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- Feb 18, 2016
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Took my DAT today! And while these scores may not be the best ones out there-- especially on SDN-- I'm pretty happy with them and very happy that I won't be retaking. Just want to share in case anything helps.
July 1st DAT:
Bio: 20
GC: 21
OC: 21
PAT: 21
RC: 19
QR: 22
AA: 21
I'm mostly annoyed with my RC score... I read every night for fun, read Scientific American articles, and RC was my consistently highest score on practice exams. I'm not really sure what happened. I didn't think the test articles were harder or anything, I guess I just wasn't in the zone. But I hope it's not low enough to really affect anything, and god knows I'm not retaking the whole thing to try to raise that, so the best I can do is laugh about it!
Study materials: Cliffs, Ferralis, Coursesaver for Chad's, Destroyer, and Bootcamp.
Test 1: 20/19/16/21/22/20
Test 2: 16/20/20/22/20/19
(So the first two, as stated above, I did the subject tests alone, didn't do those two all in full. Also those 2 16s I got on the same day, the day after I got back from my long break, and I wanted to see what I had retained-- whoops lol.)
Test 3: 19/23/18/20/23/18
Test 4: 19/24/21/21/23/18
Test 5: 19/20/20/20/22/19
2009 ADA: 22/23/19/X/21/19
Personal Do's and Don'ts:
- Studied for about 8 weeks total, but it was probably closer to 6.5 or 7. Started the day after finals, studied for 2 weeks, went to Hawaii for a week, then about 2 days later, had to drive back to my college for a few days to move into a new house for the next year. I lost wayyyy too much time doing all that and feel if I hadn't taken that break, I would've been further ahead. Really really recommend to avoid taking extended time off, because I felt like I had forgotten almost everything.
- I was able to get through Destroyer twice in 10 days. Just divide each section by 5 and power through. I think it was like 120 Bio, 65 OC, 73 GC a day lol but glad I did that in retrospect because once through just wouldn't have been enough.
- About a week before the exam, I rewrote the main parts of my GC, math, bio, and math notes. Really helped. (Also shoutout to @russelldw ... in his breakdown, he has a google doc summing up Bio thats of course not as intensive as Ferralis, but slightly more organized and easier to read. Helped me out during last minute reminders and bio cramming).
- Pay attention to your health. I hardly worked out because I knew I would beat myself up for losing studying/sleeping time. But with sitting so much everyday, my butt and back started to kill me. Definitely go on walks, runs, bike rides, swim, anything to keep your mind clear and muscles healthy. Wish I had put that in my schedule earlier as a non-negotiable thing.
- Maybe stay off SDN if you're getting stressed by all the 23s and 25s... I know I was, and just know you're doing your best and you can worry about how you compare later.
- Give yourself cushion after your scheduled test incase you need to reschedule. I didn't feel like I needed to, but even if I did, I couldn't because in about 10 days I'm studying abroad for the rest of the summer (yay). But at the same time, schedule great things for after the test! I'm so pumped that I have nothing to worry about over this 4th of July weekend, and it really gave me a light at the end of the tunnel.
- Be organized. Stick to your schedule. KNOW YOUR STUDY HABITS AND NEEDS. Just because one thing worked for someone doesn't mean it'll work for you, so keep an open mind, persevere, and be strong.
Sorry, so much longer than I anticipated, but I'm happy to be done and just want to pay it forward after the many breakdowns I read! Whoever is reading this-- you got this!
July 1st DAT:
Bio: 20
GC: 21
OC: 21
PAT: 21
RC: 19
QR: 22
AA: 21
I'm mostly annoyed with my RC score... I read every night for fun, read Scientific American articles, and RC was my consistently highest score on practice exams. I'm not really sure what happened. I didn't think the test articles were harder or anything, I guess I just wasn't in the zone. But I hope it's not low enough to really affect anything, and god knows I'm not retaking the whole thing to try to raise that, so the best I can do is laugh about it!
