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- Jun 19, 2017
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Before I start… I apologize for how lengthy this post is!
I took my test yesterday! I studied for around 10-11 weeks. The first month and a half was inconsistent studying, and I studied between 0-6 hours a day (probably with a mean of 3-4 hours a day). I didn’t crack down until the last month and a half, where I began studying from 8-9 hours a day up to maybe 12+ hours a day (I honestly don’t even know how long I studied … I would study all waking hours and even during meal times). Halfway through studying, I realized that I was spending way too much time on social media. I signed out of all of my accounts in the morning before studying and only signed back in at night to check.
I made sure to sleep 8 hours a day! I noticed that when I slept less than 8 hours, my PAT accuracy would decrease drastically. Make sure to sleep enough, especially the night before the test!!
I had a decent foundation for the sciences from the classes I’ve taken at university, but I did have to relearn and learn a lot of information during these 10 weeks. I listed all the resources I found incredibly helpful for me and I think that if you use these resources effectively and work the hardest you’ve ever worked before, you can get the score that you want!
RESOURCES:
Bootcamp (a MUST!)
Crack DAT PAT (Ace Edition)
Anki’s Flashcards (computer program and app) - Ferali’s notes in flashcard form
Chad’s Videos
Mike’s Videos
Cliff’s 3rd edition and Barron’s
DAT Destroyer (DAT Destroyer and Math Destroyer Combo Package)
Crash Course’s Anatomy and Physiology Playlist
AP Biology, AP Chemistry and Organic Chemistry App by Varsity Tutors
DAT Mastery 2017 App
Bozeman Science, Armando Hasudungan, Khan Academy Videos
BIO: 30
Going into the exam, bio was my most confident section. I was most worried about bio in the beginning of summer, so I really started cram-studying biology the last month or so. I took AP bio junior year in high school and took upper level genetics, cell biology, and mammalian physiology at university before taking the test. If I had to recommend one upper level class to take before the DAT, I would take mammalian physiology (or a similar class!) I felt that the genetics and cell biology on the DAT were doable with introduction biology classes, but there were definitely anatomy&phys concepts that I learned in my classes that would have been hard to learn on my own.
I started off the summer taking notes on every chapter of Cliff’s. I tried to follow Ari’s 10 week study schedule but I wasn’t able to stick with it for long. Instead of taking 2 days to go through one chapter of Cliff’s, I tried going through 1 chapter a day. After taking notes on Cliffs, I realized that I didn’t retain a lot of information (even the simplest concepts!), so I went through Cliff’s again and diagrammed or drew out pictures of all my notes. I’m a visual learner so seeing things laid out for me definitely helped.
I discovered Anki’s flashcards a month and a half before my exam. If you have an Android phone, it should be a free app to download – I believe that it costs $15 on the apple store. Still, this resource was invaluable. Ari has a blog somewhere on Bootcamp about Anki’s flashcards, which are flashcards of ALL OF FERALIS NOTES!!! The best thing about Anki’s is that you can mark a flashcard to show up again in 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, etc. So for the flashcards I was unfamiliar with, I would see it again the next day and the next day until I was familiar with it. I started the flashcards pretty late so I forced myself to “learn” 100 new flashcards every day. If you start the app earlier, you can probably just learn 30-40 new cards every day.
I binged Destroyer bio in 3 days (doing ~200 questions a day) three weeks before my exam (I don’t recommend doing this but at this time I didn’t even start BC bio tests yet, so I was rushed.) Destroyer bio was probably the most useful out of the three destroyer sciences, so I would definitely do it! I created an OneNote document with notes of everything I didn’t know from Destroyer. I stopped scoring myself in the bio section for destroyer because I wanted to learn the information, and didn’t want to feel demotivated by all the wrong answers I got. I went over every single question (regardless if I got it right or not) and read the answer key. I wrote down everything I didn’t know.
