LavenderAndHoney
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2023
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I took my test at the end of May and here’s what all I did:
Overall:
I was supposed to test in January and spent December studying and then moved my test to February and then May after not feeling prepared. It is definitely an undertaking trying to study while also in school. I started with DAT Bootcamp and used it throughout December and January. I then hired a tutor and moved to DAT Booster. I found Bootcamp to be helpful if you don’t have a strong orgo foundation. I also found their reading comprehension scores to be closer to real scores. I think Booster did a better job with PAT and I found their biology and chemistry sections to prepare you really well for the test. I took one full practice test 4 days before my test and got an 18. Since it was my first full test I knew this wasn’t too representative of how I would do and I took it more to see how timing would work. I wish I had figured out a good time to study and take the test and scheduled it a little better because there was no real need to procrastinate and drag it out like I did. It definitely added unnecessary stress and I would recommend sitting down and thinking about how your study plan is going to work before committing to buying a program and scheduling the test. I was also not great about holding myself accountable to study which is where having a tutor was helpful, but I think you could get the same thing with a pre-health advisor or friend you trust. Overall, I want to point out that this is a really stressful process and it’s okay to not go exactly by a program’s study plan or to not do so well on your practice test. When you study hard and have a good understanding of foundational concepts, things work out.
PAT (19):
Did this for 30 minutes a day no matter what. I wasn’t great at it but repetition definitely helped me improve. I was strongest at cube counting and angle discrimination and honestly just guessed on top-front-ends and most keyholes.
Reading Comprehension (25):
I did a lot of reading for school and have done well in reading in previous standardized tests so I didn’t worry too much. I tried to do a practice test each week.
Quantitative Reasoning (22):
This is an area where I was not great when I started but knew I could improve. I did every practice equation on Booster and Bootcamp. I definitely did better on the practice tests than on the actual but I was still happy with my score.
Biology (25):
I am a biology major so I felt pretty comfortable with the material but I was definitely overwhelmed with how many small details there were. I did most of the practice problems on Bootcamp in December but did not feel like I retained much. I did one practice test and did not score well. I used Anki decks religiously from Booster in the last month of studying and this was definitely the best way for me to memorize lots of content quickly. After getting through the majority of the cards, I started doing 1-3 practice tests a day in my last week of studying and had really mixed scores depending on what content was focused on.
General Chemistry (21):
I watched all the videos on Bootcamp in December and then 2 weeks before the test watched all the videos on Booster. I did as many practice problems as possible. I also had my tutor re-explain some of the conceptual ideas I was struggling with. I took 1 test every day for the week before my test.
Organic Chemistry (21):
I had a really great professor for orgo so, foundationally, I felt good about this section. I watched all the orgo videos on Bootcamp in December and then watched all the Booster videos 2 weeks before the test. I felt really clear on all the concepts. I wrote out every equation on the reaction sheet three times and used Booster’s Anki deck to go through reactions a few times. I definitely did not have the majority of reactions memorized but generally understood how reagents work together enough to wing it and do ok.
Overall:
I was supposed to test in January and spent December studying and then moved my test to February and then May after not feeling prepared. It is definitely an undertaking trying to study while also in school. I started with DAT Bootcamp and used it throughout December and January. I then hired a tutor and moved to DAT Booster. I found Bootcamp to be helpful if you don’t have a strong orgo foundation. I also found their reading comprehension scores to be closer to real scores. I think Booster did a better job with PAT and I found their biology and chemistry sections to prepare you really well for the test. I took one full practice test 4 days before my test and got an 18. Since it was my first full test I knew this wasn’t too representative of how I would do and I took it more to see how timing would work. I wish I had figured out a good time to study and take the test and scheduled it a little better because there was no real need to procrastinate and drag it out like I did. It definitely added unnecessary stress and I would recommend sitting down and thinking about how your study plan is going to work before committing to buying a program and scheduling the test. I was also not great about holding myself accountable to study which is where having a tutor was helpful, but I think you could get the same thing with a pre-health advisor or friend you trust. Overall, I want to point out that this is a really stressful process and it’s okay to not go exactly by a program’s study plan or to not do so well on your practice test. When you study hard and have a good understanding of foundational concepts, things work out.
PAT (19):
Did this for 30 minutes a day no matter what. I wasn’t great at it but repetition definitely helped me improve. I was strongest at cube counting and angle discrimination and honestly just guessed on top-front-ends and most keyholes.
Reading Comprehension (25):
I did a lot of reading for school and have done well in reading in previous standardized tests so I didn’t worry too much. I tried to do a practice test each week.
Quantitative Reasoning (22):
This is an area where I was not great when I started but knew I could improve. I did every practice equation on Booster and Bootcamp. I definitely did better on the practice tests than on the actual but I was still happy with my score.
Biology (25):
I am a biology major so I felt pretty comfortable with the material but I was definitely overwhelmed with how many small details there were. I did most of the practice problems on Bootcamp in December but did not feel like I retained much. I did one practice test and did not score well. I used Anki decks religiously from Booster in the last month of studying and this was definitely the best way for me to memorize lots of content quickly. After getting through the majority of the cards, I started doing 1-3 practice tests a day in my last week of studying and had really mixed scores depending on what content was focused on.
General Chemistry (21):
I watched all the videos on Bootcamp in December and then 2 weeks before the test watched all the videos on Booster. I did as many practice problems as possible. I also had my tutor re-explain some of the conceptual ideas I was struggling with. I took 1 test every day for the week before my test.
Organic Chemistry (21):
I had a really great professor for orgo so, foundationally, I felt good about this section. I watched all the orgo videos on Bootcamp in December and then watched all the Booster videos 2 weeks before the test. I felt really clear on all the concepts. I wrote out every equation on the reaction sheet three times and used Booster’s Anki deck to go through reactions a few times. I definitely did not have the majority of reactions memorized but generally understood how reagents work together enough to wing it and do ok.