- Joined
- Apr 17, 2014
- Messages
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- Reaction score
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So I finally took the DAT today and I scored much better than I ever thought that I would. Background: I'm a Sociology major who has only (so far) taken the major prerequisites (everything that the DAT covers). Additionally, I'm between my sophomore and junior year so I'm not in the middle of my application cycle.
Scores:
Bio: 20
Gen Chem: 21
Orgo Chem: 24
PAT: 23
RC: 24
QR: 22
TS: 21
AA: 22
Breakdown
Materials: Cliffs AP Bio (8/10), Barron's AP Bio (8/10), Chad's Videos/Quizzes (10/10), Crack DAT PAT (9/10), Math Destroyer (7/10), DAT Bootcamp (10/10)
Schedule: Casually studied/took notes on Bio for 2 months (hardly worth considering 'studying'), watched/took notes on Chad's Videos for Chem and OChem 2 weeks, took a vacation (necessary), finished Chad's Videos in 1 week. For the next 3 weeks, I read through all of my notes, created new notes outlining anything that I'm not 100% perfect on (for Chem/OChem/Math), took Bootcamp tests to mark my progression, and took daily PAT tests.
Note: The vacation I took in the middle of studying was essential. Although I wasn't working hard before it, the vacation put me into studying beast mode a month away from the DAT.
Biology: I took notes from Cliffs and Barron's for 2 months at a casual pace. I'm a year removed from biology and didn't remember a single thing, so this was a nice way to catch up. To be honest, I didn't find Cliffs or Barron's to be any better than the other (Cliffs is more organized, Barron's is easier to read). If I didn't read both, though, I would've been lost on a few different systems as they're each better in different sections. 3 weeks away from the test, I forgot most of the important terms and had to reread my notes (1 hr per night was fine). DAT Bootcamp helped here a lot in terms of understanding how questions will be asked. It was very representative.
On the DAT: My first 3 questions (the first 3 questions of the DAT), I was stumped and was flustered that I hadn't read any of it. The questions were pretty spotty and covered about everything that I had read. After this section, I thought I bombed it and that the next 3 hours would be a waste.
Gen Chem: I was good at this in high school. I didn't go overboard, but I watched Chad's Videos, took notes, and reviewed them. Pretty simple. I scored high on all of my DAT Bootcamp sections for Gen Chem and basically assumed that I would be in the clear.
On the DAT: I think I was unlucky in that I stumbled upon a deal of questions under the few Gen Chem topics I struggle in. Again, DAT Bootcamp was very representative.
Orgo Chem: I'm a C+ Orgo student. Chad's Videos saved me. Honestly, the material is much simpler and dumbed down compared to what you've seen in your Orgo class. If I had watched these videos before I took my classes, I might be more of a B+ student. I took notes on the videos, took the quizzes, and reviewed the notes constantly. Chad's notes for sections 3-4 were very helpful and were the only notes Chad provides that I actually used. Additionally, I felt that his Chapter 6 was relatively useless and it may be a little bit of overkill.
On the DAT: I didn't run into a topic Chad didn't cover.
PAT: Simply practice this every day. If you continue to practice, you'll get better and better. Most of the sections honestly require you to learn on your own via experimentation. I credit Crack DAT PAT with most of my help here. Although it gets bashed for being to easy in Keyholes and TFE, it helped me understand how the TFE worked and helped me develop strategy for Keyholes. DAT Bootcamp helped as well, as it developed my skills in Keyholes and TFE.
On the DAT: Keyholes were simple (a little harder than CDP, much easier than Bootcamp), TFE wasn't bad (an intermediate between CDP and Bootcamp), Angle Ranking was tough (easier than CDP/Bootcamp, but not by a lot), Hole Punching was easy (comparable to CDP/Bootcamp), Cube Counting was easy (easier than CDP/Bootcamp), Pattern Folding was easy (easier than CDP/Bootcamp).
