DAT Breakdown 27/26/24 (7/30/14)

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

dent1994

New Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2014
Messages
10
Reaction score
6
I don't do much posting on sdn, but I've looked through a lot of these breakdowns, which helped me a lot when studying. First of all, my biggest word of advice is not to underestimate yourself early on because you can improve A LOT from beginning to end of studying as long as you put in some time! I spent about 2 months studying, 4-6 hours at first and increasing up to sometimes even 12 hours a day (though that I do not recommend...)

My scores were:
PAT 24
QR 30
RC 26
BIO 24
GCHEM 28
OCHEM 29
TS 26
AA 27

PAT: 24
The most helpful thing for this was most definitely DAT bootcamp. Do not be fooled by other practice tests: the DAT is close to the difficulty of bootcamp, especially with keyholes, which are my biggest weakness. Also, I'm not sure whether Crack the PAT used to be a good resource or not, but it was way too easy in my experience and not worth the money.
Bootcamp: 23/25/23/22/23/21/23/21/22/23
CDP: 23/23/22
QR: 30
I'm relatively good at math on my own, so I mostly looked through the equations provided in Kaplan and Math destroyer and took 5 of the math destroyer tests. Math destroyer is very representative of the actual test. DAT bootcamp is also really good for preparing you for this section because bootcamp is more difficult and thus helps you practice timing. I ended up finishing my actual QR section with 10 minutes to spare.
Bootcamp: 26/23/24/23/22
Destroyer: 24/25/29/29/30
RC: 26
In my opinion, there is no real way to practice for this. However, I found that a method that worked for me was writing down key words from each paragraph so that I could quickly locate the answer to a question. Bootcamp was pretty helpful on this because it helped on timing (again) because many of the questions required you to locate 2 different facts from the passage with the statement/reason questions.
Bootcamp: 23/22/25/26/22
BIO: 24
Not much I can say for this one other than you really do have to put in a lot of time to remember all these facts. I used Kaplan blue book as my basis (read twice), then built on it with the Princeton Review DAT/OAT Hyperlearning Biological Sciences book (the one only given to students in the class) which I was so lucky to borrow from a friend (also read twice). I LOVED the princeton review book because it gave me all the information I needed to know and more, so that I could really understand the concepts. I also read through cliff notes AP biology (once), but liked the princeton review book much more. I built a study guide (much like Feralis's) from what I didn't know that well in the two books and studied that for the last week. Bootcamp questions are pretty representative of the types of things you need to know and will accurately assess your knowledge, but I would recommend taking bootcamp after you do the bulk of your studying for it to be especially useful. I also did all the destroyer questions twice and felt that there was a lot of knowledge to be gained there as well.
Bootcamp: 23/30/26/26/25
GCHEM: 28
I only used Kaplan blue book to study for gchem because I had just finished general chemistry 2 and felt that it was pretty fresh on my mind. I also did all the destroyer questions twice, which helped me with applying to formulas I was still hazy on. I ended up buying Chad's quizzes with 3 days left in my studying and did them all, but didn't find them all that useful. Destroyer was much more helpful, in my opinion. Bootcamp was really helpful and slightly more difficult.
Bootcamp: 23/23/24/24/22
OCHEM: 29
Basically the exact same as biology: kaplan, princeton review, destroyer, bootcamp.
Bootcamp: 27/21/22/29/26

2007 DAT: 22/26/21/22/28/30/27/25
2009 DAT: 25/22/20/26/25/28/27/24
Achiever 1: 18/20/18/17/21/19/19/19
Achiever 2: 21/21/20/17/17/18/18/19
Kaplan Blue Book: 23/26/24/19/19/28/21/23

All in all, I would say that my favorite study resource was the princeton review hyperlearning biological sciences book and DAT bootcamp. I only bought DAT bootcamp 1 week before my test, but I did every single practice test it had to offer and thought it was EXTREMELY representative of the actual DAT.
Furthermore, I would recommend NOT buying Achiever, which I only did 2 tests from then quit, and crack the DAT science or PAT. Crack the DAT science quizzes on facts absolutely unnecessary to know for the DAT, and CDP is just too easy.
A big thanks to everyone on sdn with helping me out on any questions I had about the process!

