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First off I will just say thanks, I enjoyed reading other peoples experience taking the DATs and it helped alot so I figured i'd share my experience also.
I used Kaplan BB for all the sciences, I thought it was ok, a decent overview to get started but could go more in depth in some places.
AA-20
GPA-3.55 Bio Major, business minor
Bio(20)
I used cliffs AP and destroyer. Both were very good. Like everyone says this section is mostly just random stuff so a good base of bio knowledge will allow you do to very well. Cliffs had the right amount of detail and was pretty easy to read. Destryoer problems were great and tested your knowledge, with very thorough explanations. Most questions pretty easy but you either know it or you don't.
GC(20)- used chads videos and destroyer. both were very good. If you can master destroyer you should be able to get pretty much every question right. It is harder than the real test I though. Most tested i think is stoichiometry,acid/base pka stuff, molality/molarity. Some questions very basic and most pretty easy but you have to recognize right away what to do right away.
Orgo(20) again destroyer and chads videos were great. Destroyer much harder than the real test I thought. From what I remember all the reaction based questions were pretty simple ones, none of the more obscure ones but I guess you never know. I think there were a couple intermediate reaction questions that I didnt really focus on so I wasnt prepared for. A couple naming questions and i'm sorry but I cant really remember what else was focused on. I would say def know elimnation substitution well(very important) donating/withdrawing groups and their effects and all the basic reactions and the condensation reactions. Also review lab stuff, i had a question on that(chromatography).
Math(18) i HATE math and am terrible at it hahaha. i did a destroyer test pretty much every day and while i improved a little i still did not master it at all. That being said if you can master destroyer math you should ace this section. I remember one of the questions was word for word from destroyer. The destoryer probs were harder so if you can do them you will be fine. If you are good at math this should be very easy for you. Id say 70-80 percent of the questions are very easy but you have to recognize what do do right away and not get caught up on ones you dont know which was my problem. I ended up getting to only 34 or35 i think and had to frantically guess the last 6 or so as the time expired.
Reading(20) i didnt really prepare for this section except for achiever tests which i dont think i got higher than 16 on. I thought my passages were really easy and though I got most of them right so I was a little surprised my score wasnt a little higher. Dont really have any good advice for this section.
PAT(18) this was the part i was dissapointed with. but Crack DAT is essential to do well. The interface is exactly the same so it is good prep. The key to this section is TIMING. I got hung up wayyy to long on one question in keyhold and that ending up screwing me. If you dont know one MAKE A GUESS mark it and move on. I forgot to even guess on one. The tutorials on this site are very helpful also. Keyhole was on par with crack dat i think just make sure you keep up the pace. TFE was harder than crack dat I thought. I was starting to master in in the practice tests getting between 12 and 15 right at the end but i had trouble on the real tests. Many answer choices very similar makes it hard to distinguish. I though angles were easier than crack DAT but i guess i dont really know how i did. hole punch and cube counting were SIMPLE. these are basically free points and much easier than crack dat so master these to boost your score. Folding was always my weakest section and i dont think i ever got higher than 10 on crack dat. In the beginning on the test they werent too bad but I was at about 94 when time started to run down and i just had to start clicking answers and unfortunately didnt even get to the last one. PRACTICE your timing with crack dat. I had bad habits on it and usually got to like 95 and time ran out but it lets you finish the test even tho time ran out which doesnt happen on the real thing. I started out with 17s on crack dat and slowly worked up to a high of 22 averaging like 18-19
Also did achiever tests. they were much harder than the real thing but good practice and dont be dicouraged by scores. My highest was an 18 on bio and orgo once and mostly 16s. all 16s on PAT
Overall I was satisfied with my scores but a little dissapointed with PAT. For the amount of time i studied(probably like 12 hr days the last couple weeks... not too much sleep hahah) id would have liked a couple points higher but im soo glad its over! I would advise getting good sleep because you retain info when you sleep it probably helps. If you did very well in your sciences in college you should find it pretty easy i think, but even if you didnt do great you cant still do great on the dats i think if you can . they key is being able to know what to do right away execpt bio i guess which is just random.
