DAT Breakdown 21AA/22TS/21PAT

[Ninja_Dentist]

Hey guys, I've been a lurker leading up to my test date, finally got a moment to type all this out. I'll keep it short and sweet. I used DAT Bootcamp (got it 5 days before my test), DAT Destroyer (went through once), Math Destroyer (went through 4 tests), Chad's videos (only watched video's didn't have time for the quizzes), Feralis notes (saved me, thank you Feralis), AP bio book (not really that helpful, not detailed enough), and Crack the DAT PAT and RC. I should mention I only studied about 15 days, 10-14 hours a day. I do not recommend that. Study 8 hours a day for longer, do NOT rush studying. I was forced to, because I was starting an internship on June 5th.

Bootcamp Averages: Bio/GC/OC/RC/QR/AA/TS/PAT

19/17/18/19/17/18/??/18​

My score from June 2nd: Bio/GC/OC/RC/QR/AA/TS/PAT

22/19/25/20/20/21/22/21
​

Bio: Same difficulty as Bootcamp, easier than Destroyer. Had some questions I had never seen, but that's probably because I hadn't taken any A&P or developmental. Honestly was expecting a 21 here, extremely happy for the 22.

GC: Chemistry isn't my strong point, so here I was happy it was anything above 17; I feel like I could've gotten a little higher, maybe 20, if I had taken better notes with Chad's videos. Slightly easier than Bootcamp, way easier than Destroyer.

OC: Completely shocked. Straightforward. Easier than Bootcamp and Destroyer. Was also expecting a 17 here, extremely pleasant surprise with a 25.

RC: Surprised I got a 20 here, was expecting a 19. Harder than Bootcamp and Crack the DAT RC. I am a slow reader so that probably added to making it harder. First passage was extremely easy, all questions were in the order of the paragraphs. Second passage was extremely hard, probably because it was long and questions were jumbled around, third was hard because I didn't understand much of it. Lesson? Read a science article a day.

QR: Surprised I got a 20 here too, was expecting an 18. Easier than Math Destroyer, but harder than Bootcamp. Had a lot of those comparison questions. Buy a GRE Math prep book and use that in addition to Math Destroyer and you should be able to get a better score than me.

PAT: Harder than Bootcamp for keyhole, TFE, angles, and shapes. Way easier on hole punching and cube counting. Ran out of time so I might've gotten shafted from guessing. Should've prepared better for this section than I had, but a 21 is average acceptance to my first choice so I'm happy.

Overall, study longer than 15 days.

All that said, what do you guys think my chances of getting accepted are? I have a 3.89 overall GPA and 3.88 science GPA, over 200 hours volunteering in a research lab, over 200 hours volunteering in my community, and over a 100 hours shadowing (getting more on weekends).

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[Lalibila]

Impressive score! Even more so with 15 days of studying. How much did destroyer help you compared to the other resources you used?

 

[Ninja_Dentist]

I would say it was one of the most helpful resources, because it really exposes you to a ton of questions. While the real thing is much easier, I would say go through it once and take notes on the questions you find yourself missing or guessing on, then go back and review those concepts. Make sure to have plenty of time to study. Fifteen days was definitely too short on my part.

Edit: I mean go through it more than one time overall, but the first time you go through it, take notes on what you miss, then review for a day or so, then go through it all again and compare if you miss the same questions, same concepts, or find yourself guessing on the same questions. This would help you find any concepts that you might be misunderstanding!

 

[Allthingsteeth]

Do you believe knowing all of Feralis for biology is more than enough??

 

[knewstance]

Congratulations! Thanks for posting this! I love reading these because seeing other people succeed gives me more hope to score well when I take the DAT next month.

 

[Ninja_Dentist]

I believe that Feralis notes is an exceptional resource that is more than detailed enough to get you all of the bio knowledge you need for a 20+ bio score, however I had some weird questions on developmental biology and Anatomy that weren't in the notes. That said, I thought all the questions were straightforward, so I think I could've gotten those correct had I taken a class on developmental biology and anatomy. I had a question on immunology that I know I got incorrect as I had no clue what it was asking. All that said, I do believe that Feralis alone could get you a 20+ bio score. I didn't make flashcards or take notes on Feralis since I can handle getting big chunks of info at one time, but if breaking down info into smaller chunks helps you learn, by all means do that. The only thing I would've done differently is not use AP bio book at all, only Feralis notes as my bio review, then immediately go through the bio section of Destroyer. I can post my schedule if anyone wants it, but again study more than 15 days.

