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- May 12, 2015
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DISCLAIMER: This is what worked for me! You might not agree with me, but this is my opinion. Take what works for you and disregard anything that doesn't. Throughout my studying I read like 100 breakdowns... to find something that worked for me. Now onto the breakdown:
Done with the DAT for good!
PAT 27
QR 20
RC 23
BIO 22
GC 30
OC 25
TS 25
AA 24
Resources used:
DAT Bootcamp 10/10
DAT Genius 9/10
Destroyer 2015 11/10
Destroyer 2011 6/10
Cliffs 3rd ed. 6/10
KBB -2/10
TopScore 6/10
Chad Vids 10/10
Barron Bio flashCards 8/10
Feralis 10/10
Eyeball game 10/10
SDN network 99999/10
Crashcourse Videos and Craig Savage 8/10
I would like to give back to the community and share what worked for me and what didn’t work for me while studying for my DAT. I’ll share a little about me, mindset going in, timeline, breakdown of materials, test day, and a TLDR. I started studying at the end of June up to today (for a total of 2.5 months) and wow, was it a rollercoaster of emotions. I’ll try to keep it brief and informative. Ask me anything if you need clarification!
About Me:
Attends a state school, works my butt off for good grades in school, entering my 3rd year as a bio major, just finished intro to biochem and ochem series (besides that only 1 upper div. science).
Mind Set:
Really wanted 21+. Deactivated my Facebook at the start of summer (not because I have self control… more of the lack of), gave away my gaming computer (bye bye witcher 3 ): ), uninstalled games off my phone and etc. Worked a job in early summer to get a bit of cash to last the summer. Lurked SDN for all of summer. I tried to stick to a schedule, didn't work for me. Bootcamp schedule didn't work for me. I kind of haphazardly attempted to study everything at the same time by just making a set amount of hours that I would study a day and study what I felt I needed. (I do not recommend, make a game plan. It will be much more effective).
Timeline:
For the first month I studied mostly Kaplan and that was a mistake (more on that below) and chad videos/quizzes. For the next ½ month I finished chad vidoes, started 2011 destroyer, and finished reading Cliffs. At this point I took my first KBB test along with DBC and GC (All my scores attached below). The next ½ month I finished destroyer 2011, regularly did DBC and GC, and bought the 2015 destroyer. The last ½ month I did 3 TS tests, a couple rounds of Barron Flash cards, Feralis Notes, rewatched all chad videos, redid quizzes, redid all the bootcamp tests (to build confidence) redid all the ones I missed in destroyer, and chilled for the last 2 days before my test.
For the time studying I got a 5 section notebook, one for each section, folded my paper in half and wrote questions on the left answer on the right for ALL the ones I missed. Helped immensely to review everything @ the end.
Breakdown of materials:
DAT Bootcamp 8/10
Must have! Fantastic program! Shoutout to @Ari Rezaei . The bio is harder than the real, GC is harder than the real, OC is a tiny bit harder than the real, QR I thought was spot on, PAT is pretty close but scaling is easier for real dat (I thought I failed when I was in the middle of my dat). I initially thought, heck no angles within 3 degrees wont be on the real dat... but they kinda are. Also on my RC I had a “first statement is true, reason is true” question. The RC was spot on. Scores below!
***EDIT - I would say that DBC is actually a 10/10. It actually performed exceedingly well for me and the content has a wide spectrum of questions that prepare well for the real DAT.
DAT Genius 9/10
I would.. also say must have! For almost half the price of DBC you get just as much. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other, but they both have their strengths and weaknesses. The PAT is easier but takes longer to do, so I mastered timing in DG and accuracy in DBC. The bio section in DG is tough! But the explanations are fantastic!! They are worth the price alone! They go super in depth, but be prepared when reviewing a test takes 2 hours. Their ochem is really good too, I didn't finish the first test or so in the time limit but practice makes perfect. QR is a bit tougher (b/c more calculations) and their chem has more calculations. Intensity of questions is between DBC and destroyer I would say. They’re a new program, but they’re coming about in a big way! Its run by these two guys, Dani and Joel, and I frequently talked with them on the chat they have on their site. I think their angle generator is too easy though because the answer choices can be narrowed down to 2 without even looking at the angles. Scores below.
