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- Jun 7, 2017
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I used SDN almost everyday for the month preceding my dat for procrastination and calming my nerves. This is me giving back through my breakdown for the DAT. Super satisfied with these scores considering my goal was a 21.
My Final Scores:
bio/gc/oc/pat/rc/qr
21/25/22/21/19/23
AA: 22
TS: 22
Materials used: (will do my breakdown of resources below)
Cliff's AP Bio
Feralis Notes
DAT BOOTCAMP
DAT Destroyer
Math Destroyer
Chad's Videos (GC)
1/2 Mike's Videos (OC)
Bootcamp Scores for Full Length tests:
1)
28/20/19/21/23/18
2)
22/25/17/22/20/18
3)
19/24/20/21/23/18
4)
19/18/22/21/25/19
5)
22/19/20/20/20/19
Bio avg: 22
GC avg: 21
OC avg: 20
PAT avg: 21
RC avg: 22
QR avg: 18
My thoughts on the DAT:
Bio Section- 21
Every night I prayed that I would not get a plant question. Of course, I got 4 random questions about plants. That being said, the questions are straightforward. In no way do the test makers try to trick you with answer choices. There were maybe two questions that had tricky answer options but I only kind of knew about the material in the question. Bootcamp prepared me by knowing a bulk of the bio knowledge while destroyer gives you a thousand random facts. I had about 10 questions marked on my bio section because the questions were just very weird. That being said, I was able to use my breadth of knowledge to find the right answer for most of them, clearly.
Chemistry- 25 (takes the most time)
First off I would like to say that I dropped chemistry 1 my freshman year and had to retake it, then got a C+ in chemistry 2. You could say this was my weakest subject going in. Shoutout to chad, bootcamp, and destroyer for making this section a cake walk. There was one problem that I honestly had no clue what it asking. Other than that it comparable to bootcamp GC but definitely and little bit easier.
Orgo- 22
Easy section for me. Maybe two questions I had to guess on. So I say 1/2 of Mike's videos because I was taking orgo 2 this summer while preparing for my DAT. I took orgo in the second half of summer during 6 weeks and didn't have my final until 5 days ago (August 4). That being said, I used the first half of the videos to review information from orgo 1. I used my knowledge from my orgo 2 course (which is fresh in my mind) for this section. I did maybe 60 questions from destroyer but did all of the bootcamp OC tests and had to study the lab techniques (taking it next fall). Definitely one of the easier sections.
PAT- 21
I didn't expect to get a 21 honestly. I got caught up on a few keyholes and angle rankings which drained my time. Don't make my mistake, put down an answer and skip!! I answered up to question 83 of pattern folding and then realized I had 10 seconds left and put random answers in. I think I made it to 87 when the time ran out. Overall very similar to Bootcamp. I didn't really practice this section that much. I did the PAT tests on bootcamp and that's it. So practiced about once a week for 5 weeks. Satisfied.
RC- 19 (wtffff)
This was the section I was banking on to bring my score up because I had done so well on my all my practice tests and usually always finished with time to spare. (at this point I thought I butchered the bio section, had no clue about the gc and orgo section, and thought at best I was getting a 19 PAT). The first passage wasn't bad and I finished the questions in about 21 minutes. I figured it was the "hard one". The second passage was absolutely terrible. It was an interesting article about drug addiction but had very difficult questions (not search and destroy, more like use your knowledge based on the article to connect two and two). There was a ton of terminology and was overall decently long. I think around 16 paragraphs. I wasted too much time on this section. The third article was worse because it was information dense once again with a ton of terminology and also very long. The questions were a mix of search and destroy and also type of use your knowledge to answer this. I didn't finish this section. I answer 41 questions that i wasn't confident about and then put random answers up to question 46 before time ran out.
QR- 23
This was my weakest link preparation wise. I was not scoring what I wanted to be on bootcamp test and the math destroyer was extremely difficult. That being said, Bootcamp tests were almost identical and a little bit harder than the real thing. I had a few QC questions (much easier compared to the ones on BC) and didn't get a single trig problem. Overall, much easier than I expected. If you know the formula's from the Bootcamp page you will know how to do 99% of the questions.
