DAT breakdown AA23/TS24/PAT24 (3/28/14)

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apollo69

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Hi everyone,

Just got done with my DAT so I thought I'd share my experience. About me, I'm a 3rd year Biochemistry major, prior to the DAT I have taken general bio, general chem, ochem, biochemistry, bacteriology, biochemistry lab, genetics, and math (although I don't think its relevant since this is calculus and there's no calculus on the DAT). I also TA'd for lower division ecology/evolution and biology for non-bio majors.

Materials used:
DAT Destroyer (duh)
Kaplan BB (7th ed)
DAT Bootcamp
Crack DAT PAT
Cliff's AP Bio
Feralis Notes

Materials Review(?):
DAT Destroyer: MUST-HAVE. The questions in here are hard af and I honestly went through the whole book like 5/6 times (over a 3/4 month period with breaks in between). But, once you learn how to do all the problems in this book you'll be set (I was, anyway)
Kaplan BB: Honestly, this book wasn't that great. I bought it before I discovered sdn and this book was the most popular book people used when I googled "how to study for the DAT" so I bought it. But I only read through it once and never touched it again until I took the practice test in the book.
DAT Bootcamp: Also a MUST-HAVE. Probably more essential than DAT Destroyer tbh. The questions are easier than Destroyer but are about the same or slightly harder than the questions on the real DAT.
Crack DAT PAT: I bought the 10 test edition. Pretty good to get you started on the PAT.
Cliff's AP Bio: I think I read through this book like 1.5 times. 1.5 times because I got bored of it the second time so I gave up because I discovered...
Feralis Notes: super detailed and great for the Bio section. It was really good at focussing on the material you need to know for the DAT along with the random facts that pop up in exams. And it was shorter than Cliffs so it was easier to read lol.

On to my scores:
PAT: 24
QR: 20
RC:21
Bio: 25
Gchem:20
Ochem: 27
TS: 24
AA: 23

Needless to say, I was ecstatic. I may not sound ecstatic on here but I was. Fo reals. Now for a rundown of how it went down.
Bio: Being the first section and it being 8am, I was confused af when the first question popped up because it was totally unexpected. In fact, the entire section was totally unexpected because I actually got a few lab techniques questions (Thank GOD I took Biochemical Techniques lab lol). I would say most of the questions were what you'd expect in your first general bio class' exam. Oh, and there was 1 question that was on DAT destroyer that came up lol. Honestly, I did not expect a 25. After finishing the sciences I thought bio would be my downfall and I'd be ashamed of myself for the rest of my life and question my major choice lol. But in retrospect, this section wasn't that bad. I used DAT bootcamp, Destroyer, and Feralis Notes mainly to prepare for this section. I did 40 bio questions from DAT destroyer every day that I studied and would read through 2 topics on Feralis notes every day again and again.

Chem: I know people say that Chad's videos are a must have for this section but honestly I was too lazy and cheap to buy his videos haha. I also thought that my gen chem courses in college were good enough. I only used DAT destroyer and Bootcamp for the practice tests. On the test, this was actually not bad either but I thought it was harder than ochem lol and I had to mark a few questions and guessed on a few. There were a lot more conceptual questions than I expected but I guess I turned out alright overall. I will say that Bootcamp and Destroyer definitely cover all the types of questions that the DAT could ask.

Ochem: Same prep materials as Gchem. I actually tried to memorize the roadmaps in destroyer to make up for not watching Chad's videos lol This section to me, was the easiest on the DAT. Which is surprising because it was my worst section when I did the bootcamp tests, and my highest was a 21 I think. But yeah, on the real test this section was kinda easy, not gonna lie, it was not tricky like the questions in destroyer/bootcamp so I guess I could do well on it.

PAT: Like everyone else, I used CDP and Bootcamp to prepare. this section was pretty straightforward surprisingly. I would say some of the questions were even easier than CDP even though people mentioned that CDP is easier than the real thing. I felt like I could narrow down the choices down to 2 for most questions. Keyholes and TFE were relatively straightforward. I could pick the answer just by focussing on specific features of the objects. Angle ranking was probably on par with CDP for me, and for me, CDP>bootcamp for this section. Hole punching was straightforward if you used the tic tac toe method. No weird folds at all. Cube counting was good because there were no illusions and the cubes were stacked clearly. Pattern folding was easy if you did process of elimination by focussing on specific shapes, number of faces, and...folding it in your mind I guess.

RC: I was never good at reading and I thought getting an 18 was good enough but I did practice tests and ended doing well so I was like hmm maybe I can do this. I only used Bootcamp tests to study, really. Most of the questions on the DAT were search and destroy but I'm not good at skimming articles so I would just read through the whole thing once and then s+D!

