- Joined
- Nov 13, 2009
- Messages
- 215
- Reaction score
- 8
Hi everyone. Here's my DAT experience, breakdown, and a few pointers from my perspective. I wanted to post this to give back and little and give hope to all my fellow non-science majors out there. This test was a beast for me, especially the sciences, but it is doable. Many thanks to everyone on here, without SDN there is no way I would have come close to the scores I ended up with.
PAT-24 (98.0%)
QR-20 (95.1%)
RC-20 (78.5%)
Bio-18 (72.1%)
GC-22 (95.2%)
OC-19 (75.7%)
TS-19 (82.8%)
AA-20 (93.4%)
Materials used (rating):
Kaplan online course (6/10)-I'm very mixed on Kaplan because of the hit my wallet took when I paid for the online course. It is a very good resource, but in my opinion not worth the money. The practice tests were by far the most useful aspect of their program. The workshops were helpful, but not great. Almost everything else they offer can be had by buying the Kaplan Blue Book. I'm not advocating for skipping Kaplan at all because it is a wonderful resource, but I am saying if I had it to do all over, I'd save that ghastly amount of money I spent on the online course, buy the Blue Book instead, and try to find a pdf of the tests online. I would only reccomend taking their course if money isn't that big of a factor for you, or if you have trouble motivating yourself to study and would do better in a classroom setting.
Cliffs AP Bio (9/10)-This is a great resource, buy it! I haven't looked at Barron's, but I feel this source did about as good of a job of cramming all the bio on the DAT into 250 pages as anyone.
Campbell's Bio (8/10)-Obviously this is a phenomenal book, and if you have time to go through it all it will only help you. I didn't get a copy until 3 weeks before my test, so I just read through chapters 19-21 once. I DID have about 2-3 questions directly from these chapters, so check them out. I only give this an 8 because the amount of information is so vast and so detailed that I feel going through the whole thing would be overkill. Use Cliffs or Barrons primarily, then turn to Campbell's if you think you need to focus on a particular subject.
DAT Destroyer(9.5/10)-Destroyer is a must. When I first began going through it, I literally got destroyed. The only reason it is 0.5 short of a 10 is the bio is a bit too detailed, and your first time through it could be a confidence buster. I was only getting 50-60% of the questions correct. The second time though, I was getting 70-80% and I had learned a TON about chemistry, gchem in particular. Bio is very detailed, but if you have time I'd go through it. The trick to Destroyer is to go over your answers with a fine tooth comb, both the correct and incorrect ones. The first time through, I would do about 35 problems in each section a day. As soon as I was finished with a section I'd look over all of my answers and figure out where I'd messed up. After I'd done this for each section, I would do the ones I had gotten wrong again. To pound them into my head a bit more, the first thing I did when I got up the next day was to do those same problems a 3rd time. Use it wisely and Destroyer will be your best friend.
Math Destroyer(10/10)-After studying 7 weeks or so, I realized I had been neglecting the QR section. I took my Kaplan midterm and was shocked to see a 15 on the QR pop up. So I went and found Math Destroyer and did a practice test every other day for about 2 weeks, and begain scoring 21's. The QR on the DAT is VERY similar to the Math Destroyer, and I owe my 20 entirely to this product.
Crack the DAT PAT(10/10)-On my diagnostic my PAT score was a 19, so I guess I just have a knack for it, but CDP is definitely worth the money. The keyholes were just a touch harder on the real test, TFE and pattern folding were about the same, while hole punching, angles, and cube counting were a touch easier. I was only scoring 21's and 22's on my CDP tests, but I guess it prepared me well.
Chad's Video's(10/10)-I am a strong advocate of Chad's videos. He manages to zero in on about 95% of what you'll need to know on gchem and about 85% of what you'll need for ochem. I think his prices have recently gone up a bit, but even if he was charging $80 bucks I'd recommend him to anyone.
Topscore(8/10)-Good practice. RC and PAT were a little different, sciences were a little harder, but it is good to go through to help with timing and getting a feel for what the test is like. Overall I think I scored about 2-3 points higher than what I was scoring on my topscore tests.
