I'd like to thank everyone on this site for all your helpful pointers and words of encouragement over the past two months. These posts really go a long way so I'd love to give back to the SDN community. I wouldn't have known about any of these resources were it not for you guys. I am really happy with my scores, but I definitely put in tons of hours (Middle of May - July 7). Here it is!
DAT Breakdown
Perceptual Ability - 22
Quantitative Reasoning - 27
Reading Comprehension - 24
Biology - 26
General Chemistry - 28
Organic Chemistry - 29
Total Science - 28
Academic Average - 27
I am going to be a senior at an Ivy League university majoring in Bio and History with a pretty solid GPA. My bio major (courses taken: DevBio, Physio) definitely helped in the bio section.
I used Bootcamp. Destroyer (Thanks Dr. Romano!). Crack DAT. CHAD!!! Oh, and I also attempted at Achiever but took a huge shot to my confidence so I couldn't bear it
I studied around 5-6 hrs. a day for two months with plenty of breaks. I actually was initially signed up to take the test July 17 but was so burnt out that i rescheduled to take it earlier and it definitely paid off!
Practice Scores
CRACK DAT
PAT: 19,20,19,20,23,21,21,18,24
QR:20,22,22,18,20,19,19,21,24,22,20,23,28,28,24
Reading: 20,21,22,18,21,24,22
Bio: 21, 20, 20, 23, 23, 21, 21, 20, 23, 20
Orgo: 23, 23, 23, 23, 21, 20, , 23, 23, 21
GC: 21, 21, 21, 19, 19, 21, 23 23, 21, 21
BOOTCAMP
Reading: 18, 18, 21, 23, 22
Bio: 28, 24, 23, 26, 23
Orgo: 22, 24, 22, 21, 26
GC: 25, 24, 26, 22, 25
PAT: 18, 19, 21, 21, 20
Test that comes with Kaplan Blue book: PAT: 23 Reading: 25 Orgo: 21
2009 ADA
TS: 21 (for some reason I wasn't able to see t
PAT: 25
QR: 20
RC: 24
PAT (22) - For this section I primarily used Bootcamp and Crack DAT. When I first started studying this was by far my biggest challenge as it was nothing like I've ever done before. At first I watched some of the videos on youtube looking for tricks but ultimately the most important thing is really practice. The more you train your eye to look for certain things the quicker you will get. Unfortunate as it may be, I found CDP to be too easy when compared to the actual thing. I'd say you will likely see a score on your DAT somewhere right in between your Bootcamp and CDP scores, with bootcamp being the lower bound. Also this was harder than 2009 ADA practice exam sorry folks.
Keyhole- by far more similar to bootcamp than CDP. There were really obscure shapes that I just simply had to skip. Trust me you need to train your eye to look for proportions as opposed to just shapes as with CDP. Great work bootcamp, forgive me for doubting you!
TFE- This section wasn't so bad I'd say you're fine with CDP or bootcamp either way.
Angle Ranking- easier than CDP. Probably more similar to bootcamp
Hole Punching - this was a breeze on the actual thing, really helped me get my timing back on track as I was a bit behind at this point.
Cube- really easy, easier than CDP. I didn't even need to write up a tally just eyeballed it and saved time!
Pattern Folding- I'd say a little harder than CDP, but way easier than Bootcamp.
QR (27) - I was really pleasantly surprised by how manageable this section was. Bootcamp was really hard compared to the actual thing. Math destroyer all the way! I didn't time myself on these I just used it to get a handle of the type of questions asked. Crack Dat was awesome for improving my speed. The test was very similar to Crack DAT. There were very basic probabilities, geometry, trig, conversions etc nothing too bad at all. Just go through math destroyer and the QR section at the end of DAT Destroyer then go with Crack, and you're all set. Chad has a few great videos for QR especially his probability, permutations, rate problems videos really made things a whole lot easier.
Reading (24) - I am an avid reader and a humanities major, yet I always felt strongly that Search and Destroy was the way to go for this section. Don't read the passages!! If you do read them, you'll end up going back into the passages to look for answers double checking yourself anyways. Might as well just dive right into the questions and skim the passages as you search. Overwhelming majority of questions were S&D. Both bootcamp and Crack were good practice, but there were much less inference questions, or questions where you were actually required to think on the actual thing. I had an incredibly tough physics passage about bosons so I thought I did really poorly on this section after that passage. The other two were pretty interesting and easy. Not much more to say about this section, just sharpen your ability to search for key words and skim paragraphs.