Members don't see this ad.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
I don't do much posting on sdn, but I've looked through a lot of these breakdowns, which helped me a lot when studying. First of all, my biggest word of advice is not to underestimate yourself early on because you can improve A LOT from beginning to end of studying as long as you put in some time! I spent about 2 months studying, 4-6 hours at first and increasing up to sometimes even 12 hours a day (though that I do not recommend...)

My scores were:
PAT 24
QR 30
RC 26
BIO 24
GCHEM 28
OCHEM 29
TS 26
AA 27

PAT: 24
The most helpful thing for this was most definitely DAT bootcamp. Do not be fooled by other practice tests: the DAT is close to the difficulty of bootcamp, especially with keyholes, which are my biggest weakness. Also, I'm not sure whether Crack the PAT used to be a good resource or not, but it was way too easy in my experience and not worth the money.
Bootcamp: 23/25/23/22/23/21/23/21/22/23
CDP: 23/23/22
QR: 30
I'm relatively good at math on my own, so I mostly looked through the equations provided in Kaplan and Math destroyer and took 5 of the math destroyer tests. Math destroyer is very representative of the actual test. DAT bootcamp is also really good for preparing you for this section because bootcamp is more difficult and thus helps you practice timing. I ended up finishing my actual QR section with 10 minutes to spare.
Bootcamp: 26/23/24/23/22
Destroyer: 24/25/29/29/30
RC: 26
In my opinion, there is no real way to practice for this. However, I found that a method that worked for me was writing down key words from each paragraph so that I could quickly locate the answer to a question. Bootcamp was pretty helpful on this because it helped on timing (again) because many of the questions required you to locate 2 different facts from the passage with the statement/reason questions.
Bootcamp: 23/22/25/26/22
BIO: 24
Not much I can say for this one other than you really do have to put in a lot of time to remember all these facts. I used Kaplan blue book as my basis (read twice), then built on it with the Princeton Review DAT/OAT Hyperlearning Biological Sciences book (the one only given to students in the class) which I was so lucky to borrow from a friend (also read twice). I LOVED the princeton review book because it gave me all the information I needed to know and more, so that I could really understand the concepts. I also read through cliff notes AP biology (once), but liked the princeton review book much more. I built a study guide (much like Feralis's) from what I didn't know that well in the two books and studied that for the last week. Bootcamp questions are pretty representative of the types of things you need to know and will accurately assess your knowledge, but I would recommend taking bootcamp after you do the bulk of your studying for it to be especially useful. I also did all the destroyer questions twice and felt that there was a lot of knowledge to be gained there as well.
Bootcamp: 23/30/26/26/25
GCHEM: 28
I only used Kaplan blue book to study for gchem because I had just finished general chemistry 2 and felt that it was pretty fresh on my mind. I also did all the destroyer questions twice, which helped me with applying to formulas I was still hazy on. I ended up buying Chad's quizzes with 3 days left in my studying and did them all, but didn't find them all that useful. Destroyer was much more helpful, in my opinion. Bootcamp was really helpful and slightly more difficult.
Bootcamp: 23/23/24/24/22
OCHEM: 29
Basically the exact same as biology: kaplan, princeton review, destroyer, bootcamp.
Bootcamp: 27/21/22/29/26

2007 DAT: 22/26/21/22/28/30/27/25
2009 DAT: 25/22/20/26/25/28/27/24
Achiever 1: 18/20/18/17/21/19/19/19
Achiever 2: 21/21/20/17/17/18/18/19
Kaplan Blue Book: 23/26/24/19/19/28/21/23

All in all, I would say that my favorite study resource was the princeton review hyperlearning biological sciences book and DAT bootcamp. I only bought DAT bootcamp 1 week before my test, but I did every single practice test it had to offer and thought it was EXTREMELY representative of the actual DAT.
Furthermore, I would recommend NOT buying Achiever, which I only did 2 tests from then quit, and crack the DAT science or PAT. Crack the DAT science quizzes on facts absolutely unnecessary to know for the DAT, and CDP is just too easy.
A big thanks to everyone on sdn with helping me out on any questions I had about the process!

