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Finally done! 
I'm a post-bacc student, and I studied on and off for the DAT while taking a full load of classes. Finally mustered up the courage to take the test last Friday!
PAT: 19 :cry:
QR: 19
RC: 20
BIO: 22
GC: 23
OC: 23
TS: 22
AA: 21
------------------------------
Materials Used:
Bio:
1) Cliff's AP: I read it a couple times - two times the week of my test (one time the day before my test). You MUST do the questions at the end of the chapter because they really solidify the over-arching concepts. In fact, I think the questions were really similar to the ones on the test.
2) Q-vault: Good practice.
3) Bootcamp: Good practice as well. I liked how the questions were posed in a way that was very similar to how the questions were asked on the actual exam.
4) Destroyer: Good for EXTRA practice. I only went over it once.
5) scsc7211's Biology Notes: Loved how it incorporated some stuff from Cliff's so it was one handy dandy gigantic study guide. I also added questions I missed from the Destroyer to the study guide.
6) Princeton Review Book of Biological Sciences: I was supposed to take the Princeton Review DAT class but it got cancelled and I got to keep the resources. I read through the bio portion and I found it surprisingly helpful. There were little footnotes with thought-provoking questions that helped tie together the big ideas.
** I think the key to doing well on bio is exposing yourself to as many practice questions as you can, not just reading the prep books over and over **
QV Bio: 19/17/16/15/17/18/18/18/18/18 (so crappy right? lol)
Bootcamp: 20/18/17/17/17
GC & OC:
1) Chad the man: I never really understood ochem in undergrad (I made up my own mechanisms on tests lol) until Chad! I went through Chad's videos twice. The second time around I made extremely detailed notes of everything he said and reviewed them everyday the week of my exam. Whenever I'd get stuck on a problem, I would go back to his notes and review what I got wrong.
2) Q-vault (for GC only): Good representation of the test, especially the conceptual questions.
3) Bootcamp: The questions really make you think. Although I didn't score high on the practice tests, I made sure to write down the questions I missed and I went over them the day before my exam.
4) Destroyer: Good for EXTRA practice. I think it's overkill compared to the actual exam. But be sure to memorize the roadmaps and you'll be set for the reagent/mechanism questions.
QV GC: 19/19/21/21/18/20/19/21/24/X
Bootcamp GC: 17/21/23/21/18
Bootcamp OC: 16/18/19/19/17
PAT
1) Achiever: A MUST if you want to get 20+ on the actual test. I would suggest getting all 7 practice tests (I only got 3). VERY representative of the actual test (especially keyholes and TFE).
2) Crack DAT PAT: I scored 20-22 on the practice tests but they were wayyy easier than the actual exam. Gave me false hope that I could do well.
RC
1) Crack DAT Reading: I didn't really study for reading. I took three practice tests to figure out what technique to use. "Search and Destroy" didn't work for me because I need to read the whole passage to actually understand what the questions are asking.
QR
1) Math Destroyer: I studied the least for this section. Kind of put it on the back burner. I crammed the studying into the last week. I basically skimmed through Math Destroyer and looked at the problems to see if I knew how to set them up. If I didn't, I'd quickly look at the answer key then write down how to do the problem and move on. The day before my exam, I looked over all the equations and sample questions for each category (distance, age, word problems, trig, etc.). But don't do what I did! Actually go through the problems and do them. I just didn't have time and I deserve the score I got.
Practice Tests
I did horrible on practice tests and felt so discouraged by Achiever. But I managed to look past the scores and learn from my mistakes. Look how far I came!
Achiever (BIO/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR):
#1: 14/14/13/16/15/17 (can you saw wow?
lol)
#2: 14/14/13/18/16/16
#3: 15/17/18/18/16/16
Topscore (BIO/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR):
#1: 18/18/19/21/20/19
2009 ADA (BIO/GC/OC):
21/19/19
------------------------------
The Actual Test
Bio: Random like they all say but definitely nothing I haven't seen in Cliff's. I took my exam at 2:30PM so I made sure to review scsc7211's's Biology Notes in the morning before my test. I studied all the way until the last hour before my test. I was THAT nervous.
GC: Half conceptual and half calculation questions. The calculation questions were surprisingly really easy. Know your conversions!
OC: Chad's quizzes are on point. I made sure to do them the night before my test and it sure helped. I was really scared for ochem because I didn't really learn it in undergrad, but the actual test was easier than I thought.
PAT: CDP is tooooooo easyyy compared to the actual exam. I got a boulder as a keyhole question, and it really tripped me up. Cube counting was also surprisingly hard because there were a bunch of holes. Pattern folding is comparable to CDP, but definitely practice Achiever for Keyhole and TFE. In retrospect, I wish I studied for the PAT more. I think I only took 5 practice tests for PAT, and I was really confident in my abilities. But you get what you put in. So put in the work and time, and you'll see results.
RC: I got all science-based passages so it was kind of a snooze lol. There was more search and destroy than expected.
QR: Really wish I had more time to study for this. Make sure you guess and mark if you don't know how to do the questions and move on! I finished with 5 minutes left.
------------------------------
Last Minute Tips
I'm the type of person that needs to study to do well. I believe if you put in the time, you'll see your hard work come to fruition. If I studied more for QR and PAT, I think I could've done a lot better. Also, don't get overwhelmed with the vast array of study resources, and don't do practice problems just to do them. Make sure you understand them and learn from your mistakes. Easier said than done though right?
P.S. PM me if you want to buy any of my study materials!
Thank you SDN for being the best resource, and good luck to everyone this cycle!
