DAT Breakdown 6/30

[DocLime]

It has been a long journey, 4 months of 6 hour a day studying, and now it is over. Thankfully with some pretty decent scores .

I finished every section with time to spare and I attribute most of my success to the study method I posted here. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...-orgo-gen-chem-and-bio.1145815/#post-16627127 .

PAT 22: Easier than bootcamp. Angles were very obvious. Not much to say about it. Finished with 30 minutes to spare and was able to go over the entire test twice. Some of the Keyholes were like nothing I have ever seen before. Basically big rocks. Also some of the pattern fold were very "unconventional". Crack the DAT was a very on par representation of this section.

QR 24: Didn't really study for this section much. Did about 3 math destroyer tests and all of bootcamp's tests. Easier than bootcamp on most of the questions, but a few were incredibly tricky. Also had a few questions where the answer was literally in the question's wording, no math required at all. I finished this section with 10 minutes to spare, but timed out while checking my answers.

RC 24: Articles were really interesting! One of them I had even read before online, or at least something very similar. Didn't study for this section at all, not even Bootcamp's tests. I honestly found it easier than the SAT reading section. Finished with 15 minutes and used the time to breathe and relax for QR.

Bio 22: Woah, this was a hard section. Half of the questions were very easy. Like straight out of destroyer or bootcamp, but easier. The other half was application based stuff I have never seen before. Even a few questions involving pretty hard math. Qvault has some very obscure questions, and running though those saved me on a lot of the harder ones in this section. I still don't understand some of the things I was asked here.

GC 24: Most of the questions in this section felt free. Easier than destroyer or bootcamp. A few of the questions were math based with very small differences in the answer choices. I have a feeling those were the ones I tripped up on as I am very calculator reliant in my college courses.

OC 27: This section was easier than any of the practice material I used. No tricks, all basic stuff. Most of the questions were short and pretty free. A few hard NMR's and IR's but I memorized all the numbers so it wasn't a big deal. Destroyer's maps (and the flashcards I made out of them) were great preparation.

Finished the natural sciences with 20 minutes to spare. I used the time to prepare my grids and pre-solve some possible hole punches in case I happened to get one of them (I actually got a few ).

Resources:

College Education - More important than anything else. You can't do well on this test without good fundamentals.

Destroyer - DAT destroyer was excellent, probably the best workbook out there. Math Destroyer was overkill for me personally, but is totally justifiable if you feel like you need the extra practice.

Bootcamp - Harder than the real thing thing, but a very good overall representation of the test.

Qvault - Most comprehensive biology questions out there, and there are TONS of them. Used it for the other sections too where it was just ok.

Crack the DAT - Probably the best PAT practice next to the bootcamp generators. Other sections were good but nothing special.

Feralis' Notes - Used these notes along with Cliff's notes to write my own set of biology notes. Great way to refresh, not so great if you have never been exposed to the material.

Cliff's Notes - Best biology review money can buy!

Studied 4-6 hours a day for 4 months. Very satisfied with my scores. Thank you to everyone on these forums for all the great breakdowns and resource recommendations!

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[Trojantwc]

Congratulations!!!

I'm glad I wasn't the only one completely thrown off by the bio section haha
It was harder than any practice exam I had ever taken.

Job well done

 

[Jqj44]

Great job!

 

[BYU4you]

Those rocks are crazy!

 

[DocLime]

Those rocks are crazy!

I know right? Straight up boulders with very small differences in the answers. I tried to solve them like I do pattern folding; by looking for specific shapes on the largest faces of the object.

 

[510586]

It has bdifferently?journey, 4 months of 6 hour a day studying, and now it is over. Thankfully with some pretty decent scores .

I finished every section with time to spare and I attribute most of my success to the study method I posted here. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...-orgo-gen-chem-and-bio.1145815/#post-16627127 .

PAT 22: Easier than bootcamp. Angles were very obvious. Not much to say about it. Finished with 30 minutes to spare and was able to go over the entire test twice. Some of the Keyholes were like nothing I have ever seen before. Basically big rocks. Also some of the pattern fold were very "unconventional". Crack the DAT was a very on par representation of this section.

QR 24: Didn't really study for this section much. Did about 3 math destroyer tests and all of bootcamp's tests. Easier than bootcamp on most of the questions, but a few were incredibly tricky. Also had a few questions where the answer was literally in the question's wording, no math required at all. I finished this section with 10 minutes to spare, but timed out while checking my answers.

RC 24: Articles were really interesting! One of them I had even read before online, or at least something very similar. Didn't study for this section at all, not even Bootcamp's tests. I honestly found it easier than the SAT reading section. Finished with 15 minutes and used the time to breathe and relax for QR.

Bio 22: Woah, this was a hard section. Half of the questions were very easy. Like straight out of destroyer or bootcamp, but easier. The other half was application based stuff I have never seen before. Even a few questions involving pretty hard math. Qvault has some very obscure questions, and running though those saved me on a lot of the harder ones in this section. I still don't understand some of the things I was asked here.