 

[averageasian]

Nice work! now get those applications in. Congratulations on the awesome scores!!!!! Now imagine how much better you would have done if you studied for 1-2 months like everyone else hahah

 

[Ninja_Dentist]

Nice work! now get those applications in. Congratulations on the awesome scores!!!!! Now imagine how much better you would have done if you studied for 1-2 months like everyone else hahah

Working on those apps right now! Any advice on those "why do you wanna go here?" questions? And believe me, I think that every single time I see my scores. I think I might've been able to get at least a 24 AA. But oh well, can't change the past and the future looks pretty good

 

[Ninja_Dentist]

Posting my schedule in case anyone else wants to know!

So I studied 15 days, as I have emphasized in my breakdown, make sure to study longer than that. I studied about 10-14 hours a day, now this is harsh and there were times when I got burnt out, but the fear of doing badly on the test motivated me. I also tried to go on a 20-30 minute run every other day, this will help keep you focused, trust me.

Days 1-3: Chad's videos, I went through them and took notes on the guides that the website had. I tried to do more than 3/4 a unit a day.
Day 4: I spent this entire day reviewing biology from AP bio book. If you're constrained for time, just skip the AP bio book, I wish I had. We're all in undergrad at the least, we can handle the amount of detail on Feralis notes. Just use Feralis notes for your bio review.
Days 5-8: DAT Destroyer, I tried to get through 450 questions a day, some days it was more, others days it was less. Honestly, my confidence was getting destroyed here, so if you're getting around 50% right, don't let your confidence stay down.
Day 9: Crack the DAT PAT and RC, I took 4 tests of each to get a feel for these sections of the test.
Day 10-14: I decided to buy Bootcamp the Monday morning the week of my test (my test was Friday). So I went through 1 full length test a day, up until the test. After the full length test in the morning, I took one of the 6-10 tests from DAT genius in each of the sections. Then I reviewed questions that I missed and reviewed concepts.
Day 15: Took the DAT. I was feeling the top of my game here! Note: they did NOT let me set up grids for hole punching or tables for cube counting during the tutorial, so plan according to not having those ready before the actual test starts. Also, eat a small breakfast, avoid sugars because they will make you crash. I wouldn't drink a lot of coffee, the adrenaline will most likely keep you awake.

 

[Faefly]

Day 15: Took the DAT. I was feeling the top of my game here! Note: they did NOT let me set up grids for hole punching or tables for cube counting during the tutorial, so plan according to not having those ready before the actual test starts. Also, eat a small breakfast, avoid sugars because they will make you crash. I wouldn't drink a lot of coffee, the adrenaline will most likely keep you awake.

What the heck, why would they not let us do that? That's so unfair!Like how would I plan accordingly to something like that
THis is bad news.

On other note. Your scores are awesome considering you only studied for 15 days, Imagine if you made it 25 days.
Congratulations and thank you for sharing the schedule
What was your RC method?

 

[Ninja_Dentist]

Yea, luckily I have was able to get through the Natural Sciences portion with 10 minutes to spare, I set the grids and tables up during that time.

I know, 25 days means a 25 AA hahaha. Thanks, hopefully it helps a few of you out!

For RC, I tried every method, but the balanced method worked the best for me so I used that for the test. However, I am a slow reader and because of that it takes me a little while before I understand what I'm reading. To overcome that disadvantage, I read 2 paragraphs then tried to answer any question I could. For this section, every second was important. Any second not reading should be spent trying to answer questions. Also, I had one really easy passage that I used search and destroy on! I noticed a lot of other people also had a single easy passage followed by more difficult ones. Practice with longer articles! Hope you could get something useful out of that rambling

 

[Lalibila]

How many of them were comparison questions? and did they require trig and geometry to solve?

 

[Ninja_Dentist]

I did have trig and geometry to solve, but none of the comparison questions needed it. I had, 7-8 questions on comparison.

 

[Lalibila]

Thank you !


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