8/27/22
Hey everyone!
I’ve been waiting so long for this moment to finally post my own DAT scores breakdown after literally reading every single one I could find while studying and I can’t believe it’s actually here. These posts have been so incredibly helpful to me over the past 2 months and I’m hoping that this post can be the same for you!
Scores:
Bio - 30
GC - 24
OC - 30
TS - 29
PAT - 24
RC - 24
QR - 23
AA - 26
Background:
I’m a rising senior (Biology major and Computer Science minor) with a 3.96 GPA. This was my first attempt at the DAT and I was really just hoping I could knock it out in one go and not have to worry about it again! However I knew that if it didn’t go well, I could study and retake again (probably would’ve done this in January) and still be able to apply in time next year.
Materials:
1. DAT Booster
This website is essentially what I attribute my score to! I remember initially struggling to decide on a DAT test prep service to use, but after seeing all the amazing things about Booster, I went with it. Now looking back, it was for sure the right choice (for such a great price too!) and I don’t regret it a single bit. It truly has everything you need to succeed and if you really try to utilize everything that is provided, you will very likely do amazing! There’s more detail on how I studied for each section with it below.
2. Chad’s Videos for General Chemistry
I’ve heard so many great things about Chad so I decided to check it out and watch a couple of his videos for General Chemistry concepts I wasn’t too comfortable with (Colligative Properties, Rate Laws, Equilibrium, and Acid Base). As expected, he was incredible and I really love his teaching style! His videos definitely helped me to better understand these concepts and I felt a lot more confident about my ability to solve those types of problems after watching them.
Study Timeline:
When I began studying for the DAT, I had just finished a semester abroad my junior spring. I know it’s not as common for pre-health students to go abroad, but I would 100% recommend it if you can. It was the most amazing 4 months and I would not trade the experiences I had or friendships I made for anything.
I also actually took no STEM classes for the first time in my life during that semester and things were pretty relaxed in general so I was even more nervous about getting back into it. I was worried that I had forgotten literally everything after such a long period of time. However, my semester ended June 21st and after flying back home/giving myself a couple of days to get over jet lag and spend time with my family, I went straight into preparing.
June 27th - July 31st: I started off by using Booster’s 10 week study guide since I really did not know where or how to begin. It was great because it gave me a sense of direction and allowed me to be exposed to all the material in a timely manner. I will have to say though, it was a lot. There was so much to get through every day and it was even harder because I made it my goal to finish the 5 week “Learning Phase” in the ~4 weeks I had. I did end up making it happen by not taking the planned break days off and also just trying to do a little more some days, but boy was it exhausting.
August 1st - August 26th: I did not feel great after the “Learning Phase” especially for the science sections. I felt like I had just gone through each day for the sake of checking off the boxes whereas in reality, I really retained like nothing. I remember having a moment early that week stressing over Biology because I had no idea how I was going to possibly catch up and get all the information I needed to into my head before my exam. It was the worst feeling ever, but I also think this was my turning point. I realized that I couldn’t exactly change the past, but it was now my responsibility to crack down even harder and get myself back on track. I decided to ditch the premade study guide plan and make my own schedule that was more tailored towards my personal learning needs.
Bio (30)
Practice Tests: 13, 17, 20, 20, 20, 20, 22, 24, 22, 21, 19, 24, 26, 24, 22
Like many of you, this section was the most daunting for me and I spent a majority of my time here. Even as a Biology major, I just really could not fathom how I was supposed to memorize and understand all this information in such a short period of time. However, what really helped me get this score up was a combination of things that I did in the last couple of weeks. I first went through all the video lectures again while taking detailed handwritten notes (the first time around, I just purely watched). I find that handwriting my notes is the most effective way for me to get things to stick. I also tried to start using Anki, but found that it was just way too much so I kind of just ditched it after 3 days. Another thing that I did that I think did help me though was having an ongoing document just for all the practice test/extra question bank problems that I got wrong or felt shaky on. I would make note of the important concepts from each one and put in related diagrams, charts, images, etc. I also attended all 3 Crash Courses and they were incredible. Pretty much everything high-yield is covered in them and I would totally recommend going if you can! The final thing was doing all the problems in both the Extra Practice questions/new Review QBank. There are so many problems across all these resources and I made sure to Mark EVERY question I got wrong or didn’t feel comfortable with (ended up with 500+) for review. All in all, Booster is incredibly representative. The questions on the exam tended to be easier than the Practice Exams and I even had a couple questions that were super similar to ones I had seen before!
