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- Jan 27, 2018
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Hello everyone!
I just wanted to write this to help out anyone who is studying for the DAT right now. This was my first time taking the DAT (took it today). I'm currently a 4th year in college, honestly did not know what I wanted to do with my life until last year. I spent about 2 months studying (which I think is def. enough) but I had to take some breaks (final exams, christmas, etc.). I had a full course load while studying for the exam (physiology major), a job, and other responsibilities. It wasn't easy, but it can be done!
My scores:
Perceptual Ability - 22
Reading Comprehension - 23
QR - 24
Bio - 28
Gen Chem - 29
Orgo - 26
TS - 28
AA - 26
Materials Used:
1. DAT bootcamp (100% WOULD RECOMMEND)
2. DAT destroyer/Math destroyer (ALSO WOULD RECOMMEND)
3. Cliffs AP BIO/Feralis Notes
Bio:
I would say I spent the most time on bio. I used Ari's study schedule and it definitely works. I highly recommend following his schedule. The bio section is intimidating with all of the information that it covers. I had already taken all of my core bio classes (2 years ago) but I forgot a lot of what they taught, so when I first started studying for bio, I was pretty scared. But, if you are consistent and make sure you know all of the material you are studying, then you should be fine. I started out by reading cliffs AP BIO. It was def. very helpful. A lot of bio textbooks can be very dense, and cliffs isn't, which made studying much easier. I did exactly what was on Ari's schedule (read cliffs the first day, then reread cliffs/read feralis the next day). I made sure to take notes on everything I read because I feel like writing stuff down makes it easier for me to retain the information. I would say the worst section for me to study was plants. I've never liked learning about plants :/....probably never will. Taxonomy was pretty interesting, and even though there's so much material for taxonomy, I thought it was interesting to learn about how other animals function. After every paragraph in Cliffs/Feralis, I would stop, repeat all of the information in my head, made sure I understood it, and then moved on. It was a very time consuming process, but well worth it.
Gen Chem:
I've always liked gen chem, so I spent the least amount of time studying for it. I think it was because my high school chemistry teacher was amazing at teaching it. I mainly used Mike's videos to review for Gen chem/Orgo. They are concise and get straight to the point. I do wish they had more practice questions, but I def would recommend using them as a study tool. I honestly just watched his videos and did the practice questions, but def take notes if you struggle with gen chem. I'm sorry if this isn't very helpful lol.
Orgo:
I took Orgo I and II two years ago....so I basically forgot everything. I used Mike's videos. I highly recommend them. Orgo has so much material (kind of like bio) that it is very intimidating. When I first started studying for orgo I honestly did not know if I could learn all of the material in two months. But my advice is: just like for bio, BE CONSISTENT. I watched his videos everyday, took notes when I watched his videos and made sure I understood all of his practice problems. When I got to reactions/reaction mechanisms I was just like "no", but you have to push yourself to study the stuff you don't want to study.
Perceptual Ability:
Bootcamp is def the best resource for studying this section. I did most of the practice tests on bootcamp and they are slightly harder than the real one (especially keyholes), but they are pretty on point with the real thing. I honestly was the most scared for the perceptual ability test because my time management when I did bootcamp was terrible (I remember tests 6-10 took me 2 hours lol). Generators (esp. for angle ranking and hole punching) are a must. Practice is key for perceptual ability, and I probably should've practiced more lol. But just PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. If you can do all 10 tests on bootcamp, make sure to do them. They will increase your speed and efficiency.
RC:
Did not study a lot for it....I just took the 5 practice tests on bootcamp when I did the full length practice tests. Probably could've studied more. I would say the 5 practice tests are enough though, and they are def a lot harder than the actual test.
QR:
Math destroyer and bootcamp are perfect for QR. I forgot everything in math as well lol so when I did the first destroyer test I was like "uhhhhhh" but after taking more exams, I got the hang of it. Most important when doing destroyer is to LEARN. It is meant to be a learning tool. Bootcamp helped me a lot for the quantitative comparison stuff...I hated studying for it, but bootcamp def prepares you well for it. Try to do all 10 exams if you can.
