DAT Breakdown: How a mediocre student made a 23 on the DAT!

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DigitalDental

UMN Class of 2023
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Hello all,

I took the DAT the other day and I ended up doing rather well! I'm typing all this up as a warmup for all those essays I'm about to write! I've been using SDN as a resource very often for these last 2 months and I want to give back with this detailed guide. Hope it helps someone!

My DAT Scores:
PAT: 22
QR: 20
RC: 27 :eek:
BIO: 24
G-CHEM: 19 :cryi:
O-CHEM: 23
--------------
TS: 22
AA: 23

So as you know from reading the title, I'm not the best student and I never have been. (I feel no shame saying that. I feel that if you are honest with yourself you can cater to your strengths and weaknesses.) I've struggled with math, chemistry, and biology all my life, from high school all the way into my late college career. I've gotten more C's that I care to count, and I even had to retake a few science courses I bombed in college. Trust me, If I could get this score you can also. I knew that if I wanted to do well on the DAT I would have to give the exam 110% of my effort. So lets get on to how I did that.

Schedule:
- TLDR: I studied 6-7 hours a day 6 days a week for 2 months (65 days.) It hurt my soul but it was worth it in the end.

I was originally dedicated to Ari's 2 month DAT bootcamp plan. I followed it faithfully for 1 entire month (The "study" phase of the plan.) but broke away from it in the 2nd month during the "practice" phase. (I have a few criticisms of that plan that I'll share later.) Essentially, Ari's Bootcamp plan has you study very hard for an entire month before you even touch a practice problem. (PAT excluded.) This approach has its merits, but I also feel that if you are forgetful like me you'll end up forgetting half of the things you learned in the first phase by the time you get to the second phase.

Studying: So after I studied for 1 entire month I started on practice. I'll break this down by section.

PAT:
- TLDR: Watch Joel's videos on Bootcamp and do the Bootcamp PAT practice tests.

Just use DAT Bootcamp. There is no other substitute honestly. I know a lot of other people said that their actual DAT PAT and the Bootcamp PAT were of similar difficulty but I did not find that to be even remotely true. I thought the actual PAT was WAY easier than the DAT Bootcamp practice tests. I finished my PAT on the actual exam 17 minuets early!! I reviewed every question I had marked and then still had 5 mins to kill! I was honestly shook by how easy it was compared to Bootcamp. I was certain that I was missing something or making some mistake. Either way I'm very happy with my PAT score and I thank Bootcamp for it. Joel's videos on Bootcamp taught me some very valuable tricks and tips, especially for hole punch and keyhole.

QR:
- TLDR: Math Destroyer is your friend. Slug it out and fight tooth and nail through all 10 of the practice tests.

I got cocky with this one and it cost me a lot of sanity. Just before I began my DAT studies I had finished up two semesters of physics which was very heavy on calculations. I figured that I had math down to a science and that I could skip preparing for QR until later. BIG mistake. Start studying for QR at the very beginning! DAT math was way trickier than anything I saw in Physics. QR on the DAT is surprisingly conceptual and the questions can be very tricky in their wording or setup. Getting comfortable with the many different types of questions presented and building up your speed is very important.

I thought that Math Destroyer by the Orgoman was the best resource for making myself comfortable with the questions types, and that the DAT Bootcamp practice exams were a good resource for building up my speed. I did 8 of the 10 practice exams offered on the Math destroyer and that was honestly the most valuable thing for QR. The problems on there are harder than what you will encounter on the DAT but you 100% want to be over prepared than under prepared for this section if you are bad at math like me.

The QR practice sections on DAT Bootcamp were indeed also harder than the actual DAT. I found that the questions on there seem to take more time to answer that the ones on the actual DAT. I had 5 mins to review on the actual exam, but I always was calculating to the final seconds in the Bootcamp practice exams. I think that's valuable for building up speed, but honestly my lower scores on the Bootcamp practice QR sections demoralized me a lot over the past 2 months.

RC:
- TLDR: Do the DAT Bootcamp practice exams to get comfortable with the questions and build up speed. Highlight as you go.

As I said earlier, know your strengths and weaknesses. I knew that reading was one of my strengths, so I was never really worried about this section at all. (I once read "A Clash of Kings," an ~800 page book in 2 days.) I found that the DAT Bootcamp RC section was much harder than the actual DAT. Questions were very straightforward and search and destroy would have worked for sure. (I chose to read the passages in full as I'm a fast reader.) The passages were also much easier to read and less dense than those found on Bootcamp.

If there is once piece of advice I can give it's that if you choose to read the passage over searching and destroying, highlight as you go!!! If you take a lot of the Bootcamp practice tests you'll just get a feel for what the questions will be asking about and you'll be able to recognize the important parts of the passages as you read. As I read my passages I highlighted anything written in italics, anything that was underlined, dates, names, and lists. Every time a question asked for something specific I could scan back through the passage and find what I needed very quickly. This helped me with timing and I finished reading with a lot of time left over to review.

