- Joined
- Feb 11, 2014
- Messages
- 22
- Reaction score
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Hey guys!
I took my DAT yesterday, and here are my scores:
RC: 22
PAT: 20
QR: 18
Chem: 23
Orgo: 23
Bio: 25
Total science: 24
Academic average: 22
QR was a little lower than I would have liked, but I'm happy with the outcome overall. Especially the sciences. I don't profess to be any kind of expert, but I figured I'd do a DAT breakdown to share what worked for me, so maybe it'll be helpful to someone else
Study materials:
-Crack the DAT (8/10)
-Chads orgo videos/quizzes (10/10)
-DAT DESTROYER !!! (12/10)
Orgo: When I began studying, this was by far my weakest section. Orgo had always been a bit of a struggle for me, and it had been three years since I had looked at the subject. I dedicated my first week of studying to watching chads videos and doing his quizzes to refresh my memory, and then I began using destroyer to really test my understanding. Personally, I feel this combo worked great. Chad videos are good at simplifying difficult concepts, and the destroyer is great for exposing you to a variety of challenging problems to make sure you really learned the information.
Chem: For chem I used the destroyer and chad's quizzes. Chads quizzes are more simple and test your basic skill set. Once I was comfortable with the basics, I started using the destroyer to expand my ability to apply these concepts. Typically I did 30 problems at a time (as it is on the DAT) and then I would go back and check them and see what I got wrong and why. Toward the end of the chem section of destroyer I began to time myself as well to ensure that I would be able to pace myself for the DAT.
BIO: For this section I really only used the destroyer (and some YouTube videos). Destroyer bio is amazing. Make sure you read the answers carefully! As weird as this sounds, the night before my exam I just read through the solution section of destroyer bio... but it really paid off!
PAT: For PAT I used crack the DAT. I actually think the real PAT section is a similar difficultly level. On my initial practice exams I got all 17's and I was getting extremely frustrated, however, after reading SDN and watching a series of YouTube videos, I was able to improve my strategy and save time. For this section, practice makes perfect. I tried to do a practice pat section every other night during the weeks leading up to my exam.
QR: For QR I used the destroyer and chads videos. Honestly I'm not sure what happened on this section- I guess I was just tired and stressed by that point in the exam. Typically math is one of my strong suits, so it's possible I was overly confident and didn't practice enough.
RC: Honestly, I didn't really study for RC. I did a practice section and read through the old exams, but I'm a pretty avid reader so I figured my time would be better spent focusing on the sciences. The reading on the DAT really isn't bad at all. My passages were about 10 paragraphs long, however, these paragraphs were pretty short and the information wasn't too dense. If you're a good reader, you should be fine on this section.
General advice: In my opinion, the most important things you can do are 1) make a plan. Figure out what materials you're going to use, and what specific things you'll do each day. This way you'll be able to use your time efficiently and make sure you get everything done before your exam. 2) STAY CALM! I know in the weeks leading up to my exam I began to get really stressed and I realized it was having a negative impact on my retention of information and overall study efficiency. You need a clear mind to do well on this, so try to keep yourself happy and relaxed. I made sure I got out and ran everyday as an outlet for stress.
Post and let me know if you have any questions- I'd be happy to answer them
Best of luck to everyone studying!
I took my DAT yesterday, and here are my scores:
RC: 22
PAT: 20
QR: 18
Chem: 23
Orgo: 23
Bio: 25
Total science: 24
Academic average: 22
QR was a little lower than I would have liked, but I'm happy with the outcome overall. Especially the sciences. I don't profess to be any kind of expert, but I figured I'd do a DAT breakdown to share what worked for me, so maybe it'll be helpful to someone else
Study materials:
-Crack the DAT (8/10)
-Chads orgo videos/quizzes (10/10)
-DAT DESTROYER !!! (12/10)
Orgo: When I began studying, this was by far my weakest section. Orgo had always been a bit of a struggle for me, and it had been three years since I had looked at the subject. I dedicated my first week of studying to watching chads videos and doing his quizzes to refresh my memory, and then I began using destroyer to really test my understanding. Personally, I feel this combo worked great. Chad videos are good at simplifying difficult concepts, and the destroyer is great for exposing you to a variety of challenging problems to make sure you really learned the information.
Chem: For chem I used the destroyer and chad's quizzes. Chads quizzes are more simple and test your basic skill set. Once I was comfortable with the basics, I started using the destroyer to expand my ability to apply these concepts. Typically I did 30 problems at a time (as it is on the DAT) and then I would go back and check them and see what I got wrong and why. Toward the end of the chem section of destroyer I began to time myself as well to ensure that I would be able to pace myself for the DAT.
BIO: For this section I really only used the destroyer (and some YouTube videos). Destroyer bio is amazing. Make sure you read the answers carefully! As weird as this sounds, the night before my exam I just read through the solution section of destroyer bio... but it really paid off!
PAT: For PAT I used crack the DAT. I actually think the real PAT section is a similar difficultly level. On my initial practice exams I got all 17's and I was getting extremely frustrated, however, after reading SDN and watching a series of YouTube videos, I was able to improve my strategy and save time. For this section, practice makes perfect. I tried to do a practice pat section every other night during the weeks leading up to my exam.
QR: For QR I used the destroyer and chads videos. Honestly I'm not sure what happened on this section- I guess I was just tired and stressed by that point in the exam. Typically math is one of my strong suits, so it's possible I was overly confident and didn't practice enough.
RC: Honestly, I didn't really study for RC. I did a practice section and read through the old exams, but I'm a pretty avid reader so I figured my time would be better spent focusing on the sciences. The reading on the DAT really isn't bad at all. My passages were about 10 paragraphs long, however, these paragraphs were pretty short and the information wasn't too dense. If you're a good reader, you should be fine on this section.
General advice: In my opinion, the most important things you can do are 1) make a plan. Figure out what materials you're going to use, and what specific things you'll do each day. This way you'll be able to use your time efficiently and make sure you get everything done before your exam. 2) STAY CALM! I know in the weeks leading up to my exam I began to get really stressed and I realized it was having a negative impact on my retention of information and overall study efficiency. You need a clear mind to do well on this, so try to keep yourself happy and relaxed. I made sure I got out and ran everyday as an outlet for stress.
Post and let me know if you have any questions- I'd be happy to answer them
Best of luck to everyone studying!
Great!! Well done!
