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- Jul 25, 2017
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Hey y'all,
So I just finished my DAT today and did a lot better than expected.
I studied for about a month and a half for about 6 hours of solid studying a day.
Below are my Bootcamp scores and ADA score and my DAT scores from today
2009 ADA Score(taken 2 days out):
Bio-19
Chem-19
Ochem-19
Skipped the rest cause I heard they weren't great.
DAT Bootcamp Scores:
Bio: 14, 16, 16 (The 16s were taken 1 week out from my test), 19, 19
Chem:18, 19, 19, 22, 19, 20
Ochem:18, 20, 21, 19, 20, 21, 20, 18
QR: 20, 23, 24, 20, 19, 20, 20, 22, 22
RC: 16(Only did 2 passages cuz ran outta time), 20
PAT: 20, 21, 21
Real DAT:
Bio: 24 (WTF??)
Chem: 20
Ochem:20
QR:23
RC:25
PAT:19
TS:22
AA:22
Biology:
Ok, so 18 days before my test, I hadn't studied bio or done any practice at all. I figured I'd save it for last, then I took a practice test....and made a 14. I got 15/40. At that point, I was so down on myself and debated pushing my test back. I decided not to push it back, and noticed that people were using Feralis notes. His notes were too abbreviated for me at first, so I started with Russel Dw notes, which were an easier read for me. I read his notes all the way through, then went on to copy and paste things I needed to study on a word document. It came out to about 15-20 pages so it was really manageable. I had those 15-20 pages completed with about 7 days out, and decided to take more bio practice tests before really diving deep into them. I made a 16 and another 16 back to back, which was horrible but I felt that I was at least familiar with all the questions, so I didn't worry too much. 2 days out, after going through the notes 2x a day for 5 days, I got a 19 and a 19. Again, it felt better and I was only going for an 18 so I was pleased. Come test day, I was very confident with seeing all the topics, and the questions were so much more general than bootcamp. Somehow I got a 24, I'd say I probably had real trouble with only 5-7 of them. Breadth over depth. I just studied Feralis/Russel DW and watched Khan academy or Bozeman Science. No big textbook needed.
Chem:
To study for this I only used Mike's videos. Everyone recommends Chad's, but I was 247$ deep already so I decided to go with Mike's. He's awesome, makes it all simple. I thought I missed maybe 3 on it, so I was pretty ehh about the 20. Bootcamp tests were super representative, even a bit harder. The Gchem on the test today just felt super basic.
Ochem:
Again, I used Mike's. This was the hardest for me, but only cuz I only memorized the basic reactions. THE WIERD ONES WILL SHOW UP. I also had destroyer, but didn't get around to it cause of timing but for sure it would have helped. Pretty on par with bootcamp, my version was harder but only for me. Not hard if you know all the reactions. Couple tricky ones so be aware of that.
PAT:
Aight, well I was doing well on practice tests 2 weeks out so stopped. I f'ed up and ran outta time, had to click rando for 7 of them.
Compared to bootcamp:
Angles: Pretty much the same
Hole-Punch: Same, didn't get any ones that I would consider super easy
Folding: Same as bootcamp
Cubes: Lol
TFE: The section I sucked at but also the section I saved for last, so the guesses were here. Bootcamp is pretty on par.
Keyholes: On Par with bootcamp.
Basically bootcamp is awesome for PAT, just work on your timing.
RC:
So I used BYU4U's method on the first passage, then realized all the questions were pretty much Search and Destroy so I just read the first 2 paragraphs of the next 2. I swear 45 of the questions were word for word from the passage, but I may have just gotten lucky with my version. Didn't get a single "first statement, second statement" question. After this section I knew I was good to go.
QR:
I had to pee the whole time during this section (USE THE BATHROOM AS MUCH AS YOU CAN ON YOUR BREAKS). I was kinda annoyed cause I write really big and had to go ask for paper while the timer was ticking. Ran out of time so couldn't go back to the 2 that I skipped, so I just marked a random answer. Bootcamp is pretty similar to it, idk why people say it's so much harder/easier. Also, I did my actual math learning from Math Destroyer. It was hard as hell, but it helped so much with learning the actual concepts. Bootcamp and Destroyer here. The thing about math is that you will most likely see at least 1 of everything, so you gotta know it all.
CONCLUSION:
I am not an amazing student or anything like that. With a decent background in math and the sciences, a high score is definitely achievable with 1-2 months of dedicated studying.
I would like to say that you shouldn't be discouraged by bootcamp scores. I should be a living embodiment of that with a 14 in bio eighteen days out and 2 16s seven days out. I was going for a 19-20AA up until a couple weeks before the test. I told myself I'll probably get into a school with that score. Then a switch clicked in my mind and I stopped putting a limit on myself. But the statement "you will never truly feel ready" couldn't be more true. I just made sure to go over what I knew I could control the few days leading up to my test, and not worry about the other stuff.
Last bit of advice. Don't cheat yourself while you are studying, you'll know if you are putting in the work or not, and if you are then you have nothing to worry about. Don't worry about SDN breakdowns and seeing a bunch of people doing well and getting jealous, read these to learn and know that your time will come, and you will be ready when it does. Work on your weaknesses, and keep reinforcing everything else. Go into test day with a killer mentality. Even though you will be nervous, the amount of work you put in will show, whether it's enough or not enough.
Big shoutout to @Ari Rezaei from DAT Bootcamp who gave me some great advice and provided an awesome program, as well as Dr. Mike Christiansen. Also to @orgoman22 , your products are awesome y'all! Also BIG shoutout to @FeralisExtremum and to @russelldw :, idk who you are but you saved me man!
