So I just took the DAT and decided to post a breakdown of the whole experience because I have always found these things to be really helpful. Im going to try to not make this super long and keep it straight forward with any advice I can give to help you guys studying for this right now
BIO... 26... (96.2%)
GC.... 22... (95.2%)
OC.... 24... (97.9%)
PAT... 23... (96.2%)
RC.... 20... (78.5%) 😕
QR.... 21... (97.6%)
TS..... 24... (99.7%)
AA.... 23... (99.7%) 🙂
PAT: (CDP, Topscore, Kaplan)
Keyholes- (CDP easier, Topscore and Kaplan about the same - but more dimensions on real thing)
I definitely agree with others that the real thing is a bit harder than CDP, but it was not nearly as bad as I was expecting. The pictures themselves were not as nice looking as CDPs and focused much more on proportions rather than shapes. Kaplan and Topscore were a little better for this section. Proportion wise, its not like the keyholes were smaller but the answer choices were more similar to each other and you had to figure out stuff like which gap is too wide/which stub is too short type of stuff. There was only 1 question that I had NO idea on, none of the answers looked correct and the figure was just odd, like if you gave a kid some glue and came home to a bunch of stuck together ink cartridges. Besides that one though, I felt Topscore was pretty on par for this section (maybe even a little harder) but perhaps thats because I thought the pictures in TS were horrible. There were a few shapes that seemed similar to those in the practice material and when they came up it was like I knew exactly what to focus on. Overall, I would say that if you get good practice before hand, the real thing will not feel as bad as everyone is making it out to be.
TFE- (same as CDP, Topscore, and Kaplan - but less line counting)
Pretty easy very similar to all of the practice material but with less line counting. Preparing for this, I started out trying to visualize the images, then learned line counting, and after practicing with line counting I went back to visualizing just because I got much better and quicker at it. When people say it just clicks after a while, its true. In the end I would only rely on line counting as a last resort to verify my answers. My best advice is just start slow and PRACTICE, dont just blast through the questions when you dont know how to do them but actually sit there and try to figure each one out. My buddy and I would practice the questions together and talk them through at first to figure out strategy, then after figuring something out, work on speed. It turned out pretty well and the real thing felt to be on par with everything else. My advice, learn to visualize the images and dont rely so much on line counting if thats your only method right now, because it takes much longer, doesnt always work, and I think the test writers put in specific options meant to throw you off if you are only line counting.
Hole Punching - (CDP harder, Topscore pretty close, Kaplan way too easy)
Ok this is where I feel that the images on the real DAT are garbage! I dont know if they did that on purpose but it was much more difficult to tell where the folds were positioned and the holes were much smaller and varied in size in comparison to CDP. Dont let that worry you though, because the folds in CDP were MUCH more complex and as long as you can do those well the real thing is nothing to stress about. As far as the 1/3 folds people have been talking about, I couldnt exactly tell if thats what they were but if you were to draw out a 4x4 grid of how the holes are laid out, it seemed like some of the folds occurred on a 8x8 grid. I dont really know how to explain it, but once again if you just practice over and over you WILL get much better and can work though anything they may throw at you. I practiced this section by making a 4x4 grid on my paper and making tic-tac-toe like crosses where the holes hit. After a while you just start to visualize the hole punches much better and dont have to rely on the grid as much because the answer becomes pretty clear, I only drew out the grid maybe 4 times on the real thing. Theres a few tricks I picked up along the way practicing with the grid though; like if the hole hits paper on every image then there will be a sure hole there, if not, then its probably a trick fold which flaps over a portion with no paper underneath, meaning to throw you off into thinking there is a hole there (if that makes ANY sense!). Start slow, dont get frustrated keep trying and it will come to you.
Angles - (CDP harder, Topscore easier, Kaplan way too easy)
If you are freaking out about angles on CDP right now, relax, the real thing is easier. I would say it is right between CDP and Topscore. Kaplans are a joke. There were more questions where one angle was clearly greater than 90deg, making it the biggest one, and the smallest was usually easy to spot as well. Then it usually it came down to a 50/50 between two angles which were probably close to 3-4 degrees apart but for some reason seemed to be easier to discern than in CDP. I think maybe because many of them were a pretty decent size (long arms) and not too many with one short side. On average I was scoring around 13-14 correct on these in CDP and did not feel comfortable with many of my answers, but on the real thing I felt more confident and answered them quicker. My strategy: I would start with trying to find the biggest and smallest angle first to try and knock out some answer choices, then if it came down to a 50/50 I would usually tilt my head and try to visualize various things that seemed help me see it better. For instance, on the more acute angles I would try to imagine which hill I would pick up the most speed riding down on my bike. For those just under 90 degrees, I would visualize a pyramid and see which one it would be harder to climb up, and for the obtuse angles I would picture one of those long round samurai hats (or whatever they are) that look like a drum cymbal, or look to see which is flatter. I know, really weird, but thats what I did and it seemed to help occasionally. As a last resort I would do a rapid glance between the two or look at the little black spot at the vertex of two acute angles and see if one looks bigger, but I usually didnt rely on these too much, especially the black spot thing because the screen resolution or the varying thickness of the lines will easily throw you off.
