extra toothalicous
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NOTE: *The printer at my testing center was not working so I got this from ADA and printed at home*
I am not going to lie, this test was probably my biggest academic challenge to date. However, it is not necessarily because of the content but because of spending my entire summer preparing for a test that I could end up having to retake if I did not perform to my best abilities when it came to my DAT date. Overall, I would certainly not consider myself a great standardized test taker and I typically have to put forth a lot of effort into my studies to see positive grades.
I used DAT Booster to study for this exam and followed the 12 week schedule very strictly (I deviated slightly on OChem which I will address later) and I would 10/10 recommend the schedule as it was well-paced and built in some slower days for remaining sane. I had 13 weeks to study for the test and so I took 7 rest says through the 13 weeks and other than that did I some sort of prep every day. Personally I realize I did not take much time off from studying but please do not let that scare you because so many people do well on this test taking time off or distributing the work load differently. This worked best for me because I would rather spend 8 hours each day than 10 hours one day to spend 4 hours the next (I hope that makes sense). Also please do not feel like it is impossible to work and shadow while studying, I did half days of shadowing throughout most of June and picked up shifts at my old high school gym as a cheer coach in evenings throughout summer (I would not shadow and work in the evenings on the same day).
Along with Booster, the only outside resource I used was the DAT Bootcamp free practice test. My one big piece of advice for this test would be TAKE ALL THE PRACTICE TESTS!! I was SO incredibly nervous on August 5th but it gave me a certain level of comfort knowing that my brain was so well trained for this moment that it could essentially go on autopilot for this test. Although I recommend following the Booster schedule, if you do decide to deviate make sure you follow their advice of saving the practice tests for last because this is undoubtably the most effective use of the tests. I will include a typed of version of my practice test scores each with the section scores because I would include a screen shot from booster but it is including my scores from going back and redoing old test sections so they’re very inflated and I want everyone to understand how much I was on the STRUGGLE BUS and how much better I was able to perform on the actual test.
Test 1: BIO(13) GC(15) OC (20) PAT(13) RC(19) QR(15) AA(16)
Test 2: BIO(16) GC(19) OC(20) PAT(19) RC(19) QR(20) AA(17)
Test 3: BIO(15) GC(15) OC(20) PAT(17) RC(19) QR(20) AA(18)
Test 4: BIO(16) GC (17) OC(20) PAT(16) RC (21) QR(23) AA(20)
Test 5: BIO(18) GC(18) OC(22) PAT(17) RC(20) QR (13) AA(18)
Test 6: BIO(15) GC (18) OC (20) PAT(18) RC(24) QR(19) AA(19)
Test 7: BIO(22) GC(20) OC (18) PAT(19) RC(22) QR(20) AA(20)
Test 8: BIO(21) GC(20) OC(20) PAT(19) RC(20) QR(20) AA(20)
Test 9: BIO(20) GC(20) OC(22) PAT(20) RC(22) QR(21) AA(21)
BOOTCAMP TEST: BIO(22) GC(22) OC(20) PAT: 20 RC: 21 QR: 18 AA(21)
Test 10: BIO(24) GC(20) OC(22) PAT(18) RC(24) QR(23) AA(23)
So as you can see, I scored MUCH higher on the real test in every section except PAT where I scored a 20 (which was the highest I ever got on practice) and QR (I got a 21 which is about middle of what I was getting towards the end of the practice tests). Although many other people have posted a similar experience in their DAT breakdowns, I was not allowing myself to anticipate a higher real DAT score than on my practice tests because that is certainly not always the case. I was wanting a minimum 22 AA with no subsection below a 20 so I was content with my final practice test score. Ok that was very long-winded so let’s get into the subsection scores..
