After several weeks of preparation I can contently put my DAT study materials down. There’s a part of me that really enjoys the process of studying for a test like this, but I would have been hard pressed to spend any more time cramming odd-ball biology facts into my brain, while trying to retain chemistry concepts and mathematic formulas. The last couple weeks of studying were particularly intense and I’m happy to say that it all paid off.
Real DAT: AA 23/ TS 23/OC 24/ GC 22/ BIO 24/ RC 24/ QR 21/ PAT 23
2009 DAT (2 days before): AA 22/TS 23/OC 24/GC 24/BIO 21/RC 17/QR 17/ PAT 26
2007 DAT (5 days before): AA 25/TS 24/OC 30/GC 23/BIO 26/RC 25/QR 21/PAT 21
DAT Bootcamp: OC 18-26/GC 17-24/ BIO 22-25/ RC 21-23/QR 17-21/ PAT 17-23
CDP: 18/20/21/21/22/22
Materials Used: Cliff’s AP Biology, Barron’s AP Biology, Feralis Biology Notes, Chads Videos, Kaplan Blue Book, DAT Destroyer, Math Destroyer, Crack The DAT PAT, DAT Bootcamp
I was fortunate to be loaned the majority of these resources free of cost. If you
are on a budget, I would skip out on Barron’s and the Kaplan book. Dat Destroyer is not a
necessity. All the others are must-haves in my opinion.
Biology: I Read through Cliffs and Barron’s front to back a couple times, did the chapter review questions, and returned to important sections every once (taxonomay, anatomy, reproduction) in a while. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, but I think you can get away with just Cliff’s. Better yet you can probably just use Feralis Biology Notes; I stumbled across them within the last week and found that they are a combination of Kaplan, Barron’s, and Cliff’s with some added details (i.e. Anatomy – highly doubt you will ever see Volkmann’s canal show up on any test) that none of the previous named sources have. If you know the facts and go through DAT Bootcamp you should have no problems with anything - including the application questions.
Organic Chem: I did well at organic in undergrad and thought I knew my stuff pretty well; Chad’s videos showed me how much straight up memorization I did during that time and highlighted some overarching concepts that really simplified everything. DAT Bootcamp was great for testing ability to apply the facts, with some tricky questions that teach you to keep on your toes. DAT Destroyer was helpful, but a bit overkill
General Chem: Sames as organic
Reading: Did 4 of the 5 Bootcamp tests in the 2 weeks leading up to my test date. They were pretty comparable to the real test and probably slightly more difficult. I had none of the statement/reason questions that pop up often on Bootcamp. Several what word best describes the authors tone questions.
QR: Considering my performance on practice tests, I’m extremely happy with how this section turned out on the real deal. Had I not neglected this section for so long, I could have done better; priorities have to be made. Many people frown on studying the day before, but a few hours spent on this section the day prior to my test were critical in shoring up some big weaknesses. Math Destroyer is spot on!
PAT: Practice is key! If you put in time on this section you will improve. Having said that I recommend focusing these efforts into the final weeks of your preparation and aiming to be sharp on test day. Starting off with CDP (I think the 5 test version is sufficient) and progressing to DAT Bootcamp seems to be like the way to go. The latter provides excellent explanations/strategy and emulates the difficulty of the DAT. I went from feeling completely lost to missing only 4 questions on the 2009 DAT.
I’ve already referenced DAT Bootcamp several times, but I’d like to give it another shout out. I think this is the best investment you can make as far as practice tests go. I planned on getting achiever, but after reading Bootcamp’s rave reviews I went a different route – excellent decision! Bootcamp isn’t mentioned as often as Achiever, Topscore, or qvault, but I’m guessing that will change in the near future. Going into test day I was confident that I was in a position to reach my full potential.
