DAT BREAKDOWN 08/15/16

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HHR28

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I wanted to post a breakdown after reading many helpful breakdowns along the way.

I took the exam after my sophomore year and I'm glad I'm done! I only took Orgo 1/2, Bio1/2, GC1/2, and the labs for all. It is not necessary to finish Biochemistry, physio, etc.

Before I start here are the Scores:
22AA 21TS 21PAT 30OC (Loving that orgo haha)

I started my studying on May 10th and took my exam August 15th. I decided to take the Kaplan course and heres my review... not worth the $!!! I think the course was helpful, and the best part was a total of 5+ full length DAT exams. The downside is the value. I would say DAT BOOTCAMP at around $100 was wayyyy more valuable.

Materials:
Dat Bootcamp (10/10): No doubt the best way to study for PAT. I took all the section tests and reviewed them a second time. I didn't retake the exams as full lengths because that would simply be Recall. My bootcamp averages fluctuated around a 20 in every subjects.

DAT Destroyer: (10/10): Destroyer was solid. I didn't finish the bio but great for GC/Orgo. It tests the material at a way higher level than on the real DAT.

Math Destroyer (10/10): solid book with ample amounts of practice tests

Chads videos (10/10): I owe my GC Score to Chad. His gc videos are amazing. I didn't need to watch the Orgo but I heard there solid as well. Didn't touch the bio video. Orgo rxn sheets are solid.

DAT Genius (8/10): Good free resources on
their website.

Cliffs AP BIO: (9/10): good book. Worth a read before starting any condensed notes like feralis.

Feralis Notes (8/10): These notes are solid but the DAT was so vague. Feralis goes very in depth which is great but do not get sidetracked. THINK BIG PICTURE.

RusselDw Notes (8/10): solid notes, less dense and easier to read compared to Feralis.

Kaplan Full length Exams (7/10)

Kaplan Course (5/10)

Kaplan blue book (4/10): not bad to start bio review

Kaplan lesson book (2/10)... This book sucks

ADA 2007/2009 Exams (10/10): These exams
were great practice. The 2009 (mail in exam) had some errors but overall my scores were similar to these exams. 2007 score - 23 AA 2009 Score - 21AA

Shoutout to Ari from DATBC @Ari Rezaei , the OrgoMan Team @orgoman22 , Russeldw @russelldw , Feralis @FeralisExtremum , and even Kaplan!

Some final Notes: Don't worry about your practice scores just focus on progress! I killed orgo because i was a TA and got A's in orgo 1/2 and used destroyer. On Bootcamp I scored around 20-22 range so don't get discouraged.

Bio is tough to study. I think ORGO/GC are the highest yield subjects per study time. Bio has huge coverage so you never know what you are going to get in my opinion. RC was never my strength so I'm ok with that score. Overall... DAT IS OVER LETS PARTY!

Some Practice Scores: (FL = Full Length Kaplan Tests)
Diagnostic Kaplan: 16
FL1: 17AA
Fl2: 18AA
Fl3: 20AA
Fl4: 22AA
FL5: 20 AA

2007ADA: 23AA

2009 ADA: 21AA

Real Test: 22AA

Good luck! Remember Diagnostics suck but its a start!

I can answer any questions if you guys have about prep, scores, etc.

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That Kaplan course undoubtedly helped. I thought about it too, but I'd much rather pay myself $2000 to study. :nod: Also, I don't have $2000. :whistle:

Regardless, insane OCHEM score, and the rest of your marks are solid. Great job!
 
I wanted to post a breakdown after reading many helpful breakdowns along the way.

I took the exam after my sophomore year and I'm glad I'm done! I only took Orgo 1/2, Bio1/2, GC1/2, and the labs for all. It is not necessary to finish Biochemistry, physio, etc.

Before I start here are the Scores:
22AA 21TS 21PAT 30OC (Loving that orgo haha)

I started my studying on May 10th and took my exam August 15th. I decided to take the Kaplan course and heres my review... not worth the $!!! I think the course was helpful, and the best part was a total of 5+ full length DAT exams. The downside is the value. I would say DAT BOOTCAMP at around $100 was wayyyy more valuable.

Materials:
Dat Bootcamp (10/10): No doubt the best way to study for PAT. I took all the section tests and reviewed them a second time. I didn't retake the exams as full lengths because that would simply be Recall. My bootcamp averages fluctuated around a 20 in every subjects.

DAT Destroyer: (10/10): Destroyer was solid. I didn't finish the bio but great for GC/Orgo. It tests the material at a way higher level than on the real DAT.

Math Destroyer (10/10): solid book with ample amounts of practice tests.

DAT Genius (8/10): Good free resources on their website.

Feralis Notes (8/10): These notes are solid but the DAT was so vague. Feralis goes very in depth which is great but do not get sidetracked. THINK BIG PICTURE.

RusselDw Notes (8/10): solid notes, less dense and easier to read compared to Feralis.

Kaplan Full length Exams (7/10)

Kaplan Course (5/10)

ADA 2007/2009 Exams (10/10): These exams were great practice. The 2009 (mail in exam) had some errors but overall my scores were similar to these exams. 2007 score - 23 AA 2009 Score - 21AA

Shoutout to Ari from DATBC @Ari Rezaei , the OrgoMan Team @orgoman22 , Russeldw @russelldw , Feralis @FeralisExtremum , and even Kaplan!