Excellent job! So you didn't find Chad's quizzes to be very helpful or representative of the DAT? Also, I have a Crack the DAT by Princeton Review book which I borrowed and keep extending time on from the library. I wonder if the library would have the biological sciences you mentioned as well. I'm reading through Cliffs and KBB. Also, I've only taken the Gen chems (career-changer), so I'm learning Orgo from scratch and I've already gotten a lot of grief from people not believing I will even be able to get a decent score, but of course I'm pressing forward in spite of. Do you believe Bootcamp and Chad's videos are a good start for learning Orgo? God I hope and pray my scores are even near as fantastic as yours.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I personally can't comment on Chad's videos because I heard they were extremely useful, but my issue with Chad's quizzes was that they weren't particularly user-friendly and that they over-tested some subjects but then didn't focus on others. However, if you are learning orgo from scratch, that might be exactly what you need!!! I had a pretty good base for orgo from school, so I didn't spend that much time studying it compared to bio, but I read through the 2 orgo as a second language books (which can be found for pretty cheap on amazon) once and they had a fair bit of extra detail that you might need to fully understand the concepts. It also has a BUNCH of questions scattered throughout just about reactions and their mechanisms, which is going to be the biggest hurdle for you. Kaplan is a good start, but not nearly enough detail, especially because they show the reactions but they don't show specific nuances (like mechanisms, intermediates, rearrangements, etc.) that you need to arrive at the correct answer. Princeton Review and Orgo as a second language would be helpful for that. Also, I don't think Bootcamp would be that helpful in learning orgo and would probably more helpful in testing you on it once you're almost to where you want to be. I hope that's helpful, and good luck learning orgo!
 
Great breakdown and very impressive scores, Congrats! I have a few question about the DAT,

1) For your math destroyer scores, are they out of 40 or did you place them on a scale out of 30? Also how long did it take for you to finish math destroyer tests? I barely get done with a minute remaining and score from 30-34/40.

2) Was the Ochem and GC section tests for bootcamp harder or easier than what was presented on the DAT?

3) Some people wrote on their breakdown that the DAT bio section had almost identical questions to those asked on DAT destroyer. Do you think this is true?

Thanks in advance!
 
I personally can't comment on Chad's videos because I heard they were extremely useful, but my issue with Chad's quizzes was that they weren't particularly user-friendly and that they over-tested some subjects but then didn't focus on others. However, if you are learning orgo from scratch, that might be exactly what you need!!! I had a pretty good base for orgo from school, so I didn't spend that much time studying it compared to bio, but I read through the 2 orgo as a second language books (which can be found for pretty cheap on amazon) once and they had a fair bit of extra detail that you might need to fully understand the concepts. It also has a BUNCH of questions scattered throughout just about reactions and their mechanisms, which is going to be the biggest hurdle for you. Kaplan is a good start, but not nearly enough detail, especially because they show the reactions but they don't show specific nuances (like mechanisms, intermediates, rearrangements, etc.) that you need to arrive at the correct answer. Princeton Review and Orgo as a second language would be helpful for that. Also, I don't think Bootcamp would be that helpful in learning orgo and would probably more helpful in testing you on it once you're almost to where you want to be. I hope that's helpful, and good luck learning orgo!

Ok I will have to get my hands on this orgo as a second language book I keep hearing about. Thanks much. Oh and I'm sure you're getting in somewhere so get those flights lined up lol!
 
Great breakdown and very impressive scores, Congrats! I have a few question about the DAT,

1) For your math destroyer scores, are they out of 40 or did you place them on a scale out of 30? Also how long did it take for you to finish math destroyer tests? I barely get done with a minute remaining and score from 30-34/40.

2) Was the Ochem and GC section tests for bootcamp harder or easier than what was presented on the DAT?

3) Some people wrote on their breakdown that the DAT bio section had almost identical questions to those asked on DAT destroyer. Do you think this is true?

Thanks in advance!
DATRav27,
1) My math destroyer scores are scaled out of 30. I finished most of them with about 5 minutes to spare, so if you don't have quite enough time to finish them, I would suggest keep working at them until you get quicker. Also, if you're not using a calculator with your destroyer, remember that that might speed up some of that long math.
2) I think both Ochem and GC were relatively similar. GC might have been a little bit easier because I was consistently getting slightly below on bootcamp than what I actually scored.
3) This is ABSOLUTELY true.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
@dent1994 any particular reasons against Achiever?
Yes, I personally believe that they don't test you on the material that you are going to be tested on on the DAT. It's way too hard, and it's harder in a way that will not help you learn anything you need to know. Most of my scores were in the teens when I took the most recent achiever I took, clearly not indicative of my actual scores.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Wow. You did so well, saying "Good scores" doesn't do justice. Congratulations. Enjoy.:cool:
 
Top