Long time lurker here, first time posting. I recently took my DAT on Thursday 7/9/15 and did better than expected. Just posting now to share my experience and hopefully help others because I received so much help from you guys along the way.
BIO:23
GC:22
OC:25
PAT:22
RC:21
QR:18
AA:22
TS:23
I am pretty excited about all of my scores, with the exception of QR. I really don't know what happened there. I think I burned out towards the end and hardly had enough time to finish. In general, I studied for about eight weeks total anywhere from 6-8 hours each day. I would wake up around 9 and start studying around 10ish each morning. I would study until 2-3pm, then I would take a 2 hour break. During the 2 hour break I would release some stress by hitting the gym, which I felt kept me sane throughout the two months. I would then come back and pound out 2-3 more hours of studying. I would try to end around 7-8pm each night to relax and unwind. Also once a week I would take a day off and do something fun to get my mind off the DAT.
As for the studying itself I broke my studying up into two sections as recommended. The first 4 weeks I studied Ferali's notes for a couple hours and then the rest of the day I watched Chads videos. The second 4 weeks I would do DAT Destroyer question sets 40 BIO, 30GC and 30 OC untimed and then review the solutions. Then I would either do a Math destroyer exam or PAT practice test on Bootcamp to the end the day. I would recommend saving a lot of your practice exams for the last 2-3 weeks before the exam to pace yourself and get your timing down, I know it really helped me a lot. I took I think 7 or 8 practice exams in the 2 weeks before my exam.
Materials:
Ferali's Bio notes: (10/10)
These notes are gold! They covered everything and more. Every question on the Bio portion was covered in the notes. Soak as much as you can up from this source. I would recommend looking at these for only 2 hours a day. From my experience, any more than that and I wouldnt retain it very well.
Chads Videos: (10/10)
This man is a god among men. He was fun to watch, he made the material as entertaining as it could be. I was so rusty on GC. I was dreading it the most. Chad presented the material in such a clear and concise way that was easy to understand. He really emphasized what was important and he was dead on. He teaches you mnemonics and silly ways to remember things, but they definitely work. Watch these videos religiously and take notes like they are one of your college courses. Also I would recommend going through all the quizzes the week before the exam just to make sure you have these concepts nailed down. If you don't understand something watch the video again.
DAT Destroyer: (10/10)
Another top notch source here. Like I said each day I would do the equivalent of the science section of the DAT untimed and review the solutions. This is where the majority of learning for me took place. These questions are definitely overkill compared to the exam, but I wouldnt have it any other way. The destroyer prepares you for anything the exam could throw at you. If you can master the destroyer you are for sure ready for the exam. My first time through the destroyer each time I was missing no less than 15 on each section. It was frustrating but I am glad I did it. I ran through the destroyer 1.5 times before my exam. By the time I started over for the second run through, everything resonated and I was only missing around 5 questions per section.
Math Destroyer:
I only got to run through 4 exams here. I will be honest I neglected QR the most. This source could have used some more attention on my part.
Bootcamp: (10/10)
Bootcamp is great! This is the closest thing you will get to the exam in terms of question wording and difficulty. I used one bootcamp exam as a diagnostic and the other four as practice exams the week before my exam. I set these up like a real test. I opened each section in a new tab and proceeded to test under the conditions I would experience on exam day to build up my mental stamina.
Kaplan BB: (6/10)
I tried to run through the book at first, but I did not like it. I felt the book explained things in an overcomplicated way. I will say that buying the book was probably worth the purchase because of the two full length practice exams. I thought the two exams were killer in terms of difficulty for the sciences. I did not once receive above a 19 on any section. I even got a 16 on Bio once lol. Definitely good for building up your knowledge though.
OC as a 2nd language: (4/10)
I picked up this source and brushed through it twice and found nothing that I didnt already know. If you are fresh out of Ochem 2 like I was, then this is most likely unnecessary. Chad and the destroyer will cover everything you need.
Cliffs AP Bio: (10/10)
I used it as a reference for when I didnt understand an explanation on a practice exam or in the destroyer. It explained things as detailed as necessary for the scope of this exam.
Overall:
Overall dont be frustrated with low practice exam scores. I only started cracking the 20s in each category the week before my exam. The exam itself is I believe a little more difficult compared to bootcamp, but I ended up scoring much higher on the real thing. When reviewing exams or dat destroyer sections, be sure to read each answer for each question even if you got it right. Sometimes I got the right answer by luck or with the wrong logic. Understand why the correct answer is correct and why the others are wrong. Try not to stress out. If you master bootcamp, the destroyer, chads videos, and ferali's notes you are more than ready.
