Choister
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- Aug 26, 2021
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Hello friends, I took the DAT last Friday (8/20/21) and would like to share my experience and tips on how to maximize your score. I studied for 11 weeks with a four day vacation in the middle.
Overall/Background: I’m currently a senior at the University of Florida majoring in Chemical Engineering. I used Bootcamp to learn the material and did Destroyer as well to supplement it. I wasn’t taking any classes but I was doing research and volunteering. I studied around 7 hours a day.
I HIGHLY recommend finishing the material early in your study plan and start doing practice questions because that’s where your score dramatically increases. I reviewed most of the material in June/ early July and left myself a month for practice questions. If I had to do the exam again I would have done more problems.
PA: I wasn’t good at it at first but with some practice you will get better at looking for things and get your own technique down. Bootcamp helps with this but I didn’t put an emphasis in PA in my studies as much as the other topics.
Biology: I haven’t taken a biology class since freshman year of college so I actively avoided biology until July (a month into my studies). Biology has the most information to learn so it's better to put effort in here in the beginning. I found that bootcamp’s Anki decks increased my scores the most. It makes you brain dead at the end of the day but doing them consistently makes the concepts stick. But when you review cards, tell yourself in your head what’s going on in the card, not just brute memorization.
Gen Chem: Mike’s videos are great for chemistry and I would recommend going through all the videos and if you have time watch the explanations as some of them give extra information not covered in the lectures. I had a solid chemistry background from highschool and if you took IB Chemistry everything should be the same (shoutout to Mrs. Barkow for IB Chemistry).
Also, I used the equation for IHD = ½( 2C + 2 - H - X + N) from highschool. Bootcamp’s explanation makes sense but this gives you the answer with speed and precision.
Orgo: This is the first subject I started studying for but I didn’t touch it for a month. I forgot everything but going through Bootcamp’s Orgo notes and making them into flashcards helped me memorize all the reactions. Afterwards, practice questions increase your score by a lot.
RC: On my first practice test RC was my best score using S and D; however I always felt I didn’t understand anything. On the actual exam I read the whole passage and highlighted certain keywords.
QR: I was really disappointed in this section because I was averaging 24 and I got a 30 in my last practice. I do recommend taking a deep breath before this section because I believe I was tired at this point of the exam. I’m an engineering student so I’ve had a lot of practice with math so for speed I recommend doing the first set of the equations in your mind before writing it down. Take advantage of nonword problems. That's where you make extra time during this section.
TLDR: Go through all the material early in your studies and do practice questions. Once you do the problems you will see your weaknesses so you can improve on them. Be happy and find a way to keep going.
Overall/Background: I’m currently a senior at the University of Florida majoring in Chemical Engineering. I used Bootcamp to learn the material and did Destroyer as well to supplement it. I wasn’t taking any classes but I was doing research and volunteering. I studied around 7 hours a day.
I HIGHLY recommend finishing the material early in your study plan and start doing practice questions because that’s where your score dramatically increases. I reviewed most of the material in June/ early July and left myself a month for practice questions. If I had to do the exam again I would have done more problems.
PA: I wasn’t good at it at first but with some practice you will get better at looking for things and get your own technique down. Bootcamp helps with this but I didn’t put an emphasis in PA in my studies as much as the other topics.
Biology: I haven’t taken a biology class since freshman year of college so I actively avoided biology until July (a month into my studies). Biology has the most information to learn so it's better to put effort in here in the beginning. I found that bootcamp’s Anki decks increased my scores the most. It makes you brain dead at the end of the day but doing them consistently makes the concepts stick. But when you review cards, tell yourself in your head what’s going on in the card, not just brute memorization.
Gen Chem: Mike’s videos are great for chemistry and I would recommend going through all the videos and if you have time watch the explanations as some of them give extra information not covered in the lectures. I had a solid chemistry background from highschool and if you took IB Chemistry everything should be the same (shoutout to Mrs. Barkow for IB Chemistry).
Also, I used the equation for IHD = ½( 2C + 2 - H - X + N) from highschool. Bootcamp’s explanation makes sense but this gives you the answer with speed and precision.
Orgo: This is the first subject I started studying for but I didn’t touch it for a month. I forgot everything but going through Bootcamp’s Orgo notes and making them into flashcards helped me memorize all the reactions. Afterwards, practice questions increase your score by a lot.
RC: On my first practice test RC was my best score using S and D; however I always felt I didn’t understand anything. On the actual exam I read the whole passage and highlighted certain keywords.
QR: I was really disappointed in this section because I was averaging 24 and I got a 30 in my last practice. I do recommend taking a deep breath before this section because I believe I was tired at this point of the exam. I’m an engineering student so I’ve had a lot of practice with math so for speed I recommend doing the first set of the equations in your mind before writing it down. Take advantage of nonword problems. That's where you make extra time during this section.
TLDR: Go through all the material early in your studies and do practice questions. Once you do the problems you will see your weaknesses so you can improve on them. Be happy and find a way to keep going.
