elht01
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Hi everyone! I took the DAT three weeks ago and wanted to share my experience preparing for the exam as I found reading through breakdowns helpful to my own preparation.
Scores:
BIO - 30
GC - 22
OC - 24
PAT - 23
RC - 20
QR - 19
TS - 25
AA - 23
Background:
I am a rising senior with a 3.94 GPA.
Resources Used:
Study Timeline:
I began studying for the DAT two weeks after the end of my junior year. While studying, I was working ~15 hours a week and shadowing ~12 hours a week. I followed the 8-week guide provided by Booster. After two weeks of studying and procrastinating, I fell behind and attempted to fit 2 days of studying into 1, neglecting practice for RC and QR. I would not recommend doing this!! My scores in these sections say it all! After I finished the learning phase, I was so burnt out from work, shadowing, and studying that I did not study for a whole week. I really regret doing this because the last four weeks leading up to my exam was spent cramming.
Practice Scores vs Actual DAT:
BIO - Practice: 16, 13, 15, 18, 16, 17, 18, 20, 20 - Actual: 30
While studying for the exam, biology was my weakest science subject. I ended up paying for all three of the bio crash courses, and I am so happy that I did. The crash courses are the main reason why I got the score I did. Feralis notes were so helpful, but there was simply too much content to commit to memory. The crash courses provided me with the most high yield topics to review before my exam. On the day of the exam I thought that the biology section was way easier than Booster’s practice exams. I saw only one question I had not seen before, and even then, it was not difficult for me to figure it out.
GC - Practice: 19, 21, 20, 21, 21, 19, 21, 22, 20 - Actual: 22
I always understood gen chem, so this was the science section I prepared least for. The practice tests were really representative of this section. I had three calculations to do, but they were fairly simple. I reviewed a lot of the high yield questions from the practice exams in the days leading up to my exam, which helped since I did not do too much to prepare for GC.
OC - Practice: 15, 20, 20, 15, 16, 16, 20, 18, 21 - Actual: 24
My practice tests were all over the place for this section. I mainly struggled with acidity/basicity, and memorizing reactions. I watched Chad’s videos to help with acid ranking and used Anki and Booster’s reaction sheets to help me with the reactions. On the exam I saw a lot of acid ranking, stability ranking, and reactions. I had one nomenclature question on my exam, and I had a few questions where reactants were given by their name or chemical formula, so keep that in mind as you study.
PAT - Practice: 17, 18, 22, 20, 21, 19, 21, 21, 22 - Actual: 23
Booster’s PAT was really representative of the DAT, with the exception of keyholes and TFE being slightly easier on the real thing. My biggest piece of advice for this section is to start studying PAT early, practice under timed conditions, and start with your strongest sections, saving your weaker areas for last. After my first two practice tests, I skipped to question 31 and saved keyholes and TFE for last, and this helped me improve my scores.
RC - Practice: 20, 19, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 19, 20 - Actual: 20
I did not do much to study for this section. I did the first 5 extra practices on Booster, but stopped once I was consistently getting 20s. If I had more time to study, I would have gone back and done more to increase my reading speed. I used search and destroy for practice exams and on the real thing. If you have more time than I did, I would suggest doing more to practice with other strategies to find what works best for you.
QR - Practice: 13, 13, 17, 15, 17, 15, 19, 22, 21 - Actual: 19
Math has always been my weakest subject, so my exam score was no surprise to me. I neglected this section until the last week before my exam. I found that practice exams 1-6 were way more difficult than what you see on the DAT, and that practice exams 8-10 were a better representation of the difficultly of questions you’ll actually get. My biggest piece of advice for QR is to work on your speed. If you don’t know how to solve a problem, pick an answer, mark it, and move on. This way, you’ll be able to see every question and get to solve the last problems, which for me were the easiest questions on the exam.
Final Words of Advice:
Give yourself more time to study than you think you will need. This will make up for days you decide to procrastinate or days where it takes longer to get through content. And if you can, avoid cramming and do not neglect RC and QR!! If I had more time, I definitely would have done more to prepare for these sections. Also, don’t let your practice scores discourage you, and use them to guide your studying. There were days where I contemplated giving up or pushing back my test and applying next cycle, and I am so happy that I didn’t. You got this! Keep pushing through.
Scores:
BIO - 30
GC - 22
OC - 24
PAT - 23
RC - 20
QR - 19
TS - 25
AA - 23
Background:
I am a rising senior with a 3.94 GPA.
Resources Used:
- DATBooster - I think Booster is really all you need to prepare for the DAT. Before I purchased any study materials I did some research on all of the resources out there and found that people tend to prefer Booster because of its accurate representation of the actual exam and its affordability. Looking back, I am so happy that I purchased Booster, because the extra money that I would have spent on a more expensive resource ended up being spent on a few crash courses. Overall, DATBooster gives you everything you need to be successful on the DAT and honestly, I think it over prepares you. If you are struggling to pick between DATBooster and any other resource out there, I highly recommend you just get Booster. Also, Booster has Feralis Notes, which was crucial to my bio preparation.
