I ever did in my two years of chemistries in undergrad. Chad's was all I did for Orgo besides Bootcamp.
2. DAT Bootcamp - last 3 weeks.
- I really like Bootcamp. I really REALLY like Bootcamp. I would say this is slightly harder than the actual DAT in terms of all the subjects. The explanations in the solutions were very helpful. I can tell you right now anything can happen. I was averaging 15-16 in GC and Orgo even up until two days ago when I took Bootcamp Test 5. I saw this breakdown by daldad and straight up told myself "this is how I am going to model my study." He mentioned that he used all the Bootcamp tests as practice and kept redoing them over and over, so I did the same and I think this really helped. Thank you Ari and team, and especially Ari for also taking the time to help me out with some questions I had.
3. AP Cliff's Bio
- Great resource. Highly recommend if you don't have the attention span of a squirrel like me. Due to my incredibly awful procrastination, I highlighted the book once, took notes up until page 150 and couldn't motivate myself to take notes on more than 10-20 pages at time and ended up not finishing it. Instead I switched to...
4. Feralis
- Feralis is AP Cliff's Bio condensed and then some extra really important stuff. Once again I am an idiot and read through the entire thing 2 days before my exam. Please don't do what I did. Take the time to read this through and understand it. Perhaps cause I am already a bio major but I felt like I had a good grasp on most of Biology already. If you don't have much time to commit to Bio, I think this is awesome to read through.
5. DAT Destroyer (no math destroyer, potentially a bad idea)
- Didn't buy Math Destroyer but I should have. I only made it halfway through DAT Destroyer before I lost motivation to continue it and didn't even end up going over what I had done cause I didn't plan my studying with Destroyer right. I am confident I would have done MUCH better all around if had not only completed Destroyer but also redone it. My opinion is that Destroyer is great for Gen Chem and Bio, overkill for Orgo.
STORY TIME
I graduated on May 10th from VCU and started my studies for the DAT immediately. My test date was set for July 30th. Before graduation, I spent a copious amount of time doing research into what materials to purchase and stumbled upon SDN, where I promptly picked up my study materials.
From May 10th to about mid June, I spent maybe 1-4 hours a day studying, and the four hour study sessions were far and few in between. I spent most of my time here researching what schools I wanted to apply to and working on my application. I submitted my application June 30th. During this time, I had family from overseas visiting and didn't have the motivation to study. I had this mentality that "Oh the exam is in July, I got plenty of time." I am a horrible, HORRIBLE procrastinator and in no way am I proud of this nor do I recommend this. By mid June, my family left and I began a part-time job at VCU School of Dentistry. I practically spent no time studying during the weekdays from then on, as I would be incredibly tired from 8 hour shifts of standing all day. My friends would constantly convince me to go out on weekends with them during this
Once it got to July, I started to kick it up a notch (another potential mistake). I was studying 2-4 hours a day on weekdays and 4-6 hours on weekends with LOTS of breaks and going out either Friday or Saturday night. I found daldad's breakdwon which condensed studying into 4 weeks and I decided this breakdown would be my bible. Two weeks before my original exam date, I limited myself to going out to once a weekend and trying my hardest to study on weekdays, especially Thurs. and Friday when I don't work 8 hours a day.
I found myself taking DAT Bootcamp tests and not doing well at all. One week before my original exam date, I averaged 18 on Bio, 16 on Gchem, and 16 in Orgo from three Bootcamp tests. This is when fear truly set in. I took the 2009 DAT as an evaluation of whether I should move my test date or not, on June 28th. 16 and 17 respectively for Gchem and Orgo. I decided to move my test date two weeks to Aug 12.
These last two weeks I really put my ass in gear and focused SO much on chemistry and it didn't end up mattering in the end. I studied a minimum 8-10 hours every single day. With those practice test scores ingrained in my mind, I started losing sleep and felt like a husk from the amount of stress the exam was causing me. The last couple days I just came to an acceptance that whatever happens, happens. The only practice I had with QR was one Bootcamp test, huge mistake on my part but I ended up doing pretty well on QR. I had spent so much time on trying to get GC down that I had realized that I had been neglecting the other subjects pretty hard and that added on to the stress.
I woke up this morning and tried to remain as calm as I could. It had been raining all night and morning when I left for the center. During Survey of Natural Sciences, the rain turned into a terrible thunderstorm and knocked out the power at one point, The test resumed after 10 minutes but it really messed with my momentum as I transitioned into GC. When break rolled around, I depressingly ate my snack, thinking I had just got straight 15's but with the mentality to keep my confidence high and remain optomistic. This helped me do well for the rest of the exam and I think it is massively important to ALWAYS remain optimistic. In terms of the entire test, I am pretty happy but kind of worried about GC, the 17 really sucks. My #1 choice is VCU so I'm just hoping it's enough to get an interview.
Thanks again to SDN for the hundreds of breakdowns I went through, advice, and questions you guys answered. Also thanks again to Chad, Ari and the bootcamp team, and finally daldad (breakdown: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...who-dont-have-a-lot-of-time-to-study.1074538/)
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