Some final Notes: Don't worry about your practice scores just focus on progress! I killed orgo because i was a TA and got A's in orgo 1/2 and used destroyer. On Bootcamp I scored around 20-22 range so don't get discouraged.

Bio is tough to study. I think ORGO/GC are the highest yield subjects per study time. Bio has huge coverage so you never know what you are going to get in my opinion. RC was never my strength so I'm ok with that score. Overall... DAT IS OVER LETS PARTY!

Some Practice Scores: (FL = Full Length Kaplan Tests)
Diagnostic Kaplan: 16
FL1: 17AA
Fl2: 18AA
Fl3: 20AA
Fl4: 22AA
FL5: 20 AA

2007ADA: 23AA

2009 ADA: 21AA

Real Test: 22AA

Good luck! Remember Diagnostics suck but its a start!

I can answer any questions if you guys have about prep, scores, etc.

Congratulations! Excellent scores and you should be very proud of the 30 in Orgo! WOW! Thanks for the breakdown.

Go celebrate, you deserve it!

Dr. Jim Romano and Nancy
 
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Congrats!!!

I think this is proof that the TS isn't an average of your 3 science scores, otherwise it would be a 23 or 24 with rounding
 
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Congrats!!!

I think this is proof that the TS isn't an average of your 3 science scores, otherwise it would be a 23 or 24 with rounding
Yup. The crazy thing is my AA is 22.4.... Which means one question really can make a difference in scores.
 
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Yup. The crazy thing is my AA is 22.4.... Which means one question really can make a difference in scores.

It really can!!

Idk if it's just me, but I find orgo the easiest subject to study for. What are your thoughts.

GC is tough but easier. Lot of things they can throw at you in different ways

Bio isn't hard, just a lot of material. But studying 2 topics every day over and over helped me learn it quite well
 
Congratulations! Excellent scores and you should be very proud of the 30 in Orgo! WOW! Thanks for the breakdown.

Go celebrate, you deserve it!

Dr. Jim Romano and Nancy
It really can!!

Idk if it's just me, but I find orgo the easiest subject to study for. What are your thoughts.

GC is tough but easier. Lot of things they can throw at you in different ways

Bio isn't hard, just a lot of material. But studying 2 topics every day over and over helped me learn it quite well
Orgo was the easiest for me.. But I think I owe my success to taking the DAT right after finishing Orgo 1/2 and being a TA for Orgo 1.. It was fresh in my head. Def an advantage of taking DAT early. I hated GC but I liked how the DAT gc was big picture and didn't go into any crazy questions. Chad has you covered. I must say Orgo on dat isn't a breeze.. It was overall easy imo but maybe 2-3 hard questions that I was like wow nice question ADA.
 
Orgo was the easiest for me.. But I think I owe my success to taking the DAT right after finishing Orgo 1/2 and being a TA for Orgo 1.. It was fresh in my head. Def an advantage of taking DAT early. I hated GC but I liked how the DAT gc was big picture and didn't go into any crazy questions. Chad has you covered. I must say Orgo on dat isn't a breeze.. It was overall easy imo but maybe 2-3 hard questions that I was like wow nice question ADA.

Absolutely Orgo is NOT a breeze on the DAT, and many versions can be presented. Any student who gets a 30 in Orgo generally has a love for the subject..Orgo doesn't get the love it deserves:)

Dr. Romano
 
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Absolutely Orgo is NOT a breeze on the DAT, and many versions can be presented. Any student who gets a 30 in Orgo generally has a love for the subject..Orgo doesn't get the love it deserves:)

Dr. Romano
Agreed! I always enjoyed Orgo and spent my "off day" reviewing Orgo when studying
 
Orgo was the easiest for me.. But I think I owe my success to taking the DAT right after finishing Orgo 1/2 and being a TA for Orgo 1.. It was fresh in my head. Def an advantage of taking DAT early. I hated GC but I liked how the DAT gc was big picture and didn't go into any crazy questions. Chad has you covered. I must say Orgo on dat isn't a breeze.. It was overall easy imo but maybe 2-3 hard questions that I was like wow nice question ADA.


I would say it was a breeze studying, I felt I had 3-4 for questions that threw me off. I had to combine 3-4 chemistry concepts into them. Overall though, it might be me. I am a year removed from ochem, and probably spent the least time studying it. I felt had a great grasp of it. My GC was very big picture. I was caught on stuff I didn't study. Funny thing is I found chad to be not very efficient. I guess it is good if you have no idea where to start and want a complete refresh, but I found skimming an old Organic book, and some GC youtube was great. Chad requires 30+hours to complete the chemistries, and some of it maybe review, so you don't need to go over it again, just practice it.

I like that organic score. If i could ever get a 30 on one subject, organic would be it. Such an amazing subject.
 
Killed it man! Congratulations!! Nice concise and to the point breakdown. Enjoy the partying and relaxation, don't turn into Heisenberg with that orgo score :D
 
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Amazing orgo bro!! Nice job on the test overall too!! Dude you were so close to joining the 23 club. You would have been a very welcome addition :).
 
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