Cube Counting - (CDP harder, Topscore and Kaplan about the same)
Super simple. Way less cubes than CDP and very little to none illusions. I started out with tally marks on CDP but eventually just got used to which cubes have how many sides exposed based on their position, eventually I just started BLASTING through this section by systematically scanning the image with my eyes and keeping count on my fingers. The tally mark thing was a great way to practice and learn, but a waste of time if you have to do it for the real thing. Get good at CDP and the cubes on the DAT will be cake!
Pattern Folding - (real thing is harder but closest to Topscore and Kaplan, CDP is good too though)
Ok, I would probably say this was the trickiest section of the PAT. Compared to CDP, the real thing had fewer questions with painted sides and more where you have to pick the correct shape. BUT unlike CDP, the shapes were MUCH harder. Some of the answer choices were not even complete box structures and had open sides, where others werent even folded up and rolled up instead. I would say CDP is great practice for the painted side questions because those are actually easier on the DAT, but the shape questions were much harder compared to CDP. In CDP most of the shape questions were a basic structure with 2 main sides and more 2-dimentional looking, where the real thing had more 3-dementional looking figures (I hope that makes sense!). Just go down to home depot and look at some corner pieces to build a canopy. Overall it wasnt horribly bad but this was definitely the section I felt the least comfortable in and probably where I made the majority of my mistakes.
My only suggestion is to sit there and practice CDP until you get good and fast. DO NOT get frustrated or discouraged, there were days where I felt down on myself but just kept trying and eventually it all just clicked and I actually enjoyed doing this section. My first CDP was a 16 and my last (day before test) was a 26. Start slow and go through a few tests without the timer to reason through each question and learn how to do it. My buddy and I did a test together this way in the beginning and it took us 4 hours! But, we also picked up a lot of things along the way. Eventually you will get better and faster, I had a very hard time finishing in only 60 minutes but after a while it just became easier and I was done with 6-7 min to spare every time.
BIO - (Destroyer, Cliffs, Kaplan DAT, Kaplan OAT, Kaplan MCAT, Examcrackers MCAT, Princeton MCAT/DAT, Barrons AP Bio Flashcards, some school books/notes and wiki)
First off, I believe that if you want to do well in this section, you have to DO AS MANY PRACTICE PROBLEMS AS POSSIBLE!!!! Like Im talking VOLUME, huge, anything you can find, DO IT!!! At the end of the day, they can only ask you so many things and chances are very similar things will come up. Being exposed to many problems also teaches you the material and youll learn the random stuff they might throw at you. With that said, by far the best material out there is Destroyer!! Why? Well Im gonna be straight up and say it this guy Dr. Romano, somehow, gets questions directly off the real test. Period. I was not so impressed with Destroyer until actually taking the DAT and flipping back through to see if it was a good buy. His little statements of fact and stuff that seemed really random at first, came up almost word for word on the real thing numerous times! You cant just make this stuff up. My buddy who just took the test as well said the same exact thing! I was seriously sitting there laughing at how close many of the questions or answer options were to the real thing, its very amusing, you should check it out after the test. Now does that mean all the answers are in there and thats all you need to study? Absolutely not! Dr. Ramano sells a great product which will definitely help out your score, but it doesnt supplement the common knowledge you need to have of the subject. I got a lot of old material from friends and used that, but I would recommend getting Cliffs AP Bio for a good general review. I would say its probably the cheapest yet best book out there for bio (I also got the barrons flashcards because they were cheap and practically restated the book which I hear is good too). Then, maybe flip through kaplan to cover stuff like physio which cliffs was lacking. Then do destroyer and sit there with wiki to pick up on stuff cliffs or kaplan might have left out. Afterwards, if you have the time or access to other resources, do more practice questions. Kaplans OAT practice book was pretty good along with Kaplan and Examkrackers MCAT books. The cliffs DAT book I thought was trash but it was cheap and I cant say was a complete waste of time, just definitely not the best use of it. Cliffs AP bio 5 practice test book was ok too I think, I didnt actually do any of it but had a chance to flip through the pages and it looked alright. So yeah, my best advice is just do as many problems as possible from various sources and you should be alright. I felt that the real thing was not as random as everyone is making it out to be. Most of the questions were very straight forward and you just had to apply your knowledge rather than regurgitating a definition. I had 3 classification questions, 1 ecology, 8-9 genetics based, and nothing on plants I think. There was only 1 question which I wasnt sure on and narrowed it down to a 50/50 but Im guessing its the one I got wrong. In the end, I thought the bio section was definitely do-able and not so bad.
Gen Chem - (CHADS, Destroyer, Kaplan DAT/OAT/MCAT books, Examkracker MCAT, Wikipedia+YouTube!)
