- Joined
- Aug 25, 2013
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 1
Took the DAT last saturday. I wasn't going to take the DAT this summer but decided on a whim a trial run might not be a bad idea. I was also in a summer class and conducting chem research(why I wasn't originally going to take it this summer) so I didn't really get to study that much. It isn't one of those amazing scores that get posted, but for the time I put in I'm very pleased. My scores and percentiles are as follows:
PAT 20 81.0
QR 21 97.6
RC 21 88.9
Bio 18 72.1
GC 20 86.0
OC 21 89.7
TS 19 82.8
AA 20 93.4
Materials, Study Patterns, and actual DAT
Bio
1. feralis notes-read through once, specific sections a few times final week
2. PCAT book-just general concepts when I first started studying(found used, so cheap)
3. DAT Destroyer-most useful part of DAT Destroyer is the biology in my opinion. It asks all the tricky questions and is very tough, but if you have time I would recommend.
4. DAT bootcamp-thought is was very representative, scored 18 every test I took. The genetics questions were right on, but the real DAT didn't cover every section like bootcamp does. Overall recommend!
5. Chad's quizzes-only went through a few of them, but found the concepts great to review
For the Biology section I knew I would be in a bit of trouble with all the information needed. I know it probably wasn't a good way to go about it, but I just did a light read through the PCAT biology section and then dove into DAT destroyer. Finished DAT Destroyer 1 week out from the test, and just used the remaining time to take DAT Bootcamp practice tests and look over specific items I knew I was bad at(having the enzymes down, exact products of all processes of respiration, etc.).
I thought I had failed the Biology section my first time through. There was a lot of application questions that I struggled with at first, marked, and moved on. I don't remember getting a taxonomy question, and I only got one question about biomes. I think having an anatomy course would have really helped with the bio section, more so than just studying. I came back to the biology section after finishing the GC and OC sections, and was able to put a reasonable guess on some of the ones I didn't get at first. Really happy to have that 18.
OC
1. Organic Chemistry Odyssey-I liked the odyssey more than the destroyer because the destroyer is randomized, whereas the odyssey is split by subject, with about 40 questions per subject.
2. DAT bootcamp-took 3 practice tests, with 16/18/18. Very representative.
3. Organic textbook.
For the Organic section, I just worked through the Organic Chemistry Odyssey, my organic book, and then took practice tests the final week. I finished Organic in the spring, so I didn't start studying for the Organic section until 2.5 weeks before the test, with one of those being on a family vacation. On the trip I just did two chapters a day from the Odyssey. The Odyssey is very good at drilling certain topics in, and I think it helped remember certain rules. There were still a lot of general things I had to go back and look through using my old organic textbook. I didn't bother with the Organic section of DAT Destroyer, figured I didn't have the time.
I felt like the Organic section was pretty fair. A few reactions(that I learned through DAT bootcamp) and mostly general stuff, which bond is longer, which is aromatic, etc. I did have a few where they gave the Carbon NMR and the IR numbers and you had to identify the molecule. Felt pretty good, there was a few that I just couldn't remember which way the rule went and had to guess, but overall I didn't feel too bad about it.
GC
1. Chads quizzes
2. DAT Destroyer
3. DAT Bootcamp-felt it was very representative.
For the General Chemistry section, I honestly didn't start studying until about 6 days before the test. I started with DAT Destroyer, but knew I needed to address the problems in a subject by subject way, so I bought Chad's quizzes and did those instead. After working through those I just took practice tests. My first practice test(before quizzes) was a 16, the second I took after the quizzes and got a 20 but I was using my calculator. I took a third test without a calculator and got a 19. Last day before the test I just went over little things I struggled with, like nailing down Ksp and remembering certain rules for different equations etc.
The real DAT g chem section was very fair, nothing too obscure and crazy. There was one application question that I struggled with but other than that it was pretty straightforward. Granted there were some things I just didn't know or didn't learn, but that's what you get when you don't have much time to study.
PAT
1. Crack DAT PAT
I started studying for the PAT 2.5 weeks before the test,(on vacation) and I just used Crack DAT PAT. The first test I took I didn't set a time limit, I just wanted to work through and figure out strategy for each type of problem. It took me about an hour and a half but I got a 20. I took two more tests without timing, and then a fourth time using the 1 hr time limit. I got a 18. Crack DAT's angles and pattern folding were WAY harder than on the real test, and the TFE was a lot easier. Using the line counting method usually only eliminated one answer choice on the DAT, but on the Crack DAT I felt like it almost always worked.
The real PAT wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be. I did freak out a bit when I started to struggle with TFE, as it had always been a better section of mine and it was taking too much time. Luckily the angles and pattern folding weren't too bad. The hole punch wasn't extremely difficult either, with only one or two that needed extra time. Really happy with this score, I know I could have practiced each section more, but this was as good as it was going to get.
QR
The only thing I did for the QR was one of the DAT bootcamps practice tests around 4 days before the test. The score came back good so I didn't worry about it.
There were about 4 or 5 problems that I flat out didn't know how to do, so i just guessed, everything else was pretty straightforward. I only needed formulas for the area of a circle and cylinder(luckily because I didn't memorize any extra).
RC
I honestly didn't do a thing for the reading comprehension section. I figured I really needed to put all my eggs into the bio/orgo/gc basket, and hopefully it would work out.
The only questions that seemed weird were the tone questions, there were a few where I felt two could fit, some where I thought none of them fit.
In summation, I thought the DAT wasn't as bad as it is made out to be. I was really nervous going in, seeing all the threads of people studying for months on end 6+ hours a day and still not getting scores they wanted, but my experience showed me a good foundation can get you pretty far for most sections. I think practice tests and materials tend to look for specific details to ask questions on, and while the DAT does do that it also has a large focus just on general concepts. I would spend more time just going over the basics and making sure they are solid if anyone wants my opinion. Hope this helps some people stressing about the DAT. And good luck future testers!
