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I've read about a million of these and always formulated what I would say when I got my score. Now that I'm doing it I kind of have writers block so I'll do my best and keep this short and sweet. I hope this can give some of you some insight as to how the 2019 DAT is or maybe a little more confidence on test day if anything 
DAT Scores
PAT- 27
QR- 19
RC- 23
BIO- 21
GC- 25
OC- 27
TS - 23
AA - 23
Materials Used
DAT Bootcamp
Orgoman's free QR Youtube videos
Khan Academy
So yeah I'm sure you're thinking "Where is the rest of the study materials?" and more importantly "Where the heck is DAT Destroyer???". I decided early on that I was only going to use Bootcamp as my one paid material. This was a personal choice based on the fact that I get overwhelmed with different materials and wanted to follow Ari's schedule religiously (I stopped following the schedule like 7 weeks in lol). If I were to go back I would 100% get math destroyer. Just watching a 3rd of Orgoman's QR videos on youtube jumped my practice test score up 3 points (I made a 14 on my first QR section test on BC). If you're good at planning a study schedule I would recommend getting DAT Destroyer and work it into Ari's schedule somehow or add some days to the schedule to work through Destroyer. Even though I didn't use it I bet it would have helped me as I've seen the results it can give through my friends. I attribute my high GC and OC scores basically me getting questions that hit my strengths and Mikes vids on BC. I studied 10 weeks, around 4-7 hours a day for my DAT with one off day a week. I recommend studying at least 8 weeks, 6 weeks if you are really really confident (but you will realize its impossible to get through everything BC has to offer in that time). I strayed from Ari's schedule in week 7 because I took extra off days and wanted to take the practice tests in the order I felt comfortable with. So much of the studying comes down to willpower and the ability to say no. When you have to turn down a night of drinks and partying with your friends just remember it will all pay off in the long run, and your friends will be there when you get back (if they are true friends).
Since 90% of my studying came from BC, I'll talk mostly about BC...
DAT Bootcamp
What can I say other than in my opinion this is the absolute best study material for the DAT. Everything you need study wise for the DAT is all in one place, and any questions you may have can be answered on the site within a few hours by Ari and his team. They really understand the "type" of questions the DAT asks, and it conditions you to not hesitate and instantly know what to do when you see a familiar "type" of question. The practice tests are hands down the best simulation of the real DAT you will find anywhere. During the real DAT I would get about 5 questions in and then totally forget that I was taking the most important test of my life, it felt like just another practice test. I went through EVERYTHING in BC except 2 PAT tests and 2 RC tests. I told myself if this was the only paid resources I was using I was going to use it to the fullest. Number one piece of advice I can give about DAT Bootcamp is DON'T GET DISCOURAGED ABOUT YOUR PRACTICE SCORES. I know everyone has heard this a million times but its so true. Use your practice tests to strengthen your weak spots, don't let them get you down. That right there is my #1 best tip on how to do well on the DAT. Below are my last five full test scores I took in BC about a week and a half before the test. Look for yourself to see the improvement (minus QR). Overall the DAT was much easier than BC. My lack of improvement on the QR definitely came from test anxiety and tiredness. There were about 4 questions in a row that I didn't know how to do and panic set in. I sunk a lot of time in a few questions as well. I took a deep breath and pulled myself out of my mini panic attack but finished by the skin of my teeth (dental joke??? lol) and completely guessed on 3 or 4 questions. Don't let this happen to you. If you don't know it immediately just guess, mark it, and move on. A calm mind can definitely make the difference of a few points on the DAT.
