Hey guys,
I took the DAT on Friday and was very pleased with my scores and wanted to give back some advice to everyone preparing for the exam in the future. I had been reading breakdowns religiously for the past year and they helped me utilize my study materials extremely efficiently which helped me get the most out of my 2 months of studying.
PAT: 27
QR: 22
RC: 24
Bio: 27
GC: 24
OC: 26
TS: 25
AA: 25
(Proof)
Study Materials
-DAT Destroyer + Math Destroyer
-GenChem Destroyer
-Chad’s Videos
-Cliff’s AP biology (3rd edition)
-Feralis’ notes
-DAT Bootcamp
-DAT Qvault
I wanted to start off by giving a bit of background about myself to help give confidence to those who might not consider themselves academically gifted or natural geniuses. I have never been a great test taker - along with poor study habits and insufficient commitment to school I had a 2.8 GPA my last 3 years of undergrad. Yeah… not great. Since then I took a year off of school and enrolled in a Masters in Physiology program and been able to maintain a 4.0 along with invaluable study habits and critical thinking skills. I PROMISE that anyone can get these scores or the scores they strive to achieve with hard work and dedication. If I can do it I guarantee you can to!
Now let’s get to the test. I’ll try to focus on things that stood out to me about the exam that either caught me off guard or might have been different than I was anticipating.
PAT (27): Bootcamp is golden for this section. All you need. Generators are great to get a feel for the sections and the 10 exams are much more difficult which prepare you for any question you might see. DAT genius was also great practice (just took the 1 free exam) and was actually the most representative of my score.
-Keyholes: Oh man… this section was rough. I struggled with this section on bootcamp and was dreading it more than anything. I even skipped it and came back to it at the end because I knew it was going to put me in a bad mood and didn’t want it to mess up the rest of my section. To make matters worse I got the ROCKS… ugh. Also I was extremely upset with the inconsistencies they had in proportions in this section. Maybe it was because bootcamp conditioned me to become obsessive with proportions of the answer matching EXACLY with the keyhole, but they were terrible on the real exam. Several times I could rule out 4 of the answer choices and even the correct answer I selected I could point out proportions that did not match! It was super frustrating.
-TFE: Not much to say about this section. Very straightforward. This section always came easy for me just make sure you try to 3D visualize the image. I don’t think I missed a single one of these in all of the 10 bootcamp exams and I 100% credit that to the generators. The best part about them is that you can see the 3D image after each question which is great practice for visualization. If you can do bootcamp this section is a piece of cake.
-Angles: This is another section I was struggling with badly on bootcamp. I tried all kinds of different methods and none of them were working. Eventually I decided to just look at the vertex when comparing two angles and try to visualize a tiny angle and that helped a lot. This is the only section I wouldn’t recommend using the generators for because they are a bit too easy. Instead use the subject-specific practice test.
-HP: Straightforward here as well. Draw your grids and do line of symmetry.
-CC: Again if you can do bootcamp this section should be 15/15.
-PF: I never had too many problems with this section either. Bootcamp generators and practice exams are great for learning to rearrange sides in your head. Sometimes on the tougher problems it’s a good idea to draw out the object on paper and rotate it around to help you visualize how the objects would connect.
Practice scores:
Bootcamp: 22/21/24/21/22/22/21/23/22/22
DAT Genius: 26
QR (22): Not really sure what happened on this section. It was very straightforward aside from 2 questions I was really confused by. I must have made several careless errors and missed all the ones I was semi-uncertain about because the rest were very simple. Math destroyer is great practice for the more complicated problems with rates and such. Know your trig functions and your radian circle. I remembered the radian circle like a phone number for quadrants II,II,IV (quadrant I is all just 1 pi for the numerator). 235-754-5711 going counterclockwise. The denominators are the same for each quadrant with respect to the x-axis.
RC (24): First two passages were quite dense but fortunately my 3rd passage was very light. I would be VERY careful about S&D depending on the passage. I swear my first 2 passages were like 70% tone (not super challenging but required some conceptual thought) and only 30% fact. The passages weren’t as long as bootcamp so I think it’s worthwhile to try to read through the article quickly one time. That being said, my 3rd passage was like 90% fact and could have been S&D easily. VERY important note here: I had been seeing a number of breakdowns recently stating that bootcamp RC isn’t great because there are too many statement 1/statement 2 questions. FALSE!! I had 5 of those questions in the first two passages alone. Be aware that everyone has a different test and you need to be prepared for everything. I’m not big into reading so I never did a full set of 3 passages in 1 sitting so don’t really know what my bootcamp scores were but they seemed like great practice to prepare you for this section.