Destroyer 2015 11/10
Another must have. I thought I could slide by with the 2011 destroyer (reasoning: bio, ochem, chem haven’t changed that much in the past 5 years). Destroyer will DESTROY you, but what doesn't kill you will make you stronger! While I was not wrong about them not changing, Dr.Romano and Nancy Steen have worked meticulously perfecting the destroyer formula. When I compared the 2011 to the 2015 there is a clear difference in the content. I can’t say for something like the 2014, but if you have anything older than 2013…. Do yourself a favor and get the new one. Its WORLDS better (or at least for the peace of mind. Shoutout to @orgoman22 for the BEST DAT resource out there!Its been said... and its true. if you want 20+ this is the book for you. sidenote- funny thing about the 2015, when I got it I was pissed that it didn't look that different. "ahh, they just changed the order" ... I could not have been more wrong. Scores for my destroyer are below! They are after my 2011 run.
Destroyer 2011 6/10
Its good, but not as good as the 2015. If I could redo it, I wouldn’t have used it and just got destroyer.
Cliffs 3rd ed. 6/10
Not must have. For whats in it, its awesome (except for physiology). Its missing some important key ideas taught in college biology. I would recommend for anyone who has not taken bio recently and needs to brush up. I did all the quizzes at the end of chapters but not the final tests.
KBB -2/10
Would not recommend. What a piece of !&#$. Yeah I said it. I guess it has most of the content.. but they present it in such a way that is redundant and hard to understand. It’s as if they were using a text book for their material and changed words up to avoid plagiarism. Something that takes them 20 words to say takes cliff 10 words to say and takes feralis 5 words. Spend your money on a massage; you’ll probably get more of a benefit. I don’t think all Kaplan materials are bad, and I don’t think Kaplan is bad, but I think the DAT one needs work. It took me so long to get through that book and it was so dry to read I dreaded studying from it. Their PAT section isn’t too good, bio is alright but too confusing at most times, ochem/gchem is all over the place. I didn't use their QR and their RC was a single passage. I wouldn’t waste my time with it, you can get a lot more done in the same time. For those of you that used it and it worked- awesome! But for me, personally, it wasn’t that effective/efficient.
TopScore 6/10
Its pretty similar to the real deal. On TS you can highlight and it will stay highlighted when you go to the next question but this wont happen on the same dat. I had a very similar RC passage though. The pat in all 3 is about the same. I would substitute their QR with DBC. Good simulator. Scores are below.
Chad Vids 10/10
MY MAN CHAD. Everyone loves chad. And everyone loves the feature that can set the videos to 2.5x speed. He does a great job of explaining everything you need to know on the dat. Did not use for bio though, barely for QR. His quizzes are similar to the actual exam.The hardest part for me was calculating pH. Chad's method isn't explained very well and I found this much easier
Barron Bio flashCards 8/10
Really good flashcards. The DAT bio questions aren't as in depth as many would think. I wouldn’t recommend things like memorizing all the steps of glycolysis (know the different kind of enzymes though)… or the entire anatomy of the human skeleton... but these flashcards actually pack a lot of good information, they have a very good range over the material, they’re already made! They’re physical flash cards! I tried using anki: too many cards and I get distracted on electronics. Really good value.
Feralis 10/10
His notes were really good. They have most of what you need on the test. I wouldn’t recommend using it as a primary resource though, not because they’re bad, but because if you don’t know the gist of the material its easy to get lost in his notes. I did multiple times and had to read campbell for a better understanding. His notes are so condensed that it can look overwhelming. Thanks @FeralisExtremum !
Eyeball game 10/10
Google it, its on the woodgears website. Really awesome game! My high score is 3.37. Played it once a day and was chill about it.
Crash Course/ Craig Savage 8/10
Look them up on youtube! They both make great videos for sciences on the DAT. Crash Course has an Anatomy set of videos now and they're pretty entertaining.
