DAT Breakdown! (24 AA, studied for 5 weeks)

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cpredmd

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Bio 23, GC 23, Orgo 26, TS 24, Reading 26, QR 24, and PAT 19

You can do it!!!! It’s a beast to prepare for and there are going to be days when you feel so overwhelmed by all the info you need to cover but just keep going because all the hard work pays off! The test is very much a matter of the effort you put in not how much you know.

I studied for about seven weeks, but the first two were mainly just light review going over bio flashcards and figuring out the different sections and what materials I wanted to actually buy and use. I didn’t crack down until 5 weeks before my test date when I panicked and felt like I didn’t know anything. Bio is the most material to cover so I would think about starting there because it feels familiar and reviewing it is good way to ease yourself in.

For the PAT section: Kaplan Blue Book, DAT Bootcamp

This is the hardest section by far especially time wise and honestly when you first look at the practice problems you are going to think no freaking way will I ever understand this but it just takes a ton of practice! I started by running through the Kaplan blue book and just trying to figure out the different questions. For the TFE questions I was totally clueless at first but if you just keep looking at them it will eventually click I promise! I highly highly recommend getting the 90 day subscription for DAT Bootcamp, it was the best resource overall! This was pretty much all I used for the PAT, and if you do the question generators for a half an hour every day you will get so much better!

Keyholes made me want to stab my eyes out and on test day I got so many that where just like ‘what the actual ****??” But the other sections are more doable haha. Make sure you take timed practice tests cause on test day by the time the 5-minute warning popped up, I still hadn't finished pattern folding and had like 12 questions left unanswered. So basically I had to run back and pick the first thing that looked right. I thought I had failed the section after I hit submit and I literally texted my mom and sister I was going to have to retake during the break and was feeling super down going into second part of test haha. So don't panic if you feel it didn't go well you could definitely surprise yourself!

Also, Youtube can help you find strategies for each question type! Honestly, I don’t have the type of brain for this stuff at all so it just takes a ton of practice and I would recommend starting studying for the section early on because you’ve never been exposed to anything like it before.


For the math section: DAT Math Destroyer!!

Kaplan blue book is a good place to start reviewing all the crap you’ve forgotten from high school math classes (trig identities, formuals etc). Then I just worked through about 10 of the math destroyer practice tests and did a few of the bootcamp ones. All the practice tests I did for math were harder than my actual test and I ended up being super happy with my score! Make sure you know probability and trig functions! A lot of the questions on the test were identical to ones from Math Destroyer so I would definitely recommend as a resource. If you work through all those practice tests you will be set for test day.


For the reading: Dat bootcamp

I did one practice from Kaplan BB and one online from Bootcamp but its too time consuming to do a lot of practice for this and honestly not super worth it. The actual DAT section was pretty easy. I would skim over the passage to get the general idea and then go to each question and search specifically for the answer. I got some ****ty passages on my test that were all super technical and more boring than my practice ones but it’s just luck of the draw. It’s a similar level of difficulty to the SAT reading/ ap english exams. Hardest part about this section is staying focused through it. You are going to be so tired and beat from the first two sections when you get to this part and are going to just want to slap down answers but if you just push through its an easy place to score points.


BIO: KBB, Cliffs AP BIO 3rd edition, Feralis Notes, Barron Flashcards, Destroyer

This section is a crapshoot, and I was pretty salty afterwards. There a million and a half things you have to cover and then you only get forty questions and of course I had 5 on DNA and heredity (my worst subject) and 3 math ones??? and nothing on plants or physiology or the boatload of other facts I crammed in my head. I marked like 10 questions during the test and was convinced I had blown it but in the end I scored higher than I thought so don’t panic cause it’s the first section and you want to stay positive through the rest of the test. Bio is just SO random I would recommend putting more time into Gen Chem and Orgo because those have much smaller range of material and there’s a much better chance you will see the same problems from practice tests. For Bio I read and took notes on Cliff AP BIO 3rd edition (just google it it’s free pdf online) and then read over Feralis Notes a couple times (again just google) also I would run through my Barron’s flashcards, and I worked through the questions in Destroyer 2x. This section is luck of the draw what questions you get because there are so many random facts but just do your best to know a little about everything.


GEN CHEM: DAT destroyer, Chad’s Videos, Bootcamp

This was normally my highest scoring section on practice but I ended up doing better in Orgo on the real thing so who knows I must have made some sloppy mistakes. I would definitely get a subscription to Course Saver and watch Chad’s Videos to get it back in your head and do all his quizzes! Then I worked through DAT destroyer which is harder than the actual test but really good practice for reinforcing concepts. I also did all the Bootcamp Practice tests for this section and they were the most representative of the actual exam. If you do Chad videos+quizzes and destroyer, you will be good to go.


