D
deleted816661
Hey guys!
I finished taking my DAT earlier in the evening and wanted to share my thoughts on the exam. I studied for about 6 weeks (~350 hours). Luckily this winter break my main focus was the DAT and I had no other distractions. Here are my scores:
PAT 20
QR 20
RC 21
Bio 26
GC 24
OC 27
TS 26
AA 24
Background: I am a junior at a major institution in Texas and I will graduate in 2018. Currently, my GPA is a 4.0. However, I am NOT a genius. I truly believe that anyone who has diligence can take the DAT and score well. Before the DAT, I took Bio 1 and 2, Genetics, Biochemistry, General Chemistry 1 and 2, Organic Chemistry 1 and 2, Plant Molecular Biology, and Statistics. These classes definitely gave me a good supporting base to build off of when studying for this exam. In my classes, I try to make sure I understand everything and this also helped me in studying. My goal was to get a 21 and anything higher would be awesome.
Materials:
DAT Destroyer 2016
Math Destroyer
DAT Bootcamp
Ferali's Notes
Chad's Videos
AP Barron's Biology
QVault for Biology
I will say these materials are super necessary. The best bank for the money! It might seem expensive, but this is actually cheaper than any prep course you can take.
Studying:
I studied for 6 weeks. I shut myself in my house except a few occasional Starbucks run or library studying. It was the worst (but most worth) winter break. It might suck seeing your friends outside enjoying life, but just know the light is near and that this is short time studying for long time happiness (hopefully haha). It was an up and down process but my parents and people here on SDN made me feel much better. I studied for about 8-12 hours a day with no social life (FB, IG, snapchat), games, or hanging out with friends. I basically had three stages of studying: learning, practicing, and reviewing. I split these three stages in two week periods.
Biology 26
Biology is the section I absolutely hated and scared me the most. This section is not difficult for the question types, it is difficult for the amount of information. As most people here say, breadth over depth is definitely important. The first two weeks of studying, I went through AP Barron's Biology book and took notes. Everything was going well until I hit physiology. I have not taken physiology/anatomy at my school so a lot of the material here was new. This is when I read the sections from the book and simultaneously watch lots of videos (Khan's, Crash Course, Bozeman, etc). These videos and chapters gave me a good base for understanding the material. After, I hit DAT Destroyer's Biology section (~600 questions!). It seems horrible but you need to go through each answer choice and understand each one. I know this is very daunting but it honestly cemented a lot of the material. Any information I did not know, I referred to Ferali's (it has almost everything). Taxonomy was also bad...I watched one of Bozeman's video on taxonomy (very well explained) and learned most of what I needed to know in one afternoon. As I was doing all of this, I was taking daily Qvault practice sections and was scoring 17-21 (QVault is harder than real test imo). After I ran through Destroyer my first time, I started taking practice Full Lengths. I was scoring 21-24 but I always felt like I was forgetting information. In the last two weeks, I went through all of Ferali's top to bottom (PAINFUL but very worth) and went over Destroyer a second time. Going into the test, I felt like I was going to get a 19 because I kept on forgetting info.
Testing: I felt like the real test was super easy. I had marked about 6 questions. I was 50/50 on all of them. After staring at them, I changed a few. This section in my head was going to be in lower 20's. I was sooo surprised to get a 26 in this section. Lots of genetics and very simple physiology questions.
General Chemistry 24
For this section, I started off watching Chad's videos for the first week. I then supplemented this with practice material I had from my university. Honestly, Chad's and DAT Destroyer is all you need for this section. For the weeks after, I focused on my weaknesses: acid-base chemistry, lab techniques, and electrochemistry. I went through DAT Destroyer 3 times for this section. I really didn't study much for this section for the last few weeks because I was too focused on Biology and PAT. The last two days, I just looked over my notes I took for Chad's.
Testing: The test seemed very simple. Very very similar to DAT Bootcamp. Also, DAT Destroyer saved me for one of the lab technique questions
.
Organic Chemistry 27
I thought I would not have to study for this section much since I took Ochem 2 last May, but boy was I wrong. I forgot a lot of the reactions and NMR. I ran through Chad's and DAT Destroyer and it refreshed me with all the information. Practice, yes I'm really talking about practice. Also, MEMORIZE all your reactions in both Chad's and the roadmaps from DAT Destroyer. DAT Destroyer is NOT OVERKILL. I cannot stress how important this resource was. Also, it would be helpful to memorize some pKa values and the NMR and IR scales. This section also had me worried for lab techniques as I had not taken Ochem lab. I just looked at DAT Bootcamp's cheat sheet for this section. I did Destroyer 3 times and looked over roadmaps and Chad's notes last couple of days.
Testing: Very straightforward and basic. One lab technique question and lots of reactions. Should have gotten a 30 here.
PAT 20
PAT is kind of fun in my opinion. I did not spend much time on it but I started freaking out when I took a practice Bootcamp section for this. I got a 17. Honestly, spend 30-40 mins a day on this section and you are golden. Bootcamp is all you need here.