BC Tests 6-10 Scores
BIO- 19/19/18/21/19 AVG- ~19 (+2 points on real DAT)
GC- 19/22/21/18/22 AVG- ~20 (+5 points on real DAT)
OC- 19/18/18/19/18 AVG- ~18 (+9 points on real DAT)
RC- 23/23/21/23/20 AVG- ~22 (+1 point on real DAT)
QR- 20/20/17/20/20 AVG- 19 (same on test day real DAT was definitely easier but anxiety got to me as stated before)
PAT- 20/20/20/20/20 AVG 20 (+7 points on test day)
My practice test scores are proof that you don't need to worry yourself to death over the numbers. You have to remember BC is a study material, so its purposefully harder so that it conditions you to really nail down the topics. BC is also much more "balanced" in terms of trying to expose you to every "type" of question throughout its tests, so when taking the Bootcamp tests I felt like I would run into questions I had only seen once much more often then how the real DAT was. I'll go into a section breakdown next to give you an idea on how a 2019 DAT possibly is.
BIO (21)- Very typical biology section based on what I read from other SDN posts. I don't want to say it... buts its the absolute truth. Breadth over depth (there I said it). I had about 3 questions with words I had never seen before which is typical of the bio section. I made an educated guess and moved on. I had a lot more calculation questions than I expected (around 6 Hardy-Weinberg/Punnet square probability type questions) and the rest were basic memory definition questions. I felt like I did worse than what I actually got because I had a hard time remembering a few definitions and it frustrated me. Luckily I trusted my gut and it worked out for me. To study for this I read through the DAT Bootcamp Bio notes(which I think are revised Feralis notes??? Can someone confirm?) twice and the A&P section of the notes 3 times (my weakest section according to BC practice tests). I did all the chapter questions and all 10 section tests as well. I memorized the taxonomy sheet but didn't have any taxo questions on my DAT, but I know they show up so dont neglect this. In my opinion all you need is the BC Bio notes. You will definitely have to read through it 2 or 3 times depending on your memory but in my opinion its all you need. Most of my DAT bio section was basic definition of functions etc.
GC (25)- I thought I would do much worse on this section. Mikes videos are just as good as Chads videos in my opinion (and Mike's comes with your BC subscription). Mike is a lot more entertaining to watch too. To study for this section I watched all of Mikes videos, did the chapter quizzes, and took all 10 BC tests. This section freaked me out a bit on the real DAT because almost ALL of my questions were calculations, with very few conceptual questions. Luckily they were very quick calculations and many of the questions had repeating concepts. There was one question type I had never seen before but I think I was able to work through it. Overall it was easier than BC. The main difference is the calculations were much less time consuming, like they would give you the molar mass for everything so you didn't have to look to the PT or everything would be in one form such as moles or grams so you wouldn't have to convert back and forth a lot.
OC (27)- Wow I actually surprised myself with this one. Once again Mikes vids, the chapter quizzes, and the 10 BC practice tests is what I used. I also committed all the OC reactions from the chart on BC to memory. I didn't memorize the mechanisms, just the rules as to how things interact (acids will protonate etc.). This really helped me out because about 5 of my questions asked about intermediates from the mechanisms. Most of my questions were non-conceptual reaction questions. Mostly just memory tests. Definitely easier than BC. I was only unsure on question. Probably the question I missed lol.
RC (23)- Actually thought I did better on this. All of my practice came from the 8 of 10 BC tests I did. The passages are the same difficulty but the questions were far easier on my test. Very straight forward S&D questions and about 4 or so tone questions all concentrated on one passage for some reason. I basically used passage mapping as my strat. I would pull up the first question, and then actively look for the answer while reading and mapping. I would get halfway down the passage while continually answering, then answer as many questions as I could. I would finish the rest of the passage and mapping once i couldn't answer a question and then S&D with the aid of my map for the rest of the questions. Im sorry that was a really bad explanation. If you want a better explanation go on YouTube and search "DAT Reading Comprehension Strategy / tips". Vid is by "Andrew Wood". Hes where I got my strat and he made a 26 on RC I think. I think the key to this section is finding what strategy works best for you and then just getting really comfortable with it. I was also kind of lucky in that I had 2 passages I was moderately familiar with.