SDN network 99999/10
Day after day I read about everyone's success and was inspired to work harder. When I did well in practice, I went to SDN to be shutdown and work harder. When I did poorly, I would again go to SDN to be inspired. Know that you're not in this alone! YOU CAN DO IT. None of my strategies are of my own design but actually a hybrid of everything I've read on this site! kudos to everyone!
At this point I was out of time and $$. I wanted qvault or achiever. A couple days before I was thinking if I should borrow some $$ and just get them but decided against it. I bet theyre fantastic programs, but I didn’t need my confidence smashed a week before my test. Kind of used tyjacob notes but ran out of time, I liked them a lot and wish I had discovered them sooner.
Test day!
I bought Ensure nutritional shakes and lots of fruit (i hadn't been eating too well while studying...) 3 days before my test to get my energy up. I got 9-10 hours the 2 nights before and … maybe.. 5 hours before the test (I couldnt sleep). Last 2 days was mostly chill. I did not feel prepared for the test and thought I had a lot left to do. I woke up at 5:30 b/c I had my test at 8 and was worried about traffic.
Sciences were alright.. thought I was going to fail bio, I marked maybe 10/40 (kinda knew, kinda not). GC was good, marked 2. OC was good marked 2. Finished with 40 minutes left, reviewed marked, then bio, then GC, no time for OC.
PAT was good, keyholes were super hard. I had a boulder-ish like shape, looked more like a battle ship. VERY similar to the rock practice in DG.
Tried to keep a positive attitude (the test was emotionally getting to me) RC was good, had similar passages like DBC and TS but shorter. Originally really worried about it because I hadn’t taken English since highschool. QR was super hard. Felt just as hard as BC (less word questions though and more trig).
Score screen came up right after I ran out of time on QR and man... I was ecstatic.
To those of you taking the DAT in the near future, I wish the best of luck to all of you!
About my attached scores- I don't have dates for when I took each one, but I started the first of each about 1 month into studying and finished the last of them 2 weeks before my test.
TLDR
Sacrificed a lot for the test, expect to. Copied every question I got wrong. Destroyer is a must. Kaplan needs work- would not recommend. Get DatGenius. Chad videos are Gold. Use SDN.
One of the best things I found on this site was
from @zammyd !!
Done with the DAT for good!
PAT 27
QR 20
RC 23
BIO 22
GC 30
OC 25
TS 25
AA 24
Resources used:
DAT Bootcamp 10/10
DAT Genius 9/10
Destroyer 2015 11/10
Destroyer 2011 6/10
Cliffs 3rd ed. 6/10
KBB -2/10
TopScore 6/10
Chad Vids 10/10
Barron Bio flashCards 8/10
Feralis 10/10
Eyeball game 10/10
SDN network 99999/10
Crashcourse Videos and Craig Savage 8/10
I would like to give back to the community and share what worked for me and what didn’t work for me while studying for my DAT. I’ll share a little about me, mindset going in, timeline, breakdown of materials, test day, and a TLDR. I started studying at the end of June up to today (for a total of 2.5 months) and wow, was it a rollercoaster of emotions. I’ll try to keep it brief and informative. Ask me anything if you need clarification!
About Me:
Attends a state school, works my butt off for good grades in school, entering my 3rd year as a bio major, just finished intro to biochem and ochem series (besides that only 1 upper div. science).
Mind Set:
Really wanted 21+. Deactivated my Facebook at the start of summer (not because I have self control… more of the lack of), gave away my gaming computer (bye bye witcher 3 ): ), uninstalled games off my phone and etc. Worked a job in early summer to get a bit of cash to last the summer. Lurked SDN for all of summer. I tried to stick to a schedule, didn't work for me. Bootcamp schedule didn't work for me. I kind of haphazardly attempted to study everything at the same time by just making a set amount of hours that I would study a day and study what I felt I needed. (I do not recommend, make a game plan. It will be much more effective).
