jamesharden13
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- Aug 24, 2022
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Just wanted to share my own DAT experience after spending so much time reading others' post and trying to figure out how to be successful.
Scores:
Background: Currently a junior majoring in business; 3.85 GPA and 3.75 sGPA
Resources used: DAT Booster subscription, DAT Bootcamp High-Yield Notes, DAT Organic Reaction Sheet
Thoughts on DAT Booster: after spending lots of time researching whether to buy DAT Bootcamp or DAT Booster, I decided to go with DAT Booster because I heard from others that the material on the platform was more updated than DAT Bootcamp and also, that the questions on DAT Booster were more representative of the real exam. After getting to use DAT Booster, I definitely agree that the study material they provided was spot on when considering the concepts, I was tested on during the DAT. In the true science section and math section of my DAT, I found that most of the questions I encountered were ones that I had either directly seen on DAT Booster or the concept I was tested on was covered in a practice exam or in the extra practice questions for each unit. I definitely could not have been happier with how straightforward I found the questions on the DAT, and this was in large part due to the great job that DAT Booster did in preparing me.
Study Timeline:
General Chemistry: I spent every other day watching one whole unit of Professor Dave's videos and on that same day, I would complete the extra practice question bank for that unit. I felt well prepared and confident in this section but if I ever noticed myself making multiple mistakes on a unit, I would quickly read the notes accompanying the unit.
Biology: I made sure that each day I was reading 20-25 pages of the Feralis notes starting with unit 1 and also watching the corresponding videos if DAT Booster had them. What also helped me tremendously was I would quickly skim over the 20 pages I read the previous day which helped reinforce the concepts in my mind on multiple days. As I got closer to my exam, I just read the DAT Bootcamp high-yield notes a few times because I did not want to have to re-read 200+ pages of notes and I felt that everything in that document covered the main points you needed to know on the DAT.
Organic Chemistry: I was familiar with most of the reactions since I had completed organic chemistry 2 at my university in the spring semester but I did forget some of the information. I started by watching the videos provided for each unit and then I would do the extra practice questions. I also read the corresponding notes sheet for each unit to make sure I covered all the material. The reaction sheet summary is a good tool to use to make sure that you know all the reactions you could be tested on, and it breaks things down in a very methodical way for when you are reviewing reactions.
PAT: DAT Booster I felt did a good job with their video explanations for the PAT. It took me about 2.5 weeks to wrap my head around 5 of the sections (I did not learn TFE until 3 weeks before my exam for some reason). I tried to do 10 questions every day using the generators for each type of problem but there were somedays where I only did 2 or 3 different types of problems. I never really found my footing with TFE but I felt pretty good about the other ones. I could only get through 5 out of 6 sections whenever I did practice exams due to timing issues and I definitely could have spent more time on this section as I opposed to the science sections.
Reading Comprehension: I have always been a slow reader and reading was just not my subject growing up, so my goal was to do at least 1 reading passage every day to practice. I utilized the search and destroy method and found that I was slowly getting better with my reading skills.
Quantitative Reasoning: I naturally have always enjoyed math and been good at it so besides watching the videos on DAT booster and doing the practice exams, I did not spend a whole lot of time studying for this section.
Day of the Exam:
Bio (25): This section was not too bad and though there were like 4 or 5 questions that I was a little tripped up by, I knew that I got the rest of them correct because these questions were ones I had either seen word for word on DAT Booster or had come across the concept in the extra practice questions. Ultimately, I put in my fair share of time with bio and I think that the best thing a person can do for this section is to just tackle 20 pages of note reading a day and make sure that you comprehend everything before moving on as there are times where knowing meticulous details could help you confidently answer the questions.
Gen Chem (26): I had a lot of phase changes questions, and a lot of stoichiometry questions just like on the practice exams on DAT booster. I found this section once again to be pretty straightforward and I think that the 2 questions I got wrong was because I overthought the question. Some people enjoy Professor Dave's Videos and others don't, but I would highly recommend watching his videos because I found that they covered most of the necessary details to answer all of the questions. The practice exams guide you in exactly the right direction especially with the quantitative problems and how you perform on the booster exams I think are a fair indicator of how you would do on the real exam.
Organic Chemistry (30): I had around 6-7 reaction questions and a few carbocation stability questions and acid strength questions. I found that most of the questions I had on this section I could easily eliminate most of the wrong answer choices just by recalling the general topics I was dealing with. I would say the best way to translate success from the practice tests to the real DAT is to make sure you can identify what topic the question is testing you on and go about eliminating the wrong answer choices as I found it to be extremely obvious what the right answer was when I used this technique.
