- Joined
- May 2, 2016
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 8
Hey there! Just took my DATs today and I wanted to share my thoughts and personal experience before I happily forget about it all.
My Scores:
PAT: 22
QR:23
RC:21
Biology: 26
GC: 22
OC: 27
TS: 24
AA: 24
Study Time: 7 weeks...consistently 8-12 hours per day. I would actually recommend 5-6 weeks if you're gonna study for such long hours though..by the last week I just felt like I was trying to learn to recite Feralis rather than studying for a test (aka felt like killing myself.)
PAT (22): I've noticed the most consistent advice on SDN is that DAT Bootcamp is the best practice you can get for PAT...for good reason. This test looked, felt, and tasted like a slightly cheaper version of Bootcamp to be honest. Keyholes were in a lower resolution than I was used to and some angles were pixelated while others were sharp. Keyholes were the only section that I felt like was harder than bootcamp (due to some of those new multi-faced figures), but the rest was k. My first PAT test on Bootcamp I got a 16 and the week before my test I was getting consistent 21s and 22s. PAT was never something that just "clicked" for me; I practiced for every point of increase, and just began to see slow, linear progression.
QR (23): The best advice I received for this section is if you don't know it, skip it. I finish bootcamp tests with about 10 minutes left usually but was left with a fat 10 seconds on the actual DAT; the test itself is not as hard as math destroyer but by the time you get to QR you've already gone through 5 separate cycles of adrenaline rushes so you really couldn't care less how many hours it takes fu***** Dave to build a fu***** house. I personally did Math Destroyer first and then redid the problems I missed. When I moved on to DAT Bootcamp I was scoring around 21 but managed to get two 30s on bootcamp a few days before the test. Oh, and another tip: write down any formulas you don't know that you come across, ya never know when it might turn up again.
RC(21): Everyone told me that reading was easier than bootcamp, so I barely studied for this section. I averaged 22 on the bootcamp tests so I thought my time would be better spent on other sections. My strategy was usually to read the full passage and then answer questions (I always have enough time for this on bootcamp) However, on the real thing I found the passages incredibly dense and by the time I finished my first passage I realized I only had 30 minutes left. I started freaking out and decided to use search and destroy...for the first time. I could hear my every heartbeat and I was expecting to fail because of this section, so I guess I can't complain. You know those double statement questions on bootcamp that are really annoying? Yeah make sure you pay attention to those because they definitely show up.
Biology (26): Random as expected; they ask about everything and anything. If I had make a super rough estimate I would say 90% of information is in Feralis..the rest is fate and you can't do anything about it. I made Feralis my bible. I literally read this packet every day since my first day of studying and whenever I finished I would start back from the beginning. I never stopped cycling. I also finished destroyer and bootcamp. I did my bootcamp tests twice but not destroyer because I wrote down every fact that I got missed, so I didn't see a point in going through the questions again. My advice for this section is just to keep going and never stop learning new facts and details. You're obviously somewhat interested in Biology or you wouldn't be trying to get into a healthcare profession, convince yourself of this and don't give up! It doesn't take smarts to do well on this section-it's just hard work.
GC (22): This section was weird. I usually do pretty well on gen chem and get from a 25 to a 30 on bootcamp. I also watched all of Chads and did destroyer twice for this section, but I got a few odd lab questions on gen chem. I never figured out that buret vs pipet stuff because it seemed like no one could agree on one right answer, and unfortunately this showed up on my test. Oh, and make sure you know how to read a meniscus too. Don't neglect the lab stuff! Other than that it was a bunch of straightforward stoichiometry, quantum numbers and all that good stuff. Really curious what I messed up on.
OC (27): This section was surprisingly straightforward. I got a C in ochem 2 so I was most scared of this section going into my studying. After watching Chads and doing his quizzes, I felt pretty good about myself but received a 18 on my first bootcamp test. I was not satisfied with this so I paused bootcamp and did destroyer. The first time through was pure torture. I kept a finger on the answers because I would get almost every question wrong. However, my second time through I got about half as much wrong and half again on my third attempt. I took good notes of everything I missed and used google to understand reactions. This repeated exposure to the reactions was essential to ingraining ochem, in my opinion. Averaged anywhere from a 22 to 30 on bootcamp after that...couldn't be happier about my score here!
Advice/Thoughts:
-Remember to work on your weaknesses, not test them. As much as you want to gauge how your scores stack up to others, you don't learn from taking practice test after practice test. Schedule your tests accordingly and learn first, test after.
-Don't assume something is "easy" or "hard" just because someone said so (including me.) Everyone is different and studied different things so never neglect any section!
-2009 ADA is a very good representation of the real thing, save the ridiculous QR section. 2007 is too easy.
-Take good notes of all your mistakes during practice tests. It's impossible not to forget certain things, so good notes are essential to reviewing concepts you're weak in.
