- Joined
- Jul 3, 2017
- Messages
- 16
- Reaction score
- 15
Hi y'all,
I took my DAT a little less than a month ago, and since then it's been on my mind how much anxiety DAT breakdowns gave me, and felt that I needed to write a breakdown that gives people who are taking it soon a little more hope than I was able to find. I don't think I did a great job explaining how to study for each section but... hopefully the fact that I thought I was going to fail will ease your nerves. Let me know if it totally backfires or is unhelpful, i'll either edit it (if i can) or i'll just get rid of it so I don't add to the anxiety.
Materials:
DAT Bootcamp (ESSENTIAL)
DAT Destroyer (helped a LOT in Bio)
Math Destroyer 2016 (probably shoulda just bought the 2017 version but friend gave me this)
Chad's Videos (BEST videos for chemistry available on the internet IMO, also free.)
Ferali's Notes (most likely overkill, but a great way to dive into the bio section)
First of all: take a full length practice test or at least one of each of the subjects before you start. This will show you what you're weaker on. I failed my Bio and QR sections when I did this, and put most of my time into those subjects. Be brutally honest with yourself. If you suck at something, recognize it and put a little more focus in that area! It pays off, even though I just felt like crap about myself because I kept reminding myself that I suck at math.
Secondly, RELAX. I know its stupid to just tell someone to relax but honestly, I wish I had read more breakdowns that told me everything was gonna be fine with the DAT. The worst thing you can do is panic over the DAT. Trust me, if you studied hard (even if your scores aren't really improving that much) you will be fine. I feel sometimes people are too prideful to admit they didn't expect the high scores they got so it just makes people feel scared and makes it look like people who aren't that confident going in won't do as well. That's not true at all.
QR(19):
I felt a little like an outsider with this one, as one of the biggest obstacles for me while studying was QR. All I ever saw on breakdowns was how people didn't study much for this section because of their natural skills in math (very unhelpful), or people who are retaking because they got a 15 on QR(also unhelpful, but additionally, terrifying). I was almost sure I would have to retake because of this section. The way I studied for this section was using 2016 Math Destroyer (because a friend just kinda gave it to me) and DAT Bootcamp. They added a new section to the QR called quantitative comparison. It's one of those, "which one is larger or is there even enough information to solve this" type questions. I got a ton of those on my actual DAT and they were fine. Throughout studying, I did between 10 and 15 practice tests for QR and got 15-18 on almost all of them. Re-do some of these tests, though, because if you remember them the second time, you learned something!
My problem wasn't knowing how to do it, it was knowing how to quickly do it. I'm notoriously slow with math, and even on the actual DAT I didn't finish and somehow got a 19. You'll read this on most breakdowns, but SKIP anything you can't quickly do. I start sweating and get hot when I get stuck on a problem and my brain freezes up and I panic. That's not a great way to do well on a timed math test. I noticed my scores improve when I started marking and moving on from questions that i couldn't quickly do. Even if they seemed easy and my first instinct would be NO, i know how to do that one, just work on it. Coming back around the second time will be a more relaxed experience. I was able to stay calm and figure out things that initially stumped me (this method is applicable to all the subjects IMO). I'd say the most common types of questions you'll get will involve algebra and statistics, they LOVED word problems. The actual DAT QR was NOT as challenging as either Bootcamp or Destroyer, but make sure you do full length practice tests because you'll be tired by the time you get to this section. Everyone online was saying it was as hard as destroyer. It was not.
RC(21):
This one kinda bothered me, and my only advice really is don't blow off this section. I did two practice tests for RC, did fairly well, and then never touched it again. My questions were not hard, I just ran out of time. I'd say, unless you're really weak somewhere else, take these free points to boost your AA. Try search and destroy, also I read about a guy who read all the questions first and then went back and read the article so he knew what to pay attention to. Also, read scientific articles once a day, it worked well for friends of mine. Basically, even if you're not a great reader this section is fairly easy. I still managed to get a 21 even though I was on question like... 18 with 30 minutes left and guessed on a bunch at the end. (i could not stop daydreaming or thinking about songs and stuff while reading these articles. my focus sucked here and your focus will improve a ton if you read a little every day).
