DAT Breakdown (May 25th) 24AA / 22TS / 20PAT

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tin911

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Hi everyone! I took the DAT today and I never thought in a million years of posting a breakdown, but I want to give back to the community, so I'm going to post a very long and detailed breakdown and I hope it helps some of you! I wouldn't have survived this test had it not been for SDN because it gave me a sense of community even though I isolated myself from the outside world for this test. I want to throw it out there that I have a sub-par GPA so I knew I needed to do well on this test for a chance to get into a school, and I had hoped for a 22AA. I also want to preface by saying that I rarely post on SDN despite lurking a lot, so if the formatting is strange, I do apologize. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! I'll try and help out as much as I can 🙂

SCORE:

AA: 24 / Bio: 21 / GC: 23 / OC: 26 /RC: 25 / QR: 26 /PAT: 20

MATERIALS USED / USEFULNESS ON TEST:

Biology (21): Cliffs AP Biology 3rd Edition, Kaplan Blue Book 2015, Wikipedia, Feralis Notes, Destroyer
--- I relied on the AP Cliffs the most because I found it the easiest to read, but also knew that it wasn't going to be enough to cover all aspects of the bio portion. What I did was make flashcard sets on the website Quizlet (literally have 2,000 cards total), as I was reading Cliffs.
--- I feel the most useful way to use the flashcards is NOT actually as flashcards (i.e: showing a random term and pulling all of the details about it from your mind), but actually using Quizlet's "test" feature. It's something they just started, but basically you can generate tests in many styles (fill in the blank, multiple choice, true false), and I would went through these tests over and over. The great thing is if you miss a card, it'll tell you later by breaking down your cards into "never missed" "sometimes missed" "missed a lot". I also used Quizlet cause their mobile app is awesome (I tried out Anki, but had a hard time with the mobile web version).
----- Edit, here's the link: https://quizlet.com/illustratively/folders/biology
--- Everything you find in KBB can be found anywhere else, but surprisingly, I kind of liked their taxonomy section (though it may not be as detailed as you want). For instance, I felt the plants section and animals in Cliffs was SUPER detailed, so what I went through KBB first to see what topics they focused on, and then went and found more details about each of those topics in Feralis / Cliffs. But overall, I don't recommend KBB. Maybe borrow it from someone if you can for this one portion?
--- Destroyer has really random questions for biology, and if you can get through all of them and really try to understand them, I think you'll be pretty solid for the biology portion.
--- The last thing that I did was look up pictures of confusing concepts on Wikipedia and DREW them out. I really like to draw, and I felt like after I drew out things like mollusca, or where reabsorption is actively done in a kidney, etc., it really stuck a lot better than simply just reading off a page.

PAT (20): Crack DAT PAT, DAT Bootcamp Generators / Tests, Eyeballing Game
-- I only used Crack DAT PAT for 2 Tests. In retrospect, I wish I didn't buy it (though I didn't get the best PAT score so maybe I should've used it more...). I just found the explanations on Bootcamp to be much more useful and I didn't really like having to watch videos to understand the right answer on Crack. They also have pictures of the solutions, but sometimes I found them hard to follow. I do think that the real DAT falls somewhere in the difficulty of Crack and Bootcamp. I knew going in that I sucked at the PAT and kind of accepted my fate here. I wish I had put more effort in, but I was just too slow and got too confused at TFE. Also for TFE, DO NOT USE THE LINE COUNTING METHOD. DON'T DO IT!!!
-- The explanations on Bootcamp are AMAZING. I would recommend going through each and every single question (even if you got it right), to see the little tips and tricks to master the PAT.
-- The eyeballing game is a fun way to practice daily. A version of it can be found in Bootcamp, which incorporates more things such as cube counting (which the original eyeballing game didn't).

