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- Apr 18, 2017
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Hey guys!
So you all provided me with tons of resources during my study process, so this is my way of saying thank you. Thank you for the breakdowns and video links and encouragement! I am going to try to make this breakdown as useful as possible so please excuse the length. I went in aiming realistically for a 22/23 AA and came out with this score -
PAT: 24
QR: 27
RC: 25
BIO: 26
GC: 27
OC: 26
TS: 26
AA: 26
To say I was speechless is an understatement. I didn't know the score would pop up immediately after taking the exam, so when those numbers came up the only thing that made me sure they were mine was that my name was on the same screen haha. But it goes to show that hard work and the appropriate resources really do pay off in the end.
I graduated in 2014 (Neuroscience major) and worked for 3 years in the healthcare IT field before applying to dental school, so I needed a refresher in ALL the academic topics. My only advantage was that I took a Gen Chem and Biochem course before taking the DAT. I started studying in early May and took the exam this week.
Anyway, here goes:
General Tips/Info:
1. The clock starts the moment you click away from the tutorial. Even though the initial screens are always "info" or "how-to" pages, the clock is still ticking, so be sure to click Next and get started with the exam. I took 10 of the 15 minutes of the tutorial to get some breathing exercises in and calm my nerves which I highly recommend. How seriously this is taken by the test proctors also gave me a bit of comic relief which helped (metal detectors, fingerprinting, it was a steroidal TSA experience).
2. You're not allowed to eat or drink in the test room so plan accordingly. Also go to the restroom prior even if you don't think you have to. Just do it.
3. Take a sample test of each section before you really dive in and start studying. This will give you an idea of where you stand and what type of things to look for while studying. You will see I scored significantly low in my BC scores which really served as a wake-up call on what I needed to focus on.
4. People say to relax the day before the exam. Hah! I could never do that. I studied the entire day and woke up early on Test Day to study some more. Did it make me nervous to realize I was still learning new little tidbits of information? Yes. Was it worth it because I got DAT questions related to this final study session? Yes. But if you're the type to relax the day prior, more power to you!
5. I could not do my PAT hole-punching grids during the tutorial. I told myself if I was able to review all of my science questions and had time left oer, I would do the grids and the cube counting chart then, which I did!
6. Watched all videos in 1.5-2x speed if possible. Nuff said.
Sciences -
Biology - 26
BC - 17/16/20/20/22/20/19/20/21/23
1. Destroyer and BC are your best friends. The Bio section of Destroyer is the only section that I completed because I knew every question covered a different topic. It is worth it. If you can go through Destroyer multiple times, I recommend that - make it stick (I reviewed it 1.5 times). For Bio Destroyer I created a spreadsheet with a few columns - Question # | My Answer - First Attempt | Correct Answer | Notes | Miscellaneous. I would do 40-100 questions at a time and color coded the questions I got wrong and added any NEW info I needed to learn in the Notes section. The Miscellaneous section was for any diagrams I found online that I wanted to copy and paste in, or for any to-do's ("review embryology - cleavage, blastulation, grastulation" type of thing). On the days leading up to the test, I retook the questions that I had gotten wrong the first time (hid all other columns, added a new one that just marked the questions I had gotten wrong). The "Notes" section of this spreadsheet became invaluable for the days leading up to the test. Thank you to the folks at Destroyer and BC for their outstanding resources! I finished the Bio section in 15-20 minutes thanks to you all.
2. I started my studying with Cliff's - went through several note-taking techniques before I settled on for all chapters besides physiology: a) Read chapter section with just a flash card in hand, making a list of key terms (including more than just the bolded terms). b) Re-read and highlight this time. c) Read one last time and on the back of the flash card, write down potential high-yield questions without the answer ("what's an example of convergent vs. divergent evolution?" "which enzymes are involved in DNA replication?"). The idea is that I could look at one side of the card and review key terms, and flip it over and answer questions. If I couldn't answer a question, I would be forced to open Cliff's and find the answer, time and time again until the information stuck. I decided against taking a ton of notes here because I was already familiar with most of the topics to some degree (genetics/heredity/ecology/biochem), so I thought crazy note-taking would bog me down. That being said ...
