- Joined
- Dec 14, 2015
- Messages
- 24
- Reaction score
- 27
Hi everyone! I read A LOT of DAT breakdowns during my studying and found them really helpful so I am so glad I finally get a chance to give back. Let's get to the scores:
PAT 21
QR 25
RC 22
BIO 22
GC 28 😀
OC 26
TS 24
AA 25
Background
I am currently a junior. I've NEVER considered myself smart...I'm one of those people who works my ass off and sometimes it's still not enough haha (GPA ~3.6, transcript scattered with As, Bs, and one C +😕). So I went into studying for this exam with the mindset that I'd try to make up for my grades with my DAT score.
So I took my exam a week after my winter break ended. I did Chad's videos last summer and thought I'd take my DAT in October if I felt ready...I WAS NOT READY lol. My course load in the fall was light since I knew I'd have to study for the DAT, but I didn't seriously start studying till late October. A majority of my studying was done over my winter break (about 4 weeks).
Resources
DAT Bootcamp
DAT Destroyer
DAT Math Destroyer
AP Bio Cliff Notes
Feralis' notes
Chad's videos for GC and OC
2007/2009 ADA Exams
Biology
Okay, so to study for Biology I went through AP Bio Cliff's and Feralis' notes once...and had retained maybe 10% of it. I knew for me, being a visual learner, reading the notes over and over wouldn't help. SO, I remembered these videos I used to watch in high school on a YouTube channel called CrashCourse and let me tell you. HANK IS THE BEST. His Anatomy and Physiology videos are PERFECT for all the A&P in Feralis' notes if you haven't been exposed to the information before. The graphics are so good to visualize the processes and remember hormone names and processes.
General Chemistry
I know its been said time and time again, but Chad is all you need. I took notes on his videos over the summer and didn't watch them again. I just reviewed the notes a couple times and worked practice problems in Destroyer and Bootcamp.
Organic Chemistry
Did exactly the same thing I did for Gen Chem.
PAT
To be honest, I never made higher than a 19 on a practice test. I just went through the Bootcamp generators about 30 mins a day to improve speed.
Reading
I neglected reading till the last couple weeks before the exam. I just did the Bootcamp reading exams and read some articles to improve speed.
QR
I went through Math Destroyer twice and the actual DAT Destroyer's Math section once.
Actual Exam
So I decided to take my exam in the morning since I knew I'd be freaking out if I took it in the afternoon. I ate a PB&J for breakfast (I know its weird...but comfort food calms me down lol). I went to the testing center and it took them forever to call me back. Once I was called back, the guy kept laughing at me because my finger print wouldn't work since my hands were shaking so much haha. I was finally seated at my computer and was still really nervous, but once I got through the first couple questions I calmed down. There was nothing on the exam I wasn't prepared for. The sciences were stress free, except for a couple weird conceptual questions that were worded in a confusing way. PAT was okay, except for keyhole. I would read all these breakdowns where people talked about rocks on the keyhole and I was like "There's no way." And then I got like 5 rocks 😵. The angles were also so close, like 3 degrees close. Just don't let it kill your confidence. After the break, Reading was relaxing to me. The questions were very straightforward, and there was only 1 or 2 through the entire section where I had to infer something from the passages. Math was a breeze if you worked through the Destroyers and Bootcamp.
Bottom Line: Confidence is key. You know more than you think you do 🙂
Final Thoughts
Anyone can do it if I can. You do NOT need to take a course to get a good score. Just keep your goal in mind, and keep at it. Truth is, you'll never feel fully ready to take this exam, but there will come a time when you're SO ready to get this over with. Keep calm, don't stress, and know that you're never in this alone. Whenever I was discouraged I would come here to read other peoples breakdowns. Whenever I did well, I would still come read to motivate me even further. Get Destroyer and Bootcamp, go through them till you understand everything, don't get discouraged and you'll kill it.
Feel free to message me if anyone has any questions!