BIO(26):
I was pretty worried about this section, because of the breadth. The questions REALLY are just skimming the surface, so I'd say get familiar with as much vocab as possible! I found it impossible to make it through the entirety of Ferali's notes (or destroyer), but it's an awesome set of notes with a lot of overlap on subjects that DAT bootcamp would touch on. Use Crashcourse, Bozeman, etc when the reading becomes too dull for you. When I felt I was about to lose my mind I just put on a Hank Green video and listened to him spaz about biology. I didn't think they'd be of any help but I remember getting to a question on my DAT and just literally pictured Hank Green explain it in his video. Idk, might help, might not. It's just mainly to keep from going crazy. I got almost exclusively genetics and heredity questions, with a few dino and plant questions while a friend of mine got a ton of physio questions. It really is super random. But that being said, I felt I knew almost NOTHING walking into that exam and was surprised by how well Bootcamp and Destroyer actually prepared me. Do as many practice questions from both as you can (don't feel bad if you don't get through all of them, I only had a few weeks and did about 2/3 of the collective problems). Take notes on anything that your response isn't "yeah duh" to. Even if you get it right, write it down, learn it, re-read it, look at it repeatedly. Reread all your notes before each practice test! The Bio section is mostly just recall and eliminating stupid answers. I wanted to be able to say that physio was a helpful class, but, I got literally zero physio questions, so I can't really say that it was. DON'T freak out about this section. I averaged 19's on my practice tests (with plenty of lower scores as well) and wa-la, a 26 on the real thing somehow. Stay calm and you'll surprise yourself!
GC(25):
I am amazed by the free material offered on chadsvideos.com. These videos are AMAZING, all I could think while studying was WHERE was this guy when I was taking GChem? I recommended his videos to everyone taking GC and OC at school, and even though he doesn't go as in depth as the actual class does, he covers absolutely everything you need for the DAT and hits core concepts very well which just makes everything so much easier for you. Oh and no I'm not being paid to say that. Like, I have yet to meet someone who has anything but praise for his videos. If you struggled at all with GC, just watch all his videos and take notes and re-read before you take new practice tests. Write down what you don't understand after you take practice tests. Bootcamp was very representative of this section but had harder calculations. Didn't use Destroyer for it because people said it was way harder than the actual DAT. Biggest thing tested here is stoich stuff. On bootcamp you get annoying calculation questions, I didn't have more than like 3 REALLY basic calculation questions. Like 300 divided by 3 kind of stuff. However, be prepared for harder ones, but I've never heard of anyone who got hard calculation questions on this section. There were a handful of "organize the formula" kinda questions. One of the was literally the ideal gas law. PLEASE don't freak out about this section. Use chad's videos, understand the concepts, and you'll be fine.
OC(26):
Unfortunately, I am kind of a hypocrite with this section. I stated above that I found it very unhelpful when people said "oh i didn't study for this section" (usually the qr). Yet... I didn't study for this section at all. I took a few practice tests a couple days before. However, the reason I didn't study was because I finished OCHEM 2 like 3 weeks earlier, and it was very fresh in my mind. The questions are very straight forward. I think I got like. 1 mechanism question that wasn't a super obvious named one. Like yeah, I got Diels-Alder, Aldol, the big ones. Some conceptual things here and there. All my friends that did study for this section had the same things to say about Chad's videos for OC, though. I never have seen one of his OC videos and I still recommend them to people because Chad just has a way of explaining things that makes it seem so much easier and memorable. But I think doing the ACS practice guide will help if anyone wants extra practice! I did it before my ACS test and I think it helped a lot when I had to recall stuff from OCHEM 1 on my DAT.
PAT(23):
This is just a weird section. Practice every day. I wish I had practiced more, but felt I needed to put more time into QR and BIO. Just keep track of which type you're missing the most on (mine was angles and keyhole) and practice those sections! That's all there is to studying this section. Also, for the most part the actual PAT was easier than bootcamp. Angles were... well... I can't tell if they were easier or harder cause I never actually knew which angles were bigger when I did the questions. If you're like me, you'll probably miss a bunch of those, but I banked on doing well on the other sections and I think it turned out alright. Bootcamp is a great tool for PAT! Use their generators and visualizers.
I wanted to share what I used and how I studied, but mostly to say that its very possible that you can literally fail all your practice tests two days before and then bust out a 20+, as I've seen it happen with so many people. Trust that everything will be alright, and try to not work too hard the day before. I played my guitar for the first time in months. I got lunch with a friend and watched the rain and lightning (ominous and foreboding things to see the night before my exam, but ended up being relaxing). I very casually read over my bio notes then gave myself the rest of the night off. Some people say you know you're ready to take the DAT when you're just excited to be DONE with it. This is exactly how I felt, but with a little bit of "whatever I don't even care if I fail anymore" mixed in. A friend of mine had only the "ok i'm going to fail tomorrow fml fml fml" and did great.
