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24 hours ago, I was sitting at this same very spot at my desk and stressing out over this exam, and I never thought that I would get the following scores:
PAT: 23
QR: 23
RC: 21
Bio: 21
GC: 26
OC: 24
TS: 23
AA: 23
I roughly studied about a month, I originally was going to study for only 3 weeks but I ended up extending it to give me one more week of study time.
Background: I'm currently considered a junior in college majoring in Chemistry but had taken many bio courses so I had a very strong foundation for that.
Materials used ($): DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, and MATH Destroyer, and Chad's videos (coursesaver)
Other materials: Feralis Notes, Google, and posts on SDN to answer any specific questions
I had just completed finals week, but I couldn't sit back and relax--I had to study for this exam. My performance on this exam would greatly affect where I'll be for the next four years, so sacrificing my whole winter break was worth it to me. I would dedicate my full day (about 12-14 hours) for studying, with break days here and there (very minimal).
Ultimately, for the first few days, I sat and spent the whole day binge watching all of Chad's videos for GenChem and OChem. I finished watching the whole thing in about 5 days. (I wasted the first day by not taking any notes. I was dumbfounded when I would do a practice problem and would remember the concept/topic, but I would forget how to approach it. My advice would be to make sure to take good notes as you're watching so while you're studying you can review and have a good understanding on the various topics). I had to move to using Mozilla Firefox as my web browser while watching Chad's videos only so I could speed up the video up by 2.0 times. I would wake up in the morning and get comfortable because for the rest of the day, I knew what I was going to do. Cool. Also, I do want to say that I found Chad's teaching method very interesting and it kept me engaged. He also puts emphasis on topics that will be covered on the DAT, which was very helpful. I would consider Chad's videos to be essential.
For the next two weeks, I went through the DAT Destroyer and did problems from each section, I would do problems in the order that they would show up on my exam, first Bio, GC, then OC. I used DAT Bootcamp primarily for PAT and RC (Read articles on Scientific America to try to improve my reading speed, or do a timed RC section so I could become more comfortable with the format). And wrapped up the day with a practice QR test from MATH Destroyer. The PAT generators are very helpful.
Once I completed the Bio, GC, or OC section of the Destroyer, or if I had taken all the practice PAT tests on Bootcamp, I simply would start over from the beginning and would do it all over again. I was really getting the hang of it. Whenever I would make a mistake, I would understand why I got it wrong. Don't fret over mistakes, use these sources as a learning tool.
Side note: on the PAT, my strongest points were Hole Punching (using the line of symmetry method) and Cube Counting. Instead of setting these aside and practicing other subsections, I would spend about 5 minutes using the PAT generators on Bootcamp for these two so I could get even faster at doing them so I had more time to focus on the other subsections.
For the last week, I did all the Bootcamp sciences and would still do problems out of the Destroyer, again, making sure I understood my mistakes and build on them. For the days leading up to the exam, I did a full-length DAT exam from Bootcamp each day to get more comfortable with the test's format. Also, I made sure to leave 2 Bootcamp RC tests for this week.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Test Day
I had made sure to get sleep on the days leading up to exam and the day before. My exam was at 8:00 a.m., I went to bed at 10. When I woke up at 6:30, I felt very well-rested. And I felt pretty good/confident, but I felt on edge. I was very focused. A fun fact about me is that I am very prone to getting nervous. I made sure to be calm, focused, and determined to kick @ss.
Focus. I tried not to focus on the time so I could really "bathe" in what each question was asking. In my case, I don't have trouble finishing the sections in time, but it's my nervousness that lowers my performance. I kept it on the fine line between being quick, but focused.
Bio (21): Some questions were obvious with my cemented knowledge from DAT Destroyer, but others were challenging. Key word: Challenging. I was able to narrow the answers to two answer choices. Some answers sound complex, but you'd be surprised of how simple a question could be if you just take the time to understand it. When studying for this section, keep in mind the following : Breadth over depth. It sounds cliche, but it's very true. Some of the choices could be answered easily if I had just known one sentence about the topic at hand. Breadth over depth.
GC (26): Out of the sciences, this was my most feared section. I remember doing a question out of Destroyer's GC section and not having a clue on how to set up a problem a week before my exam (which is what lead me to extend my exam to give me another week of studying). I was able to pull through for this section. I made sure to fully understand what the question was asking and tackled through.
OC (24): A lot of the questions were surprisingly simple. Thanks to the Destroyer I was able to tackle through this section.
