Hello all!
Like many others, I found this site incredibly helpful and a source of motivation when I was super down about studying and so I wanted to pay it forward and write a breakdown of my own! (finally!)
Scores:
PAT 22
QR 20
Reading 26
Bio 24
GC 19
Orgo 22
TS 21
AA22
2007 practice (same order as above) :
21/24/21/27/20/28 /24/24
2009 practice:
21/19/(N/A reading)/22/18/19 /20 /20
CDP:
16/20/22/20/20/20/23/22
What I used to study:
Kaplan: I would not recommend the course, but the online resources are incredibly valuable. Not sure if they're worth the $1000+ bucks, but I can definitely say I benefited A LOT from it. I took 5 online full-length practice tests and they got me the most comfortable with the layout, how to pace myself, what strategy worked best for me in terms of getting the easy points first and then going back, etc. I personally am a horrible test-taker, and this gets amplified when in a high stress environment like standardized testing! Because of nerves, during my 15 min break I actually went to the bathroom mostly to wipe my armpits!
My diagnostic was a 16, and then I went up 1 pt after every test, but plateaued at 19. (meaning I got a 19 for the last 2 tests)
Destroyer: I went through destroyer about 2.5 times, which I think helped a lot. My recommendation is not to use the Destroyer as a textbook and memorize all the random facts, but use it as a tool to learn HOW to answer a question that you have no idea what the effin answer is. After the 1st pass through, I realized that I could've gotten way more questions right, if I had taken the time to read the question and ALL the answers carefully, and then eliminate based on what I knew. Breadth over specifics is definitely key! It's easy to stress out about all the little facts, but the DAT mostly covers basic information.
Chad's videos: Obvi he's the man. I just couldn't get the hang of Gen chem world problems. I knew all the info, and got almost 100%'s on chad's quizzes, but whatever. I was expecting a score around 19 so no surprises there!
Math Destroyer: I did the first 5 tests, and they helped me get faster, but I still ran out of time on the real thing. The best tip I can give is to ignore the questions you know you can't solve with 100% accuracy, and just go through and get all the easy points. I marked C for at least 5-7 problems and still got a 20.
CDP: I was getting nervous the week or 2 before my exam because breakdown and breakdown was saying that CDP is outdated and that Bootcamp is the way to go. I disagree completely! I did the 1 free test for Bootcamp and it was very challenging and helpful, but in my opinion, overkill. The explanations weren't anything I didn't get from CDP, but if you're having a particularly tough time, it is quite nice to have the colored lines to show how to get to the answer. I do think Bootcamp is a better value though, since you get a subscription to the whole site instead of just PAT material.
For CDP practice I was scoring consistently between a 20-22, and I got a 22 on the real thing. Pretty spot on! I thought everything was on the same level or easier than CDP. Angles were killer, but I always do horrible on those.
For keyholes, I know that some say that the real DAT focuses on proportions and that CDP focuses on shapes. This is true to an extent. On the real test, you could usually eliminate all answers but 2 based on shape, then find the correct answer by comparing proportions. It's not exclusively shapes, nor exclusively proportions.
Cubes and keyholes on par with CDP. Hole punches a bit easier than CDP tests. More similar to the CDP hole punch generator.
Bootcamp (free materials):
Questions of the Day are aweeeesome! Very similar feel and level of difficulty to the real test. I did those leisurely (along with notecards) for the 2 days before my exam, and it boosted my confidence immensely. Sections test are much much harder.
Some overall tidbits about the exam:
- Bio was mostly 1st year bio material, hardly anything on anatomy. Similar to another recent breakdown, there was a microscope question (Know the difference between scanning and transmission!). Lot's of cells/organelles, basic genetics, and definitions.
- My reading articles were on geckos (was the most interesting one), preventative testing of diseases, and addiction. All were between 8 and 11 paragraphs. The only preparation I did for this were the full length practice tests I took. I used Kaplan's method of writing a few words for each paragraph as notes, but I mostly did search and destroy. For only a question or 2 did writing the outline help.
I hardcore studied for 5 weeks between 6-8 hours a day (but broken up in 2 to 3 hour increments), and my goal was a 20. Needless to say I'm incredibly happy with my results! Sometimes it can be intimidating seeing a lot of people here scoring 24+ on all sections, but that is not the norm!! I would've been ecstatic with a 20, and so I'm deliriously happy with a 22, lol. So don't sell yourself short! Aim high and study HARD, because hard work pays off!
All I can say is study smart and stay confident because half of the test is knowing that you can do it! Just let the information flowwww from your brain and into the computer! haha
I wish you future test-takers the best of luck!! And thanks to the rest of you for the support!
And let me know if you have any questions!