Study hard, do lots of practice, and RELAX! You've studied for all these things already! You'll do great!
I took my DAT a little less than a month ago, and since then it's been on my mind how much anxiety DAT breakdowns gave me, and felt that I needed to write a breakdown that gives people who are taking it soon a little more hope than I was able to find. I don't think I did a great job explaining how to study for each section but... hopefully the fact that I thought I was going to fail will ease your nerves. Let me know if it totally backfires or is unhelpful, i'll either edit it (if i can) or i'll just get rid of it so I don't add to the anxiety.
Materials:
DAT Bootcamp (ESSENTIAL)
DAT Destroyer (helped a LOT in Bio)
Math Destroyer 2016 (probably shoulda just bought the 2017 version but friend gave me this)
Chad's Videos (BEST videos for chemistry available on the internet IMO, also free.)
Ferali's Notes (most likely overkill, but a great way to dive into the bio section)
First of all: take a full length practice test or at least one of each of the subjects before you start. This will show you what you're weaker on. I failed my Bio and QR sections when I did this, and put most of my time into those subjects. Be brutally honest with yourself. If you suck at something, recognize it and put a little more focus in that area! It pays off, even though I just felt like crap about myself because I kept reminding myself that I suck at math.
Secondly, RELAX. I know its stupid to just tell someone to relax but honestly, I wish I had read more breakdowns that told me everything was gonna be fine with the DAT. The worst thing you can do is panic over the DAT. Trust me, if you studied hard (even if your scores aren't really improving that much) you will be fine. I feel sometimes people are too prideful to admit they didn't expect the high scores they got so it just makes people feel scared and makes it look like people who aren't that confident going in won't do as well. That's not true at all.
QR(19):
I felt a little like an outsider with this one, as one of the biggest obstacles for me while studying was QR. All I ever saw on breakdowns was how people didn't study much for this section because of their natural skills in math (very unhelpful), or people who are retaking because they got a 15 on QR(also unhelpful, but additionally, terrifying). I was almost sure I would have to retake because of this section. The way I studied for this section was using 2016 Math Destroyer (because a friend just kinda gave it to me) and DAT Bootcamp. They added a new section to the QR called quantitative comparison. It's one of those, "which one is larger or is there even enough information to solve this" type questions. I got a ton of those on my actual DAT and they were fine. Throughout studying, I did between 10 and 15 practice tests for QR and got 15-18 on almost all of them. Re-do some of these tests, though, because if you remember them the second time, you learned something!
My problem wasn't knowing how to do it, it was knowing how to quickly do it. I'm notoriously slow with math, and even on the actual DAT I didn't finish and somehow got a 19. You'll read this on most breakdowns, but SKIP anything you can't quickly do. I start sweating and get hot when I get stuck on a problem and my brain freezes up and I panic. That's not a great way to do well on a timed math test. I noticed my scores improve when I started marking and moving on from questions that i couldn't quickly do. Even if they seemed easy and my first instinct would be NO, i know how to do that one, just work on it. Coming back around the second time will be a more relaxed experience. I was able to stay calm and figure out things that initially stumped me (this method is applicable to all the subjects IMO). I'd say the most common types of questions you'll get will involve algebra and statistics, they LOVED word problems. The actual DAT QR was NOT as challenging as either Bootcamp or Destroyer, but make sure you do full length practice tests because you'll be tired by the time you get to this section. Everyone online was saying it was as hard as destroyer. It was not.
RC(21):
This one kinda bothered me, and my only advice really is don't blow off this section. I did two practice tests for RC, did fairly well, and then never touched it again. My questions were not hard, I just ran out of time. I'd say, unless you're really weak somewhere else, take these free points to boost your AA. Try search and destroy, also I read about a guy who read all the questions first and then went back and read the article so he knew what to pay attention to. Also, read scientific articles once a day, it worked well for friends of mine. Basically, even if you're not a great reader this section is fairly easy. I still managed to get a 21 even though I was on question like... 18 with 30 minutes left and guessed on a bunch at the end. (i could not stop daydreaming or thinking about songs and stuff while reading these articles. my focus sucked here and your focus will improve a ton if you read a little every day).