General Chemistry (24)
Practice Tests: 16, 19, 18, 21, 20, 22, 21, 22, 21, 21
GenChem has always been my weakest science so I don’t know if I can give too much advice but essentially what I did was I first watched all the lectures and did all the Extra Practice Bank problems. Then, as I stated above, I watched Chad’s videos on the topics I wasn’t too comfortable with while taking handwritten notes. I also made an ongoing document like I did for Biology and also made sure to Mark questions as I went through the Practice Exams/Extra Practice questions to review (I had 200+). The actual exam itself felt a lot simpler compared to Booster especially in terms of calculation problems, so please do not stress over those!
Organic Chemistry (30)
Practice Tests: 16, 19, 21, 20, 22, 20, 20 25, 22, 21
Organic Chemistry is for sure one of my favorite subjects. I had an amazing professor when I took it sophomore year and loved it so much that I ended up TA-ing for her junior fall before I went abroad! So many of the reaction/mechanism-based problems almost seem more like logic puzzles to me and this type of thinking is right up my alley. I went through all the video lectures twice and while referring directly to the Booster Reaction Sheet. Since the sheet mostly only has reactants, reagents, and products, I also made sure to write in arrow-pushing mechanisms for everything I could to help me better understand how the electrons were actually moving. I think this is incredibly helpful and I would recommend doing this to really get a grasp on what is going on, rather than just blankly memorizing! I also made an ongoing document and made sure to Mark questions while I did the Practice Exams/Extra Practice questions for review (I had 200+). The exam questions were a breeze compared to Booster and there was only 1 question that took me a bit longer to figure out but it wasn’t bad at all.
PAT (24)
Practice Tests: 17, 19, 25, 21, 21, 21, 20, 21, 21, 24
Not going to lie, I was so stressed about this section. I continuously struggled with timing throughout my entire studying process and there were only 2 practice exams where I was able to finish without having to guess like 10 problems in the end (#3 and #10). I knew that if I could pace myself well on the real exam, things would be okay, but if I couldn’t, it was bound to be a disaster. I watched all the videos for strategies, did all the Extra Practice questions (except Keyhole since there’s like 10), and tried to use the Generators at least once every 2 days. I did the thing that most people do where they start with 31 and then come back to Keyhole and TFE. I was always aiming for 30 minutes for 31-90 and then another 30 minutes for 1-30. I think my biggest advice here is to practice, practice, practice. As you gain exposure to problems, your eyes will get better at spotting details/visualizing and you WILL get faster. Also, make sure to utilize the strikethrough function to eliminate for Keyhole, TFE, Angle Ranking, and Pattern Folding. The faster and the more you can eliminate, the better. On the actual exam, I was able to complete 31-90 in 32 minutes, 1-30 in about 20 minutes, and had around 8 minutes to review.
Reading Comprehension (24)
Practice Tests: 20, 20, 19, 21, 20, 19, 18, 22, 23, 24
This section actually ended up being the most nerve wracking for me on the actual exam. I didn’t do too much to prepare besides watching the videos for strategies/tips, doing 20 of the Extra Practice Passages, and doing the Practice Exams. I initially used the vanilla method, but I always found myself struggling to finish in time since I would spend so long reading at the beginning. I then tested out the search and destroy method with some of the Extra Practice passages and found that to work so much better for me. I would go problem by problem and if it was a simple recall question, I would search to try to find the answer as fast as I could. If it was a more application based question, I would just mark and move on. Then, after going through all the problems for the passage and getting a better understanding of what it was about as I scanned around for the recall questions, I could then go back to try to answer the application ones. On the exam, I might’ve spent a little too much time on the third passage so all I had time for afterwards was to just go through my 4 marked questions (I even had to guess 2). It was so stressful and I literally thought I bombed the section, but thankfully it turned out to be totally fine.
Quantitative Reasoning (23)
Practice Tests: 20, 25, 24, 25, 21, 25, 24, 23, 25, 25
QR was definitely the easiest for me to prepare for. I have always had a pretty strong background in math so I didn’t do too much besides watching all the videos, doing most of the Extra Practice questions, and doing the Practice Exams. I do have to say that the Extra Practice questions are WAY harder than what you will see on the exam and to not stress if you can’t solve them! I remember seeing some of the Algebra questions and being like I absolutely do not know how to solve this. The actual Practice Exam questions are much easier and a lot more representative of what will actually show up! I also just briefly went over important equations and concepts before the exam and would recommend doing that, but the real exam was nothing too crazy. It’s still kind of interesting how the section that was pretty much always my highest during Practice Exams became my lowest score on the real thing, but I think I probably just made some careless errors due to feeling exhausted at this point or feeling stressed about the fact that my score was going to show up soon.
