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- Aug 5, 2015
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I took my DAT yesterday, and wanted to write this because I found it incredibly helpful to read basically all of the DAT breakdowns from the past year before starting my own study schedule, and because I think this one may benefit people who do not want to pay several hundred for subscriptions that only last a few months. I am not trying to knock on those sources--I've read plenty of times how they have helped others so I know they can be useful. I just did not want to use them because I really cannot concentrate on learning when I watch videos bc the people talk too slowly, and I don't like the idea of paying several hundred dollars for things that will expire in a few months. I also just don't like how everyone says you essentially have to use a certain product to be successful, but that is just personal preference. I know that could be seen as a huge risk to take, but I figured it could be a risk to spend half a thousand on resources only to fail anyway, which people can still do with the super popular resources so oh well lol.
I studied from the beginning of May to mid-July, for about 3-5 hours a day for about 5-6 days a week. I traveled a lot and didn't study for a whole week for one of the vacations, and am also juggling 2 summer courses. I also binged Brooklyn 99 and highly recommend. The week leading up to my test I probably studied somewhere between 8-10 hours a day, and I felt exhausted and beyond stressed. I know my scores aren't among the greats in the 23+ categories, but I felt so stressed about getting even above 17 in all categories that I actually started crying when I finally left the testing center from relief, and I am incredibly proud of these numbers.
Bio: 21
GC: 21
OC: 22
RC: 24
QR: 22
PAT: 21
TS: 21
AA: 22
The materials I used: Kaplan Blue Book, DAT & MATH Destroyer, Dr. Romano's bio notes, Organic Chemistry as a Second Language books, and Crack the DAT, 2007 and 2009 DAT.
Bio - KBB, Dr. Romano's bio notes, DAT Destroyer
I've tried to read Cliff's so many times but I always fall asleep during the first chapter so I figured it wasn't for me. Then I looked at BC's notes and they were basically Cliff's notes with some extra padding and I didn't like the bulleted format, so I switched to Romano's notes when they finally came out. These notes were incredibly helpful in explaining concepts, and although I forgot a lot of the exact terms, I was still able to answer about 60-70% of the questions correctly in destroyer when I first started it. As I went through destroyer, I felt like a lot of concepts are ingrained bc you keep seeing them, and you can figure out which concepts belong to other terms/mechanisms/whatever. The week following up to my test, I read through KBB's bio, which helped me with terms and some concepts I forgot from Dr. Romano's notes. I would've read his notes again but I was in that rush period where I didn't feel like I had enough time for anything.
On the real DAT, there were a lot of concepts I didn't know, but also some questions that looked like they came right out of Destroyer. For the concepts I didn't know, I used the skills I picked up from using destroyer to choose an answer, and I guess it worked lol.
GC - KBB, DAT Destroyer
GC killed my gpa, so I was really worried about this section. I read through the GC section of KBB, a chapter a day, and then went through Destroyer. I then read through KBB again, then went through Destroyer again. There was a point where I seriously wanted to give up because I had no clue what was happening, and none of it was clicking, so i really think I got lucky on test day, and Destroyer helped with some concepts that weren't in KBB. I skimmed concepts I didn't remember the night before my test.
On test day, I got a few questions I simply did not know how to do, but many were answerable with practice from KBB and Destroyer. I didn't memorize many equations for test day either, so I may have lucked out in terms of what I got.
OC - KBB, Second Language, Destroyer
I had to retake OC 1 in college, and that's when I really grew an understanding and appreciation for the subject. Thus, I enjoyed relearning this subject the most. I read through KBB, which was a good light review, but nothing more. I then read through the Second Language books and took notes right in the sections that they aligned with in KBB. These books saved my grades when I took the courses, and I think they saved me for the DAT. They really give a good explanation for understanding concepts, and they're not confusing at all. I then did all of the Destroyer problems, and felt sort of good with everything. The morning of my test, I skimmed through my notes and highlights in KBB (do not recommend, study beforehand). I didn't memorize actual reagents, and just really went for understanding mechanisms and why they worked.
On test day, the understanding of mechanisms and reactivity helped more than if I spent my time just memorizing reactants and products.
RC - KBB, Crack the DAT reading
I read through KBB's methods back in May. Then I put reading off until three days before my exam lol. Reading was my worst socre on the ACT (it brought it down a lot), so I was v worried about this subject and procrastinated on it. I then did 3 of the Crack exams each of the three days leading up to my exam using Kaplan's mapping/searching method. I scored 20, 19, 20 and thought that'd be pretty sufficient.