For the sciences, make sure to spend the least amount of time on easy questions and more time on harder questions. I finished my first pass with a very good chunk of time left. If there was a question that seemed impossible, answer it from a logical perspective and just go, no need to stare at a screen for 5 minutes for one question when you could be solving/checking over much more. I used every last second of my time going over my answers.
PAT (23): I went through each questions and tried to compare/disprove each answer until I came to the "right" answer, then moved on to the next question. I fortunately didn't get any of those crazy rocks like the legends foretold, but I got some very oddly shaped objects. Top Front End gets a lot of bad rap, but a lot of the answers choices can be easily eliminated--sometimes the answer is obvious. Luckily, this was the case as well for my version of the test. For Angle Ranking, the Bootcamp generators are absolute essential and they will allow you to get the hand of it. I personally struggled with Angle Ranking, my only advice would be (the cliche) practice, practice, practice. I breezed through hole punching and cube counting with my prior practice and use of the Line of Symmetry method. I was able to get through Pattern Folding with a lot of confidence thanks to the amount of practice available for the PAT on Bootcamp. I had enough time at the end to go back to a few Keyhole, Angle Ranking, and TFE questions I was unsure about.
One last thing I want to mention. Oh my god! For the Pattern Folding section, I had these questions that had very faintly dark sides, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me they were so faint. However, I was able to step back and focus and able to eliminate choices and find the answer.
DAT Bootcamp's PAT practice exams and generators gave me a strong foundation in Keyhole, TFE, Hole Punching, Cube Counting, and Pattern Folding. Initially, I would perform badly in PAT, but towards the end, I was scoring almost perfect (14/15) for each of these subsections. Angle ranking was my worst subsection, again, my advice is practice, practice, practice by using the PAT Angle generators.
RC (21): For a long time, reading has been my weakest section. I couldn't even figure out the main idea of a paragraph when I was five y/o for god's sake! I was very anxious when doing this section. It felt like a battle. To be quite honest, I'm actually a very good reader and I have a very good comprehension ability, it's just the stress that hinders my performance. On DAT Bootcamp, my practice scores ranged from 20-23. I could have gotten a higher score, but I was freaking out. Please don't freak out/stress like I did. Just calm down, focus and comprehend the articles presented. Improve your reading speed by reading articles from Scientific America everyday (Bootcamp has a list titled "Daily Readings" in their Reading Comprehension section which I found useful). I could guarantee that I would have scored higher if I just calmed down.
Focus is key for the PAT and RC sections.
QR (23): The last section of the DAT! ... But this is no time to celebrate. MATH Destroyer is honestly overkill, but a very good resource. I was only able to do half of it. I was convinced that understanding is greater than the # of problems you do after seeing people on SDN saying "I did the whole MATH Destroyer" but ended up getting a 21 on the actual exam. The QR sections of the full-length practice DAT exams on Bootcamp were also very helpful (The reason why I say "the QR section of the full-length practice exams" is because these were the only QR-related questions I did on Bootcamp. I've heard that the separate timed QR practice tests on Bootcamp were overkill so I avoided them). Again, for this section, if I came to a question that I wasn't able to fully comprehend or get an answer to, I simply skipped it and moved on. Get the do-able questions done first, then do the harder ones. (I had a slight worry that I might not have enough time to go back to do the harder questions, so I selected the most logical answer and moved on).
......
My heart was absolutely pumping when I was answering the Post-Exam Survey. I was tempted to just hit "END" and get it over with, but I realized that this would be the only communication I would have with the test-makers, so I gave my honest opinion. At this point, I thought I would have to retake the exam, but then my scores showed up on the screen.......... I was in disbelief... all over 20. I spent the next 5 minutes or so processing the scores I got... how happy it made me feel. The work that I put in, the winter break that I sacrificed, it was all worth it. I'm guessing the security cameras got some pretty good footage of me haha. The Prometric ladies were very kind to me by the way (at first they were serious, which is understandable).
With my smile, scores, and my damp hands, I drove over to my parent's house and gave them both a big hug. They were rooting for me at the beginning.
P.S. If you're left handed, not only will you get your scores at the end, but you'll also get a nice temporary tattoo (from all the smearing when writing on the laminated paper).
It honestly still feels like I dream. I guess I could now say... onward to dental school!
(Special thanks to the makers of the DAT/MATH Destroyer Dr. Jim Romano and Mrs. Nancy Steen, also special thanks to Ari Rezaei and his team for making DAT Bootcamp. Without the use of these resources and Feralis' very helpful notes, I would not have been able to score as highly.)