3. For anatomy and physiology, that was a whole other story. I never took a physiology course in college (do it if you can!!), so I just had my AP Bio memories from 7 years ago. For this I used many resources and took a ton of notes, the primary ones being AK Lectures on YouTube and the MCAT Biology Kaplan book I got from a friend. The latter isn't mentioned much around these parts but it was a great tool - they mentioned mneumonics and tips and tricks for Test Day (for the MCAT, but still applicable). By the way, I also bought the huge Kaplan DAT book that covers every section but ended up barely using it - 1/10. I used Feralis' notes to an extent, read about half of it (used it as a supplement) - thank you Feralis for this resource! If I had time I would have probably read the whole thing, but alas I needed to prioritize that last week of studying.
4. Focus on your weaknesses and the topics you don't care much about. I have no idea why, but I learned about the cardiovascular system one day and I could barely remember what a friggin' ventricle was the next day. So I put special focus on that my last week. I also don't care about geology and certain physiology (geological cycles, reproductive systems and their associated hormones), so I essentially force fed myself this content on the last couple of weeks. It. Is. Worth. It. Did I get questions on the above topics? What do you think haha.
5. Taxonomy and Plant stuff - Craig Savage videos. Take notes. Best source around that covers the adequate level of breadth and depth on these low-yield topics.
General Chemistry - 27
BC - 16/20/19/20/22/22/22/20/22
1. Started with Destroyer and 1 BC test to get an idea of where I stood. I had just taken a Gen Chem 2-like course at the time leading up to this summer but I hadn't taken GC 1 since first semester of undergrad 7 years ago. The time I saved in Bio was all used up on the GC section.
2. As is mentioned, this and OC are the science topics where a 30 is more likely because you have a better idea of what will be asked. Learn your formulas, and learn the underlying concepts behind each formula because I had more "concept-based" than "plug and chug in numbers to a formula" type of questions.
3. The days before my exam I took every subject-specific section of BC (I did this for every science topic actually). I recommend this since it is likely you will see very similarly worded questions in the real thing. It's always nice when you read a question and know exactly how to answer because you have it fresh in your memory.
4. I did not use Chad's videos for GC because I felt more comfortable with GC than any of the other topics. Which is the polar opposite of ...
Organic Chemistry - 26
BC - 17/18/19/25/20/21/21/22/23/23
1. My God was I scared for the OC section going in. I enjoyed OC in undergrad but my grades didn't really reflect that, so I felt like I had something to prove with this one. I watched Chad's videos religiously. He made me get it. His awesome teaching style (despite his diet pseudo-sexist comments lol) is what got me through. Took an entire notebook's worth of notes and then some. Did I feel ready when I finished his videos? Not at all, so I also used Mike's videos from BC whenever I had questions.
2. Mike's videos are also a godsend. The main difference between Chad and Mike is that Mike covers the DAT essentials - short 5-10 minute videos that you can easily digest once you have the fundamentals in order. PLUS he's available to chat in the website (~24 hours response time) which was very nice (I didn't really do much of this until the very last week).
3. Memorize spectroscopy as though it were just another reaction. Thinking spectroscopy < reactions will make you reconsider on test day.
4. Go with your instinct on these questions. Don't overthink the synthesis questions and you will be fine. I used flash cards and Destroyer's reaction maps (which I recreated on poster paper) helped me with reactions.
5. I think Destroyer is the least useful for this section because it does go a bit overboard with what it expects you to know. I did about 120 questions from here and stopped to reprioritize my studying. The real DAT won't ask you too many hardcore nitpicky questions (but they are still there!). Every question I got was covered by Chad and Mike.
6. Last week of studying: rewatched all of Mike's videos in high speed two days prior to my test. Again, I was feeling antsy about OC and felt like I had something to prove. I took notes on the things I was still iffy about. Went over the more complicated reactions and mechanisms as well (Claisen, Aldol, Michael, Imine/Enamine, Robinson ... you know the bunch). Again, totally worth it.
PAT - 24
BC - 19/19/19/18/19/19/19/20/20
1. My biggest shock was getting a 26 on Bio, but getting a 24 on the PAT was a VERY close second. BC beat me to the ground with this one. With my highest score being 20, I was aiming for a 21. I have some specific PAT tips that really worked for me, so hopefully they work for you.