QR: This was actually not that bad compared to the bootcamp tests. Like with reading, I was ok with getting an 18 because I always ran out of time in practice. I only used Bootcamp and the QR section of destroyer to study (not Math Destroyer). Knowing that I always ran out of time, I just chose randomly for any question I didn't know how to do or couldn't be bothered to do because it would take too long and moved on. Guess it worked out in the end.

By the end of the test I was feeling like I'm over this, I think I did well in ochem and PAT but I'm not sure about the other sections so I just sped through the survey and BOOM. My scores came out and I was so surprised!!! I wanted to scream or twerk or do some awkward dance but there were like 20 other people taking tests at the Prometric center so I just sat there and screamed internally lol
In total I think I spent 4 months studying on and off and I probably only spent like 2 or 3 hrs a day studying for the DAT because I mainly just did DAT destroyer again and again and again. So yeah, that concludes my DAt experience. Good luck to those of you still studying! And feel free to ask me any questions about the DAT :)

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Congrats!!! Your TS and PAT are sick!

My test is this upcoming monday :scared:. Any last minute advice you can give? Haha.


And when you said lab techniques in bio, did you mean like genetic technologies? (cDNA, PCR, blotting, etc...)
Also, mind sharing what you were scoring on Bootcamp for Bio, GC, OC, and PAT?
 
Haha thanks! :D
Let's see my scores on bootcamp were:
B/C/OC/PAT/QR/RC
26/25/18/20/18/18
21/24/19/19/20/19
24/30/22/19/21/19
18/23/24/19/20/22
23/20/20/19/19/22

My last 2 tests were taken 2 days before my DAT so I was totally freaking out because my chems were declining :(
Yes, by lab techniques I mean the stuff you'd learn in the last few weeks of your introductory biology course haha
The only advice I guess I could give is don't trust the scores you get from practice tests. By that I mean if you dont do so hot, don't let it discourage you because the scaled scoring is gonna be different on the real test. I remember when I took the kaplan practice test on monday/tuesday I only scored a 20 and freaked tf out!! I had remind myself that the scoring is not representative to a T before I could muster up the energy to continue studying.
Also, treat this exam like it is just another practice test. It certainly helps that the layout is similar to bootcamp's tests but if you go in with that mentality it really calms you down I think. Also, I think that if you treat it like its a practice test, you are more likely to go with your first instinct and stick with it and it usually works out in your favor.

Good luck!!!
 
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your major, your classes (Biochemical Techniques lab is very specific lol), and the fact that you can TA for those specific courses.
also a 3rd year biochem. I wonder if I met you in real life before : p?
 
Hi everyone,

Just got done with my DAT so I thought I'd share my experience. About me, I'm a 3rd year Biochemistry major, prior to the DAT I have taken general bio, general chem, ochem, biochemistry, bacteriology, biochemistry lab, genetics, and math (although I don't think its relevant since this is calculus and there's no calculus on the DAT). I also TA'd for lower division ecology/evolution and biology for non-bio majors.

Materials used:
DAT Destroyer (duh)
Kaplan BB (7th ed)
DAT Bootcamp
Crack DAT PAT
Cliff's AP Bio
Feralis Notes

Materials Review(?):
DAT Destroyer: MUST-HAVE. The questions in here are hard af and I honestly went through the whole book like 5/6 times (over a 3/4 month period with breaks in between). But, once you learn how to do all the problems in this book you'll be set (I was, anyway)
Kaplan BB: Honestly, this book wasn't that great. I bought it before I discovered sdn and this book was the most popular book people used when I googled "how to study for the DAT" so I bought it. But I only read through it once and never touched it again until I took the practice test in the book.
DAT Bootcamp: Also a MUST-HAVE. Probably more essential than DAT Destroyer tbh. The questions are easier than Destroyer but are about the same or slightly harder than the questions on the real DAT.
Crack DAT PAT: I bought the 10 test edition. Pretty good to get you started on the PAT.
Cliff's AP Bio: I think I read through this book like 1.5 times. 1.5 times because I got bored of it the second time so I gave up because I discovered...
Feralis Notes: super detailed and great for the Bio section. It was really good at focussing on the material you need to know for the DAT along with the random facts that pop up in exams. And it was shorter than Cliffs so it was easier to read lol.

On to my scores:
PAT: 24
QR: 20
RC:21
Bio: 25
Gchem:20
Ochem: 27
TS: 24
AA: 23

Needless to say, I was ecstatic. I may not sound ecstatic on here but I was. Fo reals. Now for a rundown of how it went down.
Bio: Being the first section and it being 8am, I was confused af when the first question popped up because it was totally unexpected. In fact, the entire section was totally unexpected because I actually got a few lab techniques questions (Thank GOD I took Biochemical Techniques lab lol), some taxonomy questions, a lot of cell questions, not a lot of physiology questions now that I think about it. I would say most of the questions were what you'd expect in your first general bio class' exam. Oh, and there was 1 question that was on DAT destroyer that came up lol. Honestly, I did not expect a 25. After finishing the sciences I thought bio would be my downfall and I'd be ashamed of myself for the rest of my life and question my major choice lol. But in retrospect, this section wasn't that bad. I used DAT bootcamp, Destroyer, and Feralis Notes mainly to prepare for this section and I guess it was fine.

