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deleted772812
Hello everyone! I took the DAT yesterday and it was pretty hard.
I haven't posted anything on this forum yet but I just wanted to say thank you to this SDN community for being an available and open source of great help and tips! Also, thank you SO much @orgoman22 and @Ari Rezaei, I really don't know how I would have studied for this test without the Destroyers and Bootcamp!
Here are my scores:
PAT: 21
QR: 29
RC: 24
Bio: 18
GC: 22
OC: 24
TS: 20
AA: 23
2009 DAT scores: PAT 22, QR: 18 (I really didn't try on the math section of this test because I read it was ridiculously hard haha..) RC: 21, Bio: 21, GC: 22, OC: 20
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PAT (21): I would say this section was a bit more straightforward and slightly easier than Bootcamp but it was still tricky! I struggled to finish on time with Bootcamp and on the real DAT, although I finished, I still didn't have enough time to go back and look at all the ones I marked. Honestly so thankful for this score because I thought I left a couple blank after marking them for review, instead of guessing/filling them in, so I kind of freaked out during my break. (**always take a guess and mark a question, in case you don't have time to go back!!) I only used Bootcamp for PAT; practice as much as you can!!
QR (29): For me, math was one of my stronger subjects so I wasn't too concerned with QR, but wow, still very thankful for this score also! I used the Math Destroyer and Bootcamp to study for this section. Math Destroyer was definitely harder and I think Bootcamp was a bit more representative of the real thing.
RC (24): I didn't know how to prepare for this section at all and I just tried to read scientific articles every day. The only real practice I got was with Bootcamp about two weeks before I took my DAT and it was really good exposure to the timing and gave me a sense of how fast you had to read/take in material. I think the articles were definitely easier to read than the ones on Bootcamp!
Bio (18): I really do agree with the others who said this section is random/a mixed bag haha. I marked at least 10 questions and even had a couple questions with words I had never seen before! "Breadth over depth" for sure; I don't know how I could've prepared better though...
GC (22): I think chem is a combination of both having to know/recognize concepts and knowing how to do problems. Throughout studying, chem tended to be one of my lower science scores, but I think doing all those Destroyer practice problems ingrained in me a sense of how to approach certain chem questions. Bootcamp was a tiny bit harder than the real GC section!
OC (24): To be honest, I was terrified/dreading having to study OC again after taking it in college haha but Chad's Videos and the Destroyer saved my life!!! I think OC was a very straightforward section and I saw a couple questions that were similar to the ones on Bootcamp. Also, Chad's Reactions sheet was a life-saver, I printed it out, added my own notes to it, and studied it every day.
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Study Materials: I stuck to Ari's Study Schedule. (Cliff's, Ferrali's notes, Bootcamp, Chad's videos, Math Destroyer, and Destroyer). I also used the Anki flashcards with Ferrali's notes.
I studied for about two months and followed Ari's schedule (having a schedule was essential for me!)
- I spent the first month learning the content with Chad's and went through the Destroyers 2x in the last month. The second time I went through the Destroyers, I would make flashcards of the problems that I still didn't know how to do and would try to look at them almost every day. The Destroyer problems are really tough, so don't be discouraged by this!! But they do train you to really understand/expose you to the content, so don't give up and keep going! (my stack of flashcards was ridiculous)
- PAT was so intimidating at first, but Bootcamp's strategies were amazing and practice, practice, practice. Even when you get confident for a particular section of the PAT, keep practicing it. From my own experience, I got the feel for ankle ranking in the beginning and I neglected it in the last month and I started to get wrecked by it in the BC practice tests...so don't let it go!
- There were times that I would get so overwhelmed for Bio, because there is simply too much to study in such a limited time. I went through Cliff's in the beginning and tried reading Ferrali's notes but just reading them didn't do much for me. I liked using Anki flashcards with Ferrali's notes because it helped me actually memorize. While doing the Destroyer, I also made Quizlet flashcards with Ferrali's notes, and tried to look at those regularly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Background: I'm a rising fourth year undergraduate at a competitive school. I don't think my GPA is all too great right now with all the challenging science courses (overall GPA ~3.4) and I'm hoping to get it up more within this year. To be honest, I'm not the smartest/not the best at science but I think I still do try and work really hard to do what I can. I've been discouraged/anxious many times throughout school and studying for this test, but I really do believe that all the hard work and effort that you put in to do anything, will always come back to reward you!
That being said, I studied for this test like my life depended on it this summer haha. Towards the last month, I was at the library for 10-12 hours every day, which was terrible. I also think that it's true that you will never feel completely ready for this test. By the end of it, half of me just wanted to take it and get it over with but I still felt ill-prepared; I hoping to score at least average while I took this test.
I would have never imagined scoring what I actually got, and I think this shows that you really don't have to be a genius to do well on the DAT!!
My question: Overall I'm satisfied with my score but I just had a slight concern/question regarding my bio score since it's a bit lower than the rest. I was just wondering if I should be concerned at all about my bio score?? (Is it worth a re-take...?)
