- Joined
- Mar 8, 2013
- Messages
- 278
- Reaction score
- 172
Hey guys, I would like to thank the community and all who contribute, and I would also like to use my 15 minutes of fame to inspire others, critique some materials, and tell you about my DAT prep journey. It was a fun trip that I never want to do again, and thankfully, I don’t think I have to. It surprises me how people say that they only take 3, 2, or even less than a month to prepare… My DAT prep began second semester of my freshman year; this was right after the time I knew I wanted to become a dentist, and consequently, my undergrad education vastly became more important to me. I strategically mapped out my classes planning to take it right after I finished Ochem, a decision I do not regret at all. However, I did not use DAT specific materials until May 9th, a few days after I finished my last final. The best piece of advice I read in any breakdown I came across was to learn the material the first time in your core science classes, and learn it well. I realize there are people reading who have taken the DAT, are currently prepping for the DAT, and are trying to figure out how they are going to approach this monster 6 months to 2 years in advance. I can relate a lot to the last one, but I will try to provide useful information primarily to the last two.
First off, everyone needs to read this if you read anything from my breakdown. Next to the bible, paula bruice, and Campbell and reece, it is probably the most important thing that I have read in my life (use it as your daily RC article!) http://www.udel.edu/CIS/106/iaydin/07F/misc/firstJob.pdf
Shout outs: @Glimmer1991 for your spectacular collection (add me plz?), glimmer and @jimmpannzee for writing breakdowns which inspired me to take the DAT after my second year of undergrad (what some call “early”, I like to call “ready”), @dentalWorks for providing a sample study schedule, and @Ari Rezaei for your sample study schedule, your presence on SDN, the eyeball game link, and free bootcamp tests. My roommate who also wants to become a dentist: You are an @hole for throwing a 3 day party during my prep. My pre-dental advisor: I was ready, and it was not foolish of me to schedule my DAT without contacting you.
Scores:
PAT: 25
QR: 25
RC: 21
BIO: 23
GC: 28
OC: 26 (I was actually mad about this)
TS: 25
AA: 25
Background/chance me please?: I am 19 about to turn 20 (early b-day present?), my school is one of the three stop codons (can you name all 3?), I am a biology major going into my 3rd year of undergrad. I have taken bio/oc/gc, biochem, and evolutionary biology. I currently tutor OC/GC. My GPA per semester has been 3.54, 3.93 (figured some things out), 4.0, and 4.0. I have earned As in all my science classes except a stupid Gen chem lab(B). I got a 99 and 100 percentile, respectively, on the ACS ochem I and 2 tests. My grandpa worked on the Manhattan project, and if there is any science gene, I would not deny that I have it. That being said, I believe in a norm of reaction(another DAT term you should know) for genes, and I attribute my undergrad success thus far to hard work, more hard work, and rock climbing. I hate being called smart because it implies that you and others are limited by something innate. Before you guys think I have it made, I’m going to open up a little bit about my past. I’ve been arrested twice (1st time in hs; 2nd in my first semester undergrad), I failed 3 AP exams in high school, I have ADD, divorced parents, I got a C average in a dual enrolment college English class in highschool, and I have had two friends pass away in the last 14 months. I know that everyone has their faults/personal stories; I am not saying that I have had it worse than any of you- what I am saying, is that I’ve been in some dark places, but I climbed right on out of them and turned my life around. It’s not easy, but it has been the two most rewarding years of my life so far. I truly believe I would never have gotten a 4.0 or the scores I got today on the DAT had I not been in those bad places. You can do it if you surround yourself with the right people.
I took about 5 days to plan out my entire summer after my last final. I modeled my schedule after dentalworks. During my review phase, every day was a good day. I would run in the morning, bike to campus, study, bike to the climbing wall, and bike home. I watched 5 seasons of friends. It wasn't until I hit bio div, plants, and physiological systems that I started to get antsy. I played a ton of eyeball game during my review phase. I took one off day, and then it was off to the races with practice. My second day into my prep, I got gastroenteritis and my vagus nerve got messed up (go look up the vagus nerve if you do not know what it is). I basically threw up about 40 times in one night. It set me back a little bit, and I felt like my brain lost some brain cells. I did not pick up running and only climbed throughout june. I got to enjoy the nba playoffs, suits, and world cup. I hammered through starting practice tests two weeks out from exam time. I did bootcamp, 2 achiever tests, 2 topscore, 1 achiever, 1 ada 2007(monday), 1 topscore (on tuesday). Day before the exam was light; I skimmed through destroyer bio and watched one of chads vids. I watched Ipman the night before my exam and fell asleep by 11pm.
Test Day: I do not have trouble falling asleep on important nights. Woke up to Hulk Hogan theme song at 7:06 AM. Took a shower listening to Triple H theme song (I do not watch WWE anymore). Listened to Tool and Phantogram on the way to the dining hall and ate breakfast. I tried to keep the knowledge gates closed, but I got antsy. I was trying to recall facts, and then all of a sudden, I got a message from above. I had the urge to look up an important fact about the body, and it literally showed up on the exam. I laughed so hard.