BIO (25)
This section was by far the section I spent the most time on because of the breadth of material. I feel very good about the way I distributed my time towards this section because otherwise there was no way I was scoring in the 20s. I followed the booster schedule of watching the videos and notes and when it got closer the test I was filling my time gaps throughout the day with rewatching the bio videos. I would listen to the videos while I showered, got ready for bed, painted my nails, got ready, drove, etc. and I felt this was a great use of time and a way to fill in knowledge gaps. As everyone says, the cheat sheets are all you need to be studying in your last month before the test (which is how the schedule is set up) and they saved me in this bio section. In the month leading up to the exam I would do some bio bits in areas where I felt weaker but overall the bio bits go more in depth than the test. I also tried the anki and quizlet decks provided but felt those were also too in depth and not a great use of time, however, I think if you are a flashcard learner it would be very useful to put the cheat sheet info into flashcard form. Additionally, my mom and I would play the biology game on booster every night before bed for about an hour and would talk all day how I was “getting on the leaderboard tonight” and tried to make it a fun thing to look forward to. On the test some questions were very surface level while others were more specific so I think it is important to know the level of depth the cheat sheets go into.
GEN CHEM (26)
This section for me was probably 1/3 mathematical and the rest conceptual questions. Overall the test was extremely similar to practice tests as far as the high yield content and I watched all the videos and did the question bank questions as assigned on the schedule. I only had one of the mathematical questions where I had to do the math and the rest were just a matter of choosing the equation set up.
ORGO (30)
I wish I honestly had some better advice for this section but I had an absolutely phenomenal orgo professor and so I had a very strong understanding going into the summer and the material required for the DAT was easier than what we covered in the actual orgo 1 and 2 from school. Because of this, I adapted the schedule by not watching the orgo videos and just reading over the notes and doing all the questions banks. I reviewed reaction by looking over Booster’s master reaction list and playing the organic chemistry game in Booster.
PAT (20)
I have serious beef with this section because I tried SO hard for my 20. Ultimately, I am very grateful for my score and my 20 but I did the 15 questions from each PAT section as recommended by Booster daily and still could never score above a 20. Hopefully whoever is reading this is much better at PAT than I am but I am just glad I never have to do a keyhole question again! I would have bombed this section if it weren’t for the daily PAT practice and booster techniques so I definitely recommend that.
READING (30)
PLEASE READ: I was procrastinating my studying by scrolling through DAT breakdowns on SDN and I came across a user with a very high reading score so I was curious what she was doing because I always struggled with time on this section. I used to do the vanilla method (read/ highlight then answer questions) and I was getting okay scores but not very consistently. However, I adapted this user’s method and it CHANGED THE GAME! Here’s what to do: when the passage pops up, read the first question. If this first question is about tone/ main idea then move past it to the first content question. Ok now that you have read this question, start reading the passage as normal and highlight things that you could see being a potential question. Once you read the part of the passage answering the first question, answer the question accordingly and click to the next question. If you recognize that question as something you have previously read then go ahead and answer that question, if NOT then keep reading and highlighting. Continue until all questions are answered then go back and answer the main idea and tone questions. This method is so great because it limits the amount of material you have to go back through to find the answer. For example, if I read the whole thing and then I see question over something then I have to go through all 10 paragraphs to find the answer, but if I do this method and recognize a question and am only on paragraph 4, it makes it so much easier to go back and find the answer. I think everyone should at least give this method a try because it helped me tremendously!
QR: (21)
I think the key to this section is tons of practice so you can recognize question types. Every single question I saw was something I had seen on booster before with a variation in numbers and wording. I think it is very important to understand the task/time, systems of equations, logs, probability, and simplifying problems. This section is nothing but a time trap and there are questions on there meant to do just that. On my test I had a question with an equation with a bunch of fractions and it required adding, dividing, and multiplying them. I worked it out on my scratch paper once and got a weird answer that wasn’t a choice and simply guessed and moved on. Although it feels wrong to move past a question that you know how to do you know you could eventually get, it is not worth the time lost if you have to guess on the last 5 questions. Once I learned to do this, my sore on this section was more consistent. Also, the QR on Bootcamp’s free practice test was brutal so don’t let that discourage you. After initially doing the question banks as per the Booster schedule I never went back and redid them because I felt it was a much better use of my time to go back and redo the QR section from old tests and marked questions as this was the most high yield material.
I know this was a very long-winded post and this test can be very scary but I hope that this was helpful and please do not hesitate to leave me questions, I will be happy to help as so many did for me! Also I said many prayers during this process and believe that God truly had his hand on me throughout this test and is the ultimate reason for my success in all that I do. GOOD LUCK!!!!
