Well the last two breakdowns on here are just absurd and godly lol. Long time lurker, first time poster. I wasn't sure I was going to do this but I think the whole process is kind of cathartic and hopefully you guys get something out of it. I'll go into what worked for me, both studying wise and maintaining my sanity.
Background: Around 3.9 overall and science GPA, heading into senior year. Chemistry and Biology double major. I've taken a lot of upper chemistry classes but only upper level bios are evolution, genetics, and animal behavior: ZERO anatomy and physiology, so that was fun learning. Began studying around middle of May following Ari's study schedule pretty strictly. I found it 5 days too late so I eliminated some of the rest days. I am an incredibly fast test taker (50 min left when I finished the 100 science questions), so I never really had an issue with time on practice tests or the real thing.
Scores:
PAT 20
QR 21
RC 25
BIO 22
GC 26
OC 26
TS 24
AA 24
DAT Bootcamp Scores (second time taking is in parentheses)
BIOLOGY
Materials used: Kaplan blue book practice test, Chad's quizzes, Cliffs AP Bio, DAT Bootcamp, DAT Qvault, DAT Destroyer, 2 practice tests in Princeton Review AP Bio (2010 edition) and AP biology for dummies, and finally Examkrackers MCAT Audio Osmosis.
Everyone always talks about how random the biology section so as you can see I tried to expose myself to as many resources as possible. Destroyer surprisingly had some questions almost word for word on my DAT, wasn't expecting that as it seems to get the rep of being perhaps too in depth but I thought it was fine. Examkrackers Audio Osmosis wasn't a serious study tool I guess, I just decided I would be productive while on the exercise bike or when working on my tan (yes I had time for both these things).
I did about as well as I thought I would on this section, my A&P knowledge was severely lacking and this was always my worst area on the 10 DAT QVault practice exams (Oh yeah: 19/20/18/20/21/22/20/20/18/18)
GENERAL CHEMISTRY
Materials used: Chad's videos and quizzes, DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp
Chad's great, we all know that. This was always my best section, as I am a chemistry major and I also work for the chemistry department at my university as a tutor for the intro gen chem classes. The only area I think I really got a lot from Chad was Acid/Base/Buffer stuff, always had trouble with that. First time through Destroyer I got around 75% correct and the second time through I got around 90% right. Definitely great resource, I just hated how some problems had some ridiculous math without a calculator.
Happy with a 26 for sure.
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Materials used: KBB practice test, Chad's videos and quizzes, DAT Destroyer, Organic Chem as a Second Language, DAT Bootcamp, Examkrackers 1001 OChem
I finished my organic chemistry career in Fall '12 so this was my worst section before starting to study. I essentially had to relearn all of it and it was daunting at first. I did all of Destroyer and got like 60% right and was discouraged. Then I took the first DAT bootcamp test and saw how easy the material was and didn't really worry about it too much after that. Second run through Destroyer I got around 80% right, so definite improvement. Examkrackers was pretty helpful here as I thought I could definitely benefit from a lot more practice problems. Extremely happy with a 26.
PAT
Materials Used: DAT Bootcamp, Crack DAT PAT
If there's any one resource I regret purchasing, it's Crack DAT PAT. Nothing wrong with it per se, just didn't use it very much. This was always my worst section and keyhole is just the absolute devil. I'm happy with my 20 as I could barely hit that on practice exams. Could definitely have spent more time working on this; I would sometimes go a week without doing any PAT.
READING
Materials Used: DAT Bootcamp
I really didn't do much at all with this. I did the first three DAT bootcamp tests and the 2009 DAT, not scoring particularly high on any. I finished the 50 questions with plenty of time left to go over all my answers and changed quite a few on one of the passages, obviously helping my score. My strategy was to write the paragraph number and key words from each while I read the whole passage and then I could find the answers pretty quickly.
QR
Materials Used: DAT Bootcamp, Math Destroyer
I made it through Math Destroyer scoring a 32/40 on about 12 of the 15 tests. Only redid the first 5 or so tests, just kind of got bored with it. Did really well on the DAT Bootcamp tests, but then kinda sucked on the '09 DAT. Ended up with a 21 on the real thing, was kinda expecting higher but I'm alright with it.
And with that, that's how I achieved my scores. I just wanted to say that studying is important and everything, but don't neglect other parts of your life. I got pretty burnt out the last week before the test and did pretty much anything I could to avoid studying (I ran 7 miles a few days before my test and I'd never run more than 3 in my life). In addition to studying I have a scholarship to do research in a chem lab at my university full time, and I also managed to have a life. I went out with my friends and drank too much a few times, went to a friends lakehouse for 4th of July, played indoor soccer, and watched absurd amount of Netflix and tv shows (seriously. Rewatched first 5 seasons of It's Always Sunny, first season of Arrow, True Detective, latest season of Dr. Who, Wilfred, and a boatload of documentaries).
Other ways I kept my sanity:
Spotify (that 4.99 student membership is great. Portugal. The Man was my go to band for the summer)
Headspace - found in app store, guided meditation, check it out
Documentaries - you still feel like you're being productive and learning but also taking a break. My favorites are nutrition/food documentaries and ones about geniuses and soccer players.
