- Joined
- Apr 6, 2017
- Messages
- 51
- Reaction score
- 25
PAT: 22
QR: 17
Reading: 24
Biology: 30
G. Chem: 22
Orgo: 23
TS: 24
AA: 23
Just wanted to share my study methods and materials that I used for about 2.5 months following Bootcamp's schedule. Do NOT study for 11-12 hours as I did, you will burn out and its an insane amount of stress on your mind and body. Do as others have suggested and hit maybe 8 hours.
Biology
@FeralisExtremum's notes- 100/10: these are a godsend, nothing will prep you better than this 80 or so page document. It literally covered everything that was on my DAT and I cannot thank you enough for being kind enough to upload them for us. Get them, memorize them, sleep with them under your pillow, do whatever you have to to know it front to back. It'll be worth it
DAT Bootcamp- 15/10: Get this program. Period. Nothing tests you better than BC will. @Ari Rezaei and his team have done a phenomenal job with this interface. The questions were very similarly worded and they will train you to look out for tricks on the real exam. The explanations of every biology question are long and will take time to get through, but trust me it'll be worth it; there wasn't a single topic on the DAT that I hadn't seen in the form of a question or in an explanation
DAT Destroyer- 8/10: Overkill for Bio in my opinion but there were definitely concepts that were reinforced based on the questions asked. However, going through it twice is way too much. Go through it once, write down what you got wrong and why you got it wrong, and also write down anything you got right but weren't sure about. And then memorize that. This is what I wish I would've done as it would've saved a lot of my time. Overall, it was good to understand concepts and constantly go over the things that may trip you up
In general, what I would do is spend a day on Cliff's 3rd edition and then go over the corresponding Feralis chapter the next day and try to understand the basics. Bio is very difficult to understand, memorize and retain in the span of a week and then be able to recall it a month later. The best way for me was to just grasp the basics in the first month and when I started working through practice for Destroyer and Bootcamp, that's when I would crack down and really memorize my mistakes.
General Chemistry
Chad's videos- 10/10: Bless this man, for real though. I had taken General Chem for the first two months of summer so that may have helped since I retained everything that I had already learned. But I can say that had I not taken the course, Chad would've 100% helped me get a score close to what I got because he breaks down the material in the simplest ways possible for G. Chem.
Bootcamp- 10/10: My Bootcamp scores were very, very similar to what I ended up getting on the real DAT, so I can vouch for the fact that the topics and questions styles that you see on BC will match the DAT's wording and difficulty level. This area is fairly tricky and took me the longest to get through on the DAT.
DAT Destroyer: I didn't really use this mainly because I felt that I had sufficient knowledge from my G. Chem course but also because I found the questions ridiculously difficult and I felt that they wouldn't show up on my DAT, which by luck of draw they didn't. However, I really recommend doing them because you never know what may or may not show up.
I just followed Bootcamp's schedule for this. Watched whatever videos they told me to and did the associated quizzes.
Organic Chemistry
I was borderline terrified for this section when I started, nothing was making sense to me and I feel like I spent the longest trying to understand everything for it, but it ended up being the most straightforward section on the DAT.
Mike's Video's- 7/10: I did not use Mike's videos from BC too much because I preferred Chad's teaching style. However, the videos I did watch from him (everything but the reactions) were extremely helpful in solidifying the material. So if you find his teaching style more to your liking, I'm confident he will help you ace the Orgo section
Chad's Video's- 10/10: As said above, he will help you ace the DAT easily. Full confidence in this guy and I really, really encourage everyone to get a subscription to Coursesaver. I used him for the reactions and it really simplified everything for me. Plus his reaction sheet is fantastic for review.
DAT Destroyer- 9/10: I got destroyed by these questions, it was true to the name. However, redoing them and understanding my mistakes went a long way to help me get the score I got. So I highly suggest doing them, they are brutal and they will hurt your brain when thinking about them, but it'll benefit.
I followed BC's schedule and whenever I didn't understand something, I would review it the night before sleeping and then again at some point during the next day to make sure I still understood it. It all came down to repetition for this portion, nothing else helped me improve like doing and redoing questions regardless of if I got them right or wrong.
