Best course of action?

[2thDoc11]

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Hello! I have been studying for the Dat and it'd been pretty discouraging but I'm pushing through! I initially watched all of Chads videos from general chem to Orgo and QR. I then began the DAT destroyer. All of chads videos made sense but I have really been struggling with the DAT destroyer, especially general chemistry. I went and watched all of Dr. Romanos general chemistry videos today and that helped a lot although I'm still getting a majority of the problems wrong. Has anyone tried the "Defeat the Dat?" How is it? Any tips? Thanks for any information!

 

[deleted982220]

I used Kaplan's practice problems and practice tests, they were very representative.

 

[coolguy07]

When I was going through the destroyer, it felt extremely challenging and was also getting most questions wrong. This was extremely discouraging for me as well. However, once I started to put more time in reviewing the questions (understanding why you are getting stuff wrong and seeing where you went wrong) really helped. I would spend 4-5 hours going over what I was getting wrong and right! After going through a bunch of the questions, if I noticed that I was getting xyz concept wrong consistently, I would go back and re-learn that topic. Additionally, I did the same problems from the destroyer twice. I wish I had done them three times. This helped me score better on the practice test (Bootcamp) and ultimately on the DAT.

 

[MGA100]

Pretty much everyone struggles with destroyer. Get through it and understand everything thoroughly, especially the ones you get incorrect. Repeat until you no longer make those mistakes. You got this!

 

[ChemistryDentist]

The Destroyer definitely destroys you more than it does the DAT the first time or two going through it. You really need to put in time to understand the questions, reagents, and mechanisms in each of the questions rather than just looking at the answer. You should be able to solve each question without an answer choice given to you, and then match it to the choices (rather than guessing based on the choices alone).

Also, I personally thought Kaplan was useless for the sciences. I looked at it when I was looking for materials to start studying with and it seemed real different than the rest of the services. Only thing I could recommend them for is RC. Otherwise the Destroyers and PATBooster have you covered twice over.

 

[coolguy07]

Same here. I did not think the DAT Kaplan was useful. I think it was good for the bio in the sense that it gave me a better overview. So that when I learned from bootcamp's DAT section, it was easier to fill in the details as I understood the bigger picture. However, I would not spend money on it if you haven't bought it yet

 

[0Mik3cho]

What exactly are you getting wrong? Is it mostly conceptual questions or calculation questions? When a topic confused me, I often researched different explanations until I found one that made everything just click. Wikipedia and LibreTexts were my most used alternative resources for info.

 

[BKBIGGIE10]

It’s called destroyer bc that’s what it does.
I would slow down, write out the concepts you’re struggling with and review Chad’s Videos for that topic. Be an active learner and don’t buy Kaplan. But maybe buy Bootcamp bc it’s clutch. The frustration is part of the learning process. Work through it.

good luck and keep working hard