Quentin Nelson
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- Aug 9, 2023
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Hello everyone! I took my DAT this August. Since these DAT Breakdowns were quite helpful to me, I decided to do one.
Background
I have just finished my sophomore year of undergrad and have a 4.0 GPA. I am a non-science major, though I have taken most of my science prerequisites. For my DAT prep, I planned to study all the summer leading up to the exam date beginning a week before my finals. In terms of programs, I utilized both DAT Booster and DAT Bootcamp, as I was fortunate enough to be able to afford both. I will touch on both programs as I hit each section.
In terms of scheduling, I followed the 10-week program from DAT Booster. I used this as it seemed to have more checklist points written out in detail. I am naturally quite lazy and bad with scheduling/planning my studying, so this was good for me. I would not make a choice explicitly off schedule, as both services provide schedules that will prepare you aptly. This was simply a matter of personal preference.
If I had followed the schedule exactly, I would have been left with ~3 weeks between finishing and the exam date. This was important for me, as being able to add in free days within the schedule or extra catchup days was crucial for not getting burnt out *though you will see I did in the end*. For this reason, I recommend picking a schedule that is less than the time you have (ex. If you have 10 weeks to study, pick the 8-week schedule).
Diagnostic
Beginning the prep, I decided to take the diagnostic test a bit earlier than scheduled. I really wanted to get a gauge for the test format and my baseline knowledge. I would recommend doing this, as it gives you a feel for the depth of knowledge needed for the questions. To add to this, I would say it is quite a surface-level test, with the surface being the span of the Pacific Ocean. I say this to mean, don’t get stuck trying to memorize the little facts about everything. It is better to get a general feel/understanding of concepts. Think about it like knowing all the vocabulary words in a textbook chapter and how they might link to the bigger picture, versus memorizing all the examples of how that word is used.
My diagnostic scores were:
BIO - 20
GC - 20
OC - 25
PAT - 20
RC - 21
QR - 18
*I’m going to skip forward to my final exam results and note how I studied for each section and how it related to the actual DAT to keep this shorter
BIO - 30
For biology, I used the Feralis notes from Booster and the videos from Bootcamp. This section was extremely daunting for me, as it had been quite a long time since I had taken biology. My method for this consisted of watching the Bootcamp videos as a brief overview. Then, I reinforced them by reading the associated Feralis notes section. I took no notes, just tried to focus on the information in front of me. Every now and then I stopped the videos to teach the information I had just learned to my cat. After this, I completed the related DAT Booster Question Banks.
***Keep in mind, the question banks for both services are at a way more detailed level than the actual exam! Really you will want to focus on the practice tests as you progress into the schedule. ***
Finally, if I had time, I would complete the related DAT Bootcamp Bio Bites/Question Banks. This took me a long time, but I wanted to overprepare for the bio section. I tried to use anki, and it was incredibly effective, but I was just too lazy to keep up with my flashcards. If you can keep up with it, more power to you and it can help tremendously; however, I believe you can do just as well without it. The actual bio section was very close to the practice exams if not more surface level. Many questions I was not familiar with, and yet I was still able to figure out the correct answer based off knowing the terms/definitions and reasoning my way through. I had no questions that I felt were at a detailed level, perhaps I was lucky. I went through each question quickly, marking the ones I was unsure of and moving on. After I finished all of the sciences, I went back to check marked questions.
GC - 25
My studying for this section consisted of watching the DAT Bootcamp videos and doing related questions from both services. There are not many questions from either service, but it is plenty to be able to do well. I did not do any reading, as it felt redundant, and I don’t enjoy it (which to be fair is how studying is). I much preferred the videos from DAT Bootcamp. I put them on 2x speed and powered through. For the review videos, I did the questions in my head and skipped to the answers to check. I did not like Dave’s videos from Booster. That is not to say that he is not a good teacher, I just never liked his teaching style, even when I took the class. On the exam, it was heavily conceptual, and any calculations were extremely simple. The types of questions and proportions of each topic were extremely like all the practice tests. Again focus on the practice tests>question banks. In this section, though I did mark questions, I did not feel like checking them. Don’t be lazy like me on test day.
OC – 27
Organic chemistry was always a little easier than gen chem for me. For this section, I did not study other than a couple of practice tests. I believe the question I missed was a lab question, so make sure to brush up on that stuff. The test was similar if not easier than practice tests. Make sure to understand that stability dictates reactions and rankings. Many of the reactions on my test were from Orgo 2.
PAT – 23
For this section, I did 15 questions on each section generator every day during the learning phase in addition to whatever was scheduled. In terms of services, I alternated which one I did each time to get a feel for both. If you don’t have both either will work just as well. I will note that it is important for pattern folding to do the question banks rather than the generators. The generators for this section are not accurate to the exam. Timing is everything in this section. Don’t get caught up on angle ranking, it should be quick. This will come with practice. Start slowly and develop your technique, then work up to speed. The test ended up extremely like the practice tests from both programs. The graphics of the computers are quite bad, which was simulated by Bootcamp a bit better. Again, practice tests>qbanks>generators **with the exception of hole punching, where generators to me were pretty spot on.