Ending Notes:
First of all, this post is ridiculously long so thank you so much if you’ve read to this point! I definitely got carried away with typing, but I really just wanted to fully share what helped me while studying with the hopes that it can benefit at least one person!
I know how intense this whole process is and I just hope that my experience shows you hard work WILL pay off. I’ve never considered myself to be “smart”, but I do consider myself to be a hard worker. There were so many times where I felt incredibly overwhelmed and wanted to stop studying after like 2 or 3 hours, but I always found some way to keep myself going. I had already put in so much time and effort so I couldn’t just let myself stop there. Giving this process everything I had was the most important thing to me because not getting a score that I wanted and having to retake knowing that I did not prepare to the best of my ability would’ve been so disappointing. I truly think finding ways to motivate yourself throughout the process is key to being able to push all the way to the end! But also, please be better than me and make sure to take periodic breaks because those are definitely very necessary! Your physical and mental health are always the most important.
If you are feeling stressed right now, I want you to know that I was the same exact way. For the entire month leading up to my exam, I had this underlying queasy feeling. The week of was so scary and the day before/day of was like the most stressed I have ever felt. I tried to sleep early the night before but I literally could not fall asleep for so long and kept periodically waking up throughout the night. My heart was beating so fast right before I started the exam. It got better as I was taking it since I was in focus mode, but it immediately started right back up again even more intensely right when I finished since I knew that my score was going to come up any minute. However, the relief and happiness I felt when I saw my scores is something I will never forget. I was just SO happy to be done and I could not believe what I was seeing. I had gone into the exam with a goal of trying to get over 21 on everything so what happened was way beyond my wildest dreams.
If anything, work hard and you WILL crush the DAT. If I can do it, so can you. Sending you all my luck and don’t hesitate to reach out for anything!
Hey everyone!
I’ve been waiting so long for this moment to finally post my own DAT scores breakdown after literally reading every single one I could find while studying and I can’t believe it’s actually here. These posts have been so incredibly helpful to me over the past 2 months and I’m hoping that this post can be the same for you!
Scores:
Bio - 30
GC - 24
OC - 30
TS - 29
PAT - 24
RC - 24
QR - 23
AA - 26
Background:
I’m a rising senior (Biology major and Computer Science minor) with a 3.96 GPA. This was my first attempt at the DAT and I was really just hoping I could knock it out in one go and not have to worry about it again! However I knew that if it didn’t go well, I could study and retake again (probably would’ve done this in January) and still be able to apply in time next year.
Materials:
1. DAT Booster
This website is essentially what I attribute my score to! I remember initially struggling to decide on a DAT test prep service to use, but after seeing all the amazing things about Booster, I went with it. Now looking back, it was for sure the right choice (for such a great price too!) and I don’t regret it a single bit. It truly has everything you need to succeed and if you really try to utilize everything that is provided, you will very likely do amazing! There’s more detail on how I studied for each section with it below.
2. Chad’s Videos for General Chemistry
I’ve heard so many great things about Chad so I decided to check it out and watch a couple of his videos for General Chemistry concepts I wasn’t too comfortable with (Colligative Properties, Rate Laws, Equilibrium, and Acid Base). As expected, he was incredible and I really love his teaching style! His videos definitely helped me to better understand these concepts and I felt a lot more confident about my ability to solve those types of problems after watching them.
Study Timeline:
When I began studying for the DAT, I had just finished a semester abroad my junior spring. I know it’s not as common for pre-health students to go abroad, but I would 100% recommend it if you can. It was the most amazing 4 months and I would not trade the experiences I had or friendships I made for anything.
I also actually took no STEM classes for the first time in my life during that semester and things were pretty relaxed in general so I was even more nervous about getting back into it. I was worried that I had forgotten literally everything after such a long period of time. However, my semester ended June 21st and after flying back home/giving myself a couple of days to get over jet lag and spend time with my family, I went straight into preparing.