Biology (26) - I am a pretty strong Biology student, but my bio classes in school geared towards MCAT (AKA didn't teach plants, taxonomy, ecology, etc) so I had to teach all that stuff to myself and do some serious memorization. DAT destroyer was a great tool for this. It was on the money for a lot of Qs. I also read Feralis' notes to fill in the gaps along with Kaplan Blue book. But I must've gone through destroyer bio 3-4 times to the point where I had most questions memorized as crazy as that may sound. Bootcamp is the best way to test your bio, don't go near Crack Dat for this! HOWEVER, This section is not a walk in the park at all. There are plenty of random Qs with obscure terms. More so than I would have liked. I was shocked by how many I had to skip initially (6), and equally shocked by how well I did because of how unsure I was throughout. If you have a good grasp of the material though then you should be able to excel despite these few random questions.
GC (28) - I had very little trouble with this section. If you can handle Destroyer you're more than ready. There was minimal calculation. Bootcamp was also pretty accurate here. This was refreshing after what I thought was a shaky start with Bio. CHAD is great for chem!!! I watched once the week before my exam, huge help. I recommend watching Chad on fastplay so you can really optimize your time because sometimes it can be a bit slow.
Orgo (29) - Again I flew through this section because of how extensive destroyer was preparing me. Very basic reactions (aldol, diels alder, SN2, E2), which is most acidic hydrogen, which is longest bond, separation techniques, etc. Bootcamp and destroyer are great. Crack Dat isn't as rough for this section as it is for bio and GC. Destroyer is more than what you need but it's worth it. I finished science with 35 minutes remaining and had plenty of time to crack my skull over those 6 or so bio Qs. Again check out Chad for orgo, he's an unbelievable teacher and manages to make every single concept way more understandable.
I'm ecstatic that I can finally relax and try to relearn social skills!! But for those of you still studying, keep plugging away, everything on the DAT can be mastered in less time than you may think. You'll really just wake up one morning and realize, wait, I can actually do the PAT. It was alien to me for weeks, and then it sort of just clicked.
I am happy to answer any questions you may have, ask away!
DAT Breakdown
Perceptual Ability - 22
Quantitative Reasoning - 27
Reading Comprehension - 24
Biology - 26
General Chemistry - 28
Organic Chemistry - 29
Total Science - 28
Academic Average - 27
I am going to be a senior at an Ivy League university majoring in Bio and History with a pretty solid GPA. My bio major (courses taken: DevBio, Physio) definitely helped in the bio section.
I used Bootcamp. Destroyer (Thanks Dr. Romano!). Crack DAT. CHAD!!! Oh, and I also attempted at Achiever but took a huge shot to my confidence so I couldn't bear it
I studied around 5-6 hrs. a day for two months with plenty of breaks. I actually was initially signed up to take the test July 17 but was so burnt out that i rescheduled to take it earlier and it definitely paid off!
Practice Scores
CRACK DAT
PAT: 19,20,19,20,23,21,21,18,24
QR:20,22,22,18,20,19,19,21,24,22,20,23,28,28,24
Reading: 20,21,22,18,21,24,22
Bio: 21, 20, 20, 23, 23, 21, 21, 20, 23, 20
Orgo: 23, 23, 23, 23, 21, 20, , 23, 23, 21
GC: 21, 21, 21, 19, 19, 21, 23 23, 21, 21
BOOTCAMP
Reading: 18, 18, 21, 23, 22
Bio: 28, 24, 23, 26, 23
Orgo: 22, 24, 22, 21, 26
GC: 25, 24, 26, 22, 25
PAT: 18, 19, 21, 21, 20
Test that comes with Kaplan Blue book: PAT: 23 Reading: 25 Orgo: 21
2009 ADA
TS: 21 (for some reason I wasn't able to see t
PAT: 25
QR: 20
RC: 24
PAT (22) - For this section I primarily used Bootcamp and Crack DAT. When I first started studying this was by far my biggest challenge as it was nothing like I've ever done before. At first I watched some of the videos on youtube looking for tricks but ultimately the most important thing is really practice. The more you train your eye to look for certain things the quicker you will get. Unfortunate as it may be, I found CDP to be too easy when compared to the actual thing. I'd say you will likely see a score on your DAT somewhere right in between your Bootcamp and CDP scores, with bootcamp being the lower bound. Also this was harder than 2009 ADA practice exam sorry folks.
