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- Sep 29, 2015
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Hey folks!
I just finished my DAT a few hours ago and figured that I would post a breakdown to give back to all the wonderful people on here that contributed to my success. I'll break each section down based on what resources I used, my thoughts of the exam itself, and what I did to prepare/strategies I used. I ended up rambling on a bunch, so if you have a particular section you're interested in, I'd recommend skipping to that. Sorry in advance for the lengthy post!
PAT: 23 / QR: 26 / RC: 19 / Bio: 28 / GC : 22/ Orgo: 27 / TS: 25 / AA: 24
Tl;dr... Natural sciences were harder than I expected because of a few idiosyncratic questions. Reading Comp was hard, but not as hard as DAT Bootcamp. QR was a breeze. PAT easier than I thought it'd be. Math and DAT Destroyer were the shizz (in a good way), Chad's Videos rocked, DAT Bootcamp is a necessity, Cliff's AP Bio is great for foundation, but Feralis' notes is where the true magic lies. Did a practice test every day for a week and a half prior to test date. Studied for 3 months. Destroyers are great learning materials and help strengthen your overall comprehensive knowledge of every subject, Bootcamp is great for test simulations and PAT, Chad's videos lay the foundation for both gen chem and orgo, Cliff's and Feralis' notes have most of everything you need to know for Bio when supplemented with Destroyer.
Exam Breakdown:
Perceptual Ability (23)
Quantitative Reasoning (26)
Reading Comprehension
Biology (28)
Gen Chem (22)
Orgo (27)
I followed Ari's study schedule (link at bottom) for the 1st month, then branched off and touched up subjects that I felt I needed to. The more practice tests you can simulate, the better off you'll be. The week and a half before the test, I did a practice test everyday, on top of doing extra Destroyer problems/reviewing Feralis' notes.
Some things I noticed during test day:
Useful links:
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Best of luck to all you folks out there and thanks for helping me get the scores I did!!
I just finished my DAT a few hours ago and figured that I would post a breakdown to give back to all the wonderful people on here that contributed to my success. I'll break each section down based on what resources I used, my thoughts of the exam itself, and what I did to prepare/strategies I used. I ended up rambling on a bunch, so if you have a particular section you're interested in, I'd recommend skipping to that. Sorry in advance for the lengthy post!
PAT: 23 / QR: 26 / RC: 19 / Bio: 28 / GC : 22/ Orgo: 27 / TS: 25 / AA: 24
Tl;dr... Natural sciences were harder than I expected because of a few idiosyncratic questions. Reading Comp was hard, but not as hard as DAT Bootcamp. QR was a breeze. PAT easier than I thought it'd be. Math and DAT Destroyer were the shizz (in a good way), Chad's Videos rocked, DAT Bootcamp is a necessity, Cliff's AP Bio is great for foundation, but Feralis' notes is where the true magic lies. Did a practice test every day for a week and a half prior to test date. Studied for 3 months. Destroyers are great learning materials and help strengthen your overall comprehensive knowledge of every subject, Bootcamp is great for test simulations and PAT, Chad's videos lay the foundation for both gen chem and orgo, Cliff's and Feralis' notes have most of everything you need to know for Bio when supplemented with Destroyer.
Exam Breakdown:
Perceptual Ability (23)
- Resources: DAT Bootcamp (I'd go so far as to say that's all you need), 2007 & 2009 ADA DAT Sample Tests
- Hole punching:
- Very straightforward. There were maybe 2 hard problems, but they weren't impossible. Most of them were folded pretty simply.
- Strategy: I used the grid method with lines of symmetry. Not much else to say.
- Angle ranking:
- Angles were... well, they weren't too bad haha. I would say about 70% of angles were easy enough to differentiate and order correctly. The other 30% were a total crap-shoot. I had to constantly remind myself not to fixate on each problem, just suck it up, make a guess, and move on.
- Strategy: I went right to the answers and looked for which angles I needed to compare to figure out what the smallest angle was. Most of them gave 2 options, while about 25% of them gave 3 or 1. Once I figured that out, I looked at which angles I needed to compare to figure out the largest one and got my answer from there. For actually discerning the angles, I flickered my eyes back and forth between the ones I was comparing and went with what my gut told me. I tried a bunch of other strategies mentioned here on SDN and found that I scored higher if I just relied on my instincts. More than anything, I felt like saving time on this section was what was most important; I finished it in 5 minutes. That allowed me to spend more time on things that I could actually solve like keyholes and pattern folding.
- Cube counting:
- The structures were all pretty easy to count. Nothing too tricky here. Unlike DAT Bootcamp which gives 5 figures each with 3 questions, my DAT had more figures which threw me off a little. I was so used to answering 3 questions based off of 1 figure that I almost messed up and attributed the wrong number of cubes to a completely different structure, so pay attention on your test! DAT Bootcamp structures were more complex though, which made it easy to count up the ones on the actual test.
- Strategy: I counted the surface of all cubes and made tally marks. After I was done, I'd refer to the marks when answering the questions.