ORGO: DAT destroyer, Chad’s Videos, Bootcamp

Chad is kind of a sicko and honestly there were moments during his videos I wanted to scream at his stupid bald head BUT that being said he covers everything you will see and is good at explaining it! I watched all his videos and took all his quizzes, then tackled Bootcamp and Destroyer for practice questions. Destroyer is WAY hard for this section but worth going through! I got a lot of nomenclature on my real exam which sucked because I never bothered to learn the rules for that so make sure you can draw out molecules based on just their names. Also study his list of reactions!


The week before my exam I took it pretty easy and just did light review and then the official 2007 and 2009 exams. (2007 is free on website but 2009 you have to order online). The 2007 is way easier than the real thing, and the 2009 was about the same in difficulty. I think both are great to do right before so you know exactly what to expect.


Overall:

The test is much less how smart you are and more a test of what you are willing to do. It sucked having to stay in and miss seeing friends but at the end of the day it’s worth it and if you put in the time you will score well! But there are limits to how much you can study per day so make sure you are getting out of the house and taking plenty of breaks and eating well. Practice tests can be super discouraging (they are purposely made to be harder than the actual thing so you will buy more of them!!) Don’t let bad practice tests get you down just keep going and it will all pay off on test day. All my practice test scores were lower than my real thing. There are going to be good study days and totally horrible ones!! If you aren’t feeling it and aren’t in the groove just take the day off and watch Netflix or something! The night before I felt like I didn’t know anything but when you click start it will all come back to you. Make sure you snack, relax, and regroup during the 30 min break. Your heart rate goes from 0 – 200 the moment you click submit on the last math question lol cause then your scores pop right up after the survey haha.

Basically best resources: a subscription to DAT Bootcamp, purchasing DAT destroyer and Math destroyer (they are big spiral bound books full of practice questions), Chad’s videos!!! (you pay per 30 day subscription), and Feralis notes.







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You did awesome! Best of luck applying! This gives me hope, I got around 6 weeks left so I really need to kick it into over drive.
 
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Bio 23, GC 23, Orgo 26, TS 24, Reading 26, QR 24, and PAT 19

You can do it!!!! It’s a beast to prepare for and there are going to be days when you feel so overwhelmed by all the info you need to cover but just keep going because all the hard work pays off! The test is very much a matter of the effort you put in not how much you know.

I studied for about seven weeks, but the first two were mainly just light review going over bio flashcards and figuring out the different sections and what materials I wanted to actually buy and use. I didn’t crack down until 5 weeks before my test date when I panicked and felt like I didn’t know anything. Bio is the most material to cover so I would think about starting there because it feels familiar and reviewing it is good way to ease yourself in.

For the PAT section: Kaplan Blue Book, DAT Bootcamp

This is the hardest section by far especially time wise and honestly when you first look at the practice problems you are going to think no freaking way will I ever understand this but it just takes a ton of practice! I started by running through the Kaplan blue book and just trying to figure out the different questions. For the TFE questions I was totally clueless at first but if you just keep looking at them it will eventually click I promise! I highly highly recommend getting the 90 day subscription for DAT Bootcamp, it was the best resource overall! This was pretty much all I used for the PAT, and if you do the question generators for a half an hour every day you will get so much better!

Keyholes made me want to stab my eyes out and on test day I got so many that where just like ‘what the actual ****??” But the other sections are more doable haha. Make sure you take timed practice tests cause on test day by the time the 5-minute warning popped up, I still hadn't finished pattern folding and had like 12 questions left unanswered. So basically I had to run back and pick the first thing that looked right. I thought I had failed the section after I hit submit and I literally texted my mom and sister I was going to have to retake during the break and was feeling super down going into second part of test haha. So don't panic if you feel it didn't go well you could definitely surprise yourself!

Also, Youtube can help you find strategies for each question type! Honestly, I don’t have the type of brain for this stuff at all so it just takes a ton of practice and I would recommend starting studying for the section early on because you’ve never been exposed to anything like it before.


For the math section: DAT Math Destroyer!!

Kaplan blue book is a good place to start reviewing all the crap you’ve forgotten from high school math classes (trig identities, formuals etc). Then I just worked through about 10 of the math destroyer practice tests and did a few of the bootcamp ones. All the practice tests I did for math were harder than my actual test and I ended up being super happy with my score! Make sure you know probability and trig functions! A lot of the questions on the test were identical to ones from Math Destroyer so I would definitely recommend as a resource. If you work through all those practice tests you will be set for test day.


For the reading: Dat bootcamp

I did one practice from Kaplan BB and one online from Bootcamp but its too time consuming to do a lot of practice for this and honestly not super worth it. The actual DAT section was pretty easy. I would skim over the passage to get the general idea and then go to each question and search specifically for the answer. I got some ****ty passages on my test that were all super technical and more boring than my practice ones but it’s just luck of the draw. It’s a similar level of difficulty to the SAT reading/ ap english exams. Hardest part about this section is staying focused through it. You are going to be so tired and beat from the first two sections when you get to this part and are going to just want to slap down answers but if you just push through its an easy place to score points.