BIO:23
GC:22
OC:25
PAT:22
RC:21
QR:18
AA:22
TS:23
I am pretty excited about all of my scores, with the exception of QR. I really don't know what happened there. I think I burned out towards the end and hardly had enough time to finish. In general, I studied for about eight weeks total anywhere from 6-8 hours each day. I would wake up around 9 and start studying around 10ish each morning. I would study until 2-3pm, then I would take a 2 hour break. During the 2 hour break I would release some stress by hitting the gym, which I felt kept me sane throughout the two months. I would then come back and pound out 2-3 more hours of studying. I would try to end around 7-8pm each night to relax and unwind. Also once a week I would take a day off and do something fun to get my mind off the DAT.
As for the studying itself I broke my studying up into two sections as recommended. The first 4 weeks I studied Ferali's notes for a couple hours and then the rest of the day I watched Chads videos. The second 4 weeks I would do DAT Destroyer question sets 40 BIO, 30GC and 30 OC untimed and then review the solutions. Then I would either do a Math destroyer exam or PAT practice test on Bootcamp to the end the day. I would recommend saving a lot of your practice exams for the last 2-3 weeks before the exam to pace yourself and get your timing down, I know it really helped me a lot. I took I think 7 or 8 practice exams in the 2 weeks before my exam.
Materials:
Ferali's Bio notes: (10/10)
These notes are gold! They covered everything and more. Every question on the Bio portion was covered in the notes. Soak as much as you can up from this source. I would recommend looking at these for only 2 hours a day. From my experience, any more than that and I wouldnt retain it very well.
Chads Videos: (10/10)
This man is a god among men. He was fun to watch, he made the material as entertaining as it could be. I was so rusty on GC. I was dreading it the most. Chad presented the material in such a clear and concise way that was easy to understand. He really emphasized what was important and he was dead on. He teaches you mnemonics and silly ways to remember things, but they definitely work. Watch these videos religiously and take notes like they are one of your college courses. Also I would recommend going through all the quizzes the week before the exam just to make sure you have these concepts nailed down. If you don't understand something watch the video again.
DAT Destroyer: (10/10)
Another top notch source here. Like I said each day I would do the equivalent of the science section of the DAT untimed and review the solutions. This is where the majority of learning for me took place. These questions are definitely overkill compared to the exam, but I wouldnt have it any other way. The destroyer prepares you for anything the exam could throw at you. If you can master the destroyer you are for sure ready for the exam. My first time through the destroyer each time I was missing no less than 15 on each section. It was frustrating but I am glad I did it. I ran through the destroyer 1.5 times before my exam. By the time I started over for the second run through, everything resonated and I was only missing around 5 questions per section.
Math Destroyer:
I only got to run through 4 exams here. I will be honest I neglected QR the most. This source could have used some more attention on my part.
Bootcamp: (10/10)
Bootcamp is great! This is the closest thing you will get to the exam in terms of question wording and difficulty. I used one bootcamp exam as a diagnostic and the other four as practice exams the week before my exam. I set these up like a real test. I opened each section in a new tab and proceeded to test under the conditions I would experience on exam day to build up my mental stamina.
Kaplan BB: (6/10)
I tried to run through the book at first, but I did not like it. I felt the book explained things in an overcomplicated way. I will say that buying the book was probably worth the purchase because of the two full length practice exams. I thought the two exams were killer in terms of difficulty for the sciences. I did not once receive above a 19 on any section. I even got a 16 on Bio once lol. Definitely good for building up your knowledge though.
OC as a 2nd language: (4/10)
I picked up this source and brushed through it twice and found nothing that I didnt already know. If you are fresh out of Ochem 2 like I was, then this is most likely unnecessary. Chad and the destroyer will cover everything you need.
Cliffs AP Bio: (10/10)
I used it as a reference for when I didnt understand an explanation on a practice exam or in the destroyer. It explained things as detailed as necessary for the scope of this exam.
Overall:
Overall dont be frustrated with low practice exam scores. I only started cracking the 20s in each category the week before my exam. The exam itself is I believe a little more difficult compared to bootcamp, but I ended up scoring much higher on the real thing. When reviewing exams or dat destroyer sections, be sure to read each answer for each question even if you got it right. Sometimes I got the right answer by luck or with the wrong logic. Understand why the correct answer is correct and why the others are wrong. Try not to stress out. If you master bootcamp, the destroyer, chads videos, and ferali's notes you are more than ready.