After taking a BC Bio exam, I read every single explanation for every biology question regardless if I got the question correct or not and wrote down notes for concepts I didn’t know. Ari’s explanations on BC are very in depth and helpful. I also drew out diagrams on the whiteboard of every body system with a friend and we would go over a photo of the diagrams frequently and explain them to each other.
During mealtimes, I “took a break” by watching Crash Course’s Anatomy and Physiology. Hank is great and the animations didn’t make me feel like I was really studying, but I learned a LOT from him. Then, two days before my exam, I binge read all of Barron’s and then reread my biology notes once over.
All in all, I realized after studying for this test that I am a visual learner. I didn’t get a lot out of reading Cliff’s the first time; I only started remembering the information when I diagrammed out everything (ex: drew out cellular respiration, mitosis, plant structure, or drew out diagrams of all the body systems.) Reviewing the questions you get incorrect is key, and taking notes on everything you are unfamiliar with is also important!
PAT: 24
I got very lucky with PAT – I didn’t get any rock keyholes. Many of my friends who took the test before me got 3-5 rocks on their exam, which sounds awful! Those questions are the worst.
I bought Crack DAT PAT, which I thought was more similar to the actual PAT than Bootcamp. Your pacing on the actual exam will be similar to how you do CDP. I had a hard time finishing most BC PAT exams. However, using Bootcamp to practice PAT is definitely a MUST, even though everything is harder! I finished all 10 CDP tests over the 10 weeks and did the BC PAT trainer game every day. I also used the generators from time to time to practice. Practicing your speed is important.
QR: 30
Probability has always been my weakness for math since the SAT days. I watched Chad’s math video on probability, did his probability quiz and made flashcards out of all of the questions. I would look over the flashcards from time to time, until I knew how to answer all the different variations of problems they could ask.
I did 8 Math Destroyer tests and finished the math section in the DAT Destroyer book. Math Destroyer was hard but I was able to nail down all those tricky rate/time questions and applied mathematics questions. Bootcamp Math was a great resource and they asked a lot of the new quantitative comparison questions that weren’t found in Destroyer. Make flashcards for everything you get wrong, and REVIEW them constantly!!
RC: 30
Reading was never my strength but the reading on the DAT was a lot easier than the ones found in Bootcamp. I used search and destroy! I even used search and destroy when doing Bootcamp RC, even though the tests on BC are harder and the questions weren’t in order. Practicing search and destroy on BC (even when I had a hard time finishing the test) is good practice for the actual exam.
GC: 27
I went through Chad’s videos for chemistry twice and took notes both times. I went through each BC test chemistry test twice and made flashcards for all the questions I was unfamiliar with. I made sure to review the flashcards a couple times before my exam. I supplemented this with doing occasional tests on the AP Chemistry app, DAT Destroyer, and the day before my exam, I went through tests 1-5 and reviewed every single chem/ochem question on there.
OC: 28
I used Mike’s Ochem videos like Ari suggested. I did well in college level organic chemistry but I took it a year ago so I forgot most of the reactions. I actually struggled with remembering some reactions (ex: all the different reductions, etc.) even up until my test. Again, I made flashcards for all of the questions I didn’t know on BC and went over them a few times before my exam. I went through Destroyer once. I would recommend looking over Destroyer’s 25 “must know” reactions, but I didn’t bother going through road maps.
On the actual exam, there were a couple questions that were almost, if not completely identical to Bootcamp’s tests. That's how great BC prepares you!! There were a few questions that I’ve never seen before and I just had to take my best guess.
BC Full Length Practice Tests
Note: DO NOT “practice” with subject tests 1-5!! If you finished BC test 6-10 before you want to start full length practice tests, I would retake and review 6-10 again, or maybe use other resources to practice (like the android/iphone apps). Save full length tests 1-5 and do them in actual testing conditions! (Full tests 1-5 are the same as BC subject tests 1-5).