Chad. Uh yeah let me say it again, CHAD! He has pretty much become a staple in studying for the DAT, so go buy the mans videos and kill this section! Nothing out there compares in my opinion. Dont waste your time with school books because there is waaay more material in there than you need and other books geared towards the DAT do not explain the concepts well. Believe me, it is MUCH easier to sit back and watch Chads videos than trying to relearn gen chem out of a book. I would go to school and play it through the projector in an empty class room and just take copious notes. I watched the videos a total of 2x and ended up with an awesome notebook full of knowledge that I kept referring back to during my studies. Besides that get destroyer and make sure you know all the concepts from there. The real test was MUCH easier and had practically no actual calculations other than a few simple pH/log conversions, the rest of the problems were all set up for you - I had maybe a total of 9-11 calculations and the rest were conceptual. Advice, know your gas laws & density and do the tutorial at the beginning of the test. Besides that, I thought the real thing was VERY straight forward and probably the easiest out of all the practice material. Besides destroyer I did gen chem problems from Kaplan (DAT and OAT books were pretty good and MCAT stuff was good but hard), Examkrackers MCAT (dont waste your time, this is waaaay beyond anything they will ask you on the DAT), and a few problems here and there out of cliffs DAT and AP Gen Chem books (again, cliffs DAT pretty crappy and AP GC was decent). I feel like I know my GC pretty well but kept scoring like 18-20 on all the practice tests ended up with a 22 on the real thing though. Trust me when I say that all you need for this section is Chad and Destroyer, if youre solid on those, then the real test will seem very basic.
O. Chem - (CHADS, Destroyer, Kaplan DAT/OAT/MCAT books, Examkracker MCAT, old notes)
Again, CHAD + DESTROYER!! The real test was pretty simple, very basic for the most part. I did get two questions with a 4 step reaction where you had to pick the product, so I wouldnt solely rely on what other people here said about there being only 1 or 2 step reactions, but it was pretty straight forward I thought - nothing harder than destroyer (which had an almost identical question btw). There were about 3 IR/NMR questions, 1 hard nomenclature, and 2-3 acid ranking. I also thought that the Topscore and Kaplan ochem questions were pretty representative of the exam, especially in terms of how they are set up and written out as compared to destroyer. They just have a slightly different feel to them that is more like the real test, but destroyer does a much better job in teaching the concepts and certain tricks to look out for. I would not waste time with OChem Odyssey though, dont get me wrong - its a great book, but not necessary. My friend bought it and we went through about 6 chapters before giving it a rest. I think that is something to do only if you have the time and serious motivation because it is definitely over-kill for the DAT. Also dont waste your time with Examkrackers MCAT Ochem, its decent but mostly conceptual stuff, so check it out only if you really feel the need to. Besides that, I dont think it is necessary to stress over this section too much... Im not sure what I missed but I felt like it was pretty easy. I was averaging about 22-23 in Destroyer, 26-30 in Kaplan, and 24-28 in Topscore with a 24 on the real thing.
Side Note - DO NOT waste your money on Crack DAT SCIENCES and any DAT FLASHCARDS you find for sale on the internet!! CDScience was utterly useless and an embarrassment to their company. The flashcards are just a complete SCAM, some idiot literally Googled random science words and made flashcards with half a page answers and sells them for $50. I made the mistake of buying these things before finding this site
RC - (CDR, Kaplan, Topscore)
Honestly, Im not sure what happened here. Im happy with the 20 but I was expecting a little higher based on my practice test scores. I did 6 of the 10 CDR tests and averaged 22-23s. I was also getting 25s in Kaplan and Topscore. I didnt study too much for this section because I felt like my reading is pretty solid but I definitely did not neglect it either. Surprisingly, I thought this was probably the most difficult section of the exam. The passages themselves were not very difficult but the majority of the questions were not so clear cut and a little difficult to find answers for. I would say the difficulty of the reading would compare to Topscore, but the questions in Topscore are a complete joke being all search and destroy. The passages in CDR are a bit easier to read and but the questions are better, even though I think it is full of mistakes and oddly worded at times. The real test had 1 pretty easy passage that you can pretty much S&D, 1 hard passage that you can tell they tried to screw you up if you dont actually read it, and 1 in between that was not hard to read but it was a bit longer (17 paragraphs, compared to 14 and 15 for the others) and most of the questions were S&D but often times phrased in a way to make you think or second guess your answer because it would ask something opposite of what the passage mentions. No math or calculations like some people have been saying but there was one that asked for a percentage when the passage gave you a statistical fraction. All in all, I know some people are worried about this part of the exam because English was not their first language (wasnt mine either) but honestly just do what you can to prepare for it and dont just blow it off. People seem to think this is not something you can improve in over a few months but I completely disagree. It is not just about being a good reader; a big part of it is about strategy. Do some practice tests and find a method that works for you. Personally, I just quickly read the passages (some of them were actually very interesting) and used S&D to verify my answers. I hate to say it, but in reality it just comes down to the luck of the draw in which version of the exam you will get (piano, physics, ethics,etc) its a bit unfair but it is what it is, most importantly dont be afraid of it and stay calm no matter which passage you get. Even with a hard version, the RC is not THAT bad honestly.