Organic Chemistry (26): DAT Destroyer, Chad's Videos, Bootcamp
--- Whoa, Chad is a godsend. When you watch his videos, write down everything he says. Sometimes even the funny jokes he makes will help you! I watched the Coursesaver versions twice, once while taking notes and again to just listen and really pay attention. I would recommend downloading the two "packets" that they have up: the first is the unannotated notes that you can take your own notes on. In this first packet, there's a table where he lists all of the alkene reactions, their intermediates, their stereoselectivity, etc. It wasn't until I looked at this table that it just clicked for me. I started noticing things like, wow there's only 3 alkene reactions that could undergo rearrangement? Oh, if something goes through a cyclic intermediate like bromonium ion, it would have an inversion? Stuff like that. Also, Chad is really responsive to questions so if you have any, you can contact him through his website and he usually gets back right away. I had a question about the reactivity of benzenes and he typed up a long paragraph to explain it to me!
--- I love Destroyer and it fills in the gaps for some stuff such as the Tollens Test, but man, I got destroyed by this section. Even 2 days ago, I was reviewing it and I felt like I didn't know anything. Despite that though, I recommend you go through it. The Destroyer doesn't predict how you'll do on the DAT but it's a fantastic learning tool that will cover all of your bases for the test. I wrote down every question (during my round 1 of going through it), and its corresponding solution. It took me hours to do, but I found it did help me do better when I went through round 2 (the timed version). I actually didn't look at the roadmaps and I was worried for my life this morning that I would regret doing so.
--- I made paper flashcards of every reaction and also some theory things (i.e.: what are some characteristics of an SN2 reaction). Not sure in retrospect if this helped at all, because I didn't really have time to look through them because there were so many.

General Chemistry (23): DAT Destroyer, Chad's Videos
--- Again, Chad is amazing. I actually watched all of his videos on Coursesaver (the paid version), and later I watched the newer versions for free on his website. I did think I would do better in GC than OC, but it didn't turn out that way. One highlight from Chad / his quizzes is that he talks a lot about exceptions to certain rules. I liked that he posed questions in a different way, kind of spinned them a little, and made me think of the reason why things happened. The OC section of his website (for the DAT) isn't up, but the GC (for the DAT) is. I watched both the Coursesaver and his new website and I actually liked the new one better. He has stuff like naming compounds that I don't remember seeing on the old version.
--- I loved loved loved the Destroyer's GC! In comparison to the OC portion that wrecked me, I thought the GC portion was doable once you got the basics down from Chad. I'm still surprised that I did better in OC than GC for this reason.
--- I made paper flashcards after watching the videos from Chad, totaling about 200 total. I would review them once every few weeks in full.

Reading Comprehension (25): DAT Bootcamp
--- All I did for this section was take the practice tests on Bootcamp. I usually try to read in my free time (even though it's stuff like young adult novels), but I've always been pretty fast at reading. I was however, pretty scared for this section after seeing my scores on BC (see below). The highest I got was a 25 which is what I got on the real thing but every other score was like a 19/20.
--- My method for this on the exam was the Vanilla Method aka read the passage in full, map it out, and answer the questions. I'm a pretty fast reader and it scares me when I do Search & Destroy because I feel like I didn't grasp what the author was saying. So that's why I stuck with the traditional method!
--- I did read some stuff on Scientific American at the beginning of my studying, but I started slacking after a while...

Quantitative Reasoning (26): Math Destroyer 2015, Bootcamp
--- Math Destroyer is my holy grail. I was getting so many wrong on it that I became very worried for this section, so that forced me to keep practicing until I became confident. The questions you find in Destroyer are pretty on point to what you'll find on the real DAT. I will say that I got destroyed by tests 11 and 12 and if you get there, you'll know what I'm talking about. I had to take those tests untimed because they were so difficult for me, and I ended up just going through the solutions very slowly for those. Without Math Destroyer, I wouldn't have gotten the score that I did. I also tried out the DAT Destroyer's Math but only got to question 100 or so. I just felt like those were a little too simplistic and I wanted to invest my time in harder problems.
--- Bootcamp is also pretty on point. I took these tests after I finished Math Destroyer. I think because I did Destroyer (and this goes for other sections as well), I didn't really have a hard time managing my time. My problem was that I would straight up not know how to do a problem, hahaha (but that's my own weakness).