2. There's a ~.5 second lag when switching questions (clicking "Next"), but despite that I knew my strategy going in was to start with hole-punching. I like keyholes and TFE, but I knew that there was a chance I would get caught up in them and spend 30+ minutes on just those 30 questions. Plus I wanted the confidence boost of getting some hole-punching/cube counting questions right before tackling the TFE/keyhole beasts. For me the PAT was the most time-sensitive of the exams (I never had time to review on BC), and this was no exception on the real thing.
3. Hole punching - use the grids. Some tricky ones, but nothing out of this world. I mark with an X if I see that the hole is going to be there permanently and an O to mark that the hole is there currently but won't be there once everything is unfolded. Worked like a charm.
4. Cube counting - take a deep breath and go for it. My strategy was to start my counting in the same corner every time and work my way down the same row so I never forgot where I was counting last. I also go cube column by cube column when I do my counting. Nothing BC can't prepare you fully for.
5. Pattern folding - IT CAN BE DONE! When I was first doing practice tests and starting with the keyholes instead of hole punching, I never had time to do pattern folding, so I fooled myself into thinking I didn't need to focus on this much, but boy was I wrong. After watching the strategy videos, I realized that these are easy points too! Just look for the strangest shape and compare it to your answer choices and you will have already narrowed it down. BC's explanations were also ridiculously useful - read them. The real thing was easier than BC.
6. Keyholes - Used my Review button to fly back into Keyhole world. Not horrible. Were there rocks? Yeah, like 5 of them and they were all shaped like aliens, but people here make it sound like literal rocks are being thrown at them. The trick here is to focus on your answer choices more than the actual structure. What are the differences between the choices? How do those differences relate back to the real thing? Use the lines of the rock to help guide you - I found that for rocks, the "front" keyholes were the easiest to decipher first compared to the possible "top" keyholes. Always take proportion into consideration.
7. TFE - Easier than BC! Just like keyholes, focus on the differences between your answer choices and go from there. Know how the right line of the TOP figure relates to the front of the END figure, etc etc. Eliminate eliminate eliminate.
8. Angles - least favorite. On BC tests I scored a low of 6/15 multiple times on this and my highest was 9/15. The real thing was a little easier than BC but honestly I don't have many tips for this one, except perhaps not spending too much time on any one question because then the lines all start looking the same. I had ~4 minutes to answer all 15 questions, but I survived!
9. Hole punching + Cubes + Patterns took me about 20 minutes. TFE and Keyholes took me about 35 minutes. Angles took about 5. If you don't know the answer to TFE/Keyhole, you're better off moving on than being stubborn and finding an answer that could still be wrong.
Break - take the optional break. I stretched and walked outside, got myself mentally ready for RC and QR (kept telling myself the worst was over). Did some breathing/meditation before starting. Whole break for me took 20 minutes.
RC - 25
BC - 21/22/23
1. Didn't record most of my BC RC data since there isn't really much to truly learn from them except for defining your strategy. Here was mine for BC but not for the real DAT: look at all of the questions first and jot down something about the question to jog your memory for when you're going through the passage. The moment a specific pronoun or word showed up, I knew there was a question on it so I went to that question and answered.
2. For the real DAT, I knew going in that the questions would be more in order than BC, so I adjusted my strategy after my first article (especially due to that lag I mentioned before) - I read the first 3-4 questions in advance before starting the article. I noted key terms from the questions and then began to read. As I answered ~2 of the 3-4 questions, I would read the next 2 questions. This worked because there were still questions that could only be answered after reading the whole thing and a few questions that were entirely out of order. For one of my articles, the very first question's answer was not found until the second to last paragraph, which would have delayed me greatly had I had just focused on that one question the entire time. Different things work for different people, but this worked for me! Had 5-10 minutes left over.
3. Highlight! Like, why wouldn't you highlight? Come on now.
4. The articles were actually pretty interesting! One related to my major which was nice, and the other two still grabbed my attention. Despite that, I still found myself drifting off at times (I kept hearing quotes of Gloria from Modern Family in my head while reading, I was like WHY NOW). Keep engaged in the writing and you will be good to go. Many of the answers were word-for-word the same as the article.