PAT (18): I would say I expected a little bit higher on this section, but I definitely could have practiced more, and I was a little tired going through this section so I had some difficulty viewing the shapes the way I normally would. When comparing the difficulty of the generators/practice tests to the real exam, I would say keyhole was about the same as the practice tests but harder than the generators, angle ranking was a little bit harder than both just because the screen felt more pixelated, cube counting was a bit easier than both because I did not have a floating cube question, hole punching was also a bit easier than both, and pattern folding was definitely harder than the generator and about the same as the practice tests. I cannot say how difficult TFE was because I guessed on every one of the questions since I did not have time to complete the section.
Reading Comprehension (26): I think that DAT Booster's reading tests are harder than the actual DAT. I was averaging around a 20 on the practice exams for the reading section and on the real exam I did better I felt like because I was definitely more prepared than I needed to be. I would say that if you are not doing well on reading comprehension on Booster's practice exams, do not let it discourage you because Booster overprepares you as long as you stick with the same strategy as how you approach the practice tests, I feel confident that the real score will be higher than your practice test scores.
Quantitative Reasoning (30): By doing all of Booster's practice exams, I don't think that there was a single question that I felt stumped on during my test. I would say that it is certainly worth your time to learn the probability rules that the Booster videos cover as well as what they test you on in the practice tests. I would say the best way to improve your score on this section is to make sure you look over any question you got wrong and make sure that you know what to do the next time you face a similar problem because every problem I had on the QR section I promise I could find a similar problem between the 10 practice tests on Booster.
Final Conclusion: I would be lying if I said that I expected to receive the score I did when I first started studying but thanks to DAT Booster, I found a methodical way to approach the exam and focus on learning the high-yield material. The exam is overall easier than what DAT Booster prepares you for so just be mindful of that when assessing how you think you will do on the DAT. I would say that making the DAT a full-time job is not going to be beneficial as it will leave you burnt out and make you overthink how talented you are. While it is important to be productive each day so that you are accomplishing all of your learning goals, I would highly recommend finding avenues to recharge so you stay motivated and can power through the process.
Scores:
Background: Currently a junior majoring in business; 3.85 GPA and 3.75 sGPA
Resources used: DAT Booster subscription, DAT Bootcamp High-Yield Notes, DAT Organic Reaction Sheet
Thoughts on DAT Booster: after spending lots of time researching whether to buy DAT Bootcamp or DAT Booster, I decided to go with DAT Booster because I heard from others that the material on the platform was more updated than DAT Bootcamp and also, that the questions on DAT Booster were more representative of the real exam. After getting to use DAT Booster, I definitely agree that the study material they provided was spot on when considering the concepts, I was tested on during the DAT. In the true science section and math section of my DAT, I found that most of the questions I encountered were ones that I had either directly seen on DAT Booster or the concept I was tested on was covered in a practice exam or in the extra practice questions for each unit. I definitely could not have been happier with how straightforward I found the questions on the DAT, and this was in large part due to the great job that DAT Booster did in preparing me.
Study Timeline:
- June 18th: After taking summer classes at my university from May 8th - June 16th, I began preparing for the DAT. I had scheduled my exam for August 13th and intended to follow the 8-week schedule that DAT Booster created.
- June 18th-July 1st: I followed the 8-week study schedule for the first 2- weeks, but I went on a 10-day vacation and the plan was to study for the DAT, but I did not end up studying much.
- July 2nd-July 30th: At this point, I just created my own plan so that I could catch up with the material I did not cover during my vacation while also making sure that I was staying on track for my exam date. I was also shadowing a dentist 3 times a week, so I had to account for that when I was studying for the exam.
- July 31st - August 12th: During these 2 weeks, I did the 10 practice exams that Booster had, and I also quickly reviewed the material from all the units in biology using the DAT Bootcamp High-yield notes page. Before this phase of my learning, I was really scared as to how I would do on my exam but making mistakes on the practice exams really helped me identify weak areas that I needed to review again and the questions I got wrong stuck with me.
General Chemistry: I spent every other day watching one whole unit of Professor Dave's videos and on that same day, I would complete the extra practice question bank for that unit. I felt well prepared and confident in this section but if I ever noticed myself making multiple mistakes on a unit, I would quickly read the notes accompanying the unit.
Biology: I made sure that each day I was reading 20-25 pages of the Feralis notes starting with unit 1 and also watching the corresponding videos if DAT Booster had them. What also helped me tremendously was I would quickly skim over the 20 pages I read the previous day which helped reinforce the concepts in my mind on multiple days. As I got closer to my exam, I just read the DAT Bootcamp high-yield notes a few times because I did not want to have to re-read 200+ pages of notes and I felt that everything in that document covered the main points you needed to know on the DAT.