BIO: (I'm giving a lot of advise in this section because I suck at Bio and I'm still shocked at the score I got.)
- TLDR: Just read a lotta Biology. Ever chance you get in ever form you can get your hands on. Doing well in Bio is a matter of covering as much ground as you can.

For Bio I started off reading and taking very detailed notes on DAT Bootcamps Ferali's notes. I used Anki at first, I would make 30-75 flash cards for each chapter in the Boocamp notes. I tried to go through 3-4 decks every single day but honestly I feel that this was extreme overkill. The Bootcamp notes were insanely detailed and they just have an overwhelming amount of information presented. Even as a strong reader (And someone who has a minor in Bio and has studied bio in college for 4+ years.) I was overwhelmed by those notes. I got to the part of Ari's plan where you're asked to read the 200+ page Anatomy and Physiology section in 4 days and gave up on it.

What ended up working for me was constant exposure to the subject of Biology. As I've said before I suck at Bio. (Over 4+ years of studying bio and getting a minor in the subject the highest grade I've ever achieved in the subject is a B.) The reason I am so bad at biology is because I am a very forgetful person. So for the DAT I decided to take a different approach. I wasn't going to memorize Biology. I was going to live Biology. Breathe Biology. Eat Biology. (You get the idea.) For the 2 months that I studied I completely stopped playing video games, quit watching TV / Netflix, and just read Bio books every time I had free time. (It was a miserable 2 months.)

Now instead of trying to memorize what I was reading I tried my best to incorporate what I learned into my day to day life. When I went outside to mow the lawn I tried to categorize the various plants I was running over with my lawnmower. "Oh that was a dandelion. I bet that was a angiosperm. Wonder if it was a monocot or a dicot? I wonder if dandelions are a Sporophyte or gametophyte life cycle dominant plant? hmm..." I thought about the digestive system every single time I sat down to eat. I thought about ADH & Aldosterone every time I went to the bathroom. You get the idea. I didn't have to memorize biology because by thinking about it all the time I couldn't really forget. I didn't give myself the choice.

Cliff's AP Bio notes were honestly excellent resource and I preferred them to the ultra dense Bootcamp Ferali's notes. In addition I read an old Anatomy and Physiology book I had left over from taking that class 2 years ago. I found that using a real A&P book to study that subject is the best choice for learning the material. Bio textbooks often have very nice pictures and diagrams that help you "see" the subject in addition to just reading it.

Another resource I highly highly recommend is the CrashCourse Anatomy and Physiology videos. These videos are very fast paced, but the animations and illustrations are excellent for visualizing the complex components of the human body. The videos are all about 10 mins in length. Just long enough to cover the subject (Again, they are fast paced.) without getting too boring to follow. (Important for someone like me who is very easily distracted.)

As for the actual DAT, I thought that the Bio section on there was much easier than anything on Bootcamp or Bio Destroyer. There were a few random questions on there, but I didn't have to guess on anything due to the wide amount of material I covered. I was always able to at least make an educated guess on questions I didn't get right away. I finished all 40 questions in 22 mins on the actual exam whereas on Bootcamp It usually took me about 26 mins to figure everything out. (Extra time came in handy, had a hard time with G-chem.)

G-CHEM:
-TLDR: Do Bootcamp and G-Chem Destroyer I guess??

I suck at G-chem. Like really really suck. (Had to retake this class in college, it's a major source of GPA drain for me.) I'm just not going to give advice here, I'm sure you'll find better advice elsewhere from people more talented at the subject.

I studied G-Chem by watching all of Dr. Mikes videos of DAT Boocamp and doing all of the worksheets and practice problems offered. Despite almost 2 months of constant study I never really saw much improvement in G-chem no matter what I tried. G-Chem Destroyer by the Orgoman would have been a good resource but honestly the problems took me way to long to figure out. I put many hours into this subject (more time spent here than anywhere except Bio) but I just didn't see any results. That's okay though. I gave it 100% and didn't get lower than a 17 at least!

O-CHEM:
-TLDR: Learn the reactions instead of memorizing them, do lots and lots of practice problems so you can see the chemical patterns and relationships found on the DAT.

I've always been pretty naturally talented at O-Chem which is surprising given my weak performance in G-chem. (It's the only science subject I've ever been naturally talented at.) I watched all of Mr. Mikes videos on DAT Bootcamp and did all of the worksheets and practice problems. I thought that Dr. Mikes videos were excellent! His stupid little mispronunciation method for memorization is actually genius. (Eopposite & Zee Same Side, So-Cal-Two!, and Turn right for R-Isomer were all things I think I will remember for a very long time!)

For me personally I found that O-Chem Destroyer by Orgoman was not that good of a resource for this section. The questions were far to difficult for me, and they just took too much time to figure out. I'm sure they are a great resource if you want a 25+ score, but for me Bootcamp was the most representative compared to the real DAT.