I am not going to lie, this test was probably my biggest academic challenge to date. However, it is not necessarily because of the content but because of spending my entire summer preparing for a test that I could end up having to retake if I did not perform to my best abilities when it came to my DAT date. Overall, I would certainly not consider myself a great standardized test taker and I typically have to put forth a lot of effort into my studies to see positive grades.
I used DAT Booster to study for this exam and followed the 12 week schedule very strictly (I deviated slightly on OChem which I will address later) and I would 10/10 recommend the schedule as it was well-paced and built in some slower days for remaining sane. I had 13 weeks to study for the test and so I took 7 rest says through the 13 weeks and other than that did I some sort of prep every day. Personally I realize I did not take much time off from studying but please do not let that scare you because so many people do well on this test taking time off or distributing the work load differently. This worked best for me because I would rather spend 8 hours each day than 10 hours one day to spend 4 hours the next (I hope that makes sense). Also please do not feel like it is impossible to work and shadow while studying, I did half days of shadowing throughout most of June and picked up shifts at my old high school gym as a cheer coach in evenings throughout summer (I would not shadow and work in the evenings on the same day).
Along with Booster, the only outside resource I used was the DAT Bootcamp free practice test. My one big piece of advice for this test would be TAKE ALL THE PRACTICE TESTS!! I was SO incredibly nervous on August 5th but it gave me a certain level of comfort knowing that my brain was so well trained for this moment that it could essentially go on autopilot for this test. Although I recommend following the Booster schedule, if you do decide to deviate make sure you follow their advice of saving the practice tests for last because this is undoubtably the most effective use of the tests. I will include a typed of version of my practice test scores each with the section scores because I would include a screen shot from booster but it is including my scores from going back and redoing old test sections so they’re very inflated and I want everyone to understand how much I was on the STRUGGLE BUS and how much better I was able to perform on the actual test.
Test 1: BIO(13) GC(15) OC (20) PAT(13) RC(19) QR(15) AA(16)
Test 2: BIO(16) GC(19) OC(20) PAT(19) RC(19) QR(20) AA(17)
Test 3: BIO(15) GC(15) OC(20) PAT(17) RC(19) QR(20) AA(18)
Test 4: BIO(16) GC (17) OC(20) PAT(16) RC (21) QR(23) AA(20)
Test 5: BIO(18) GC(18) OC(22) PAT(17) RC(20) QR (13) AA(18)
Test 6: BIO(15) GC (18) OC (20) PAT(18) RC(24) QR(19) AA(19)
Test 7: BIO(22) GC(20) OC (18) PAT(19) RC(22) QR(20) AA(20)
Test 8: BIO(21) GC(20) OC(20) PAT(19) RC(20) QR(20) AA(20)
Test 9: BIO(20) GC(20) OC(22) PAT(20) RC(22) QR(21) AA(21)
BOOTCAMP TEST: BIO(22) GC(22) OC(20) PAT: 20 RC: 21 QR: 18 AA(21)
Test 10: BIO(24) GC(20) OC(22) PAT(18) RC(24) QR(23) AA(23)
So as you can see, I scored MUCH higher on the real test in every section except PAT where I scored a 20 (which was the highest I ever got on practice) and QR (I got a 21 which is about middle of what I was getting towards the end of the practice tests). Although many other people have posted a similar experience in their DAT breakdowns, I was not allowing myself to anticipate a higher real DAT score than on my practice tests because that is certainly not always the case. I was wanting a minimum 22 AA with no subsection below a 20 so I was content with my final practice test score. Ok that was very long-winded so let’s get into the subsection scores..