I spent about 10 weeks studying. The initial 5 weeks were all review using Kaplan White book/subject tests, Chad's, and AP Cliffs. I had the most motivation during this phase of studying and put in about 7-9 hours a day, with weekends either off or just light review. At the midway point I inadvertantly took about 4-5 days off because I was getting burnt out. The final 4 weeks was all problem solving. In the mornings I went through the Destroyer and a Math test, and after lunch I'd do a CDP and read Cliff's or Campbell's, or re-read my notes I took from Chad's videos. I went through the chemistry in destroyer 2 full times and bio once. I read all of the Kaplan white book twice, I read Cliff's twice and skimmed through the whole thing another 2 times. I read Campbell's 19-21 once.
Practice tests:
CDP-test 1-4: 21, 21, 20, 20
Math Destroyer tests 2-8: 17, 19, 18, 17, 19, 20, 19
Bio/GC/OC/RC/QR/PAT/TS/AA
Kp Diagnotic-10/14/17/19/16/19/11/15
Kp Midterm- 14/15/16/19/15/21/15/16
Kp Final- 19/15/19/--/21/20/18/19
Topscore 1- 17/17/17/20/19/20/17/18
Kp Test 1- 19/17/20/23/21/22/19/20
Topscore 2- 17/18/18/25/21/24/18/20
Kp Test 2- 17/21/17/22/20/22/18/19
Topscore 3- 18/16/18/--/--/--/18/--
ACTUAL DAT 18/22/19/20/20/24/19/20
Final nuggets of wisdom:
-Prevent yourself from burning out. Set up a study schedule that you can maintain throughout your planned amount of time, and in which you can sprint to the finish. After 9 of my 10 weeks I was crawling. I feel as though, if I had taken it a bit easier, or scheduled my exam a week earlier I would have been able to maintain my motivation better and scored maybe a point higher or so. The last week, instead of ratcheting it up to 10/11 hours a day as I had planned, I was only able to get through about 2 hours of work in the mornings and about an hour of review at night.
-Have a plan and stick to it religiously. This one may seem to contradict my burnout statement, but it's important. Don't let yourself have any small concessions in your plan. Be reasonable in what you plan out, but make sure you get through it all. If you begin putting that last chapter in Cliffs until tomorrow, then tomorrow you will put off that next CDP until the next day and it will snowball from there. I was very afraid of this, yet I still let it happen. The last week my roommates bought my kryptonite: NCAA 2011. I told myself I could skip those Chad's quizzes just that one night and have a night off, I deserved it. I ended up playing that stupid game most of the last 4-5 days I had before the test.
-Focus your attention on your weak areas. Someone on a breakdown just a few days ago said this, but it is very important. Identify your weakest area and pound it. When you get good at that one and another slips, focus on the new weak area. Gradually by doing this, you'll raise all of your scores to the level you want them by test day.
-Review! If there is one thing I wished I'd done more of, it would be reviewing my notes. Instead I kept going through practice problems and re-reading Cliffs all over again. Had I set aside an hour a night or an 30 minutes each morning to flip through my notes I think I could have done a bit better.
-Think positive! Even if you're scoring 13's, going into test day you are not doing yourself any favors by thinking you're going to score that badly. Lie to yourself! Tell yourself you'll get that 20. Don't get too down if Achiever or Destroyer is kicking your butt, or if you're getting 15's on QR. It's a long process and as long as you put in the time, you'll be fine.
On to my experience on test day: The night before I was bound and determined that I was going to get my 8 hours of sleep, but alas, I was so wired I just couldn't. I ended up only getting about 5 hours of sleep, but that kept me fresh enough to do okay. On the way to the test (I had my girlfriend drive me...find someone to do this so you don't have to worry about parking) I began feeling VERY sick. Once I walked into the test center I was okay, until they sat me down for 20 minutes and I had time to worry again. When I finally sat down at my station, I told myself I was going to absolutely demolish every section, and even when my head started swirling during RC, I kept at it and stayed positive. Try to keep yourself from freaking out, know that all that hard work you've put in will pay off, and know you're the most prepared person in the entire room.
Okay, I've got to run to work, hope this helps someone out. As you can see from my atrocious diagnostic scores, anyone can do well on this test if you just put in the time and stay positive. Hit me up with any questions!
