Swimmingduck
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2023
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 1
Hi! I recently took my DAT and wanted to share some words of advice.
Score report link:
Scores:
PAT: 19
QR: 20
RC: 19
BIO: 24
GC: 27
OC: 25
TS: 25
AA: 23
Background:
Upcoming Senior with 4.0 GPA
Materials Used:
Study Timeline:
I initially started studying during winter break (December-January) and intended to take it at the beginning of January, but I soon realized that it would be best to delay it. During that month, I focused on my weak areas (QR and GC) by going over every video and doing the question banks. I also tried to do some PAT on the side. Once classes started back up, I decided to pause my membership.
I continued my studies from about 5/13 to 7/1. This is when I followed DAT Booster’s 8 week program but ended up editing some things after content learning. I only read the notes and practiced with questions because that is how I best learn. I didn’t bother with Anki or flashcards because I have never used to study. I am usually the type to cram before an exam so just rereading notes was how I studied. Find your method and stick to it.
Day of Exam:
Bio (24):
Very straightforward questions with the majority of the content covered by the cheat sheets. I was lucky to not get any taxonomy or plants, but other than that, the questions were pretty spread out over the remaining chapters.
GC (27):
Half conceptual, half calculations. The calculations had easy numbers or were just set up. I only had one question that I was not sure how to solve. Really similar to practice exams.
OC (25):
Again, the same topics that appeared on the practice exams. Acidity ranking, reaction types, a few easy reactions, mechanisms, and H/C NMR.
PAT (19):
The hole punching and key-hole were harder than Booster’s. The rest was pretty similar. Just practice it, I didn’t practice much.
RC(19):
Find a method that works for you. I used search & destroy and vanilla depending on the passage. Dense = search and destroy. I am a slow reader so that was my weakness.
QR (20):
Booster covered everything I needed to know for this section. Biggest advice is to get used to the statement sufficiency questions because they can have some pretty hard ones. No geometry just the area of a triangle. No surprises here, I was just beat.
ETC:
Don’t worry if your practice exam scores are not high. I was averaging 21-22 AA with some 18’s and 19’s. Also, I recommend taking breaks earlier than later because trust me, you will get burnt out. Make sure you do equal amounts of studying and practice exams towards the end, don’t just rely on the explanations but actually find the topic you got wrong and reread it. Walk in with confidence and you will do great.
Ending Advice:
I never thought I would score this high, but trust me hard work pays off. Make sure to sleep well the week leading up to the exam and don’t drink caffeine on the day of. I had to hold it in for over an hour TWICE. Also, go outside during the break and relax. I called my Mom for some motivation because I thought I did horribly in the PAT section.
Score report link:
Scores:
PAT: 19
QR: 20
RC: 19
BIO: 24
GC: 27
OC: 25
TS: 25
AA: 23
Background:
Upcoming Senior with 4.0 GPA
Materials Used:
- DAT Booster- I believe this program is more than enough for preparation. The practice exams were really similar to the real deal and I had a few exact questions. The biology cheat sheets tell you exactly what you need to focus on. The notes for the sciences are really neat and have imbedded questions to test for understanding. The PAT section provides explanations through videos and color-coded diagrams. The videos also teach fast methods to get to the right answers. The RC question banks overprepared me for the practice exams because I found the practice exam/real exam passages easier. Lastly, the QR walks you through every kind of question you can get asked. The program is designed to start you from the ground up especially if you have forgotten the material.
- Free Chad’s chemistry videos from YouTube- these videos helped with some hard concepts such as SN1/2 and E1/2 reactions.
Study Timeline:
I initially started studying during winter break (December-January) and intended to take it at the beginning of January, but I soon realized that it would be best to delay it. During that month, I focused on my weak areas (QR and GC) by going over every video and doing the question banks. I also tried to do some PAT on the side. Once classes started back up, I decided to pause my membership.
I continued my studies from about 5/13 to 7/1. This is when I followed DAT Booster’s 8 week program but ended up editing some things after content learning. I only read the notes and practiced with questions because that is how I best learn. I didn’t bother with Anki or flashcards because I have never used to study. I am usually the type to cram before an exam so just rereading notes was how I studied. Find your method and stick to it.
Day of Exam:
Bio (24):
Very straightforward questions with the majority of the content covered by the cheat sheets. I was lucky to not get any taxonomy or plants, but other than that, the questions were pretty spread out over the remaining chapters.
GC (27):
Half conceptual, half calculations. The calculations had easy numbers or were just set up. I only had one question that I was not sure how to solve. Really similar to practice exams.
OC (25):
Again, the same topics that appeared on the practice exams. Acidity ranking, reaction types, a few easy reactions, mechanisms, and H/C NMR.
PAT (19):
The hole punching and key-hole were harder than Booster’s. The rest was pretty similar. Just practice it, I didn’t practice much.
RC(19):
Find a method that works for you. I used search & destroy and vanilla depending on the passage. Dense = search and destroy. I am a slow reader so that was my weakness.
QR (20):
Booster covered everything I needed to know for this section. Biggest advice is to get used to the statement sufficiency questions because they can have some pretty hard ones. No geometry just the area of a triangle. No surprises here, I was just beat.
ETC:
Don’t worry if your practice exam scores are not high. I was averaging 21-22 AA with some 18’s and 19’s. Also, I recommend taking breaks earlier than later because trust me, you will get burnt out. Make sure you do equal amounts of studying and practice exams towards the end, don’t just rely on the explanations but actually find the topic you got wrong and reread it. Walk in with confidence and you will do great.
Ending Advice:
I never thought I would score this high, but trust me hard work pays off. Make sure to sleep well the week leading up to the exam and don’t drink caffeine on the day of. I had to hold it in for over an hour TWICE. Also, go outside during the break and relax. I called my Mom for some motivation because I thought I did horribly in the PAT section.
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