QR - (Math Destroyer!! Chads QR vids, CDM, Kaplan)
Oh man, am I happy about this one!! I really went in there expecting no better than an 18 and being fine with that!! I thought it was the easiest of any practice material out there. One key thing though time management. MARK IT AND MOVE ON!! I marked a total of 7 questions, 5 of which ended up being complete guesses. Any time a long word problem would come up or one that I know will take me too long to solve, I would literally just say F-it, put down B, mark it, and hit next. Dont get stuck on the long stuff because its worth just as much as an easy question that takes 15 sec to solve! Questions 34-40 were probably the easiest (like many others have said) so make sure you get around to those before time runs out because those are serious points right there. I think the only reason I did alright was due to good strategy, it is easy to get stubborn and stuck on a problem when you feel like youre close to solving it but you cant do that and just have to move on. I was able to go back and solve 2 of the 7 questions I marked and the other 5 I practically didnt even read. As far as study material goes, MATH DESTROYER!!!! Again, for the same reasons as above the questions are eerily similar to the real test. Math Destroyer was definitely harder though. I was scoring about 22 on every test but it was taking me 1hr-1.5hrs to finish. I only got a chance to go through the first 8 tests once, but I definitely wish I didnt waste my time with other junk like CDR and Kaplan and used it to just keep doing destroyer over and over. I did half of the QR section in the back of the regular destroyer book and those were pretty good too, closer to the difficulty level of the DAT but math destroyer was more specific. Kaplans QR is a complete pile of flaming hot garbage in my opinion! My girlfriend took their OAT class so I did a few of the QR sections on her online account and just wanted to pull my hair out. The word problems are ridiculous so dont waste your time with those, and although their arithmetic questions were decent (still much harder than the DAT though) I still would much rather just focus on destroyer for the practice. CDM was just OK, I thought it was pretty decent at first but again, only if you have a ton of time to practice and went though destroyer a few times already. I did 5 of the 25 CDM exams and although I wouldnt say it was time wasted, it wasnt time well spent (or money). The video explanations were nice but terrible quality, the guy started to get a little annoying after test 2, and the questions were not explained well. Overall it just did not represent the exam as well as destroyer did. Still, if you were looking for something beyond destroyer this would be my first suggestion. Chads QR videos were pretty good too. Not as good as his chemistries but worth the 4-5hrs to get you started if its been a while since you have taken math, like myself. By the way, the real test only had 2 conversions which you had to know - temp and distance. About 5-6 trig problems too. My only words of advice are that if you suck at math and feel like your doomed, just know that there is hope and a 21 is very possible! I went from barely remembering how to do basic calculations and a 16 on the first CDM test to a 21 on the DAT in only 1.5 weeks! This was the section I felt the weakest in walking into the exam and walked out the happiest about. Even though most schools dont look at this section very strongly and most people neglect it, just know that its the one section where you can greatly improve you score and help out your AA instead of hurting it if I had an extra week for this I can easily see scoring a 23+.
Before the test:
First off holy crap I did not mean to type that much!! I can totally see why all these breakdowns are so long now!! Anyways, I guess I spent the majority of my summer studying. I would say probably 6 hours a day (productively) on average, some days less, some days more. All I can say is just stay positive and keep pushing forward, because getting overwhelmed can happen quite quickly and it will not do you any good. Keep your sanity and take days off. Get your exercise and eat right. Hang out with friends. Go out sometimes. Have some fun. At the same time though, study like this is the most important exam of your life until up to now because it is. Take it seriously. Dental school is not easier than this so look at it as good practice for the years ahead. Also, be grateful to even have such an opportunity to stress over this exam in the first place, unfortunately many people do not and would love be in our position (no matter how daunting and terrible it may seem right now). As for the exam itself, if you get serious with it and study hard then you will do just fine its not easy but nothing in life worth a struggle is. If you are going through a mix of emotions (scared, stressed, happy, sad, anxious, frustrated, etc) just know its human nature and youre not going crazy! Everyone has good days and bad days studying for this thing, its normal, but keep a positive outlook and know that if you keep pushing everything will be fine... it always is. I had to bail on most of the trips and get-togethers with friends this summer and thats just how it goes, but I like what Im doing and happy to be doing it. Looking back on it doesnt seem so bad. Also, if you feel that you need to reschedule for a few extra days then do so. I did and it was the best decision I made. The whole week before the exam I was more calm and relaxed than in the entire 3 months studying for this. It felt like it was the calm before the storm or something and started to weird me out a little. Thankfully it persisted all the way up to the exam though and all the way through it. I was actually more nervous during the Topscore tests for some reason, haha! The day before the test I stayed home and did a practice PAT and lightly reviewed everything for about 6 hours. That night I just watched Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Bored to Death with my girlfriend and just kicked back. Had a good breakfast in the morning and went off to battle. The test went by fast and I did not feel very tired afterwards, I think it was thanks to taking multiple practice tests beforehand and building up the endurance. Came home afterwards and had a victory beer with my dad. It feels pretty good to be done now.
As far as the testing center goes, I thought it was really nice and no horror stories to tell here. They gave me 2 markers (a fine tipped wet-erase and a thicker tipped dry erase), an eraser, and 2 laminated sheets of paper to write on. The temperature in there was nice but I brought my sweatshirt just in case. They give you a locker to put all your stuff in, make you pull your pockets out, fingerprint, and metal detector wand you. Keep in mind that if the bathroom is outside you have to check in and out which can take a while, especially if someone else is in front of you, so be mindful of the time. I ran out to the bathroom during my break and then to my truck to scarf down a PB&J, hammer down some Gatorade, and take a swig of 5hr energy. Checked back in with 2 min to spare and wrote down the unit circle/formulas on one of my sheets. By the way there's a little pop up that comes up during the test when you have 15min left and then 5min, which kept making me jolt when it came up so be expecting that and don't get startled, lol. At the end there was a survey and finally the scores. I got my print out, made a few calls, and then went to sit in traffic for 2hrs on my way home. Avicii - Levels almost blew my subs out.