Oh, btw I have a 3.2 overall and 2.86 science GPA (i had one really bad semester due to some extenuating circumstances, without which I'd have a 3.4/3.20). My EC's, shadowing, and LOR's should all be pretty good. Im applying to UNC, ECU (instate), NYU, Case, Creighton, Maryland, Louisville, VCU, and Temple. Any thoughts on my chances?
PAT-24 (98.0%)
QR-20 (95.1%)
RC-20 (78.5%)
Bio-18 (72.1%)
GC-22 (95.2%)
OC-19 (75.7%)
TS-19 (82.8%)
AA-20 (93.4%)
Materials used (rating):
Kaplan online course (6/10)-I'm very mixed on Kaplan because of the hit my wallet took when I paid for the online course. It is a very good resource, but in my opinion not worth the money. The practice tests were by far the most useful aspect of their program. The workshops were helpful, but not great. Almost everything else they offer can be had by buying the Kaplan Blue Book. I'm not advocating for skipping Kaplan at all because it is a wonderful resource, but I am saying if I had it to do all over, I'd save that ghastly amount of money I spent on the online course, buy the Blue Book instead, and try to find a pdf of the tests online. I would only reccomend taking their course if money isn't that big of a factor for you, or if you have trouble motivating yourself to study and would do better in a classroom setting.
Cliffs AP Bio (9/10)-This is a great resource, buy it! I haven't looked at Barron's, but I feel this source did about as good of a job of cramming all the bio on the DAT into 250 pages as anyone.
Campbell's Bio (8/10)-Obviously this is a phenomenal book, and if you have time to go through it all it will only help you. I didn't get a copy until 3 weeks before my test, so I just read through chapters 19-21 once. I DID have about 2-3 questions directly from these chapters, so check them out. I only give this an 8 because the amount of information is so vast and so detailed that I feel going through the whole thing would be overkill. Use Cliffs or Barrons primarily, then turn to Campbell's if you think you need to focus on a particular subject.
DAT Destroyer(9.5/10)-Destroyer is a must. When I first began going through it, I literally got destroyed. The only reason it is 0.5 short of a 10 is the bio is a bit too detailed, and your first time through it could be a confidence buster. I was only getting 50-60% of the questions correct. The second time though, I was getting 70-80% and I had learned a TON about chemistry, gchem in particular. Bio is very detailed, but if you have time I'd go through it. The trick to Destroyer is to go over your answers with a fine tooth comb, both the correct and incorrect ones. The first time through, I would do about 35 problems in each section a day. As soon as I was finished with a section I'd look over all of my answers and figure out where I'd messed up. After I'd done this for each section, I would do the ones I had gotten wrong again. To pound them into my head a bit more, the first thing I did when I got up the next day was to do those same problems a 3rd time. Use it wisely and Destroyer will be your best friend.
Math Destroyer(10/10)-After studying 7 weeks or so, I realized I had been neglecting the QR section. I took my Kaplan midterm and was shocked to see a 15 on the QR pop up. So I went and found Math Destroyer and did a practice test every other day for about 2 weeks, and begain scoring 21's. The QR on the DAT is VERY similar to the Math Destroyer, and I owe my 20 entirely to this product.
Crack the DAT PAT(10/10)-On my diagnostic my PAT score was a 19, so I guess I just have a knack for it, but CDP is definitely worth the money. The keyholes were just a touch harder on the real test, TFE and pattern folding were about the same, while hole punching, angles, and cube counting were a touch easier. I was only scoring 21's and 22's on my CDP tests, but I guess it prepared me well.
Chad's Video's(10/10)-I am a strong advocate of Chad's videos. He manages to zero in on about 95% of what you'll need to know on gchem and about 85% of what you'll need for ochem. I think his prices have recently gone up a bit, but even if he was charging $80 bucks I'd recommend him to anyone.
Topscore(8/10)-Good practice. RC and PAT were a little different, sciences were a little harder, but it is good to go through to help with timing and getting a feel for what the test is like. Overall I think I scored about 2-3 points higher than what I was scoring on my topscore tests.
I spent about 10 weeks studying. The initial 5 weeks were all review using Kaplan White book/subject tests, Chad's, and AP Cliffs. I had the most motivation during this phase of studying and put in about 7-9 hours a day, with weekends either off or just light review. At the midway point I inadvertantly took about 4-5 days off because I was getting burnt out. The final 4 weeks was all problem solving. In the mornings I went through the Destroyer and a Math test, and after lunch I'd do a CDP and read Cliff's or Campbell's, or re-read my notes I took from Chad's videos. I went through the chemistry in destroyer 2 full times and bio once. I read all of the Kaplan white book twice, I read Cliff's twice and skimmed through the whole thing another 2 times. I read Campbell's 19-21 once.