QR - 27
BC - 19/20/20/19/19/19/25/24/23/25
1. A lot of you are going to hate me for saying this, but I really enjoy math. I used math-studying as my "breaks" from studying for the sciences. That being said, my confidence flattened for the first 2 or 3 questions of that test. Baby Jesus was that first QC question dreadful. The moment I realized I was just staring blankly at the screen, I moved on and got to answer questions I actually knew how to tackle. Do that - never get stubborn when you run across a difficult question. If you're like me, revisiting the question once you get your easy points will give you a new perspective/understanding of the question and make it possible for you to answer.
2. Lots of algebra, lots of QC. Don't be afraid of noting that the answer cannot be derived from the given info, it happens. Some simple geometry and maybe trig if I recall correctly. The probability and average speed questions were significantly easier than BC, but prepare for the worst as always.
3. Math Destroyer is your best friend. I made flash cards of all the equations in the front of the book and honestly that was all I used as far as formulas go. I did Tests 1-10 and 13. Some of the later tests were just a little too hard and lessened my confidence which is why I decided against doing them (esp with the new QC questions prevailing over crazy trig/geo).
4. Learn the differences between combination and permutation. If CAB = ABC, then order does not matter and it's a combination. Permutation is the other one. Boom.
5. READ the question. I got an age question and I spent valuable time to realize I had misread the age relationships (I was multiplying instead of adding). Don't be like me. Also, don't overthink any of the questions.
6. The algebra was sometimes a little harder than BC, but overall this section was most like BC. The amount of time it took to solve an algebra problem balanced out with easy questions that just asked you to reference a diagram.
7. Just a fun little story - I went back to that first annoying QC question at the end, and I realized that the answer I had marked down was wrong with literally 4 seconds remaining. I never moved quicker - I changed the answer in the last second and the rest is, how do you say, history.
Anyway, thank you to the 2 people who actually ended up reading that whole thing haha. I hope it was useful in some way. I was super nervous up until the first Bio question showed up, but from that moment on I knew it was game time. Feel free to ask any questions, I will be here all week folks.
So you all provided me with tons of resources during my study process, so this is my way of saying thank you. Thank you for the breakdowns and video links and encouragement! I am going to try to make this breakdown as useful as possible so please excuse the length. I went in aiming realistically for a 22/23 AA and came out with this score -
PAT: 24
QR: 27
RC: 25
BIO: 26
GC: 27
OC: 26
TS: 26
AA: 26
To say I was speechless is an understatement. I didn't know the score would pop up immediately after taking the exam, so when those numbers came up the only thing that made me sure they were mine was that my name was on the same screen haha. But it goes to show that hard work and the appropriate resources really do pay off in the end.
I graduated in 2014 (Neuroscience major) and worked for 3 years in the healthcare IT field before applying to dental school, so I needed a refresher in ALL the academic topics. My only advantage was that I took a Gen Chem and Biochem course before taking the DAT. I started studying in early May and took the exam this week.
Anyway, here goes:
General Tips/Info:
1. The clock starts the moment you click away from the tutorial. Even though the initial screens are always "info" or "how-to" pages, the clock is still ticking, so be sure to click Next and get started with the exam. I took 10 of the 15 minutes of the tutorial to get some breathing exercises in and calm my nerves which I highly recommend. How seriously this is taken by the test proctors also gave me a bit of comic relief which helped (metal detectors, fingerprinting, it was a steroidal TSA experience).
2. You're not allowed to eat or drink in the test room so plan accordingly. Also go to the restroom prior even if you don't think you have to. Just do it.
3. Take a sample test of each section before you really dive in and start studying. This will give you an idea of where you stand and what type of things to look for while studying. You will see I scored significantly low in my BC scores which really served as a wake-up call on what I needed to focus on.
4. People say to relax the day before the exam. Hah! I could never do that. I studied the entire day and woke up early on Test Day to study some more. Did it make me nervous to realize I was still learning new little tidbits of information? Yes. Was it worth it because I got DAT questions related to this final study session? Yes. But if you're the type to relax the day prior, more power to you!
