dat breakdown 23 AA 24 TS

[DAT-breakdown]

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Hi! I’ve been reading these breakdown posts religiously and they’ve helped me a lot.



Scores:

PAT: 21

QR: 20

RC: 23

BIO: 27

GCHEM: 25

OCHEM: 22

TS: 24

AA: 23



Materials used:

1. DAT Booster:

I would not have gotten the bio score I did had it not been for Booster’s practice exams. I learned the most from reviewing their practice exams (both the ones I got wrong and the ones I got correct) and took notes on all the explanations. The Booster practice tests were overall the most representative of the actual DAT. I got Booster about a month before my test and utilized all their practice tests.

1. DAT Bootcamp:

I used Bootcamp for the learning portion. Most of the classes that are covered on the dat are things I haven’t touched for a few years so there was definitely a lot of relearning to do. I loved Mike’s videos for both Ochem and Gchem. I would say that the high yield notes for bio are more than enough and also found the videos to be a bit time consuming.



Day of the exam:

Bio: Both programs over prepared me for this section. I finished the bio section in about 15 minutes and only had one or two bookmarked. The questions were much more surface level than most of the questions in the practice tests but it made it easier to go through questions faster so I could spend more time on the other two sections. I think what helped me the most was going over every single practice test (for both booster and bootcamp) and spending a lot of time understanding every single question along with understanding why the wrong answers were wrong. I had a notebook with all the notes I took from the practice tests which I reviewed the day before the test. Between the two programs, booster was much more representative of the two programs. I am super happy with my bio score and owe it to booster and bootcamp.



GC: I honestly thought I did better on this section than I actually did but I’m sure I just made some careless mistakes along the way. Know how to read all the lab instruments and know the different lab tests. All of my calculation problems were just plugging them into the equation and I did not have to actually calculate much. Again I think Booster was more representative. Practice is the most important for this section!!



OC: To be honest I was shocked wit this score. I had been scoring the highest in ochem practice tests and even felt pretty confident with my answers on the day of the test. I felt like the test was much easier in the sense that I did not have any synthesis or mechanism questions. It was very conceptual for me which I think threw me a bit off guard. I had lots of questions where a situation was given and we had to decide what lab test/equipment to use. Overall, have a good understanding of why a certain product is formed and a general idea/understanding of the mechanisms.

For ochem, I would say that Bootcamp was more representative of the real dat.



PAT: This section was purely practice. I did not prioritize practicing this section a much as I should have. If I could change anything, it would have been to do at least one of each question type every day, which is something I neglected to do. This section is purely practice.



RC: I did not really study for this section besides doing the 5 rc sections from bootcamp’s full length 6-10. Nailing down a strategy early on and working on reading fast is something I wish I worked on.



QR: This section is one of my biggest regrets. I did all the question bank questions from bootcamp but did not do any additional practice. I did not take reviewing what I got wrong on the practice tests seriously either which contributed to my low score. I thought that this section wasn’t really important so I did not put much time. But a low score on QR and RC are enough to drop ur academic average, so I think it is worthwhile to spend time on this section too.





Ending advice:

If you are in a time crunch, the practice tests are your best friend. To be honest, the bio learning portion of the schedule was so dense that I did not retain much. However, thoroughly reviewing the practice questions is truly what gave me such a clear and in depth understanding of the topics. Both programs are amazing and have their strengths and weaknesses. If you have a pretty solid background in the sciences, Booster is more than enough to do well on the DAT.