Scores
PAT - 21
QR - 26
RC - 21
BIO - 21
GC - 23
OC - 21
TS - 22
AA - 22
About Me
I am currently a Senior zoo major in undergrad. I have a pretty low GPA because I didn't study at all freshman through sophomore year, but I started studying last year and now my GPA is significantly better and still improving (aiming for 4.2 this semester, to give an idea). I took both G chem and O chem and got straight Ds in the lecture and Cs in the labs. Last semester I retook both semesters of gen chem lecture and got A+/A for 1st and 2nd semesters respectively. On the ACS final I was in the 97th percentile for the 2nd semester, if that helps anyone gauge where they're at if they've recently taken it.
I did not know organic chem at all at the beginning of the summer (mid May), so I read the entire Klein Organic Chemistry book in about 1-1.5 months. Because it wasn't really solidified in my head over many months, like it would be normally, my knowledge and practice scores would oscillate between decent and great as I went back and relearned things.
Study Materials
Chad's Videos (9/10): I used all sections of Chad's videos (bio, QR, GC, OC). I finished every video for every section except O chem, of which I only watched about 5 videos (yeah, I know that's his specialty...). Those videos were hugely helpful for QR and G chem, but bio may have been a waste of time.
DAT Bootcamp (10/10): Pretty awesome, but I think everyone knows that by now. Ari even emailed me a week after I bought it, which was pretty cool (although I forgot to reply... sorry Ari). My only complaint is that I wish the interface could be worse than it is. Yes, worse, because the actual DAT program is horrible and I wasn't really prepared for that, although I don't think it made a huge difference. The QR section really helped me, as you can see from my score
Campbell's AP Bio 9th Edition (9/10): I used it to reread a few sections on things I had forgotten or never learned, like how the kidneys work, development, etc. Great book, but probably too much detail and not compact enough to use as a main study source for bio.
DAT QVault: I only used the trial, which seemed great. I would have bought at least the bio section, but I barely had enough time to take all the Bootcamp and ADA practice tests.
Sections on the DAT
BIO (21): This section was crazy hard on the actual DAT. I thought I was going to get an 18 for sure. I regret not buying either Destroyer or QVault for the bio questions, since Bootcamp (although great) doesn't have a ton of them. I was also a little overconfident because I'm a bio major, and in high school I was great at everything bio. Unfortunately it's been a very long time since AP bio, so I'll have to review that. I also have yet to take Anatomy, which I'm taking this coming semester. There were also multiple typos in this section, which makes me a little angry.
G CHM (23): I'm actually pretty disappointed that's all I got. I feel like I got pretty unlucky with this section, but I might have just made a bunch of stupid mistakes.
O CHM (21): Overall I think I'm satisfied with this, given that 3 months ago I knew absolutely nothing about o chem. What little I learned sophomore year was totally gone, even basic things like resonance structures. This section is also really difficult to do really well in, since you can get so few wrong.
QR (26): I was so surprised looking at this when the test ended. I got really nervous towards the end when I realized that I'd see my scores as soon as I hit "end". Waaaaayyyyy easier than Bootcamp, which was pretty helpful in preparing me for this. It's unfortunate that this is by far the least important score at most schools
RC (21): I only studied by doing 4 of the Bootcamp tests. I should have done the QVault one and the one from Bootcamp that I didn't do. It was easier than Bootcamp's questions.
PAT (21): Again, I regret not doing more of these, but I still got a pretty good score. The angles were very difficult, and on the practice tests I usually got only 1-3 of those wrong. Keyhole seemed much easier than Bootcamp (I think), as well as the paper folding section (again, I think so, but without the actual scores I can't be certain).
Overall
I have no idea how 21, 23, 21 turned into a 22 TS score, but I'll take it. I was expecting my TS score to be higher, though (23+). I was expecting the science section to boost my AA and the QR and RC sections lower it, but it turned out to be the opposite. I will probably retake it because I feel that I could do a lot better (especially given that next semester I'm taking O chem and anatomy, and I'll have another 1.5 months to study over winter break). I also want to get into an IL state school, and I don't think my GPA/DAT combo would be high enough to have a good shot.
10 days before I took the test I had to start RA training, which I then found out takes 12 hours a day, so I could hardly study for 1.5 weeks before I took the test, and I got very little sleep. I now regret not just rescheduling it to before I left, since I almost certainly would have done better.
