DAT Breakdown 25AA 25TS

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thedestroyerdat

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Hey Guys and Gals,

Just sharing my scores - took the DAT 14/05/14.

AA 25
TS 25
PAT 22

They don't seem to show the percentages on mine like I have seen on a few posted around here.

Study Length:
Started studying way back in September with Chad's videos but took a massive break to get my start up going. After I had that running I started to study again at the start of March. Educational background - I have a degree in Chemistry. Total study time: 6 weeks.

Materials Used:
Dat Destroyer 2012
Math Destroyer 2013
Ferralis Notes/Cliffs AP Bio
DAT Bootcamp
DAT Qvault (bio section only)
Crack DAT PAT

GC
Being a Chemistry major I found this section pretty easy to study for. I had watched Chad's videos back in September so I just reviewed the notes I had taken (couldn't take the quizzes) and moved onto DAT Destroyer. Destroyer is probably overkill but it does not hurt to be over prepared. After finishing that I went through the Bootcamp tests. Stumbled on about 1-2 on the real exam.

OC
Again, being a Chemistry major this wasn't a very tough section for me. Used Chad's videos as a refresher back in September so I reviewed the notes I had taken (without doing his quizzes). DAT Destroyer then Bootcamp. The actual exam section was even easier than Bootcamp, with only a few reactions. Destroyer is probably overkill here again but you never know.

BIO
This was the section I was most worried about. I started with Cliffs AP bio then went onto Ferralis notes. I started with the DAT Destroyer, and then moved onto the QVault Bio section. After that I finished off by going through the Bootcamp questions. The actual section on the exam was easier than all the previous tests I had gone through. A LOT of sections were not even touched upon. Every question could have been answered with just Cliffs with the exception of maybe one random q.

QR
Reviewed with the notes I had taken from chad's videos then went through the math portion of the DAT destroyer. After that I went through about 6 tests in Math Destroyer and ended with DAT Bootcamp. I found DAT Bootcamp to be much harder than anything you see on the real test and I wish I had just stuck with more Math Destroyer tests. Finished with about 5 minutes left, the difficulty of this section is probably between DAT Destroyer questions and Math Destroyer questions.

PAT
Started with CDP (6 tests) then moved onto Bootcamp. I feel that CDP was more representative here than Bootcamp. I would score pretty low on Bootcamp but ended up around my average for CDP. I wish I had taken a few more CDP tests instead of the Bootcamp tests. Struggled with time here as I always tend to do with the PAT section. I guessed on about 3 TFE questions which is the section I always leave to the end.

RC
Just did the 5 tests with DAT Bootcamp which was enough for me to prepare. Strategy: Read about the first 5 questions and then go through the passage, answer the ones that come up and finish reading. Then answer the rest. Passages were fairly straightforward, a bit easier (and a lot shorter - one of my passages only had 7 paragraphs!) than Bootcamp. Finished with about 7 minutes to spare.

Additional Notes:
Never took any full length exams but time wise/mental fatigue I felt fine.

I have about a week subscription left to QVault (bio) if anyone wants it for free. As well as some time on DAT Bootcamp.

Anymore questions feel free to ask!
 
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Hey Guys and Gals,

Just sharing my scores - took the DAT 14/05/14.

AA 25
TS 25
PAT 22

They don't seem to show the percentages on mine like I have seen on a few posted around here.

Study Length:
Started studying way back in September with Chad's videos but took a massive break to get my start up going. After I had that running I started to study again at the start of March. Educational background - I have a degree in Chemistry. Total study time: 6 weeks.

Materials Used:
Dat Destroyer 2012
Math Destroyer 2013
Ferralis Notes/Cliffs AP Bio
DAT Bootcamp
DAT Qvault (bio section only)
Crack DAT PAT

GC
Being a Chemistry major I found this section pretty easy to study for. I had watched Chad's videos back in September so I just reviewed the notes I had taken (couldn't take the quizzes) and moved onto DAT Destroyer. Destroyer is probably overkill but it does not hurt to be over prepared. After finishing that I went through the Bootcamp tests. Stumbled on about 1-2 on the real exam.

OC
Again, being a Chemistry major this wasn't a very tough section for me. Used Chad's videos as a refresher back in September so I reviewed the notes I had taken (without doing his quizzes). DAT Destroyer then Bootcamp. The actual exam section was even easier than Bootcamp, with only a few reactions. Destroyer is probably overkill here again but you never know.