If you are just beginning to study, rest assured that hard work will pay off on this test. The DAT it is pretty straight-forward (yes, PAT is quirky but it is a skill that can be learned) and your preparation will be reflected in your scores. Staying motivated is the biggest challenge. Push through the difficult moments and think about your goal score appearing on that computer screen before your DAT deadend eyes.
Real DAT: AA 23/ TS 23/OC 24/ GC 22/ BIO 24/ RC 24/ QR 21/ PAT 23
2009 DAT (2 days before): AA 22/TS 23/OC 24/GC 24/BIO 21/RC 17/QR 17/ PAT 26
2007 DAT (5 days before): AA 25/TS 24/OC 30/GC 23/BIO 26/RC 25/QR 21/PAT 21
DAT Bootcamp: OC 18-26/GC 17-24/ BIO 22-25/ RC 21-23/QR 17-21/ PAT 17-23
CDP: 18/20/21/21/22/22
Materials Used: Cliff’s AP Biology, Barron’s AP Biology, Feralis Biology Notes, Chads Videos, Kaplan Blue Book, DAT Destroyer, Math Destroyer, Crack The DAT PAT, DAT Bootcamp
I was fortunate to be loaned the majority of these resources free of cost. If you
are on a budget, I would skip out on Barron’s and the Kaplan book. Dat Destroyer is not a
necessity. All the others are must-haves in my opinion.
Biology: I Read through Cliffs and Barron’s front to back a couple times, did the chapter review questions, and returned to important sections every once (taxonomay, anatomy, reproduction) in a while. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, but I think you can get away with just Cliff’s. Better yet you can probably just use Feralis Biology Notes; I stumbled across them within the last week and found that they are a combination of Kaplan, Barron’s, and Cliff’s with some added details (i.e. Anatomy – highly doubt you will ever see Volkmann’s canal show up on any test) that none of the previous named sources have. If you know the facts and go through DAT Bootcamp you should have no problems with anything - including the application questions.
Organic Chem: I did well at organic in undergrad and thought I knew my stuff pretty well; Chad’s videos showed me how much straight up memorization I did during that time and highlighted some overarching concepts that really simplified everything. DAT Bootcamp was great for testing ability to apply the facts, with some tricky questions that teach you to keep on your toes. DAT Destroyer was helpful, but a bit overkill
General Chem: Sames as organic
Reading: Did 4 of the 5 Bootcamp tests in the 2 weeks leading up to my test date. They were pretty comparable to the real test and probably slightly more difficult. I had none of the statement/reason questions that pop up often on Bootcamp. Several what word best describes the authors tone questions.
QR: Considering my performance on practice tests, I’m extremely happy with how this section turned out on the real deal. Had I not neglected this section for so long, I could have done better; priorities have to be made. Many people frown on studying the day before, but a few hours spent on this section the day prior to my test were critical in shoring up some big weaknesses. Math Destroyer is spot on!
PAT: Practice is key! If you put in time on this section you will improve. Having said that I recommend focusing these efforts into the final weeks of your preparation and aiming to be sharp on test day. Starting off with CDP (I think the 5 test version is sufficient) and progressing to DAT Bootcamp seems to be like the way to go. The latter provides excellent explanations/strategy and emulates the difficulty of the DAT. I went from feeling completely lost to missing only 4 questions on the 2009 DAT.
I’ve already referenced DAT Bootcamp several times, but I’d like to give it another shout out. I think this is the best investment you can make as far as practice tests go. I planned on getting achiever, but after reading Bootcamp’s rave reviews I went a different route – excellent decision! Bootcamp isn’t mentioned as often as Achiever, Topscore, or qvault, but I’m guessing that will change in the near future. Going into test day I was confident that I was in a position to reach my full potential.
If you are just beginning to study, rest assured that hard work will pay off on this test. The DAT it is pretty straight-forward (yes, PAT is quirky but it is a skill that can be learned) and your preparation will be reflected in your scores. Staying motivated is the biggest challenge. Push through the difficult moments and think about your goal score appearing on that computer screen before your DAT deadend eyes.
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