PRACTICE TEST SCORES / THOUGHTS:
(AA / Bio / GC / OC / RC / QR)

DAT Bootcamp:
Test 1: (23 / 26 / 23 / 21 / 19 / 24)
Test 2: (20 / 16 / 22 / 22 / 20 / 21)
Test 3: (22 / 18 / 26 / 18 / 20 / 30)
Test 4: (23 / 23 / 25 / 24 / 25 / 19)
Test 5: (20 / 21 / 19 / 20 / 20 / 18)

ADA Official Exams:
2007: (20 / 19 / 19 / 20 / 17 / 23)
2009: (? / 25 / 20 / 17 / 20 / 17) [didn't calculate the AA]

For me, I didn't feel as though the official exams were representative of my score--these scores freaked me OUT when I saw them (I took them about a week before my DAT). As you can see, my OC score on the 2009 was a 17!!! Yikes, but luckily I managed a 26 on the real thing. I do agree that the tests are easy, but I can't really speak too much about it because either I choked or something when wrong in predicting my scores with those. I almost thought about rescheduling after those. The QR on the 2009 is insane by the way! I felt like Bootcamp scores were very representative, and at least for my version of the test, it was harder than my real exam so it prepares you well. The only other thing I want to say is don't let your scores dishearten you! Of course, please be honest with yourself on if you are really ready, but if you take a test and your scores suck, then use it as an opportunity to find out what you don't know and move forward. I had my fair share of bad scores--when I first started studying, I took a full length Bootcamp as a diagnostic and I got LOWER THAN 14 on almost all of the sections. Yes that's right. I did so badly that BC didn't even calculate my score! I was so discouraged, but I used it as motivation to do better.

THANK YOU ARI & NANCY:
I hope you two see this! Ari, I sent you some random as heck question from Destroyer and from the BC tests about something in the QR section and explained my thought process. You replied literally like a 3 paragraph response and told me to contact you again if I needed more help, and I thought that was really incredible. Your program is seriously top-notch and I'll be praising it to the skies for years to come to other pre-dental students. Nancy, thank you for calling me a few days before my exam and talking to me for 35 minutes! I felt a lot more calm and I am truly indebted to you and Dr. Romano for your invaluable resources.

OTHER THOUGHTS:
I want to emphasize again that I'm not a stellar student. I had to work a lot during college to pay for my tuition and because of that, I didn't do so hot in some of my classes. When I first started studying, I felt like the world was against me and that the odds weren't in my favor, and it wasn't until I changed my mindset that I started scoring well only my practice tests, which in turn gave me the confidence to take the DAT. I originally wanted to take it in September and then rescheduled. And then learned that my 6 months window was going to expire, so I ended up forfeiting the money and reapplying for this date. The past week or so I literally had dreams about the test and in one of them, I had won a subscription to Bootcamp. I went on SDN everyday reading breakdowns to see how practice tests compared to real scores, and last night I felt like I couldn't really breathe. I shed a lot of tears during this process, and often let my doubt get the best of me. My room is covered in DAT material and I'm really happy to finally take them down. Anyway, don't do that I did. Relax! If you're studying right now, please believe in yourself! Seriously, you can do it. Again, feel free to ask any questions if you have any. Good luck to those of you taking it this week! Seems like quite a few. You got this!

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes as motivation: "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" -- we are all going through this process, you are not alone, so keep your head up 🙂

Proof:
a62da0fc-f34a-4c06-85ab-9023099c188f_zps82z9fwce.jpg
 
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Amazing scores, how long did you study for?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Hi! I used the 10-week study schedule found on DAT Bootcamp but modified it a little. Towards the end, instead of doing 5 full lengths in a row like the schedule suggests, I took a day break in between to review my test and work on weaknesses. So in total, about 11 weeks! I would study from 12pm-8pm, but definitely didn't use all 8 hours (wasted some time texting / youtube / etc). Let me know if you have more questions!
 