Break – I did not take my break; I highly recommend taking it and giving yourself time to close your eyes for the reading section to come.
RC – 24
For RC, I did the extra questions from both services. I thought that BC was more difficult (more application) in these than Booster (more recall); however, on the real exam, I had a passage that resembled BC more and two that resembled Booster more (difficulty-wise). My passages varied in length. The first one was extremely long with difficult questions which made me panic. If this happens stay calm, guess & mark, and move on. The reason I say this was, the other two passages were extremely easy to me and gave me plenty of time to go back and review. In terms of practice, I would develop your strategy and have search and destroy as a backup if pushed for time. After that, I did not practice much. To me, my score was heavily dependent on the passages I got rather than having practiced a ton. Also, work on your overall stamina. At this point in the test, I felt like I was just bubbling in answers to bubble them in. I contribute this to my lack of full-length practice tests.
QR – 22
For QR, I watched the booster videos at 2x speed and did the associated question banks. I hadn’t done this type of math since middle school/early high school, so it was good to get a refresher. I think the most important part of studying this section is to get to the practice tests. The types of questions they ask will essentially be boiled down to only a couple. Once you take a few you will see what I mean. Get good at these types. The actual DAT was almost like an exact image of my practice tests from both services but with changed numbers. The question types and proportions were the same.
Tips/Thoughts
*Practice tests>qbanks after the learning phase – I think I emphasized this enough
I want to first say that this test prep is very much a marathon, not a sprint. I believe I started off too strong in the learning phase (days 1-30). I was studying 11-12 hours/day. Of course, you want to focus on your learning, but mental health comes first. It’s okay to move things around in the schedule or take an extra catchup day if you’re behind. If you’re feeling lazy that’s okay, because you can always turn it around.
After the first 30 days, I essentially stopped studying for about 1.5 months up until 2 days out from my exam. I just could not bring myself to study or I was trying to grasp anything as a distraction/excuse from it. This is a normal feeling, it’s a hard test and a lot of information. For me, this was my first time having to consistently study for long periods. Really the message from this is that in the grand scheme of things, a healthy and relaxed mind trumps a stressed, overworked one any day. Focus on steady and consistent progress, and don’t get caught up in the details (5000 anki cards that have not been touched will be in your nightmares if you do). Also, if you can, take the day before the test just to relax. This helped a lot for me. No studying or worrying. Try to sleep earlier than normal. I could not sleep at all due to stress, so I came into this thing with no sleep. 10/10 do not recommend. Take melatonin or play some white noise to get you sleeping. I believe in you!
Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, feel to ask!
Background
I have just finished my sophomore year of undergrad and have a 4.0 GPA. I am a non-science major, though I have taken most of my science prerequisites. For my DAT prep, I planned to study all the summer leading up to the exam date beginning a week before my finals. In terms of programs, I utilized both DAT Booster and DAT Bootcamp, as I was fortunate enough to be able to afford both. I will touch on both programs as I hit each section.
In terms of scheduling, I followed the 10-week program from DAT Booster. I used this as it seemed to have more checklist points written out in detail. I am naturally quite lazy and bad with scheduling/planning my studying, so this was good for me. I would not make a choice explicitly off schedule, as both services provide schedules that will prepare you aptly. This was simply a matter of personal preference.
If I had followed the schedule exactly, I would have been left with ~3 weeks between finishing and the exam date. This was important for me, as being able to add in free days within the schedule or extra catchup days was crucial for not getting burnt out *though you will see I did in the end*. For this reason, I recommend picking a schedule that is less than the time you have (ex. If you have 10 weeks to study, pick the 8-week schedule).
Diagnostic
Beginning the prep, I decided to take the diagnostic test a bit earlier than scheduled. I really wanted to get a gauge for the test format and my baseline knowledge. I would recommend doing this, as it gives you a feel for the depth of knowledge needed for the questions. To add to this, I would say it is quite a surface-level test, with the surface being the span of the Pacific Ocean. I say this to mean, don’t get stuck trying to memorize the little facts about everything. It is better to get a general feel/understanding of concepts. Think about it like knowing all the vocabulary words in a textbook chapter and how they might link to the bigger picture, versus memorizing all the examples of how that word is used.
My diagnostic scores were:
BIO - 20
GC - 20
OC - 25
PAT - 20
RC - 21
QR - 18
*I’m going to skip forward to my final exam results and note how I studied for each section and how it related to the actual DAT to keep this shorter
BIO - 30
For biology, I used the Feralis notes from Booster and the videos from Bootcamp. This section was extremely daunting for me, as it had been quite a long time since I had taken biology. My method for this consisted of watching the Bootcamp videos as a brief overview. Then, I reinforced them by reading the associated Feralis notes section. I took no notes, just tried to focus on the information in front of me. Every now and then I stopped the videos to teach the information I had just learned to my cat. After this, I completed the related DAT Booster Question Banks.