- Top-front-end:
- The structures were much simpler than I expected them to be. A few hard ones, but nothing absurd. I felt very prepared after doing DAT Bootcamp.
- Strategy: For the most part, I was able to mentally visualize most objects. For the ones that gave me trouble though, I found key features that had to show up in the answer (a dotted line in a certain place, something jutting out over here, etc) and inspected the answers. From there, I was usually able to eliminate two of them. I would then compare the remaining answers and see what the big differences were, which gave me a focal point for the object. It was easy enough to eliminate the wrong answer after that.
- Keyhole:
- Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Proportions didn't play as much of a role as I thought they would, but came in handy every once in a while.
- Strategy: I had practiced enough so that I had about 15 - 20 minutes just for keyhole whenever I took practice tests, which really came in handy. I made a table on my sheet with letters A - E in the 1st column and a bunch of empty columns next to it. I would go through each figure and eliminate answers that were wrong, leaving me with the correct choice. I could narrow down aspects that were off with each figure by looking at how the answers differed and I would simply compare them to the object from there. This was about the only way I learned that I could get through keyhole successfully. Keyhole is such a nuanced section that it's easy to miss 1 small detail that'll derail the whole answer. When I first started doing keyhole, I was getting about 5/15 right, but with this strategy, I started getting 13-15 / 15.
- Pattern folding:
- Also easier than I expected. Pretty typical problems that you'd see on any pattern folding practice test with maybe 1 or 2 hard ones.
- Strategy: Honestly, I didn't really have a strategy for pattern folding besides going to the answers and seeing whether each one would work or not. After keyhole, this was where I spent most of my time for the PAT.
- Overall:
- Definitely easier than DAT Bootcamp. I would say DAT Bootcamp prepared me really well for this section, so props to Ari and his team. I didn't actually utilize most of the generators. I simply did practice tests. In total, I did 18 practice tests (6 of them being ones I had already done from Bootcamp and 2 from the practice 2007 and 2009 DAT). 1 week prior, I did a test every day and I felt like this helped me get into my PAT mode instantly on the exam. If you can, I'd highly recommend doing the same!
Quantitative Reasoning (26)
- Resources: Math Destroyer, DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, 2007 & 2009 ADA DAT Sample Tests, and Chad's Quizzes
- Actual DAT: I thought the math section on the DAT was easy, but I've always been pretty good at math. To be honest, I had a complete mental breakdown during reading comprehension (I'll get into that experience next), so I HAULED through the math portion. I finished the entire thing with about 20 minutes to spare, after which I double checked my answers, not changing a single one. During the tutorial, I tried to use the keypad for the calculator and it worked! This helped a ton. I've read from multiple sources on SDN that people had to click to punch in their numbers. Not sure why I could use mine when they couldn't. Maybe their number lock was off? Regardless, I'd recommend taking a minute of tutorial time to make sure you can/can't use your the keypad for the calculator. The actual content of the test itself was straightforward. Cover your bases with DAT Destroyer and Math Destroyer and you'll be cool as a cucumber.
- Preparation: Math Destroyer and DAT Destroyer were the best tools for this section by far. I went through each once and made Quizlet flash cards of the formulas I needed to know/other random facts I learned from problems (I'll include the link for the flashcards at the bottom of this post). I didn't do a whole lot of preparation for QR besides the aforementioned Destroyers. I went through DAT Destroyer untimed first then continued by treating each Math Destroyer as a practice test for the real thing, even though most don't recommend doing so. I felt pretty confident though and stuck with my guns, which ended up working out. A note to all those struggling with this section: sometimes it's easier to plug in answers and see if they work or not, as opposed to actually solving the problem. I did this for a few on the actual exam!
Reading Comprehension
- Resources: DAT Bootcamp, 2007 & 2009 ADA DAT Sample Tests
- Actual DAT: Well... I didn't do as well as I wanted to on this section haha. While a 19 isn't awful, I wouldn't say it's an awesome score either. Truth be told, I ended up having a panic attack during this section. I was thrown off my game by some questions on the science section, so I thought I was doing terribly up to this point (guess I did better than I thought on TS though), and then reading comp. came and drove a stake through my heart. What I did next is a great example of what NOT TO DO on test day. After finishing the 1st passage by mapping it, I was running low on time and berating myself for what I thought was a poor performance on the science section, so I decided to switch strategies by looking up keywords from the questions and then skimming the passage, something I had never even tried or practiced before. Needless to say, it was a complete and utter disaster. I ended up not digesting anything of what I was reading and had to guess on quite a few problems for time's sake. My advice would be to practice a strategy, find what works for you, and STICK WITH IT. Don't pull a BranMaster and pull the carpet out from under your own feet. Have confidence in yourself and that you'll do well. If I hadn't been so hard on myself from thinking that I failed the sciences, I probably wouldn't have panicked and would have scored better on RC. As for the test itself, the reading passages were on the same level of difficulty as Bootcamp, while the questions were slightly easier.
