TS:24 AA:23
BIO/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR
26/21/26/21/18/22
DAT Bootcamp full length practice tests:
#1: 24/25/24/21/20/18
#2: 19/20/20/22/20/20
#3: 19/26/24/19/23/19
#4: 22/24/26/-/-/19
First and foremost, I would like to thank Ari from DAT Bootcamp and Chad from Course Saver. I would not have been able to get these scores without you! I would also like to thank Dr. Romano and Nancy from Destroyer for creating challenging material that really prepared me for the real thing. I don't want to bore anyone with a wicked long post, but this is basically how I prepared for the DAT in about 6.5 weeks!
Materials used: DAT Bootcamp, DAT Destroyer, Math Destroyer, Chad's Videos, Cliff's AP Bio, Feralis' Notes
Week 1/2: Skimmed through Cliff's AP Bio (did not take any notes) and occasionally took the end of the chapter quizzes. For GC, OC, and QR I watched all of Chad's videos and took all the quizzes. I also took really good notes, especially for gen chem.
Week 3: Every other day, I would take a Math Destroyer exam and review my answers the following day. I only ended up taking the first six tests. I started doing about 50 GC and OC Destroyer questions a day, again, always reviewing the solutions even if I got the question right! I would try to review my notes from Chad's videos every few days to keep the material fresh in my mind. This is also around the time I started playing with Bootcamp's PAT generators and taking a practice exam every few days.
Week 4/5: Around this time I think I was finishing up with GC/OC Destroyer and started taking GC/OC Bootcamp exams. By the end of the fifth week, I was done with GC/OC Bootcamp #6-10 (saving the first five for the full length exams under Ari's suggestion). I finished the Bio Destroyer section by the fifth week as well. I was scoring horribly (usually less than 50%) but I kept reviewing my weaknesses with Feralis' notes.
Week 6: Took DAT Bootcamp full length practice exams #1-4, the natural sciences section of the 2009 practice test, and just tried to expose myself to as much bio as possible since I did not spend that much time studying for this section. I know a lot of people go through the destroyer multiple times, but I just went through it once and felt like it was enough for me. I'm happy I decided to spend my time taking practice tests instead of doing destroyer a second time.
Last few days before the exam, I went through ALL of the natural sciences section of the DAT Bootcamp exams and reviewed the questions I got wrong. Day before the exam, I literally felt like I did not know anything and felt so sick. Dealing with test anxiety is definitely an internal battle, but now that it is over, I realize how worthless it was. Don't let yourself feel sick before the exam. If you gave it your all, there is nothing left to do but go to the exam with confidence!
Test day: I got to the test center about 40 minutes early. Took about 20 minutes to check in/get myself seated. Bio section was pretty easy, I got lucky and did not get any taxonomy questions! GC was a little tough for me for some reason, and because of this I started the OC section WITH ONLY 13 MINUTES LEFT ON THE TIMER. I literally was on the verge of crying. I had spent way too much time on the GC even though I always finished early on practice exams. I somehow finished all 30 OC questions in under 11 minutes (don't ask me how). During the break, I really thought I would have to retake since I rushed so quickly through the OC section without any extra time to really review my marked questions. I tried to put this behind me to stay focused for the rest of my exam. Unfortunately, I also ran out of time for RC and had to guess for the last 6 questions or so without reading the questions. QR was a lot easier than Destroyer/Bootcamp and I finished with a few extra minutes left.
Overall, I'm happy with my scores but I've been really nervous about my RC score since I know schools put a lot of weight on it. The 18 was definitely the result of spending way too much time on a few questions, and being forced to mark random answers for questions I may have easily gotten. I definitely do not want to retake, so I think I am just going to apply broadly and hope for the best!
Thank you SDN for being a huge resource throughout this journey, and good luck to everyone applying this cycle!
BIO/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR
26/21/26/21/18/22
DAT Bootcamp full length practice tests:
#1: 24/25/24/21/20/18
#2: 19/20/20/22/20/20
#3: 19/26/24/19/23/19
#4: 22/24/26/-/-/19
First and foremost, I would like to thank Ari from DAT Bootcamp and Chad from Course Saver. I would not have been able to get these scores without you! I would also like to thank Dr. Romano and Nancy from Destroyer for creating challenging material that really prepared me for the real thing. I don't want to bore anyone with a wicked long post, but this is basically how I prepared for the DAT in about 6.5 weeks!
Materials used: DAT Bootcamp, DAT Destroyer, Math Destroyer, Chad's Videos, Cliff's AP Bio, Feralis' Notes
Week 1/2: Skimmed through Cliff's AP Bio (did not take any notes) and occasionally took the end of the chapter quizzes. For GC, OC, and QR I watched all of Chad's videos and took all the quizzes. I also took really good notes, especially for gen chem.
Week 3: Every other day, I would take a Math Destroyer exam and review my answers the following day. I only ended up taking the first six tests. I started doing about 50 GC and OC Destroyer questions a day, again, always reviewing the solutions even if I got the question right! I would try to review my notes from Chad's videos every few days to keep the material fresh in my mind. This is also around the time I started playing with Bootcamp's PAT generators and taking a practice exam every few days.
Week 4/5: Around this time I think I was finishing up with GC/OC Destroyer and started taking GC/OC Bootcamp exams. By the end of the fifth week, I was done with GC/OC Bootcamp #6-10 (saving the first five for the full length exams under Ari's suggestion). I finished the Bio Destroyer section by the fifth week as well. I was scoring horribly (usually less than 50%) but I kept reviewing my weaknesses with Feralis' notes.
Week 6: Took DAT Bootcamp full length practice exams #1-4, the natural sciences section of the 2009 practice test, and just tried to expose myself to as much bio as possible since I did not spend that much time studying for this section. I know a lot of people go through the destroyer multiple times, but I just went through it once and felt like it was enough for me. I'm happy I decided to spend my time taking practice tests instead of doing destroyer a second time.
Last few days before the exam, I went through ALL of the natural sciences section of the DAT Bootcamp exams and reviewed the questions I got wrong. Day before the exam, I literally felt like I did not know anything and felt so sick. Dealing with test anxiety is definitely an internal battle, but now that it is over, I realize how worthless it was. Don't let yourself feel sick before the exam. If you gave it your all, there is nothing left to do but go to the exam with confidence!
Test day: I got to the test center about 40 minutes early. Took about 20 minutes to check in/get myself seated. Bio section was pretty easy, I got lucky and did not get any taxonomy questions! GC was a little tough for me for some reason, and because of this I started the OC section WITH ONLY 13 MINUTES LEFT ON THE TIMER. I literally was on the verge of crying. I had spent way too much time on the GC even though I always finished early on practice exams. I somehow finished all 30 OC questions in under 11 minutes (don't ask me how). During the break, I really thought I would have to retake since I rushed so quickly through the OC section without any extra time to really review my marked questions. I tried to put this behind me to stay focused for the rest of my exam. Unfortunately, I also ran out of time for RC and had to guess for the last 6 questions or so without reading the questions. QR was a lot easier than Destroyer/Bootcamp and I finished with a few extra minutes left.
Overall, I'm happy with my scores but I've been really nervous about my RC score since I know schools put a lot of weight on it. The 18 was definitely the result of spending way too much time on a few questions, and being forced to mark random answers for questions I may have easily gotten. I definitely do not want to retake, so I think I am just going to apply broadly and hope for the best!
Thank you SDN for being a huge resource throughout this journey, and good luck to everyone applying this cycle!