Perceptual Ability
DAT Bootcamp- 100/10: Easily the best prep out there for PAT, the angle generators and practice tests are more than sufficient to prepare you for this section. I debated buying Crack the DAT but decided to stick with BC and it was a great decision. There's nothing to say other than prepare to get your butt kicked and to think when doing the tests and generators because come test time it will be worth it. Every single section seemed way easier on the test because of how well Bootcamp prepared me for it.
Reading Comprehension
DAT Bootcamp- 100/10: For anyone who's noticed me on these boards has realized that I was freaked out about reading. I could not get over the hump of 18-20 on the RC subject tests, but just trust the process and tests that Ari & his team gives you. What I did was read one Scientific American article a day for the first month, but after that I would read 3 dense articles a day back to back to back so that I could build up endurance for reading these kinds of things all at once. Granted I almost fell asleep during my RC, it still helped.
Quantitative Reasoning
DAT Bootcamp- 10/10: Honestly, BC has seemed to prepare literally everyone amazingly well for QR except a handful of us that seemed to have been thrown questions out of left-field. I can confidently say that I had never seen about 10 questions in my life or they were worded very weirdly. I'm going to 100% say BC was amazing for this regardless, because the questions I did recognize, I blazed through them with no difficulty. There is a very high chance that fatigue may have been a glaring issue, where I had seen the questions before but the wording was such that my tired brain had just given up.
Math Destroyer- 9/10: This was a great resource to really test what you knew and just how fast you could think your way through problems. It really did help me with timing from the very beginning so that I could work through Bootcamp's tests with ease.
Overall
I think that purchasing Bootcamp, the Destroyers and Chad's Videos will set you on the path to success. However, the mental challenge is something no breakdown can prepare you for because everyone is different and will handle stress differently. Just remember to take your breaks, put the books down if you have to and go live your life. Call a friend and chat for an hour to just get your mind off things, it may sound counterproductive because "Omg, I'm losing time," but no you're letting your thoughts free for a bit. Mental stamina and health is very important in every aspect of our lives, and it will play a huge role in your success. Just be confident in yourself, nothing will take you further.
QR: 17
Reading: 24
Biology: 30
G. Chem: 22
Orgo: 23
TS: 24
AA: 23
Just wanted to share my study methods and materials that I used for about 2.5 months following Bootcamp's schedule. Do NOT study for 11-12 hours as I did, you will burn out and its an insane amount of stress on your mind and body. Do as others have suggested and hit maybe 8 hours.
Biology
@FeralisExtremum's notes- 100/10: these are a godsend, nothing will prep you better than this 80 or so page document. It literally covered everything that was on my DAT and I cannot thank you enough for being kind enough to upload them for us. Get them, memorize them, sleep with them under your pillow, do whatever you have to to know it front to back. It'll be worth it
DAT Bootcamp- 15/10: Get this program. Period. Nothing tests you better than BC will. @Ari Rezaei and his team have done a phenomenal job with this interface. The questions were very similarly worded and they will train you to look out for tricks on the real exam. The explanations of every biology question are long and will take time to get through, but trust me it'll be worth it; there wasn't a single topic on the DAT that I hadn't seen in the form of a question or in an explanation
DAT Destroyer- 8/10: Overkill for Bio in my opinion but there were definitely concepts that were reinforced based on the questions asked. However, going through it twice is way too much. Go through it once, write down what you got wrong and why you got it wrong, and also write down anything you got right but weren't sure about. And then memorize that. This is what I wish I would've done as it would've saved a lot of my time. Overall, it was good to understand concepts and constantly go over the things that may trip you up
In general, what I would do is spend a day on Cliff's 3rd edition and then go over the corresponding Feralis chapter the next day and try to understand the basics. Bio is very difficult to understand, memorize and retain in the span of a week and then be able to recall it a month later. The best way for me was to just grasp the basics in the first month and when I started working through practice for Destroyer and Bootcamp, that's when I would crack down and really memorize my mistakes.
General Chemistry
Chad's videos- 10/10: Bless this man, for real though. I had taken General Chem for the first two months of summer so that may have helped since I retained everything that I had already learned. But I can say that had I not taken the course, Chad would've 100% helped me get a score close to what I got because he breaks down the material in the simplest ways possible for G. Chem.
