- Joined
- Oct 16, 2014
- Messages
- 1,257
- Reaction score
- 1,799
AA 24
TS 25
BIO 23
GC 24
OC 30
RC 24
QR 20
PAT 22
Score Report
I am incredibly relieved to be done with this process. Before starting I just wanted to thank Nancy and Dr. Romano (@orgoman22) again, as well as @Ari Rezaei and @joelm. It could not have been done without your help and advice. I also would like to thank all the other pre-dents that have posted breakdowns in the past. SDN is and was such a valuable resource to me while I was preparing for the DAT. I hope you can get something out of my breakdown, as I have had a lot of help from others throughout my journey.
Studying
All in all, I "technically" started studying and reviewing back in February. I planned on taking only one upper-elective Bio for the semester. I then decided to tack on another course + lab as well as research for credit, so I didn't have as much time as I originally anticipated throughout the semester. It was pretty sporadic during the semester, I'd take off for a few days here and there for exams and such. Most of my studying came following graduation (May 6th onward).
I started with Chad's (per Ari's study guide) in February and I just wanted to get through that as quickly as possible so I could start on Destroyer. I then started Destroyer (GC and OC) and just did questions out of that per Ari's guide for the whole semester. I did a little bit of Bio throughout the semester, but I felt pretty confident in my abilities as I was a relatively strong test taker by the end of my undergrad, so I held that off until after graduation. The biggest mistake I made during this time was not starting on Math Destroyer. It would've been hard to fit that into my schedule, but if I did a test out of Math Destroyer every other day for the whole semester I would've been pro by the time the DAT rolled around. I also subscribed to Bootcamp somewhere in this timeframe and I did the science tests for the first time right after Chad's (I believe I scored ~20 on them).
After graduation I invested in QVault and Genius, and just pretty much breathed DAT for five weeks. Everyday I would wake up, do some PAT (generators or tests) and RC and do subject tests from QVault or Genius, review, then continue on Ari's regimen for Destroyer questions. At this point I pretty much forgot everything Chad said in his QR videos, so I rewatched those and jumped into Math Destroyer/QVault QR problems. The last week leading into my test I took the 2007, all of Bootcamp's FL tests and then the 2009 three days before. After that, I kind of had a mini meltdown, and then went to take the test.
Materials
Honestly, all the materials I used played such a huge part in my scores. But if you 100% need to get something to prepare well for the DAT you should shell out for Bootcamp and Destroyer. QVault and Genius are great but not necessarily mandatory. However, do know that Genius is slightly more difficult than Bootcamp while QVault is slightly easier in the way the questions are framed.
DAT Bootcamp: I took the subject tests once right after Chad's videos and then again ~3 months later in a full-length setting a week prior to my exam. I only remembered maybe 2-3 questions out of all five practice tests, so if you're worried about remembering answers, don't be. I probably wouldn't do this if you were on a shorter schedule though. A pretty good representation of what my DAT looked like, especially for GC. I also subscribed to the DAT QOTD during the semester.
Destroyer: Like I said, I went through the GC and OC sections probably like 6-7 times. I then went through the Bio maybe twice after I developed a foundation through Feralis' notes. Towards the end, maybe two weeks out of my exam I actually just went through the solutions to GC, OC and Bio and annotated the crap out of them. This really helped me solidify my foundation. I wouldn't do this until you've gone through it a few times though. For the road maps I actually scanned them in and then blanked all the reactions out. I was going to print them out and laminate them as well but never got around to doing it.
QVault: The price tag to QVault was deterring, but luckily I had a bigger tax return than I expected so I decided to spend a little bit more on my prep, lol. The nice thing about QVault is the sheer volume of questions. There are so many practice tests. The questions are a little too easy though, and I feel like the scaling is a little bit off. This is ESPECIALLY true for their QR, it kind of misled me for a week or so into thinking that I was strong in QR, while in reality I wasn't. The saved question feature is nice too, but I didn't really use it.
Genius: The explanations were great and the questions were definitely more representative of the DAT than QVault. The Bio section is known to be difficult, but I think that is for the best. On my actual DAT my Bio section was probably slightly less difficult than Genius, but definitely more difficult than any other practice test I experienced. GC and OC was good too, but still, slightly more difficult then Bootcamp in my opinion, WHICH IS A GOOD THING. The RC and PAT was good too, didn't use their QR.