I took every O-Chem practice exam at least once and most of them twice. I would take a Bootcamp practice test and bookmark every question that I got wrong. I learned the solution to the problems that I got wrong and then took the same exam again one week later. Questions that I got wrong twice (On the first attempt and the 2nd.) were given extra attention. I went as far as memorizing the solutions to a few of those questions. (Orgo is full of funny little exceptions and rules sometimes.)

I actually did not memorize any reaction mechanics for the Orgo section believe it or not. Instead of memorizing things I made a real effort to understand what how the reactants interacted and how they lead to the product. This allowed me to deduce how things worked when I was introduced to reactions that I had not encountered before. I'm not sure that this is helpful advice, as I have a bit of natural talent at Orgo. (Sometimes I can just look at a problem and know the answer. Not sure how that works for Orgo and not for G-chem, my brain is funny.)

Other DAT Scores:
I'm including these because I looked at other peoples practice DAT / DAT Bootcamp scores on SDN almost every day as I was studying. (Yall gave me a lot of anxiety lol.)I took the 2007 and 2009 Exams 2 & 1 days before my exam respectively.

2007 DAT:
PAT: 20
QR: 18
RC: 22
BIO: 21
G-CHEM: 20
O-CHEM: 21

2009 DAT: Please don't pay $100 for this like I did. It was completely useless. Some of the questions were identical to the 2007 DAT that is available for free. In addition some of the questions wouldn't load in my browser.
PAT: 18
QR: 18
RC: 19
BIO: 21
G-CHEM: 22
O-CHEM: 18


DAT Bootcamp Scores: I took exams 6-9 as full length exams, so I'm only going to include those. All the other practice tests I took as individual modules as I was studying so I'm not sure they were representative. I took these exams In my final week of studying.


Test | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
PAT: 19 | 19 | 19 | 18 |
QR: 17 | 19 | 19 | 17 |
RC: 21 | 20 | 22 | 22 |
BIO: 19 | 19 | 19 | 19 |
G-CHEM: 20 | 19 | 19 | 19 |
O-CHEM: 20 | 18 | 19 | 20 |

I lost a lot of sleep over some of these scores (Looking at you QR! :rage:) I knew that the DAT Bootcamp exams were supposedly harder than the real exam but I didn't expect the difference to be as massive as it turned out to be. The real DAT was a cakewalk compared to Bootcamp. (I Guess that's why they call it Bootcamp.)

Anyway, I hope that this helps someone out there. I read DAT Breakdowns going all the way back to 2015 on SDN and I never dreamed that I could score as high as some of the scores I've seen on this forum. (But I did!)

As the final order of business I feel the need to provide a shout out to two of the hottest groups in East Coast hip-hop, the Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep. I listened to almost the entire Wu discography as I studied through these last two months and I could not have made it this far without their visceral verses and ruthless rhythm. Also a huge shout out to Mobb Deep, I listened to The Infamous and Hell on Earth almost every day in the final week of studying. The dark grimy street poetry of Prodigy and Havoc will echo in my mind forever now. (I rapped Prodigy's verse on Shook Ones Pt. II in my head during my DAT break for good luck. You a real one Prod. RIP.)

Super TLDR: I listened to the Wu-Tang Clan all day for 2 months and got a 23. Hats off to Inspectah Deck.

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Awesome scores all around! I hope you will get into your dream school. :)

(I listened to Take Care and HNDRXX on repeat when I studied for the DAT, hehe.)

YS
 
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Congrats! Thanks for the detailed breakdown!

Also, since you followed Ari's first half of the schedule, did you watch the recommended QR playlist(Khan's 94 vids on youtube)? If so, did you find it helpful? Or do you think its just better to go straight into math destroyer without knowing much beforehand?
 
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Awesome job! Which source was most helpful for biology? That's always been my weakest section and I'm also finding the bootcamp bio notes to be overwhelming
 
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Congrats! Thanks for the detailed breakdown!

Also, since you followed Ari's first half of the schedule, did you watch the recommended QR playlist(Khan's 94 vids on youtube)? If so, did you find it helpful? Or do you think its just better to go straight into math destroyer without knowing much beforehand?
I did not watch those videos, as I wasn't sure if they would be worth my time. (As I said, I got cocky with QR and it cost me.)

I'm honestly not sure if watching that playlist would have solved my QR woes. I feel like khan Academy is great for learning stuff, but not so good for reviewing. I think it's because Sal goes so darn slow teaching material (which is great when you are learning something for the first time.) whereas when you are reviewing you just need a quick refresher to get back up to speed on something you already know.

If you're just starting out maybe try some QR at the start to see where you stand. Then you'll know if you need review or just more practice.



Sent from my Nexus 6P using SDN mobile
 
Awesome job! Which source was most helpful for biology? That's always been my weakest section and I'm also finding the bootcamp bio notes to be overwhelming
I thought cliffs AP bio was best. However, it doesn't have nearly enough A&P covered in it. (Makes sense considering it's written for high schoolers.) Make sure you cover the relevant A&P with another source if you go that route.

Also, make sure you cover embryology a little bit. Cliffs bio doesn't have very much on that subject.

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