So yeah, thats that good luck to everyone studying to take this thing!
BIO... 26... (96.2%)
GC.... 22... (95.2%)
OC.... 24... (97.9%)
PAT... 23... (96.2%)
RC.... 20... (78.5%) 😕
QR.... 21... (97.6%)
TS..... 24... (99.7%)
AA.... 23... (99.7%) 🙂
PAT: (CDP, Topscore, Kaplan)
Keyholes- (CDP easier, Topscore and Kaplan about the same - but more dimensions on real thing)
I definitely agree with others that the real thing is a bit harder than CDP, but it was not nearly as bad as I was expecting. The pictures themselves were not as nice looking as CDPs and focused much more on proportions rather than shapes. Kaplan and Topscore were a little better for this section. Proportion wise, its not like the keyholes were smaller but the answer choices were more similar to each other and you had to figure out stuff like which gap is too wide/which stub is too short type of stuff. There was only 1 question that I had NO idea on, none of the answers looked correct and the figure was just odd, like if you gave a kid some glue and came home to a bunch of stuck together ink cartridges. Besides that one though, I felt Topscore was pretty on par for this section (maybe even a little harder) but perhaps thats because I thought the pictures in TS were horrible. There were a few shapes that seemed similar to those in the practice material and when they came up it was like I knew exactly what to focus on. Overall, I would say that if you get good practice before hand, the real thing will not feel as bad as everyone is making it out to be.
TFE- (same as CDP, Topscore, and Kaplan - but less line counting)
Pretty easy very similar to all of the practice material but with less line counting. Preparing for this, I started out trying to visualize the images, then learned line counting, and after practicing with line counting I went back to visualizing just because I got much better and quicker at it. When people say it just clicks after a while, its true. In the end I would only rely on line counting as a last resort to verify my answers. My best advice is just start slow and PRACTICE, dont just blast through the questions when you dont know how to do them but actually sit there and try to figure each one out. My buddy and I would practice the questions together and talk them through at first to figure out strategy, then after figuring something out, work on speed. It turned out pretty well and the real thing felt to be on par with everything else. My advice, learn to visualize the images and dont rely so much on line counting if thats your only method right now, because it takes much longer, doesnt always work, and I think the test writers put in specific options meant to throw you off if you are only line counting.
Hole Punching - (CDP harder, Topscore pretty close, Kaplan way too easy)
Ok this is where I feel that the images on the real DAT are garbage! I dont know if they did that on purpose but it was much more difficult to tell where the folds were positioned and the holes were much smaller and varied in size in comparison to CDP. Dont let that worry you though, because the folds in CDP were MUCH more complex and as long as you can do those well the real thing is nothing to stress about. As far as the 1/3 folds people have been talking about, I couldnt exactly tell if thats what they were but if you were to draw out a 4x4 grid of how the holes are laid out, it seemed like some of the folds occurred on a 8x8 grid. I dont really know how to explain it, but once again if you just practice over and over you WILL get much better and can work though anything they may throw at you. I practiced this section by making a 4x4 grid on my paper and making tic-tac-toe like crosses where the holes hit. After a while you just start to visualize the hole punches much better and dont have to rely on the grid as much because the answer becomes pretty clear, I only drew out the grid maybe 4 times on the real thing. Theres a few tricks I picked up along the way practicing with the grid though; like if the hole hits paper on every image then there will be a sure hole there, if not, then its probably a trick fold which flaps over a portion with no paper underneath, meaning to throw you off into thinking there is a hole there (if that makes ANY sense!). Start slow, dont get frustrated keep trying and it will come to you.
Angles - (CDP harder, Topscore easier, Kaplan way too easy)
If you are freaking out about angles on CDP right now, relax, the real thing is easier. I would say it is right between CDP and Topscore. Kaplans are a joke. There were more questions where one angle was clearly greater than 90deg, making it the biggest one, and the smallest was usually easy to spot as well. Then it usually it came down to a 50/50 between two angles which were probably close to 3-4 degrees apart but for some reason seemed to be easier to discern than in CDP. I think maybe because many of them were a pretty decent size (long arms) and not too many with one short side. On average I was scoring around 13-14 correct on these in CDP and did not feel comfortable with many of my answers, but on the real thing I felt more confident and answered them quicker. My strategy: I would start with trying to find the biggest and smallest angle first to try and knock out some answer choices, then if it came down to a 50/50 I would usually tilt my head and try to visualize various things that seemed help me see it better. For instance, on the more acute angles I would try to imagine which hill I would pick up the most speed riding down on my bike. For those just under 90 degrees, I would visualize a pyramid and see which one it would be harder to climb up, and for the obtuse angles I would picture one of those long round samurai hats (or whatever they are) that look like a drum cymbal, or look to see which is flatter. I know, really weird, but thats what I did and it seemed to help occasionally. As a last resort I would do a rapid glance between the two or look at the little black spot at the vertex of two acute angles and see if one looks bigger, but I usually didnt rely on these too much, especially the black spot thing because the screen resolution or the varying thickness of the lines will easily throw you off.
Cube Counting - (CDP harder, Topscore and Kaplan about the same)
Super simple. Way less cubes than CDP and very little to none illusions. I started out with tally marks on CDP but eventually just got used to which cubes have how many sides exposed based on their position, eventually I just started BLASTING through this section by systematically scanning the image with my eyes and keeping count on my fingers. The tally mark thing was a great way to practice and learn, but a waste of time if you have to do it for the real thing. Get good at CDP and the cubes on the DAT will be cake!