Bio/Chem/Ochem/QR/PAT/RC
1: 25/25/30/20/22/22
2: 22/23/21/24/23/19
3: 23/24/19/24/23/25
4: 25/21/22/20/21/24
5: 26/22/22/20/20/21
Final Notes
I was pretty shocked by my scores. The DAT test is part skill, but definitely part luck. I was lucky that the test catered to some of my strengths, and didn’t test reactions or math problems I didn’t know how to solve. I have never studied for so hard and so long in my life, and I think that crunching down the last month or so is necessary for a good score. I stopped hanging out with friends as much (I know…) and limited social media/reddit time so I could study efficiently.
I thought that reviewing a BC test after I took it would be enough, but I quickly realized that I didn't retain as much information as I thought I did. Making flashcards for everything you missed and everything you're uncertain about is necessary. Also, reading through EVERY BC explanation is also good, even if you got the question correct. I asked Ari and his team a lot of questions during these 10 weeks, and they always gave me a great explanation for them!
The week before my test, I was reading all these SDN and Bootcamp FB group page posts on how people did. It made me feel discouraged, and so I put a lot of pressure on myself when I took my last practice exam (thinking that my last practice exam would be representative of my actual score). I did the worst on my last full length exam because of all the pressure I was feeling. I stopped checking FB and SDN for other people’s scores/breakdowns. I read somewhere that you should go into your test confident that you will get a 30, so I ignored how I did on my last practice exam, reviewed every question I got wrong on BC the last two days, and went into my test feeling confident that I knew everything. Having the right mentality for the DAT is everything.
Feel free to ask me for any advice or tips for studying for the DAT, I’m happy to help!! I can share my notes or post pictures of my diagrams later if people are interested.
Just so people don’t think that I’m a troll account, I included a picture below.
*** EDIT ***
It appears that the original Anki's Ferali's deck that I used was taken down - probably because Ferali's notes have also been taken down from the net. Apparently there are other biology decks on Anki's that you can google and use!
I took my test yesterday! I studied for around 10-11 weeks. The first month and a half was inconsistent studying, and I studied between 0-6 hours a day (probably with a mean of 3-4 hours a day). I didn’t crack down until the last month and a half, where I began studying from 8-9 hours a day up to maybe 12+ hours a day (I honestly don’t even know how long I studied … I would study all waking hours and even during meal times). Halfway through studying, I realized that I was spending way too much time on social media. I signed out of all of my accounts in the morning before studying and only signed back in at night to check.
I made sure to sleep 8 hours a day! I noticed that when I slept less than 8 hours, my PAT accuracy would decrease drastically. Make sure to sleep enough, especially the night before the test!!
I had a decent foundation for the sciences from the classes I’ve taken at university, but I did have to relearn and learn a lot of information during these 10 weeks. I listed all the resources I found incredibly helpful for me and I think that if you use these resources effectively and work the hardest you’ve ever worked before, you can get the score that you want!
RESOURCES:
Bootcamp (a MUST!)
Crack DAT PAT (Ace Edition)
Anki’s Flashcards (computer program and app) - Ferali’s notes in flashcard form
Chad’s Videos
Mike’s Videos
Cliff’s 3rd edition and Barron’s
DAT Destroyer (DAT Destroyer and Math Destroyer Combo Package)
Crash Course’s Anatomy and Physiology Playlist
AP Biology, AP Chemistry and Organic Chemistry App by Varsity Tutors
DAT Mastery 2017 App
Bozeman Science, Armando Hasudungan, Khan Academy Videos
BIO: 30
Going into the exam, bio was my most confident section. I was most worried about bio in the beginning of summer, so I really started cram-studying biology the last month or so. I took AP bio junior year in high school and took upper level genetics, cell biology, and mammalian physiology at university before taking the test. If I had to recommend one upper level class to take before the DAT, I would take mammalian physiology (or a similar class!) I felt that the genetics and cell biology on the DAT were doable with introduction biology classes, but there were definitely anatomy&phys concepts that I learned in my classes that would have been hard to learn on my own.