- Chad’s Videos - I did not pay for Chad’s Prep. I simply used the links provided in Booster’s study guides or would look up Chad’s ochem videos for specific topics I was struggling with. I highly recommend doing this if you struggle with gen chem or ochem, because he does a great job explaining concepts that I felt Booster did not go over thoroughly.
- Anki - I’m not really a big fan of flashcards. I rarely use them to study, but I attempted to use Anki for bio about 3 weeks before my exam. I realized that there was not enough time for me to go over all of the decks in 3 weeks, so I ditched that after two days. However, I did end up using Anki to help me memorize the orgo reactions. Personally, I could have gone without using Anki, but I know that a lot of people have been very successful because of it.
Study Timeline:
I began studying for the DAT two weeks after the end of my junior year. While studying, I was working ~15 hours a week and shadowing ~12 hours a week. I followed the 8-week guide provided by Booster. After two weeks of studying and procrastinating, I fell behind and attempted to fit 2 days of studying into 1, neglecting practice for RC and QR. I would not recommend doing this!! My scores in these sections say it all! After I finished the learning phase, I was so burnt out from work, shadowing, and studying that I did not study for a whole week. I really regret doing this because the last four weeks leading up to my exam was spent cramming.
Practice Scores vs Actual DAT:
BIO - Practice: 16, 13, 15, 18, 16, 17, 18, 20, 20 - Actual: 30
While studying for the exam, biology was my weakest science subject. I ended up paying for all three of the bio crash courses, and I am so happy that I did. The crash courses are the main reason why I got the score I did. Feralis notes were so helpful, but there was simply too much content to commit to memory. The crash courses provided me with the most high yield topics to review before my exam. On the day of the exam I thought that the biology section was way easier than Booster’s practice exams. I saw only one question I had not seen before, and even then, it was not difficult for me to figure it out.
GC - Practice: 19, 21, 20, 21, 21, 19, 21, 22, 20 - Actual: 22
I always understood gen chem, so this was the science section I prepared least for. The practice tests were really representative of this section. I had three calculations to do, but they were fairly simple. I reviewed a lot of the high yield questions from the practice exams in the days leading up to my exam, which helped since I did not do too much to prepare for GC.
OC - Practice: 15, 20, 20, 15, 16, 16, 20, 18, 21 - Actual: 24
My practice tests were all over the place for this section. I mainly struggled with acidity/basicity, and memorizing reactions. I watched Chad’s videos to help with acid ranking and used Anki and Booster’s reaction sheets to help me with the reactions. On the exam I saw a lot of acid ranking, stability ranking, and reactions. I had one nomenclature question on my exam, and I had a few questions where reactants were given by their name or chemical formula, so keep that in mind as you study.
PAT - Practice: 17, 18, 22, 20, 21, 19, 21, 21, 22 - Actual: 23
Booster’s PAT was really representative of the DAT, with the exception of keyholes and TFE being slightly easier on the real thing. My biggest piece of advice for this section is to start studying PAT early, practice under timed conditions, and start with your strongest sections, saving your weaker areas for last. After my first two practice tests, I skipped to question 31 and saved keyholes and TFE for last, and this helped me improve my scores.
RC - Practice: 20, 19, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 19, 20 - Actual: 20
I did not do much to study for this section. I did the first 5 extra practices on Booster, but stopped once I was consistently getting 20s. If I had more time to study, I would have gone back and done more to increase my reading speed. I used search and destroy for practice exams and on the real thing. If you have more time than I did, I would suggest doing more to practice with other strategies to find what works best for you.
QR - Practice: 13, 13, 17, 15, 17, 15, 19, 22, 21 - Actual: 19
Math has always been my weakest subject, so my exam score was no surprise to me. I neglected this section until the last week before my exam. I found that practice exams 1-6 were way more difficult than what you see on the DAT, and that practice exams 8-10 were a better representation of the difficultly of questions you’ll actually get. My biggest piece of advice for QR is to work on your speed. If you don’t know how to solve a problem, pick an answer, mark it, and move on. This way, you’ll be able to see every question and get to solve the last problems, which for me were the easiest questions on the exam.
Final Words of Advice:
Give yourself more time to study than you think you will need. This will make up for days you decide to procrastinate or days where it takes longer to get through content. And if you can, avoid cramming and do not neglect RC and QR!! If I had more time, I definitely would have done more to prepare for these sections. Also, don’t let your practice scores discourage you, and use them to guide your studying. There were days where I contemplated giving up or pushing back my test and applying next cycle, and I am so happy that I didn’t. You got this! Keep pushing through.
