Recently, I graduated. I took my first DAT April 13th during my last semester of Senior year, and I took my second DAT 3 months later on July 15th after I graduated. I graduated with a ~3.40 GPA.
Materials I used: DATBOOSTER
Both times I studied for the DAT, I used DAT Booster. The first time I focused on watching videos and taking notes similar to how I did classwork during COVID. After watching videos and taking notes, I would do extra questions. I tried to base my schedule off the Feralis study schedule, but I personally could not keep up and I would get questions wrong after putting in lots of time on watching videos. I had taken 3 of 10 practice tests on booster before my first exam.
After I took my first DAT, I was quite happy with my score. But I felt like I could do better if I prioritized practice and had more time since a lot was going on in my last semester. I also wanted to get a higher score because I knew my GPA was not as competitive as I would like it to be. I gave myself about 3 weeks break to enjoy my last bit of undergrad and I started to study again. The second time around since I had already seen the videos, I decided to do questions first and learn later. I did not care how many questions I got wrong as long as I knew my stuff at the end. It was definitely a faithful process!
I studied Bio in depth last which is different from the Feralis study guide. Mainly because I was getting the lowest on it in my practice tests and I told myself I would try and perform well enough on GC and OC to carry my Bio score. But in the end, I had about a month to solidify biology and that info remained fresh in my head for the exam.
I used the Pomodoro technique and I would switch to a completely different subject after each block of time whether that was 30min or 1hr. With Bio, there were times where I would just switch to a different subsection in that section though.
Practice Tests:
These tests accelerated my learning speed drastically. It showed my weaknesses, so I had a more targeted approach to go by. You do not have to take a full test each time but at least try to do all of them. I was averaging a 20-21AA on practice tests #4-#10. I usually got an 18 on Bio but I now know that is completely fine because they use different info on each test so they can cover all the bio information you may see on your actual test since it is so vast. I averaged ~22 OC,~21 GC, 21 QR, ~22 RC. Every time I took a Practice test, I would mark each question I got wrong, or struggled on, or even was lucky to get right. I always made sure to read/watch the explanations of questions I got right and especially the ones I got wrong. I did the same thing with extra questions.
Active Recall
I did not use anki because flashcards were taking a bit long for me to make. I was able to practice active recall with the use of the marked questions. When you go through marked questions, you can label a question as “learning” or “reviewed”. If I got a question right, I marked it as “reviewed” and if wrong, it was labeled “learning”. I also labeled questions under “learning” if I struggled to get to the answer. I set my goals for the day based off how many “learning” questions I wanted to do in each section along with mixing “reviewed” questions as well. There were times I got “reviewed” questions wrong and had to put them back in the “learning” section. If I kept missing a certain type of question, I would write it down to save it for later when I could watch videos and take notes on that subject. A week away from test day, I finally started to remove marked questions that I found easy. This method works very well for GC, OC, and QR. On test day, I was familiar with about every type of question I was shown.
For Bio, I reviewed questions from the practice tests first by watching video explanations of the answers. I also viewed the cheat sheets to help me with big picture thinking which is in my opinion most important in this section. Once I had reviewed every test, then I went to go read the chapter notes to fill in missing details. It was way easier for me to understand notes once I had seen enough questions because I knew the information that the exams were asking for. I retook every Bio practice test before test day just to make sure I had my info solidified. Retaking might be repetitive since you remember the answer but talking yourself through each question and answer choice helps with memory of the concepts. This also helps because you might see a very similar question on the exam.
For PAT, the practice tests on booster for me were quite hard so I did a crash course 3 days before my exam which helped me a lot with Keyholes, TFE and Pattern Folding. Otherwise, the generators are your best bet.
Test Day:
I saw 4 or 5 of the very similar Bio questions from my practice test on Booster on the exam. For GC and OC, I was able to work through these pretty fast. I also had a little bit more extra time, so I made T-tables and grids for the PAT during that time. I did not practice too much reading besides when I would take full length tests so I did worse by 1 point in the end. GC and Math are had simpler calculations than my practice tests and overall the whole test felt simpler and I’d say easier than the Booster practice tests.
What I learned the second time around was:
Use study time efficiently! Practice tests were the most efficient mainly because I could not afford to be distracted. As long as when I studied, I got 3-4 solid hours of undistracted work, 5 to 6 days a week, I saw improvements. I still studied more outside that time but it would be more laid back. I also took breaks, sometimes I had to skip days to have fun, and do things that I enjoyed because the person I was while studying for the DAT was not exactly who I truly am.
Also, if you happen to be like me who gets distracted easily, try not to tell many people about your exam. I only told few people, but I’d be lying if I said those people weren’t in the back of my head while taking my practice exams and the real exam as well. With standardized tests that are this competitive, that extra pressure of feeling like you must prove something to more than just yourself can hurt you.