5. I could not do my PAT hole-punching grids during the tutorial. I told myself if I was able to review all of my science questions and had time left oer, I would do the grids and the cube counting chart then, which I did!
6. Watched all videos in 1.5-2x speed if possible. Nuff said.
Sciences -
Biology - 26
BC - 17/16/20/20/22/20/19/20/21/23
1. Destroyer and BC are your best friends. The Bio section of Destroyer is the only section that I completed because I knew every question covered a different topic. It is worth it. If you can go through Destroyer multiple times, I recommend that - make it stick (I reviewed it 1.5 times). For Bio Destroyer I created a spreadsheet with a few columns - Question # | My Answer - First Attempt | Correct Answer | Notes | Miscellaneous. I would do 40-100 questions at a time and color coded the questions I got wrong and added any NEW info I needed to learn in the Notes section. The Miscellaneous section was for any diagrams I found online that I wanted to copy and paste in, or for any to-do's ("review embryology - cleavage, blastulation, grastulation" type of thing). On the days leading up to the test, I retook the questions that I had gotten wrong the first time (hid all other columns, added a new one that just marked the questions I had gotten wrong). The "Notes" section of this spreadsheet became invaluable for the days leading up to the test. Thank you to the folks at Destroyer and BC for their outstanding resources! I finished the Bio section in 15-20 minutes thanks to you all.
2. I started my studying with Cliff's - went through several note-taking techniques before I settled on for all chapters besides physiology: a) Read chapter section with just a flash card in hand, making a list of key terms (including more than just the bolded terms). b) Re-read and highlight this time. c) Read one last time and on the back of the flash card, write down potential high-yield questions without the answer ("what's an example of convergent vs. divergent evolution?" "which enzymes are involved in DNA replication?"). The idea is that I could look at one side of the card and review key terms, and flip it over and answer questions. If I couldn't answer a question, I would be forced to open Cliff's and find the answer, time and time again until the information stuck. I decided against taking a ton of notes here because I was already familiar with most of the topics to some degree (genetics/heredity/ecology/biochem), so I thought crazy note-taking would bog me down. That being said ...
3. For anatomy and physiology, that was a whole other story. I never took a physiology course in college (do it if you can!!), so I just had my AP Bio memories from 7 years ago. For this I used many resources and took a ton of notes, the primary ones being AK Lectures on YouTube and the MCAT Biology Kaplan book I got from a friend. The latter isn't mentioned much around these parts but it was a great tool - they mentioned mneumonics and tips and tricks for Test Day (for the MCAT, but still applicable). By the way, I also bought the huge Kaplan DAT book that covers every section but ended up barely using it - 1/10. I used Feralis' notes to an extent, read about half of it (used it as a supplement) - thank you Feralis for this resource! If I had time I would have probably read the whole thing, but alas I needed to prioritize that last week of studying.
4. Focus on your weaknesses and the topics you don't care much about. I have no idea why, but I learned about the cardiovascular system one day and I could barely remember what a friggin' ventricle was the next day. So I put special focus on that my last week. I also don't care about geology and certain physiology (geological cycles, reproductive systems and their associated hormones), so I essentially force fed myself this content on the last couple of weeks. It. Is. Worth. It. Did I get questions on the above topics? What do you think haha.
5. Taxonomy and Plant stuff - Craig Savage videos. Take notes. Best source around that covers the adequate level of breadth and depth on these low-yield topics.
General Chemistry - 27
BC - 16/20/19/20/22/22/22/20/22
1. Started with Destroyer and 1 BC test to get an idea of where I stood. I had just taken a Gen Chem 2-like course at the time leading up to this summer but I hadn't taken GC 1 since first semester of undergrad 7 years ago. The time I saved in Bio was all used up on the GC section.
2. As is mentioned, this and OC are the science topics where a 30 is more likely because you have a better idea of what will be asked. Learn your formulas, and learn the underlying concepts behind each formula because I had more "concept-based" than "plug and chug in numbers to a formula" type of questions.
3. The days before my exam I took every subject-specific section of BC (I did this for every science topic actually). I recommend this since it is likely you will see very similarly worded questions in the real thing. It's always nice when you read a question and know exactly how to answer because you have it fresh in your memory.