BIO(26):
I was pretty worried about this section, because of the breadth. The questions REALLY are just skimming the surface, so I'd say get familiar with as much vocab as possible! I found it impossible to make it through the entirety of Ferali's notes (or destroyer), but it's an awesome set of notes with a lot of overlap on subjects that DAT bootcamp would touch on. Use Crashcourse, Bozeman, etc when the reading becomes too dull for you. When I felt I was about to lose my mind I just put on a Hank Green video and listened to him spaz about biology. I didn't think they'd be of any help but I remember getting to a question on my DAT and just literally pictured Hank Green explain it in his video. Idk, might help, might not. It's just mainly to keep from going crazy. I got almost exclusively genetics and heredity questions, with a few dino and plant questions while a friend of mine got a ton of physio questions. It really is super random. But that being said, I felt I knew almost NOTHING walking into that exam and was surprised by how well Bootcamp and Destroyer actually prepared me. Do as many practice questions from both as you can (don't feel bad if you don't get through all of them, I only had a few weeks and did about 2/3 of the collective problems). Take notes on anything that your response isn't "yeah duh" to. Even if you get it right, write it down, learn it, re-read it, look at it repeatedly. Reread all your notes before each practice test! The Bio section is mostly just recall and eliminating stupid answers. I wanted to be able to say that physio was a helpful class, but, I got literally zero physio questions, so I can't really say that it was. DON'T freak out about this section. I averaged 19's on my practice tests (with plenty of lower scores as well) and wa-la, a 26 on the real thing somehow. Stay calm and you'll surprise yourself!
GC(25):
I am amazed by the free material offered on chadsvideos.com. These videos are AMAZING, all I could think while studying was WHERE was this guy when I was taking GChem? I recommended his videos to everyone taking GC and OC at school, and even though he doesn't go as in depth as the actual class does, he covers absolutely everything you need for the DAT and hits core concepts very well which just makes everything so much easier for you. Oh and no I'm not being paid to say that. Like, I have yet to meet someone who has anything but praise for his videos. If you struggled at all with GC, just watch all his videos and take notes and re-read before you take new practice tests. Write down what you don't understand after you take practice tests. Bootcamp was very representative of this section but had harder calculations. Didn't use Destroyer for it because people said it was way harder than the actual DAT. Biggest thing tested here is stoich stuff. On bootcamp you get annoying calculation questions, I didn't have more than like 3 REALLY basic calculation questions. Like 300 divided by 3 kind of stuff. However, be prepared for harder ones, but I've never heard of anyone who got hard calculation questions on this section. There were a handful of "organize the formula" kinda questions. One of the was literally the ideal gas law. PLEASE don't freak out about this section. Use chad's videos, understand the concepts, and you'll be fine.
OC(26):
Unfortunately, I am kind of a hypocrite with this section. I stated above that I found it very unhelpful when people said "oh i didn't study for this section" (usually the qr). Yet... I didn't study for this section at all. I took a few practice tests a couple days before. However, the reason I didn't study was because I finished OCHEM 2 like 3 weeks earlier, and it was very fresh in my mind. The questions are very straight forward. I think I got like. 1 mechanism question that wasn't a super obvious named one. Like yeah, I got Diels-Alder, Aldol, the big ones. Some conceptual things here and there. All my friends that did study for this section had the same things to say about Chad's videos for OC, though. I never have seen one of his OC videos and I still recommend them to people because Chad just has a way of explaining things that makes it seem so much easier and memorable. But I think doing the ACS practice guide will help if anyone wants extra practice! I did it before my ACS test and I think it helped a lot when I had to recall stuff from OCHEM 1 on my DAT.
PAT(23):
This is just a weird section. Practice every day. I wish I had practiced more, but felt I needed to put more time into QR and BIO. Just keep track of which type you're missing the most on (mine was angles and keyhole) and practice those sections! That's all there is to studying this section. Also, for the most part the actual PAT was easier than bootcamp. Angles were... well... I can't tell if they were easier or harder cause I never actually knew which angles were bigger when I did the questions. If you're like me, you'll probably miss a bunch of those, but I banked on doing well on the other sections and I think it turned out alright. Bootcamp is a great tool for PAT! Use their generators and visualizers.
I wanted to share what I used and how I studied, but mostly to say that its very possible that you can literally fail all your practice tests two days before and then bust out a 20+, as I've seen it happen with so many people. Trust that everything will be alright, and try to not work too hard the day before. I played my guitar for the first time in months. I got lunch with a friend and watched the rain and lightning (ominous and foreboding things to see the night before my exam, but ended up being relaxing). I very casually read over my bio notes then gave myself the rest of the night off. Some people say you know you're ready to take the DAT when you're just excited to be DONE with it. This is exactly how I felt, but with a little bit of "whatever I don't even care if I fail anymore" mixed in. A friend of mine had only the "ok i'm going to fail tomorrow fml fml fml" and did great.
Study hard, do lots of practice, and RELAX! You've studied for all these things already! You'll do great!