Keyhole- by far more similar to bootcamp than CDP. There were really obscure shapes that I just simply had to skip. Trust me you need to train your eye to look for proportions as opposed to just shapes as with CDP. Great work bootcamp, forgive me for doubting you!
TFE- This section wasn't so bad I'd say you're fine with CDP or bootcamp either way.
Angle Ranking- easier than CDP. Probably more similar to bootcamp
Hole Punching - this was a breeze on the actual thing, really helped me get my timing back on track as I was a bit behind at this point.
Cube- really easy, easier than CDP. I didn't even need to write up a tally just eyeballed it and saved time!
Pattern Folding- I'd say a little harder than CDP, but way easier than Bootcamp.
QR (27) - I was really pleasantly surprised by how manageable this section was. Bootcamp was really hard compared to the actual thing. Math destroyer all the way! I didn't time myself on these I just used it to get a handle of the type of questions asked. Crack Dat was awesome for improving my speed. The test was very similar to Crack DAT. There were very basic probabilities, geometry, trig, conversions etc nothing too bad at all. Just go through math destroyer and the QR section at the end of DAT Destroyer then go with Crack, and you're all set. Chad has a few great videos for QR especially his probability, permutations, rate problems videos really made things a whole lot easier.
Reading (24) - I am an avid reader and a humanities major, yet I always felt strongly that Search and Destroy was the way to go for this section. Don't read the passages!! If you do read them, you'll end up going back into the passages to look for answers double checking yourself anyways. Might as well just dive right into the questions and skim the passages as you search. Overwhelming majority of questions were S&D. Both bootcamp and Crack were good practice, but there were much less inference questions, or questions where you were actually required to think on the actual thing. I had an incredibly tough physics passage about bosons so I thought I did really poorly on this section after that passage. The other two were pretty interesting and easy. Not much more to say about this section, just sharpen your ability to search for key words and skim paragraphs.
Biology (26) - I am a pretty strong Biology student, but my bio classes in school geared towards MCAT (AKA didn't teach plants, taxonomy, ecology, etc) so I had to teach all that stuff to myself and do some serious memorization. DAT destroyer was a great tool for this. It was on the money for a lot of Qs. I also read Feralis' notes to fill in the gaps along with Kaplan Blue book. But I must've gone through destroyer bio 3-4 times to the point where I had most questions memorized as crazy as that may sound. Bootcamp is the best way to test your bio, don't go near Crack Dat for this! HOWEVER, This section is not a walk in the park at all. There are plenty of random Qs with obscure terms. More so than I would have liked. I was shocked by how many I had to skip initially (6), and equally shocked by how well I did because of how unsure I was throughout. If you have a good grasp of the material though then you should be able to excel despite these few random questions.
GC (28) - I had very little trouble with this section. If you can handle Destroyer you're more than ready. There was minimal calculation. Bootcamp was also pretty accurate here. This was refreshing after what I thought was a shaky start with Bio. CHAD is great for chem!!! I watched once the week before my exam, huge help. I recommend watching Chad on fastplay so you can really optimize your time because sometimes it can be a bit slow.
Orgo (29) - Again I flew through this section because of how extensive destroyer was preparing me. Very basic reactions (aldol, diels alder, SN2, E2), which is most acidic hydrogen, which is longest bond, separation techniques, etc. Bootcamp and destroyer are great. Crack Dat isn't as rough for this section as it is for bio and GC. Destroyer is more than what you need but it's worth it. I finished science with 35 minutes remaining and had plenty of time to crack my skull over those 6 or so bio Qs. Again check out Chad for orgo, he's an unbelievable teacher and manages to make every single concept way more understandable.
I'm ecstatic that I can finally relax and try to relearn social skills!! But for those of you still studying, keep plugging away, everything on the DAT can be mastered in less time than you may think. You'll really just wake up one morning and realize, wait, I can actually do the PAT. It was alien to me for weeks, and then it sort of just clicked.
I am happy to answer any questions you may have, ask away!
. When did you start to study for the DAT and how many hours did you put in per day would you say?
