givemeDATdegree
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2021
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 2
Hello! I took my DAT literally a month ago. With the emotions settled in, and after some much needed DAT-free time, I'd like to give my breakdown.
SCORES:
PAT - 17
QR - 19
RC - 20
BIO - 30
GC - 30
OC - 30
TS - 30
AA - 26
BACKGROUND:
Graduated & majored in Biomedical Sciences & have a 3.85 GPA.
I am a Non-Traditional test taker ~ Life happened, took a detour and now I am able to continue my pursuit for a career in dentistry.
TIME/PRACTICE EXAMS:
Approx. 5.5 months (Started mid-January 2021). I studied 1 “AA” SUBJECT AT A TIME. This made my study schedule very straightforward, but maybe it is also why I took longer than most to prepare. I took my first practice exam 2 weeks before my DAT date. Full disclosure, I only used Booster's practice exams. I completed 6 full-lengths. 7-10, I only did the SONS sections. Here is a rough timeline, in chronological order, of my content schedule:
OChem - 1.5 months (was a bit too comfortable) (longest breakdown)
GChem - 3 weeks
BIO - 1.5 months
PAT - 2 weeks (learned/practiced sections, continued with generators while studying QR/RC)
QR - 2 weeks
RC - 2 weeks
RESOURCES
DAT BOOSTER
DAT BOOTCAMP
CHAD'S ORGANIC CHEMISTRY COURSE
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
I started with Chad’s organic chemistry course on his website. The full 20+ lecture one. As this was the first section I was studying for, I had days of lots of productivity and days of none. Eventually, I found a good balance. Chad’s OCHEM course was a bit overkill for DAT content, but absolutely amazing for the end of the chapter/section questions. They really helped to keep me on my toes for all future Bootcamp and Booster questions.
After Chad’s course, I actually reviewed all of Mike’s videos. I say Chad’s is overkill for content because once I started to use Mike’s videos, I had to weed out many reactions which I had memorized from Chad’s course. If you want to save a couple weeks of studying or do it differently, I recommend you jump into Mike’s videos and use Chad’s course as a supplementary source for questions and clarity. If you don’t understand a concept, use Chad’s videos, and again, I stress that you do the questions there along with Booster and Bootcamp questions.
YOU MUST MAKE FLASHCARDS. I hand wrote all of mine, as this helps me memorize better. Mainly reactions, but also the main mechanisms and Substitution/Elimination concepts. As I reviewed Chad’s course, I made decks. By the end of it, I had 5 smaller ones. I reviewed one deck a day during my OC studying and during GChem studying. After my GC studying, I would review flashcards only when I felt I was forgetting.
GENERAL CHEMISTRY
I had a strong background in gen chem coming into this section, so I only had to review Mike’s videos. To reinforce concepts, I would do the GC QBank on Bootcamp. I also did the Booster “Extra Questions” and these will challenge you in a good way, just like Chad’s do, to keep you alert and active. I did make flashcards for Mike’s GC videos just fyi.
BIOLOGY
My degree helped a lot. I did not need to learn new things other than Plants and Taxonomy/Diversity of Life. So, my focus was more on reviewing and retaining. I used Booster and Bootcamp and both are WOW for the Bio!
Bootcamp Bio - I am a visual learner. I utilized “Bio Videos”, specifically for the Systems and it did wonders in terms of helping me review without confusion. Use the provided worksheets/PDFs you can print and fill, I would recommend doing them alongside the videos. I would watch the entire playlist for a system, THEN I would re-watch while filling in the blanks. Bootcamp “Bio Bites” also greatly helped me retain info. Before starting my practice exams, I took an entire week to review all the “marked” questions I had in Bio Bites, OChem & GChem. These marked questions were either ones I got wrong, or ones I was uncertain about. Overall, this one week allowed me to feel very comfortable for the SONS section.