***Keep in mind, the question banks for both services are at a way more detailed level than the actual exam! Really you will want to focus on the practice tests as you progress into the schedule. ***
Finally, if I had time, I would complete the related DAT Bootcamp Bio Bites/Question Banks. This took me a long time, but I wanted to overprepare for the bio section. I tried to use anki, and it was incredibly effective, but I was just too lazy to keep up with my flashcards. If you can keep up with it, more power to you and it can help tremendously; however, I believe you can do just as well without it. The actual bio section was very close to the practice exams if not more surface level. Many questions I was not familiar with, and yet I was still able to figure out the correct answer based off knowing the terms/definitions and reasoning my way through. I had no questions that I felt were at a detailed level, perhaps I was lucky. I went through each question quickly, marking the ones I was unsure of and moving on. After I finished all of the sciences, I went back to check marked questions.
GC - 25
My studying for this section consisted of watching the DAT Bootcamp videos and doing related questions from both services. There are not many questions from either service, but it is plenty to be able to do well. I did not do any reading, as it felt redundant, and I don’t enjoy it (which to be fair is how studying is). I much preferred the videos from DAT Bootcamp. I put them on 2x speed and powered through. For the review videos, I did the questions in my head and skipped to the answers to check. I did not like Dave’s videos from Booster. That is not to say that he is not a good teacher, I just never liked his teaching style, even when I took the class. On the exam, it was heavily conceptual, and any calculations were extremely simple. The types of questions and proportions of each topic were extremely like all the practice tests. Again focus on the practice tests>question banks. In this section, though I did mark questions, I did not feel like checking them. Don’t be lazy like me on test day.
OC – 27
Organic chemistry was always a little easier than gen chem for me. For this section, I did not study other than a couple of practice tests. I believe the question I missed was a lab question, so make sure to brush up on that stuff. The test was similar if not easier than practice tests. Make sure to understand that stability dictates reactions and rankings. Many of the reactions on my test were from Orgo 2.
PAT – 23
For this section, I did 15 questions on each section generator every day during the learning phase in addition to whatever was scheduled. In terms of services, I alternated which one I did each time to get a feel for both. If you don’t have both either will work just as well. I will note that it is important for pattern folding to do the question banks rather than the generators. The generators for this section are not accurate to the exam. Timing is everything in this section. Don’t get caught up on angle ranking, it should be quick. This will come with practice. Start slowly and develop your technique, then work up to speed. The test ended up extremely like the practice tests from both programs. The graphics of the computers are quite bad, which was simulated by Bootcamp a bit better. Again, practice tests>qbanks>generators **with the exception of hole punching, where generators to me were pretty spot on.
Break – I did not take my break; I highly recommend taking it and giving yourself time to close your eyes for the reading section to come.
RC – 24
For RC, I did the extra questions from both services. I thought that BC was more difficult (more application) in these than Booster (more recall); however, on the real exam, I had a passage that resembled BC more and two that resembled Booster more (difficulty-wise). My passages varied in length. The first one was extremely long with difficult questions which made me panic. If this happens stay calm, guess & mark, and move on. The reason I say this was, the other two passages were extremely easy to me and gave me plenty of time to go back and review. In terms of practice, I would develop your strategy and have search and destroy as a backup if pushed for time. After that, I did not practice much. To me, my score was heavily dependent on the passages I got rather than having practiced a ton. Also, work on your overall stamina. At this point in the test, I felt like I was just bubbling in answers to bubble them in. I contribute this to my lack of full-length practice tests.
QR – 22
For QR, I watched the booster videos at 2x speed and did the associated question banks. I hadn’t done this type of math since middle school/early high school, so it was good to get a refresher. I think the most important part of studying this section is to get to the practice tests. The types of questions they ask will essentially be boiled down to only a couple. Once you take a few you will see what I mean. Get good at these types. The actual DAT was almost like an exact image of my practice tests from both services but with changed numbers. The question types and proportions were the same.
Tips/Thoughts
*Practice tests>qbanks after the learning phase – I think I emphasized this enough
I want to first say that this test prep is very much a marathon, not a sprint. I believe I started off too strong in the learning phase (days 1-30). I was studying 11-12 hours/day. Of course, you want to focus on your learning, but mental health comes first. It’s okay to move things around in the schedule or take an extra catchup day if you’re behind. If you’re feeling lazy that’s okay, because you can always turn it around.
After the first 30 days, I essentially stopped studying for about 1.5 months up until 2 days out from my exam. I just could not bring myself to study or I was trying to grasp anything as a distraction/excuse from it. This is a normal feeling, it’s a hard test and a lot of information. For me, this was my first time having to consistently study for long periods. Really the message from this is that in the grand scheme of things, a healthy and relaxed mind trumps a stressed, overworked one any day. Focus on steady and consistent progress, and don’t get caught up in the details (5000 anki cards that have not been touched will be in your nightmares if you do). Also, if you can, take the day before the test just to relax. This helped a lot for me. No studying or worrying. Try to sleep earlier than normal. I could not sleep at all due to stress, so I came into this thing with no sleep. 10/10 do not recommend. Take melatonin or play some white noise to get you sleeping. I believe in you!
Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, feel to ask!