Materials I used: DATBOOSTER
Both times I studied for the DAT, I used DAT Booster. The first time I focused on watching videos and taking notes similar to how I did classwork during COVID. After watching videos and taking notes, I would do extra questions. I tried to base my schedule off the Feralis study schedule, but I personally could not keep up and I would get questions wrong after putting in lots of time on watching videos. I had taken 3 of 10 practice tests on booster before my first exam.
After I took my first DAT, I was quite happy with my score. But I felt like I could do better if I prioritized practice and had more time since a lot was going on in my last semester. I also wanted to get a higher score because I knew my GPA was not as competitive as I would like it to be. I gave myself about 3 weeks break to enjoy my last bit of undergrad and I started to study again. The second time around since I had already seen the videos, I decided to do questions first and learn later. I did not care how many questions I got wrong as long as I knew my stuff at the end. It was definitely a faithful process!
I studied Bio in depth last which is different from the Feralis study guide. Mainly because I was getting the lowest on it in my practice tests and I told myself I would try and perform well enough on GC and OC to carry my Bio score. But in the end, I had about a month to solidify biology and that info remained fresh in my head for the exam.
I used the Pomodoro technique and I would switch to a completely different subject after each block of time whether that was 30min or 1hr. With Bio, there were times where I would just switch to a different subsection in that section though.
Practice Tests:
These tests accelerated my learning speed drastically. It showed my weaknesses, so I had a more targeted approach to go by. You do not have to take a full test each time but at least try to do all of them. I was averaging a 20-21AA on practice tests #4-#10. I usually got an 18 on Bio but I now know that is completely fine because they use different info on each test so they can cover all the bio information you may see on your actual test since it is so vast. I averaged ~22 OC,~21 GC, 21 QR, ~22 RC. Every time I took a Practice test, I would mark each question I got wrong, or struggled on, or even was lucky to get right. I always made sure to read/watch the explanations of questions I got right and especially the ones I got wrong. I did the same thing with extra questions.
Active Recall
I did not use anki because flashcards were taking a bit long for me to make. I was able to practice active recall with the use of the marked questions. When you go through marked questions, you can label a question as “learning” or “reviewed”. If I got a question right, I marked it as “reviewed” and if wrong, it was labeled “learning”. I also labeled questions under “learning” if I struggled to get to the answer. I set my goals for the day based off how many “learning” questions I wanted to do in each section along with mixing “reviewed” questions as well. There were times I got “reviewed” questions wrong and had to put them back in the “learning” section. If I kept missing a certain type of question, I would write it down to save it for later when I could watch videos and take notes on that subject. A week away from test day, I finally started to remove marked questions that I found easy. This method works very well for GC, OC, and QR. On test day, I was familiar with about every type of question I was shown.
For Bio, I reviewed questions from the practice tests first by watching video explanations of the answers. I also viewed the cheat sheets to help me with big picture thinking which is in my opinion most important in this section. Once I had reviewed every test, then I went to go read the chapter notes to fill in missing details. It was way easier for me to understand notes once I had seen enough questions because I knew the information that the exams were asking for. I retook every Bio practice test before test day just to make sure I had my info solidified. Retaking might be repetitive since you remember the answer but talking yourself through each question and answer choice helps with memory of the concepts. This also helps because you might see a very similar question on the exam.
For PAT, the practice tests on booster for me were quite hard so I did a crash course 3 days before my exam which helped me a lot with Keyholes, TFE and Pattern Folding. Otherwise, the generators are your best bet.
Test Day:
I saw 4 or 5 of the very similar Bio questions from my practice test on Booster on the exam. For GC and OC, I was able to work through these pretty fast. I also had a little bit more extra time, so I made T-tables and grids for the PAT during that time. I did not practice too much reading besides when I would take full length tests so I did worse by 1 point in the end. GC and Math are had simpler calculations than my practice tests and overall the whole test felt simpler and I’d say easier than the Booster practice tests.
What I learned the second time around was:
Use study time efficiently! Practice tests were the most efficient mainly because I could not afford to be distracted. As long as when I studied, I got 3-4 solid hours of undistracted work, 5 to 6 days a week, I saw improvements. I still studied more outside that time but it would be more laid back. I also took breaks, sometimes I had to skip days to have fun, and do things that I enjoyed because the person I was while studying for the DAT was not exactly who I truly am.
Also, if you happen to be like me who gets distracted easily, try not to tell many people about your exam. I only told few people, but I’d be lying if I said those people weren’t in the back of my head while taking my practice exams and the real exam as well. With standardized tests that are this competitive, that extra pressure of feeling like you must prove something to more than just yourself can hurt you.
