- Joined
- Apr 23, 2020
- Messages
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I found advice on this site extremely helpful in my preparation, so I thought I would try to pass along the knowledge and help future test takers.
Background:
Graduated with a Biology degree in May
Previous helpful courses: Anatomy and Physiology, Biochemistry, OchemI/II-- do well in these/take your DAT recently after these classes as it will build your base
I began light studying around December by making flashcards (Anki computer app) about high yield topics from DAT bootcamp's biology notes and DAT Destroyer bio questions, and I started using DAT bootcamp's generators. I also began reviewing basic material using DAT bootcamp. During this time, I was studying about 1-2 hours a night for the DAT. The concepts that I learned were put directly into Anki. I think one of the most important tools for retention for this test is using spaced repetition. Making the flashcards was extremely tedious but well worth it. I ended up having ~6700 cumulative flashcards of various biology, gen chem, and orgo concepts by the end of my studying. I didn't follow a study schedule but I made goals for each day (e.g. do 50 bio, 25 gen chem and 25 ochem out of destroyer today).
Once my school went online, I started to put in ~4 hours a day and once I was done with classes I put in ~8 hours a day with an occasional half day.
DAT scores:
PAT - 23
QR - 18
RC - 20
BIO - 30
GC - 22
OC - 26
TS - 25
AA - 23
(My 2009 DAT was fairly accurate for the sciences-- Bootcamp is slightly more difficult)
Resources:
(In order of time spent)
Anki: I put everything into Anki. I ended up accumulating around 250 hours on this program alone (most of the time for Bio cards which were from bootcamp notes and destroyer bio questions). This program was extremely important in putting concepts into my long term memory. Make sure you do ALL of your cards everyday. This sometimes took me 3 hours.
DAT Destroyer: I went through the DAT destroyer Gen Chem and Orgo sections 3 complete times and then went over them another 2 times where I only did the questions I had difficulty with. Many others have said this too, but the DAT destroyer is all you need for the sciences. I found that Bootcamp's tricky questions were heavily tested on DAT destroyer. I also believe that the Bio section of destroyer will cover whatever DAT bootcamp does not. I spent a majority of my time learning how to do problems with Destroyer to prepare for the sciences. Make sure you do all of the problems in this book.
DAT Math Destroyer: I went through this 1.5 times. I found this to be helpful in reviewing. However, I got questions that were not quite as representative of either DAT bootcamp or destroyer, so I was a little thrown off. (I focused the least on qr and reading- Wish I spent more time on these)
DAT Bootcamp: I used this resource to review and then test my knowledge through timed practice tests. I tried to simulate game day as closely as possible by waking up at 5 am, eating breakfast, going for a walk before the test at 8 am, and wearing a mask when taking my test.
PAT Booster: I bought this to get more keyhole and pattern folding practice and found it to be helpful.
Reading: I only used practice tests-- I should have read an article everyday
Chad's Free Practice Tests and Videos: I used his free practice tests in order to get exposure to more problems. If I did not like Bootcamp's explanation for certain topics I went to Chad.
From what I've read from others and experienced myself, exposure to as many problems as possible while going over and understanding all of your mistakes is important! You should get to the point where when you see a science question it's almost reflexive in terms of how you think about and how you solve the problem (use DAT destroyer to do this).
Try to get sleep the night before, but if you don't, it's not the end of the world. I pretty much didn't sleep haha.
Background:
Graduated with a Biology degree in May
Previous helpful courses: Anatomy and Physiology, Biochemistry, OchemI/II-- do well in these/take your DAT recently after these classes as it will build your base
I began light studying around December by making flashcards (Anki computer app) about high yield topics from DAT bootcamp's biology notes and DAT Destroyer bio questions, and I started using DAT bootcamp's generators. I also began reviewing basic material using DAT bootcamp. During this time, I was studying about 1-2 hours a night for the DAT. The concepts that I learned were put directly into Anki. I think one of the most important tools for retention for this test is using spaced repetition. Making the flashcards was extremely tedious but well worth it. I ended up having ~6700 cumulative flashcards of various biology, gen chem, and orgo concepts by the end of my studying. I didn't follow a study schedule but I made goals for each day (e.g. do 50 bio, 25 gen chem and 25 ochem out of destroyer today).
Once my school went online, I started to put in ~4 hours a day and once I was done with classes I put in ~8 hours a day with an occasional half day.
DAT scores:
PAT - 23
QR - 18
RC - 20
BIO - 30
GC - 22
OC - 26
TS - 25
AA - 23
(My 2009 DAT was fairly accurate for the sciences-- Bootcamp is slightly more difficult)
Resources:
(In order of time spent)
Anki: I put everything into Anki. I ended up accumulating around 250 hours on this program alone (most of the time for Bio cards which were from bootcamp notes and destroyer bio questions). This program was extremely important in putting concepts into my long term memory. Make sure you do ALL of your cards everyday. This sometimes took me 3 hours.
DAT Destroyer: I went through the DAT destroyer Gen Chem and Orgo sections 3 complete times and then went over them another 2 times where I only did the questions I had difficulty with. Many others have said this too, but the DAT destroyer is all you need for the sciences. I found that Bootcamp's tricky questions were heavily tested on DAT destroyer. I also believe that the Bio section of destroyer will cover whatever DAT bootcamp does not. I spent a majority of my time learning how to do problems with Destroyer to prepare for the sciences. Make sure you do all of the problems in this book.
DAT Math Destroyer: I went through this 1.5 times. I found this to be helpful in reviewing. However, I got questions that were not quite as representative of either DAT bootcamp or destroyer, so I was a little thrown off. (I focused the least on qr and reading- Wish I spent more time on these)
DAT Bootcamp: I used this resource to review and then test my knowledge through timed practice tests. I tried to simulate game day as closely as possible by waking up at 5 am, eating breakfast, going for a walk before the test at 8 am, and wearing a mask when taking my test.
PAT Booster: I bought this to get more keyhole and pattern folding practice and found it to be helpful.
Reading: I only used practice tests-- I should have read an article everyday
Chad's Free Practice Tests and Videos: I used his free practice tests in order to get exposure to more problems. If I did not like Bootcamp's explanation for certain topics I went to Chad.
From what I've read from others and experienced myself, exposure to as many problems as possible while going over and understanding all of your mistakes is important! You should get to the point where when you see a science question it's almost reflexive in terms of how you think about and how you solve the problem (use DAT destroyer to do this).
Try to get sleep the night before, but if you don't, it's not the end of the world. I pretty much didn't sleep haha.
