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- Jul 16, 2017
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Whats up everyone,
This is my first actual post on SDN; however, in the months leading up to my DAT, this forum has been a tremendously useful tool for procrastinating and getting quality information from anyone who has ever contributed to a thread. I couldn't wait to hopefully join the huge number of people who have posted a breakdown on here, so here is mine. My scores are
Bio: 30
Gen Chem: 23
O-Chem: 23
Reading: 23
QR: 25
PAT:21
TS: 24
AA: 25
I'm about to be junior this year and I have a 3.8 GPA as a bio major/business minor. I told myself I was going to start studying around May 15 for my test date July 29. This didn't work out that well, I started slow and was honestly completely lost on where to start. I felt overwhelmed and thought there was simply too much information to actually learn anything at all. This thought process is NORMAL and healthy. I decided to start with Gen Chem
Necessary Tools!
DAT Bootcamp
Destroyer
Feralis' Notes
Gen Chem (Chad's videos, Bootcamp, Destroyer)
-I focused on gen chem the first 2-3 weeks of studying. I watched chads video's and took brief notes. I thought it was a struggle to get through and frequently paused them to look at my phone or go on Instagram or something. After some of the videos I would test myself with the course saver quizzes. I eventually got through them and tested myself with DAT Bootcamp subject tests. A key thing here is that once I finished a practice test, I really focused on the questions I got wrong and the questions I got right, but deep down I knew I wasn't that confident in. This is a necessary process to actually learn the stuff.
Organic Chem (Chad's videos, Bootcamp, Destroyer, Organic Odyssey)
-Right after gen chem, I plugged right along with Chad's Videos. I did the same process here as I did for gen chem. I felt that organic was going to be my weakest subject area from the start, so I discovered the Organic Odyssey and purchased it along with the Destroyer. I briefly used the Odyssey during my organic learning to hammer in some concepts such as SN1/SN2, Acids/Bases, etc. It does a great job breaking things down into sections and if you really put the time into the book, Im confident you could score a 30 on organic if you know everything in it.
Biology (Kaplan, Feralis' Notes, Google, Physiology Course Notes)
-When I first began studying, I felt that Bio was going to be my strongest subject. This outlook quickly changed when I realized just how much god damn information there is to learn. I read through Kaplans Biology once, highlighted it. This was extremely vague and not a lot of detail. If anything, this was a brief refresher that took me a couple days. After that, I read through Feralis' Notes. I didn't just read through it in a day, I spent about 4-5 days meticulously highlighting (via computer) and working my way through it all. I was taking Bootcamp bio tests and consistently getting 16's or 17's. I was pissed. I thought I knew a lot of information but there was always something I just wasn't sure about. Use this energy. If you are unsure about the renal system or human reproductive systems, then HAMMER them home for the next 5 weeks. Immerse yourself in biology facts/information. Type obscure facts into your notes in your phone (i did this for all subjects) and read them every know and then when you are not studying. When you are in bed, google about which stomach cells secrete HCl, and learn it. When you are mowing, put on DAT crash course bio videos and just listen to the guy. You have to associate all of these facts at different times of the day, in different settings, for you to truly know them. Writing stuff down on a note card is a useful tool, but that is passive learning in my opinion. It might work for you, but you won't truly learn the material unless you try to apply it in other areas of your life. My Bootcamp scores slowly went up, and I began ripping into destroyer problems. I only ended up getting through about 300 of them.
Quantitative Reasoning (Chad's Videos, Bootcamp, Destroyer)
-From the beginning I felt that I was hopeless in QR. I briefly watched Chad's videos in a few hours, took some Bootcamp tests and couldn't get above a 17. I gave in and just assumed i would get an 18-19 on it and my time would be better spent on the sciences. The best part about this section, is that with practice, you will definitely improve. There is a serious curve with all of the QR, and once you pass over it, you will know it. You will feel ready to conquer any question they could throw at you. And if you are confident with the practice questions, the real DAT is a heck of a lot easier on this section. I finished destroyer here (only about 150 questions), a useful practice tool, but I heard the Math destroyer is a serious killer here. I regretted not purchasing it and I thought it was going to come back and haunt me, but luckily it didn't. The point is, there is no magic book or website that will gear you up to get a 25, you just have to genuinely want to learn the strategies. If you can't seem to understand permutations and combinations, watch 2 hours of Khan Academy explain it, and you will never question it again. You just have to attack your weak points. (LEARN TRIG FUNCTIONS)- they are easy points if you know what you are doing, and it doesn't take much to learn them.
Reading (Bootcamp)
- I used a mixture of search and destroy and just reading the whole thing on the real DAT. I felt really confident here, and scored a 25 on 3 practice tests. I spent very little time practicing this section. For a few days early on, I read a scientific article everyday, but this felt like more of a procrastination technique so I stopped that. This was the single section I thought was going to carry my AA. Its important to have at least one section you know you are just going to kill. It really helps your confidence. Even though it wasn't the case for me, I still fed off the energy on my other sections.