QR (19)- I already kind of talked about this section but going in I knew it was my worst section. I think Math Destroyer would have boosted me up a few points if I could have fit it into my schedule. Like I said this section was easier than BC tests, but I would say by not very much. To study for this I did all the BC question sets and all 10 practice tests. I guessed on about 4 or 5 due to anxiety. Don't let this happen to you. If you start feeling panic, maybe just take about 5 to 10 seconds to breathe in deep with your eyes closed to get yourself back on track. I think the best strat for this section is to guess, mark, and skip if you know you cant get the answer very quickly. Don't worry if you marked like 15 because you should have time to come back around and clean up the hard ones. I know for a lot of people QR is worst to study for because most test takers haven't had a math class since high school or freshman year of college. Dont neglect this section. Remember its 1/5 of your score (I think I did the math right )
PAT (27)- I was very confident in this section. Hands down the best practice for PAT is BC. Repetition is key for this. PAT is different from other sections in that OC, GC, and BIO are kind of review of your undergraduate classes (if your a bio/chem major) but PAT is whole new ball game. You just have do a lot of these to get used to them and be able to do them quick, especially keyhole and angle ranking (in my case). To study for this I did 8 out of the 10 practice tests and all the available practice problems on BC. The tic tac toe grid strat for hole punch is a must. The numbered list strat for cube counting is a must as well in case you didnt already know this. I had been reading around SDN recently and noticed a trend in many peoples recent 2018-2019 breakdowns saying that PAT on the real DAT was the same or HARDER than BC and that a newer software called PAT Booster was necessary to score well. This was definitely not the case for my test. The real DAT was MUCH MUCH easier than BC. I was confident on every question except about 2 or 3 angle rankings and 1 keyhole. My test had no rocks in keyhole. Take this with a grain of salt though as I could have just been lucky and got an easy section. Remember every DAT is different. I finished with about 10 minutes left and was able to go back and double check my answers.
Day before the test
I took a rest day the day before the test and played super smash bros all day. I didn't review anything. It may sound like a waste of time but for me personally it was essential. I have a history of letting test anxiety really get to me. I knew that panic during the test would definitely drop my score down a few points so a day of rest before the test was great to get me into a good mindset. If you're a good test taker then reviewing the day before will probably be beneficial. If you're not a good test taker, then I highly recommend this rest day. I let the anxiety get to me the morning of the test and started frantically reviewing hours before my test. This only freaked me out more. Bio especially. Dont try to reread the bio BC notes the day before, it will only add to your anxiety. Be confident in the work you put in and go into the test knowing you will ace this thing. Btw, I wouldnt go on SDN the night before your test and read the breakdowns of those geniuses that score 27AA either.
Day of the test
My testing center is exactly how many have described it. It may be cold so if that bothers you then bring a jacket just in case. I was NOT able to do my PAT grids/ numbered list during the tutorial or do my passage map numbers for RC during the break. Used that time to do some quick meditation and calm myself down. I finished the natural sciences section with about 8 minutes left so I did my grids for PAT then. For RC I just used about a minute of my time to do my numbered lists. I was so nervous about my QR score I didnt even do the survey. I was actually kind of relieved to see a 19. I assumed I totally bombed it. When I saw the 23AA I actually couldn't believe it. In my head I was shooting for a 22 at best and I felt I had done worse.
Conclusion
I believe with hard work and dedication anyone can score well on the DAT. I was never the person in the class that would blow the curve/ get the highest grade, so you dont have to be a genius to ace the DAT. Also dont let other SDN breakdowns discourage you either. 20AA and up is a competitive score (Even an 18-19AA at some schools). You got to remember we are all big nerds on here. I want to thank Ari and his team for making the most comprehensive DAT study material on the internet, and Orgoman for his free vids on youtube, as well as the Destroyer ( I know I didnt use it but it has put some of my friends in dental school and they can attest to it), as well as anyone else I forgot who helped me. Lastly, dont let anything stand in the way of you achieving your dream of becoming a dentist. If you don't do as you hoped on the DAT, gather yourself and retake it with the confidence to do better. I know im not accepted to anywhere yet but I just want to say if you put everything you possibly can into getting into dental school, you WILL get in. I studied for this test while taking 16 hours of biology undergraduate classes. Dont get discouraged, push yourself, and overall believe in yourself.