Practicing all of the material learned above:
So in Ari's schedule, you have 5 weeks to learn the material, and 5 weeks to practice it. For the last 5 weeks before my test, it was hard because I had final exams and I spent 2 out of the 3 weeks of my winter break with my family on vacation, so studying for the DAT was hard. But when I got back to school, I made sure to practice every subject every day. I used destroyer, which I do recommend, but please be aware that it is hard. I was stressed whenever I did it because I honestly didn't really know what was going on (I'm mainly talking about the orgo section). But I def recommend it. It is a great learning tool and the bio section helps with the random stuff that the DAT can throw at you. I made flashcards for EVERYTHING I got wrong and reviewed them everyday leading up to my test. I did the same for all of the reactions for orgo. I also did tests 6-10 for everything on bootcamp (except RC) and they really helped as well. The explanations for bio are extremely helpful. One thing I recommend is: EVEN IF YOU GOT THE ANSWER RIGHT, MAKE SURE YOU LOOK AT EVERY OTHER ANSWER CHOICE AND KNOW WHAT IT IS AND WHY IT IS WRONG.
Last 2 weeks before test:
I took all 5 full length practice tests. Please please please do not focus on your scores. Focus on learning the material. Just like with destroyer, bootcamp is a learning tool. I would say bio was a little easier on bootcamp than the real thing, orgo was pretty spot on, and gen chem was a bit harder on bootcamp. Just make sure you practice and you spend time understanding the questions.
Make sure you get a good night's sleep before your exam (my exam was at 8am so I slept at 8pm lol) and eat a good breakfast. Don't drink a ton of water or else you can't focus on the exam. I honestly believe anyone can do well on the DAT if they spend time studying for it and take it seriously.
If you've made it this far, I appreciate you reading my whole DAT breakdown. I wish you the best of luck studying. Work hard and your efforts will pay off!
I just wanted to write this to help out anyone who is studying for the DAT right now. This was my first time taking the DAT (took it today). I'm currently a 4th year in college, honestly did not know what I wanted to do with my life until last year. I spent about 2 months studying (which I think is def. enough) but I had to take some breaks (final exams, christmas, etc.). I had a full course load while studying for the exam (physiology major), a job, and other responsibilities. It wasn't easy, but it can be done!
My scores:
Perceptual Ability - 22
Reading Comprehension - 23
QR - 24
Bio - 28
Gen Chem - 29
Orgo - 26
TS - 28
AA - 26
Materials Used:
1. DAT bootcamp (100% WOULD RECOMMEND)
2. DAT destroyer/Math destroyer (ALSO WOULD RECOMMEND)
3. Cliffs AP BIO/Feralis Notes
Bio:
I would say I spent the most time on bio. I used Ari's study schedule and it definitely works. I highly recommend following his schedule. The bio section is intimidating with all of the information that it covers. I had already taken all of my core bio classes (2 years ago) but I forgot a lot of what they taught, so when I first started studying for bio, I was pretty scared. But, if you are consistent and make sure you know all of the material you are studying, then you should be fine. I started out by reading cliffs AP BIO. It was def. very helpful. A lot of bio textbooks can be very dense, and cliffs isn't, which made studying much easier. I did exactly what was on Ari's schedule (read cliffs the first day, then reread cliffs/read feralis the next day). I made sure to take notes on everything I read because I feel like writing stuff down makes it easier for me to retain the information. I would say the worst section for me to study was plants. I've never liked learning about plants :/....probably never will. Taxonomy was pretty interesting, and even though there's so much material for taxonomy, I thought it was interesting to learn about how other animals function. After every paragraph in Cliffs/Feralis, I would stop, repeat all of the information in my head, made sure I understood it, and then moved on. It was a very time consuming process, but well worth it.