BIO (25)
This section was by far the section I spent the most time on because of the breadth of material. I feel very good about the way I distributed my time towards this section because otherwise there was no way I was scoring in the 20s. I followed the booster schedule of watching the videos and notes and when it got closer the test I was filling my time gaps throughout the day with rewatching the bio videos. I would listen to the videos while I showered, got ready for bed, painted my nails, got ready, drove, etc. and I felt this was a great use of time and a way to fill in knowledge gaps. As everyone says, the cheat sheets are all you need to be studying in your last month before the test (which is how the schedule is set up) and they saved me in this bio section. In the month leading up to the exam I would do some bio bits in areas where I felt weaker but overall the bio bits go more in depth than the test. I also tried the anki and quizlet decks provided but felt those were also too in depth and not a great use of time, however, I think if you are a flashcard learner it would be very useful to put the cheat sheet info into flashcard form. Additionally, my mom and I would play the biology game on booster every night before bed for about an hour and would talk all day how I was “getting on the leaderboard tonight” and tried to make it a fun thing to look forward to. On the test some questions were very surface level while others were more specific so I think it is important to know the level of depth the cheat sheets go into.
GEN CHEM (26)
This section for me was probably 1/3 mathematical and the rest conceptual questions. Overall the test was extremely similar to practice tests as far as the high yield content and I watched all the videos and did the question bank questions as assigned on the schedule. I only had one of the mathematical questions where I had to do the math and the rest were just a matter of choosing the equation set up.
ORGO (30)
I wish I honestly had some better advice for this section but I had an absolutely phenomenal orgo professor and so I had a very strong understanding going into the summer and the material required for the DAT was easier than what we covered in the actual orgo 1 and 2 from school. Because of this, I adapted the schedule by not watching the orgo videos and just reading over the notes and doing all the questions banks. I reviewed reaction by looking over Booster’s master reaction list and playing the organic chemistry game in Booster.
PAT (20)
I have serious beef with this section because I tried SO hard for my 20. Ultimately, I am very grateful for my score and my 20 but I did the 15 questions from each PAT section as recommended by Booster daily and still could never score above a 20. Hopefully whoever is reading this is much better at PAT than I am but I am just glad I never have to do a keyhole question again! I would have bombed this section if it weren’t for the daily PAT practice and booster techniques so I definitely recommend that.
READING (30)
PLEASE READ: I was procrastinating my studying by scrolling through DAT breakdowns on SDN and I came across a user with a very high reading score so I was curious what she was doing because I always struggled with time on this section. I used to do the vanilla method (read/ highlight then answer questions) and I was getting okay scores but not very consistently. However, I adapted this user’s method and it CHANGED THE GAME! Here’s what to do: when the passage pops up, read the first question. If this first question is about tone/ main idea then move past it to the first content question. Ok now that you have read this question, start reading the passage as normal and highlight things that you could see being a potential question. Once you read the part of the passage answering the first question, answer the question accordingly and click to the next question. If you recognize that question as something you have previously read then go ahead and answer that question, if NOT then keep reading and highlighting. Continue until all questions are answered then go back and answer the main idea and tone questions. This method is so great because it limits the amount of material you have to go back through to find the answer. For example, if I read the whole thing and then I see question over something then I have to go through all 10 paragraphs to find the answer, but if I do this method and recognize a question and am only on paragraph 4, it makes it so much easier to go back and find the answer. I think everyone should at least give this method a try because it helped me tremendously!
QR: (21)
I think the key to this section is tons of practice so you can recognize question types. Every single question I saw was something I had seen on booster before with a variation in numbers and wording. I think it is very important to understand the task/time, systems of equations, logs, probability, and simplifying problems. This section is nothing but a time trap and there are questions on there meant to do just that. On my test I had a question with an equation with a bunch of fractions and it required adding, dividing, and multiplying them. I worked it out on my scratch paper once and got a weird answer that wasn’t a choice and simply guessed and moved on. Although it feels wrong to move past a question that you know how to do you know you could eventually get, it is not worth the time lost if you have to guess on the last 5 questions. Once I learned to do this, my sore on this section was more consistent. Also, the QR on Bootcamp’s free practice test was brutal so don’t let that discourage you. After initially doing the question banks as per the Booster schedule I never went back and redid them because I felt it was a much better use of my time to go back and redo the QR section from old tests and marked questions as this was the most high yield material.
I know this was a very long-winded post and this test can be very scary but I hope that this was helpful and please do not hesitate to leave me questions, I will be happy to help as so many did for me! Also I said many prayers during this process and believe that God truly had his hand on me throughout this test and is the ultimate reason for my success in all that I do. GOOD LUCK!!!!