Timeline:
For the first month I studied mostly Kaplan and that was a mistake (more on that below) and chad videos/quizzes. For the next ½ month I finished chad vidoes, started 2011 destroyer, and finished reading Cliffs. At this point I took my first KBB test along with DBC and GC (All my scores attached below). The next ½ month I finished destroyer 2011, regularly did DBC and GC, and bought the 2015 destroyer. The last ½ month I did 3 TS tests, a couple rounds of Barron Flash cards, Feralis Notes, rewatched all chad videos, redid quizzes, redid all the bootcamp tests (to build confidence) redid all the ones I missed in destroyer, and chilled for the last 2 days before my test.
For the time studying I got a 5 section notebook, one for each section, folded my paper in half and wrote questions on the left answer on the right for ALL the ones I missed. Helped immensely to review everything @ the end.
Breakdown of materials:
DAT Bootcamp 8/10
Must have! Fantastic program! Shoutout to @Ari Rezaei . The bio is harder than the real, GC is harder than the real, OC is a tiny bit harder than the real, QR I thought was spot on, PAT is pretty close but scaling is easier for real dat (I thought I failed when I was in the middle of my dat). I initially thought, heck no angles within 3 degrees wont be on the real dat... but they kinda are. Also on my RC I had a “first statement is true, reason is true” question. The RC was spot on. Scores below!
***EDIT - I would say that DBC is actually a 10/10. It actually performed exceedingly well for me and the content has a wide spectrum of questions that prepare well for the real DAT.
DAT Genius 9/10
I would.. also say must have! For almost half the price of DBC you get just as much. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other, but they both have their strengths and weaknesses. The PAT is easier but takes longer to do, so I mastered timing in DG and accuracy in DBC. The bio section in DG is tough! But the explanations are fantastic!! They are worth the price alone! They go super in depth, but be prepared when reviewing a test takes 2 hours. Their ochem is really good too, I didn't finish the first test or so in the time limit but practice makes perfect. QR is a bit tougher (b/c more calculations) and their chem has more calculations. Intensity of questions is between DBC and destroyer I would say. They’re a new program, but they’re coming about in a big way! Its run by these two guys, Dani and Joel, and I frequently talked with them on the chat they have on their site. I think their angle generator is too easy though because the answer choices can be narrowed down to 2 without even looking at the angles. Scores below.
Destroyer 2015 11/10
Another must have. I thought I could slide by with the 2011 destroyer (reasoning: bio, ochem, chem haven’t changed that much in the past 5 years). Destroyer will DESTROY you, but what doesn't kill you will make you stronger! While I was not wrong about them not changing, Dr.Romano and Nancy Steen have worked meticulously perfecting the destroyer formula. When I compared the 2011 to the 2015 there is a clear difference in the content. I can’t say for something like the 2014, but if you have anything older than 2013…. Do yourself a favor and get the new one. Its WORLDS better (or at least for the peace of mind. Shoutout to @orgoman22 for the BEST DAT resource out there!Its been said... and its true. if you want 20+ this is the book for you. sidenote- funny thing about the 2015, when I got it I was pissed that it didn't look that different. "ahh, they just changed the order" ... I could not have been more wrong. Scores for my destroyer are below! They are after my 2011 run.
Destroyer 2011 6/10
Its good, but not as good as the 2015. If I could redo it, I wouldn’t have used it and just got destroyer.
Cliffs 3rd ed. 6/10
Not must have. For whats in it, its awesome (except for physiology). Its missing some important key ideas taught in college biology. I would recommend for anyone who has not taken bio recently and needs to brush up. I did all the quizzes at the end of chapters but not the final tests.
KBB -2/10
Would not recommend. What a piece of !&#$. Yeah I said it. I guess it has most of the content.. but they present it in such a way that is redundant and hard to understand. It’s as if they were using a text book for their material and changed words up to avoid plagiarism. Something that takes them 20 words to say takes cliff 10 words to say and takes feralis 5 words. Spend your money on a massage; you’ll probably get more of a benefit. I don’t think all Kaplan materials are bad, and I don’t think Kaplan is bad, but I think the DAT one needs work. It took me so long to get through that book and it was so dry to read I dreaded studying from it. Their PAT section isn’t too good, bio is alright but too confusing at most times, ochem/gchem is all over the place. I didn't use their QR and their RC was a single passage. I wouldn’t waste my time with it, you can get a lot more done in the same time. For those of you that used it and it worked- awesome! But for me, personally, it wasn’t that effective/efficient.