I started off the summer taking notes on every chapter of Cliff’s. I tried to follow Ari’s 10 week study schedule but I wasn’t able to stick with it for long. Instead of taking 2 days to go through one chapter of Cliff’s, I tried going through 1 chapter a day. After taking notes on Cliffs, I realized that I didn’t retain a lot of information (even the simplest concepts!), so I went through Cliff’s again and diagrammed or drew out pictures of all my notes. I’m a visual learner so seeing things laid out for me definitely helped.
I discovered Anki’s flashcards a month and a half before my exam. If you have an Android phone, it should be a free app to download – I believe that it costs $15 on the apple store. Still, this resource was invaluable. Ari has a blog somewhere on Bootcamp about Anki’s flashcards, which are flashcards of ALL OF FERALIS NOTES!!! The best thing about Anki’s is that you can mark a flashcard to show up again in 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, etc. So for the flashcards I was unfamiliar with, I would see it again the next day and the next day until I was familiar with it. I started the flashcards pretty late so I forced myself to “learn” 100 new flashcards every day. If you start the app earlier, you can probably just learn 30-40 new cards every day.
I binged Destroyer bio in 3 days (doing ~200 questions a day) three weeks before my exam (I don’t recommend doing this but at this time I didn’t even start BC bio tests yet, so I was rushed.) Destroyer bio was probably the most useful out of the three destroyer sciences, so I would definitely do it! I created an OneNote document with notes of everything I didn’t know from Destroyer. I stopped scoring myself in the bio section for destroyer because I wanted to learn the information, and didn’t want to feel demotivated by all the wrong answers I got. I went over every single question (regardless if I got it right or not) and read the answer key. I wrote down everything I didn’t know.
After taking a BC Bio exam, I read every single explanation for every biology question regardless if I got the question correct or not and wrote down notes for concepts I didn’t know. Ari’s explanations on BC are very in depth and helpful. I also drew out diagrams on the whiteboard of every body system with a friend and we would go over a photo of the diagrams frequently and explain them to each other.
During mealtimes, I “took a break” by watching Crash Course’s Anatomy and Physiology. Hank is great and the animations didn’t make me feel like I was really studying, but I learned a LOT from him. Then, two days before my exam, I binge read all of Barron’s and then reread my biology notes once over.
All in all, I realized after studying for this test that I am a visual learner. I didn’t get a lot out of reading Cliff’s the first time; I only started remembering the information when I diagrammed out everything (ex: drew out cellular respiration, mitosis, plant structure, or drew out diagrams of all the body systems.) Reviewing the questions you get incorrect is key, and taking notes on everything you are unfamiliar with is also important!
PAT: 24
I got very lucky with PAT – I didn’t get any rock keyholes. Many of my friends who took the test before me got 3-5 rocks on their exam, which sounds awful! Those questions are the worst.
I bought Crack DAT PAT, which I thought was more similar to the actual PAT than Bootcamp. Your pacing on the actual exam will be similar to how you do CDP. I had a hard time finishing most BC PAT exams. However, using Bootcamp to practice PAT is definitely a MUST, even though everything is harder! I finished all 10 CDP tests over the 10 weeks and did the BC PAT trainer game every day. I also used the generators from time to time to practice. Practicing your speed is important.
QR: 30
Probability has always been my weakness for math since the SAT days. I watched Chad’s math video on probability, did his probability quiz and made flashcards out of all of the questions. I would look over the flashcards from time to time, until I knew how to answer all the different variations of problems they could ask.
I did 8 Math Destroyer tests and finished the math section in the DAT Destroyer book. Math Destroyer was hard but I was able to nail down all those tricky rate/time questions and applied mathematics questions. Bootcamp Math was a great resource and they asked a lot of the new quantitative comparison questions that weren’t found in Destroyer. Make flashcards for everything you get wrong, and REVIEW them constantly!!