Also, I was .1 away from a 23 AA
PAT - 21
QR - 26
RC - 21
BIO - 21
GC - 23
OC - 21
TS - 22
AA - 22
About Me
I am currently a Senior zoo major in undergrad. I have a pretty low GPA because I didn't study at all freshman through sophomore year, but I started studying last year and now my GPA is significantly better and still improving (aiming for 4.2 this semester, to give an idea). I took both G chem and O chem and got straight Ds in the lecture and Cs in the labs. Last semester I retook both semesters of gen chem lecture and got A+/A for 1st and 2nd semesters respectively. On the ACS final I was in the 97th percentile for the 2nd semester, if that helps anyone gauge where they're at if they've recently taken it.
I did not know organic chem at all at the beginning of the summer (mid May), so I read the entire Klein Organic Chemistry book in about 1-1.5 months. Because it wasn't really solidified in my head over many months, like it would be normally, my knowledge and practice scores would oscillate between decent and great as I went back and relearned things.
Study Materials
Chad's Videos (9/10): I used all sections of Chad's videos (bio, QR, GC, OC). I finished every video for every section except O chem, of which I only watched about 5 videos (yeah, I know that's his specialty...). Those videos were hugely helpful for QR and G chem, but bio may have been a waste of time.
DAT Bootcamp (10/10): Pretty awesome, but I think everyone knows that by now. Ari even emailed me a week after I bought it, which was pretty cool (although I forgot to reply... sorry Ari). My only complaint is that I wish the interface could be worse than it is. Yes, worse, because the actual DAT program is horrible and I wasn't really prepared for that, although I don't think it made a huge difference. The QR section really helped me, as you can see from my score
Campbell's AP Bio 9th Edition (9/10): I used it to reread a few sections on things I had forgotten or never learned, like how the kidneys work, development, etc. Great book, but probably too much detail and not compact enough to use as a main study source for bio.
DAT QVault: I only used the trial, which seemed great. I would have bought at least the bio section, but I barely had enough time to take all the Bootcamp and ADA practice tests.
Sections on the DAT
BIO (21): This section was crazy hard on the actual DAT. I thought I was going to get an 18 for sure. I regret not buying either Destroyer or QVault for the bio questions, since Bootcamp (although great) doesn't have a ton of them. I was also a little overconfident because I'm a bio major, and in high school I was great at everything bio. Unfortunately it's been a very long time since AP bio, so I'll have to review that. I also have yet to take Anatomy, which I'm taking this coming semester. There were also multiple typos in this section, which makes me a little angry.
G CHM (23): I'm actually pretty disappointed that's all I got. I feel like I got pretty unlucky with this section, but I might have just made a bunch of stupid mistakes.
O CHM (21): Overall I think I'm satisfied with this, given that 3 months ago I knew absolutely nothing about o chem. What little I learned sophomore year was totally gone, even basic things like resonance structures. This section is also really difficult to do really well in, since you can get so few wrong.
QR (26): I was so surprised looking at this when the test ended. I got really nervous towards the end when I realized that I'd see my scores as soon as I hit "end". Waaaaayyyyy easier than Bootcamp, which was pretty helpful in preparing me for this. It's unfortunate that this is by far the least important score at most schools
RC (21): I only studied by doing 4 of the Bootcamp tests. I should have done the QVault one and the one from Bootcamp that I didn't do. It was easier than Bootcamp's questions.
PAT (21): Again, I regret not doing more of these, but I still got a pretty good score. The angles were very difficult, and on the practice tests I usually got only 1-3 of those wrong. Keyhole seemed much easier than Bootcamp (I think), as well as the paper folding section (again, I think so, but without the actual scores I can't be certain).
Overall
I have no idea how 21, 23, 21 turned into a 22 TS score, but I'll take it. I was expecting my TS score to be higher, though (23+). I was expecting the science section to boost my AA and the QR and RC sections lower it, but it turned out to be the opposite. I will probably retake it because I feel that I could do a lot better (especially given that next semester I'm taking O chem and anatomy, and I'll have another 1.5 months to study over winter break). I also want to get into an IL state school, and I don't think my GPA/DAT combo would be high enough to have a good shot.
10 days before I took the test I had to start RA training, which I then found out takes 12 hours a day, so I could hardly study for 1.5 weeks before I took the test, and I got very little sleep. I now regret not just rescheduling it to before I left, since I almost certainly would have done better.
Also, I was .1 away from a 23 AA
