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- Jan 12, 2012
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- 248
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I am so glad to be done, I studied about 6 weeks for 4-6 hours a day with a lot of breaks to keep my mind fresh. This was my second time taking the DAT, I only retook because of my terrible Bio score the first time.
January 2012: Bio-16 GC-22 OC-19 RC-17 QR-19 PAT-20 AA-19 TS-19
July 2012:
Bio - 22 (97.6) +6
GC - 29 (99.9) +7
OC - 28 (99.5) +9
RC - 19 (67.6) +2
QR - 18 (86.6) -1
PAT -19 (69.4) -1
AA - 23 (99.7) +4
TS - 25 (99.9) +6
Materials used:
BIOLOGY (22): DAT Destroyer, DAT Qvault, Cliff's AP, KBB, YouTube, Alan's notes, and other random notes on SDN
First and foremost BREADTH BEFORE DEPTH, knowing a very wide variety of topics is much more important than knowing in depth details on one topic, this was my mistake the first time taking the DAT. The only topics I recommend going in detail would be Genetics (VERY IMPORTANT), Cell Biology, and Molecular genetics. I started off by reading Cliff's slowly and making sure that I understood every detail because I knew this section needed a lot of improvement. I referenced KBB when I needed more detail on something (KBB is pretty worthless though). YouTube is a great source for anatomy and physiology so you can actually get an image of what it looks like, also there are some excellent professor lectures on YouTube just type in the topic and you will find college lectures (Paul Anderson is really good). After I was comfortable with the material I moved on to QVault and DAT destroyer BIO and they exposed my weaknesses quickly. DAT DESTROYER BIO IS LITERALLY MADE OF GOLD, I learned so much from it. For the test, the questions were very random as usual but doable. I think Destroyer Bio saved me on at least 4 questions and Qvault did too. I recommend memorizing every single solution of destroyer/qvault, because knowing these insanely random facts is what keeps people from getting great Bio scores. I felt that taking Biochem prior to my second attempt was very helpful as well.
GENERAL CHEMISTRY (29): CHAD'S videos and quizzes, Destroyer, KBB
I took extremely detailed notes from Chad's videos, literally almost every word he said. Always pay attention to what he says because he knows exactly what they like to ask. I made blend of notes from his 2010 videos and 2012 videos. Destroyer and Chad are a lethal combo for Gen Chem, although destroyer gen chem calculations are wayyyy overkill. I did Chad's practice problems about 6 times. For the test everything was very straightforward I had about 6-8 calculations and there were definitely some curve balls in this section but I figured them out.
ORGANIC CHEMISTY (28): CHAD'S videos and quizzes, Destroyer, KBB
I studied very similar for this section that I did for Gen Chem. I love DAT destroyer for this section, many say its overkill but I don't think so because after doing this the test felt like a walk in the park. This was BY FAR the easiest section of the test I know the 1 question I missed it was because I couldn't tell which bond angle the were asking for (very poor image quality), other than that this section was really straightforward, no weird reagents or could go either way reactions. Make sure you know Aldol, Wittig, Diels-Alder, Grignard, EAS, SN1/E1 SN2/E2 reactions like the back of your hand. Concepts to know in high detail: Stereochemistry (R/S), Clycohexanes, Newman/Fischer Projections, Bond Angles/VSEPR Theory, comparison of isomers (constitutional, conformational, enantiomers, diastereomers, ect.) Chads practice problems were helpful for O chem too. Destroyer roadmaps are gold as well.
PAT (19):
I only used 2009 and 2007 ADA PAT and topscore to practice because I wasn't really worried about this section since I already had a pretty good grasp from the first time. The questions were wayyy harder the second time I took it especially TFE and hole punches. I had the rush on the last 5 pattern folding, cubes tripped me up a little bit.
Keyholes - somewhat mild, use a lot of proportion
TFE - VERY DIFFICULT, much more than any practice tests
Angles - cake on the real DAT
Hole Punch - hardly any freebies, very difficult compared to practice tests, had some really weird folds
Cubes - 20-25 cubes with complex structures, had several allusions
Pattern - pretty mild, look for odd shapes
RC (19):
The passages were very dense and scientific. All 3 of mine were about genetics/clinical studies and were really hard to understand. Also the questions were very anti-search and destroy. I had a lot of tone/inference questions. I did a couple practiced tests but none of them compared to the real thing because the practice tests were all search and destroy plus way easier.
QR (18): Math Destroyer, Chads videos
I didn't study much for this section either, Chad's videos are ok, good place to start. Math Destroyer was on par with the real test, My second DAT QR was much more difficult than the 1st one plus I had 2 RIDICULOUS statistics/p-value questions this time. Definitely know your temperature conversions (F= [[9/5][C] +32]), everything you need to know is in Math Destroyer.
Overall, If you study hard your hard work will pay off. My best advice is to keep your mind fresh, take off days, take breaks every couple hours of studying. For the most part the test is much easier than any practice tests except Bio. Timing is everything for the DAT I moved my test back 10 days and I'm glad I did although it was painful to study longer it gave me the confidence I needed walking in to the testing center. I knew I was ready when I could not bare to read any more notes and I felt like it wasn't possible to be any more prepared than I was. Also I could not have got the score I did without referring to SDN on a daily basis and thanks to n27s for your help!
Practice test scores:
AA/TS/BIO/GC/OC/RC/QR/PAT
2007 ADA: 25/24/24/25/30/X/22/23
2009 ADA: 23/22/22/24/22/X/18/20
Topscore 1: 23/25/29/20/29/20/20/20
Topscore 2: 23/23/24/20/28/22/21/20
Topscore 3: 20/19/18/19/19/22/21/20
Qvault (Bio only) 18/18/19/18/19/20/18/19/20/21
Practice OAT Bio -35/40 GC - 25/30 OC - 28/30
I also used Achiever 1, KBB book test, Cliff's Bio quizzes, and some other online practice. Also note that 2009 ADA and practice OAT have a ton of errors in the SNS sections.
For the practice tests the ADA 2009 is most similar in difficulty, I also really like Topscore/ Qvault Bio is really good too.
Feel free to ask any questions or pm me.
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