I'm a post-bacc student, and I studied on and off for the DAT while taking a full load of classes. Finally mustered up the courage to take the test last Friday!PAT: 19 :cry:
QR: 19
RC: 20
BIO: 22
GC: 23
OC: 23
TS: 22
AA: 21
------------------------------
Materials Used:
Bio:
1) Cliff's AP: I read it a couple times - two times the week of my test (one time the day before my test). You MUST do the questions at the end of the chapter because they really solidify the over-arching concepts. In fact, I think the questions were really similar to the ones on the test.
2) Q-vault: Good practice.
3) Bootcamp: Good practice as well. I liked how the questions were posed in a way that was very similar to how the questions were asked on the actual exam.
4) Destroyer: Good for EXTRA practice. I only went over it once.
5) scsc7211's Biology Notes: Loved how it incorporated some stuff from Cliff's so it was one handy dandy gigantic study guide. I also added questions I missed from the Destroyer to the study guide.
6) Princeton Review Book of Biological Sciences: I was supposed to take the Princeton Review DAT class but it got cancelled and I got to keep the resources. I read through the bio portion and I found it surprisingly helpful. There were little footnotes with thought-provoking questions that helped tie together the big ideas.
** I think the key to doing well on bio is exposing yourself to as many practice questions as you can, not just reading the prep books over and over **
QV Bio: 19/17/16/15/17/18/18/18/18/18 (so crappy right? lol)
Bootcamp: 20/18/17/17/17
GC & OC:
1) Chad the man: I never really understood ochem in undergrad (I made up my own mechanisms on tests lol) until Chad! I went through Chad's videos twice. The second time around I made extremely detailed notes of everything he said and reviewed them everyday the week of my exam. Whenever I'd get stuck on a problem, I would go back to his notes and review what I got wrong.
2) Q-vault (for GC only): Good representation of the test, especially the conceptual questions.
3) Bootcamp: The questions really make you think. Although I didn't score high on the practice tests, I made sure to write down the questions I missed and I went over them the day before my exam.
4) Destroyer: Good for EXTRA practice. I think it's overkill compared to the actual exam. But be sure to memorize the roadmaps and you'll be set for the reagent/mechanism questions.
QV GC: 19/19/21/21/18/20/19/21/24/X
Bootcamp GC: 17/21/23/21/18
Bootcamp OC: 16/18/19/19/17
PAT
1) Achiever: A MUST if you want to get 20+ on the actual test. I would suggest getting all 7 practice tests (I only got 3). VERY representative of the actual test (especially keyholes and TFE).
2) Crack DAT PAT: I scored 20-22 on the practice tests but they were wayyy easier than the actual exam. Gave me false hope that I could do well.
RC
1) Crack DAT Reading: I didn't really study for reading. I took three practice tests to figure out what technique to use. "Search and Destroy" didn't work for me because I need to read the whole passage to actually understand what the questions are asking.
QR
1) Math Destroyer: I studied the least for this section. Kind of put it on the back burner. I crammed the studying into the last week. I basically skimmed through Math Destroyer and looked at the problems to see if I knew how to set them up. If I didn't, I'd quickly look at the answer key then write down how to do the problem and move on. The day before my exam, I looked over all the equations and sample questions for each category (distance, age, word problems, trig, etc.). But don't do what I did! Actually go through the problems and do them. I just didn't have time and I deserve the score I got.
Practice Tests
I did horrible on practice tests and felt so discouraged by Achiever. But I managed to look past the scores and learn from my mistakes. Look how far I came!
Achiever (BIO/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR):
#1: 14/14/13/16/15/17 (can you saw wow?
lol)#2: 14/14/13/18/16/16
#3: 15/17/18/18/16/16
Topscore (BIO/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR):
#1: 18/18/19/21/20/19
2009 ADA (BIO/GC/OC):
21/19/19
------------------------------
The Actual Test
Bio: Random like they all say but definitely nothing I haven't seen in Cliff's. I took my exam at 2:30PM so I made sure to review scsc7211's's Biology Notes in the morning before my test. I studied all the way until the last hour before my test. I was THAT nervous.
GC: Half conceptual and half calculation questions. The calculation questions were surprisingly really easy. Know your conversions!
OC: Chad's quizzes are on point. I made sure to do them the night before my test and it sure helped. I was really scared for ochem because I didn't really learn it in undergrad, but the actual test was easier than I thought.
PAT: CDP is tooooooo easyyy compared to the actual exam. I got a boulder as a keyhole question, and it really tripped me up.
Cube counting was also surprisingly hard because there were a bunch of holes. Pattern folding is comparable to CDP, but definitely practice Achiever for Keyhole and TFE. In retrospect, I wish I studied for the PAT more. I think I only took 5 practice tests for PAT, and I was really confident in my abilities. But you get what you put in. So put in the work and time, and you'll see results.RC: I got all science-based passages so it was kind of a snooze lol. There was more search and destroy than expected.
QR: Really wish I had more time to study for this. Make sure you guess and mark if you don't know how to do the questions and move on! I finished with 5 minutes left.
------------------------------
Last Minute Tips
I'm the type of person that needs to study to do well. I believe if you put in the time, you'll see your hard work come to fruition. If I studied more for QR and PAT, I think I could've done a lot better. Also, don't get overwhelmed with the vast array of study resources, and don't do practice problems just to do them. Make sure you understand them and learn from your mistakes. Easier said than done though right?
P.S. PM me if you want to buy any of my study materials!
Thank you SDN for being the best resource, and good luck to everyone this cycle!
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