June 27th - July 31st: I started off by using Booster’s 10 week study guide since I really did not know where or how to begin. It was great because it gave me a sense of direction and allowed me to be exposed to all the material in a timely manner. I will have to say though, it was a lot. There was so much to get through every day and it was even harder because I made it my goal to finish the 5 week “Learning Phase” in the ~4 weeks I had. I did end up making it happen by not taking the planned break days off and also just trying to do a little more some days, but boy was it exhausting.
August 1st - August 26th: I did not feel great after the “Learning Phase” especially for the science sections. I felt like I had just gone through each day for the sake of checking off the boxes whereas in reality, I really retained like nothing. I remember having a moment early that week stressing over Biology because I had no idea how I was going to possibly catch up and get all the information I needed to into my head before my exam. It was the worst feeling ever, but I also think this was my turning point. I realized that I couldn’t exactly change the past, but it was now my responsibility to crack down even harder and get myself back on track. I decided to ditch the premade study guide plan and make my own schedule that was more tailored towards my personal learning needs.
Bio (30)
Practice Tests: 13, 17, 20, 20, 20, 20, 22, 24, 22, 21, 19, 24, 26, 24, 22
Like many of you, this section was the most daunting for me and I spent a majority of my time here. Even as a Biology major, I just really could not fathom how I was supposed to memorize and understand all this information in such a short period of time. However, what really helped me get this score up was a combination of things that I did in the last couple of weeks. I first went through all the video lectures again while taking detailed handwritten notes (the first time around, I just purely watched). I find that handwriting my notes is the most effective way for me to get things to stick. I also tried to start using Anki, but found that it was just way too much so I kind of just ditched it after 3 days. Another thing that I did that I think did help me though was having an ongoing document just for all the practice test/extra question bank problems that I got wrong or felt shaky on. I would make note of the important concepts from each one and put in related diagrams, charts, images, etc. I also attended all 3 Crash Courses and they were incredible. Pretty much everything high-yield is covered in them and I would totally recommend going if you can! The final thing was doing all the problems in both the Extra Practice questions/new Review QBank. There are so many problems across all these resources and I made sure to Mark EVERY question I got wrong or didn’t feel comfortable with (ended up with 500+) for review. All in all, Booster is incredibly representative. The questions on the exam tended to be easier than the Practice Exams and I even had a couple questions that were super similar to ones I had seen before!
General Chemistry (24)
Practice Tests: 16, 19, 18, 21, 20, 22, 21, 22, 21, 21
GenChem has always been my weakest science so I don’t know if I can give too much advice but essentially what I did was I first watched all the lectures and did all the Extra Practice Bank problems. Then, as I stated above, I watched Chad’s videos on the topics I wasn’t too comfortable with while taking handwritten notes. I also made an ongoing document like I did for Biology and also made sure to Mark questions as I went through the Practice Exams/Extra Practice questions to review (I had 200+). The actual exam itself felt a lot simpler compared to Booster especially in terms of calculation problems, so please do not stress over those!
Organic Chemistry (30)
Practice Tests: 16, 19, 21, 20, 22, 20, 20 25, 22, 21
Organic Chemistry is for sure one of my favorite subjects. I had an amazing professor when I took it sophomore year and loved it so much that I ended up TA-ing for her junior fall before I went abroad! So many of the reaction/mechanism-based problems almost seem more like logic puzzles to me and this type of thinking is right up my alley. I went through all the video lectures twice and while referring directly to the Booster Reaction Sheet. Since the sheet mostly only has reactants, reagents, and products, I also made sure to write in arrow-pushing mechanisms for everything I could to help me better understand how the electrons were actually moving. I think this is incredibly helpful and I would recommend doing this to really get a grasp on what is going on, rather than just blankly memorizing! I also made an ongoing document and made sure to Mark questions while I did the Practice Exams/Extra Practice questions for review (I had 200+). The exam questions were a breeze compared to Booster and there was only 1 question that took me a bit longer to figure out but it wasn’t bad at all.
