I just took my DAT for the third time today, and scored a 22 AA. Let me start by saying that I NEVER thought I would be posting anything on SDN. I would usually lurk on the threads and feel bad about my GPA/DAT scores LOL. I studied for about 4 months total (I know that seems like a long time), but this was going to be my third and last time taking the DAT, so I wanted to make sure I did well. For the first two months I only studied for about 5 or 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. For the last month or so I did about 10 hours a day 6 days a week.
Resources:
DAT Destroyer
DAT Qvault (GC and Bio only)
DAT Bootcamp
Chad's Videos
Organic Chemistry as a Second Language
Dr. Romano's Bio notes
Bio: 24
Destroyer:
I can't say enough about Dr. Romano's Biology notes. They were wonderful and 100% why I scored as high as I did. I read anywhere from 1-3 chapters a day, and then made flashcards after I read each chapter. After I finished his notes, I started on DAT destroyer. His notes made the destroyer seem much more manageable. My first time through destroyer I made a google doc with 45 sections (one for each chapter of Dr. Romano's notes), and made a list of questions that I guessed on or got wrong. I did about 60 problems a day. If I got a lot of problems wrong in any particular section, I would re-read the chapter, go over my flashcards for that section, and then re-do the questions that I typed out in the google doc. My second time through destroyer I made flashcards on questions that I missed. In total I went through the bio section of destroyer 4x.
Bootcamp:
After going through destroyer once, I started on the bootcamp subject tests. I made flashcards for every question that I missed and consistently reviewed them. The last week or so before my exam, I took all of the exams for a second time
Qvault:
I took all 10 Qvault exams, but to be honest I would've been just fine if I had skipped them. With bootcamp and destroyer you'll be more than prepared for the bio section
Gen Chem: 22
I started off by watching Chad's videos and doing all of the quizzes. After watching all of the videos I started doing 40 destroyer questions a day (and missing about 60% of them). I wrote down notes from the problems that I missed in a notebook that I constantly reviewed. After finishing destroyer I did all 10 subject tests from bootcamp and also took notes on every question I missed.
OChem: 22
This was by far my worst subject in undergrad, so I had to basically learn everything from scratch when I started to study for the DAT. If anyone is struggling with Ochem I highly recommend Organic Chemistry as Second Language (both semesters) I read and took notes on every chapter. It's such an easy read, and this is truly the first time that I have UNDERSTOOD the subject. After going through the books, I watched Mike's videos which I found really helpful. I went through this section of destroyer 3x and did the roadmaps every night.
PAT: 16
So clearly this is a horrible score, I only have myself to blame for that. I didn't practice nearly enough and ran into some issues with timing on the real DAT, so hopefully this doesn't hurt my chances of getting into dental school. With that being said, bootcamp is an excellent resource for PAT, especially the generators
RC: 24
This is by far my strongest subject. On my first two DAT attempts I got 20 and 22 without doing any practice exams or reading articles. I did go through about 7 of the DAT bootcamp exams this time around though. The RC on the actual DAT was MUCH easier than bootcamp. Maybe I got lucky, but my articles were all very interesting and the questions were straightforward, I even had about 12 minutes to look over my answers
QR: 19
I'm honestly shocked by this score, I felt like on the actual exam I guessed on a lot of questions. I took all 10 bootcamp exams. Bootcamp was slightly harder than the real DAT, but the questions were worded similarly. I found the quantitative comparison questions to be much easier on the actual exam as well.
Just one final note about Destroyer: Don't make the mistake of reading everyone's amazing scores/breakdowns on here and thinking that as long as you go through Destroyer you'll do just as well. I made this mistake the last time I took my DAT and ended up with a 17 AA. Destroyer is an amazing resource, but YOU have to put the time and effort. Read and re-read the solutions carefully, especially for biology. Go through it multiple times, and make sure you understand every single problem in the book and you WILL do well
Resources:
DAT Destroyer
DAT Qvault (GC and Bio only)
DAT Bootcamp
Chad's Videos
Organic Chemistry as a Second Language
Dr. Romano's Bio notes
Bio: 24
Destroyer:
I can't say enough about Dr. Romano's Biology notes. They were wonderful and 100% why I scored as high as I did. I read anywhere from 1-3 chapters a day, and then made flashcards after I read each chapter. After I finished his notes, I started on DAT destroyer. His notes made the destroyer seem much more manageable. My first time through destroyer I made a google doc with 45 sections (one for each chapter of Dr. Romano's notes), and made a list of questions that I guessed on or got wrong. I did about 60 problems a day. If I got a lot of problems wrong in any particular section, I would re-read the chapter, go over my flashcards for that section, and then re-do the questions that I typed out in the google doc. My second time through destroyer I made flashcards on questions that I missed. In total I went through the bio section of destroyer 4x.
Bootcamp:
After going through destroyer once, I started on the bootcamp subject tests. I made flashcards for every question that I missed and consistently reviewed them. The last week or so before my exam, I took all of the exams for a second time
Qvault:
I took all 10 Qvault exams, but to be honest I would've been just fine if I had skipped them. With bootcamp and destroyer you'll be more than prepared for the bio section
Gen Chem: 22
I started off by watching Chad's videos and doing all of the quizzes. After watching all of the videos I started doing 40 destroyer questions a day (and missing about 60% of them). I wrote down notes from the problems that I missed in a notebook that I constantly reviewed. After finishing destroyer I did all 10 subject tests from bootcamp and also took notes on every question I missed.
OChem: 22
This was by far my worst subject in undergrad, so I had to basically learn everything from scratch when I started to study for the DAT. If anyone is struggling with Ochem I highly recommend Organic Chemistry as Second Language (both semesters) I read and took notes on every chapter. It's such an easy read, and this is truly the first time that I have UNDERSTOOD the subject. After going through the books, I watched Mike's videos which I found really helpful. I went through this section of destroyer 3x and did the roadmaps every night.
PAT: 16
So clearly this is a horrible score, I only have myself to blame for that. I didn't practice nearly enough and ran into some issues with timing on the real DAT, so hopefully this doesn't hurt my chances of getting into dental school. With that being said, bootcamp is an excellent resource for PAT, especially the generators
RC: 24
This is by far my strongest subject. On my first two DAT attempts I got 20 and 22 without doing any practice exams or reading articles. I did go through about 7 of the DAT bootcamp exams this time around though. The RC on the actual DAT was MUCH easier than bootcamp. Maybe I got lucky, but my articles were all very interesting and the questions were straightforward, I even had about 12 minutes to look over my answers
QR: 19
I'm honestly shocked by this score, I felt like on the actual exam I guessed on a lot of questions. I took all 10 bootcamp exams. Bootcamp was slightly harder than the real DAT, but the questions were worded similarly. I found the quantitative comparison questions to be much easier on the actual exam as well.
Just one final note about Destroyer: Don't make the mistake of reading everyone's amazing scores/breakdowns on here and thinking that as long as you go through Destroyer you'll do just as well. I made this mistake the last time I took my DAT and ended up with a 17 AA. Destroyer is an amazing resource, but YOU have to put the time and effort. Read and re-read the solutions carefully, especially for biology. Go through it multiple times, and make sure you understand every single problem in the book and you WILL do well
