My goal in writing this breakdown is to encourage anyone who has taken the DAT before and is contemplating if they can do better the next time. The answer to that question is yes, yes you can! My purpose by no means is to brag and be a tool because… let’s be honest, we’ve all read plenty of those breakdowns already.
Long story short:
DAT Booster is the best and only resource that you need for all sections except maybe for QR (I’ll explain below). I was able to jump 5 points in my total science score which I attribute to Booster on top of this being my second time taking the test.
The Longer Story:
I felt like a real “wise-guy” graduating with a high GPA from a competitive college and I only had my DAT left to take before applying to dental school in 2020. That’s when I got backhanded with humility. I scored 17(AA) 17 (TS) on my first DAT but the real kicker was a 15 in OChem. I ran out of time halfway through the section due to my poor time management on Bio and Gen Chem.
The First DAT: (BIO 18, Gen Chem 18, OChem 15, PAT 22, RC 17, QR 17)
I used DAT Bootcamp the first time and it was a concise and well-organized program. After using DAT Booster, I can say that Bootcamp is too abbreviated in every science section, especially Biology. I felt underprepared for the science sections on my first test, and it showed.
With that being said, I did find Bootcamp’s QR practice tests more representative of the real test questions. Also, Bootcamp and Booster both have great PAT sections and if that is your weakest point you will find both programs beneficial.
I studied for both tests in the same way. For each test, I printed out all the notes for both programs and read carefully while highlighting key terms. I took careful notes on all videos as well. At the end of both programs, you can see from the difference in binder thicknesses which program offers you more information (I’ll add pictures below). For this reason, I feel that Booster is a much better deal, being that it’s around $200 less, if I am remembering correctly.
The Second DAT: (BIO 24, Gen Chem 21, OChem 22, PAT 23, RC 17, QR 17)
I followed Feralis’ Booster study schedule but did not use DAT Destroyer. I read that Destroyer was overkill, but it probably could have helped me with QR, who knows? I studied roughly 6-12 hours a day for two and half months.
I would recommend breaking the days of Feralis’ Study Schedule up in half if you are a detailed note taker like me. I found certain days on the schedule to be literally impossible to complete which led me to extend my membership. (I did have a month-long break between those two months which was nice but led to a little bit of “DAT factual atrophy” so I do not recommend doing that if you can avoid it.)
RC and QR is where the two hours of sleep hit me. Now I know what you’re probably thinking – that I was up cramming, but I promise you I wasn’t. I had a very hard time falling asleep because my heart was pounding all night.
I would recommend working out or taking some light sleeping meds to relax so you don’t have to take the test sleep deprived like I did. I almost wanted to call the test off that morning, but I didn’t, and I do not regret taking the test, even as tired as I was. So, if this happens to you, drink tons of water, do some pushups, and just do the dang thing.
BIO (24):
I read each section carefully, highlighting and drawing little pictures to help me memorize each topic. The videos on DAT Booster are freakin’ AMAZING!! Feralis’ notes are awesome, but I had several questions on my test that were right from what was covered in the Bio videos. I am a visual learner so those really helped me. I took very intricate notes on the videos and drew everything out until it was solid in my memory. On the practice tests I started out around 19 and averaged 21 on all the Booster Bio practice tests.
Gen Chem (21):
Professor Dave is a legend on YouTube, and he is the one that does all of Booster Chem and OChem video lessons. He can explain things so clearly and concisely and the videos have everything you need. I also watched Chad’s videos on YouTube which are also great. I recommend watching both Dave and Chad and you’ll be set. I took handwritten notes as I watched the videos. This did take quite a long time, especially on days when the videos were over 1 hour long. Practice tests were SUPER similar to the real DAT test, and I was scoring around 20 on the Booster practice tests.
Org. Chem (22):
Again, Professor Dave and Chad are amazing. The order that Booster presented the OChem topics made a lot of sense and made things that I was previously confused about very clear. On the practice tests I was averaging a score of 21.