Bio (27): Big shoutout to @FeralisExtremum for saving me SO much time with his notes. They really are spot on and cover everything you need to know and quite a bit extra. I was a biology major in undergrad and have taken a number of upper level bio classes so didn’t need to study too much for this section. Aside from the introductory bio courses (cell bio/genetics/develop, etc.) I would highly recommend taking Microbiology and Biochemistry. I took both of those last semester and they helped tremendously. A couple of points I want to make about this section. First, I know a lot of people are concerned about the changes towards more application based questions. Do not worry. They are very straightforward and nothing more challenging than what you will see in the destroyer. I had 2 semi-challenging application based questions that were almost EXACTLY word for word out of the destroyer. One of them I missed the first time through the destroyer and I likely could have missed it on the real exam. I know some people don’t like how a lot of the bio section of the destroyer is all of the above answers but it is an extremely good resource to learn from and give you a feel for the more difficult types of questions you might expect on the exam. The second point I wanted to make is that you do not need to focus on details for this section. I spend quite a bit of time memorizing the in’s and out’s of minute details and it just isn’t worth the time. Make sure you understand the big picture concepts. Cells/genetics were heavy for this section but don’t neglect your phylums/ecology type sections. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m pretty sure the question I missed for this section was a BIOME question. Yes… I think I missed out on a perfect score here because of a biome brainfart.
Practice scores:
Bootcamp: 26/26/30/22/26
Qvault: 23/21/23/22/25/27/21/25/22/24
GC(24): This was probably the section I was most worried about. It had been over 7 years since I took gen chem and I was dreading re-learning it. Chad was absolutely terrific for covering all the concepts you need to know and also quite entertaining. Topping his videos off with destroyer really covers everything you might encounter on the real exam. Bootcamp was also great practice and very representative of the types of questions to expect (though maybe a touch more challenging). Again, just like bio don’t neglect the basic concepts. Know your lewis structures, periodic trends, etc. One of the questions I missed in this section was a basic periodic table trend question
. Don’t overlook the easy stuff.
Practice scores:
Bootcamp: 24/24/26/25/24
OC(26): I was quite shocked with how basic and straightforward this section was. I honestly have no clue what I missed. I completed this section in about 10 minutes and didn’t mark any questions (marked like 7 for gen chem). I was going to go back through this section again at the end but didn’t feel like clicking next 70 times. Might have been able to find my mistakes if I did. Same preparation as gen chem. Chad-Destroyer-bootcamp and you are set. Destroyer roadmaps are fantastic too – learn them! (and make sure you add DIBALH)
Practice Scores:
Bootcamp: 22/24/20/24/28
Final tips of advice
1. Study habits. Make sure you are utilizing your studying to its full potential. One EXTREMELY important concept that I don’t think enough people do is making sure you understand the in’s and out’s of every question. Bootcamp and destroyer are phenomenal for this. Make sure that you are reading the solutions thoroughly after each problem set you complete. Seriously. Even if you get a problem correct and think you know it very well – read the solution. A lot of the solutions go off on tangents not directly related to the problem which are VERY beneficial for learning as much as possible. Also, whenever you encounter a concept pertinent to the DAT you aren’t confident in look it up! Google is your best friend and there are some great biology videos online to help understand different topics (Crashcourse, Bozeman, Craig Savage, etc.)
2. Sleep. This might be the most important thing leading up to your exam that people tend to neglect. I made sure to get a full 8 hours of sleep every day until my exam and it definitely paid off. I was mentally fresh throughout the entire exam and even felt like I could have taken another when I was done!
Seriously if I can get these scores I know every one of you can too. The fact that you are even pursing dentistry shows you are very intelligent and capable individuals. Stay confident, stay relaxed and know you are going to crush the DAT. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.
Side note: I attached a copy of the DAT + Math destroyer answer template that Nancy and I put together. I think it was extremely beneficial for tracking your answers along with a much quicker and more efficient way to check how many you got right/wrong. I want to make sure as many people have access to it as possible to help throughout their studies.