Review of materials:
ARI IS THE F*****G GOAT (@Ari Rezaei )
Bootcamp: 100/10 (yes 100)
In my opinion this is the best single resource anyone can use to prepare for the DAT. I didn't follow his schedule super strictly just because I was also taking orgo 2 but follow his plan and you'll score higher than me no doubt. Nuff said.
Destroyer: 7/10
The destroyer really only helped me out with the chemistry section. I think if I had done more of the orgo section (i only did 50q) then i would've excelled even more on the real thing. I just was learning a bulk of the orgo while preparing so I didn't find it useful to go through problems I had no clue about. Bio section is like everyone says, overkill. Good overkill if you have the time. It will help you learn facts about systems you wouldn't be able to figure out even if you had your bio textbook in front of you. I was super busy taking my orgo class and studying though and didn't feel like it was useful for me time management wise.
Chads Videos: 9/10
Fantastic base knowledge of the subject. Watch these and practice.
Mike's videos: 9/10
Great review of concepts. Covers just about everything that pops up on the DAT.
Feralis: 9/10
Anytime you feel iffy about a subject in bio read over the section in these notes. Extremely useful especially if you're lazy note taker like me. Literally just take notes of these notes (or just copy them all down).
Math Destroyer: 7/10
Extremely hard math problems that get your mind right. I did half of the tests. Also contains a solid formula sheet.
Cliff's Bio: 4/10
Just use feralis.
My thoughts on Destroyer:
It was very good for the chemistry sections, although there were a handful of typos and vague explanations. It was sometimes confusing which is why I rated it the way I did. Bootcamp does a much better job of fully explaining concepts.
Mainly shoutout to Ari with DAT Bootcamp. The best preparation tool to use.
Suggestions:
1) Study Hard
2) Practice makes perfect
3) Watch you time during the test
4) Don't be nervous, don't be confident, be anxious.
My Final Scores:
bio/gc/oc/pat/rc/qr
21/25/22/21/19/23
AA: 22
TS: 22
Materials used: (will do my breakdown of resources below)
Cliff's AP Bio
Feralis Notes
DAT BOOTCAMP
DAT Destroyer
Math Destroyer
Chad's Videos (GC)
1/2 Mike's Videos (OC)
Bootcamp Scores for Full Length tests:
1)
28/20/19/21/23/18
2)
22/25/17/22/20/18
3)
19/24/20/21/23/18
4)
19/18/22/21/25/19
5)
22/19/20/20/20/19
Bio avg: 22
GC avg: 21
OC avg: 20
PAT avg: 21
RC avg: 22
QR avg: 18
My thoughts on the DAT:
Bio Section- 21
Every night I prayed that I would not get a plant question. Of course, I got 4 random questions about plants. That being said, the questions are straightforward. In no way do the test makers try to trick you with answer choices. There were maybe two questions that had tricky answer options but I only kind of knew about the material in the question. Bootcamp prepared me by knowing a bulk of the bio knowledge while destroyer gives you a thousand random facts. I had about 10 questions marked on my bio section because the questions were just very weird. That being said, I was able to use my breadth of knowledge to find the right answer for most of them, clearly.
Chemistry- 25 (takes the most time)
First off I would like to say that I dropped chemistry 1 my freshman year and had to retake it, then got a C+ in chemistry 2. You could say this was my weakest subject going in. Shoutout to chad, bootcamp, and destroyer for making this section a cake walk. There was one problem that I honestly had no clue what it asking. Other than that it comparable to bootcamp GC but definitely and little bit easier.