Gen Chem:
I've always liked gen chem, so I spent the least amount of time studying for it. I think it was because my high school chemistry teacher was amazing at teaching it. I mainly used Mike's videos to review for Gen chem/Orgo. They are concise and get straight to the point. I do wish they had more practice questions, but I def would recommend using them as a study tool. I honestly just watched his videos and did the practice questions, but def take notes if you struggle with gen chem. I'm sorry if this isn't very helpful lol.
Orgo:
I took Orgo I and II two years ago....so I basically forgot everything. I used Mike's videos. I highly recommend them. Orgo has so much material (kind of like bio) that it is very intimidating. When I first started studying for orgo I honestly did not know if I could learn all of the material in two months. But my advice is: just like for bio, BE CONSISTENT. I watched his videos everyday, took notes when I watched his videos and made sure I understood all of his practice problems. When I got to reactions/reaction mechanisms I was just like "no", but you have to push yourself to study the stuff you don't want to study.
Perceptual Ability:
Bootcamp is def the best resource for studying this section. I did most of the practice tests on bootcamp and they are slightly harder than the real one (especially keyholes), but they are pretty on point with the real thing. I honestly was the most scared for the perceptual ability test because my time management when I did bootcamp was terrible (I remember tests 6-10 took me 2 hours lol). Generators (esp. for angle ranking and hole punching) are a must. Practice is key for perceptual ability, and I probably should've practiced more lol. But just PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. If you can do all 10 tests on bootcamp, make sure to do them. They will increase your speed and efficiency.
RC:
Did not study a lot for it....I just took the 5 practice tests on bootcamp when I did the full length practice tests. Probably could've studied more. I would say the 5 practice tests are enough though, and they are def a lot harder than the actual test.
QR:
Math destroyer and bootcamp are perfect for QR. I forgot everything in math as well lol so when I did the first destroyer test I was like "uhhhhhh" but after taking more exams, I got the hang of it. Most important when doing destroyer is to LEARN. It is meant to be a learning tool. Bootcamp helped me a lot for the quantitative comparison stuff...I hated studying for it, but bootcamp def prepares you well for it. Try to do all 10 exams if you can.
Practicing all of the material learned above:
So in Ari's schedule, you have 5 weeks to learn the material, and 5 weeks to practice it. For the last 5 weeks before my test, it was hard because I had final exams and I spent 2 out of the 3 weeks of my winter break with my family on vacation, so studying for the DAT was hard. But when I got back to school, I made sure to practice every subject every day. I used destroyer, which I do recommend, but please be aware that it is hard. I was stressed whenever I did it because I honestly didn't really know what was going on (I'm mainly talking about the orgo section). But I def recommend it. It is a great learning tool and the bio section helps with the random stuff that the DAT can throw at you. I made flashcards for EVERYTHING I got wrong and reviewed them everyday leading up to my test. I did the same for all of the reactions for orgo. I also did tests 6-10 for everything on bootcamp (except RC) and they really helped as well. The explanations for bio are extremely helpful. One thing I recommend is: EVEN IF YOU GOT THE ANSWER RIGHT, MAKE SURE YOU LOOK AT EVERY OTHER ANSWER CHOICE AND KNOW WHAT IT IS AND WHY IT IS WRONG.
Last 2 weeks before test:
I took all 5 full length practice tests. Please please please do not focus on your scores. Focus on learning the material. Just like with destroyer, bootcamp is a learning tool. I would say bio was a little easier on bootcamp than the real thing, orgo was pretty spot on, and gen chem was a bit harder on bootcamp. Just make sure you practice and you spend time understanding the questions.
Make sure you get a good night's sleep before your exam (my exam was at 8am so I slept at 8pm lol) and eat a good breakfast. Don't drink a ton of water or else you can't focus on the exam. I honestly believe anyone can do well on the DAT if they spend time studying for it and take it seriously.
If you've made it this far, I appreciate you reading my whole DAT breakdown. I wish you the best of luck studying. Work hard and your efforts will pay off!
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