- Preparation: Reading Scientific American articles everyday and taking DAT Practice Exam from Bootcamp and the ADA. DAT Bootcamp has some reading strategies up on their website. Try each one and see what works best for you!
Biology (28)
- Resources: DAT Bootcamp, DAT Destroyer, Cliff's AP 3rd Edition, Feralis' Notes, 2007 & 2009 ADA DAT Sample Tests
- Actual DAT: I don't have a whole lot to say about the Bio section. There were a couple of questions that threw me for a loop, since they referred to some obscure biology term that I had skimmed over while reading. I did see some problems very similar to what I found in Destroyer and Bootcamp, so I highly recommend utilizing both those resources. Most questions were easy enough and straightforward, while about 25% had poor wording or were very specific. For those, you could usually eliminate it down to 2 answers if you strained your brain.
- Preparation: I read through Cliff's once and took a bunch of notes (which I never looked at again). From there, I did the tests in the book and started going through Feralis' notes, while doing DAT Destroyer. I went through his notes about 3 times (once the day before test date), and interspersed DAT Bootcamp Bio tests in there. While everything I used was helpful, Feralis' notes were by far the best thing I could've asked for. They were painful to go through the 1st time, but much easier the subsequent times. They're super comprehensive and cover most of everything you'd end up seeing on the DAT. If you can, try and review them as close to test date as possible. Even if you don't overtly remember something, you'll have an inkling of what the answer could be, which will greatly improve your chances for getting the answer right. I've never met or talked to Feralis, but major shout out to you, dude. I would not have gotten as close to this score without you. Thanks a bunch!
- Note: For those of you struggling to wrap your mind around taxonomy, I've linked a taxonomy cheat sheet made by Feralis and uploaded by DAT Bootcamp at the bottom of this post. Definitely check it out. Helped me a bunch!
Gen Chem (22)
- Resources: DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, Chad's Videos, 2007 & 2009 ADA DAT Sample Tests
- Actual DAT: There were less numerical questions than I thought there'd be. A lot of it was conceptual and you should have a solid foundation of basic and broad concepts; you don't have to spend as much time on detail here. There were a few questions that I was unsure of, but nothing that you couldn't make an educated guess on.
- Preparation: I watched Chad's videos for GC once, and went through my notes twice. I did his quizzes for GC once too. Mostly, I spent my time doing practice tests and going through DAT Destroyer. I went through it twice, the 2nd time being 2 days before my test. I finished all the problems during that day, despite someone breaking into my house while I was studying and having to talk to the police for an hour 😎 Practice makes perfect and DAT Destroyer forces you to flex your GC muscles and keep them in shape.
- Resources: DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, Chad's Videos, 2007 & 2009 ADA DAT Sample Tests
- Actual DAT: I'd stress knowing your basics over little details. Chad does a really good job covering most of the concepts that you need to know and DAT Destroyer will cement them while adding to your knowledge. Know all your reactions, that's a given. A couple tricky questions on this one... Certain situations weren't explicitly covered in DAT Destroyer or Chad's, but both of those will allow you to narrow down the answer quite a bit and make a strong, educated guess.
- Preparation: It's been 3 years since I've taken orgo, so I needed a major refresher. I watched Chad's videos once while taking notes and a second time in double speed. I also did his quizzes twice. I went through DAT Destroyer twice (the 2nd time 3 days before my test). I went through the sheet of Chad's reactions a lot and drew out all the roadmaps in Destroyer until I knew everything by heart.
Some things I noticed during test day:
- The markers/laminated paper sucked. The pens would dry out if you leave them uncapped, which means you constantly have to cap and uncap them, wasting time. Writing with the markers also takes up a bunch of room because the tips are so fat. This meant having to change my paper a whole bunch of times, which can be distracting for some.
- On the QR section, the calculator pops up at the worst possible location; It shows up right above the question, blocking it from view. This just wasted a bunch of time because I'd have to move the calculator out of the way each time.
- While doing RC on DAT Bootcamp, I got used to scrolling with the wheel of my mouse. On the actual DAT, you'll have to use the scrollbar on screen.
- Even though my test was 11:45 AM, Prometric required me to be there by 11:15 AM, so don't forget to show up early!
- You can access your locker during your break, but can't do so during test time, so if you have things you might need to get before your test break, leave it somewhere outside your locker.
- My test center didn't let me use the tutorial time to set up sheets.
Useful links:
- Here's the math Quizlet for those interested: https://quizlet.com/93762587/flashcards
- Ari's 10 week schedule: http://datbootcamp.com/Ari'sStudySchedule.pdf
- List of DAT reading strategies: http://datbootcamp.com/category/reading-comprehension-strategy/
- 2007 DAT: http://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Education and Careers/Files/dat_test_sampleitems.ashx
- Practice OAT: http://www.ada.org/~/media/OAT/Files/oat_sample_test.ashx
- Feralis notes and taxonomy cheat sheet: http://datbootcamp.com/feralis-biology-notes/
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Best of luck to all you folks out there and thanks for helping me get the scores I did!!
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