PAT 20 81.0
QR 21 97.6
RC 21 88.9
Bio 18 72.1
GC 20 86.0
OC 21 89.7
TS 19 82.8
AA 20 93.4
Materials, Study Patterns, and actual DAT
Bio
1. feralis notes-read through once, specific sections a few times final week
2. PCAT book-just general concepts when I first started studying(found used, so cheap)
3. DAT Destroyer-most useful part of DAT Destroyer is the biology in my opinion. It asks all the tricky questions and is very tough, but if you have time I would recommend.
4. DAT bootcamp-thought is was very representative, scored 18 every test I took. The genetics questions were right on, but the real DAT didn't cover every section like bootcamp does. Overall recommend!
5. Chad's quizzes-only went through a few of them, but found the concepts great to review
For the Biology section I knew I would be in a bit of trouble with all the information needed. I know it probably wasn't a good way to go about it, but I just did a light read through the PCAT biology section and then dove into DAT destroyer. Finished DAT Destroyer 1 week out from the test, and just used the remaining time to take DAT Bootcamp practice tests and look over specific items I knew I was bad at(having the enzymes down, exact products of all processes of respiration, etc.).
I thought I had failed the Biology section my first time through. There was a lot of application questions that I struggled with at first, marked, and moved on. I don't remember getting a taxonomy question, and I only got one question about biomes. I think having an anatomy course would have really helped with the bio section, more so than just studying. I came back to the biology section after finishing the GC and OC sections, and was able to put a reasonable guess on some of the ones I didn't get at first. Really happy to have that 18.
OC
1. Organic Chemistry Odyssey-I liked the odyssey more than the destroyer because the destroyer is randomized, whereas the odyssey is split by subject, with about 40 questions per subject.
2. DAT bootcamp-took 3 practice tests, with 16/18/18. Very representative.
3. Organic textbook.
For the Organic section, I just worked through the Organic Chemistry Odyssey, my organic book, and then took practice tests the final week. I finished Organic in the spring, so I didn't start studying for the Organic section until 2.5 weeks before the test, with one of those being on a family vacation. On the trip I just did two chapters a day from the Odyssey. The Odyssey is very good at drilling certain topics in, and I think it helped remember certain rules. There were still a lot of general things I had to go back and look through using my old organic textbook. I didn't bother with the Organic section of DAT Destroyer, figured I didn't have the time.
I felt like the Organic section was pretty fair. A few reactions(that I learned through DAT bootcamp) and mostly general stuff, which bond is longer, which is aromatic, etc. I did have a few where they gave the Carbon NMR and the IR numbers and you had to identify the molecule. Felt pretty good, there was a few that I just couldn't remember which way the rule went and had to guess, but overall I didn't feel too bad about it.
GC
1. Chads quizzes
2. DAT Destroyer
3. DAT Bootcamp-felt it was very representative.
For the General Chemistry section, I honestly didn't start studying until about 6 days before the test. I started with DAT Destroyer, but knew I needed to address the problems in a subject by subject way, so I bought Chad's quizzes and did those instead. After working through those I just took practice tests. My first practice test(before quizzes) was a 16, the second I took after the quizzes and got a 20 but I was using my calculator. I took a third test without a calculator and got a 19. Last day before the test I just went over little things I struggled with, like nailing down Ksp and remembering certain rules for different equations etc.
The real DAT g chem section was very fair, nothing too obscure and crazy. There was one application question that I struggled with but other than that it was pretty straightforward. Granted there were some things I just didn't know or didn't learn, but that's what you get when you don't have much time to study.
PAT
1. Crack DAT PAT
I started studying for the PAT 2.5 weeks before the test,(on vacation) and I just used Crack DAT PAT. The first test I took I didn't set a time limit, I just wanted to work through and figure out strategy for each type of problem. It took me about an hour and a half but I got a 20. I took two more tests without timing, and then a fourth time using the 1 hr time limit. I got a 18. Crack DAT's angles and pattern folding were WAY harder than on the real test, and the TFE was a lot easier. Using the line counting method usually only eliminated one answer choice on the DAT, but on the Crack DAT I felt like it almost always worked.
The real PAT wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be. I did freak out a bit when I started to struggle with TFE, as it had always been a better section of mine and it was taking too much time. Luckily the angles and pattern folding weren't too bad. The hole punch wasn't extremely difficult either, with only one or two that needed extra time. Really happy with this score, I know I could have practiced each section more, but this was as good as it was going to get.
QR
The only thing I did for the QR was one of the DAT bootcamps practice tests around 4 days before the test. The score came back good so I didn't worry about it.
There were about 4 or 5 problems that I flat out didn't know how to do, so i just guessed, everything else was pretty straightforward. I only needed formulas for the area of a circle and cylinder(luckily because I didn't memorize any extra).
RC
I honestly didn't do a thing for the reading comprehension section. I figured I really needed to put all my eggs into the bio/orgo/gc basket, and hopefully it would work out.
The only questions that seemed weird were the tone questions, there were a few where I felt two could fit, some where I thought none of them fit.
In summation, I thought the DAT wasn't as bad as it is made out to be. I was really nervous going in, seeing all the threads of people studying for months on end 6+ hours a day and still not getting scores they wanted, but my experience showed me a good foundation can get you pretty far for most sections. I think practice tests and materials tend to look for specific details to ask questions on, and while the DAT does do that it also has a large focus just on general concepts. I would spend more time just going over the basics and making sure they are solid if anyone wants my opinion. Hope this helps some people stressing about the DAT. And good luck future testers!