BIO
This was the section I was most worried about. I started with Cliffs AP bio then went onto Ferralis notes. I started with the DAT Destroyer, and then moved onto the QVault Bio section. After that I finished off by going through the Bootcamp questions. The actual section on the exam was easier than all the previous tests I had gone through. A LOT of sections were not even touched upon. Every question could have been answered with just Cliffs with the exception of maybe one random q.

QR
Reviewed with the notes I had taken from chad's videos then went through the math portion of the DAT destroyer. After that I went through about 6 tests in Math Destroyer and ended with DAT Bootcamp. I found DAT Bootcamp to be much harder than anything you see on the real test and I wish I had just stuck with more Math Destroyer tests. Finished with about 5 minutes left, the difficulty of this section is probably between DAT Destroyer questions and Math Destroyer questions.

PAT
Started with CDP (6 tests) then moved onto Bootcamp. I feel that CDP was more representative here than Bootcamp. I would score pretty low on Bootcamp but ended up around my average for CDP. I wish I had taken a few more CDP tests instead of the Bootcamp tests. Struggled with time here as I always tend to do with the PAT section. I guessed on about 3 TFE questions which is the section I always leave to the end.

RC
Just did the 5 tests with DAT Bootcamp which was enough for me to prepare. Strategy: Read about the first 5 questions and then go through the passage, answer the ones that come up and finish reading. Then answer the rest. Passages were fairly straightforward, a bit easier (and a lot shorter - one of my passages only had 7 paragraphs!) than Bootcamp. Finished with about 7 minutes to spare.

Additional Notes:
Never took any full length exams but time wise/mental fatigue I felt fine.

I have about a week subscription left to QVault (bio) if anyone wants it for free. As well as some time on DAT Bootcamp.

Anymore questions feel free to ask!

Hey great scores! I was planning to buy Bootcamp and Qvault because my test is on the 28th. Can I please use your subscription?
 
Congratulations on those fantastic scores!
I have couple of questions for you, if you don't mind:
1. Because you had very limited time, did you take notes on bio while reading cliffs/Ferali's, or did you simply read? I ask because I take notes while reading and find it terribly time consuming.
2. Speaking of bio, which sections would be the most high yield to focus on, regarding your specific test?
3. I haven't watched Chad's for QR, did you find it very helpful? I've been doing some DAT Destroyer problems and I've certainly learned all of this before, but I find it difficult to recall how to set up a few of the problems under the time constraints (it took me an hour to do 40 problems last night and I got about 85% correct).
 
Hey great scores! I was planning to buy Bootcamp and Qvault because my test is on the 28th. Can I please use your subscription?

Hey Harleen message me!

Congratulations on those fantastic scores!
I have couple of questions for you, if you don't mind:
1. Because you had very limited time, did you take notes on bio while reading cliffs/Ferali's, or did you simply read? I ask because I take notes while reading and find it terribly time consuming.
2. Speaking of bio, which sections would be the most high yield to focus on, regarding your specific test?
3. I haven't watched Chad's for QR, did you find it very helpful? I've been doing some DAT Destroyer problems and I've certainly learned all of this before, but I find it difficult to recall how to set up a few of the problems under the time constraints (it took me an hour to do 40 problems last night and I got about 85% correct).

1. I did not take notes but this is how I've always read textbooks. If taking notes works for you please continue to do so! Everyone learns differently so I can't tell you to take notes or not to take them. I did make sure I understood all the concepts but did not focus too much on plants or biological diversity. I just found those sections to be very boring and unrelated but did know the basics.
2. I had zero plant questions and about 1 from biological diversity. BUT I have read breakdowns where the person did have a few on each of those sections. I would just know the basics of those sections/what I had learned from doing questions. A lot of my questions were from about the first 7 chapters of Cliffs.
3. Chad's QR section was basically an easy way review. He did talk about how to set up a few types of the word problems but other than that it was more of just a quick refresher. I do highly recommend using the Math Destroyer though. Time wise I found I took sometimes 10 minutes extra but by my 3rd to 4th test I was finishing within 45 minutes with only 2 mistakes. Some of the questions were exactly the same from the math destroyer. Bootcamp here was a bit too difficult I found myself running out of time a lot but for the sciences Bootcamp rocked!
 
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Few people asked for a rating of each material through PM so I thought I should post it.

Dat Destroyer 2012 (9/10 - bit over the top but good practice)
Math Destroyer 2013 (10/10 - slightly harder but question types seem on point)
Ferralis Notes/Cliffs AP Bio (10/10)
DAT Bootcamp (10/10 for the sciences and RC, 7/10 for QR, 7-8/10 for PAT - a lot more challenging than the real thing but a great practice tool with the generators that supply endless questions)
DAT Qvault (bio section only) (10/10)
Crack DAT PAT (9/10)