RC: I thought that this would be my worst subject. I'm a terrible reader. I found that straight Search and Destroy got me decent Bootcamp scores and that I'd give it a shot.
On the DAT: I had interesting articles, read the first paragraph of each (to get the tone of the article), and immediately went to the questions. Find the answer in the text and move along. Simplest strategy there is. Almost all of the questions could be found this way and by the second half of the questions, you'll know where to look in the article for each question. Bootcamp was much harder for RC, in my opinion.
QR: I had a last minute breakdown regarding QR. Every Bootcamp vs DAT thread I've read caused me to believe the DAT was harder than Bootcamp (scores tended to be lower on the DAT). I watched Chad's Math Videos on weak topics and did 3 Math Destroyer tests in the last 3 days before the DAT.
On the DAT: Completely forgot everything I knew from studying and went back to primitive, logical math. It worked. A large majority of the problems could be solved algebraically, and most of them could be found by just using common sense logic. My calculator was almost identical to my Windows calculator. Chad's taught me all that I need to know in Trig, and Math Destroyer freaked me out more than helped me. Some questions can be narrowed down to 2 before even solving the problem by using simple logic. Don't overthink the QR.
Bootcamp: Bio/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR
#1: 19/23/16/17/18/19
#2: 17/20/21/20/19/20
#3: 21/24/19/21/20/19
#4: 21/20/22/21/21/19
Actual DAT: 20/21/24/23/24/22
Final thoughts: I had to relearn Bio and OChem, but it may have helped a little in that I definitely wasn't overthinking or overstudying for these sections. The study materials caused me to understand them to their basic extent (which was all I needed). RC was as simple as Search and Destroy. I reiterate that I'm a terrible reader and that this was the answer to my prayers. Practice PAT daily if possible.
There is plenty of hope for non-science majors out there on the DAT. I scored a 21 TS and my BCP GPA is currently 3.1 (my next project). You can definitely excel on the DAT even if you didn't do so hot in your science classes. Additionally, taking this test after the sophomore year takes the pressure off of you a bit since you have time for a rebound if don't plan on a gap year.
I don't know how to downshift back into a normal routine, but I am glad to be done with this test.
Scores:
Bio: 20
Gen Chem: 21
Orgo Chem: 24
PAT: 23
RC: 24
QR: 22
TS: 21
AA: 22
Breakdown
Materials: Cliffs AP Bio (8/10), Barron's AP Bio (8/10), Chad's Videos/Quizzes (10/10), Crack DAT PAT (9/10), Math Destroyer (7/10), DAT Bootcamp (10/10)
Schedule: Casually studied/took notes on Bio for 2 months (hardly worth considering 'studying'), watched/took notes on Chad's Videos for Chem and OChem 2 weeks, took a vacation (necessary), finished Chad's Videos in 1 week. For the next 3 weeks, I read through all of my notes, created new notes outlining anything that I'm not 100% perfect on (for Chem/OChem/Math), took Bootcamp tests to mark my progression, and took daily PAT tests.
Note: The vacation I took in the middle of studying was essential. Although I wasn't working hard before it, the vacation put me into studying beast mode a month away from the DAT.
Biology: I took notes from Cliffs and Barron's for 2 months at a casual pace. I'm a year removed from biology and didn't remember a single thing, so this was a nice way to catch up. To be honest, I didn't find Cliffs or Barron's to be any better than the other (Cliffs is more organized, Barron's is easier to read). If I didn't read both, though, I would've been lost on a few different systems as they're each better in different sections. 3 weeks away from the test, I forgot most of the important terms and had to reread my notes (1 hr per night was fine). DAT Bootcamp helped here a lot in terms of understanding how questions will be asked. It was very representative.
On the DAT: My first 3 questions (the first 3 questions of the DAT), I was stumped and was flustered that I hadn't read any of it. The questions were pretty spotty and covered about everything that I had read. After this section, I thought I bombed it and that the next 3 hours would be a waste.