PAT: 23
QR: 23
RC: 21
Bio: 21
GC: 26
OC: 24
TS: 23
AA: 23
I roughly studied about a month, I originally was going to study for only 3 weeks but I ended up extending it to give me one more week of study time.
Background: I'm currently considered a junior in college majoring in Chemistry but had taken many bio courses so I had a very strong foundation for that.
Materials used ($): DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, and MATH Destroyer, and Chad's videos (coursesaver)
Other materials: Feralis Notes, Google, and posts on SDN to answer any specific questions
I had just completed finals week, but I couldn't sit back and relax--I had to study for this exam. My performance on this exam would greatly affect where I'll be for the next four years, so sacrificing my whole winter break was worth it to me. I would dedicate my full day (about 12-14 hours) for studying, with break days here and there (very minimal).
Ultimately, for the first few days, I sat and spent the whole day binge watching all of Chad's videos for GenChem and OChem. I finished watching the whole thing in about 5 days. (I wasted the first day by not taking any notes. I was dumbfounded when I would do a practice problem and would remember the concept/topic, but I would forget how to approach it. My advice would be to make sure to take good notes as you're watching so while you're studying you can review and have a good understanding on the various topics). I had to move to using Mozilla Firefox as my web browser while watching Chad's videos only so I could speed up the video up by 2.0 times. I would wake up in the morning and get comfortable because for the rest of the day, I knew what I was going to do. Cool. Also, I do want to say that I found Chad's teaching method very interesting and it kept me engaged. He also puts emphasis on topics that will be covered on the DAT, which was very helpful. I would consider Chad's videos to be essential.
For the next two weeks, I went through the DAT Destroyer and did problems from each section, I would do problems in the order that they would show up on my exam, first Bio, GC, then OC. I used DAT Bootcamp primarily for PAT and RC (Read articles on Scientific America to try to improve my reading speed, or do a timed RC section so I could become more comfortable with the format). And wrapped up the day with a practice QR test from MATH Destroyer. The PAT generators are very helpful.
Once I completed the Bio, GC, or OC section of the Destroyer, or if I had taken all the practice PAT tests on Bootcamp, I simply would start over from the beginning and would do it all over again. I was really getting the hang of it. Whenever I would make a mistake, I would understand why I got it wrong. Don't fret over mistakes, use these sources as a learning tool.
Side note: on the PAT, my strongest points were Hole Punching (using the line of symmetry method) and Cube Counting. Instead of setting these aside and practicing other subsections, I would spend about 5 minutes using the PAT generators on Bootcamp for these two so I could get even faster at doing them so I had more time to focus on the other subsections.
For the last week, I did all the Bootcamp sciences and would still do problems out of the Destroyer, again, making sure I understood my mistakes and build on them. For the days leading up to the exam, I did a full-length DAT exam from Bootcamp each day to get more comfortable with the test's format. Also, I made sure to leave 2 Bootcamp RC tests for this week.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Test Day
I had made sure to get sleep on the days leading up to exam and the day before. My exam was at 8:00 a.m., I went to bed at 10. When I woke up at 6:30, I felt very well-rested. And I felt pretty good/confident, but I felt on edge. I was very focused. A fun fact about me is that I am very prone to getting nervous. I made sure to be calm, focused, and determined to kick @ss.
Focus. I tried not to focus on the time so I could really "bathe" in what each question was asking. In my case, I don't have trouble finishing the sections in time, but it's my nervousness that lowers my performance. I kept it on the fine line between being quick, but focused.
Bio (21): Some questions were obvious with my cemented knowledge from DAT Destroyer, but others were challenging. Key word: Challenging. I was able to narrow the answers to two answer choices. Some answers sound complex, but you'd be surprised of how simple a question could be if you just take the time to understand it. When studying for this section, keep in mind the following : Breadth over depth. It sounds cliche, but it's very true. Some of the choices could be answered easily if I had just known one sentence about the topic at hand. Breadth over depth.
GC (26): Out of the sciences, this was my most feared section. I remember doing a question out of Destroyer's GC section and not having a clue on how to set up a problem a week before my exam (which is what lead me to extend my exam to give me another week of studying). I was able to pull through for this section. I made sure to fully understand what the question was asking and tackled through.
OC (24): A lot of the questions were surprisingly simple. Thanks to the Destroyer I was able to tackle through this section.
