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So I just took my DAT for the 2nd time this Saturday (Day before my 21 bday) and had to drive from Buffalo to Toronto to take it. The first time I took it I took Kaplan, used Chads videos, Cliffs Bio, Crack DAT PAT, and Topscore while studying for ~3 months. Scores were PAT-19, Bio-17, QR-16, OC-20,GC-20, RC-20 so AA19, TS19, and PA19. I knew I had to retake it right after but really didnt want to. 2nd time I only studied for ~ 4 weeks, plus I was helping my family move to a new house. This time I got Destroyer with the extra math, used old SAT Math books, used Crack DAT PAT, Cliffs Bio, Chads videos, and Achiever. Scores were PAT-22, Bio-20, QR-21, OC-25, GC-23, RC-18 
so AA 22, TS 21, PA 22. Pretty sick increase haha 
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So I took the 1st test in October trying to get it out of the way and just messed up my physics grade at school and self-confidence. But it was for the better, this time I knew how to study, the extra 2 semesters of upper level bios helped a lot, and I knew what to expect.
So I ended school and started studying the next week. I started by going through the SAT math because I needed the most help in this. Then went through my old orgo book, watched Chad and did all his quizzes and stuff, and read cliffs and did the questions all in about 1.5 weeks. Next, I bought Destroyer and started that right away, this is maybe 3 wks till test. I would do ~ 40 questions from each section a day and did the entire QR in 2 days. After getting through the main book, I started doing a CDP and extra Math destroyer test twice a day until I finished those. With CDP I would average ~ 23 on the tests, best advice is to finish with ~ 15 mins left and go through the marked ones, usually ~10 angles and 1 or 2 TFE and pattern folds for me. And do the Kaplan method for cube counting where you make a little table, count the total cubes and then count the individual sides, make sure they add up (ex. 5 total cubes means 1 1-sided, 2 3-sided, and 2 5-sided). For RC I had ethics and do not know where I messed up, i thought i killed it but whatever. And for the sciences and math at least 4 questions right off of destroyer.
My CDP test scores were similar the 1st and 2nd time I went through them. On the real DAT the holes for hole punching look a little different and angles are harder CDP is very good overall. Achiever kinda sucks because it is hard. With Destroyer, I would circle the problems I got wrong and went through those 2x before the final test. Achiever tests were around 18 for all sections except RC.
Best advice is to get Destroyer, the 1st DAT I took I wanted to get it but was killing Kaplan and didnt think I needed it and look how that turned out. I really didnt get discouraged like some people say did, I just saw my mistake and realized it made sense according to the fundamentals of OC. Get off SDN, the 1st test I was addicting to reading these things and would get so anxious and havent been back on since this post. There is no doubt you will have test anxiety so do your best to calm down (breathing, yoga, chillin) if you studied hard, once you start the test all the nerves will go away and it will be just like how you practiced, hopefully. It might sound stupid but take it sooner rather than later, you will never fully know everything. Chads new videos are the tits and would def recommend them. Start with easy stuff like the videos and SAT math working up to destroyer and achiever, which is very hard but informative. Use the practice test for timing rather that predicting your score. And the last week before the test, slow it down and just take a practice test a day and go through it when you are done so you dont burn out. I have 3.5+ cGPA and sGPA, dad is a dentist, have some good ecs, and will be applying by Wednesday to UB, Pitt, SB, UCOL, Maryland, UNC, VCU, and maybe 1 or 2 more.
so AA 22, TS 21, PA 22. Pretty sick increase haha . So I took the 1st test in October trying to get it out of the way and just messed up my physics grade at school and self-confidence. But it was for the better, this time I knew how to study, the extra 2 semesters of upper level bios helped a lot, and I knew what to expect.
So I ended school and started studying the next week. I started by going through the SAT math because I needed the most help in this. Then went through my old orgo book, watched Chad and did all his quizzes and stuff, and read cliffs and did the questions all in about 1.5 weeks. Next, I bought Destroyer and started that right away, this is maybe 3 wks till test. I would do ~ 40 questions from each section a day and did the entire QR in 2 days. After getting through the main book, I started doing a CDP and extra Math destroyer test twice a day until I finished those. With CDP I would average ~ 23 on the tests, best advice is to finish with ~ 15 mins left and go through the marked ones, usually ~10 angles and 1 or 2 TFE and pattern folds for me. And do the Kaplan method for cube counting where you make a little table, count the total cubes and then count the individual sides, make sure they add up (ex. 5 total cubes means 1 1-sided, 2 3-sided, and 2 5-sided). For RC I had ethics and do not know where I messed up, i thought i killed it but whatever. And for the sciences and math at least 4 questions right off of destroyer.
My CDP test scores were similar the 1st and 2nd time I went through them. On the real DAT the holes for hole punching look a little different and angles are harder CDP is very good overall. Achiever kinda sucks because it is hard. With Destroyer, I would circle the problems I got wrong and went through those 2x before the final test. Achiever tests were around 18 for all sections except RC.
Best advice is to get Destroyer, the 1st DAT I took I wanted to get it but was killing Kaplan and didnt think I needed it and look how that turned out. I really didnt get discouraged like some people say did, I just saw my mistake and realized it made sense according to the fundamentals of OC. Get off SDN, the 1st test I was addicting to reading these things and would get so anxious and havent been back on since this post. There is no doubt you will have test anxiety so do your best to calm down (breathing, yoga, chillin) if you studied hard, once you start the test all the nerves will go away and it will be just like how you practiced, hopefully. It might sound stupid but take it sooner rather than later, you will never fully know everything. Chads new videos are the tits and would def recommend them. Start with easy stuff like the videos and SAT math working up to destroyer and achiever, which is very hard but informative. Use the practice test for timing rather that predicting your score. And the last week before the test, slow it down and just take a practice test a day and go through it when you are done so you dont burn out. I have 3.5+ cGPA and sGPA, dad is a dentist, have some good ecs, and will be applying by Wednesday to UB, Pitt, SB, UCOL, Maryland, UNC, VCU, and maybe 1 or 2 more.
