Hey guys, for the past few weeks I've been lurking around these forums trying to find tips on the DAT. Now that my DAT is over, I figured I would return the favor. Its been extremely helpful for me to read these and judge whether or not I was ready based on my practice scores.
The only resources I used were Chad's (10/10), DAT Destroyer (10/10), Math Destroyer (9/10), DAT BC (10/10) and Feralis (10/10). I would highly recommend all of these resources. If any of you beautiful people responsible for these resources are reading this... THANK YOU!
My total study time was 6 weeks. I dedicated roughly one week each to learn Bio, GC, OC, and math. The remaining time was spent doing the destroyer & full length bootcamp exams. If I can achieve these scores, anybody can. I'm an average student with a gpa ~3.4 so hopefully these scores are enough to score me some interviews.
For the exam, I received 2 markers, 2 laminated sheets (one side had grid lines and the other was blank). The prometric staff were great - they came with replacement sheets within 30 seconds. I hated the pens however, I had to press down REALLY hard otherwise my writing would be really faint. My calculator was exactly like an older windows XP calculator with a square root function. There was no lag and my number pad worked.
Actual DAT:
PAT: 19
QR: 24
RC: 21
BIO: 23
GC: 22
OC: 21
TS: 22
AA: 22
Bootcamp:
PAT: 19/19
QR: 22/20/20
RC: 19/20
BIO: 23/21/17/18/25
GC: 21/22/21/18
OC: 18/19/18/26/21
2007/2009 DAT:
PAT: (70/90) & (71/90)
RC: (13/17) & (39/50)
BIO: (35/40) & (34/40)
GC: (27/30) & (27/30)
OC: (30/30) & (26/30)
I don't remember what the standardized scores were.
PAT:
My scores in this section were to be expected. I didn't start practicing until 5 days before the exam, so needless to say I'm fortunate to received what I had. All I did here was use Bootcamp generators to practice, and mainly used my gut feeling. I wasn't allowed to write during my tutorial so when I finished the science section, I had about 5 minutes to spare. I used this time to prepare my grids and charts.
For keyholes, it came pretty natural to me and Bootcamp was pretty representative of the actual DAT aside from a couple of crazy structures..
TFE on Bootcamp was pretty good and representative of the real deal. However, I never really got the hang of this section and just went with my gut.
Angles are on Bootcamp's generator are too easy because just by looking at their answer choices, you can immediately eliminate the choices down to two. Their actual PAT tests were better in this regard.
My strengths were hole punching & cube counting. Bootcamp was sufficient here. I just used the tic tac toe method for holes and chart/tally method for cube counting. Just be weary of 1/3 folds and inward folds on the actual DAT. For cubes, be weary of gaps and empty spaces.
QR:
Math is NOT my strongest subject. I didn't complete a single exam for BC nor did I for the Math Destroyer under the 45 minute time frame. For this section I simply just learned by tackling the questions in the Math destroyer 10 at a time and reviewing the solutions. This was the first section I studied so by the time it came close to my actual exam date, I didn't remember much. To refresh my memory I redid all the QR questions in the DAT destroyer the night before my exam. It turned out to to be the single greatest decision ever! My actual exam was nearly identical with respect to the types of questions asked.
RC:
I don't have much to say about this section. I believe that you can't really study for this, so all I did was try a couple of tests to familiarize myself with the types of questions asked. Bootcamp had too many of the "these statements are both true/related" type questions compared to my actual test. For this section all I did was quickly read it over once and answer the questions using search and destroy when necessary. It also might help to try your best to take a glass half full approach before reading each passage. I learned the hard way when I nearly dozed off halfway through a passage.. yay for fungi and ethics!
BIO:
All I really did for this was read Feralis 2x and supplemented it by doing the DAT Destroyer & BC. I'm majoring in bio so all I really needed was a quick refresher. The DAT destroyer was great for practicing, although I only completed about half the questions. I found it most effective when I would actually analyze all the answer choices and determine why each one was wrong, rather than identifying the correct one and moving on. This really allows you to familiarize yourself with all the possible terms that may come up. The actual DAT on this section was pretty random, so its best to study breadth over depth.
GC/OC:
To study for these sections I watched Chad's videos and took my own notes while watching. Chad is seriously awesome. These were my worst subjects during undergrad, and needless to say I am ecstatic about my scores here. Chad's quizzes were great at helping you learn the fundamentals, and the DAT Destroyer is definitely key in driving the concepts home. I can't stress enough to REVIEW the solutions and really understand where you went wrong. Bootcamp's exams were the most representative here in terms of style and I had a few DAT destroyer questions pop up on the real deal. The 2007 and 2009 exams seemed easier. I had maybe one or two questions I've never encountered before show up on the real deal. Oh yeah, make sure you don't neglect H NMR and IR!