For the sciences, make sure to spend the least amount of time on easy questions and more time on harder questions. I finished my first pass with a very good chunk of time left. If there was a question that seemed impossible, answer it from a logical perspective and just go, no need to stare at a screen for 5 minutes for one question when you could be solving/checking over much more. I used every last second of my time going over my answers.
PAT (23): I went through each questions and tried to compare/disprove each answer until I came to the "right" answer, then moved on to the next question. I fortunately didn't get any of those crazy rocks like the legends foretold, but I got some very oddly shaped objects. Top Front End gets a lot of bad rap, but a lot of the answers choices can be easily eliminated--sometimes the answer is obvious. Luckily, this was the case as well for my version of the test. For Angle Ranking, the Bootcamp generators are absolute essential and they will allow you to get the hand of it. I personally struggled with Angle Ranking, my only advice would be (the cliche) practice, practice, practice. I breezed through hole punching and cube counting with my prior practice and use of the Line of Symmetry method. I was able to get through Pattern Folding with a lot of confidence thanks to the amount of practice available for the PAT on Bootcamp. I had enough time at the end to go back to a few Keyhole, Angle Ranking, and TFE questions I was unsure about.
One last thing I want to mention. Oh my god! For the Pattern Folding section, I had these questions that had very faintly dark sides, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me they were so faint. However, I was able to step back and focus and able to eliminate choices and find the answer.
DAT Bootcamp's PAT practice exams and generators gave me a strong foundation in Keyhole, TFE, Hole Punching, Cube Counting, and Pattern Folding. Initially, I would perform badly in PAT, but towards the end, I was scoring almost perfect (14/15) for each of these subsections. Angle ranking was my worst subsection, again, my advice is practice, practice, practice by using the PAT Angle generators.
RC (21): For a long time, reading has been my weakest section. I couldn't even figure out the main idea of a paragraph when I was five y/o for god's sake! I was very anxious when doing this section. It felt like a battle. To be quite honest, I'm actually a very good reader and I have a very good comprehension ability, it's just the stress that hinders my performance. On DAT Bootcamp, my practice scores ranged from 20-23. I could have gotten a higher score, but I was freaking out. Please don't freak out/stress like I did. Just calm down, focus and comprehend the articles presented. Improve your reading speed by reading articles from Scientific America everyday (Bootcamp has a list titled "Daily Readings" in their Reading Comprehension section which I found useful). I could guarantee that I would have scored higher if I just calmed down.
Focus is key for the PAT and RC sections.
QR (23): The last section of the DAT! ... But this is no time to celebrate. MATH Destroyer is honestly overkill, but a very good resource. I was only able to do half of it. I was convinced that understanding is greater than the # of problems you do after seeing people on SDN saying "I did the whole MATH Destroyer" but ended up getting a 21 on the actual exam. The QR sections of the full-length practice DAT exams on Bootcamp were also very helpful (The reason why I say "the QR section of the full-length practice exams" is because these were the only QR-related questions I did on Bootcamp. I've heard that the separate timed QR practice tests on Bootcamp were overkill so I avoided them). Again, for this section, if I came to a question that I wasn't able to fully comprehend or get an answer to, I simply skipped it and moved on. Get the do-able questions done first, then do the harder ones. (I had a slight worry that I might not have enough time to go back to do the harder questions, so I selected the most logical answer and moved on).
......
My heart was absolutely pumping when I was answering the Post-Exam Survey. I was tempted to just hit "END" and get it over with, but I realized that this would be the only communication I would have with the test-makers, so I gave my honest opinion. At this point, I thought I would have to retake the exam, but then my scores showed up on the screen.......... I was in disbelief... all over 20. I spent the next 5 minutes or so processing the scores I got... how happy it made me feel. The work that I put in, the winter break that I sacrificed, it was all worth it. I'm guessing the security cameras got some pretty good footage of me haha. The Prometric ladies were very kind to me by the way (at first they were serious, which is understandable).
With my smile, scores, and my damp hands, I drove over to my parent's house and gave them both a big hug. They were rooting for me at the beginning.
P.S. If you're left handed, not only will you get your scores at the end, but you'll also get a nice temporary tattoo (from all the smearing when writing on the laminated paper).
It honestly still feels like I dream. I guess I could now say... onward to dental school!
(Special thanks to the makers of the DAT/MATH Destroyer Dr. Jim Romano and Mrs. Nancy Steen, also special thanks to Ari Rezaei and his team for making DAT Bootcamp. Without the use of these resources and Feralis' very helpful notes, I would not have been able to score as highly.)
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