PAT (Bootcamp)
-Another section I accepted defeat early on. The first time I looked at a pattern folding problem, I just laughed because I had no clue. I took one practice bootcamp and got a 17. I put this section on the back burner until I began my "testing" phase after I learned all the sciences and math. I think Ari's PAT game is so cool and very useful to practice your skills. Again, since this section is divided up into separate parts, it is so so so important to have one section (cube counting, angle ranking, pattern folding, etc) that you just know you are going to murder. It will carry you through the other sections of the PAT. If you are really having trouble here, just keep practicing. Its just one of those things you have to get the hang of. Persistence is key here.
After the "learning" phase for all the subjects, I took my first ever full length DAT practice exam. It was kaplan, and I got an 18. I got a 15 on organic and a 15 on QR. My real DAT was in about 3 weeks. And I was FREAKING. I questioned my abilities, I questioned my study techniques, and I was angry I let myself half ass so many days studying. I took the next couple days and hammered into Organic and QR and took the second Kaplan exam and managed to raise them both to a 17! Woo! The same feelings were inside me. But I had to shrug them off and keep going. I kept hammering into topics I knew I was shaky on and I kept testing myself via Bootcamp and Destroyer. I never scored above a 20 on any full length practice exam, and my highest bootcamp score in any section was never above a 22. I went into my real DAT praying for a 21 AA. After the organic section of the real DAT, I thought I got a 17, and felt defeated during PAT. These negative feelings are definitely part of the process, but I promise you are doing way way better than you think.
One last thing, sorry this is getting long. I have read a ton of breakdowns on here and have consistently seen a trend among people scoring 24 and above. They keep a strict study schedule, often disable social media, have an agenda they will get done each day and stick to it, and score well on practice exams. I am simply just not that type of person. I do things based on how I feel. It can be confusing at times and cause anxiety, but I really believe in knowing yourself and knowing your weaknesses. When I am at the gym, I never count my reps or go to a set number, I just stop when I feel like the muscle has been hit. This is the same exact method that I use studying and I know a lot of people out there do that as well. It is not impossible to score well and check your phone studying. There were times I felt like my day studying was really well spent covering every inch of social media the entire day. Sometimes this is okay, but you have to have the awareness to know when its okay to go on your phone and when you have to just keep ripping.
Thank you so much to everyone on here who provides invaluable information, to Dr. Romano and Nancy, and to Ari at Dat Bootcamp. Your materials are really well put together and make studying for the DAT that much easier. Thank you for the time you guys put into this.
This is my first actual post on SDN; however, in the months leading up to my DAT, this forum has been a tremendously useful tool for procrastinating and getting quality information from anyone who has ever contributed to a thread. I couldn't wait to hopefully join the huge number of people who have posted a breakdown on here, so here is mine. My scores are
Bio: 30
Gen Chem: 23
O-Chem: 23
Reading: 23
QR: 25
PAT:21
TS: 24
AA: 25
I'm about to be junior this year and I have a 3.8 GPA as a bio major/business minor. I told myself I was going to start studying around May 15 for my test date July 29. This didn't work out that well, I started slow and was honestly completely lost on where to start. I felt overwhelmed and thought there was simply too much information to actually learn anything at all. This thought process is NORMAL and healthy. I decided to start with Gen Chem
Necessary Tools!
DAT Bootcamp
Destroyer
Feralis' Notes
Gen Chem (Chad's videos, Bootcamp, Destroyer)
-I focused on gen chem the first 2-3 weeks of studying. I watched chads video's and took brief notes. I thought it was a struggle to get through and frequently paused them to look at my phone or go on Instagram or something. After some of the videos I would test myself with the course saver quizzes. I eventually got through them and tested myself with DAT Bootcamp subject tests. A key thing here is that once I finished a practice test, I really focused on the questions I got wrong and the questions I got right, but deep down I knew I wasn't that confident in. This is a necessary process to actually learn the stuff.
Organic Chem (Chad's videos, Bootcamp, Destroyer, Organic Odyssey)
-Right after gen chem, I plugged right along with Chad's Videos. I did the same process here as I did for gen chem. I felt that organic was going to be my weakest subject area from the start, so I discovered the Organic Odyssey and purchased it along with the Destroyer. I briefly used the Odyssey during my organic learning to hammer in some concepts such as SN1/SN2, Acids/Bases, etc. It does a great job breaking things down into sections and if you really put the time into the book, Im confident you could score a 30 on organic if you know everything in it.