On test day, I felt like I was swimming through these with two bricks attached to my feet. The articles I got were equal in number of paragraphs but slightly more boring in subject than Crack Reading. The questions seemed more straight forward, but that could be luck. It was definitely harder to search for things in the article when I didn't pay as much attention to it during mapping, and I almost ran out of time. I was very surprised with my score.
QR - KBB, Math Destroyer
I watched khan's videos last year, but thought they were boring and didn't feel like I retained anything. In may, I read through KBB's math explanations as a review. KBB really has good explanations for probability and statistics in my opinion. Then I started Destroyer. After going through all 11 of them, I figured out patterns of questions, and felt most comfortable with this section.
On test day, it was probably due to fatigue and racing thoughts about how I've failed so there's no point, but I feel like the test was almost harder. Or maybe it wasn't. I don't remember much of it, I just wanted to go home at this point.
PAT - Crack the PAT
I did two tests back in May to figure out what it was about. I got 18 and 19 on them. I then waited until the week before my test to practice them. I did one test a day except for the day before, and was getting 23 on all of them. Crack also has generators for angles, hole punches, and cube counting, but I only used the hole punching one for an hour bc I felt I was too slow on them.
I feel like the actual DAT was harder for keyholes and angles, and pretty on point for TFE and pattern folding. And maybe almost easier for hole punching and cube counting??? But for keyhole, there were some where all the answers looked the same, and angles where there was no way they were different??? I usually used an angle method where I imagine a little stick figure is skiing down the slopes, and the steeper one is the bigger/smaller angle, but that was impossible to use on test day
Oh well, I got a good enough score!
ADA tests:
I think these tests are good to see where you're at, and can be confidence boosters sometimes. I scored all over the place on these though. For the 2007 test, I got 16 Bio/ 20 GC/ 29 OC. I took this one week out from my test. So I panicked and really cracked down on bio. I then took the 2009 test 5 days out and got 17/17/17 across the sciences. This basically induced a stress response where my hair was falling off my head everywhere I sat. I wanted to reschedule my test, but I'm about to go on vacation again, so I felt like I wouldn't be studying enough for it to be worth it to put it off any longer. I also didn't use these tests to practice math, pat, or reading since I figured they're different now or it's better to practice in computer format. I was really scared I'd barely pull off a 17 or 18 on the real thing.
In the end, I think my scores were partially due to luck, but also I think KBB and DAT Destroyer were extremely helpful with preparing for the dreaded day. I was worried I wouldn't do well with seeing everyone say to not use Kaplan and that I needed BC, but I am glad I saved several hundred dollars I can now use on application fees instead. I am so relieved that I can now focus on my applications and enjoy these last few weeks of summer
I studied from the beginning of May to mid-July, for about 3-5 hours a day for about 5-6 days a week. I traveled a lot and didn't study for a whole week for one of the vacations, and am also juggling 2 summer courses. I also binged Brooklyn 99 and highly recommend. The week leading up to my test I probably studied somewhere between 8-10 hours a day, and I felt exhausted and beyond stressed. I know my scores aren't among the greats in the 23+ categories, but I felt so stressed about getting even above 17 in all categories that I actually started crying when I finally left the testing center from relief, and I am incredibly proud of these numbers.
Bio: 21
GC: 21
OC: 22
RC: 24
QR: 22
PAT: 21
TS: 21
AA: 22
The materials I used: Kaplan Blue Book, DAT & MATH Destroyer, Dr. Romano's bio notes, Organic Chemistry as a Second Language books, and Crack the DAT, 2007 and 2009 DAT.
Bio - KBB, Dr. Romano's bio notes, DAT Destroyer
I've tried to read Cliff's so many times but I always fall asleep during the first chapter so I figured it wasn't for me. Then I looked at BC's notes and they were basically Cliff's notes with some extra padding and I didn't like the bulleted format, so I switched to Romano's notes when they finally came out. These notes were incredibly helpful in explaining concepts, and although I forgot a lot of the exact terms, I was still able to answer about 60-70% of the questions correctly in destroyer when I first started it. As I went through destroyer, I felt like a lot of concepts are ingrained bc you keep seeing them, and you can figure out which concepts belong to other terms/mechanisms/whatever. The week following up to my test, I read through KBB's bio, which helped me with terms and some concepts I forgot from Dr. Romano's notes. I would've read his notes again but I was in that rush period where I didn't feel like I had enough time for anything.
On the real DAT, there were a lot of concepts I didn't know, but also some questions that looked like they came right out of Destroyer. For the concepts I didn't know, I used the skills I picked up from using destroyer to choose an answer, and I guess it worked lol.