Not the most consistent/best of scores, but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I'll be more than willing to try to be of any help!
I haven't posted anything on this forum yet but I just wanted to say thank you to this SDN community for being an available and open source of great help and tips! Also, thank you SO much @orgoman22 and @Ari Rezaei, I really don't know how I would have studied for this test without the Destroyers and Bootcamp!
Here are my scores:
PAT: 21
QR: 29
RC: 24
Bio: 18
GC: 22
OC: 24
TS: 20
AA: 23
2009 DAT scores: PAT 22, QR: 18 (I really didn't try on the math section of this test because I read it was ridiculously hard haha..) RC: 21, Bio: 21, GC: 22, OC: 20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAT (21): I would say this section was a bit more straightforward and slightly easier than Bootcamp but it was still tricky! I struggled to finish on time with Bootcamp and on the real DAT, although I finished, I still didn't have enough time to go back and look at all the ones I marked. Honestly so thankful for this score because I thought I left a couple blank after marking them for review, instead of guessing/filling them in, so I kind of freaked out during my break. (**always take a guess and mark a question, in case you don't have time to go back!!) I only used Bootcamp for PAT; practice as much as you can!!
QR (29): For me, math was one of my stronger subjects so I wasn't too concerned with QR, but wow, still very thankful for this score also! I used the Math Destroyer and Bootcamp to study for this section. Math Destroyer was definitely harder and I think Bootcamp was a bit more representative of the real thing.
RC (24): I didn't know how to prepare for this section at all and I just tried to read scientific articles every day. The only real practice I got was with Bootcamp about two weeks before I took my DAT and it was really good exposure to the timing and gave me a sense of how fast you had to read/take in material. I think the articles were definitely easier to read than the ones on Bootcamp!
Bio (18): I really do agree with the others who said this section is random/a mixed bag haha. I marked at least 10 questions and even had a couple questions with words I had never seen before! "Breadth over depth" for sure; I don't know how I could've prepared better though...
GC (22): I think chem is a combination of both having to know/recognize concepts and knowing how to do problems. Throughout studying, chem tended to be one of my lower science scores, but I think doing all those Destroyer practice problems ingrained in me a sense of how to approach certain chem questions. Bootcamp was a tiny bit harder than the real GC section!
OC (24): To be honest, I was terrified/dreading having to study OC again after taking it in college haha but Chad's Videos and the Destroyer saved my life!!! I think OC was a very straightforward section and I saw a couple questions that were similar to the ones on Bootcamp. Also, Chad's Reactions sheet was a life-saver, I printed it out, added my own notes to it, and studied it every day.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Study Materials: I stuck to Ari's Study Schedule. (Cliff's, Ferrali's notes, Bootcamp, Chad's videos, Math Destroyer, and Destroyer). I also used the Anki flashcards with Ferrali's notes.
I studied for about two months and followed Ari's schedule (having a schedule was essential for me!)
- I spent the first month learning the content with Chad's and went through the Destroyers 2x in the last month. The second time I went through the Destroyers, I would make flashcards of the problems that I still didn't know how to do and would try to look at them almost every day. The Destroyer problems are really tough, so don't be discouraged by this!! But they do train you to really understand/expose you to the content, so don't give up and keep going! (my stack of flashcards was ridiculous
)- PAT was so intimidating at first, but Bootcamp's strategies were amazing and practice, practice, practice. Even when you get confident for a particular section of the PAT, keep practicing it. From my own experience, I got the feel for ankle ranking in the beginning and I neglected it in the last month and I started to get wrecked by it in the BC practice tests...so don't let it go!
- There were times that I would get so overwhelmed for Bio, because there is simply too much to study in such a limited time. I went through Cliff's in the beginning and tried reading Ferrali's notes but just reading them didn't do much for me. I liked using Anki flashcards with Ferrali's notes because it helped me actually memorize. While doing the Destroyer, I also made Quizlet flashcards with Ferrali's notes, and tried to look at those regularly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Background: I'm a rising fourth year undergraduate at a competitive school. I don't think my GPA is all too great right now with all the challenging science courses (overall GPA ~3.4) and I'm hoping to get it up more within this year. To be honest, I'm not the smartest/not the best at science but I think I still do try and work really hard to do what I can. I've been discouraged/anxious many times throughout school and studying for this test, but I really do believe that all the hard work and effort that you put in to do anything, will always come back to reward you!
That being said, I studied for this test like my life depended on it this summer haha. Towards the last month, I was at the library for 10-12 hours every day, which was terrible. I also think that it's true that you will never feel completely ready for this test. By the end of it, half of me just wanted to take it and get it over with but I still felt ill-prepared; I hoping to score at least average while I took this test.
I would have never imagined scoring what I actually got, and I think this shows that you really don't have to be a genius to do well on the DAT!!
My question: Overall I'm satisfied with my score but I just had a slight concern/question regarding my bio score since it's a bit lower than the rest. I was just wondering if I should be concerned at all about my bio score??
(Is it worth a re-take...?)Not the most consistent/best of scores, but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I'll be more than willing to try to be of any help!
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