Hope you've enjoyed this. And now I'm off to enjoy the rest of my summer.
Peace.
Background: Around 3.9 overall and science GPA, heading into senior year. Chemistry and Biology double major. I've taken a lot of upper chemistry classes but only upper level bios are evolution, genetics, and animal behavior: ZERO anatomy and physiology, so that was fun learning. Began studying around middle of May following Ari's study schedule pretty strictly. I found it 5 days too late so I eliminated some of the rest days. I am an incredibly fast test taker (50 min left when I finished the 100 science questions), so I never really had an issue with time on practice tests or the real thing.
Scores:
PAT 20
QR 21
RC 25
BIO 22
GC 26
OC 26
TS 24
AA 24
DAT Bootcamp Scores (second time taking is in parentheses)
BIOLOGY
Materials used: Kaplan blue book practice test, Chad's quizzes, Cliffs AP Bio, DAT Bootcamp, DAT Qvault, DAT Destroyer, 2 practice tests in Princeton Review AP Bio (2010 edition) and AP biology for dummies, and finally Examkrackers MCAT Audio Osmosis.
Everyone always talks about how random the biology section so as you can see I tried to expose myself to as many resources as possible. Destroyer surprisingly had some questions almost word for word on my DAT, wasn't expecting that as it seems to get the rep of being perhaps too in depth but I thought it was fine. Examkrackers Audio Osmosis wasn't a serious study tool I guess, I just decided I would be productive while on the exercise bike or when working on my tan (yes I had time for both these things).
I did about as well as I thought I would on this section, my A&P knowledge was severely lacking and this was always my worst area on the 10 DAT QVault practice exams (Oh yeah: 19/20/18/20/21/22/20/20/18/18)
GENERAL CHEMISTRY
Materials used: Chad's videos and quizzes, DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp
Chad's great, we all know that. This was always my best section, as I am a chemistry major and I also work for the chemistry department at my university as a tutor for the intro gen chem classes. The only area I think I really got a lot from Chad was Acid/Base/Buffer stuff, always had trouble with that. First time through Destroyer I got around 75% correct and the second time through I got around 90% right. Definitely great resource, I just hated how some problems had some ridiculous math without a calculator.
Happy with a 26 for sure.
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Materials used: KBB practice test, Chad's videos and quizzes, DAT Destroyer, Organic Chem as a Second Language, DAT Bootcamp, Examkrackers 1001 OChem
I finished my organic chemistry career in Fall '12 so this was my worst section before starting to study. I essentially had to relearn all of it and it was daunting at first. I did all of Destroyer and got like 60% right and was discouraged. Then I took the first DAT bootcamp test and saw how easy the material was and didn't really worry about it too much after that. Second run through Destroyer I got around 80% right, so definite improvement. Examkrackers was pretty helpful here as I thought I could definitely benefit from a lot more practice problems. Extremely happy with a 26.
PAT
Materials Used: DAT Bootcamp, Crack DAT PAT
If there's any one resource I regret purchasing, it's Crack DAT PAT. Nothing wrong with it per se, just didn't use it very much. This was always my worst section and keyhole is just the absolute devil. I'm happy with my 20 as I could barely hit that on practice exams. Could definitely have spent more time working on this; I would sometimes go a week without doing any PAT.
READING
Materials Used: DAT Bootcamp
I really didn't do much at all with this. I did the first three DAT bootcamp tests and the 2009 DAT, not scoring particularly high on any. I finished the 50 questions with plenty of time left to go over all my answers and changed quite a few on one of the passages, obviously helping my score. My strategy was to write the paragraph number and key words from each while I read the whole passage and then I could find the answers pretty quickly.
QR
Materials Used: DAT Bootcamp, Math Destroyer
I made it through Math Destroyer scoring a 32/40 on about 12 of the 15 tests. Only redid the first 5 or so tests, just kind of got bored with it. Did really well on the DAT Bootcamp tests, but then kinda sucked on the '09 DAT. Ended up with a 21 on the real thing, was kinda expecting higher but I'm alright with it.
And with that, that's how I achieved my scores. I just wanted to say that studying is important and everything, but don't neglect other parts of your life. I got pretty burnt out the last week before the test and did pretty much anything I could to avoid studying (I ran 7 miles a few days before my test and I'd never run more than 3 in my life). In addition to studying I have a scholarship to do research in a chem lab at my university full time, and I also managed to have a life. I went out with my friends and drank too much a few times, went to a friends lakehouse for 4th of July, played indoor soccer, and watched absurd amount of Netflix and tv shows (seriously. Rewatched first 5 seasons of It's Always Sunny, first season of Arrow, True Detective, latest season of Dr. Who, Wilfred, and a boatload of documentaries).
Other ways I kept my sanity:
Spotify (that 4.99 student membership is great. Portugal. The Man was my go to band for the summer)
Headspace - found in app store, guided meditation, check it out
Documentaries - you still feel like you're being productive and learning but also taking a break. My favorites are nutrition/food documentaries and ones about geniuses and soccer players.
Hope you've enjoyed this. And now I'm off to enjoy the rest of my summer.
Peace.