Gen Chem: I was good at this in high school. I didn't go overboard, but I watched Chad's Videos, took notes, and reviewed them. Pretty simple. I scored high on all of my DAT Bootcamp sections for Gen Chem and basically assumed that I would be in the clear.
On the DAT: I think I was unlucky in that I stumbled upon a deal of questions under the few Gen Chem topics I struggle in. Again, DAT Bootcamp was very representative.
Orgo Chem: I'm a C+ Orgo student. Chad's Videos saved me. Honestly, the material is much simpler and dumbed down compared to what you've seen in your Orgo class. If I had watched these videos before I took my classes, I might be more of a B+ student. I took notes on the videos, took the quizzes, and reviewed the notes constantly. Chad's notes for sections 3-4 were very helpful and were the only notes Chad provides that I actually used. Additionally, I felt that his Chapter 6 was relatively useless and it may be a little bit of overkill.
On the DAT: I didn't run into a topic Chad didn't cover.
PAT: Simply practice this every day. If you continue to practice, you'll get better and better. Most of the sections honestly require you to learn on your own via experimentation. I credit Crack DAT PAT with most of my help here. Although it gets bashed for being to easy in Keyholes and TFE, it helped me understand how the TFE worked and helped me develop strategy for Keyholes. DAT Bootcamp helped as well, as it developed my skills in Keyholes and TFE.
On the DAT: Keyholes were simple (a little harder than CDP, much easier than Bootcamp), TFE wasn't bad (an intermediate between CDP and Bootcamp), Angle Ranking was tough (easier than CDP/Bootcamp, but not by a lot), Hole Punching was easy (comparable to CDP/Bootcamp), Cube Counting was easy (easier than CDP/Bootcamp), Pattern Folding was easy (easier than CDP/Bootcamp).
RC: I thought that this would be my worst subject. I'm a terrible reader. I found that straight Search and Destroy got me decent Bootcamp scores and that I'd give it a shot.
On the DAT: I had interesting articles, read the first paragraph of each (to get the tone of the article), and immediately went to the questions. Find the answer in the text and move along. Simplest strategy there is. Almost all of the questions could be found this way and by the second half of the questions, you'll know where to look in the article for each question. Bootcamp was much harder for RC, in my opinion.
QR: I had a last minute breakdown regarding QR. Every Bootcamp vs DAT thread I've read caused me to believe the DAT was harder than Bootcamp (scores tended to be lower on the DAT). I watched Chad's Math Videos on weak topics and did 3 Math Destroyer tests in the last 3 days before the DAT.
On the DAT: Completely forgot everything I knew from studying and went back to primitive, logical math. It worked. A large majority of the problems could be solved algebraically, and most of them could be found by just using common sense logic. My calculator was almost identical to my Windows calculator. Chad's taught me all that I need to know in Trig, and Math Destroyer freaked me out more than helped me. Some questions can be narrowed down to 2 before even solving the problem by using simple logic. Don't overthink the QR.
Bootcamp: Bio/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR
#1: 19/23/16/17/18/19
#2: 17/20/21/20/19/20
#3: 21/24/19/21/20/19
#4: 21/20/22/21/21/19
Actual DAT: 20/21/24/23/24/22
Final thoughts: I had to relearn Bio and OChem, but it may have helped a little in that I definitely wasn't overthinking or overstudying for these sections. The study materials caused me to understand them to their basic extent (which was all I needed). RC was as simple as Search and Destroy. I reiterate that I'm a terrible reader and that this was the answer to my prayers. Practice PAT daily if possible.
There is plenty of hope for non-science majors out there on the DAT. I scored a 21 TS and my BCP GPA is currently 3.1 (my next project). You can definitely excel on the DAT even if you didn't do so hot in your science classes. Additionally, taking this test after the sophomore year takes the pressure off of you a bit since you have time for a rebound if don't plan on a gap year.
I don't know how to downshift back into a normal routine, but I am glad to be done with this test.