I took the DAT on Friday and was very pleased with my scores and wanted to give back some advice to everyone preparing for the exam in the future. I had been reading breakdowns religiously for the past year and they helped me utilize my study materials extremely efficiently which helped me get the most out of my 2 months of studying.
PAT: 27
QR: 22
RC: 24
Bio: 27
GC: 24
OC: 26
TS: 25
AA: 25
(Proof)
Study Materials
-DAT Destroyer + Math Destroyer
-GenChem Destroyer
-Chad’s Videos
-Cliff’s AP biology (3rd edition)
-Feralis’ notes
-DAT Bootcamp
-DAT Qvault
I wanted to start off by giving a bit of background about myself to help give confidence to those who might not consider themselves academically gifted or natural geniuses. I have never been a great test taker - along with poor study habits and insufficient commitment to school I had a 2.8 GPA my last 3 years of undergrad. Yeah… not great. Since then I took a year off of school and enrolled in a Masters in Physiology program and been able to maintain a 4.0 along with invaluable study habits and critical thinking skills. I PROMISE that anyone can get these scores or the scores they strive to achieve with hard work and dedication. If I can do it I guarantee you can to!
Now let’s get to the test. I’ll try to focus on things that stood out to me about the exam that either caught me off guard or might have been different than I was anticipating.
PAT (27): Bootcamp is golden for this section. All you need. Generators are great to get a feel for the sections and the 10 exams are much more difficult which prepare you for any question you might see. DAT genius was also great practice (just took the 1 free exam) and was actually the most representative of my score.
-Keyholes: Oh man… this section was rough. I struggled with this section on bootcamp and was dreading it more than anything. I even skipped it and came back to it at the end because I knew it was going to put me in a bad mood and didn’t want it to mess up the rest of my section. To make matters worse I got the ROCKS… ugh. Also I was extremely upset with the inconsistencies they had in proportions in this section. Maybe it was because bootcamp conditioned me to become obsessive with proportions of the answer matching EXACLY with the keyhole, but they were terrible on the real exam. Several times I could rule out 4 of the answer choices and even the correct answer I selected I could point out proportions that did not match! It was super frustrating.
-TFE: Not much to say about this section. Very straightforward. This section always came easy for me just make sure you try to 3D visualize the image. I don’t think I missed a single one of these in all of the 10 bootcamp exams and I 100% credit that to the generators. The best part about them is that you can see the 3D image after each question which is great practice for visualization. If you can do bootcamp this section is a piece of cake.
-Angles: This is another section I was struggling with badly on bootcamp. I tried all kinds of different methods and none of them were working. Eventually I decided to just look at the vertex when comparing two angles and try to visualize a tiny angle and that helped a lot. This is the only section I wouldn’t recommend using the generators for because they are a bit too easy. Instead use the subject-specific practice test.
-HP: Straightforward here as well. Draw your grids and do line of symmetry.
-CC: Again if you can do bootcamp this section should be 15/15.
-PF: I never had too many problems with this section either. Bootcamp generators and practice exams are great for learning to rearrange sides in your head. Sometimes on the tougher problems it’s a good idea to draw out the object on paper and rotate it around to help you visualize how the objects would connect.
Practice scores:
Bootcamp: 22/21/24/21/22/22/21/23/22/22
DAT Genius: 26
QR (22): Not really sure what happened on this section. It was very straightforward aside from 2 questions I was really confused by. I must have made several careless errors and missed all the ones I was semi-uncertain about because the rest were very simple. Math destroyer is great practice for the more complicated problems with rates and such. Know your trig functions and your radian circle. I remembered the radian circle like a phone number for quadrants II,II,IV (quadrant I is all just 1 pi for the numerator). 235-754-5711 going counterclockwise. The denominators are the same for each quadrant with respect to the x-axis.
RC (24): First two passages were quite dense but fortunately my 3rd passage was very light. I would be VERY careful about S&D depending on the passage. I swear my first 2 passages were like 70% tone (not super challenging but required some conceptual thought) and only 30% fact. The passages weren’t as long as bootcamp so I think it’s worthwhile to try to read through the article quickly one time. That being said, my 3rd passage was like 90% fact and could have been S&D easily. VERY important note here: I had been seeing a number of breakdowns recently stating that bootcamp RC isn’t great because there are too many statement 1/statement 2 questions. FALSE!! I had 5 of those questions in the first two passages alone. Be aware that everyone has a different test and you need to be prepared for everything. I’m not big into reading so I never did a full set of 3 passages in 1 sitting so don’t really know what my bootcamp scores were but they seemed like great practice to prepare you for this section.