P.S. I said this would be short
Guess not. I'm sorry if there is any typos. Its nearly 2 AM and Im crashing from the adrenaline high I got from the test lol.
DAT Scores
PAT- 27
QR- 19
RC- 23
BIO- 21
GC- 25
OC- 27
TS - 23
AA - 23
Materials Used
DAT Bootcamp
Orgoman's free QR Youtube videos
Khan Academy
So yeah I'm sure you're thinking "Where is the rest of the study materials?" and more importantly "Where the heck is DAT Destroyer???". I decided early on that I was only going to use Bootcamp as my one paid material. This was a personal choice based on the fact that I get overwhelmed with different materials and wanted to follow Ari's schedule religiously (I stopped following the schedule like 7 weeks in lol). If I were to go back I would 100% get math destroyer. Just watching a 3rd of Orgoman's QR videos on youtube jumped my practice test score up 3 points (I made a 14 on my first QR section test on BC). If you're good at planning a study schedule I would recommend getting DAT Destroyer and work it into Ari's schedule somehow or add some days to the schedule to work through Destroyer. Even though I didn't use it I bet it would have helped me as I've seen the results it can give through my friends. I attribute my high GC and OC scores basically me getting questions that hit my strengths and Mikes vids on BC. I studied 10 weeks, around 4-7 hours a day for my DAT with one off day a week. I recommend studying at least 8 weeks, 6 weeks if you are really really confident (but you will realize its impossible to get through everything BC has to offer in that time). I strayed from Ari's schedule in week 7 because I took extra off days and wanted to take the practice tests in the order I felt comfortable with. So much of the studying comes down to willpower and the ability to say no. When you have to turn down a night of drinks and partying with your friends just remember it will all pay off in the long run, and your friends will be there when you get back (if they are true friends).
Since 90% of my studying came from BC, I'll talk mostly about BC...
DAT Bootcamp
What can I say other than in my opinion this is the absolute best study material for the DAT. Everything you need study wise for the DAT is all in one place, and any questions you may have can be answered on the site within a few hours by Ari and his team. They really understand the "type" of questions the DAT asks, and it conditions you to not hesitate and instantly know what to do when you see a familiar "type" of question. The practice tests are hands down the best simulation of the real DAT you will find anywhere. During the real DAT I would get about 5 questions in and then totally forget that I was taking the most important test of my life, it felt like just another practice test. I went through EVERYTHING in BC except 2 PAT tests and 2 RC tests. I told myself if this was the only paid resources I was using I was going to use it to the fullest. Number one piece of advice I can give about DAT Bootcamp is DON'T GET DISCOURAGED ABOUT YOUR PRACTICE SCORES. I know everyone has heard this a million times but its so true. Use your practice tests to strengthen your weak spots, don't let them get you down. That right there is my #1 best tip on how to do well on the DAT. Below are my last five full test scores I took in BC about a week and a half before the test. Look for yourself to see the improvement (minus QR). Overall the DAT was much easier than BC. My lack of improvement on the QR definitely came from test anxiety and tiredness. There were about 4 questions in a row that I didn't know how to do and panic set in. I sunk a lot of time in a few questions as well. I took a deep breath and pulled myself out of my mini panic attack but finished by the skin of my teeth (dental joke??? lol) and completely guessed on 3 or 4 questions. Don't let this happen to you. If you don't know it immediately just guess, mark it, and move on. A calm mind can definitely make the difference of a few points on the DAT.
BC Tests 6-10 Scores
BIO- 19/19/18/21/19 AVG- ~19 (+2 points on real DAT)
GC- 19/22/21/18/22 AVG- ~20 (+5 points on real DAT)
OC- 19/18/18/19/18 AVG- ~18 (+9 points on real DAT)
RC- 23/23/21/23/20 AVG- ~22 (+1 point on real DAT)
QR- 20/20/17/20/20 AVG- 19 (same on test day
real DAT was definitely easier but anxiety got to me as stated before)PAT- 20/20/20/20/20 AVG 20 (+7 points on test day)
My practice test scores are proof that you don't need to worry yourself to death over the numbers. You have to remember BC is a study material, so its purposefully harder so that it conditions you to really nail down the topics. BC is also much more "balanced" in terms of trying to expose you to every "type" of question throughout its tests, so when taking the Bootcamp tests I felt like I would run into questions I had only seen once much more often then how the real DAT was. I'll go into a section breakdown next to give you an idea on how a 2019 DAT possibly is.