Like many others, I found this site incredibly helpful and a source of motivation when I was super down about studying and so I wanted to pay it forward and write a breakdown of my own! (finally!)
Scores:
PAT 22
QR 20
Reading 26
Bio 24
GC 19
Orgo 22
TS 21
AA22
2007 practice (same order as above) :
21/24/21/27/20/28 /24/24
2009 practice:
21/19/(N/A reading)/22/18/19 /20 /20
CDP:
16/20/22/20/20/20/23/22
What I used to study:
Kaplan: I would not recommend the course, but the online resources are incredibly valuable. Not sure if they're worth the $1000+ bucks, but I can definitely say I benefited A LOT from it. I took 5 online full-length practice tests and they got me the most comfortable with the layout, how to pace myself, what strategy worked best for me in terms of getting the easy points first and then going back, etc. I personally am a horrible test-taker, and this gets amplified when in a high stress environment like standardized testing! Because of nerves, during my 15 min break I actually went to the bathroom mostly to wipe my armpits!
My diagnostic was a 16, and then I went up 1 pt after every test, but plateaued at 19. (meaning I got a 19 for the last 2 tests)
Destroyer: I went through destroyer about 2.5 times, which I think helped a lot. My recommendation is not to use the Destroyer as a textbook and memorize all the random facts, but use it as a tool to learn HOW to answer a question that you have no idea what the effin answer is. After the 1st pass through, I realized that I could've gotten way more questions right, if I had taken the time to read the question and ALL the answers carefully, and then eliminate based on what I knew. Breadth over specifics is definitely key! It's easy to stress out about all the little facts, but the DAT mostly covers basic information.
Chad's videos: Obvi he's the man. I just couldn't get the hang of Gen chem world problems. I knew all the info, and got almost 100%'s on chad's quizzes, but whatever. I was expecting a score around 19 so no surprises there!
Math Destroyer: I did the first 5 tests, and they helped me get faster, but I still ran out of time on the real thing. The best tip I can give is to ignore the questions you know you can't solve with 100% accuracy, and just go through and get all the easy points. I marked C for at least 5-7 problems and still got a 20.
CDP: I was getting nervous the week or 2 before my exam because breakdown and breakdown was saying that CDP is outdated and that Bootcamp is the way to go. I disagree completely! I did the 1 free test for Bootcamp and it was very challenging and helpful, but in my opinion, overkill. The explanations weren't anything I didn't get from CDP, but if you're having a particularly tough time, it is quite nice to have the colored lines to show how to get to the answer. I do think Bootcamp is a better value though, since you get a subscription to the whole site instead of just PAT material.
For CDP practice I was scoring consistently between a 20-22, and I got a 22 on the real thing. Pretty spot on! I thought everything was on the same level or easier than CDP. Angles were killer, but I always do horrible on those.
For keyholes, I know that some say that the real DAT focuses on proportions and that CDP focuses on shapes. This is true to an extent. On the real test, you could usually eliminate all answers but 2 based on shape, then find the correct answer by comparing proportions. It's not exclusively shapes, nor exclusively proportions.
Cubes and keyholes on par with CDP. Hole punches a bit easier than CDP tests. More similar to the CDP hole punch generator.
Bootcamp (free materials):
Questions of the Day are aweeeesome! Very similar feel and level of difficulty to the real test. I did those leisurely (along with notecards) for the 2 days before my exam, and it boosted my confidence immensely. Sections test are much much harder.
Some overall tidbits about the exam:
- Bio was mostly 1st year bio material, hardly anything on anatomy. Similar to another recent breakdown, there was a microscope question (Know the difference between scanning and transmission!). Lot's of cells/organelles, basic genetics, and definitions.
- My reading articles were on geckos (was the most interesting one), preventative testing of diseases, and addiction. All were between 8 and 11 paragraphs. The only preparation I did for this were the full length practice tests I took. I used Kaplan's method of writing a few words for each paragraph as notes, but I mostly did search and destroy. For only a question or 2 did writing the outline help.
I hardcore studied for 5 weeks between 6-8 hours a day (but broken up in 2 to 3 hour increments), and my goal was a 20. Needless to say I'm incredibly happy with my results! Sometimes it can be intimidating seeing a lot of people here scoring 24+ on all sections, but that is not the norm!! I would've been ecstatic with a 20, and so I'm deliriously happy with a 22, lol. So don't sell yourself short! Aim high and study HARD, because hard work pays off!
All I can say is study smart and stay confident because half of the test is knowing that you can do it! Just let the information flowwww from your brain and into the computer! haha
I wish you future test-takers the best of luck!! And thanks to the rest of you for the support!
And let me know if you have any questions!
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