Feralis' Notes: Essential to building yourself up to do well on the DAT. I pretty much just annotated the entire document (example). During undergrad I was never much of just a sit back and read and transcribe kind of studier. I would print out Powerpoints and annotate them just like this. It gives some people headaches, it works for me.
The DAT
I think I was getting burnt out leading into my test so the last three days I did not study that much and it kind of caused me to panic leading into the exam. I got good rest leading into the exam and I told myself that I did everything that I could've and I was ready to take the exam. Keep in mind, this is just one specific version of the test.
Bio: This section was so freaking hard. I am pretty confident in Biology and it was much more difficult than any Bio practice test I've taken (barring Genius). Some questions literally had me scratching my head and it was not in Feralis'/Cliff's notes at all. No matter how much more I prepared for this I honestly do not think I could've done better just because I probably never would have seen the material before. There were very specific anatomical questions and some pretty complex genetic probability questions that I probably only experienced in my Genetics class. It kind of threw me for a loop to start, but I reasoned through them the best I could have. The funny thing is, I read a breakdown on here a few days before I took my exam and a girl was describing a question that was definitely on my exam. I didn't think it would show up on my version so I didn't look it up and lo and behold, I got it wrong. Perhaps ADA is beginning to made their Bio section more difficult.
GC: Section was not as difficult, probably on the same level as Bootcamp's GC. I was unsure about two questions here, and one of them I remember Chad discussing the material but I couldn't distinguish between some of the answer choices. It was a pretty even mix of calculations and theory. Honestly for GC and OC have a strong foundation and you can apply it to pretty much any question they may throw at you.
OC: Relatively straightforward. No tricks. A few "out-there" reactions but nothing Destroyer would not expose you to. Know your reactions, and have a strong foundation and OC is cake. At this point I had probably 40 minutes left over. I spent most of that time looking over Bio and trying to work through some of the more complex questions.
PAT: My keyholes were pretty insane. The angles were tough to determine and it was just flat out difficult. TFE was fine for the most part. My angle ranking was very tough. I don't know if I was just really tired or what. The hole-punching was a little strange because the holes were different sizes in each question, but as long as you stick to the paper-folding technique you should be good. Cube-counting and pattern folding was relatively simple. I was pretty worn out by the end of PAT, I was struggling on double-checking my cube counts, lol.
So yeah, the breaks are now 30 minutes apparently. The timer started and I was so confused, it kind of threw me off. I took 15 minutes anyway because I was paranoid it was a glitch or something and my RC would start without me.
RC: The passages were pretty simple but the majority of my questions were tone questions, which I know some people hate. There is now a highlighter tool where you can highlight text and it remains there the entire time. Maybe they added it because they're transitioning away from being able to purely S&D some passages. I used @BYU4you's technique (the balanced approach) and kind of tweaked it for myself. Here is how I described it to someone earlier:
My Practice Scores
Like I said, my Bio on the actual DAT was way more difficult than Bootcamp or any other practice test I experienced and it shows in score comparison. I also took the BC tests twice, once after Chad's and once 3 months before my DAT. I took the Genius exams earlier in my study session (early May).
My Parting Advice
TS 25
BIO 23
GC 24
OC 30
RC 24
QR 20
PAT 22
Score Report
I am incredibly relieved to be done with this process. Before starting I just wanted to thank Nancy and Dr. Romano (@orgoman22) again, as well as @Ari Rezaei and @joelm. It could not have been done without your help and advice. I also would like to thank all the other pre-dents that have posted breakdowns in the past. SDN is and was such a valuable resource to me while I was preparing for the DAT. I hope you can get something out of my breakdown, as I have had a lot of help from others throughout my journey.
Studying
All in all, I "technically" started studying and reviewing back in February. I planned on taking only one upper-elective Bio for the semester. I then decided to tack on another course + lab as well as research for credit, so I didn't have as much time as I originally anticipated throughout the semester. It was pretty sporadic during the semester, I'd take off for a few days here and there for exams and such. Most of my studying came following graduation (May 6th onward).