Pattern Folding - (real thing is harder but closest to Topscore and Kaplan, CDP is good too though)
Ok, I would probably say this was the trickiest section of the PAT. Compared to CDP, the real thing had fewer questions with painted sides and more where you have to pick the correct shape. BUT unlike CDP, the shapes were MUCH harder. Some of the answer choices were not even complete box structures and had open sides, where others werent even folded up and rolled up instead. I would say CDP is great practice for the painted side questions because those are actually easier on the DAT, but the shape questions were much harder compared to CDP. In CDP most of the shape questions were a basic structure with 2 main sides and more 2-dimentional looking, where the real thing had more 3-dementional looking figures (I hope that makes sense!). Just go down to home depot and look at some corner pieces to build a canopy. Overall it wasnt horribly bad but this was definitely the section I felt the least comfortable in and probably where I made the majority of my mistakes.
My only suggestion is to sit there and practice CDP until you get good and fast. DO NOT get frustrated or discouraged, there were days where I felt down on myself but just kept trying and eventually it all just clicked and I actually enjoyed doing this section. My first CDP was a 16 and my last (day before test) was a 26. Start slow and go through a few tests without the timer to reason through each question and learn how to do it. My buddy and I did a test together this way in the beginning and it took us 4 hours! But, we also picked up a lot of things along the way. Eventually you will get better and faster, I had a very hard time finishing in only 60 minutes but after a while it just became easier and I was done with 6-7 min to spare every time.
BIO - (Destroyer, Cliffs, Kaplan DAT, Kaplan OAT, Kaplan MCAT, Examcrackers MCAT, Princeton MCAT/DAT, Barrons AP Bio Flashcards, some school books/notes and wiki)
First off, I believe that if you want to do well in this section, you have to DO AS MANY PRACTICE PROBLEMS AS POSSIBLE!!!! Like Im talking VOLUME, huge, anything you can find, DO IT!!! At the end of the day, they can only ask you so many things and chances are very similar things will come up. Being exposed to many problems also teaches you the material and youll learn the random stuff they might throw at you. With that said, by far the best material out there is Destroyer!! Why? Well Im gonna be straight up and say it this guy Dr. Romano, somehow, gets questions directly off the real test. Period. I was not so impressed with Destroyer until actually taking the DAT and flipping back through to see if it was a good buy. His little statements of fact and stuff that seemed really random at first, came up almost word for word on the real thing numerous times! You cant just make this stuff up. My buddy who just took the test as well said the same exact thing! I was seriously sitting there laughing at how close many of the questions or answer options were to the real thing, its very amusing, you should check it out after the test. Now does that mean all the answers are in there and thats all you need to study? Absolutely not! Dr. Ramano sells a great product which will definitely help out your score, but it doesnt supplement the common knowledge you need to have of the subject. I got a lot of old material from friends and used that, but I would recommend getting Cliffs AP Bio for a good general review. I would say its probably the cheapest yet best book out there for bio (I also got the barrons flashcards because they were cheap and practically restated the book which I hear is good too). Then, maybe flip through kaplan to cover stuff like physio which cliffs was lacking. Then do destroyer and sit there with wiki to pick up on stuff cliffs or kaplan might have left out. Afterwards, if you have the time or access to other resources, do more practice questions. Kaplans OAT practice book was pretty good along with Kaplan and Examkrackers MCAT books. The cliffs DAT book I thought was trash but it was cheap and I cant say was a complete waste of time, just definitely not the best use of it. Cliffs AP bio 5 practice test book was ok too I think, I didnt actually do any of it but had a chance to flip through the pages and it looked alright. So yeah, my best advice is just do as many problems as possible from various sources and you should be alright. I felt that the real thing was not as random as everyone is making it out to be. Most of the questions were very straight forward and you just had to apply your knowledge rather than regurgitating a definition. I had 3 classification questions, 1 ecology, 8-9 genetics based, and nothing on plants I think. There was only 1 question which I wasnt sure on and narrowed it down to a 50/50 but Im guessing its the one I got wrong. In the end, I thought the bio section was definitely do-able and not so bad.
Gen Chem - (CHADS, Destroyer, Kaplan DAT/OAT/MCAT books, Examkracker MCAT, Wikipedia+YouTube!)
Chad. Uh yeah let me say it again, CHAD! He has pretty much become a staple in studying for the DAT, so go buy the mans videos and kill this section! Nothing out there compares in my opinion. Dont waste your time with school books because there is waaay more material in there than you need and other books geared towards the DAT do not explain the concepts well. Believe me, it is MUCH easier to sit back and watch Chads videos than trying to relearn gen chem out of a book. I would go to school and play it through the projector in an empty class room and just take copious notes. I watched the videos a total of 2x and ended up with an awesome notebook full of knowledge that I kept referring back to during my studies. Besides that get destroyer and make sure you know all the concepts from there. The real test was MUCH easier and had practically no actual calculations other than a few simple pH/log conversions, the rest of the problems were all set up for you - I had maybe a total of 9-11 calculations and the rest were conceptual. Advice, know your gas laws & density and do the tutorial at the beginning of the test. Besides that, I thought the real thing was VERY straight forward and probably the easiest out of all the practice material. Besides destroyer I did gen chem problems from Kaplan (DAT and OAT books were pretty good and MCAT stuff was good but hard), Examkrackers MCAT (dont waste your time, this is waaaay beyond anything they will ask you on the DAT), and a few problems here and there out of cliffs DAT and AP Gen Chem books (again, cliffs DAT pretty crappy and AP GC was decent). I feel like I know my GC pretty well but kept scoring like 18-20 on all the practice tests ended up with a 22 on the real thing though. Trust me when I say that all you need for this section is Chad and Destroyer, if youre solid on those, then the real test will seem very basic.