BIO (21)- Very typical biology section based on what I read from other SDN posts. I don't want to say it... buts its the absolute truth. Breadth over depth (there I said it
). I had about 3 questions with words I had never seen before which is typical of the bio section. I made an educated guess and moved on. I had a lot more calculation questions than I expected (around 6 Hardy-Weinberg/Punnet square probability type questions) and the rest were basic memory definition questions. I felt like I did worse than what I actually got because I had a hard time remembering a few definitions and it frustrated me. Luckily I trusted my gut and it worked out for me. To study for this I read through the DAT Bootcamp Bio notes(which I think are revised Feralis notes??? Can someone confirm?) twice and the A&P section of the notes 3 times (my weakest section according to BC practice tests). I did all the chapter questions and all 10 section tests as well. I memorized the taxonomy sheet but didn't have any taxo questions on my DAT, but I know they show up so dont neglect this. In my opinion all you need is the BC Bio notes. You will definitely have to read through it 2 or 3 times depending on your memory but in my opinion its all you need. Most of my DAT bio section was basic definition of functions etc.GC (25)- I thought I would do much worse on this section. Mikes videos are just as good as Chads videos in my opinion (and Mike's comes with your BC subscription). Mike is a lot more entertaining to watch too. To study for this section I watched all of Mikes videos, did the chapter quizzes, and took all 10 BC tests. This section freaked me out a bit on the real DAT because almost ALL of my questions were calculations, with very few conceptual questions. Luckily they were very quick calculations and many of the questions had repeating concepts. There was one question type I had never seen before but I think I was able to work through it. Overall it was easier than BC. The main difference is the calculations were much less time consuming, like they would give you the molar mass for everything so you didn't have to look to the PT or everything would be in one form such as moles or grams so you wouldn't have to convert back and forth a lot.
OC (27)- Wow I actually surprised myself with this one. Once again Mikes vids, the chapter quizzes, and the 10 BC practice tests is what I used. I also committed all the OC reactions from the chart on BC to memory. I didn't memorize the mechanisms, just the rules as to how things interact (acids will protonate etc.). This really helped me out because about 5 of my questions asked about intermediates from the mechanisms. Most of my questions were non-conceptual reaction questions. Mostly just memory tests. Definitely easier than BC. I was only unsure on question. Probably the question I missed lol.
RC (23)- Actually thought I did better on this. All of my practice came from the 8 of 10 BC tests I did. The passages are the same difficulty but the questions were far easier on my test. Very straight forward S&D questions and about 4 or so tone questions all concentrated on one passage for some reason. I basically used passage mapping as my strat. I would pull up the first question, and then actively look for the answer while reading and mapping. I would get halfway down the passage while continually answering, then answer as many questions as I could. I would finish the rest of the passage and mapping once i couldn't answer a question and then S&D with the aid of my map for the rest of the questions. Im sorry that was a really bad explanation. If you want a better explanation go on YouTube and search "DAT Reading Comprehension Strategy / tips". Vid is by "Andrew Wood". Hes where I got my strat and he made a 26 on RC I think. I think the key to this section is finding what strategy works best for you and then just getting really comfortable with it. I was also kind of lucky in that I had 2 passages I was moderately familiar with.
