- Joined
- Oct 24, 2014
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 5
Ok! I took the DAT yesterday. I wanted to do a quick breakdown.
So I have been a silent SDN participant for the past year, and reading all the breakdowns, I never imagined that I would get above a 21, so maybe some of you can relate.
PAT 22
QR 23
RC 26
BIO 20
GC 21
OC 24
TS 21
AA 23
I started studying about 6 weeks ago when the first term of summer ended and my family got back from vacation. I put off taking the DAT until today because I wanted to take physiology at my school during summer, but I also wanted at least 5 weeks of uninterrupted time to study. I originally tried to follow Ari's schedule 2x the speed, but I quickly got off schedule and then just did my own thing. It would have worked had I been more disciplined, but there were just a lot of things to do.
I studied about 5 hours a day, some days when I was feeling it I studied more, some days when I wasn't, I took a day off. Never studied on Sundays, took a practice test almost every Saturday.
PAT(22)- Just use DAT bootcamp. The actual DAT in my opinion was very similar to this. Kaplan's tests were far too easy. But don't spend too much time on this. Just do enough to get a good rhythm and call it good. The cross out feature on the DAT was gold for this section as well. I could see what the answer choice was not and i would right click on a couple and narrow my choice down to two. It made it easier on my brain which was struggling during this section.
QR(23)- This was my worst section in every practice test and I could almost never get higher than a 19. I was extremely blessed to even finished this section in time, because I had never even done that before. The best practice for this was Chad's Videos (Coursesaver), bootcamp and DAT destroyer. The bootcamp questions were honestly almost identical to the actual, I was so happy, I seriously almost started crying as I saw the questions.
RC(26)- The only study I did for this was take practice tests, and read strategy. I got lucky on the actual DAT because I knew A LOT about 2 of the 3 articles, one of them I didn't even read because I had studied the topic so much in my undergrad courses.
BIO(20)- I never read through any of the feralis notes or even finished the Cliff's AP. I only put in time to study things that I missed on practice tests. My undergrad courses have prepared me super well for this, so I didn't see the use in studying when the questions seemed so random and all over the place.
GC(21)- I was surprised I didn't do better on this section, I did very well on my bootcamp tests here and I studied this the most, however, I am very satisfied with my score. CHAD is the MAN. Watch his videos, do the quizes. Then do as much as you can of Destroyer. I worked through this and just tried to understand the concepts. If I missed anything, then I would rewatch videos, sometimes even at a 1x speed (crazy I know, his voice sounds way different haha). I still don't know the difference between using a Buret and a Pipette though. I don't think that's clear to me.
OC(24) This was my most confident section, and I honestly thought I only missed one on this section. I would say learn the mechanism in your review for ALL the reactions at least once. You never know if they will ask you a specific question about a mechanism.
In conclusion, make sure you have Chad's Videos, DAT bootcamp (best full length practice tests) and DAT Destroyer. Kaplan's tests are waaaay too expensive and too easy, but their bio and QR was a good indicator of the actual DAT. 2007 science was easy, 2009 science was a little on the hard side compared to this. Work hard and you can do it!
So I have been a silent SDN participant for the past year, and reading all the breakdowns, I never imagined that I would get above a 21, so maybe some of you can relate.
PAT 22
QR 23
RC 26
BIO 20
GC 21
OC 24
TS 21
AA 23
I started studying about 6 weeks ago when the first term of summer ended and my family got back from vacation. I put off taking the DAT until today because I wanted to take physiology at my school during summer, but I also wanted at least 5 weeks of uninterrupted time to study. I originally tried to follow Ari's schedule 2x the speed, but I quickly got off schedule and then just did my own thing. It would have worked had I been more disciplined, but there were just a lot of things to do.
I studied about 5 hours a day, some days when I was feeling it I studied more, some days when I wasn't, I took a day off. Never studied on Sundays, took a practice test almost every Saturday.
PAT(22)- Just use DAT bootcamp. The actual DAT in my opinion was very similar to this. Kaplan's tests were far too easy. But don't spend too much time on this. Just do enough to get a good rhythm and call it good. The cross out feature on the DAT was gold for this section as well. I could see what the answer choice was not and i would right click on a couple and narrow my choice down to two. It made it easier on my brain which was struggling during this section.
QR(23)- This was my worst section in every practice test and I could almost never get higher than a 19. I was extremely blessed to even finished this section in time, because I had never even done that before. The best practice for this was Chad's Videos (Coursesaver), bootcamp and DAT destroyer. The bootcamp questions were honestly almost identical to the actual, I was so happy, I seriously almost started crying as I saw the questions.
RC(26)- The only study I did for this was take practice tests, and read strategy. I got lucky on the actual DAT because I knew A LOT about 2 of the 3 articles, one of them I didn't even read because I had studied the topic so much in my undergrad courses.
BIO(20)- I never read through any of the feralis notes or even finished the Cliff's AP. I only put in time to study things that I missed on practice tests. My undergrad courses have prepared me super well for this, so I didn't see the use in studying when the questions seemed so random and all over the place.
GC(21)- I was surprised I didn't do better on this section, I did very well on my bootcamp tests here and I studied this the most, however, I am very satisfied with my score. CHAD is the MAN. Watch his videos, do the quizes. Then do as much as you can of Destroyer. I worked through this and just tried to understand the concepts. If I missed anything, then I would rewatch videos, sometimes even at a 1x speed (crazy I know, his voice sounds way different haha). I still don't know the difference between using a Buret and a Pipette though. I don't think that's clear to me.
OC(24) This was my most confident section, and I honestly thought I only missed one on this section. I would say learn the mechanism in your review for ALL the reactions at least once. You never know if they will ask you a specific question about a mechanism.
In conclusion, make sure you have Chad's Videos, DAT bootcamp (best full length practice tests) and DAT Destroyer. Kaplan's tests are waaaay too expensive and too easy, but their bio and QR was a good indicator of the actual DAT. 2007 science was easy, 2009 science was a little on the hard side compared to this. Work hard and you can do it!
. Evidence or nah 