O. Chem - (CHADS, Destroyer, Kaplan DAT/OAT/MCAT books, Examkracker MCAT, old notes)
Again, CHAD + DESTROYER!! The real test was pretty simple, very basic for the most part. I did get two questions with a 4 step reaction where you had to pick the product, so I wouldnt solely rely on what other people here said about there being only 1 or 2 step reactions, but it was pretty straight forward I thought - nothing harder than destroyer (which had an almost identical question btw). There were about 3 IR/NMR questions, 1 hard nomenclature, and 2-3 acid ranking. I also thought that the Topscore and Kaplan ochem questions were pretty representative of the exam, especially in terms of how they are set up and written out as compared to destroyer. They just have a slightly different feel to them that is more like the real test, but destroyer does a much better job in teaching the concepts and certain tricks to look out for. I would not waste time with OChem Odyssey though, dont get me wrong - its a great book, but not necessary. My friend bought it and we went through about 6 chapters before giving it a rest. I think that is something to do only if you have the time and serious motivation because it is definitely over-kill for the DAT. Also dont waste your time with Examkrackers MCAT Ochem, its decent but mostly conceptual stuff, so check it out only if you really feel the need to. Besides that, I dont think it is necessary to stress over this section too much... Im not sure what I missed but I felt like it was pretty easy. I was averaging about 22-23 in Destroyer, 26-30 in Kaplan, and 24-28 in Topscore with a 24 on the real thing.
Side Note - DO NOT waste your money on Crack DAT SCIENCES and any DAT FLASHCARDS you find for sale on the internet!! CDScience was utterly useless and an embarrassment to their company. The flashcards are just a complete SCAM, some idiot literally Googled random science words and made flashcards with half a page answers and sells them for $50. I made the mistake of buying these things before finding this site
RC - (CDR, Kaplan, Topscore)
Honestly, Im not sure what happened here. Im happy with the 20 but I was expecting a little higher based on my practice test scores. I did 6 of the 10 CDR tests and averaged 22-23s. I was also getting 25s in Kaplan and Topscore. I didnt study too much for this section because I felt like my reading is pretty solid but I definitely did not neglect it either. Surprisingly, I thought this was probably the most difficult section of the exam. The passages themselves were not very difficult but the majority of the questions were not so clear cut and a little difficult to find answers for. I would say the difficulty of the reading would compare to Topscore, but the questions in Topscore are a complete joke being all search and destroy. The passages in CDR are a bit easier to read and but the questions are better, even though I think it is full of mistakes and oddly worded at times. The real test had 1 pretty easy passage that you can pretty much S&D, 1 hard passage that you can tell they tried to screw you up if you dont actually read it, and 1 in between that was not hard to read but it was a bit longer (17 paragraphs, compared to 14 and 15 for the others) and most of the questions were S&D but often times phrased in a way to make you think or second guess your answer because it would ask something opposite of what the passage mentions. No math or calculations like some people have been saying but there was one that asked for a percentage when the passage gave you a statistical fraction. All in all, I know some people are worried about this part of the exam because English was not their first language (wasnt mine either) but honestly just do what you can to prepare for it and dont just blow it off. People seem to think this is not something you can improve in over a few months but I completely disagree. It is not just about being a good reader; a big part of it is about strategy. Do some practice tests and find a method that works for you. Personally, I just quickly read the passages (some of them were actually very interesting) and used S&D to verify my answers. I hate to say it, but in reality it just comes down to the luck of the draw in which version of the exam you will get (piano, physics, ethics,etc) its a bit unfair but it is what it is, most importantly dont be afraid of it and stay calm no matter which passage you get. Even with a hard version, the RC is not THAT bad honestly.