RC: 30
Reading was never my strength but the reading on the DAT was a lot easier than the ones found in Bootcamp. I used search and destroy! I even used search and destroy when doing Bootcamp RC, even though the tests on BC are harder and the questions weren’t in order. Practicing search and destroy on BC (even when I had a hard time finishing the test) is good practice for the actual exam.
GC: 27
I went through Chad’s videos for chemistry twice and took notes both times. I went through each BC test chemistry test twice and made flashcards for all the questions I was unfamiliar with. I made sure to review the flashcards a couple times before my exam. I supplemented this with doing occasional tests on the AP Chemistry app, DAT Destroyer, and the day before my exam, I went through tests 1-5 and reviewed every single chem/ochem question on there.
OC: 28
I used Mike’s Ochem videos like Ari suggested. I did well in college level organic chemistry but I took it a year ago so I forgot most of the reactions. I actually struggled with remembering some reactions (ex: all the different reductions, etc.) even up until my test. Again, I made flashcards for all of the questions I didn’t know on BC and went over them a few times before my exam. I went through Destroyer once. I would recommend looking over Destroyer’s 25 “must know” reactions, but I didn’t bother going through road maps.
On the actual exam, there were a couple questions that were almost, if not completely identical to Bootcamp’s tests. That's how great BC prepares you!! There were a few questions that I’ve never seen before and I just had to take my best guess.
BC Full Length Practice Tests
Note: DO NOT “practice” with subject tests 1-5!! If you finished BC test 6-10 before you want to start full length practice tests, I would retake and review 6-10 again, or maybe use other resources to practice (like the android/iphone apps). Save full length tests 1-5 and do them in actual testing conditions! (Full tests 1-5 are the same as BC subject tests 1-5).
Bio/Chem/Ochem/QR/PAT/RC
1: 25/25/30/20/22/22
2: 22/23/21/24/23/19
3: 23/24/19/24/23/25
4: 25/21/22/20/21/24
5: 26/22/22/20/20/21
Final Notes
I was pretty shocked by my scores. The DAT test is part skill, but definitely part luck. I was lucky that the test catered to some of my strengths, and didn’t test reactions or math problems I didn’t know how to solve. I have never studied for so hard and so long in my life, and I think that crunching down the last month or so is necessary for a good score. I stopped hanging out with friends as much (I know…) and limited social media/reddit time so I could study efficiently.
I thought that reviewing a BC test after I took it would be enough, but I quickly realized that I didn't retain as much information as I thought I did. Making flashcards for everything you missed and everything you're uncertain about is necessary. Also, reading through EVERY BC explanation is also good, even if you got the question correct. I asked Ari and his team a lot of questions during these 10 weeks, and they always gave me a great explanation for them!
The week before my test, I was reading all these SDN and Bootcamp FB group page posts on how people did. It made me feel discouraged, and so I put a lot of pressure on myself when I took my last practice exam (thinking that my last practice exam would be representative of my actual score). I did the worst on my last full length exam because of all the pressure I was feeling. I stopped checking FB and SDN for other people’s scores/breakdowns. I read somewhere that you should go into your test confident that you will get a 30, so I ignored how I did on my last practice exam, reviewed every question I got wrong on BC the last two days, and went into my test feeling confident that I knew everything. Having the right mentality for the DAT is everything.
Feel free to ask me for any advice or tips for studying for the DAT, I’m happy to help!! I can share my notes or post pictures of my diagrams later if people are interested.
Just so people don’t think that I’m a troll account, I included a picture below.
*** EDIT ***
It appears that the original Anki's Ferali's deck that I used was taken down - probably because Ferali's notes have also been taken down from the net. Apparently there are other biology decks on Anki's that you can google and use!
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I would really love it if you could send that to me as well.