Biology (Kaplan, Feralis' Notes, Google, Physiology Course Notes)
-When I first began studying, I felt that Bio was going to be my strongest subject. This outlook quickly changed when I realized just how much god damn information there is to learn. I read through Kaplans Biology once, highlighted it. This was extremely vague and not a lot of detail. If anything, this was a brief refresher that took me a couple days. After that, I read through Feralis' Notes. I didn't just read through it in a day, I spent about 4-5 days meticulously highlighting (via computer) and working my way through it all. I was taking Bootcamp bio tests and consistently getting 16's or 17's. I was pissed. I thought I knew a lot of information but there was always something I just wasn't sure about. Use this energy. If you are unsure about the renal system or human reproductive systems, then HAMMER them home for the next 5 weeks. Immerse yourself in biology facts/information. Type obscure facts into your notes in your phone (i did this for all subjects) and read them every know and then when you are not studying. When you are in bed, google about which stomach cells secrete HCl, and learn it. When you are mowing, put on DAT crash course bio videos and just listen to the guy. You have to associate all of these facts at different times of the day, in different settings, for you to truly know them. Writing stuff down on a note card is a useful tool, but that is passive learning in my opinion. It might work for you, but you won't truly learn the material unless you try to apply it in other areas of your life. My Bootcamp scores slowly went up, and I began ripping into destroyer problems. I only ended up getting through about 300 of them.
Quantitative Reasoning (Chad's Videos, Bootcamp, Destroyer)
-From the beginning I felt that I was hopeless in QR. I briefly watched Chad's videos in a few hours, took some Bootcamp tests and couldn't get above a 17. I gave in and just assumed i would get an 18-19 on it and my time would be better spent on the sciences. The best part about this section, is that with practice, you will definitely improve. There is a serious curve with all of the QR, and once you pass over it, you will know it. You will feel ready to conquer any question they could throw at you. And if you are confident with the practice questions, the real DAT is a heck of a lot easier on this section. I finished destroyer here (only about 150 questions), a useful practice tool, but I heard the Math destroyer is a serious killer here. I regretted not purchasing it and I thought it was going to come back and haunt me, but luckily it didn't. The point is, there is no magic book or website that will gear you up to get a 25, you just have to genuinely want to learn the strategies. If you can't seem to understand permutations and combinations, watch 2 hours of Khan Academy explain it, and you will never question it again. You just have to attack your weak points. (LEARN TRIG FUNCTIONS)- they are easy points if you know what you are doing, and it doesn't take much to learn them.
Reading (Bootcamp)
- I used a mixture of search and destroy and just reading the whole thing on the real DAT. I felt really confident here, and scored a 25 on 3 practice tests. I spent very little time practicing this section. For a few days early on, I read a scientific article everyday, but this felt like more of a procrastination technique so I stopped that. This was the single section I thought was going to carry my AA. Its important to have at least one section you know you are just going to kill. It really helps your confidence. Even though it wasn't the case for me, I still fed off the energy on my other sections.
PAT (Bootcamp)
-Another section I accepted defeat early on. The first time I looked at a pattern folding problem, I just laughed because I had no clue. I took one practice bootcamp and got a 17. I put this section on the back burner until I began my "testing" phase after I learned all the sciences and math. I think Ari's PAT game is so cool and very useful to practice your skills. Again, since this section is divided up into separate parts, it is so so so important to have one section (cube counting, angle ranking, pattern folding, etc) that you just know you are going to murder. It will carry you through the other sections of the PAT. If you are really having trouble here, just keep practicing. Its just one of those things you have to get the hang of. Persistence is key here.
After the "learning" phase for all the subjects, I took my first ever full length DAT practice exam. It was kaplan, and I got an 18. I got a 15 on organic and a 15 on QR. My real DAT was in about 3 weeks. And I was FREAKING. I questioned my abilities, I questioned my study techniques, and I was angry I let myself half ass so many days studying. I took the next couple days and hammered into Organic and QR and took the second Kaplan exam and managed to raise them both to a 17! Woo! The same feelings were inside me. But I had to shrug them off and keep going. I kept hammering into topics I knew I was shaky on and I kept testing myself via Bootcamp and Destroyer. I never scored above a 20 on any full length practice exam, and my highest bootcamp score in any section was never above a 22. I went into my real DAT praying for a 21 AA. After the organic section of the real DAT, I thought I got a 17, and felt defeated during PAT. These negative feelings are definitely part of the process, but I promise you are doing way way better than you think.
One last thing, sorry this is getting long. I have read a ton of breakdowns on here and have consistently seen a trend among people scoring 24 and above. They keep a strict study schedule, often disable social media, have an agenda they will get done each day and stick to it, and score well on practice exams. I am simply just not that type of person. I do things based on how I feel. It can be confusing at times and cause anxiety, but I really believe in knowing yourself and knowing your weaknesses. When I am at the gym, I never count my reps or go to a set number, I just stop when I feel like the muscle has been hit. This is the same exact method that I use studying and I know a lot of people out there do that as well. It is not impossible to score well and check your phone studying. There were times I felt like my day studying was really well spent covering every inch of social media the entire day. Sometimes this is okay, but you have to have the awareness to know when its okay to go on your phone and when you have to just keep ripping.
Thank you so much to everyone on here who provides invaluable information, to Dr. Romano and Nancy, and to Ari at Dat Bootcamp. Your materials are really well put together and make studying for the DAT that much easier. Thank you for the time you guys put into this.
So awesome! Huge congrats to you! 