PAT (23):
I used Booster for everything on this section except for the keyholes. I used the free question bank that DAT Bootcamp had to practice keyhole questions. One thing that Booster has that I found very helpful was their angle ranking analyzer. It basically tells you which angle types trip you up the most, which was eye opening for me. It helped me nail down my weak spots that I was unaware of. Boosters practice tests are spot on with the real DAT so make sure to practice with those!
DAT Bootcamp also has a very solid group of PAT instructors and explanations so if PAT is your biggest concern, then this is an area that Bootcamp would equally fit your needs.
On the real PAT section, I noticed this year the image quality on the keyhole and Top-Front-End questions were much worse than last year. I’m not sure if they are trying to purposely mess us up by making the images crappier or what. The proportions were all janky and the dashed lines were not easy to see. Just don’t expect the pictures to be as clean and crisp as they are on Bootcamp. Booster for this reason, is more accurate in terms of how the image will look.
RC (17):
Anyone who has run track or played any sport, you know what it means when the bear jumps on your back. This is where the lack of sleep turned my brain into scrambled eggs, haha! Bootcamp’s and Booster’s practice tests are great, and the questions are spot on. I was getting around 23 on the practice tests so I don’t know what happened on the test.
My first passage had questions straight from the text. The second article was like one giant tongue twister and sucked up too much of my time. I ran out of time on my third passage and had to guess for 5 of the questions, which was irritating. I would recommend reading the first and third passages first and then doing the second or whichever one is most difficult last.
QR (17): This is the only section I felt I was a little underprepared. The QR section is kind of dumb in my opinion because it’s not about solving the questions, it’s about making a quick estimate and moving on. I will say that I could have done more practice tests and worked harder in this section. I ran out of time and guessed on around 10 of the questions.
DAT Booster had good video explanations on each math concept. Although, I found myself getting frustrated on the practice tests, wondering where a certain topic even came from. I felt the practice test questions were far more difficult than most of the questions I had on the real test.
I think Bootcamp does equally as good of a job explaining the math concepts, but I think their practice tests are closer to the real DAT. Also, this is going to sound picky but the kid on Bootcamp who does the video explanations has his headphone mic next to his throat and his loud swallowing noise bugged the hell out of me. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great teacher but I can’t be the only one who noticed this.
Long story short:
DAT Booster is the best and only resource that you need for all sections except maybe for QR (I’ll explain below). I was able to jump 5 points in my total science score which I attribute to Booster on top of this being my second time taking the test.
The Longer Story:
I felt like a real “wise-guy” graduating with a high GPA from a competitive college and I only had my DAT left to take before applying to dental school in 2020. That’s when I got backhanded with humility. I scored 17(AA) 17 (TS) on my first DAT but the real kicker was a 15 in OChem. I ran out of time halfway through the section due to my poor time management on Bio and Gen Chem.
The First DAT: (BIO 18, Gen Chem 18, OChem 15, PAT 22, RC 17, QR 17)
I used DAT Bootcamp the first time and it was a concise and well-organized program. After using DAT Booster, I can say that Bootcamp is too abbreviated in every science section, especially Biology. I felt underprepared for the science sections on my first test, and it showed.
With that being said, I did find Bootcamp’s QR practice tests more representative of the real test questions. Also, Bootcamp and Booster both have great PAT sections and if that is your weakest point you will find both programs beneficial.
I studied for both tests in the same way. For each test, I printed out all the notes for both programs and read carefully while highlighting key terms. I took careful notes on all videos as well. At the end of both programs, you can see from the difference in binder thicknesses which program offers you more information (I’ll add pictures below). For this reason, I feel that Booster is a much better deal, being that it’s around $200 less, if I am remembering correctly.
The Second DAT: (BIO 24, Gen Chem 21, OChem 22, PAT 23, RC 17, QR 17)
I followed Feralis’ Booster study schedule but did not use DAT Destroyer. I read that Destroyer was overkill, but it probably could have helped me with QR, who knows? I studied roughly 6-12 hours a day for two and half months.