SPECIAL SHOUTOUTS to @Ari Rezaei and @orgoman22 for making the best study tools ever. Could not have done this without your resources.
PAT 21
QR 25
RC 22
BIO 22
GC 28 😀
OC 26
TS 24
AA 25
Background
I am currently a junior. I've NEVER considered myself smart...I'm one of those people who works my ass off and sometimes it's still not enough haha (GPA ~3.6, transcript scattered with As, Bs, and one C +😕). So I went into studying for this exam with the mindset that I'd try to make up for my grades with my DAT score.
So I took my exam a week after my winter break ended. I did Chad's videos last summer and thought I'd take my DAT in October if I felt ready...I WAS NOT READY lol. My course load in the fall was light since I knew I'd have to study for the DAT, but I didn't seriously start studying till late October. A majority of my studying was done over my winter break (about 4 weeks).
Resources
DAT Bootcamp
DAT Destroyer
DAT Math Destroyer
AP Bio Cliff Notes
Feralis' notes
Chad's videos for GC and OC
2007/2009 ADA Exams
Biology
Okay, so to study for Biology I went through AP Bio Cliff's and Feralis' notes once...and had retained maybe 10% of it. I knew for me, being a visual learner, reading the notes over and over wouldn't help. SO, I remembered these videos I used to watch in high school on a YouTube channel called CrashCourse and let me tell you. HANK IS THE BEST. His Anatomy and Physiology videos are PERFECT for all the A&P in Feralis' notes if you haven't been exposed to the information before. The graphics are so good to visualize the processes and remember hormone names and processes.
General Chemistry
I know its been said time and time again, but Chad is all you need. I took notes on his videos over the summer and didn't watch them again. I just reviewed the notes a couple times and worked practice problems in Destroyer and Bootcamp.
Organic Chemistry
Did exactly the same thing I did for Gen Chem.
PAT
To be honest, I never made higher than a 19 on a practice test. I just went through the Bootcamp generators about 30 mins a day to improve speed.
Reading
I neglected reading till the last couple weeks before the exam. I just did the Bootcamp reading exams and read some articles to improve speed.
QR
I went through Math Destroyer twice and the actual DAT Destroyer's Math section once.
Actual Exam
So I decided to take my exam in the morning since I knew I'd be freaking out if I took it in the afternoon. I ate a PB&J for breakfast (I know its weird...but comfort food calms me down lol). I went to the testing center and it took them forever to call me back. Once I was called back, the guy kept laughing at me because my finger print wouldn't work since my hands were shaking so much haha. I was finally seated at my computer and was still really nervous, but once I got through the first couple questions I calmed down. There was nothing on the exam I wasn't prepared for. The sciences were stress free, except for a couple weird conceptual questions that were worded in a confusing way. PAT was okay, except for keyhole. I would read all these breakdowns where people talked about rocks on the keyhole and I was like "There's no way." And then I got like 5 rocks 😵. The angles were also so close, like 3 degrees close. Just don't let it kill your confidence. After the break, Reading was relaxing to me. The questions were very straightforward, and there was only 1 or 2 through the entire section where I had to infer something from the passages. Math was a breeze if you worked through the Destroyers and Bootcamp.
Bottom Line: Confidence is key. You know more than you think you do 🙂
Final Thoughts
Anyone can do it if I can. You do NOT need to take a course to get a good score. Just keep your goal in mind, and keep at it. Truth is, you'll never feel fully ready to take this exam, but there will come a time when you're SO ready to get this over with. Keep calm, don't stress, and know that you're never in this alone. Whenever I was discouraged I would come here to read other peoples breakdowns. Whenever I did well, I would still come read to motivate me even further. Get Destroyer and Bootcamp, go through them till you understand everything, don't get discouraged and you'll kill it.
Feel free to message me if anyone has any questions!
SPECIAL SHOUTOUTS to @Ari Rezaei and @orgoman22 for making the best study tools ever. Could not have done this without your resources.