QR - (Math Destroyer!! Chads QR vids, CDM, Kaplan)
Oh man, am I happy about this one!! I really went in there expecting no better than an 18 and being fine with that!! I thought it was the easiest of any practice material out there. One key thing though time management. MARK IT AND MOVE ON!! I marked a total of 7 questions, 5 of which ended up being complete guesses. Any time a long word problem would come up or one that I know will take me too long to solve, I would literally just say F-it, put down B, mark it, and hit next. Dont get stuck on the long stuff because its worth just as much as an easy question that takes 15 sec to solve! Questions 34-40 were probably the easiest (like many others have said) so make sure you get around to those before time runs out because those are serious points right there. I think the only reason I did alright was due to good strategy, it is easy to get stubborn and stuck on a problem when you feel like youre close to solving it but you cant do that and just have to move on. I was able to go back and solve 2 of the 7 questions I marked and the other 5 I practically didnt even read. As far as study material goes, MATH DESTROYER!!!! Again, for the same reasons as above the questions are eerily similar to the real test. Math Destroyer was definitely harder though. I was scoring about 22 on every test but it was taking me 1hr-1.5hrs to finish. I only got a chance to go through the first 8 tests once, but I definitely wish I didnt waste my time with other junk like CDR and Kaplan and used it to just keep doing destroyer over and over. I did half of the QR section in the back of the regular destroyer book and those were pretty good too, closer to the difficulty level of the DAT but math destroyer was more specific. Kaplans QR is a complete pile of flaming hot garbage in my opinion! My girlfriend took their OAT class so I did a few of the QR sections on her online account and just wanted to pull my hair out. The word problems are ridiculous so dont waste your time with those, and although their arithmetic questions were decent (still much harder than the DAT though) I still would much rather just focus on destroyer for the practice. CDM was just OK, I thought it was pretty decent at first but again, only if you have a ton of time to practice and went though destroyer a few times already. I did 5 of the 25 CDM exams and although I wouldnt say it was time wasted, it wasnt time well spent (or money). The video explanations were nice but terrible quality, the guy started to get a little annoying after test 2, and the questions were not explained well. Overall it just did not represent the exam as well as destroyer did. Still, if you were looking for something beyond destroyer this would be my first suggestion. Chads QR videos were pretty good too. Not as good as his chemistries but worth the 4-5hrs to get you started if its been a while since you have taken math, like myself. By the way, the real test only had 2 conversions which you had to know - temp and distance. About 5-6 trig problems too. My only words of advice are that if you suck at math and feel like your doomed, just know that there is hope and a 21 is very possible! I went from barely remembering how to do basic calculations and a 16 on the first CDM test to a 21 on the DAT in only 1.5 weeks! This was the section I felt the weakest in walking into the exam and walked out the happiest about. Even though most schools dont look at this section very strongly and most people neglect it, just know that its the one section where you can greatly improve you score and help out your AA instead of hurting it if I had an extra week for this I can easily see scoring a 23+.
Before the test:
First off holy crap I did not mean to type that much!! I can totally see why all these breakdowns are so long now!! Anyways, I guess I spent the majority of my summer studying. I would say probably 6 hours a day (productively) on average, some days less, some days more. All I can say is just stay positive and keep pushing forward, because getting overwhelmed can happen quite quickly and it will not do you any good. Keep your sanity and take days off. Get your exercise and eat right. Hang out with friends. Go out sometimes. Have some fun. At the same time though, study like this is the most important exam of your life until up to now because it is. Take it seriously. Dental school is not easier than this so look at it as good practice for the years ahead. Also, be grateful to even have such an opportunity to stress over this exam in the first place, unfortunately many people do not and would love be in our position (no matter how daunting and terrible it may seem right now). As for the exam itself, if you get serious with it and study hard then you will do just fine its not easy but nothing in life worth a struggle is. If you are going through a mix of emotions (scared, stressed, happy, sad, anxious, frustrated, etc) just know its human nature and youre not going crazy! Everyone has good days and bad days studying for this thing, its normal, but keep a positive outlook and know that if you keep pushing everything will be fine... it always is. I had to bail on most of the trips and get-togethers with friends this summer and thats just how it goes, but I like what Im doing and happy to be doing it. Looking back on it doesnt seem so bad. Also, if you feel that you need to reschedule for a few extra days then do so. I did and it was the best decision I made. The whole week before the exam I was more calm and relaxed than in the entire 3 months studying for this. It felt like it was the calm before the storm or something and started to weird me out a little. Thankfully it persisted all the way up to the exam though and all the way through it. I was actually more nervous during the Topscore tests for some reason, haha! The day before the test I stayed home and did a practice PAT and lightly reviewed everything for about 6 hours. That night I just watched Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Bored to Death with my girlfriend and just kicked back. Had a good breakfast in the morning and went off to battle. The test went by fast and I did not feel very tired afterwards, I think it was thanks to taking multiple practice tests beforehand and building up the endurance. Came home afterwards and had a victory beer with my dad. It feels pretty good to be done now.
As far as the testing center goes, I thought it was really nice and no horror stories to tell here. They gave me 2 markers (a fine tipped wet-erase and a thicker tipped dry erase), an eraser, and 2 laminated sheets of paper to write on. The temperature in there was nice but I brought my sweatshirt just in case. They give you a locker to put all your stuff in, make you pull your pockets out, fingerprint, and metal detector wand you. Keep in mind that if the bathroom is outside you have to check in and out which can take a while, especially if someone else is in front of you, so be mindful of the time. I ran out to the bathroom during my break and then to my truck to scarf down a PB&J, hammer down some Gatorade, and take a swig of 5hr energy. Checked back in with 2 min to spare and wrote down the unit circle/formulas on one of my sheets. By the way there's a little pop up that comes up during the test when you have 15min left and then 5min, which kept making me jolt when it came up so be expecting that and don't get startled, lol. At the end there was a survey and finally the scores. I got my print out, made a few calls, and then went to sit in traffic for 2hrs on my way home. Avicii - Levels almost blew my subs out.
So yeah, thats that good luck to everyone studying to take this thing!
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. Epic breakdown too. Phenomenal job!
Amazing breakdown too! 
