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- Dec 18, 2014
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Hi!
Just took my DAT today and figured I'd post my experience with the exam and hopefully help someone gain a bit of confidence about the exam!
Scores:
PAT: 24
QR: 22
RC: 23
Biology: 26
GC: 20
OC: 24
TS: 23
AA: 23
I only studied for 24 days since I had finals end a few weeks ago and I start a new job tomorrow so I scheduled my exam in a tight spot. However, it was definitely doable. I spent about 10-14 hours a day studying and I made sure to go out and take quick walks to get fresh air every so often. Two days before the exam I just did some light reviewing and the day before I just chilled with friends to relax a bit.
Resources I used: Over winter break I got the 2014 DAT and Math Destroyer as well as Kaplan Blue Book and Cliff's AP Bio. I didn't really use the Kaplan book as I thought Cliff's covered bio much more in depth . I used Feralis notes way more than the books as they summarized everything very well and included lots of small details which are helpful to know. Both destroyer books were definitely the strongest tools for the DAT. I was surprised at how much easier the DAT was than either destroyer book. For gen chem and o chem I used Chad's Videos to touch up on topics I had trouble remembering. When I first began studying I jumped right into the DAT Destroyer and was very discouraged but after running through it twice I learned a ton of information which definitely helped get all the details down for each topic. I also used the 10 test version of CDP PAT and I thought that helped a lot as I went from an 18 to a 23 on the practice tests.
Bio: The questions seemed extremely easy in relation to those in the DAT Destroyer book. Very few of the questions required knowledge of small details, however the first question was a really strange one which had me suspicious right off the bat. Just make sure you know any big topics very well and keep doing bio problems to expose yourself to terms you are not familiar with. I think I finished this section in 10-12 minutes which gave me a lot of time for the gen chem and o chem questions.
GC: Make sure you know some basic lab techniques. Chad's videos were definitely helpful for this section! Watch the videos and do the quizzes that go along with them. Also do not be afraid to mark questions (especially during QR). I think this section takes the longest out of all the natural science questions and I recommend not spending too much time thinking about a problem that stump you.
OC: Once again, Chad's videos really helped out here! Also the DAT Destroyer book had some very useful road maps which contained many important reactions to remember. I would just copy them down every day until i memorized most of them.
PAT: I highly recommend getting the 10 test version of CDP PAT. I was struggling with angle ranking and hole punching when I first started practicing. Make sure you review your mistakes because it really helped me to go back and visualize the correct answers. I felt like the difficulty level was identical to the DAT except for angle ranking which was way easier on the real DAT.
RC: I did not do any practice for this section except for the few practice exams I took. Find a strategy that works best for you when you do a few practice exams. I just used search and destroy to find the answers as I had very few tone questions. I think I was lucky here since two of the readings were topics I was already familiar with.
QR: I was pretty tired and hungry when this section came around but I managed to get through it. I marked about 15 questions the first time I ran through it and came back for the rest. Math Destroyer was much harder than the questions I saw on the real DAT. I also did not encounter many stats problems which I was expecting based on the changes I read.
I took the Topscore practice exams and got a 20, 21 and 21 as my AA's for the three. I felt that they were definitely a bit harder than the real DAT. All in all, I am very pleased with my score. I would recommend studying for 4-6 weeks as opposed to 3.5 as it'd give you more time to take practice exams and work on your weaker topics. Feralis Bio Notes, DAT Destroyer, Math Destroyer, Chad's Videos and CDP PAT worked out very well. Good luck to everyone else who is getting ready to take the DAT!
Just took my DAT today and figured I'd post my experience with the exam and hopefully help someone gain a bit of confidence about the exam!
Scores:
PAT: 24
QR: 22
RC: 23
Biology: 26
GC: 20
OC: 24
TS: 23
AA: 23
I only studied for 24 days since I had finals end a few weeks ago and I start a new job tomorrow so I scheduled my exam in a tight spot. However, it was definitely doable. I spent about 10-14 hours a day studying and I made sure to go out and take quick walks to get fresh air every so often. Two days before the exam I just did some light reviewing and the day before I just chilled with friends to relax a bit.
Resources I used: Over winter break I got the 2014 DAT and Math Destroyer as well as Kaplan Blue Book and Cliff's AP Bio. I didn't really use the Kaplan book as I thought Cliff's covered bio much more in depth . I used Feralis notes way more than the books as they summarized everything very well and included lots of small details which are helpful to know. Both destroyer books were definitely the strongest tools for the DAT. I was surprised at how much easier the DAT was than either destroyer book. For gen chem and o chem I used Chad's Videos to touch up on topics I had trouble remembering. When I first began studying I jumped right into the DAT Destroyer and was very discouraged but after running through it twice I learned a ton of information which definitely helped get all the details down for each topic. I also used the 10 test version of CDP PAT and I thought that helped a lot as I went from an 18 to a 23 on the practice tests.
Bio: The questions seemed extremely easy in relation to those in the DAT Destroyer book. Very few of the questions required knowledge of small details, however the first question was a really strange one which had me suspicious right off the bat. Just make sure you know any big topics very well and keep doing bio problems to expose yourself to terms you are not familiar with. I think I finished this section in 10-12 minutes which gave me a lot of time for the gen chem and o chem questions.
GC: Make sure you know some basic lab techniques. Chad's videos were definitely helpful for this section! Watch the videos and do the quizzes that go along with them. Also do not be afraid to mark questions (especially during QR). I think this section takes the longest out of all the natural science questions and I recommend not spending too much time thinking about a problem that stump you.
OC: Once again, Chad's videos really helped out here! Also the DAT Destroyer book had some very useful road maps which contained many important reactions to remember. I would just copy them down every day until i memorized most of them.
PAT: I highly recommend getting the 10 test version of CDP PAT. I was struggling with angle ranking and hole punching when I first started practicing. Make sure you review your mistakes because it really helped me to go back and visualize the correct answers. I felt like the difficulty level was identical to the DAT except for angle ranking which was way easier on the real DAT.
RC: I did not do any practice for this section except for the few practice exams I took. Find a strategy that works best for you when you do a few practice exams. I just used search and destroy to find the answers as I had very few tone questions. I think I was lucky here since two of the readings were topics I was already familiar with.
QR: I was pretty tired and hungry when this section came around but I managed to get through it. I marked about 15 questions the first time I ran through it and came back for the rest. Math Destroyer was much harder than the questions I saw on the real DAT. I also did not encounter many stats problems which I was expecting based on the changes I read.
I took the Topscore practice exams and got a 20, 21 and 21 as my AA's for the three. I felt that they were definitely a bit harder than the real DAT. All in all, I am very pleased with my score. I would recommend studying for 4-6 weeks as opposed to 3.5 as it'd give you more time to take practice exams and work on your weaker topics. Feralis Bio Notes, DAT Destroyer, Math Destroyer, Chad's Videos and CDP PAT worked out very well. Good luck to everyone else who is getting ready to take the DAT!