Study materials: Cliffs, Ferralis, Coursesaver for Chad's, Destroyer, and Bootcamp.
- All are as good as everyone says, really not much I can add to it!! Destroyer is amazing, absolutely amazing. Basically, don't get discouraged, you WILL get most wrong. Just keep going and write down everything you got wrong/guessed on. I started with a used 2011 one that my friend gave me, but got a little paranoid and ended up buying the 2016 one and went through that twice. So with the 2011 version, probably did Destroyer about 2.5 times. Wish I had done the 2016 3 times-- think it really would've pushed me over the top (in a good way).
- Bootcamp is really great. Just know that the subject tests are the same exact set of questions as the full-length practice exam, which I did not know. So when I started taking the full lengths, I had to skip the 1st and 2nd because I had done some of those subject tests and it wasn't a fair look at how I was doing. I would say that Bootcamp was pretty on par with the real exam-- OC and QR was more straightforward though. Bio is exactly as random as everyone says!
- Bootcamp Scores:
Test 1: 20/19/16/21/22/20
Test 2: 16/20/20/22/20/19
(So the first two, as stated above, I did the subject tests alone, didn't do those two all in full. Also those 2 16s I got on the same day, the day after I got back from my long break, and I wanted to see what I had retained-- whoops lol.)
Test 3: 19/23/18/20/23/18
Test 4: 19/24/21/21/23/18
Test 5: 19/20/20/20/22/19
2009 ADA: 22/23/19/X/21/19
- I didn't do the PAT on paper, so I just did the 6th BC test. Got a 20.
- Personally thought the 2009 was easier than the actual (except for the QR... wtf is up with that) but it predicted my AA of 21 so can't complain
Personal Do's and Don'ts:
- Studied for about 8 weeks total, but it was probably closer to 6.5 or 7. Started the day after finals, studied for 2 weeks, went to Hawaii for a week, then about 2 days later, had to drive back to my college for a few days to move into a new house for the next year. I lost wayyyy too much time doing all that and feel if I hadn't taken that break, I would've been further ahead. Really really recommend to avoid taking extended time off, because I felt like I had forgotten almost everything.
- I was able to get through Destroyer twice in 10 days. Just divide each section by 5 and power through. I think it was like 120 Bio, 65 OC, 73 GC a day lol but glad I did that in retrospect because once through just wouldn't have been enough.
- About a week before the exam, I rewrote the main parts of my GC, math, bio, and math notes. Really helped. (Also shoutout to @russelldw ... in his breakdown, he has a google doc summing up Bio thats of course not as intensive as Ferralis, but slightly more organized and easier to read. Helped me out during last minute reminders and bio cramming).
- Pay attention to your health. I hardly worked out because I knew I would beat myself up for losing studying/sleeping time. But with sitting so much everyday, my butt and back started to kill me. Definitely go on walks, runs, bike rides, swim, anything to keep your mind clear and muscles healthy. Wish I had put that in my schedule earlier as a non-negotiable thing.
- Maybe stay off SDN if you're getting stressed by all the 23s and 25s... I know I was, and just know you're doing your best and you can worry about how you compare later.
- Give yourself cushion after your scheduled test incase you need to reschedule. I didn't feel like I needed to, but even if I did, I couldn't because in about 10 days I'm studying abroad for the rest of the summer (yay). But at the same time, schedule great things for after the test! I'm so pumped that I have nothing to worry about over this 4th of July weekend, and it really gave me a light at the end of the tunnel.
- Be organized. Stick to your schedule. KNOW YOUR STUDY HABITS AND NEEDS. Just because one thing worked for someone doesn't mean it'll work for you, so keep an open mind, persevere, and be strong.
Sorry, so much longer than I anticipated, but I'm happy to be done and just want to pay it forward after the many breakdowns I read! Whoever is reading this-- you got this!