GC 24: Most of the questions in this section felt free. Easier than destroyer or bootcamp. A few of the questions were math based with very small differences in the answer choices. I have a feeling those were the ones I tripped up on as I am very calculator reliant in my college courses.

OC 27: This section was easier than any of the practice material I used. No tricks, all basic stuff. Most of the questions were short and pretty free. A few hard NMR's and IR's but I memorized all the numbers so it wasn't a big deal. Destroyer's maps (and the flashcards I made out of them) were great preparation.

Finished the natural sciences with 20 minutes to spare. I used the time to prepare my grids and pre-solve some possible hole punches in case I happened to get one of them (I actually got a few ).

Resources:

College Education - More important than anything else. You can't do well on this test without good fundamentals.

Destroyer - DAT destroyer was excellent, probably the best workbook out there. Math Destroyer was overkill for me personally, but is totally justifiable if you feel like you need the extra practice.

Bootcamp - Harder than the real thing thing, but a very good overall representation of the test.

Qvault - Most comprehensive biology questions out there, and there are TONS of them. Used it for the other sections too where it was just ok.

Crack the DAT - Probably the best PAT practice next to the bootcamp generators. Other sections were good but nothing special.

Feralis' Notes - Used these notes along with Cliff's notes to write my own set of biology notes. Great way to refresh, not so great if you have never been exposed to the material.

Cliff's Notes - Best biology review money can buy!

Studied 4-6 hours a day for 4 months. Very satisfied with my scores. Thank you to everyone on these forums for all the great breakdowns and resource recommendations!

If you could go back and study for it again, what would you differently? Especially in regards to biology?

 

[alexis2010]

Congrats. Awesome scores.
These June scores are of the chart!!!!

 

[DocLime]

If you could go back and study for it again, what would you differently? Especially in regards to biology?

For biology I would have tried to expand the amount of things I focused on rather than the minutia of certain systems. I learned a lot of very small details and steps in cycles which frankly, probably don't show up that often on the exam. I was blindsided by some material I had never been exposed to.

Chemistry I would have worked more on my math skills without a calculator. Multiplying and dividing decimals, while not that difficult in its own right, can be very time consuming if un-practiced.

For PAT I should have done more practice tests from Crack DAT and Bootcamp.

 

[510586]

For biology I would have tried to expand the amount of things I focused on rather than the minutia of certain systems. I learned a lot of very small details and steps in cycles which frankly, probably don't show up that often on the exam. I was blindsided by some material I had never been exposed to.

Chemistry I would have worked more on my math skills without a calculator. Multiplying and dividing decimals, while not that difficult in its own right, can be very time consuming if un-practiced.

For PAT I should have done more practice tests from Crack DAT and Bootcamp.

Thank you very much. Would you say Feralis notes still covered pretty much everything + destroyer and bootcamp and qvault? Or should I supplement with more sources?

 

[DocLime]

Thank you very much. Would you say Feralis notes still covered pretty much everything + destroyer and bootcamp and qvault? Or should I supplement with more sources?

I still felt that there were things on the test that were not covered by these sources. I was lucky that I was familiar with a few of the concepts due to my college biology courses. I would look at your college notes / lecture slides and go over them a few times as well.

A note on Feralis notes. I love Feralis' notes. I think he is a great guy and his notes have helped this community immensely. But please, do not use them as a learning resource. They are meant to be review and are written for that purpose. If you try to teach yourself the material with just his notes you will have some gaps in your knowledge. He will probably even back me up on this one.

 

[510586]

I still felt that there were things on the test that were not covered by these sources. I was lucky that I was familiar with a few of the concepts due to my college biology courses. I would look at your college notes / lecture slides and go over them a few times as well.

A note on Feralis notes. I love Feralis' notes. I think he is a great guy and his notes have helped this community immensely. But please, do not use them as a learning resource. They are meant to be review and are written for that purpose. If you try to teach yourself the material with just his notes you will have some gaps in your knowledge. He will probably even back me up on this one.

Oh yes I started with cliffs, and I have done destroyer twice and reviewed all of Ferali's notes via flashcard (still don't know everything yet though). Man judging by recent breakdowns, there seems to be a very different bio section for different people. One person just used destroyers and bootcamp (and I think Feralis?) and got a super high score and said it wasn't as bad. Others also got super high scores (like yourself) but thought the bio was more difficult than bootcamp. Thank you for your advice!

 

[DocLime]

Oh yes I started with cliffs, and I have done destroyer twice and reviewed all of Ferali's notes via flashcard (still don't know everything yet though). Man judging by recent breakdowns, there seems to be a very different bio section for different people. One person just used destroyers and bootcamp (and I think Feralis?) and got a super high score and said it wasn't as bad. Others also got super high scores (like yourself) but thought the bio was more difficult than bootcamp. Thank you for your advice!

Just the nature of the section man. They have a huge question bank and most of us are all studying from the same sources. If you get the questions that those sources cover you are golden. Otherwise it is a rough ride.