Good luck to everyone!
So I just finished my DAT today and did a lot better than expected.
I studied for about a month and a half for about 6 hours of solid studying a day.
Below are my Bootcamp scores and ADA score and my DAT scores from today
2009 ADA Score(taken 2 days out):
Bio-19
Chem-19
Ochem-19
Skipped the rest cause I heard they weren't great.
DAT Bootcamp Scores:
Bio: 14, 16, 16 (The 16s were taken 1 week out from my test), 19, 19
Chem:18, 19, 19, 22, 19, 20
Ochem:18, 20, 21, 19, 20, 21, 20, 18
QR: 20, 23, 24, 20, 19, 20, 20, 22, 22
RC: 16(Only did 2 passages cuz ran outta time), 20
PAT: 20, 21, 21
Real DAT:
Bio: 24 (WTF??)
Chem: 20
Ochem:20
QR:23
RC:25
PAT:19
TS:22
AA:22
Biology:
Ok, so 18 days before my test, I hadn't studied bio or done any practice at all. I figured I'd save it for last, then I took a practice test....and made a 14. I got 15/40. At that point, I was so down on myself and debated pushing my test back. I decided not to push it back, and noticed that people were using Feralis notes. His notes were too abbreviated for me at first, so I started with Russel Dw notes, which were an easier read for me. I read his notes all the way through, then went on to copy and paste things I needed to study on a word document. It came out to about 15-20 pages so it was really manageable. I had those 15-20 pages completed with about 7 days out, and decided to take more bio practice tests before really diving deep into them. I made a 16 and another 16 back to back, which was horrible but I felt that I was at least familiar with all the questions, so I didn't worry too much. 2 days out, after going through the notes 2x a day for 5 days, I got a 19 and a 19. Again, it felt better and I was only going for an 18 so I was pleased. Come test day, I was very confident with seeing all the topics, and the questions were so much more general than bootcamp. Somehow I got a 24, I'd say I probably had real trouble with only 5-7 of them. Breadth over depth. I just studied Feralis/Russel DW and watched Khan academy or Bozeman Science. No big textbook needed.
Chem:
To study for this I only used Mike's videos. Everyone recommends Chad's, but I was 247$ deep already so I decided to go with Mike's. He's awesome, makes it all simple. I thought I missed maybe 3 on it, so I was pretty ehh about the 20. Bootcamp tests were super representative, even a bit harder. The Gchem on the test today just felt super basic.
Ochem:
Again, I used Mike's. This was the hardest for me, but only cuz I only memorized the basic reactions. THE WIERD ONES WILL SHOW UP. I also had destroyer, but didn't get around to it cause of timing but for sure it would have helped. Pretty on par with bootcamp, my version was harder but only for me. Not hard if you know all the reactions. Couple tricky ones so be aware of that.
PAT:
Aight, well I was doing well on practice tests 2 weeks out so stopped. I f'ed up and ran outta time, had to click rando for 7 of them.
Compared to bootcamp:
Angles: Pretty much the same
Hole-Punch: Same, didn't get any ones that I would consider super easy
Folding: Same as bootcamp
Cubes: Lol
TFE: The section I sucked at but also the section I saved for last, so the guesses were here. Bootcamp is pretty on par.
Keyholes: On Par with bootcamp.
Basically bootcamp is awesome for PAT, just work on your timing.
RC:
So I used BYU4U's method on the first passage, then realized all the questions were pretty much Search and Destroy so I just read the first 2 paragraphs of the next 2. I swear 45 of the questions were word for word from the passage, but I may have just gotten lucky with my version. Didn't get a single "first statement, second statement" question. After this section I knew I was good to go.
QR:
I had to pee the whole time during this section (USE THE BATHROOM AS MUCH AS YOU CAN ON YOUR BREAKS). I was kinda annoyed cause I write really big and had to go ask for paper while the timer was ticking. Ran out of time so couldn't go back to the 2 that I skipped, so I just marked a random answer. Bootcamp is pretty similar to it, idk why people say it's so much harder/easier. Also, I did my actual math learning from Math Destroyer. It was hard as hell, but it helped so much with learning the actual concepts. Bootcamp and Destroyer here. The thing about math is that you will most likely see at least 1 of everything, so you gotta know it all.
CONCLUSION:
I am not an amazing student or anything like that. With a decent background in math and the sciences, a high score is definitely achievable with 1-2 months of dedicated studying.
I would like to say that you shouldn't be discouraged by bootcamp scores. I should be a living embodiment of that with a 14 in bio eighteen days out and 2 16s seven days out. I was going for a 19-20AA up until a couple weeks before the test. I told myself I'll probably get into a school with that score. Then a switch clicked in my mind and I stopped putting a limit on myself. But the statement "you will never truly feel ready" couldn't be more true. I just made sure to go over what I knew I could control the few days leading up to my test, and not worry about the other stuff.
Last bit of advice. Don't cheat yourself while you are studying, you'll know if you are putting in the work or not, and if you are then you have nothing to worry about. Don't worry about SDN breakdowns and seeing a bunch of people doing well and getting jealous, read these to learn and know that your time will come, and you will be ready when it does. Work on your weaknesses, and keep reinforcing everything else. Go into test day with a killer mentality. Even though you will be nervous, the amount of work you put in will show, whether it's enough or not enough.
Big shoutout to @Ari Rezaei from DAT Bootcamp who gave me some great advice and provided an awesome program, as well as Dr. Mike Christiansen. Also to @orgoman22 , your products are awesome y'all! Also BIG shoutout to @FeralisExtremum and to @russelldw :, idk who you are but you saved me man!
Good luck to everyone!
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