I started with Chad's (per Ari's study guide) in February and I just wanted to get through that as quickly as possible so I could start on Destroyer. I then started Destroyer (GC and OC) and just did questions out of that per Ari's guide for the whole semester. I did a little bit of Bio throughout the semester, but I felt pretty confident in my abilities as I was a relatively strong test taker by the end of my undergrad, so I held that off until after graduation. The biggest mistake I made during this time was not starting on Math Destroyer. It would've been hard to fit that into my schedule, but if I did a test out of Math Destroyer every other day for the whole semester I would've been pro by the time the DAT rolled around. I also subscribed to Bootcamp somewhere in this timeframe and I did the science tests for the first time right after Chad's (I believe I scored ~20 on them).
After graduation I invested in QVault and Genius, and just pretty much breathed DAT for five weeks. Everyday I would wake up, do some PAT (generators or tests) and RC and do subject tests from QVault or Genius, review, then continue on Ari's regimen for Destroyer questions. At this point I pretty much forgot everything Chad said in his QR videos, so I rewatched those and jumped into Math Destroyer/QVault QR problems. The last week leading into my test I took the 2007, all of Bootcamp's FL tests and then the 2009 three days before. After that, I kind of had a mini meltdown, and then went to take the test.
Materials
Honestly, all the materials I used played such a huge part in my scores. But if you 100% need to get something to prepare well for the DAT you should shell out for Bootcamp and Destroyer. QVault and Genius are great but not necessarily mandatory. However, do know that Genius is slightly more difficult than Bootcamp while QVault is slightly easier in the way the questions are framed.
DAT Bootcamp: I took the subject tests once right after Chad's videos and then again ~3 months later in a full-length setting a week prior to my exam. I only remembered maybe 2-3 questions out of all five practice tests, so if you're worried about remembering answers, don't be. I probably wouldn't do this if you were on a shorter schedule though. A pretty good representation of what my DAT looked like, especially for GC. I also subscribed to the DAT QOTD during the semester.
Destroyer: Like I said, I went through the GC and OC sections probably like 6-7 times. I then went through the Bio maybe twice after I developed a foundation through Feralis' notes. Towards the end, maybe two weeks out of my exam I actually just went through the solutions to GC, OC and Bio and annotated the crap out of them. This really helped me solidify my foundation. I wouldn't do this until you've gone through it a few times though. For the road maps I actually scanned them in and then blanked all the reactions out. I was going to print them out and laminate them as well but never got around to doing it.
QVault: The price tag to QVault was deterring, but luckily I had a bigger tax return than I expected so I decided to spend a little bit more on my prep, lol. The nice thing about QVault is the sheer volume of questions. There are so many practice tests. The questions are a little too easy though, and I feel like the scaling is a little bit off. This is ESPECIALLY true for their QR, it kind of misled me for a week or so into thinking that I was strong in QR, while in reality I wasn't. The saved question feature is nice too, but I didn't really use it.
Genius: The explanations were great and the questions were definitely more representative of the DAT than QVault. The Bio section is known to be difficult, but I think that is for the best. On my actual DAT my Bio section was probably slightly less difficult than Genius, but definitely more difficult than any other practice test I experienced. GC and OC was good too, but still, slightly more difficult then Bootcamp in my opinion, WHICH IS A GOOD THING. The RC and PAT was good too, didn't use their QR.
Feralis' Notes: Essential to building yourself up to do well on the DAT. I pretty much just annotated the entire document (example). During undergrad I was never much of just a sit back and read and transcribe kind of studier. I would print out Powerpoints and annotate them just like this. It gives some people headaches, it works for me.
The DAT
I think I was getting burnt out leading into my test so the last three days I did not study that much and it kind of caused me to panic leading into the exam. I got good rest leading into the exam and I told myself that I did everything that I could've and I was ready to take the exam. Keep in mind, this is just one specific version of the test.
Bio: This section was so freaking hard. I am pretty confident in Biology and it was much more difficult than any Bio practice test I've taken (barring Genius). Some questions literally had me scratching my head and it was not in Feralis'/Cliff's notes at all. No matter how much more I prepared for this I honestly do not think I could've done better just because I probably never would have seen the material before. There were very specific anatomical questions and some pretty complex genetic probability questions that I probably only experienced in my Genetics class. It kind of threw me for a loop to start, but I reasoned through them the best I could have. The funny thing is, I read a breakdown on here a few days before I took my exam and a girl was describing a question that was definitely on my exam. I didn't think it would show up on my version so I didn't look it up and lo and behold, I got it wrong. Perhaps ADA is beginning to made their Bio section more difficult.