Bootcamp- 10/10: My Bootcamp scores were very, very similar to what I ended up getting on the real DAT, so I can vouch for the fact that the topics and questions styles that you see on BC will match the DAT's wording and difficulty level. This area is fairly tricky and took me the longest to get through on the DAT.
DAT Destroyer: I didn't really use this mainly because I felt that I had sufficient knowledge from my G. Chem course but also because I found the questions ridiculously difficult and I felt that they wouldn't show up on my DAT, which by luck of draw they didn't. However, I really recommend doing them because you never know what may or may not show up.
I just followed Bootcamp's schedule for this. Watched whatever videos they told me to and did the associated quizzes.
Organic Chemistry
I was borderline terrified for this section when I started, nothing was making sense to me and I feel like I spent the longest trying to understand everything for it, but it ended up being the most straightforward section on the DAT.
Mike's Video's- 7/10: I did not use Mike's videos from BC too much because I preferred Chad's teaching style. However, the videos I did watch from him (everything but the reactions) were extremely helpful in solidifying the material. So if you find his teaching style more to your liking, I'm confident he will help you ace the Orgo section
Chad's Video's- 10/10: As said above, he will help you ace the DAT easily. Full confidence in this guy and I really, really encourage everyone to get a subscription to Coursesaver. I used him for the reactions and it really simplified everything for me. Plus his reaction sheet is fantastic for review.
DAT Destroyer- 9/10: I got destroyed by these questions, it was true to the name. However, redoing them and understanding my mistakes went a long way to help me get the score I got. So I highly suggest doing them, they are brutal and they will hurt your brain when thinking about them, but it'll benefit.
I followed BC's schedule and whenever I didn't understand something, I would review it the night before sleeping and then again at some point during the next day to make sure I still understood it. It all came down to repetition for this portion, nothing else helped me improve like doing and redoing questions regardless of if I got them right or wrong.
Perceptual Ability
DAT Bootcamp- 100/10: Easily the best prep out there for PAT, the angle generators and practice tests are more than sufficient to prepare you for this section. I debated buying Crack the DAT but decided to stick with BC and it was a great decision. There's nothing to say other than prepare to get your butt kicked and to think when doing the tests and generators because come test time it will be worth it. Every single section seemed way easier on the test because of how well Bootcamp prepared me for it.
Reading Comprehension
DAT Bootcamp- 100/10: For anyone who's noticed me on these boards has realized that I was freaked out about reading. I could not get over the hump of 18-20 on the RC subject tests, but just trust the process and tests that Ari & his team gives you. What I did was read one Scientific American article a day for the first month, but after that I would read 3 dense articles a day back to back to back so that I could build up endurance for reading these kinds of things all at once. Granted I almost fell asleep during my RC, it still helped.
Quantitative Reasoning
DAT Bootcamp- 10/10: Honestly, BC has seemed to prepare literally everyone amazingly well for QR except a handful of us that seemed to have been thrown questions out of left-field. I can confidently say that I had never seen about 10 questions in my life or they were worded very weirdly. I'm going to 100% say BC was amazing for this regardless, because the questions I did recognize, I blazed through them with no difficulty. There is a very high chance that fatigue may have been a glaring issue, where I had seen the questions before but the wording was such that my tired brain had just given up.
Math Destroyer- 9/10: This was a great resource to really test what you knew and just how fast you could think your way through problems. It really did help me with timing from the very beginning so that I could work through Bootcamp's tests with ease.
Overall
I think that purchasing Bootcamp, the Destroyers and Chad's Videos will set you on the path to success. However, the mental challenge is something no breakdown can prepare you for because everyone is different and will handle stress differently. Just remember to take your breaks, put the books down if you have to and go live your life. Call a friend and chat for an hour to just get your mind off things, it may sound counterproductive because "Omg, I'm losing time," but no you're letting your thoughts free for a bit. Mental stamina and health is very important in every aspect of our lives, and it will play a huge role in your success. Just be confident in yourself, nothing will take you further.