Booster Bio - Feralis notes are amazing! Even though their video library is still in the works, I definitely benefited. I absolutely loved the Taxonomy series. I would keep watching half of the series one day, and the other half the next. Kept doing this till I felt comfortable with the material. I did not go into memorizing all examples from each phyla or plant classification. I learned the bare minimum/most common examples for each and was fine on exam day. If you prefer pinpoint detail of ALL topics, study Feralis notes in tandem with their videos & Khan Academy videos. In the same week I mentioned for Bootcamp Bio, I also reviewed all the Bio, OC & GC questions I had marked/made a note of in Booster. Again, I needed to feel comfortable and confident going into my practice exams. I recommend you also feel somewhat comfortable going into your first practice exam. You will review your exams with a better mindset and be optimistic about improving, rather than over-stress and underproduce.
PAT
Yes, 17. Honestly, I wish I started studying for the PAT from day one because this section is all about practice. I solely used DAT Booster for my PAT content studying, and they taught each section in a crystal clear way. But again, you will only go as far as the amount of practice you do. Why I think I did poorly on the PAT: Pacing, TFE and Keyhole. Of course, overall pacing could only be managed if I was competent in all 6 sections, not just 4. I always ran out of time on my practice exams and the same thing happened on test day. TFE is hard to practice since there are no generators and, as I was doing my practice exams so close to the test date, I did not develop the adequate skills needed to do well on TFE. I loved all the PAT generators, on both bootcamp and booster. However, I want to highlight the keyhole generator on booster. In my experience I was doing great on the keyhole generator but once I started doing the practice exams, I found that I was actually relying too much on the generator. Instead, on the Booster PAT practice exams’ keyhole section, the questions are harder than the generator and much more representative of what will appear on the actual exam.
STUDY PAT FROM DAY 1. You will get the concepts down, but it is critical that you practice a lot more than I ever did. I would recommend doing individual PAT exams throughout your studying. I had both Booster and Bootcamp, but I regretted it so much that even though I had a whole 10 extra bootcamp PAT exams I couldn’t even get the chance to do them because of time. Do not make the same mistakes as me homies.
QUANTITATIVE REASONING
I equally used Booster and Bootcamp. I did Bootcamp’s QR Academy and all their questions. As someone who has not done actual math since their freshman year, getting my hands on any and all questions was the only way of improving. I also did all of Booster’s QR videos and questions. Neither really gave more/less content than the other. This section is also all about practice at the end of the day.
I have seen several posts where DAT Booster users say that Booster’s QR section is much harder than the DAT. However, the practice exams were actually representative of my exam. So maybe this was a good thing in my case, because otherwise, I might not have done as well had it not been for the harder questions on Booster. Regardless, practice from either resources will only help. My approach for studying QR, when confronted with problems I would get wrong, was to memorize the key words for the question stem, and whenever I would encounter a similar question I would use the step-by-step process that was taught in the explanation videos for said question. Got me the score I needed.
READING COMPREHENSION:
I used SEARCH AND DESTROY. I thought I was a Vanilla guy, but I really am a slow reader/too curious so that was not my most efficient method. I switched to SAD and never scored below a 20 on any exam. I used both Booster’s and Bootcamp’s RC videos. Each offered the same content, more or less. Again, I only used Booster’s practice exams and was perfectly fine on test day. Recall that I only used exams 1-6, so, I would say I could have improved more here with more exposure. I did absolutely no outside reading/no scientific articles.
PREFERABLY: If you can afford both Bootcamp and Booster, then please utilize both. In my opinion, use Bootcamp more so for content and questions and use DAT Booster for PAT content and practice exams. At the end of the day, when it comes to standardized exams, the most important factor is having the most representative questions. Ultimately, this is why you cannot go wrong between the two resources.
WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT:
Remain confident in your abilities and do not be discouraged when practicing. I never once scored above a 21 AA on my practice exams, so, keep your head up regardless of what you are scoring. You may surpass all expectations on test day. GO AT YOUR OWN PACE. I studied well beyond the amount an average test taker does and, even then, I took the DAT only when I felt ready. Originally, my exam was scheduled for June 24th, but that first week of June I decided to push it back a couple of weeks. I wholeheartedly believe those 14 days SHOT MY SCORES UP.