GC: Section was not as difficult, probably on the same level as Bootcamp's GC. I was unsure about two questions here, and one of them I remember Chad discussing the material but I couldn't distinguish between some of the answer choices. It was a pretty even mix of calculations and theory. Honestly for GC and OC have a strong foundation and you can apply it to pretty much any question they may throw at you.
OC: Relatively straightforward. No tricks. A few "out-there" reactions but nothing Destroyer would not expose you to. Know your reactions, and have a strong foundation and OC is cake. At this point I had probably 40 minutes left over. I spent most of that time looking over Bio and trying to work through some of the more complex questions.
PAT: My keyholes were pretty insane. The angles were tough to determine and it was just flat out difficult. TFE was fine for the most part. My angle ranking was very tough. I don't know if I was just really tired or what. The hole-punching was a little strange because the holes were different sizes in each question, but as long as you stick to the paper-folding technique you should be good. Cube-counting and pattern folding was relatively simple. I was pretty worn out by the end of PAT, I was struggling on double-checking my cube counts, lol.
So yeah, the breaks are now 30 minutes apparently. The timer started and I was so confused, it kind of threw me off. I took 15 minutes anyway because I was paranoid it was a glitch or something and my RC would start without me.
RC: The passages were pretty simple but the majority of my questions were tone questions, which I know some people hate. There is now a highlighter tool where you can highlight text and it remains there the entire time. Maybe they added it because they're transitioning away from being able to purely S&D some passages. I used @BYU4you's technique (the balanced approach) and kind of tweaked it for myself. Here is how I described it to someone earlier:
QR: Pretty difficult, I was also pretty tired at this point so that didn't help. Wasn't full of word problems but just weird manipulations and algebraic problems. This was the section I was least prepared for and was the cause of most of my anxiety leading into the exam. Any question I didn't know right off the bat I would guess, mark, and move on. At the end of the exam I had about 10 minutes to spare and probably 6-7 questions marked, some of which I guessed and some I was not 100% on. I was so relieved to pull a 20 on this section. I knew it was almost over at this point so any last bit of energy I had I put into solving as many problems as I could.
My Practice Scores
Like I said, my Bio on the actual DAT was way more difficult than Bootcamp or any other practice test I experienced and it shows in score comparison. I also took the BC tests twice, once after Chad's and once 3 months before my DAT. I took the Genius exams earlier in my study session (early May).
My Parting Advice
- Take breaks. I pretty much studied around the clock after graduation for five weeks. It was not healthy, mentally nor physically. I was so exhausted the last week during my practice tests that I started to get a whole nonchalant attitude about taking the test. I didn't think there was such a thing as burning out, as I never got burnt out in undergrad, but there definitely is.
- Have someone that you can talk to everyday. Luckily I have an amazing girlfriend who was my rock throughout this entire process and I most certainly could not have done it without her. But just having someone to unwind and be there for you after your tough days is so important.
- If you're planning on taking the exam during the summer, do what I did: study during the semester. Watch Chad's towards the end of winter break and just do Destroyer problems throughout the semester. Obviously if you're taking 3/4+ sciences it'll be tough to do, but try to schedule for this. By going through Destroyer you will naturally develop a really strong foundation in the sciences.
- Take QR seriously. I kind of had a lax attitude towards QR and it cost me in the end in unnecessary anxiety going into the exam. Do Math Destroyer as often as you do normal Destroyer. It may suck at first, but like anything else it'll get easier and you'll grow a thick skin to any math question test writers may throw at you. It normally should serve to boost your AA, not bring it down.
- Don't take practice test scores seriously, and don't get discouraged by them either. This got to me the most, and I wish someone told me this earlier. As much as we would like to know and get a score of how we will do come test day, we can't. No one knows the scaling ADA uses, and no one will ever know. The worst thing that can happen to you during your studying is when you're unsure of a question and you get it right. And don't let scores get to you either. As you can see by my practice test scores I pretty much bombed QR/RC on the 2009. This really caused me to get worked up in the days leading into the test, and it was really not necessary.
- Stay calm heading into test day. This is kind of a combination of some of the above points, but it is so important to control your nerves going into test day. I was so burnt out/tired towards the end that I kind of lost my cool a bit before the exam. I definitely think it cost me a little bit. In order to stay calm make sure you put in the work and make sure you're confident in all sections that may appear on the DAT.
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