4. I did not use Chad's videos for GC because I felt more comfortable with GC than any of the other topics. Which is the polar opposite of ...
Organic Chemistry - 26
BC - 17/18/19/25/20/21/21/22/23/23
1. My God was I scared for the OC section going in. I enjoyed OC in undergrad but my grades didn't really reflect that, so I felt like I had something to prove with this one. I watched Chad's videos religiously. He made me get it. His awesome teaching style (despite his diet pseudo-sexist comments lol) is what got me through. Took an entire notebook's worth of notes and then some. Did I feel ready when I finished his videos? Not at all, so I also used Mike's videos from BC whenever I had questions.
2. Mike's videos are also a godsend. The main difference between Chad and Mike is that Mike covers the DAT essentials - short 5-10 minute videos that you can easily digest once you have the fundamentals in order. PLUS he's available to chat in the website (~24 hours response time) which was very nice (I didn't really do much of this until the very last week).
3. Memorize spectroscopy as though it were just another reaction. Thinking spectroscopy < reactions will make you reconsider on test day.
4. Go with your instinct on these questions. Don't overthink the synthesis questions and you will be fine. I used flash cards and Destroyer's reaction maps (which I recreated on poster paper) helped me with reactions.
5. I think Destroyer is the least useful for this section because it does go a bit overboard with what it expects you to know. I did about 120 questions from here and stopped to reprioritize my studying. The real DAT won't ask you too many hardcore nitpicky questions (but they are still there!). Every question I got was covered by Chad and Mike.
6. Last week of studying: rewatched all of Mike's videos in high speed two days prior to my test. Again, I was feeling antsy about OC and felt like I had something to prove. I took notes on the things I was still iffy about. Went over the more complicated reactions and mechanisms as well (Claisen, Aldol, Michael, Imine/Enamine, Robinson ... you know the bunch). Again, totally worth it.
PAT - 24
BC - 19/19/19/18/19/19/19/20/20
1. My biggest shock was getting a 26 on Bio, but getting a 24 on the PAT was a VERY close second. BC beat me to the ground with this one. With my highest score being 20, I was aiming for a 21. I have some specific PAT tips that really worked for me, so hopefully they work for you.
2. There's a ~.5 second lag when switching questions (clicking "Next"), but despite that I knew my strategy going in was to start with hole-punching. I like keyholes and TFE, but I knew that there was a chance I would get caught up in them and spend 30+ minutes on just those 30 questions. Plus I wanted the confidence boost of getting some hole-punching/cube counting questions right before tackling the TFE/keyhole beasts. For me the PAT was the most time-sensitive of the exams (I never had time to review on BC), and this was no exception on the real thing.
3. Hole punching - use the grids. Some tricky ones, but nothing out of this world. I mark with an X if I see that the hole is going to be there permanently and an O to mark that the hole is there currently but won't be there once everything is unfolded. Worked like a charm.
4. Cube counting - take a deep breath and go for it. My strategy was to start my counting in the same corner every time and work my way down the same row so I never forgot where I was counting last. I also go cube column by cube column when I do my counting. Nothing BC can't prepare you fully for.
5. Pattern folding - IT CAN BE DONE! When I was first doing practice tests and starting with the keyholes instead of hole punching, I never had time to do pattern folding, so I fooled myself into thinking I didn't need to focus on this much, but boy was I wrong. After watching the strategy videos, I realized that these are easy points too! Just look for the strangest shape and compare it to your answer choices and you will have already narrowed it down. BC's explanations were also ridiculously useful - read them. The real thing was easier than BC.
6. Keyholes - Used my Review button to fly back into Keyhole world. Not horrible. Were there rocks? Yeah, like 5 of them and they were all shaped like aliens, but people here make it sound like literal rocks are being thrown at them. The trick here is to focus on your answer choices more than the actual structure. What are the differences between the choices? How do those differences relate back to the real thing? Use the lines of the rock to help guide you - I found that for rocks, the "front" keyholes were the easiest to decipher first compared to the possible "top" keyholes. Always take proportion into consideration.
7. TFE - Easier than BC! Just like keyholes, focus on the differences between your answer choices and go from there. Know how the right line of the TOP figure relates to the front of the END figure, etc etc. Eliminate eliminate eliminate.