GOOD LUCK!
SCORES:
PAT - 17
QR - 19
RC - 20
BIO - 30
GC - 30
OC - 30
TS - 30
AA - 26
BACKGROUND:
Graduated & majored in Biomedical Sciences & have a 3.85 GPA.
I am a Non-Traditional test taker ~ Life happened, took a detour and now I am able to continue my pursuit for a career in dentistry.
TIME/PRACTICE EXAMS:
Approx. 5.5 months (Started mid-January 2021). I studied 1 “AA” SUBJECT AT A TIME. This made my study schedule very straightforward, but maybe it is also why I took longer than most to prepare. I took my first practice exam 2 weeks before my DAT date. Full disclosure, I only used Booster's practice exams. I completed 6 full-lengths. 7-10, I only did the SONS sections. Here is a rough timeline, in chronological order, of my content schedule:
OChem - 1.5 months (was a bit too comfortable) (longest breakdown)
GChem - 3 weeks
BIO - 1.5 months
PAT - 2 weeks (learned/practiced sections, continued with generators while studying QR/RC)
QR - 2 weeks
RC - 2 weeks
RESOURCES
DAT BOOSTER
DAT BOOTCAMP
CHAD'S ORGANIC CHEMISTRY COURSE
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
I started with Chad’s organic chemistry course on his website. The full 20+ lecture one. As this was the first section I was studying for, I had days of lots of productivity and days of none. Eventually, I found a good balance. Chad’s OCHEM course was a bit overkill for DAT content, but absolutely amazing for the end of the chapter/section questions. They really helped to keep me on my toes for all future Bootcamp and Booster questions.
After Chad’s course, I actually reviewed all of Mike’s videos. I say Chad’s is overkill for content because once I started to use Mike’s videos, I had to weed out many reactions which I had memorized from Chad’s course. If you want to save a couple weeks of studying or do it differently, I recommend you jump into Mike’s videos and use Chad’s course as a supplementary source for questions and clarity. If you don’t understand a concept, use Chad’s videos, and again, I stress that you do the questions there along with Booster and Bootcamp questions.
YOU MUST MAKE FLASHCARDS. I hand wrote all of mine, as this helps me memorize better. Mainly reactions, but also the main mechanisms and Substitution/Elimination concepts. As I reviewed Chad’s course, I made decks. By the end of it, I had 5 smaller ones. I reviewed one deck a day during my OC studying and during GChem studying. After my GC studying, I would review flashcards only when I felt I was forgetting.
GENERAL CHEMISTRY
I had a strong background in gen chem coming into this section, so I only had to review Mike’s videos. To reinforce concepts, I would do the GC QBank on Bootcamp. I also did the Booster “Extra Questions” and these will challenge you in a good way, just like Chad’s do, to keep you alert and active. I did make flashcards for Mike’s GC videos just fyi.
BIOLOGY
My degree helped a lot. I did not need to learn new things other than Plants and Taxonomy/Diversity of Life. So, my focus was more on reviewing and retaining. I used Booster and Bootcamp and both are WOW for the Bio!
Bootcamp Bio - I am a visual learner. I utilized “Bio Videos”, specifically for the Systems and it did wonders in terms of helping me review without confusion. Use the provided worksheets/PDFs you can print and fill, I would recommend doing them alongside the videos. I would watch the entire playlist for a system, THEN I would re-watch while filling in the blanks. Bootcamp “Bio Bites” also greatly helped me retain info. Before starting my practice exams, I took an entire week to review all the “marked” questions I had in Bio Bites, OChem & GChem. These marked questions were either ones I got wrong, or ones I was uncertain about. Overall, this one week allowed me to feel very comfortable for the SONS section.