PAT (24)
Practice Tests: 17, 19, 25, 21, 21, 21, 20, 21, 21, 24
Not going to lie, I was so stressed about this section. I continuously struggled with timing throughout my entire studying process and there were only 2 practice exams where I was able to finish without having to guess like 10 problems in the end (#3 and #10). I knew that if I could pace myself well on the real exam, things would be okay, but if I couldn’t, it was bound to be a disaster. I watched all the videos for strategies, did all the Extra Practice questions (except Keyhole since there’s like 10), and tried to use the Generators at least once every 2 days. I did the thing that most people do where they start with 31 and then come back to Keyhole and TFE. I was always aiming for 30 minutes for 31-90 and then another 30 minutes for 1-30. I think my biggest advice here is to practice, practice, practice. As you gain exposure to problems, your eyes will get better at spotting details/visualizing and you WILL get faster. Also, make sure to utilize the strikethrough function to eliminate for Keyhole, TFE, Angle Ranking, and Pattern Folding. The faster and the more you can eliminate, the better. On the actual exam, I was able to complete 31-90 in 32 minutes, 1-30 in about 20 minutes, and had around 8 minutes to review.
Reading Comprehension (24)
Practice Tests: 20, 20, 19, 21, 20, 19, 18, 22, 23, 24
This section actually ended up being the most nerve wracking for me on the actual exam. I didn’t do too much to prepare besides watching the videos for strategies/tips, doing 20 of the Extra Practice Passages, and doing the Practice Exams. I initially used the vanilla method, but I always found myself struggling to finish in time since I would spend so long reading at the beginning. I then tested out the search and destroy method with some of the Extra Practice passages and found that to work so much better for me. I would go problem by problem and if it was a simple recall question, I would search to try to find the answer as fast as I could. If it was a more application based question, I would just mark and move on. Then, after going through all the problems for the passage and getting a better understanding of what it was about as I scanned around for the recall questions, I could then go back to try to answer the application ones. On the exam, I might’ve spent a little too much time on the third passage so all I had time for afterwards was to just go through my 4 marked questions (I even had to guess 2). It was so stressful and I literally thought I bombed the section, but thankfully it turned out to be totally fine.
Quantitative Reasoning (23)
Practice Tests: 20, 25, 24, 25, 21, 25, 24, 23, 25, 25
QR was definitely the easiest for me to prepare for. I have always had a pretty strong background in math so I didn’t do too much besides watching all the videos, doing most of the Extra Practice questions, and doing the Practice Exams. I do have to say that the Extra Practice questions are WAY harder than what you will see on the exam and to not stress if you can’t solve them! I remember seeing some of the Algebra questions and being like I absolutely do not know how to solve this. The actual Practice Exam questions are much easier and a lot more representative of what will actually show up! I also just briefly went over important equations and concepts before the exam and would recommend doing that, but the real exam was nothing too crazy. It’s still kind of interesting how the section that was pretty much always my highest during Practice Exams became my lowest score on the real thing, but I think I probably just made some careless errors due to feeling exhausted at this point or feeling stressed about the fact that my score was going to show up soon.
Ending Notes:
First of all, this post is ridiculously long so thank you so much if you’ve read to this point! I definitely got carried away with typing, but I really just wanted to fully share what helped me while studying with the hopes that it can benefit at least one person!
I know how intense this whole process is and I just hope that my experience shows you hard work WILL pay off. I’ve never considered myself to be “smart”, but I do consider myself to be a hard worker. There were so many times where I felt incredibly overwhelmed and wanted to stop studying after like 2 or 3 hours, but I always found some way to keep myself going. I had already put in so much time and effort so I couldn’t just let myself stop there. Giving this process everything I had was the most important thing to me because not getting a score that I wanted and having to retake knowing that I did not prepare to the best of my ability would’ve been so disappointing. I truly think finding ways to motivate yourself throughout the process is key to being able to push all the way to the end! But also, please be better than me and make sure to take periodic breaks because those are definitely very necessary! Your physical and mental health are always the most important.
If you are feeling stressed right now, I want you to know that I was the same exact way. For the entire month leading up to my exam, I had this underlying queasy feeling. The week of was so scary and the day before/day of was like the most stressed I have ever felt. I tried to sleep early the night before but I literally could not fall asleep for so long and kept periodically waking up throughout the night. My heart was beating so fast right before I started the exam. It got better as I was taking it since I was in focus mode, but it immediately started right back up again even more intensely right when I finished since I knew that my score was going to come up any minute. However, the relief and happiness I felt when I saw my scores is something I will never forget. I was just SO happy to be done and I could not believe what I was seeing. I had gone into the exam with a goal of trying to get over 21 on everything so what happened was way beyond my wildest dreams.
If anything, work hard and you WILL crush the DAT. If I can do it, so can you. Sending you all my luck and don’t hesitate to reach out for anything!