Sorry for the long read, I'm trying to avoid editing my personal statement.. Best of luck to those writing the DAT soon. Go in confident, bring a snack for your break (my personal choice was a bunch of bananas and a quest bar) and kill it!
The only resources I used were Chad's (10/10), DAT Destroyer (10/10), Math Destroyer (9/10), DAT BC (10/10) and Feralis (10/10). I would highly recommend all of these resources. If any of you beautiful people responsible for these resources are reading this... THANK YOU!
My total study time was 6 weeks. I dedicated roughly one week each to learn Bio, GC, OC, and math. The remaining time was spent doing the destroyer & full length bootcamp exams. If I can achieve these scores, anybody can. I'm an average student with a gpa ~3.4 so hopefully these scores are enough to score me some interviews.
For the exam, I received 2 markers, 2 laminated sheets (one side had grid lines and the other was blank). The prometric staff were great - they came with replacement sheets within 30 seconds. I hated the pens however, I had to press down REALLY hard otherwise my writing would be really faint. My calculator was exactly like an older windows XP calculator with a square root function. There was no lag and my number pad worked.
Actual DAT:
PAT: 19
QR: 24
RC: 21
BIO: 23
GC: 22
OC: 21
TS: 22
AA: 22
Bootcamp:
PAT: 19/19
QR: 22/20/20
RC: 19/20
BIO: 23/21/17/18/25
GC: 21/22/21/18
OC: 18/19/18/26/21
2007/2009 DAT:
PAT: (70/90) & (71/90)
RC: (13/17) & (39/50)
BIO: (35/40) & (34/40)
GC: (27/30) & (27/30)
OC: (30/30) & (26/30)
I don't remember what the standardized scores were.
PAT:
My scores in this section were to be expected. I didn't start practicing until 5 days before the exam, so needless to say I'm fortunate to received what I had. All I did here was use Bootcamp generators to practice, and mainly used my gut feeling. I wasn't allowed to write during my tutorial so when I finished the science section, I had about 5 minutes to spare. I used this time to prepare my grids and charts.
For keyholes, it came pretty natural to me and Bootcamp was pretty representative of the actual DAT aside from a couple of crazy structures..
TFE on Bootcamp was pretty good and representative of the real deal. However, I never really got the hang of this section and just went with my gut.
Angles are on Bootcamp's generator are too easy because just by looking at their answer choices, you can immediately eliminate the choices down to two. Their actual PAT tests were better in this regard.
My strengths were hole punching & cube counting. Bootcamp was sufficient here. I just used the tic tac toe method for holes and chart/tally method for cube counting. Just be weary of 1/3 folds and inward folds on the actual DAT. For cubes, be weary of gaps and empty spaces.
QR:
Math is NOT my strongest subject. I didn't complete a single exam for BC nor did I for the Math Destroyer under the 45 minute time frame. For this section I simply just learned by tackling the questions in the Math destroyer 10 at a time and reviewing the solutions. This was the first section I studied so by the time it came close to my actual exam date, I didn't remember much. To refresh my memory I redid all the QR questions in the DAT destroyer the night before my exam. It turned out to to be the single greatest decision ever! My actual exam was nearly identical with respect to the types of questions asked.
RC:
I don't have much to say about this section. I believe that you can't really study for this, so all I did was try a couple of tests to familiarize myself with the types of questions asked. Bootcamp had too many of the "these statements are both true/related" type questions compared to my actual test. For this section all I did was quickly read it over once and answer the questions using search and destroy when necessary. It also might help to try your best to take a glass half full approach before reading each passage. I learned the hard way when I nearly dozed off halfway through a passage.. yay for fungi and ethics!
BIO:
All I really did for this was read Feralis 2x and supplemented it by doing the DAT Destroyer & BC. I'm majoring in bio so all I really needed was a quick refresher. The DAT destroyer was great for practicing, although I only completed about half the questions. I found it most effective when I would actually analyze all the answer choices and determine why each one was wrong, rather than identifying the correct one and moving on. This really allows you to familiarize yourself with all the possible terms that may come up. The actual DAT on this section was pretty random, so its best to study breadth over depth.
GC/OC:
To study for these sections I watched Chad's videos and took my own notes while watching. Chad is seriously awesome. These were my worst subjects during undergrad, and needless to say I am ecstatic about my scores here. Chad's quizzes were great at helping you learn the fundamentals, and the DAT Destroyer is definitely key in driving the concepts home. I can't stress enough to REVIEW the solutions and really understand where you went wrong. Bootcamp's exams were the most representative here in terms of style and I had a few DAT destroyer questions pop up on the real deal. The 2007 and 2009 exams seemed easier. I had maybe one or two questions I've never encountered before show up on the real deal. Oh yeah, make sure you don't neglect H NMR and IR!
Sorry for the long read, I'm trying to avoid editing my personal statement.. Best of luck to those writing the DAT soon. Go in confident, bring a snack for your break (my personal choice was a bunch of bananas and a quest bar) and kill it!
