Hi guys
I took the DAT yesterday day:
Bio/GC/OC/RC/QR/PAT/TS/AA
21/26/20/19/25/20/21/22
Study materials: Destroyer + math destroyer, bootcamp, chad's videos, RusselDW and feralis notes
I started studying during winter break. During winter break I finished chad's gen chem and ochem videos. I studied throughout the semester as well. This I felt was a mistake. I was only taking 13 hours but my classes were biochem, physics 2, and integrated biology. My schedule was pretty hectic with those classes, DAT studying, and everything else I'm involved in. If you want to study through the semester I would recommend have a very light class schedule with easier classes. DAT studying definitely hurt my GPA this semester, which I regret but at least I got a good DAT score out of it. During the semester I would watch one or two of chad's OC videos, play the trainer game on BC, and read a scientific article. Once I upgraded BC, I replaced the training game with 15 questions of any of the PAT generator. After I finished with ochem videos I did 20 ochem and gen chem problems out of destroyer a day. Also, I was taking week or two breaks when it came to exam time. As soon as finals ended, I was doing 8-12 hour days. I went through destroyer again, doing about 2/3 of OC and GC and one time of bio. I also worked on math destroyer, bootcamp, and read through russeldw's bio notes
Bio: Sources: outlined 3/4 of cliffs, destroyer, RusselDW and feralis notes
This is the section I felt least prepared for. I felt like I knew nothing when going through it on the DAT. Luckily I was about able to narrow most questions I had problems with to two choices. Destroyer was great for this section. I went through it once and made flashcards over questions I missed. I ended up doing ~200 questions a few days before my exam. BC was great too; I really appreciated its explanations for each question and the mnemonics they provided. I also watched some youtube videos over concepts I had trouble with.
GC: Sources: Destroyer, chad's, bootcamp
This was my strongest section. The questions on the real DAT seemed really easy I'm not sure what I got wrong but I will take a 26 on this section. Destroyer and bootcamp were great.
OC: Sources: Destroyer, chad's, bootcamp
A little disappointed with my score here. I could have done better but a 20 is alright.
PAT: Sources: Bootcamp
PAT was a lot easier than BC I felt like. I got some really easy problems and then some insanely hard problem, especially in keyhole. I was getting consistent 17's on BC's PAT with a few 19's.
RC:
Probably my weakest section. I never broke 20 on BC and even got a 16 on one sections lol. On the real DAT. BC was much harder than the real thing I thought. My first passage was really easy and then the second and third were significantly harder. I ran out of time and had to guess on the last 4 questions.
QR: Sources: Math destroyer, chads
One of my better sections. The new quantitative comparison questions were weird. A couple of those is probably what I missed. Everything else was on par with math destroyer and BC. Chad's videos are just basics and didn't really help me much aside from a few videos. I ended up doing 11 math destroyer tests. I would have done them all if I had the time. This was a great resource. I was getting 19's on BC with one 23. This is mostly because the QC questions. The QC questions were a lot easier on the real thing. I only had one QC that I struggled with.
Overall tips:
Be positive and confident when studying. This is a difficult exam to study for and at times you will feel unprepared. Be confident in yourself and always have a positive mindset. Set a goal and use that as motivation. My goal was a 23, but I won't complain with a 22.
Limit distractions. I knew I easily get distracted by phone, youtube videos, and sometimes SDN lol. I would leave my phone at home when studying and use an app to block certain websites on my laptop.
Have a couple strong sections. As you can see from my scores, mine were QR and GC. The chems and QR are easy sections imo to be strong in. A few strong sections can really boost your score and get you over a 20 aa.
Don't worry too much about practice tests. Make sure you understand the material on them rather than focusing on the score. Go through each of them thoroughly and notice your weaknesses. Also the 2009 practice test is a little outdated imo. The science sections are close to the real thing. But the QR doesn't have any quantitative comparison, and had some weird mirror problems that I never saw before. The PAT section was insanely easy; I got a 23 on it and finished early which never happens for me. The reading section I thought was a little hard since but ended up being pretty close to the section I got on the real thing.
Thank you all for reading! I tried to keep this short because my breakdown is similar to all the other breakdowns on here already. Let me know if you have any questions!
Also shoutout to Dr. Romano, Ari, and Chad and their respective products.