TopScore 6/10
Its pretty similar to the real deal. On TS you can highlight and it will stay highlighted when you go to the next question but this wont happen on the same dat. I had a very similar RC passage though. The pat in all 3 is about the same. I would substitute their QR with DBC. Good simulator. Scores are below.
Chad Vids 10/10
MY MAN CHAD. Everyone loves chad. And everyone loves the feature that can set the videos to 2.5x speed. He does a great job of explaining everything you need to know on the dat. Did not use for bio though, barely for QR. His quizzes are similar to the actual exam.The hardest part for me was calculating pH. Chad's method isn't explained very well and I found this much easier
Barron Bio flashCards 8/10
Really good flashcards. The DAT bio questions aren't as in depth as many would think. I wouldn’t recommend things like memorizing all the steps of glycolysis (know the different kind of enzymes though)… or the entire anatomy of the human skeleton... but these flashcards actually pack a lot of good information, they have a very good range over the material, they’re already made! They’re physical flash cards! I tried using anki: too many cards and I get distracted on electronics. Really good value.
Feralis 10/10
His notes were really good. They have most of what you need on the test. I wouldn’t recommend using it as a primary resource though, not because they’re bad, but because if you don’t know the gist of the material its easy to get lost in his notes. I did multiple times and had to read campbell for a better understanding. His notes are so condensed that it can look overwhelming. Thanks @FeralisExtremum !
Eyeball game 10/10
Google it, its on the woodgears website. Really awesome game! My high score is 3.37. Played it once a day and was chill about it.
Crash Course/ Craig Savage 8/10
Look them up on youtube! They both make great videos for sciences on the DAT. Crash Course has an Anatomy set of videos now and they're pretty entertaining.
SDN network 99999/10
Day after day I read about everyone's success and was inspired to work harder. When I did well in practice, I went to SDN to be shutdown and work harder. When I did poorly, I would again go to SDN to be inspired. Know that you're not in this alone! YOU CAN DO IT. None of my strategies are of my own design but actually a hybrid of everything I've read on this site! kudos to everyone!
At this point I was out of time and $$. I wanted qvault or achiever. A couple days before I was thinking if I should borrow some $$ and just get them but decided against it. I bet theyre fantastic programs, but I didn’t need my confidence smashed a week before my test. Kind of used tyjacob notes but ran out of time, I liked them a lot and wish I had discovered them sooner.
Test day!
I bought Ensure nutritional shakes and lots of fruit (i hadn't been eating too well while studying...) 3 days before my test to get my energy up. I got 9-10 hours the 2 nights before and … maybe.. 5 hours before the test (I couldnt sleep). Last 2 days was mostly chill. I did not feel prepared for the test and thought I had a lot left to do. I woke up at 5:30 b/c I had my test at 8 and was worried about traffic.
Sciences were alright.. thought I was going to fail bio, I marked maybe 10/40 (kinda knew, kinda not). GC was good, marked 2. OC was good marked 2. Finished with 40 minutes left, reviewed marked, then bio, then GC, no time for OC.
PAT was good, keyholes were super hard. I had a boulder-ish like shape, looked more like a battle ship. VERY similar to the rock practice in DG.
Tried to keep a positive attitude (the test was emotionally getting to me) RC was good, had similar passages like DBC and TS but shorter. Originally really worried about it because I hadn’t taken English since highschool. QR was super hard. Felt just as hard as BC (less word questions though and more trig).
Score screen came up right after I ran out of time on QR and man... I was ecstatic.
To those of you taking the DAT in the near future, I wish the best of luck to all of you!
About my attached scores- I don't have dates for when I took each one, but I started the first of each about 1 month into studying and finished the last of them 2 weeks before my test.
TLDR
Sacrificed a lot for the test, expect to. Copied every question I got wrong. Destroyer is a must. Kaplan needs work- would not recommend. Get DatGenius. Chad videos are Gold. Use SDN.
One of the best things I found on this site was
from @zammyd !!
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