GoPackGo1212
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Hey everybody - I took the DAT May 24th and thought I’d share a breakdown going all the way from my prep to test day!
Background:
I just finished up my junior year of undergrad and have a 4.0 GPA. One of my best friends was also preparing for the DAT, and he let me see some practice tests from the other resource to compare as we went along. I used almost entirely DAT Booster and he used almost entirely DAT Bootcamp, so this gave a very large question pool worth of practice tests. I was working part-time along with being a full-time student and student-athlete.
Study Resources Used:
DAT Booster / Anki
I was worried about using DAT Booster, especially considering Bootcamp was much more common amongst people I’d talked to leading up to the DAT. However, I am very glad I made the choice and went with my gut. I read a breakdown similar to this one that ultimately swayed me in that direction, and I will reiterate some of the crucial things they said that I can now agree with and testify to. First and foremost, the program is the most representative of what you will see on today’s DAT. I had a few questions that were word-for-word from my Booster practice tests on the real exam, and I can’t tell you the level of confidence that provides. The schedule is rigorous but provides structure to an otherwise daunting amount of information that needs to be learned, and they are short enough that it is broken down effectively where you only learn exactly what you need. Nothing more, nothing less. One thing to note with DAT Booster is that the practice tests, although a great representative of the exam, are significantly harder than anything I saw on test day. So, as a word of advice, do not get discouraged if the scores you’re getting on Booster tests are not what you’re looking for. For reference, the highest I scored on a Booster practice test was 22 AA and 23 TS. Read every word of the Feralis biology notes and use the PAT generators like a puzzle in your free time and you will be golden come test day.
I list these two resources together because DAT Booster is the reason I learned what Anki is, and I am very thankful for that. Right away in the Booster program, it is recommended to download the pre-made Anki decks for each subject covered in the Feralis Biology Notes as well as the decks for the other sections, although admittedly the vast majority of my Anki usage was dedicated to biology. The active recall that Anki provides is second to none, and the algorithm they use is very intuitive, so there was not much of a learning curve as far as figuring out how to effectively use it. Simply following the instructions on the Booster website was easy enough for me, and from then on out, Anki studying was a pretty common pastime that I could even do on my phone. If you want to truly cement the breadth of information that the Feralis Biology notes cover (and you should, because you will not see anything on the exam that wasn’t in the notes), then Anki is the way to go.
DAT Bootcamp Practice Tests
As mentioned in my background, I can’t speak on anything regarding DAT Bootcamp except for the practice tests. That being said, I would reiterate that these practice tests were also much harder than the real exam, with my highest score being a 24 AA. Still, from my limited exposure, they did an excellent job of focusing on the important, high-yield topics and not getting into the nitty gritty details that you don’t see on the real exam. If you have the opportunity to take Bootcamp practice tests as well as Booster practice tests, it was my experience that Booster were the hardest by far, followed closely by Bootcamp, with the real exam being much easier than both.
Time Management:
One of the most difficult parts about studying for the DAT wasn’t the difficulty of the content, but the sheer magnitude of it. At first, it felt like I was never going to be able to finish in time for my exam date. Admittedly, my schedule was somewhat unconventional, and I would not recommend recreating it. Still, I figure it’s worth sharing so you can do what I didn’t do. Because of my school schedule, including advanced biochem, physics II, and immunology, I had quite a bit of homework on most nights. Advanced Biochem and Immunology were great because they gave me much deeper understandings of crucial DAT topics, but they still took me away from following the program outlined by DAT Booster. All of this being said, I started studying three months out knowing that I would not be able to go day-for-day with the schedule as outlined due to my classes and college soccer. I chose DAT Booster after reading a breakdown similar to this and seeing multiple times that it had the most representative practice tests. If you’re reading this and are at that step, I would obviously recommend DAT Booster because it worked great for me. Still, my friend who chose DAT Bootcamp also loved it and did extremely well, so you really can’t go wrong. Both programs have study schedules in the form of checklists that you can follow, although I’d say DAT Booster is more bang for your buck since it is cheaper.
Often, my actual adherence to the schedule was knocking off two-four days every week, with ebbs and flows depending on tests, schoolwork, etc. I took the exam May 24th, so this meant that from the time of my last final on May 2nd onward, I planned on doing multiple days of studying each day. Unfortunately, I got COVID, which pushed me back a few days more. Although this was stressful, it was somewhat of a blessing in disguise, as it forced me to prioritize things that I found to be high-yield or weaknesses based on previous practice tests. I continued using Anki as prescribed and then sifted through the checklist for points that I felt would give me the most benefit for my time. Ultimately, this all worked out in the end, but this cramming was unnecessary and something I would strongly advise against.
