DAT Breakdown (23 AA, 25 TS, 23 PAT)

[jiweonl]

PAT - 23
QR - 19
RC - 19
BIO - 30
GC - 24
OC - 22
TS - 25
AA - 23
Background: I took this exam right after my sophomore year in college (summer of sophomore year). I had just taken organic chemistry and microbiology. I had also taken general chemistry and biology during my freshman year. I have not taken biochemistry yet (but I don't think it was super necessary to do well on the DAT).
Materials I used:

1. DAT Booster was my main thing. I took most of my study material from booster. It was the only thing I actually paid for. I didn't buy any other sources.
2. ANKI was the thing I used to really solidify my biology knowledge. I used anki to COMPLETELY memorize the feralis cheat sheets. I'll get into depth about what I did for the biology section specifically with ANKI in the bio section.
3. Very little BootCamp: I only took the first free exam on BootCamp, so I was hesitant to mention it.
4. Personal notes: For all the sections, I made notes while going through the booster notes which helped me really retain the information.

Study timeline:

• I did NOT go by the DAT booster schedule because I knew exactly what I wanted to do which honestly might have messed up my QR and RC scores. I took 3 months to study for the exam.
• The first month, I was shadowing and studying at the same time, so I didn't get a lot done. I was mainly going through the QR and RC content for the first month. I really didn't get that much done in the first month which made me panic a little. However, I don't think it was a big deal because I really sat myself down and studied like crazy the next two months.
• The second month, I did volunteer for 5 hours and babysit for 3 hours every week while studying. I did content review for biology, general chemistry, and organic chemistry for this month.
• The third month, I was taking practice tests and going over the questions I got wrong.

Breakdown for Each Subject:
BIO: I had forgotten almost everything I learned freshman biology because it was all stored in my short-term memory. I basically had to learn everything from scratch. At the beginning, I read through the feralis notes (extended) and did quizlet at the same time. I would read a few pages and then do the corresponding quizlet and bio bites with it. Ngl, I'm not sure how much this helped with retaining any information. Then a week or so later, I read through the biology feralis cheat sheets (not the extended). I think this was more of a reason for my success in the biology section because I did the cheat sheets with anki EVERY DAY a month before my exam. I would make sure to not miss a single day with anki, so that everything was implemented in my long-term memory. I basically made it my goal to memorize everything on those cheat-sheets. I used an anki deck based on the cheat sheets (not the one they provide in booster) because I felt that was too much. My practice scores were around 20-26 on this section.
GC: I read through the booster notes and did quizlet that booster provided. I would read the booster chapter then do the quizlet and mark anything I did not get on the first try. Then, I went back and did them again. I also watched all the videos on booster in 1.5x speed. I made sure to memorize all the formulas and made my own cheat sheets. My practice scores were around 19-22.
OC: I read through the booster notes and actively took notes on them. I had just gotten out of organic chemistry, so all the reactions were super fresh in my mind. I was a little disappointed in my score for this section because I felt like I got an exam with barely any reactions. All the exam questions were mainly conceptual. I got a few questions on nucleophiles and how they react in certain situations. I didn't really study nucleophiles very well... My practice scores were around 20-25.
PAT: I made sure to be really consistent with my PAT practice. Before I went to sleep, I would make sure to do 15 of every single PAT section. I would say make sure to be consistent with your practice, and you will see yourself naturally getting better. Consistent 21s on practice exams.
RC: I didn't really study for RC too much, but I did do all the practice they provided. I was doing pretty well on the practice. I'm not sure what happened on the actual. Practice exams were around 21-25.
QR: I watched all the videos on booster and took notes while watching the videos. I also made my own cheat sheet of the notes I had. I used the anki deck provided by booster to memorize the equations. My practice exams were around 19-23.
My scores fluctuated a lot ngl. I wasn't getting a consistent score on any of the sections except for PAT.
Day of the Exam:

• Bio (30): I knew mostly everything on here. I made a few educated guesses on some questions, but I really wanted to breeze through this section, so I could get to the other sciences.
• Gen Chem (24): I honestly think booster was pretty representative of this section (unlike what I've seen people say). The math is MUCH EASIER, but I would know how to set up formulas because there were quite a few questions that asked me to set up formulas. I got only one question that had quite a bit of math.
• Organic chem (22): I didn't get as much reaction questions. Lots of conceptual questions. There was a few questions about acid ranking, boiling point, nucleophile stability, reactivity, carbonation stability.
• PAT (23): The hole punching was a lot easier on the DAT. My main strategy was to eliminate answer choices that were obviously not the answer. Then it was super easy to compare the answer choices I had left. TFE was easier on the actual too in my opinion. I also mainly focused on one part and then eliminated the answer choices it couldn't be. Angle ranking was pretty similar to the practice. Hole punching was much easier on the actual. This was a time saving section. Cube counting was similar to the practice. Pattern folding was also easier on the actual. For this section, never actually try to fold the shape. Just pick a shape on the actual and eliminate the choices that don't have that shape. This strategy worked really well on the DAT because a lot of the answer choices had shapes that weren't even on the pattern.
• RC (19): I think I got super unlucky with my passages. They were so hard to understand. On top of that, so many of the questions were not straight off the passage. They were also a few paragraphs longer than the booster ones. I also think the testing environment was part of it. I was tired after the science and pat sections. I lowkey panicked when I saw how difficult the passages were. My best advice is to stay calm and just power through. I did the search and destroy method mainly. Booster RC was not very representative of the actual exam. I think it's way too easy. I think the one bootcamp RC that I took was more representative of the actual because it was a bit harder than the booster RC
• QR (19): I absolutely hate math. I am so bad at mental math. I think if you are good at mental math, you would do better in this section. I also got unlucky with a lot of long word problem questions. I would say to practice reading word problems while simultaneously setting up to solve the question. This would probably save you a lot of time. There were also quite a lot of probability questions. Similar set-up to booster though. I think I was upset about RC, and it distracted me from the QR. Time is also a huge factor in this section. I had to rush the last few questions which I think ruined my score.

Set-Up: The set-up is a lot different from Booster. My computer was so slow during the actual DAT. Also on the actual DAT, they give you the option to review only the questions you marked. For the periodic table, you aren't able to look at the question and periodic table at the same time. The periodic table also gives you a few constants. Also, I know on the booster full-length practice tests, they let you see the periodic table for both general chemistry and organic chemistry, but the exhibit button isn't there when you get to the ochem section. They also have a survey after your QR section before showing your actual score. I was losing my mind while taking that survey lol.

Ending Advice: Do not panic. I think the panic on the RC and QR is what messed up my scores after the break. As long as you stay calm, you'll be fine. I also think it's super important to take multiple full length tests. Please at least do it once or twice. I got an average of 23 on almost all the practice full length tests I took, so it is pretty representative of your actual score. I also took the practice tests at the same time I would have taken my actual test (8:00 am). If you have an early exam time, I would recommend practicing waking up during that time for at least 2 weeks before your exam. Make sure to get enough sleep before your exam and get your sleep schedule fixed at least 3 weeks before the exam.

Good luck with studying! Feel free to ask me any questions! I hope this breakdown was helpful...

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[jiweonl]