-Take all advice with a grain of salt-at the end of the day it's your future!
Good luck on everyones DATs!
My Scores:
PAT: 22
QR:23
RC:21
Biology: 26
GC: 22
OC: 27
TS: 24
AA: 24
Study Time: 7 weeks...consistently 8-12 hours per day. I would actually recommend 5-6 weeks if you're gonna study for such long hours though..by the last week I just felt like I was trying to learn to recite Feralis rather than studying for a test (aka felt like killing myself.)
PAT (22): I've noticed the most consistent advice on SDN is that DAT Bootcamp is the best practice you can get for PAT...for good reason. This test looked, felt, and tasted like a slightly cheaper version of Bootcamp to be honest. Keyholes were in a lower resolution than I was used to and some angles were pixelated while others were sharp. Keyholes were the only section that I felt like was harder than bootcamp (due to some of those new multi-faced figures), but the rest was k. My first PAT test on Bootcamp I got a 16 and the week before my test I was getting consistent 21s and 22s. PAT was never something that just "clicked" for me; I practiced for every point of increase, and just began to see slow, linear progression.
QR (23): The best advice I received for this section is if you don't know it, skip it. I finish bootcamp tests with about 10 minutes left usually but was left with a fat 10 seconds on the actual DAT; the test itself is not as hard as math destroyer but by the time you get to QR you've already gone through 5 separate cycles of adrenaline rushes so you really couldn't care less how many hours it takes fu***** Dave to build a fu***** house. I personally did Math Destroyer first and then redid the problems I missed. When I moved on to DAT Bootcamp I was scoring around 21 but managed to get two 30s on bootcamp a few days before the test. Oh, and another tip: write down any formulas you don't know that you come across, ya never know when it might turn up again.
RC(21): Everyone told me that reading was easier than bootcamp, so I barely studied for this section. I averaged 22 on the bootcamp tests so I thought my time would be better spent on other sections. My strategy was usually to read the full passage and then answer questions (I always have enough time for this on bootcamp) However, on the real thing I found the passages incredibly dense and by the time I finished my first passage I realized I only had 30 minutes left. I started freaking out and decided to use search and destroy...for the first time. I could hear my every heartbeat and I was expecting to fail because of this section, so I guess I can't complain. You know those double statement questions on bootcamp that are really annoying? Yeah make sure you pay attention to those because they definitely show up.
Biology (26): Random as expected; they ask about everything and anything. If I had make a super rough estimate I would say 90% of information is in Feralis..the rest is fate and you can't do anything about it. I made Feralis my bible. I literally read this packet every day since my first day of studying and whenever I finished I would start back from the beginning. I never stopped cycling. I also finished destroyer and bootcamp. I did my bootcamp tests twice but not destroyer because I wrote down every fact that I got missed, so I didn't see a point in going through the questions again. My advice for this section is just to keep going and never stop learning new facts and details. You're obviously somewhat interested in Biology or you wouldn't be trying to get into a healthcare profession, convince yourself of this and don't give up! It doesn't take smarts to do well on this section-it's just hard work.
GC (22): This section was weird. I usually do pretty well on gen chem and get from a 25 to a 30 on bootcamp. I also watched all of Chads and did destroyer twice for this section, but I got a few odd lab questions on gen chem. I never figured out that buret vs pipet stuff because it seemed like no one could agree on one right answer, and unfortunately this showed up on my test. Oh, and make sure you know how to read a meniscus too. Don't neglect the lab stuff! Other than that it was a bunch of straightforward stoichiometry, quantum numbers and all that good stuff. Really curious what I messed up on.
OC (27): This section was surprisingly straightforward. I got a C in ochem 2 so I was most scared of this section going into my studying. After watching Chads and doing his quizzes, I felt pretty good about myself but received a 18 on my first bootcamp test. I was not satisfied with this so I paused bootcamp and did destroyer. The first time through was pure torture. I kept a finger on the answers because I would get almost every question wrong. However, my second time through I got about half as much wrong and half again on my third attempt. I took good notes of everything I missed and used google to understand reactions. This repeated exposure to the reactions was essential to ingraining ochem, in my opinion. Averaged anywhere from a 22 to 30 on bootcamp after that...couldn't be happier about my score here!
Advice/Thoughts:
-Remember to work on your weaknesses, not test them. As much as you want to gauge how your scores stack up to others, you don't learn from taking practice test after practice test. Schedule your tests accordingly and learn first, test after.
-Don't assume something is "easy" or "hard" just because someone said so (including me.) Everyone is different and studied different things so never neglect any section!
-2009 ADA is a very good representation of the real thing, save the ridiculous QR section. 2007 is too easy.
-Take good notes of all your mistakes during practice tests. It's impossible not to forget certain things, so good notes are essential to reviewing concepts you're weak in.
-Take all advice with a grain of salt-at the end of the day it's your future!
Good luck on everyones DATs!
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