One thing I certainly did right was using Anki almost daily. Even when I didn’t have time to do a full lesson on Booster or watch videos on a given day, studying the Anki decks constantly kept the information fresh and made sure that I could actively recall the information I was learning instead of just “knowing” it while reading it. I think that this ultimately saved me, because even as I scrambled in the last few weeks, I had already seen lots of the stuff in my coursework and then again in my Anki studies, saving me crucial time. I sound like a broken record, but Anki in conjunction with the videos of whichever program you choose really is so crucial to breaking down the information into bite sized pieces.
The Exam
One thing I would strongly recommend is to follow all the advice out there and, for the most part, take the day before your exam off. On my day prior to the exam, I went over problems I had missed on practice tests and then spent the rest of the day doing other things. I would recommend exercising, eating good foods, and getting to sleep very early. Also, if you aren’t a morning person, I would recommend conditioning yourself to wake up and take your practice tests early in the morning in the week leading up to the actual test. Try to replicate the test environment as best as you can. The last thing I did on the day before was go over the checklist to ensure I had everything I needed to take to prometric the next day (driver’s license, a credit card with my signature, snack, etc.).
My exam was set for 9 AM. I left super early and showed up at 8:20 AM to be super safe and avoid any possible stressors in the form of traffic. The check-in process was a lot of steps but it helped that I was the first one there so I could start my exam early. I would recommend wearing the noise-cancelling headphones, but that is a personal preference.
- Bio (30): I think the most important thing for me was to start off strong, and biology was huge in that regard. I was extremely confident in my first 10 questions and that confidence only built as I saw word-for-word replicas of problems I’d had in my DAT Booster practice tests. Compared to Booster and Bootcamp’s practice tests, biology felt very easy. Of course, it’s important to maintain good test-taking strategies and read the question and all of the answers carefully, but especially in biology, you should most likely go with your gut. I didn’t even check my answers because of my confidence level and also because I wanted to ensure I had plenty of time for the chemistry sections.
- GC (24): I’m not entirely sure what happened in this section for me. In all of my practice tests it was my highest science score and I felt very good about my answers on the actual exam. The key in GC is carefully discerning the important information and then applying it to the correct formula. I didn’t have a single question where I didn’t know which formula to apply, so I must have missed a few conceptual questions along the way. Again, this is where it’s crucial to read carefully. That being said, this section was also easier than Bootcamp and Booster, I must have just made some careless mistakes.
- OC (30): I thought this section was significantly easier than any of my practice tests. It heavily focused on acid/base strength and stability as opposed to complex synthesis reactions. Of course it is still important to know those reactions, but I was very confident in this section and think that the practice tests prepared me extremely well. I finished the sciences with 15 minutes left on my timer. I could have gone back and checked (probably should have), but honestly I used 5 minutes to take a deep breath and mentally prepare myself to move quickly on the PAT section. I moved on with 10 minutes on the clock.
- PAT (25): This section, for me, was all about time. In all of my practice tests I was scoring very accurately but I was taking far too long. I think that the PAT generators on PAT Booster were huge in allowing me to answer these questions much more quickly and to keep pace. Each person will have strong points and weak points in the PAT. For me, I was extremely confident in cube counting and hole punching, so I knew I needed less time for these but maybe more time for the others. I also was struggling with angle ranking early on in my studies, but found that getting glasses was very helpful – figures.
- BREAK: Definitely take the allotted break. RC and QR are both designed to be mentally taxing and wear you down at the very end, so it is important to take your break, have a snack, and refuel to finish strong.
- RC (26): The main thing in this section was that I wanted to make sure I didn’t have to guess because I ran out of time. My strategy of choice was reading the question, skimming through the reading and highlighting potentially important information while searching for the answer to said question, and then using those highlighted portions to speed up future skimming. This worked pretty well for me and I had plenty of time to finish. Honestly, I didn’t bother checking because at this point I was just ready to finish up, but I also double checked my answers while going through them. This section was much easier than the DAT Booster and Bootcamp practice tests, which made me more confident.
- QR (27): As was true with all of the sections, QR was much easier than the practice tests. There were a lot of probability questions, so it is important to have a good understanding of probability. I also think rate was a commonly tested topic. I did not have nearly as many of the questions where you have to decide if 1 alone, 2 alone, both, or neither give enough information to solve the question (I think only 1 if I remember correctly), which saved lots of time. I finished with 5 minutes to spare after checking my questions as I went. At that point, I was most anxious about seeing my score pop up.
Ultimately, the DAT is meant to be difficult. However, do not let it overwhelm you. Break it down into smaller chunks and eventually, you will know all that you need to know. Consistent effort over time is absolutely the best way to go. It won’t be easy, but if you do it right, come test day you will walk in with all of the confidence in the world. I hope that this breakdown helps and best of luck in your studies!