Bio (27): Big shoutout to @FeralisExtremum for saving me SO much time with his notes. They really are spot on and cover everything you need to know and quite a bit extra. I was a biology major in undergrad and have taken a number of upper level bio classes so didn’t need to study too much for this section. Aside from the introductory bio courses (cell bio/genetics/develop, etc.) I would highly recommend taking Microbiology and Biochemistry. I took both of those last semester and they helped tremendously. A couple of points I want to make about this section. First, I know a lot of people are concerned about the changes towards more application based questions. Do not worry. They are very straightforward and nothing more challenging than what you will see in the destroyer. I had 2 semi-challenging application based questions that were almost EXACTLY word for word out of the destroyer. One of them I missed the first time through the destroyer and I likely could have missed it on the real exam. I know some people don’t like how a lot of the bio section of the destroyer is all of the above answers but it is an extremely good resource to learn from and give you a feel for the more difficult types of questions you might expect on the exam. The second point I wanted to make is that you do not need to focus on details for this section. I spend quite a bit of time memorizing the in’s and out’s of minute details and it just isn’t worth the time. Make sure you understand the big picture concepts. Cells/genetics were heavy for this section but don’t neglect your phylums/ecology type sections. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m pretty sure the question I missed for this section was a BIOME question. Yes… I think I missed out on a perfect score here because of a biome brainfart.
Practice scores:
Bootcamp: 26/26/30/22/26
Qvault: 23/21/23/22/25/27/21/25/22/24
GC(24): This was probably the section I was most worried about. It had been over 7 years since I took gen chem and I was dreading re-learning it. Chad was absolutely terrific for covering all the concepts you need to know and also quite entertaining. Topping his videos off with destroyer really covers everything you might encounter on the real exam. Bootcamp was also great practice and very representative of the types of questions to expect (though maybe a touch more challenging). Again, just like bio don’t neglect the basic concepts. Know your lewis structures, periodic trends, etc. One of the questions I missed in this section was a basic periodic table trend question
. Don’t overlook the easy stuff.Practice scores:
Bootcamp: 24/24/26/25/24
OC(26): I was quite shocked with how basic and straightforward this section was. I honestly have no clue what I missed. I completed this section in about 10 minutes and didn’t mark any questions (marked like 7 for gen chem). I was going to go back through this section again at the end but didn’t feel like clicking next 70 times. Might have been able to find my mistakes if I did. Same preparation as gen chem. Chad-Destroyer-bootcamp and you are set. Destroyer roadmaps are fantastic too – learn them! (and make sure you add DIBALH)
Practice Scores:
Bootcamp: 22/24/20/24/28
Final tips of advice
1. Study habits. Make sure you are utilizing your studying to its full potential. One EXTREMELY important concept that I don’t think enough people do is making sure you understand the in’s and out’s of every question. Bootcamp and destroyer are phenomenal for this. Make sure that you are reading the solutions thoroughly after each problem set you complete. Seriously. Even if you get a problem correct and think you know it very well – read the solution. A lot of the solutions go off on tangents not directly related to the problem which are VERY beneficial for learning as much as possible. Also, whenever you encounter a concept pertinent to the DAT you aren’t confident in look it up! Google is your best friend and there are some great biology videos online to help understand different topics (Crashcourse, Bozeman, Craig Savage, etc.)
2. Sleep. This might be the most important thing leading up to your exam that people tend to neglect. I made sure to get a full 8 hours of sleep every day until my exam and it definitely paid off. I was mentally fresh throughout the entire exam and even felt like I could have taken another when I was done!
Seriously if I can get these scores I know every one of you can too. The fact that you are even pursing dentistry shows you are very intelligent and capable individuals. Stay confident, stay relaxed and know you are going to crush the DAT. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.
Side note: I attached a copy of the DAT + Math destroyer answer template that Nancy and I put together. I think it was extremely beneficial for tracking your answers along with a much quicker and more efficient way to check how many you got right/wrong. I want to make sure as many people have access to it as possible to help throughout their studies.
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Congratulations!
