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Long time lurker, first time poster - I just got out of my DAT with some results that I'm very happy about so I couldn't help contributing to the breakdown threads! Here's my breakdown:
PAT: 22
QR: 23
RC: 24
Bio: 26
GC: 26
OC: 27
TS: 26
AA: 25
I studied for about 8 weeks, 7-8 hours a day over winter break as I was reviewing the material and then ~2 hours a day when classes started back up in January, mostly doing Destroyer problems/practice tests. Here are the tools I used:
Kaplan (2017)
-Not bad for getting your toes wet, I only read through the bio section and the introductory PAT strategies. I wouldn't have bothered with it if it weren't for the online practice tests they give you, which are okay (but not as good as Bootcamp).
Cliff's AP Bio (4th ed)
-I've heard 3rd ed. is better but 4th was fine too imo. Much more in depth info than Kaplan in a lot of places, but goes into too much detail sometimes. Remember that for bio you want breadth over depth. Practice tests in the back are helpful too, but I never did them.
Chad's Videos
-As many people will tell you, totally indispensable for gen chem and o chem. I watched through all of these during my first 4 weeks of reviewing and they're probably the reason I scored as well as I di on GC/OC.
Crack DAT PAT
-This was also a hugely helpful tool for me, since I suck at pattern folding. The sections vary in difficulty from test to test so I took as many as I could (which ended up being 4). Ended up being a touch harder than the real thing, which is good.
Destroyer (both Sciences and Math)
-Probably the tool that helped me the most. Seriously, these books are incredible. Huge shout-out to Dr. Romano. If you work through every question in the sciences portion and work to understand your mistakes, there's no reason you shouldn't get a stellar score. I did 22 orgo, 24 gen chem, and 40 bio questions a day.
Bootcamp
-I didn't pay for this service because I was getting a bit strapped for cash at this point, but I did the free practice test they give you and it was fantastic. My score estimate was 20 bio/23 GC/30 OC/22 PAT/27 RC/22 QR, and I felt it was very representative of the actual exam.
The Test
-Obviously every test is different, but here was my experience. Bio and orgo were significantly easier than the ridiculous questions you get in the Destroyer (especially orgo), while gen chem was about right. I got a lot of calculation problems on GC but they can only ask them in so many ways, so if you memorize how to work them all beforehand then you're good.
As for the PAT, keyholes are usually one of my best sections but the keyhole problems I got were f***ing ridiculous. I remember sitting there just dumbfounded as to how any human could accomplish such a task. Luckily, the other portions were a lot easier. I used both the rapid eye movement and "laptop" techniques for angle ranking, which I think helped a lot.
Reading comprehension was a breeze, I got almost exclusively fact-checking type I questions. My strategy was to read question 1, read half the passage thoroughly, then search and destroy the rest. Tbh it reminded me a lot of AP english exams, on the weirdly worded ones you just have to get in the head of the test-writer and try to think about how they're trying to trick you. It's all mind games, man.
QR on my test was a bitch. Lots of long word problems with a few really, really weird problems I wasn't very familiar with (regarding function systems, etc.). Still, if you stay on your toes in this section (caffeine helps
), you should be fine.
I hope this was kind of helpful to people and didn't come across as too boastful, I'm just very happy right now that all my hard work paid off! Happy to answer any questions.
PAT: 22
QR: 23
RC: 24
Bio: 26
GC: 26
OC: 27
TS: 26
AA: 25
I studied for about 8 weeks, 7-8 hours a day over winter break as I was reviewing the material and then ~2 hours a day when classes started back up in January, mostly doing Destroyer problems/practice tests. Here are the tools I used:
Kaplan (2017)
-Not bad for getting your toes wet, I only read through the bio section and the introductory PAT strategies. I wouldn't have bothered with it if it weren't for the online practice tests they give you, which are okay (but not as good as Bootcamp).
Cliff's AP Bio (4th ed)
-I've heard 3rd ed. is better but 4th was fine too imo. Much more in depth info than Kaplan in a lot of places, but goes into too much detail sometimes. Remember that for bio you want breadth over depth. Practice tests in the back are helpful too, but I never did them.
Chad's Videos
-As many people will tell you, totally indispensable for gen chem and o chem. I watched through all of these during my first 4 weeks of reviewing and they're probably the reason I scored as well as I di on GC/OC.
Crack DAT PAT
-This was also a hugely helpful tool for me, since I suck at pattern folding. The sections vary in difficulty from test to test so I took as many as I could (which ended up being 4). Ended up being a touch harder than the real thing, which is good.
Destroyer (both Sciences and Math)
-Probably the tool that helped me the most. Seriously, these books are incredible. Huge shout-out to Dr. Romano. If you work through every question in the sciences portion and work to understand your mistakes, there's no reason you shouldn't get a stellar score. I did 22 orgo, 24 gen chem, and 40 bio questions a day.
Bootcamp
-I didn't pay for this service because I was getting a bit strapped for cash at this point, but I did the free practice test they give you and it was fantastic. My score estimate was 20 bio/23 GC/30 OC/22 PAT/27 RC/22 QR, and I felt it was very representative of the actual exam.
The Test
-Obviously every test is different, but here was my experience. Bio and orgo were significantly easier than the ridiculous questions you get in the Destroyer (especially orgo), while gen chem was about right. I got a lot of calculation problems on GC but they can only ask them in so many ways, so if you memorize how to work them all beforehand then you're good.
As for the PAT, keyholes are usually one of my best sections but the keyhole problems I got were f***ing ridiculous. I remember sitting there just dumbfounded as to how any human could accomplish such a task. Luckily, the other portions were a lot easier. I used both the rapid eye movement and "laptop" techniques for angle ranking, which I think helped a lot.
Reading comprehension was a breeze, I got almost exclusively fact-checking type I questions. My strategy was to read question 1, read half the passage thoroughly, then search and destroy the rest. Tbh it reminded me a lot of AP english exams, on the weirdly worded ones you just have to get in the head of the test-writer and try to think about how they're trying to trick you. It's all mind games, man.
QR on my test was a bitch. Lots of long word problems with a few really, really weird problems I wasn't very familiar with (regarding function systems, etc.). Still, if you stay on your toes in this section (caffeine helps
), you should be fine.I hope this was kind of helpful to people and didn't come across as too boastful, I'm just very happy right now that all my hard work paid off! Happy to answer any questions.
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