QR (19)- I already kind of talked about this section but going in I knew it was my worst section. I think Math Destroyer would have boosted me up a few points if I could have fit it into my schedule. Like I said this section was easier than BC tests, but I would say by not very much. To study for this I did all the BC question sets and all 10 practice tests. I guessed on about 4 or 5 due to anxiety. Don't let this happen to you. If you start feeling panic, maybe just take about 5 to 10 seconds to breathe in deep with your eyes closed to get yourself back on track. I think the best strat for this section is to guess, mark, and skip if you know you cant get the answer very quickly. Don't worry if you marked like 15 because you should have time to come back around and clean up the hard ones. I know for a lot of people QR is worst to study for because most test takers haven't had a math class since high school or freshman year of college. Dont neglect this section. Remember its 1/5 of your score (I think I did the math right
)PAT (27)- I was very confident in this section. Hands down the best practice for PAT is BC. Repetition is key for this. PAT is different from other sections in that OC, GC, and BIO are kind of review of your undergraduate classes (if your a bio/chem major) but PAT is whole new ball game. You just have do a lot of these to get used to them and be able to do them quick, especially keyhole and angle ranking (in my case). To study for this I did 8 out of the 10 practice tests and all the available practice problems on BC. The tic tac toe grid strat for hole punch is a must. The numbered list strat for cube counting is a must as well in case you didnt already know this. I had been reading around SDN recently and noticed a trend in many peoples recent 2018-2019 breakdowns saying that PAT on the real DAT was the same or HARDER than BC and that a newer software called PAT Booster was necessary to score well. This was definitely not the case for my test. The real DAT was MUCH MUCH easier than BC. I was confident on every question except about 2 or 3 angle rankings and 1 keyhole. My test had no rocks in keyhole. Take this with a grain of salt though as I could have just been lucky and got an easy section. Remember every DAT is different. I finished with about 10 minutes left and was able to go back and double check my answers.
Day before the test
I took a rest day the day before the test and played super smash bros all day. I didn't review anything. It may sound like a waste of time but for me personally it was essential. I have a history of letting test anxiety really get to me. I knew that panic during the test would definitely drop my score down a few points so a day of rest before the test was great to get me into a good mindset. If you're a good test taker then reviewing the day before will probably be beneficial. If you're not a good test taker, then I highly recommend this rest day. I let the anxiety get to me the morning of the test and started frantically reviewing hours before my test. This only freaked me out more. Bio especially. Dont try to reread the bio BC notes the day before, it will only add to your anxiety. Be confident in the work you put in and go into the test knowing you will ace this thing. Btw, I wouldnt go on SDN the night before your test and read the breakdowns of those geniuses that score 27AA either
.Day of the test
My testing center is exactly how many have described it. It may be cold so if that bothers you then bring a jacket just in case. I was NOT able to do my PAT grids/ numbered list during the tutorial or do my passage map numbers for RC during the break. Used that time to do some quick meditation and calm myself down. I finished the natural sciences section with about 8 minutes left so I did my grids for PAT then. For RC I just used about a minute of my time to do my numbered lists. I was so nervous about my QR score I didnt even do the survey. I was actually kind of relieved to see a 19. I assumed I totally bombed it. When I saw the 23AA I actually couldn't believe it. In my head I was shooting for a 22 at best and I felt I had done worse.
Conclusion
I believe with hard work and dedication anyone can score well on the DAT. I was never the person in the class that would blow the curve/ get the highest grade, so you dont have to be a genius to ace the DAT. Also dont let other SDN breakdowns discourage you either. 20AA and up is a competitive score (Even an 18-19AA at some schools). You got to remember we are all big nerds on here.
I want to thank Ari and his team for making the most comprehensive DAT study material on the internet, and Orgoman for his free vids on youtube, as well as the Destroyer ( I know I didnt use it but it has put some of my friends in dental school and they can attest to it), as well as anyone else I forgot who helped me. Lastly, dont let anything stand in the way of you achieving your dream of becoming a dentist. If you don't do as you hoped on the DAT, gather yourself and retake it with the confidence to do better. I know im not accepted to anywhere yet but I just want to say if you put everything you possibly can into getting into dental school, you WILL get in. I studied for this test while taking 16 hours of biology undergraduate classes. Dont get discouraged, push yourself, and overall believe in yourself.P.S. I said this would be short
Guess not. I'm sorry if there is any typos. Its nearly 2 AM and Im crashing from the adrenaline high I got from the test lol.