Chem: I know people say that Chad's videos are a must have for this section but honestly I was too lazy and cheap to buy his videos haha. I only used DAT destroyer and whatever I could remember from freshman year gen chem lol On the test, this was actually not bad either but I thought it was harder than ochem lol and I had to mark a few questions and guessed on a few. But I guess I turned out alright.

Ochem: Same prep materials as Gchem. I actually tried to memorize the roadmaps in destroyer to make up for not watching Chad's videos lol This section to me, was the easiest on the DAT. Which is surprising because it was my worst section when I did the bootcamp tests, and my highest was a 21 I think. But yeah, on the real test this section was kinda easy, not gonna lie, it was not tricky like the questions in destroyer/bootcamp so I guess I did well on it.

PAT: Like everyone else, I used CDP and Bootcamp to prepare. this section was pretty straightforward surprisingly. I would say some of the questions were even easier than CDP even though people mentioned that CDP is easier than the real thing. I felt like I could narrow down the choices down to 2 for most questions. Keyholes and TFE were relatively straightforward. I could pick the answer just by focussing on specific features of the objects. Angle ranking was probably on par with CDP for me, and for me, CDP>bootcamp for this section. Hole punching was straightforward if you used the tic tac toe method. No weird folds at all. Cube counting was good because there were no illusions and the cubes were stacked clearly. Pattern folding was easy if you did process of elimination by focussing on specific shapes, number of faces, and...folding it in your mind I guess.

RC: I was never good at reading and I thought getting an 18 was good enough but I did practice tests and ended doing well so I was like hmm maybe I can do this. I only used Bootcamp tests to study, really. Most of the questions on the DAT were search and destroy but I'm not good at skimming articles so I would just read through the whole thing once and then s+D!

QR: This was actually not that bad compared to the bootcamp tests. Like with reading, I was ok with getting an 18 because I always ran out of time in practice. I only used Bootcamp and the QR section of destroyer to study (not Math Destroyer). Knowing that I always ran out of time, I just chose randomly for any question I didn't know how to do or couldn't be bothered to do because it would take too long and moved on. Guess it worked out in the end.

By the end of the test I was feeling like I'm over this so I just sped through the survey and BOOM. My scores came out and I was so surprised!!! I wanted to scream or twerk or do some awkward dance but there were like 20 other people taking tests at the Prometric center so I just sat there and screamed internally lol
In total I think I spent 4 months studying on and off and I probably only spent like 2 or 3 hrs a day studying for the DAT because I mainly just did DAT destroyer again and again and again. So yeah, that concludes my DAt experience. Good luck to those of you still studying! And feel free to ask me any questions about the DAT :)

Sweet scores. How many weeks did you study?
 
Thank you everyone for your kind words :happy::happy: And especially thanks @Ari Rezaei for Bootcamp! Couldn't have gotten my scores without your resources :D

I don't know how to respond to specific posts so I'm just gonna say it here I guess. I originally planned to take the DAT in January so I started studying since September. But halfway through the quarter my workload became too heavy so I decided to postpone my test until March and stopped studying. I resumed studying during Winter break by doing Destroyer problems, reading cliffs and feralis notes. Then when Winter quarter started I only studied for the DAT on the weekends, had a break the week before finals week, and then crammed like mad as soon as my finals were over (my DAT was a week after my finals week, during spring break). So I can't really say how many weeks I actually studied because there were times I studied like crazy and then there were times I barely studied spread out over 6(?) months. But I'd say I finished the majority of my studying during winter break and after that it was a matter of reminding myself of the material.
 
Damn you killed it!! The destroyer and crack dat must have been the mighty tools that helped the most!
 
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You should be ecstatic. Those are finr scores. Great job.
 
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Man, I hope I can achieve you did! Great scores - you should feel very proud of what you have accomplished.
 
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You know, I think Angela is our mutual friend!

I took mine this afternoon and did well; far better than I expected, in fact. I'll post a breakdown in a while after I have more time to draft one. I have SDN to thank for all the help I received in preparing for it!
 
Wait this is kinda late, but I just realized something. Isn't it kinda bad for me that you two (OP and gobi) are applying the same cycle as me AND we come from the same university? Lol yikes. Give me a chance you guys : p
 
Haha you don't have to worry about me, I'm not applying this cycle (taking a gap year after I graduate) ;)
And gobi actually goes to UCLA, I believe...
Still, your scores are great too so you're probably gonna get into your dream school anyways:)
 
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