I took the DAT yesterday day:
Bio/GC/OC/RC/QR/PAT/TS/AA
21/26/20/19/25/20/21/22
Study materials: Destroyer + math destroyer, bootcamp, chad's videos, RusselDW and feralis notes
I started studying during winter break. During winter break I finished chad's gen chem and ochem videos. I studied throughout the semester as well. This I felt was a mistake. I was only taking 13 hours but my classes were biochem, physics 2, and integrated biology. My schedule was pretty hectic with those classes, DAT studying, and everything else I'm involved in. If you want to study through the semester I would recommend have a very light class schedule with easier classes. DAT studying definitely hurt my GPA this semester, which I regret but at least I got a good DAT score out of it. During the semester I would watch one or two of chad's OC videos, play the trainer game on BC, and read a scientific article. Once I upgraded BC, I replaced the training game with 15 questions of any of the PAT generator. After I finished with ochem videos I did 20 ochem and gen chem problems out of destroyer a day. Also, I was taking week or two breaks when it came to exam time. As soon as finals ended, I was doing 8-12 hour days. I went through destroyer again, doing about 2/3 of OC and GC and one time of bio. I also worked on math destroyer, bootcamp, and read through russeldw's bio notes
Bio: Sources: outlined 3/4 of cliffs, destroyer, RusselDW and feralis notes
This is the section I felt least prepared for. I felt like I knew nothing when going through it on the DAT. Luckily I was about able to narrow most questions I had problems with to two choices. Destroyer was great for this section. I went through it once and made flashcards over questions I missed. I ended up doing ~200 questions a few days before my exam. BC was great too; I really appreciated its explanations for each question and the mnemonics they provided. I also watched some youtube videos over concepts I had trouble with.
GC: Sources: Destroyer, chad's, bootcamp
This was my strongest section. The questions on the real DAT seemed really easy I'm not sure what I got wrong but I will take a 26 on this section. Destroyer and bootcamp were great.
OC: Sources: Destroyer, chad's, bootcamp
A little disappointed with my score here. I could have done better but a 20 is alright.
PAT: Sources: Bootcamp
PAT was a lot easier than BC I felt like. I got some really easy problems and then some insanely hard problem, especially in keyhole. I was getting consistent 17's on BC's PAT with a few 19's.
RC:
Probably my weakest section. I never broke 20 on BC and even got a 16 on one sections lol. On the real DAT. BC was much harder than the real thing I thought. My first passage was really easy and then the second and third were significantly harder. I ran out of time and had to guess on the last 4 questions.
QR: Sources: Math destroyer, chads
One of my better sections. The new quantitative comparison questions were weird. A couple of those is probably what I missed. Everything else was on par with math destroyer and BC. Chad's videos are just basics and didn't really help me much aside from a few videos. I ended up doing 11 math destroyer tests. I would have done them all if I had the time. This was a great resource. I was getting 19's on BC with one 23. This is mostly because the QC questions. The QC questions were a lot easier on the real thing. I only had one QC that I struggled with.
Overall tips:
Be positive and confident when studying. This is a difficult exam to study for and at times you will feel unprepared. Be confident in yourself and always have a positive mindset. Set a goal and use that as motivation. My goal was a 23, but I won't complain with a 22.
Limit distractions. I knew I easily get distracted by phone, youtube videos, and sometimes SDN lol. I would leave my phone at home when studying and use an app to block certain websites on my laptop.
Have a couple strong sections. As you can see from my scores, mine were QR and GC. The chems and QR are easy sections imo to be strong in. A few strong sections can really boost your score and get you over a 20 aa.
Don't worry too much about practice tests. Make sure you understand the material on them rather than focusing on the score. Go through each of them thoroughly and notice your weaknesses. Also the 2009 practice test is a little outdated imo. The science sections are close to the real thing. But the QR doesn't have any quantitative comparison, and had some weird mirror problems that I never saw before. The PAT section was insanely easy; I got a 23 on it and finished early which never happens for me. The reading section I thought was a little hard since but ended up being pretty close to the section I got on the real thing.
Thank you all for reading! I tried to keep this short because my breakdown is similar to all the other breakdowns on here already. Let me know if you have any questions!
Also shoutout to Dr. Romano, Ari, and Chad and their respective products.