Testing: The test was easier than Bootcamp for sure in Angles and Keyholes. I felt like Pattern Folding was harder. TFE, Punch holing, Cube Counting is on par.
RC 21
After bio, this is the section I dislike the most. I never liked reading (as I was a math guy) and this section was no different. I honestly didn't do anything other than Bootcamp practice tests. I did the 10/10 method where you read and map for 10 mins and 10 mins for answering questions. On the real test, did this not work for me. I went into search and destroy, even though I never tried it before. I was scoring 19-21 on this section in Bootcamp.
Testing: THIS SECTION WAS BAD. I thought I got a 16 or 17. All three articles were soooo boring and I couldn't understand what I was reading. I had 8 questions blank with 5 mins left. I just guessed them by what sounded right and what sounded wrong lol. I WAS AMAZED by the 21.
QR 20
This was my favorite section in the test and the least touched. I did 9 Math Destroyer tests and was missing like 2 questions max with 5-6 mins to spare. On Bootcamp, I was scoring 27-30s consecutively on full length tests.
Testing: After taking the rc, I was very surprised by this section. It was much more difficult than either math destroyer or BC. I ran out of time for this section and had to guess on 4. My problems were also very long so that did not help.
Test Day:
The day before the test, I looked at a few notes, took a practice PAT (which was very discouraging lol), and did a few practice problems. I am the type of person who takes stress for the littlest things in life, so I was very nervous. I couldn't fall asleep till 12 AM. Luckily, my test was schedule for 1:30 PM and my center let me come anytime before that so I took my time. I woke up at 9:30 and arrived at the center at 11:45 and started taking my test at 12 PM. The room was a perfect temperature but I took my jacket just in case and put it behind my chair. The prometric people at my center were very nice and prompt with the signing in and out process. During my break, I ate chips, a Cliff Bar, and drank Gatorade. I also made sure to go to the bathroom and stand in the courtyard to have some fresh air in the beautiful 70 degree sunny day in January. After taking math, I felt like I had to retake the DAT because of math and reading. I quickly clicked through the survey and saw my scores. I was amazed by my score, especially reading. I was obviously disappointed in QR.
Special Thanks:
I want to thank Ari at Bootcamp, Nancy and Dr. Romano at DAT Destroyer, Chad, @DMikes (for getting me through this time), and all of SDN (and group chat). Do I get to be added to the big thread @8_man . I plan to apply to all three Texas schools as they are my first priority (Chance me?). Please feel free to ask for any questions!
I finished taking my DAT earlier in the evening and wanted to share my thoughts on the exam. I studied for about 6 weeks (~350 hours). Luckily this winter break my main focus was the DAT and I had no other distractions. Here are my scores:
PAT 20
QR 20
RC 21
Bio 26
GC 24
OC 27
TS 26
AA 24
Background: I am a junior at a major institution in Texas and I will graduate in 2018. Currently, my GPA is a 4.0. However, I am NOT a genius. I truly believe that anyone who has diligence can take the DAT and score well. Before the DAT, I took Bio 1 and 2, Genetics, Biochemistry, General Chemistry 1 and 2, Organic Chemistry 1 and 2, Plant Molecular Biology, and Statistics. These classes definitely gave me a good supporting base to build off of when studying for this exam. In my classes, I try to make sure I understand everything and this also helped me in studying. My goal was to get a 21 and anything higher would be awesome.
Materials:
DAT Destroyer 2016
Math Destroyer
DAT Bootcamp
Ferali's Notes
Chad's Videos
AP Barron's Biology
QVault for Biology
I will say these materials are super necessary. The best bank for the money! It might seem expensive, but this is actually cheaper than any prep course you can take.
Studying:
I studied for 6 weeks. I shut myself in my house except a few occasional Starbucks run or library studying. It was the worst (but most worth) winter break. It might suck seeing your friends outside enjoying life, but just know the light is near and that this is short time studying for long time happiness (hopefully haha). It was an up and down process but my parents and people here on SDN made me feel much better. I studied for about 8-12 hours a day with no social life (FB, IG, snapchat), games, or hanging out with friends. I basically had three stages of studying: learning, practicing, and reviewing. I split these three stages in two week periods.
Biology 26
Biology is the section I absolutely hated and scared me the most. This section is not difficult for the question types, it is difficult for the amount of information. As most people here say, breadth over depth is definitely important. The first two weeks of studying, I went through AP Barron's Biology book and took notes. Everything was going well until I hit physiology. I have not taken physiology/anatomy at my school so a lot of the material here was new. This is when I read the sections from the book and simultaneously watch lots of videos (Khan's, Crash Course, Bozeman, etc). These videos and chapters gave me a good base for understanding the material. After, I hit DAT Destroyer's Biology section (~600 questions!). It seems horrible but you need to go through each answer choice and understand each one. I know this is very daunting but it honestly cemented a lot of the material. Any information I did not know, I referred to Ferali's (it has almost everything). Taxonomy was also bad...I watched one of Bozeman's video on taxonomy (very well explained) and learned most of what I needed to know in one afternoon. As I was doing all of this, I was taking daily Qvault practice sections and was scoring 17-21 (QVault is harder than real test imo). After I ran through Destroyer my first time, I started taking practice Full Lengths. I was scoring 21-24 but I always felt like I was forgetting information. In the last two weeks, I went through all of Ferali's top to bottom (PAINFUL but very worth) and went over Destroyer a second time. Going into the test, I felt like I was going to get a 19 because I kept on forgetting info.