GC - KBB, DAT Destroyer
GC killed my gpa, so I was really worried about this section. I read through the GC section of KBB, a chapter a day, and then went through Destroyer. I then read through KBB again, then went through Destroyer again. There was a point where I seriously wanted to give up because I had no clue what was happening, and none of it was clicking, so i really think I got lucky on test day, and Destroyer helped with some concepts that weren't in KBB. I skimmed concepts I didn't remember the night before my test.
On test day, I got a few questions I simply did not know how to do, but many were answerable with practice from KBB and Destroyer. I didn't memorize many equations for test day either, so I may have lucked out in terms of what I got.
OC - KBB, Second Language, Destroyer
I had to retake OC 1 in college, and that's when I really grew an understanding and appreciation for the subject. Thus, I enjoyed relearning this subject the most. I read through KBB, which was a good light review, but nothing more. I then read through the Second Language books and took notes right in the sections that they aligned with in KBB. These books saved my grades when I took the courses, and I think they saved me for the DAT. They really give a good explanation for understanding concepts, and they're not confusing at all. I then did all of the Destroyer problems, and felt sort of good with everything. The morning of my test, I skimmed through my notes and highlights in KBB (do not recommend, study beforehand). I didn't memorize actual reagents, and just really went for understanding mechanisms and why they worked.
On test day, the understanding of mechanisms and reactivity helped more than if I spent my time just memorizing reactants and products.
RC - KBB, Crack the DAT reading
I read through KBB's methods back in May. Then I put reading off until three days before my exam lol. Reading was my worst socre on the ACT (it brought it down a lot), so I was v worried about this subject and procrastinated on it. I then did 3 of the Crack exams each of the three days leading up to my exam using Kaplan's mapping/searching method. I scored 20, 19, 20 and thought that'd be pretty sufficient.
On test day, I felt like I was swimming through these with two bricks attached to my feet. The articles I got were equal in number of paragraphs but slightly more boring in subject than Crack Reading. The questions seemed more straight forward, but that could be luck. It was definitely harder to search for things in the article when I didn't pay as much attention to it during mapping, and I almost ran out of time. I was very surprised with my score.
QR - KBB, Math Destroyer
I watched khan's videos last year, but thought they were boring and didn't feel like I retained anything. In may, I read through KBB's math explanations as a review. KBB really has good explanations for probability and statistics in my opinion. Then I started Destroyer. After going through all 11 of them, I figured out patterns of questions, and felt most comfortable with this section.
On test day, it was probably due to fatigue and racing thoughts about how I've failed so there's no point, but I feel like the test was almost harder. Or maybe it wasn't. I don't remember much of it, I just wanted to go home at this point.
PAT - Crack the PAT
I did two tests back in May to figure out what it was about. I got 18 and 19 on them. I then waited until the week before my test to practice them. I did one test a day except for the day before, and was getting 23 on all of them. Crack also has generators for angles, hole punches, and cube counting, but I only used the hole punching one for an hour bc I felt I was too slow on them.
I feel like the actual DAT was harder for keyholes and angles, and pretty on point for TFE and pattern folding. And maybe almost easier for hole punching and cube counting??? But for keyhole, there were some where all the answers looked the same, and angles where there was no way they were different??? I usually used an angle method where I imagine a little stick figure is skiing down the slopes, and the steeper one is the bigger/smaller angle, but that was impossible to use on test day
Oh well, I got a good enough score!ADA tests:
I think these tests are good to see where you're at, and can be confidence boosters sometimes. I scored all over the place on these though. For the 2007 test, I got 16 Bio/ 20 GC/ 29 OC. I took this one week out from my test. So I panicked and really cracked down on bio. I then took the 2009 test 5 days out and got 17/17/17 across the sciences. This basically induced a stress response where my hair was falling off my head everywhere I sat. I wanted to reschedule my test, but I'm about to go on vacation again, so I felt like I wouldn't be studying enough for it to be worth it to put it off any longer. I also didn't use these tests to practice math, pat, or reading since I figured they're different now or it's better to practice in computer format. I was really scared I'd barely pull off a 17 or 18 on the real thing.
In the end, I think my scores were partially due to luck, but also I think KBB and DAT Destroyer were extremely helpful with preparing for the dreaded day. I was worried I wouldn't do well with seeing everyone say to not use Kaplan and that I needed BC, but I am glad I saved several hundred dollars I can now use on application fees instead. I am so relieved that I can now focus on my applications and enjoy these last few weeks of summer
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