8. Angles - least favorite. On BC tests I scored a low of 6/15 multiple times on this and my highest was 9/15. The real thing was a little easier than BC but honestly I don't have many tips for this one, except perhaps not spending too much time on any one question because then the lines all start looking the same. I had ~4 minutes to answer all 15 questions, but I survived!
9. Hole punching + Cubes + Patterns took me about 20 minutes. TFE and Keyholes took me about 35 minutes. Angles took about 5. If you don't know the answer to TFE/Keyhole, you're better off moving on than being stubborn and finding an answer that could still be wrong.
Break - take the optional break. I stretched and walked outside, got myself mentally ready for RC and QR (kept telling myself the worst was over). Did some breathing/meditation before starting. Whole break for me took 20 minutes.
RC - 25
BC - 21/22/23
1. Didn't record most of my BC RC data since there isn't really much to truly learn from them except for defining your strategy. Here was mine for BC but not for the real DAT: look at all of the questions first and jot down something about the question to jog your memory for when you're going through the passage. The moment a specific pronoun or word showed up, I knew there was a question on it so I went to that question and answered.
2. For the real DAT, I knew going in that the questions would be more in order than BC, so I adjusted my strategy after my first article (especially due to that lag I mentioned before) - I read the first 3-4 questions in advance before starting the article. I noted key terms from the questions and then began to read. As I answered ~2 of the 3-4 questions, I would read the next 2 questions. This worked because there were still questions that could only be answered after reading the whole thing and a few questions that were entirely out of order. For one of my articles, the very first question's answer was not found until the second to last paragraph, which would have delayed me greatly had I had just focused on that one question the entire time. Different things work for different people, but this worked for me! Had 5-10 minutes left over.
3. Highlight! Like, why wouldn't you highlight? Come on now.
4. The articles were actually pretty interesting! One related to my major which was nice, and the other two still grabbed my attention. Despite that, I still found myself drifting off at times (I kept hearing quotes of Gloria from Modern Family in my head while reading, I was like WHY NOW). Keep engaged in the writing and you will be good to go. Many of the answers were word-for-word the same as the article.
QR - 27
BC - 19/20/20/19/19/19/25/24/23/25
1. A lot of you are going to hate me for saying this, but I really enjoy math. I used math-studying as my "breaks" from studying for the sciences. That being said, my confidence flattened for the first 2 or 3 questions of that test. Baby Jesus was that first QC question dreadful. The moment I realized I was just staring blankly at the screen, I moved on and got to answer questions I actually knew how to tackle. Do that - never get stubborn when you run across a difficult question. If you're like me, revisiting the question once you get your easy points will give you a new perspective/understanding of the question and make it possible for you to answer.
2. Lots of algebra, lots of QC. Don't be afraid of noting that the answer cannot be derived from the given info, it happens. Some simple geometry and maybe trig if I recall correctly. The probability and average speed questions were significantly easier than BC, but prepare for the worst as always.
3. Math Destroyer is your best friend. I made flash cards of all the equations in the front of the book and honestly that was all I used as far as formulas go. I did Tests 1-10 and 13. Some of the later tests were just a little too hard and lessened my confidence which is why I decided against doing them (esp with the new QC questions prevailing over crazy trig/geo).
4. Learn the differences between combination and permutation. If CAB = ABC, then order does not matter and it's a combination. Permutation is the other one. Boom.
5. READ the question. I got an age question and I spent valuable time to realize I had misread the age relationships (I was multiplying instead of adding). Don't be like me. Also, don't overthink any of the questions.
6. The algebra was sometimes a little harder than BC, but overall this section was most like BC. The amount of time it took to solve an algebra problem balanced out with easy questions that just asked you to reference a diagram.
7. Just a fun little story - I went back to that first annoying QC question at the end, and I realized that the answer I had marked down was wrong with literally 4 seconds remaining. I never moved quicker - I changed the answer in the last second and the rest is, how do you say, history.
Anyway, thank you to the 2 people who actually ended up reading that whole thing haha. I hope it was useful in some way. I was super nervous up until the first Bio question showed up, but from that moment on I knew it was game time. Feel free to ask any questions, I will be here all week folks.
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