Organic Chemistry: I was familiar with most of the reactions since I had completed organic chemistry 2 at my university in the spring semester but I did forget some of the information. I started by watching the videos provided for each unit and then I would do the extra practice questions. I also read the corresponding notes sheet for each unit to make sure I covered all the material. The reaction sheet summary is a good tool to use to make sure that you know all the reactions you could be tested on, and it breaks things down in a very methodical way for when you are reviewing reactions.
PAT: DAT Booster I felt did a good job with their video explanations for the PAT. It took me about 2.5 weeks to wrap my head around 5 of the sections (I did not learn TFE until 3 weeks before my exam for some reason). I tried to do 10 questions every day using the generators for each type of problem but there were somedays where I only did 2 or 3 different types of problems. I never really found my footing with TFE but I felt pretty good about the other ones. I could only get through 5 out of 6 sections whenever I did practice exams due to timing issues and I definitely could have spent more time on this section as I opposed to the science sections.
Reading Comprehension: I have always been a slow reader and reading was just not my subject growing up, so my goal was to do at least 1 reading passage every day to practice. I utilized the search and destroy method and found that I was slowly getting better with my reading skills.
Quantitative Reasoning: I naturally have always enjoyed math and been good at it so besides watching the videos on DAT booster and doing the practice exams, I did not spend a whole lot of time studying for this section.
Day of the Exam:
Bio (25): This section was not too bad and though there were like 4 or 5 questions that I was a little tripped up by, I knew that I got the rest of them correct because these questions were ones I had either seen word for word on DAT Booster or had come across the concept in the extra practice questions. Ultimately, I put in my fair share of time with bio and I think that the best thing a person can do for this section is to just tackle 20 pages of note reading a day and make sure that you comprehend everything before moving on as there are times where knowing meticulous details could help you confidently answer the questions.
Gen Chem (26): I had a lot of phase changes questions, and a lot of stoichiometry questions just like on the practice exams on DAT booster. I found this section once again to be pretty straightforward and I think that the 2 questions I got wrong was because I overthought the question. Some people enjoy Professor Dave's Videos and others don't, but I would highly recommend watching his videos because I found that they covered most of the necessary details to answer all of the questions. The practice exams guide you in exactly the right direction especially with the quantitative problems and how you perform on the booster exams I think are a fair indicator of how you would do on the real exam.
Organic Chemistry (30): I had around 6-7 reaction questions and a few carbocation stability questions and acid strength questions. I found that most of the questions I had on this section I could easily eliminate most of the wrong answer choices just by recalling the general topics I was dealing with. I would say the best way to translate success from the practice tests to the real DAT is to make sure you can identify what topic the question is testing you on and go about eliminating the wrong answer choices as I found it to be extremely obvious what the right answer was when I used this technique.
PAT (18): I would say I expected a little bit higher on this section, but I definitely could have practiced more, and I was a little tired going through this section so I had some difficulty viewing the shapes the way I normally would. When comparing the difficulty of the generators/practice tests to the real exam, I would say keyhole was about the same as the practice tests but harder than the generators, angle ranking was a little bit harder than both just because the screen felt more pixelated, cube counting was a bit easier than both because I did not have a floating cube question, hole punching was also a bit easier than both, and pattern folding was definitely harder than the generator and about the same as the practice tests. I cannot say how difficult TFE was because I guessed on every one of the questions since I did not have time to complete the section.
Reading Comprehension (26): I think that DAT Booster's reading tests are harder than the actual DAT. I was averaging around a 20 on the practice exams for the reading section and on the real exam I did better I felt like because I was definitely more prepared than I needed to be. I would say that if you are not doing well on reading comprehension on Booster's practice exams, do not let it discourage you because Booster overprepares you as long as you stick with the same strategy as how you approach the practice tests, I feel confident that the real score will be higher than your practice test scores.
Quantitative Reasoning (30): By doing all of Booster's practice exams, I don't think that there was a single question that I felt stumped on during my test. I would say that it is certainly worth your time to learn the probability rules that the Booster videos cover as well as what they test you on in the practice tests. I would say the best way to improve your score on this section is to make sure you look over any question you got wrong and make sure that you know what to do the next time you face a similar problem because every problem I had on the QR section I promise I could find a similar problem between the 10 practice tests on Booster.
Final Conclusion: I would be lying if I said that I expected to receive the score I did when I first started studying but thanks to DAT Booster, I found a methodical way to approach the exam and focus on learning the high-yield material. The exam is overall easier than what DAT Booster prepares you for so just be mindful of that when assessing how you think you will do on the DAT. I would say that making the DAT a full-time job is not going to be beneficial as it will leave you burnt out and make you overthink how talented you are. While it is important to be productive each day so that you are accomplishing all of your learning goals, I would highly recommend finding avenues to recharge so you stay motivated and can power through the process.