Booster Bio - Feralis notes are amazing! Even though their video library is still in the works, I definitely benefited. I absolutely loved the Taxonomy series. I would keep watching half of the series one day, and the other half the next. Kept doing this till I felt comfortable with the material. I did not go into memorizing all examples from each phyla or plant classification. I learned the bare minimum/most common examples for each and was fine on exam day. If you prefer pinpoint detail of ALL topics, study Feralis notes in tandem with their videos & Khan Academy videos. In the same week I mentioned for Bootcamp Bio, I also reviewed all the Bio, OC & GC questions I had marked/made a note of in Booster. Again, I needed to feel comfortable and confident going into my practice exams. I recommend you also feel somewhat comfortable going into your first practice exam. You will review your exams with a better mindset and be optimistic about improving, rather than over-stress and underproduce.
PAT
Yes, 17. Honestly, I wish I started studying for the PAT from day one because this section is all about practice. I solely used DAT Booster for my PAT content studying, and they taught each section in a crystal clear way. But again, you will only go as far as the amount of practice you do. Why I think I did poorly on the PAT: Pacing, TFE and Keyhole. Of course, overall pacing could only be managed if I was competent in all 6 sections, not just 4. I always ran out of time on my practice exams and the same thing happened on test day. TFE is hard to practice since there are no generators and, as I was doing my practice exams so close to the test date, I did not develop the adequate skills needed to do well on TFE. I loved all the PAT generators, on both bootcamp and booster. However, I want to highlight the keyhole generator on booster. In my experience I was doing great on the keyhole generator but once I started doing the practice exams, I found that I was actually relying too much on the generator. Instead, on the Booster PAT practice exams’ keyhole section, the questions are harder than the generator and much more representative of what will appear on the actual exam.
STUDY PAT FROM DAY 1. You will get the concepts down, but it is critical that you practice a lot more than I ever did. I would recommend doing individual PAT exams throughout your studying. I had both Booster and Bootcamp, but I regretted it so much that even though I had a whole 10 extra bootcamp PAT exams I couldn’t even get the chance to do them because of time. Do not make the same mistakes as me homies.
QUANTITATIVE REASONING
I equally used Booster and Bootcamp. I did Bootcamp’s QR Academy and all their questions. As someone who has not done actual math since their freshman year, getting my hands on any and all questions was the only way of improving. I also did all of Booster’s QR videos and questions. Neither really gave more/less content than the other. This section is also all about practice at the end of the day.
I have seen several posts where DAT Booster users say that Booster’s QR section is much harder than the DAT. However, the practice exams were actually representative of my exam. So maybe this was a good thing in my case, because otherwise, I might not have done as well had it not been for the harder questions on Booster. Regardless, practice from either resources will only help. My approach for studying QR, when confronted with problems I would get wrong, was to memorize the key words for the question stem, and whenever I would encounter a similar question I would use the step-by-step process that was taught in the explanation videos for said question. Got me the score I needed.
READING COMPREHENSION:
I used SEARCH AND DESTROY. I thought I was a Vanilla guy, but I really am a slow reader/too curious so that was not my most efficient method. I switched to SAD and never scored below a 20 on any exam. I used both Booster’s and Bootcamp’s RC videos. Each offered the same content, more or less. Again, I only used Booster’s practice exams and was perfectly fine on test day. Recall that I only used exams 1-6, so, I would say I could have improved more here with more exposure. I did absolutely no outside reading/no scientific articles.
PREFERABLY: If you can afford both Bootcamp and Booster, then please utilize both. In my opinion, use Bootcamp more so for content and questions and use DAT Booster for PAT content and practice exams. At the end of the day, when it comes to standardized exams, the most important factor is having the most representative questions. Ultimately, this is why you cannot go wrong between the two resources.
WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT:
Remain confident in your abilities and do not be discouraged when practicing. I never once scored above a 21 AA on my practice exams, so, keep your head up regardless of what you are scoring. You may surpass all expectations on test day. GO AT YOUR OWN PACE. I studied well beyond the amount an average test taker does and, even then, I took the DAT only when I felt ready. Originally, my exam was scheduled for June 24th, but that first week of June I decided to push it back a couple of weeks. I wholeheartedly believe those 14 days SHOT MY SCORES UP.
GOOD LUCK!