Hope this helps people and any questions i'd be happy to help!
I used Kaplan BB for all the sciences, I thought it was ok, a decent overview to get started but could go more in depth in some places.
AA-20
GPA-3.55 Bio Major, business minor
Bio(20)
I used cliffs AP and destroyer. Both were very good. Like everyone says this section is mostly just random stuff so a good base of bio knowledge will allow you do to very well. Cliffs had the right amount of detail and was pretty easy to read. Destryoer problems were great and tested your knowledge, with very thorough explanations. Most questions pretty easy but you either know it or you don't.
GC(20)- used chads videos and destroyer. both were very good. If you can master destroyer you should be able to get pretty much every question right. It is harder than the real test I though. Most tested i think is stoichiometry,acid/base pka stuff, molality/molarity. Some questions very basic and most pretty easy but you have to recognize right away what to do right away.
Orgo(20) again destroyer and chads videos were great. Destroyer much harder than the real test I thought. From what I remember all the reaction based questions were pretty simple ones, none of the more obscure ones but I guess you never know. I think there were a couple intermediate reaction questions that I didnt really focus on so I wasnt prepared for. A couple naming questions and i'm sorry but I cant really remember what else was focused on. I would say def know elimnation substitution well(very important) donating/withdrawing groups and their effects and all the basic reactions and the condensation reactions. Also review lab stuff, i had a question on that(chromatography).
Math(18) i HATE math and am terrible at it hahaha. i did a destroyer test pretty much every day and while i improved a little i still did not master it at all. That being said if you can master destroyer math you should ace this section. I remember one of the questions was word for word from destroyer. The destoryer probs were harder so if you can do them you will be fine. If you are good at math this should be very easy for you. Id say 70-80 percent of the questions are very easy but you have to recognize what do do right away and not get caught up on ones you dont know which was my problem. I ended up getting to only 34 or35 i think and had to frantically guess the last 6 or so as the time expired.
Reading(20) i didnt really prepare for this section except for achiever tests which i dont think i got higher than 16 on. I thought my passages were really easy and though I got most of them right so I was a little surprised my score wasnt a little higher. Dont really have any good advice for this section.
PAT(18) this was the part i was dissapointed with. but Crack DAT is essential to do well. The interface is exactly the same so it is good prep. The key to this section is TIMING. I got hung up wayyy to long on one question in keyhold and that ending up screwing me. If you dont know one MAKE A GUESS mark it and move on. I forgot to even guess on one. The tutorials on this site are very helpful also. Keyhole was on par with crack dat i think just make sure you keep up the pace. TFE was harder than crack dat I thought. I was starting to master in in the practice tests getting between 12 and 15 right at the end but i had trouble on the real tests. Many answer choices very similar makes it hard to distinguish. I though angles were easier than crack DAT but i guess i dont really know how i did. hole punch and cube counting were SIMPLE. these are basically free points and much easier than crack dat so master these to boost your score. Folding was always my weakest section and i dont think i ever got higher than 10 on crack dat. In the beginning on the test they werent too bad but I was at about 94 when time started to run down and i just had to start clicking answers and unfortunately didnt even get to the last one. PRACTICE your timing with crack dat. I had bad habits on it and usually got to like 95 and time ran out but it lets you finish the test even tho time ran out which doesnt happen on the real thing. I started out with 17s on crack dat and slowly worked up to a high of 22 averaging like 18-19
Also did achiever tests. they were much harder than the real thing but good practice and dont be dicouraged by scores. My highest was an 18 on bio and orgo once and mostly 16s. all 16s on PAT
Overall I was satisfied with my scores but a little dissapointed with PAT. For the amount of time i studied(probably like 12 hr days the last couple weeks... not too much sleep hahah) id would have liked a couple points higher but im soo glad its over! I would advise getting good sleep because you retain info when you sleep it probably helps. If you did very well in your sciences in college you should find it pretty easy i think, but even if you didnt do great you cant still do great on the dats i think if you can . they key is being able to know what to do right away execpt bio i guess which is just random.
Hope this helps people and any questions i'd be happy to help!