Practice tests:
CDP-test 1-4: 21, 21, 20, 20
Math Destroyer tests 2-8: 17, 19, 18, 17, 19, 20, 19
Bio/GC/OC/RC/QR/PAT/TS/AA
Kp Diagnotic-10/14/17/19/16/19/11/15
Kp Midterm- 14/15/16/19/15/21/15/16
Kp Final- 19/15/19/--/21/20/18/19
Topscore 1- 17/17/17/20/19/20/17/18
Kp Test 1- 19/17/20/23/21/22/19/20
Topscore 2- 17/18/18/25/21/24/18/20
Kp Test 2- 17/21/17/22/20/22/18/19
Topscore 3- 18/16/18/--/--/--/18/--
ACTUAL DAT 18/22/19/20/20/24/19/20
Final nuggets of wisdom:
-Prevent yourself from burning out. Set up a study schedule that you can maintain throughout your planned amount of time, and in which you can sprint to the finish. After 9 of my 10 weeks I was crawling. I feel as though, if I had taken it a bit easier, or scheduled my exam a week earlier I would have been able to maintain my motivation better and scored maybe a point higher or so. The last week, instead of ratcheting it up to 10/11 hours a day as I had planned, I was only able to get through about 2 hours of work in the mornings and about an hour of review at night.
-Have a plan and stick to it religiously. This one may seem to contradict my burnout statement, but it's important. Don't let yourself have any small concessions in your plan. Be reasonable in what you plan out, but make sure you get through it all. If you begin putting that last chapter in Cliffs until tomorrow, then tomorrow you will put off that next CDP until the next day and it will snowball from there. I was very afraid of this, yet I still let it happen. The last week my roommates bought my kryptonite: NCAA 2011. I told myself I could skip those Chad's quizzes just that one night and have a night off, I deserved it. I ended up playing that stupid game most of the last 4-5 days I had before the test.
-Focus your attention on your weak areas. Someone on a breakdown just a few days ago said this, but it is very important. Identify your weakest area and pound it. When you get good at that one and another slips, focus on the new weak area. Gradually by doing this, you'll raise all of your scores to the level you want them by test day.
-Review! If there is one thing I wished I'd done more of, it would be reviewing my notes. Instead I kept going through practice problems and re-reading Cliffs all over again. Had I set aside an hour a night or an 30 minutes each morning to flip through my notes I think I could have done a bit better.
-Think positive! Even if you're scoring 13's, going into test day you are not doing yourself any favors by thinking you're going to score that badly. Lie to yourself! Tell yourself you'll get that 20. Don't get too down if Achiever or Destroyer is kicking your butt, or if you're getting 15's on QR. It's a long process and as long as you put in the time, you'll be fine.
On to my experience on test day: The night before I was bound and determined that I was going to get my 8 hours of sleep, but alas, I was so wired I just couldn't. I ended up only getting about 5 hours of sleep, but that kept me fresh enough to do okay. On the way to the test (I had my girlfriend drive me...find someone to do this so you don't have to worry about parking) I began feeling VERY sick. Once I walked into the test center I was okay, until they sat me down for 20 minutes and I had time to worry again. When I finally sat down at my station, I told myself I was going to absolutely demolish every section, and even when my head started swirling during RC, I kept at it and stayed positive. Try to keep yourself from freaking out, know that all that hard work you've put in will pay off, and know you're the most prepared person in the entire room.
Okay, I've got to run to work, hope this helps someone out. As you can see from my atrocious diagnostic scores, anyone can do well on this test if you just put in the time and stay positive. Hit me up with any questions!
Oh, btw I have a 3.2 overall and 2.86 science GPA (i had one really bad semester due to some extenuating circumstances, without which I'd have a 3.4/3.20). My EC's, shadowing, and LOR's should all be pretty good. Im applying to UNC, ECU (instate), NYU, Case, Creighton, Maryland, Louisville, VCU, and Temple. Any thoughts on my chances?