Orgo- 22
Easy section for me. Maybe two questions I had to guess on. So I say 1/2 of Mike's videos because I was taking orgo 2 this summer while preparing for my DAT. I took orgo in the second half of summer during 6 weeks and didn't have my final until 5 days ago (August 4). That being said, I used the first half of the videos to review information from orgo 1. I used my knowledge from my orgo 2 course (which is fresh in my mind) for this section. I did maybe 60 questions from destroyer but did all of the bootcamp OC tests and had to study the lab techniques (taking it next fall). Definitely one of the easier sections.
PAT- 21
I didn't expect to get a 21 honestly. I got caught up on a few keyholes and angle rankings which drained my time. Don't make my mistake, put down an answer and skip!! I answered up to question 83 of pattern folding and then realized I had 10 seconds left and put random answers in. I think I made it to 87 when the time ran out. Overall very similar to Bootcamp. I didn't really practice this section that much. I did the PAT tests on bootcamp and that's it. So practiced about once a week for 5 weeks. Satisfied.
RC- 19 (wtffff)
This was the section I was banking on to bring my score up because I had done so well on my all my practice tests and usually always finished with time to spare. (at this point I thought I butchered the bio section, had no clue about the gc and orgo section, and thought at best I was getting a 19 PAT). The first passage wasn't bad and I finished the questions in about 21 minutes. I figured it was the "hard one". The second passage was absolutely terrible. It was an interesting article about drug addiction but had very difficult questions (not search and destroy, more like use your knowledge based on the article to connect two and two). There was a ton of terminology and was overall decently long. I think around 16 paragraphs. I wasted too much time on this section. The third article was worse because it was information dense once again with a ton of terminology and also very long. The questions were a mix of search and destroy and also type of use your knowledge to answer this. I didn't finish this section. I answer 41 questions that i wasn't confident about and then put random answers up to question 46 before time ran out.
QR- 23
This was my weakest link preparation wise. I was not scoring what I wanted to be on bootcamp test and the math destroyer was extremely difficult. That being said, Bootcamp tests were almost identical and a little bit harder than the real thing. I had a few QC questions (much easier compared to the ones on BC) and didn't get a single trig problem. Overall, much easier than I expected. If you know the formula's from the Bootcamp page you will know how to do 99% of the questions.
Review of materials:
ARI IS THE F*****G GOAT (@Ari Rezaei )
Bootcamp: 100/10 (yes 100)
In my opinion this is the best single resource anyone can use to prepare for the DAT. I didn't follow his schedule super strictly just because I was also taking orgo 2 but follow his plan and you'll score higher than me no doubt. Nuff said.
Destroyer: 7/10
The destroyer really only helped me out with the chemistry section. I think if I had done more of the orgo section (i only did 50q) then i would've excelled even more on the real thing. I just was learning a bulk of the orgo while preparing so I didn't find it useful to go through problems I had no clue about. Bio section is like everyone says, overkill. Good overkill if you have the time. It will help you learn facts about systems you wouldn't be able to figure out even if you had your bio textbook in front of you. I was super busy taking my orgo class and studying though and didn't feel like it was useful for me time management wise.
Chads Videos: 9/10
Fantastic base knowledge of the subject. Watch these and practice.
Mike's videos: 9/10
Great review of concepts. Covers just about everything that pops up on the DAT.
Feralis: 9/10
Anytime you feel iffy about a subject in bio read over the section in these notes. Extremely useful especially if you're lazy note taker like me. Literally just take notes of these notes (or just copy them all down).
Math Destroyer: 7/10
Extremely hard math problems that get your mind right. I did half of the tests. Also contains a solid formula sheet.
Cliff's Bio: 4/10
Just use feralis.
My thoughts on Destroyer:
It was very good for the chemistry sections, although there were a handful of typos and vague explanations. It was sometimes confusing which is why I rated it the way I did. Bootcamp does a much better job of fully explaining concepts.
Mainly shoutout to Ari with DAT Bootcamp. The best preparation tool to use.
Suggestions:
1) Study Hard
2) Practice makes perfect
3) Watch you time during the test
4) Don't be nervous, don't be confident, be anxious.
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Excellent scores! So glad you are finished with this beast and I cannot wait to be done too! Good luck when you apply 