I would recommend breaking the days of Feralis’ Study Schedule up in half if you are a detailed note taker like me. I found certain days on the schedule to be literally impossible to complete which led me to extend my membership. (I did have a month-long break between those two months which was nice but led to a little bit of “DAT factual atrophy” so I do not recommend doing that if you can avoid it.)
RC and QR is where the two hours of sleep hit me. Now I know what you’re probably thinking – that I was up cramming, but I promise you I wasn’t. I had a very hard time falling asleep because my heart was pounding all night.
I would recommend working out or taking some light sleeping meds to relax so you don’t have to take the test sleep deprived like I did. I almost wanted to call the test off that morning, but I didn’t, and I do not regret taking the test, even as tired as I was. So, if this happens to you, drink tons of water, do some pushups, and just do the dang thing.
BIO (24):
I read each section carefully, highlighting and drawing little pictures to help me memorize each topic. The videos on DAT Booster are freakin’ AMAZING!! Feralis’ notes are awesome, but I had several questions on my test that were right from what was covered in the Bio videos. I am a visual learner so those really helped me. I took very intricate notes on the videos and drew everything out until it was solid in my memory. On the practice tests I started out around 19 and averaged 21 on all the Booster Bio practice tests.
Gen Chem (21):
Professor Dave is a legend on YouTube, and he is the one that does all of Booster Chem and OChem video lessons. He can explain things so clearly and concisely and the videos have everything you need. I also watched Chad’s videos on YouTube which are also great. I recommend watching both Dave and Chad and you’ll be set. I took handwritten notes as I watched the videos. This did take quite a long time, especially on days when the videos were over 1 hour long. Practice tests were SUPER similar to the real DAT test, and I was scoring around 20 on the Booster practice tests.
Org. Chem (22):
Again, Professor Dave and Chad are amazing. The order that Booster presented the OChem topics made a lot of sense and made things that I was previously confused about very clear. On the practice tests I was averaging a score of 21.
PAT (23):
I used Booster for everything on this section except for the keyholes. I used the free question bank that DAT Bootcamp had to practice keyhole questions. One thing that Booster has that I found very helpful was their angle ranking analyzer. It basically tells you which angle types trip you up the most, which was eye opening for me. It helped me nail down my weak spots that I was unaware of. Boosters practice tests are spot on with the real DAT so make sure to practice with those!
DAT Bootcamp also has a very solid group of PAT instructors and explanations so if PAT is your biggest concern, then this is an area that Bootcamp would equally fit your needs.
On the real PAT section, I noticed this year the image quality on the keyhole and Top-Front-End questions were much worse than last year. I’m not sure if they are trying to purposely mess us up by making the images crappier or what. The proportions were all janky and the dashed lines were not easy to see. Just don’t expect the pictures to be as clean and crisp as they are on Bootcamp. Booster for this reason, is more accurate in terms of how the image will look.
RC (17):
Anyone who has run track or played any sport, you know what it means when the bear jumps on your back. This is where the lack of sleep turned my brain into scrambled eggs, haha! Bootcamp’s and Booster’s practice tests are great, and the questions are spot on. I was getting around 23 on the practice tests so I don’t know what happened on the test.
My first passage had questions straight from the text. The second article was like one giant tongue twister and sucked up too much of my time. I ran out of time on my third passage and had to guess for 5 of the questions, which was irritating. I would recommend reading the first and third passages first and then doing the second or whichever one is most difficult last.
QR (17): This is the only section I felt I was a little underprepared. The QR section is kind of dumb in my opinion because it’s not about solving the questions, it’s about making a quick estimate and moving on. I will say that I could have done more practice tests and worked harder in this section. I ran out of time and guessed on around 10 of the questions.
DAT Booster had good video explanations on each math concept. Although, I found myself getting frustrated on the practice tests, wondering where a certain topic even came from. I felt the practice test questions were far more difficult than most of the questions I had on the real test.
I think Bootcamp does equally as good of a job explaining the math concepts, but I think their practice tests are closer to the real DAT. Also, this is going to sound picky but the kid on Bootcamp who does the video explanations has his headphone mic next to his throat and his loud swallowing noise bugged the hell out of me. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great teacher but I can’t be the only one who noticed this.