Got to the testing center by 8am. I got sat early. I started the test, and I clearly wasn't prepared for the nerves. During my break, I asked the proctor if I could go outside, and she said yes. I then asked is there anything I can't do, and she said do not leave the building. I asked if I could go outside again, and when she said yes, I just left. I went to the bathroom, soaked up the sun, and ate a blueberry crisp cliff bar. I came back, and she let me exchange my sheets. I looked at the time on my computer, and there was like 2 minutes left! I quickly had to sign back in, and then finished out the last two sections worrying my toes off. Also, wiggle you toes; it keeps the blood flow up. When I reached the tutorial, I sat staring at my screen for like 8 minutes. I was scared that I got a 12 in reading comp. When I finally mustered up the courage to click the next screen, I threw my arms up in victory. I got my scores and plastic bag, signed out, went to the bathroom again, and went to exit the building. It was pouring outside, and I did not give a damn. I marched on out there with the biggest smile on my face; people gathered under their umbrellas were very confused. I got to the dining hall, and I had a celebratory coke with my score report. My victory music was "Say Goodbye" and "Blackbird Chain" by Beck. THE END
Note: My ratings are based on facilitation of learning/usefulness and not representative of actual test conditions/questions; I am not affiliated with any testing programs/companies. I go over practice tests software at the end.
Materials used/thoughts about exam:
Bio [23]- Destroyer (9/10) --- Qvault (11/10) --- http://www.innerbody.com/ (9/10) --- Bozeman A&P --- (8/10) --- Random textbooks acquired on A&P/histology (7/10) --- Chads Quizzes (5/10) --- Cliffs AP 3rd edition (10/10) --- Feralis’ notes (8/10) --- Campbell (8/10) --- class notes (8/10)
Bio was pretty bipolar. Very easy straight forward questions, and then there were like 6-8 I got mark happy with. Yes… I had plant question(s). I was content with this score, as I thought for my entire test I did not break 21, but before the exam, I thought I could break 25. Yes, there is a ton of stuff you got to know, but make it fun. I freakin love pokemon, and I treated biological diversity as just a new set of pokemon. Qvault exhibits were excellent. When it came to anatomy and physiology, I had only been exposed to digestive, endocrine, some nervous, muscles, reproductive, heart, and the kidneys. I had to teach myself a lot here and I got to give credit to qvault for holding me accountable, to that site I linked which I discovered less than a week out from exam time, and Bozeman A&P youtube videos for tying everything together. The guy talks about the basics, the site has the specifics. I knew down the line I was going to take A&P, and so I tried to not take any shortcuts here, but rather make some notes that could benefit me later in undergrad. Destroyer was great, but it did have a lot of answers which were E. It annoyed the crap out of me the first time through. I skimmed through it a day before my exam as my knowledge of immune(ty Campbell)/skele/skin/ear/embryonic dev had increased tremendously, and I found it more useful then. I would easily label bio destroyer the weakest section of destroyer even though it contains over 500 questions. About 6 weeks ago, my only knowledge of embryonic development was that a blastula looked like Babidi’s Buu Ball from dragon ball z. Campbell helped me out here the most followed by qvault. (3x) Cliffs ap 3rd is essential and will land you a 20 minimum if you extract the info needed from that book. Feralis’ was great (3x), but I felt like I was re-reading his notes when I read answers to practice materials. That being said, if your funds are limited, his notes increase in value. Qvault was the most important practice; if you are using it, make sure you check out the “unseen questions” section. There are like 200 more questions to go through. Chad’s quizzes.. These are good to take during your review phase so you can appreciate that what you are doing is working, but the questions themselves are crap. I literally reported 5 questions that were wrong and 5 more that were just terrible. I have no idea what they are trying to do with those videos (did not view) but the quizzes really just test your comprehension from cliffs bio for the most part. There is a reason they are free. Honestly, taking biochem in the spring was ideal. I’ll just say that I wish taking evo bio would have come into play today a bit more. We had entire lectures on drift, nat selection, etc. The random books I acquired, by methods which I will not disclose, will hopefully be of more use for the future but were still helpful for skele/skin. Also, I took the practice AP exams during my review phase to let my mind know everything is still relevant. I took advantage of the curve of forgetting and made notes to help my learning process.
Qvault - 22/21/19/27/23/22/23/25/20/19
GC [28]- Chads videos GC (11/10) --- Chads quizzes (11/10) --- Destroyer (10/10) --- class notes (4/10)
I was kind of surprised by this score as being my highest. Going through my exam I get mark happy at times, but I got worried about 2 for this section. I was unaware that Mr. Clean could teach chemistry. Chad is the bomb. Gen chem curriculum is highly variable across the country I feel, and this guy packages it into the most pleasant set of videos ever. I went through GC videos once during prep phase and went through the Days 1-6 a week out from my exam. The quizzes were definitely tailored to his videos, but highlight some important points. I went through them a second time before I went to take on destroyer. Also, there is a final exam quiz and two practice DAT quizzes hidden in the site. Find them. Take them. Destroyer may be the real hero though for my score. While Chad taught me what I had not learned, destroyer truly tested what I had learned. I went through destroyer 3 times. My notes were crap from undergrad.
OC [26]- Chads videos (8/10) --- Chad Qs (8/10) --- Destroyer (8/10) --- class notes/book notes (12/10) --- Paula Bruice (10/10)
This was the first score I zeroed in on at my score report. I literally destroyed ochem in undergrad. I was pissed, but then I saw the 21 in RC, 25 PAT, and 25 AA so it made me a bit happier. In hindsight, I should have given this section an entire double check because I knew how important it was for getting a high score. I went over 88% correct my first time through destroyer. My second and third time through I got a total of less than 10 questions wrong. I scored a few perfect scores in practice exams (topscore/qvault/bootcamp), and I marked maybe 1 question the whole exam just as a precautionary double check. I literally do not remember a single question giving me trouble. Ochem videos I rated lower because I literally knew 99% of what he covered in the videos. Nonetheless, there were questions on my DAT regarding material falling in the 1% category that I did not know (which could be found in his outlines), and so I still highly suggest getting Chad’s even if you think you are a chem god like me. The quizzes were good practice to set you up for 70% success in destroyer. In the end, the amount of time put into getting above a 95 both semesters in organic coupled with the level it was taught at my university secured my score here from the start. I reviewed my class notes/book notes before watching his videos.
Edit 8/12: A nifty degrees unsaturation formula
C-1/2(X-N) + 1
C=carbons
X= H and Halos
N= nitrogens
O have no effect
PAT [25]- Crack DAT PAT (10/10) --- Eyeball game (8/10) --- Bootcamp angle gen (7/10) --- CDP angle gen (9/10) --- Origami as a kid (6/10) --- Legos/model building/rubik’s cube/knowing stereochemsitry (8/10)
By the time I got to this section I was freaking out about SNS. I didn’t think I would, but the DAT is different from any test you will take. I went mark happy on my test and probably marked about 15-20. I went in order and I started my angle section with about 36 minutes left. I can pull out 5 minute HP/CC sections, though and that left me with about 12 minutes to do pattern folding/marked problems. I got a rock. I think I got perfect Cubes, HP, Angles, TFE. Pattern folding was easier than CDP and achiever (which I will separately discuss below). Yes, CDP keyholes are stupid easy. Yes CDP angles can be stupid hard. Yes, there were not 40 cubes on my screen. If anyone wants more info about this section, ask and I’ll try to answer to the best of my ability. CDP was fantastic exposure to the PAT world. If you do go over the video solutions, do yourself a favor and skip to the 20 second mark in each video; otherwise, you will definitely go insane. The girl’s voice is very annoying, and that’s probably what drove me to get good at PAT. I really went hardcore on the solutions the first few tests. If you want to be an angle ranking god you gotta do CDP angle ranking gen, though. I could get 45+/50 on bootcamps angle ranking gen; however, it did help me develop a good technique which combines skills acquired from eyeball game (1.04 was my best score!). I think my technique might already be named; I never looked up any techniques for PAT. I like to just figure things out on my own sometimes, but if anyone would like a youtube video, I may be down to make one. I used my special technique in combination with what I think is referred to as the laptop technique. My HP strat is literally just unfold it in my head; I did origami as a kid, and I would also fall back on LoS method if needed. For CC, I saw the CDP lady make this cute little chart, and I knew right then and there that there was no way I was gonna do that. I literally just count the cubes, no tally nonsense. I played with legos a lot as a kid and did a lot of rubik’s cubing in middle school. I think those things along with understanding stereochemistry from ochem facilitated 5-6 minute CC sections with 100% accuracy. Also CDP is most identical to exam graphics. I do not mean for the PAT section. I mean the review/next/ mark and blue color format stuff.
CDP- 22, 21, 22, 24, 24, 25, 23, 26, 25, 25
RC [21]- The daily RC article(N/A)
I got a 590 reading SAT score in highschool, and this section scared the crap outta me. This section was my worst nightmare; I thought I got a 10 on it until I got to the last passage. Literally thought I shot my scores and would have to retake the test at one point. I am not saying what my topics were on. My first passage I did vicviper method, but I finished it with 37 minutes left. The next 17 minutes probably go down into the top 3 worst 17 minutes stretches of my life. I panicked a ton, the passage drove me nuts, I could not absorb information, and I finished the passage by just guessing on 9 questions in a row. Fortunately, the last passage saved my score here. I saw the first question, and I got extremely relieved. I knew the answer and did not have to look at the passage. Then I flipped to the next question; pig number 2, same story. I literally answered like 13 questions based on knowledge, and this made me grin really hard. I finished the passage and its questions in like 7 minutes, and this allowed me to regain my focus and try to squeeze out some correct responses in the earlier passages. When I initially started taking practice tests, I knew that I should have probably purchased a CDR or qvault RC. Either of these would have been better than nothing. No idea how I made out with a 21 on this section.
QR [25]- Math Destroyer (10/10) --- math permutation/combination video (10/10) --- the unit circle (10/10) --- Chad quizzes (7/10)
I was satisfied with this score. This section was not too bad. I was really irked by my computer graphics as the less than or equal to symbol looked like “<” with a thicker bottom segment. Last math class I took was calculus my junior year of HS. The norm of reaction thing I was talking about earlier comes into play here. Math was my thing all throughout my life; the score could have been higher if I put more time into it and really focused on what I didn’t know. I spent my last few days really working on my timing. I had initially planned on going through all the problems I got wrong in math destroyer tests, but it was not my highest priority. I was frequently getting a certain type of composite function problem and ellipses wrong; I chose to work these out instead. I haven’t done probability since freshman year of HS, and I felt Chad could drive it home. I bought this video for 4$, and I somehow ended up with access to all the math quizzes. The quizzes have video solutions mostly, but only about 20% of them were essential for me. I could not justify buying and watching videos about how to do basic adding and subtracting, I just couldn’t. I did get one really oddball type of a question which I think only showed up in topscore; I will only say that it was not statistics. Math Destroyer and the math problems in destroyer are the essentials here.
ADA 2007: Pat was blurry and annoying; topscore pat jacked a few Qs from here
Bio/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR/TS/AA
26/28/30/22/19/29/29/26
Topscore 3 test (7/10)
------- 1 2 3
PAT 23 25 26
BIO 21 21 20
GC 25 23 25
OC 30 28 23
RC 21 25 29
QR 24 22 22
TS 25 23 22
AA 24 23 23
Top score PAT for all three tests were literally the same problems. It annoyed me so much. For TFE, test two was like they wanted the END view for the problem on test one when they asked for the TOP view. Obviously, if you reviewed your mistakes you weren't going to really mess up again. That being said, the angles are child's play and then there is like 1 or 2 on the test that are pretty tricky. Keyholes I remember being better than CDPs. HPs were nothing too special. No comments on CC. Pattern folding was good practice. Topscore Bio was filled with specific taxonomy/bio diversity Qs but it still had some good Qs in there. GC and OC were fine. I would say about the same with maybe more calculations for Gen chem. RC... I should not get a 29 on reading comp. QR, once again, repeated the same problem types. I literally thought they regurgitated the same problems at me here. Nevertheless, there were some problem types that showed up here that I had never seen before, and I should have been understood my mistakes in this section. I did not like how there was a "solution" button right next to the question; I was tempted to click it a few times because of the wording to certain problems. In the end, I would recommend Topscore if you have time really. It's at the bottom of the totem pole IMO; it references campbell bio 4th edition lol. I think I was in diapers when that book was around.
Achiever 3 Test (10/10)
------- 1 2 3
PAT 20 20 21
BIO 21 18 19
GC 21 19 28
OC 19 20 28
RC 15 17 14 (I laughed a good minute)
QR 22 23 21
TS 21 20 23
AA 20 19 22
I should have gotten the 7 test version. I'm the kind of kid that likes to train in 100x gravity. All my life I was told I was smart. Then, I was told I was not capable of getting everywhere. I only started working hard in life when just about every one around me had a reason to say "No". This software told me "No" and forced me to not get complacent and reminded me that hard work and not talent will get me what I want. That being said, if you get hyped up about practice test scores and being patted on the back, go do some Topscore Reading comp and whatever else makes you feel bigheaded. Bio was hard, but I do not remember it being taxonomy specific. There were a lot of "1 and 2 are true", "1 and 4 are true" type questions. GC exposes you to problems you have never seen (e.g. normality and whatnot). OC ticked me off at first, but then I came back fighting and pulled out a 28 on the last exam. I thought this would seal the deal today, but nerves proabably got to me. OC touched on some important lab test stuff and harder carbohydrate problems. PAT... This software turned me into a TFE god, and it really is key to score big in PAT. There is a big learning curve for TFE, but I read somewhere by Ari that it just clicks one day. That's exactly what happened. It started off my worst section, but this software is nice in that it shows you what all of the incorrect answers would have looked like in 3d and what their other views would have looked like. RC is a nightmare. Thankfully, I opened up about 20 tabs off breakdowns of people who got 25AA and up, I control+F "achiever", and found a kid who got into harvard and got like a 15 RC score in achiever. Math was not that evil, and I think it had some problem types that math destroyer may not have had.
Bootcamp free tests (8)
------- 1
PAT 20
BIO 26
GC 24
OC 30
RC 19
QR 22
TS ??
AA ??
Not gonna lie, when I first saw this program online about a year ago, I thought it was literally like a camp you go to, and they teach you the tricks of the trade for the DAT. I never liked being told to learn. I thought it was like some sort of kaplan thing (my reading comp skills are shining bright right now). Anyways, I had already gotten my DAT materials (except Chads videos) for Christmas, and I had to believe that I could do without it. I planned out my entire 2 months of prep for 5 days after my last spring semester final, and I had to stick with my plan. It was hard at times to venture onto SDN when thread after post after thread is bootcamp this, bootcamp that. After my cousin recommended me the program, and after I figured out it wasn't a summer camp, I took the free tests 2 weeks out from exam, scored pretty well, and thought that I can't have scores like this inflating my ego. PAT was hard, and I got a good kick out of the soccer ball PF question. I think adding more PAT tests to the program was a smart move, and it may even eventually replace CDP. Its hard for me to critique the other sections because I only took the free tests, but I will give my opinions anyway. I did not like the wording on some of the Bi0. An answer explanation literally copied something from wikipedia. GC had a question that annoyed me that seemed to require a roundabout approach to answer a conceptual Q. I would still say this GC/OC is better than Qvaults free tests. Ochem was a good test, but when I scored perfect, it affirmed that I could not learn more if I wasn't making mistakes. RC was tough, and it sent me on a panic trying to see if I could/should buy some RC practice software. I did have a bunch of this statement is true kind of crap on my exam, and bootcamp questions primed me for it. QR was harder, but I do not remember it being as hard as everyone implies. My QR score here is not representative, and this is because I was taking the test during the middle of my drop in tutoring session training. A student came in with 5 minutes left on the section and asked me a question. Anyways, if things didn't go as planned today, I could see myself getting their supplies for round 2. Easily beats Topscore in my mind, though topscore was still worth it in the end to me.
Qvault free tests (7.5)
------- 1
PAT 22
---
GC 29
OC 30
RC 20
QR 26
TS ??
AA ??
If you are one of those people who like to get their hands on every resource available, then getting all of qvault might not be a bad idea. They have tons of questions with neat explanations. They have a save question feature which is neat, and they show percentiles of question/response answer percentiles. If I were to buy anything other than qvault Bio, I probably would have only considered PAT and RC. You may or may not be able to view the passage when you review your RC answers so I don't know. You may be better off consulting derek zoolander on how to read good. Their GC was easy, but then again, there seem to be questions that are one of a kind sometimes. Their ochem was easy with one very tricky acid-base question. PAT has good HP practice if anything, and this is due to some backfolding/1/3 folds. QR is easy, but it highlighted a problem type I really tried to sweep under the carpet.
First off, everyone needs to read this if you read anything from my breakdown. Next to the bible, paula bruice, and Campbell and reece, it is probably the most important thing that I have read in my life (use it as your daily RC article!) http://www.udel.edu/CIS/106/iaydin/07F/misc/firstJob.pdf
Shout outs: @Glimmer1991 for your spectacular collection (add me plz?), glimmer and @jimmpannzee for writing breakdowns which inspired me to take the DAT after my second year of undergrad (what some call “early”, I like to call “ready”), @dentalWorks for providing a sample study schedule, and @Ari Rezaei for your sample study schedule, your presence on SDN, the eyeball game link, and free bootcamp tests. My roommate who also wants to become a dentist: You are an @hole for throwing a 3 day party during my prep. My pre-dental advisor: I was ready, and it was not foolish of me to schedule my DAT without contacting you.
Scores:
PAT: 25
QR: 25
RC: 21
BIO: 23
GC: 28
OC: 26 (I was actually mad about this)
TS: 25
AA: 25
Background/chance me please?: I am 19 about to turn 20 (early b-day present?), my school is one of the three stop codons (can you name all 3?), I am a biology major going into my 3rd year of undergrad. I have taken bio/oc/gc, biochem, and evolutionary biology. I currently tutor OC/GC. My GPA per semester has been 3.54, 3.93 (figured some things out), 4.0, and 4.0. I have earned As in all my science classes except a stupid Gen chem lab(B). I got a 99 and 100 percentile, respectively, on the ACS ochem I and 2 tests. My grandpa worked on the Manhattan project, and if there is any science gene, I would not deny that I have it. That being said, I believe in a norm of reaction(another DAT term you should know
) for genes, and I attribute my undergrad success thus far to hard work, more hard work, and rock climbing. I hate being called smart because it implies that you and others are limited by something innate. Before you guys think I have it made, I’m going to open up a little bit about my past. I’ve been arrested twice (1st time in hs; 2nd in my first semester undergrad), I failed 3 AP exams in high school, I have ADD, divorced parents, I got a C average in a dual enrolment college English class in highschool, and I have had two friends pass away in the last 14 months. I know that everyone has their faults/personal stories; I am not saying that I have had it worse than any of you- what I am saying, is that I’ve been in some dark places, but I climbed right on out of them and turned my life around. It’s not easy, but it has been the two most rewarding years of my life so far. I truly believe I would never have gotten a 4.0 or the scores I got today on the DAT had I not been in those bad places. You can do it if you surround yourself with the right people.I took about 5 days to plan out my entire summer after my last final. I modeled my schedule after dentalworks. During my review phase, every day was a good day. I would run in the morning, bike to campus, study, bike to the climbing wall, and bike home. I watched 5 seasons of friends. It wasn't until I hit bio div, plants, and physiological systems that I started to get antsy. I played a ton of eyeball game during my review phase. I took one off day, and then it was off to the races with practice. My second day into my prep, I got gastroenteritis and my vagus nerve got messed up (go look up the vagus nerve if you do not know what it is). I basically threw up about 40 times in one night. It set me back a little bit, and I felt like my brain lost some brain cells. I did not pick up running and only climbed throughout june. I got to enjoy the nba playoffs, suits, and world cup. I hammered through starting practice tests two weeks out from exam time. I did bootcamp, 2 achiever tests, 2 topscore, 1 achiever, 1 ada 2007(monday), 1 topscore (on tuesday). Day before the exam was light; I skimmed through destroyer bio and watched one of chads vids. I watched Ipman the night before my exam and fell asleep by 11pm.
Test Day: I do not have trouble falling asleep on important nights. Woke up to Hulk Hogan theme song at 7:06 AM. Took a shower listening to Triple H theme song (I do not watch WWE anymore). Listened to Tool and Phantogram on the way to the dining hall and ate breakfast. I tried to keep the knowledge gates closed, but I got antsy. I was trying to recall facts, and then all of a sudden, I got a message from above. I had the urge to look up an important fact about the body, and it literally showed up on the exam. I laughed so hard.
Got to the testing center by 8am. I got sat early. I started the test, and I clearly wasn't prepared for the nerves. During my break, I asked the proctor if I could go outside, and she said yes. I then asked is there anything I can't do, and she said do not leave the building. I asked if I could go outside again, and when she said yes, I just left. I went to the bathroom, soaked up the sun, and ate a blueberry crisp cliff bar. I came back, and she let me exchange my sheets. I looked at the time on my computer, and there was like 2 minutes left! I quickly had to sign back in, and then finished out the last two sections worrying my toes off. Also, wiggle you toes; it keeps the blood flow up. When I reached the tutorial, I sat staring at my screen for like 8 minutes. I was scared that I got a 12 in reading comp. When I finally mustered up the courage to click the next screen, I threw my arms up in victory. I got my scores and plastic bag, signed out, went to the bathroom again, and went to exit the building. It was pouring outside, and I did not give a damn. I marched on out there with the biggest smile on my face; people gathered under their umbrellas were very confused. I got to the dining hall, and I had a celebratory coke with my score report. My victory music was "Say Goodbye" and "Blackbird Chain" by Beck. THE END
Note: My ratings are based on facilitation of learning/usefulness and not representative of actual test conditions/questions; I am not affiliated with any testing programs/companies. I go over practice tests software at the end.
Materials used/thoughts about exam:
Bio [23]- Destroyer (9/10) --- Qvault (11/10) --- http://www.innerbody.com/ (9/10) --- Bozeman A&P --- (8/10) --- Random textbooks acquired on A&P/histology (7/10) --- Chads Quizzes (5/10) --- Cliffs AP 3rd edition (10/10) --- Feralis’ notes (8/10) --- Campbell (8/10) --- class notes (8/10)
Bio was pretty bipolar. Very easy straight forward questions, and then there were like 6-8 I got mark happy with. Yes… I had plant question(s). I was content with this score, as I thought for my entire test I did not break 21, but before the exam, I thought I could break 25. Yes, there is a ton of stuff you got to know, but make it fun. I freakin love pokemon, and I treated biological diversity as just a new set of pokemon. Qvault exhibits were excellent. When it came to anatomy and physiology, I had only been exposed to digestive, endocrine, some nervous, muscles, reproductive, heart, and the kidneys. I had to teach myself a lot here and I got to give credit to qvault for holding me accountable, to that site I linked which I discovered less than a week out from exam time, and Bozeman A&P youtube videos for tying everything together. The guy talks about the basics, the site has the specifics. I knew down the line I was going to take A&P, and so I tried to not take any shortcuts here, but rather make some notes that could benefit me later in undergrad. Destroyer was great, but it did have a lot of answers which were E. It annoyed the crap out of me the first time through. I skimmed through it a day before my exam as my knowledge of immune(ty Campbell)/skele/skin/ear/embryonic dev had increased tremendously, and I found it more useful then. I would easily label bio destroyer the weakest section of destroyer even though it contains over 500 questions. About 6 weeks ago, my only knowledge of embryonic development was that a blastula looked like Babidi’s Buu Ball from dragon ball z. Campbell helped me out here the most followed by qvault. (3x) Cliffs ap 3rd is essential and will land you a 20 minimum if you extract the info needed from that book. Feralis’ was great (3x), but I felt like I was re-reading his notes when I read answers to practice materials. That being said, if your funds are limited, his notes increase in value. Qvault was the most important practice; if you are using it, make sure you check out the “unseen questions” section. There are like 200 more questions to go through. Chad’s quizzes.. These are good to take during your review phase so you can appreciate that what you are doing is working, but the questions themselves are crap. I literally reported 5 questions that were wrong and 5 more that were just terrible. I have no idea what they are trying to do with those videos (did not view) but the quizzes really just test your comprehension from cliffs bio for the most part. There is a reason they are free. Honestly, taking biochem in the spring was ideal. I’ll just say that I wish taking evo bio would have come into play today a bit more. We had entire lectures on drift, nat selection, etc. The random books I acquired, by methods which I will not disclose, will hopefully be of more use for the future but were still helpful for skele/skin. Also, I took the practice AP exams during my review phase to let my mind know everything is still relevant. I took advantage of the curve of forgetting and made notes to help my learning process.
Qvault - 22/21/19/27/23/22/23/25/20/19
GC [28]- Chads videos GC (11/10) --- Chads quizzes (11/10) --- Destroyer (10/10) --- class notes (4/10)
I was kind of surprised by this score as being my highest. Going through my exam I get mark happy at times, but I got worried about 2 for this section. I was unaware that Mr. Clean could teach chemistry. Chad is the bomb. Gen chem curriculum is highly variable across the country I feel, and this guy packages it into the most pleasant set of videos ever. I went through GC videos once during prep phase and went through the Days 1-6 a week out from my exam. The quizzes were definitely tailored to his videos, but highlight some important points. I went through them a second time before I went to take on destroyer. Also, there is a final exam quiz and two practice DAT quizzes hidden in the site. Find them. Take them. Destroyer may be the real hero though for my score. While Chad taught me what I had not learned, destroyer truly tested what I had learned. I went through destroyer 3 times. My notes were crap from undergrad.
OC [26]- Chads videos (8/10) --- Chad Qs (8/10) --- Destroyer (8/10) --- class notes/book notes (12/10) --- Paula Bruice (10/10)
This was the first score I zeroed in on at my score report. I literally destroyed ochem in undergrad. I was pissed, but then I saw the 21 in RC, 25 PAT, and 25 AA so it made me a bit happier. In hindsight, I should have given this section an entire double check because I knew how important it was for getting a high score. I went over 88% correct my first time through destroyer. My second and third time through I got a total of less than 10 questions wrong. I scored a few perfect scores in practice exams (topscore/qvault/bootcamp), and I marked maybe 1 question the whole exam just as a precautionary double check. I literally do not remember a single question giving me trouble. Ochem videos I rated lower because I literally knew 99% of what he covered in the videos. Nonetheless, there were questions on my DAT regarding material falling in the 1% category that I did not know (which could be found in his outlines), and so I still highly suggest getting Chad’s even if you think you are a chem god like me. The quizzes were good practice to set you up for 70% success in destroyer. In the end, the amount of time put into getting above a 95 both semesters in organic coupled with the level it was taught at my university secured my score here from the start. I reviewed my class notes/book notes before watching his videos.
Edit 8/12: A nifty degrees unsaturation formula
C-1/2(X-N) + 1
C=carbons
X= H and Halos
N= nitrogens
O have no effect
PAT [25]- Crack DAT PAT (10/10) --- Eyeball game (8/10) --- Bootcamp angle gen (7/10) --- CDP angle gen (9/10) --- Origami as a kid (6/10) --- Legos/model building/rubik’s cube/knowing stereochemsitry (8/10)
By the time I got to this section I was freaking out about SNS. I didn’t think I would, but the DAT is different from any test you will take. I went mark happy on my test and probably marked about 15-20. I went in order and I started my angle section with about 36 minutes left. I can pull out 5 minute HP/CC sections, though and that left me with about 12 minutes to do pattern folding/marked problems. I got a rock. I think I got perfect Cubes, HP, Angles, TFE. Pattern folding was easier than CDP and achiever (which I will separately discuss below). Yes, CDP keyholes are stupid easy. Yes CDP angles can be stupid hard. Yes, there were not 40 cubes on my screen. If anyone wants more info about this section, ask and I’ll try to answer to the best of my ability. CDP was fantastic exposure to the PAT world. If you do go over the video solutions, do yourself a favor and skip to the 20 second mark in each video; otherwise, you will definitely go insane. The girl’s voice is very annoying, and that’s probably what drove me to get good at PAT. I really went hardcore on the solutions the first few tests. If you want to be an angle ranking god you gotta do CDP angle ranking gen, though. I could get 45+/50 on bootcamps angle ranking gen; however, it did help me develop a good technique which combines skills acquired from eyeball game (1.04 was my best score!). I think my technique might already be named; I never looked up any techniques for PAT. I like to just figure things out on my own sometimes, but if anyone would like a youtube video, I may be down to make one. I used my special technique in combination with what I think is referred to as the laptop technique. My HP strat is literally just unfold it in my head; I did origami as a kid, and I would also fall back on LoS method if needed. For CC, I saw the CDP lady make this cute little chart, and I knew right then and there that there was no way I was gonna do that. I literally just count the cubes, no tally nonsense. I played with legos a lot as a kid and did a lot of rubik’s cubing in middle school. I think those things along with understanding stereochemistry from ochem facilitated 5-6 minute CC sections with 100% accuracy. Also CDP is most identical to exam graphics. I do not mean for the PAT section. I mean the review/next/ mark and blue color format stuff.
CDP- 22, 21, 22, 24, 24, 25, 23, 26, 25, 25
RC [21]- The daily RC article(N/A)
I got a 590 reading SAT score in highschool, and this section scared the crap outta me. This section was my worst nightmare; I thought I got a 10 on it until I got to the last passage. Literally thought I shot my scores and would have to retake the test at one point. I am not saying what my topics were on. My first passage I did vicviper method, but I finished it with 37 minutes left. The next 17 minutes probably go down into the top 3 worst 17 minutes stretches of my life. I panicked a ton, the passage drove me nuts, I could not absorb information, and I finished the passage by just guessing on 9 questions in a row. Fortunately, the last passage saved my score here. I saw the first question, and I got extremely relieved. I knew the answer and did not have to look at the passage. Then I flipped to the next question; pig number 2, same story. I literally answered like 13 questions based on knowledge, and this made me grin really hard. I finished the passage and its questions in like 7 minutes, and this allowed me to regain my focus and try to squeeze out some correct responses in the earlier passages. When I initially started taking practice tests, I knew that I should have probably purchased a CDR or qvault RC. Either of these would have been better than nothing. No idea how I made out with a 21 on this section.
QR [25]- Math Destroyer (10/10) --- math permutation/combination video (10/10) --- the unit circle (10/10) --- Chad quizzes (7/10)
I was satisfied with this score. This section was not too bad. I was really irked by my computer graphics as the less than or equal to symbol looked like “<” with a thicker bottom segment. Last math class I took was calculus my junior year of HS. The norm of reaction thing I was talking about earlier comes into play here. Math was my thing all throughout my life; the score could have been higher if I put more time into it and really focused on what I didn’t know. I spent my last few days really working on my timing. I had initially planned on going through all the problems I got wrong in math destroyer tests, but it was not my highest priority. I was frequently getting a certain type of composite function problem and ellipses wrong; I chose to work these out instead. I haven’t done probability since freshman year of HS, and I felt Chad could drive it home. I bought this video for 4$, and I somehow ended up with access to all the math quizzes. The quizzes have video solutions mostly, but only about 20% of them were essential for me. I could not justify buying and watching videos about how to do basic adding and subtracting, I just couldn’t. I did get one really oddball type of a question which I think only showed up in topscore; I will only say that it was not statistics. Math Destroyer and the math problems in destroyer are the essentials here.
ADA 2007: Pat was blurry and annoying; topscore pat jacked a few Qs from here
Bio/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR/TS/AA
26/28/30/22/19/29/29/26
Topscore 3 test (7/10)
------- 1 2 3
PAT 23 25 26
BIO 21 21 20
GC 25 23 25
OC 30 28 23
RC 21 25 29
QR 24 22 22
TS 25 23 22
AA 24 23 23
Top score PAT for all three tests were literally the same problems. It annoyed me so much. For TFE, test two was like they wanted the END view for the problem on test one when they asked for the TOP view. Obviously, if you reviewed your mistakes you weren't going to really mess up again. That being said, the angles are child's play and then there is like 1 or 2 on the test that are pretty tricky. Keyholes I remember being better than CDPs. HPs were nothing too special. No comments on CC. Pattern folding was good practice. Topscore Bio was filled with specific taxonomy/bio diversity Qs but it still had some good Qs in there. GC and OC were fine. I would say about the same with maybe more calculations for Gen chem. RC... I should not get a 29 on reading comp. QR, once again, repeated the same problem types. I literally thought they regurgitated the same problems at me here. Nevertheless, there were some problem types that showed up here that I had never seen before, and I should have been understood my mistakes in this section. I did not like how there was a "solution" button right next to the question; I was tempted to click it a few times because of the wording to certain problems. In the end, I would recommend Topscore if you have time really. It's at the bottom of the totem pole IMO; it references campbell bio 4th edition lol. I think I was in diapers when that book was around.
Achiever 3 Test (10/10)
------- 1 2 3
PAT 20 20 21
BIO 21 18 19
GC 21 19 28
OC 19 20 28
RC 15 17 14 (I laughed a good minute)
QR 22 23 21
TS 21 20 23
AA 20 19 22
I should have gotten the 7 test version. I'm the kind of kid that likes to train in 100x gravity. All my life I was told I was smart. Then, I was told I was not capable of getting everywhere. I only started working hard in life when just about every one around me had a reason to say "No". This software told me "No" and forced me to not get complacent and reminded me that hard work and not talent will get me what I want. That being said, if you get hyped up about practice test scores and being patted on the back, go do some Topscore Reading comp and whatever else makes you feel bigheaded. Bio was hard, but I do not remember it being taxonomy specific. There were a lot of "1 and 2 are true", "1 and 4 are true" type questions. GC exposes you to problems you have never seen (e.g. normality and whatnot). OC ticked me off at first, but then I came back fighting and pulled out a 28 on the last exam. I thought this would seal the deal today, but nerves proabably got to me. OC touched on some important lab test stuff and harder carbohydrate problems. PAT... This software turned me into a TFE god, and it really is key to score big in PAT. There is a big learning curve for TFE, but I read somewhere by Ari that it just clicks one day. That's exactly what happened. It started off my worst section, but this software is nice in that it shows you what all of the incorrect answers would have looked like in 3d and what their other views would have looked like. RC is a nightmare. Thankfully, I opened up about 20 tabs off breakdowns of people who got 25AA and up, I control+F "achiever", and found a kid who got into harvard and got like a 15 RC score in achiever. Math was not that evil, and I think it had some problem types that math destroyer may not have had.
Bootcamp free tests (8)
------- 1
PAT 20
BIO 26
GC 24
OC 30
RC 19
QR 22
TS ??
AA ??
Not gonna lie, when I first saw this program online about a year ago, I thought it was literally like a camp you go to, and they teach you the tricks of the trade for the DAT. I never liked being told to learn. I thought it was like some sort of kaplan thing (my reading comp skills are shining bright right now). Anyways, I had already gotten my DAT materials (except Chads videos) for Christmas, and I had to believe that I could do without it. I planned out my entire 2 months of prep for 5 days after my last spring semester final, and I had to stick with my plan. It was hard at times to venture onto SDN when thread after post after thread is bootcamp this, bootcamp that. After my cousin recommended me the program, and after I figured out it wasn't a summer camp, I took the free tests 2 weeks out from exam, scored pretty well, and thought that I can't have scores like this inflating my ego. PAT was hard, and I got a good kick out of the soccer ball PF question
. I think adding more PAT tests to the program was a smart move, and it may even eventually replace CDP. Its hard for me to critique the other sections because I only took the free tests, but I will give my opinions anyway. I did not like the wording on some of the Bi0. An answer explanation literally copied something from wikipedia. GC had a question that annoyed me that seemed to require a roundabout approach to answer a conceptual Q. I would still say this GC/OC is better than Qvaults free tests. Ochem was a good test, but when I scored perfect, it affirmed that I could not learn more if I wasn't making mistakes. RC was tough, and it sent me on a panic trying to see if I could/should buy some RC practice software. I did have a bunch of this statement is true kind of crap on my exam, and bootcamp questions primed me for it. QR was harder, but I do not remember it being as hard as everyone implies. My QR score here is not representative, and this is because I was taking the test during the middle of my drop in tutoring session training. A student came in with 5 minutes left on the section and asked me a question. Anyways, if things didn't go as planned today, I could see myself getting their supplies for round 2. Easily beats Topscore in my mind, though topscore was still worth it in the end to me.Qvault free tests (7.5)
------- 1
PAT 22
---
GC 29
OC 30
RC 20
QR 26
TS ??
AA ??
If you are one of those people who like to get their hands on every resource available, then getting all of qvault might not be a bad idea. They have tons of questions with neat explanations. They have a save question feature which is neat, and they show percentiles of question/response answer percentiles. If I were to buy anything other than qvault Bio, I probably would have only considered PAT and RC. You may or may not be able to view the passage when you review your RC answers so I don't know. You may be better off consulting derek zoolander on how to read good. Their GC was easy, but then again, there seem to be questions that are one of a kind sometimes. Their ochem was easy with one very tricky acid-base question. PAT has good HP practice if anything, and this is due to some backfolding/1/3 folds. QR is easy, but it highlighted a problem type I really tried to sweep under the carpet.
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