BIO: KBB, Cliffs AP BIO 3rd edition, Feralis Notes, Barron Flashcards, Destroyer

This section is a crapshoot, and I was pretty salty afterwards. There a million and a half things you have to cover and then you only get forty questions and of course I had 5 on DNA and heredity (my worst subject) and 3 math ones??? and nothing on plants or physiology or the boatload of other facts I crammed in my head. I marked like 10 questions during the test and was convinced I had blown it but in the end I scored higher than I thought so don’t panic cause it’s the first section and you want to stay positive through the rest of the test. Bio is just SO random I would recommend putting more time into Gen Chem and Orgo because those have much smaller range of material and there’s a much better chance you will see the same problems from practice tests. For Bio I read and took notes on Cliff AP BIO 3rd edition (just google it it’s free pdf online) and then read over Feralis Notes a couple times (again just google) also I would run through my Barron’s flashcards, and I worked through the questions in Destroyer 2x. This section is luck of the draw what questions you get because there are so many random facts but just do your best to know a little about everything.


GEN CHEM: DAT destroyer, Chad’s Videos, Bootcamp

This was normally my highest scoring section on practice but I ended up doing better in Orgo on the real thing so who knows I must have made some sloppy mistakes. I would definitely get a subscription to Course Saver and watch Chad’s Videos to get it back in your head and do all his quizzes! Then I worked through DAT destroyer which is harder than the actual test but really good practice for reinforcing concepts. I also did all the Bootcamp Practice tests for this section and they were the most representative of the actual exam. If you do Chad videos+quizzes and destroyer, you will be good to go.


ORGO: DAT destroyer, Chad’s Videos, Bootcamp

Chad is kind of a sicko and honestly there were moments during his videos I wanted to scream at his stupid bald head BUT that being said he covers everything you will see and is good at explaining it! I watched all his videos and took all his quizzes, then tackled Bootcamp and Destroyer for practice questions. Destroyer is WAY hard for this section but worth going through! I got a lot of nomenclature on my real exam which sucked because I never bothered to learn the rules for that so make sure you can draw out molecules based on just their names. Also study his list of reactions!


The week before my exam I took it pretty easy and just did light review and then the official 2007 and 2009 exams. (2007 is free on website but 2009 you have to order online). The 2007 is way easier than the real thing, and the 2009 was about the same in difficulty. I think both are great to do right before so you know exactly what to expect.


Overall:

The test is much less how smart you are and more a test of what you are willing to do. It sucked having to stay in and miss seeing friends but at the end of the day it’s worth it and if you put in the time you will score well! But there are limits to how much you can study per day so make sure you are getting out of the house and taking plenty of breaks and eating well. Practice tests can be super discouraging (they are purposely made to be harder than the actual thing so you will buy more of them!!) Don’t let bad practice tests get you down just keep going and it will all pay off on test day. All my practice test scores were lower than my real thing. There are going to be good study days and totally horrible ones!! If you aren’t feeling it and aren’t in the groove just take the day off and watch Netflix or something! The night before I felt like I didn’t know anything but when you click start it will all come back to you. Make sure you snack, relax, and regroup during the 30 min break. Your heart rate goes from 0 – 200 the moment you click submit on the last math question lol cause then your scores pop right up after the survey haha.

Basically best resources: a subscription to DAT Bootcamp, purchasing DAT destroyer and Math destroyer (they are big spiral bound books full of practice questions), Chad’s videos!!! (you pay per 30 day subscription), and Feralis notes.





what version of the Kaplan blue book did you use? Also for the Barron flashcards did you use
Barron's AP Biology Flash Cards, 3rd Edition???

amazing scores btw
 
what version of the Kaplan blue book did you use? Also for the Barron flashcards did you use
Barron's AP Biology Flash Cards, 3rd Edition???

amazing scores btw

i believe it was 2016 for the bluebook. and yes! mainly cause i preferred the ease of using flashcards, but feralis notes work just as well.
 
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very impressive scores! congrats! How many hours a day did you study? How many days a week? Also, What did a typical day look like for you? did you focus on one subject for the entire day or multiple? Thanks
 
very impressive scores! congrats! How many hours a day did you study? How many days a week? Also, What did a typical day look like for you? did you focus on one subject for the entire day or multiple? Thanks

thank you!! i would study around 6-7 hours a day and would always jump from subject to subject so I wouldn't get bored. towards the end i focused more on the areas that i needed.
here's what a typical day would look like( i took lots of breaks during the day haha then would really get going at night):
  • Wake up, breakfast, and do PAT generators on Bootcamp for ~30-45 min
  • Bio flashcards ~1 hr
  • Break
  • Watch Chad’s Videos (Alternate Chem or Orgo depending on day) and do his quizzes ~2 hours
  • Break
  • Work through a full math practice test in destroyer ~1-1.5 hrs
  • Break for dinner and workout and family time
  • Spend rest of evening until bed grinding out practice tests on Bootcamp. (Bounce between a variety of subjects depending on my mood/ what I felt weak in) ~2-3 hours
 
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