Testing: I felt like the real test was super easy. I had marked about 6 questions. I was 50/50 on all of them. After staring at them, I changed a few. This section in my head was going to be in lower 20's. I was sooo surprised to get a 26 in this section. Lots of genetics and very simple physiology questions.
General Chemistry 24
For this section, I started off watching Chad's videos for the first week. I then supplemented this with practice material I had from my university. Honestly, Chad's and DAT Destroyer is all you need for this section. For the weeks after, I focused on my weaknesses: acid-base chemistry, lab techniques, and electrochemistry. I went through DAT Destroyer 3 times for this section. I really didn't study much for this section for the last few weeks because I was too focused on Biology and PAT. The last two days, I just looked over my notes I took for Chad's.
Testing: The test seemed very simple. Very very similar to DAT Bootcamp. Also, DAT Destroyer saved me for one of the lab technique questions
. Organic Chemistry 27
I thought I would not have to study for this section much since I took Ochem 2 last May, but boy was I wrong. I forgot a lot of the reactions and NMR. I ran through Chad's and DAT Destroyer and it refreshed me with all the information. Practice, yes I'm really talking about practice. Also, MEMORIZE all your reactions in both Chad's and the roadmaps from DAT Destroyer. DAT Destroyer is NOT OVERKILL. I cannot stress how important this resource was. Also, it would be helpful to memorize some pKa values and the NMR and IR scales. This section also had me worried for lab techniques as I had not taken Ochem lab. I just looked at DAT Bootcamp's cheat sheet for this section. I did Destroyer 3 times and looked over roadmaps and Chad's notes last couple of days.
Testing: Very straightforward and basic. One lab technique question and lots of reactions. Should have gotten a 30 here.
PAT 20
PAT is kind of fun in my opinion. I did not spend much time on it but I started freaking out when I took a practice Bootcamp section for this. I got a 17. Honestly, spend 30-40 mins a day on this section and you are golden. Bootcamp is all you need here.
Testing: The test was easier than Bootcamp for sure in Angles and Keyholes. I felt like Pattern Folding was harder. TFE, Punch holing, Cube Counting is on par.
RC 21
After bio, this is the section I dislike the most. I never liked reading (as I was a math guy) and this section was no different. I honestly didn't do anything other than Bootcamp practice tests. I did the 10/10 method where you read and map for 10 mins and 10 mins for answering questions. On the real test, did this not work for me. I went into search and destroy, even though I never tried it before. I was scoring 19-21 on this section in Bootcamp.
Testing: THIS SECTION WAS BAD. I thought I got a 16 or 17. All three articles were soooo boring and I couldn't understand what I was reading. I had 8 questions blank with 5 mins left. I just guessed them by what sounded right and what sounded wrong lol. I WAS AMAZED by the 21.
QR 20
This was my favorite section in the test and the least touched. I did 9 Math Destroyer tests and was missing like 2 questions max with 5-6 mins to spare. On Bootcamp, I was scoring 27-30s consecutively on full length tests.
Testing: After taking the rc, I was very surprised by this section. It was much more difficult than either math destroyer or BC. I ran out of time for this section and had to guess on 4. My problems were also very long so that did not help.
Test Day:
The day before the test, I looked at a few notes, took a practice PAT (which was very discouraging lol), and did a few practice problems. I am the type of person who takes stress for the littlest things in life, so I was very nervous. I couldn't fall asleep till 12 AM. Luckily, my test was schedule for 1:30 PM and my center let me come anytime before that so I took my time. I woke up at 9:30 and arrived at the center at 11:45 and started taking my test at 12 PM. The room was a perfect temperature but I took my jacket just in case and put it behind my chair. The prometric people at my center were very nice and prompt with the signing in and out process. During my break, I ate chips, a Cliff Bar, and drank Gatorade. I also made sure to go to the bathroom and stand in the courtyard to have some fresh air in the beautiful 70 degree sunny day in January. After taking math, I felt like I had to retake the DAT because of math and reading. I quickly clicked through the survey and saw my scores. I was amazed by my score, especially reading. I was obviously disappointed in QR.
Special Thanks:
I want to thank Ari at Bootcamp, Nancy and Dr. Romano at DAT Destroyer, Chad, @DMikes (for getting me through this time), and all of SDN (and group chat). Do I get to be added to the big thread @8_man . I plan to apply to all three Texas schools as they are my first priority (Chance me?). Please feel free to ask for any questions!
Attachments
Last edited by a moderator:
