Another DAT Breakdown!

[Thetoothhurts91]

Hey everyone, I literally just got home from the testing center. I've been stalking DAT breakdowns for months and I'm so happy to say I am finally on the other side! I want to post a detailed breakdown while it's still fresh in my mind.

But first, the scores:
PAT 21
QR 20
RC 22
BIO 22
GC 21
ORGO 23
TS 22
AA 22

PAT
Resource: CDP (8/10) and Bootcamp (9/10)
I purchased CDP back in June and went through all the practice tests (18 18 18 17 21 21 21 19 21 21). However, I later bought Bootcamp to help me with the Bio portion and they offer 10 PAT exams (21 20 x 19 18 19 20 20 20 19)! If I'd known, I would have saved my $100 and stayed with Bootcamp. CDP was great practice but they don't give you any explanations unless you upgrade. My CDP score was closer to my actual score so Bootcamp does kick your butt a bit more. Bootcamp does a great job explaining pattern folding. I never mastered angle ranking so I think that's where I lost most of my points. I posted a thread a while ago whining about hole punching but once line of symmetry "clicked" for me, I pretty much got all of them right. Moral of the story: You can do it! Believe in yourself!

QR
Resource: DAT destroyer (9/10) and MATH destroyer (8/10)
I pretty much just went through all the problems. To be honest, I couldn't care less how I did here because I was more focused on the sciences. My advice is practice practice practice on answering questions quickly. I ran out of time but I skipped all the questions that needed more than 20 seconds to solve and went back to those afterwards so I managed to scrape by.

RC
Resource: Bootcamp (8/10)
I went through all of the Bootcamp RC but I found it to be a lot harder than the actual exam. Search and destroy method worked for me.

BIO
Resource: Bootcamp (10/10) Feralis (10/10) Kaplan Blue Book (4/10) Cliff (8/10)
Kaplan put me to sleep way too many times. I was practically discouraged by the time I moved onto Cliff. Cliff does an excellent job of reviewing concepts. Feralis is basically the Holy Bible of Biology. Even though it gives a lot of great resource, there are certain topics that are too detailed. My advice would be to have this locked down and cover major biology researchs (example: Miller Urey in Feralis, etc.). I only knew the research-related questions on the DAT because I took a biotechnology course. DAT Destroyer will cover a lot and more. I went through all 500 questions, wrote down what was correct, and why. Then I reviewed it a few nights ago to refresh some topics. Bootcamp does an amazing job of giving you "the whole picture". I got very similar questions on the actual DAT. I never scored higher than a 19 my first time around on the Bio portion in Bootcamp so don't get discouraged!

GC
Resource: Bootcamp (10/10) Destroyer (10/10) Chad's Videos (10/10)
Again, Bootcamp does a great job of helping you see the overall picture. Destroyer is not overkill in my opinion. I went through all problems and still wished I had more to practice. Chad was an amazing resource. He covers everything you need to know. I also went through all the quizzes but my videos expired before I could go back over them so I honestly don't remember what the quizzes were like. Take good notes and you should be good to go! I have a hard time sitting and watching long videos so it was actually a struggle for me to go through everything. So worth it though. Again, don't put too much emphasis on your score in your resources. Learn from your mistakes!

OC
Resource: Bootcamp (10/10) Destroyer (10/10) Chad's Videos (10/10)
I swear I'm not a Bootcamp nor Destroyer double agent. I just really loved these two resources. Destroyer has an amazing roadmap so you cover a bunch of reactions at once. Chad again does an amazing job of breaking things down for you. I struggled a lot in Organic Chemistry back in college so I was surprised this was my best score. Don't let the past keep you down!

Final thoughts.
I started studying exactly 8 weeks ago on June 9th. I raked in 200+ hours studying. Give yourself lots of time to study. Take breaks! I would go days without studying during the 4th of July week. I moved out of state, got a new job, hung out with new friends, and still managed to study. Saturday night, I fell asleep with my contact lenses in and woke up to burning pain. So I literally couldn't see out of one eye. I pretty much put on a permanent pirate face and took the test. I'm also pretty sure I'm getting a ticket because I passed a toll booth to get to the testing center and for some reason my pass wasn't working. Once you walk into the test room, leave all stress out the door. Oh, and even if you think you don't have to go, use the bathroom. SDN was an amazing resource but looking back I spent too much time reading forums about worst case scenarios. Don't freak yourself out! You guys are all so smart so good luck to everyone who is taking the DAT!

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[JHekmati]

Thank you for the advice!! Beautiful scores

 

[Mycoalwin]

Hey everyone, I literally just got home from the testing center. I've been stalking DAT breakdowns for months and I'm so happy to say I am finally on the other side! I want to post a detailed breakdown while it's still fresh in my mind.

But first, the scores:
PAT 21
QR 20
RC 22
BIO 22
GC 21
ORGO 23
TS 22
AA 22

PAT
Resource: CDP (8/10) and Bootcamp (9/10)
I purchased CDP back in June and went through all the practice tests (18 18 18 17 21 21 21 19 21 21). However, I later bought Bootcamp to help me with the Bio portion and they offer 10 PAT exams (21 20 x 19 18 19 20 20 20 19)! If I'd known, I would have saved my $100 and stayed with Bootcamp. CDP was great practice but they don't give you any explanations unless you upgrade. My CDP score was closer to my actual score so Bootcamp does kick your butt a bit more. Bootcamp does a great job explaining pattern folding. I never mastered angle ranking so I think that's where I lost most of my points. I posted a thread a while ago whining about hole punching but once line of symmetry "clicked" for me, I pretty much got all of them right. Moral of the story: You can do it! Believe in yourself!

QR
Resource: DAT destroyer (9/10) and MATH destroyer (8/10)
I pretty much just went through all the problems. To be honest, I couldn't care less how I did here because I was more focused on the sciences. My advice is practice practice practice on answering questions quickly. I ran out of time but I skipped all the questions that needed more than 20 seconds to solve and went back to those afterwards so I managed to scrape by.

RC
Resource: Bootcamp (8/10)
I went through all of the Bootcamp RC but I found it to be a lot harder than the actual exam. Search and destroy method worked for me.

BIO
Resource: Bootcamp (10/10) Feralis (10/10) Kaplan Blue Book (4/10) Cliff (8/10)
Kaplan put me to sleep way too many times. I was practically discouraged by the time I moved onto Cliff. Cliff does an excellent job of reviewing concepts. Feralis is basically the Holy Bible of Biology. Even though it gives a lot of great resource, there are certain topics that are too detailed. My advice would be to have this locked down and cover major biology researchs (example: Miller Urey in Feralis, etc.). I only knew the research-related questions on the DAT because I took a biotechnology course. DAT Destroyer will cover a lot and more. I went through all 500 questions, wrote down what was correct, and why. Then I reviewed it a few nights ago to refresh some topics. Bootcamp does an amazing job of giving you "the whole picture". I got very similar questions on the actual DAT. I never scored higher than a 19 my first time around on the Bio portion in Bootcamp so don't get discouraged!

GC
Resource: Bootcamp (10/10) Destroyer (10/10) Chad's Videos (10/10)
Again, Bootcamp does a great job of helping you see the overall picture. Destroyer is not overkill in my opinion. I went through all problems and still wished I had more to practice. Chad was an amazing resource. He covers everything you need to know. I also went through all the quizzes but my videos expired before I could go back over them so I honestly don't remember what the quizzes were like. Take good notes and you should be good to go! I have a hard time sitting and watching long videos so it was actually a struggle for me to go through everything. So worth it though. Again, don't put too much emphasis on your score in your resources. Learn from your mistakes!

OC
Resource: Bootcamp (10/10) Destroyer (10/10) Chad's Videos (10/10)
I swear I'm not a Bootcamp nor Destroyer double agent. I just really loved these two resources. Destroyer has an amazing roadmap so you cover a bunch of reactions at once. Chad again does an amazing job of breaking things down for you. I struggled a lot in Organic Chemistry back in college so I was surprised this was my best score. Don't let the past keep you down!

Final thoughts.
I started studying exactly 8 weeks ago on June 9th. I raked in 200+ hours studying. Give yourself lots of time to study. Take breaks! I would go days without studying during the 4th of July week. I moved out of state, got a new job, hung out with new friends, and still managed to study. Saturday night, I fell asleep with my contact lenses in and woke up to burning pain. So I literally couldn't see out of one eye. I pretty much put on a permanent pirate face and took the test. I'm also pretty sure I'm getting a ticket because I passed a toll booth to get to the testing center and for some reason my pass wasn't working. Once you walk into the test room, leave all stress out the door. Oh, and even if you think you don't have to go, use the bathroom. SDN was an amazing resource but looking back I spent too much time reading forums about worst case scenarios. Don't freak yourself out! You guys are all so smart so good luck to everyone who is taking the DAT!

Did you do any full-length practice tests, and if you did not, do you feel like doing them would have helped you out? I'm trying to plan out my studying, but it doesn't seem like many people do full-lengths when prepping for the DAT.

 

[Thetoothhurts91]

I just did the Natural Science exams from the ADA 2007 and ADA 2009 sample test. 2007 was way too easy and I did awful in the 2009 version. I thought they were a good assessment in what I needed to cover. The reason I never did a full test was that I like spending a full day on one subject rather than mix my Bio days with my Chem days.

 

[Psalm104:33]

Great Job! Do you mind sharing your Bootcamp scores?

 

[Thetoothhurts91]

I never wrote down my scores and Bootcamp doesn't save them so I can't actually give any real figures. I averaged around a 18 in Bio, 20 in GC, and 19 in OC the first time I went through them. I retook all of them and didn't get anything under a 21 the second go around.

And thank you!

 

[dhk2131]

Awesome job!

 

[Dotoday]

Great job. Well done. Thank you for the awesome breakdown.

 

[Sharon914]

Congratulations!

 

[Thetoothhurts91]

Thank you! I woke up this morning thinking I had to go study. Now, I find myself to be very bored haha. Postpartum DATpression.

 

[TD21]

congratz on those super scores!

I have a few questions, if you don't mind. Does it take a long time to press "next" 45 times on the PAT to start on the HP section first? Also, if I have a technical/science passage, I usually skip it and come back to it later, will I have enough time to keep pressing "next" to skip such passages?

 

[Thetoothhurts91]

My computer wasn't the fastest. Whenever I finished a section, I could hear the poor thing trying to keep up. I'd recommend going through the questions the way it's presented. My advice would be to mark the questions you're not that confident in. That way, once you're done with PAT, there's an option to review only the questions you've marked. There are a few questions, I honestly don't remember if I had it in RC, that you have to scroll down before you're allowed to hit next. This ensures that you read the entire question, but it also means you waste a bit of time scrolling and clicking next.

 

[TD21]

darn I guess i'll prepare for the worst. thanks boss!

 

[alligator10]

Great job!!! Thanks so much for the breakdown

 

[belmont3]

Congratulations !! Perfect Scores!

Did you find great similarities between the GenChem of DAT bootcamp and the actual GenChem on the test??!
Another question, Were all the passages in the R.C section science-based or did you get random topics?!

 

[Thetoothhurts91]

I did think the questions were similar. Or at least similar enough to where you can figure out how to answer each question. All my RC were science based which is good because they were all interesting!

And thank you guys!

 

[DatRav27]

My computer wasn't the fastest. Whenever I finished a section, I could hear the poor thing trying to keep up. I'd recommend going through the questions the way it's presented. My advice would be to mark the questions you're not that confident in. That way, once you're done with PAT, there's an option to review only the questions you've marked. There are a few questions, I honestly don't remember if I had it in RC, that you have to scroll down before you're allowed to hit next. This ensures that you read the entire question, but it also means you waste a bit of time scrolling and clicking next.

When you go into review mode, can you jump around questions like on bootcamp? Or do you just press "next" to the next following question you marked?

 

[Thetoothhurts91]

When you finish all of the questions in one section you get a list of the questions in that section. It'll tell you if you marked a question or if you didn't answer it at all. There will be a button that allows you to look at only marked questions. There's also one where you can review all questions. After each section, I clicked the "review marked questions". Whenever I was confident in my answer, I clicked next which automatically directs me to the question I marked. You don't really get the option to jump around like in Bootcamp so be sure to mark only the ones you want to look at to save time.

 

[dentalgirl101]

Congrats!!

 

[biomolecmed]

Nice scores. Great job.

 

[keewee981]

nice scores!!! i'm taking mine in two weeks!!!!!! x_x
i just recently purchased BC and i'm working through the destroyer for the second time! compared to destroyer and BC which was a better representative of the actual exam?

 

[Thetoothhurts91]

I thought they were both like the exam. If I had to pick, Id go with bootcamp. Destroyer has a few questions that were too specific and I like the way bootcamp is laid out.