Hi everyone! I took the DAT today and I never thought in a million years of posting a breakdown, but I want to give back to the community, so I'm going to post a very long and detailed breakdown and I hope it helps some of you! I wouldn't have survived this test had it not been for SDN because it gave me a sense of community even though I isolated myself from the outside world for this test. I want to throw it out there that I have a sub-par GPA so I knew I needed to do well on this test for a chance to get into a school, and I had hoped for a 22AA. I also want to preface by saying that I rarely post on SDN despite lurking a lot, so if the formatting is strange, I do apologize. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! I'll try and help out as much as I can 🙂

SCORE:

AA: 24 / Bio: 21 / GC: 23 / OC: 26 /RC: 25 / QR: 26 /PAT: 20

MATERIALS USED / USEFULNESS ON TEST:

Biology (21): Cliffs AP Biology 3rd Edition, Kaplan Blue Book 2015, Wikipedia, Feralis Notes, Destroyer
--- I relied on the AP Cliffs the most because I found it the easiest to read, but also knew that it wasn't going to be enough to cover all aspects of the bio portion. What I did was make flashcard sets on the website Quizlet (literally have 2,000 cards total), as I was reading Cliffs.
--- I feel the most useful way to use the flashcards is NOT actually as flashcards (i.e: showing a random term and pulling all of the details about it from your mind), but actually using Quizlet's "test" feature. It's something they just started, but basically you can generate tests in many styles (fill in the blank, multiple choice, true false), and I would went through these tests over and over. The great thing is if you miss a card, it'll tell you later by breaking down your cards into "never missed" "sometimes missed" "missed a lot". I also used Quizlet cause their mobile app is awesome (I tried out Anki, but had a hard time with the mobile web version).
--- Everything you find in KBB can be found anywhere else, but surprisingly, I kind of liked their taxonomy section (though it may not be as detailed as you want). For instance, I felt the plants section and animals in Cliffs was SUPER detailed, so what I went through KBB first to see what topics they focused on, and then went and found more details about each of those topics in Feralis / Cliffs. But overall, I don't recommend KBB. Maybe borrow it from someone if you can for this one portion?
--- Destroyer has really random questions for biology, and if you can get through all of them and really try to understand them, I think you'll be pretty solid for the biology portion.
--- The last thing that I did was look up pictures of confusing concepts on Wikipedia and DREW them out. I really like to draw, and I felt like after I drew out things like mollusca, or where reabsorption is actively done in a kidney, etc., it really stuck a lot better than simply just reading off a page.

PAT (20): Crack DAT PAT, DAT Bootcamp Generators / Tests, Eyeballing Game
-- I only used Crack DAT PAT for 2 Tests. In retrospect, I wish I didn't buy it (though I didn't get the best PAT score so maybe I should've used it more...). I just found the explanations on Bootcamp to be much more useful and I didn't really like having to watch videos to understand the right answer on Crack. They also have pictures of the solutions, but sometimes I found them hard to follow. I do think that the real DAT falls somewhere in the difficulty of Crack and Bootcamp. I knew going in that I sucked at the PAT and kind of accepted my fate here. I wish I had put more effort in, but I was just too slow and got too confused at TFE. Also for TFE, DO NOT USE THE LINE COUNTING METHOD. DON'T DO IT!!!
-- The explanations on Bootcamp are AMAZING. I would recommend going through each and every single question (even if you got it right), to see the little tips and tricks to master the PAT.
-- The eyeballing game is a fun way to practice daily. A version of it can be found in Bootcamp, which incorporates more things such as cube counting (which the original eyeballing game didn't).

Organic Chemistry (26): DAT Destroyer, Chad's Videos, Bootcamp
--- Whoa, Chad is a godsend. When you watch his videos, write down everything he says. Sometimes even the funny jokes he makes will help you! I watched the Coursesaver versions twice, once while taking notes and again to just listen and really pay attention. I would recommend downloading the two "packets" that they have up: the first is the unannotated notes that you can take your own notes on. In this first packet, there's a table where he lists all of the alkene reactions, their intermediates, their stereoselectivity, etc. It wasn't until I looked at this table that it just clicked for me. I started noticing things like, wow there's only 3 alkene reactions that could undergo rearrangement? Oh, if something goes through a cyclic intermediate like bromonium ion, it would have an inversion? Stuff like that. Also, Chad is really responsive to questions so if you have any, you can contact him through his website and he usually gets back right away. I had a question about the reactivity of benzenes and he typed up a long paragraph to explain it to me!
--- I love Destroyer and it fills in the gaps for some stuff such as the Tollens Test, but man, I got destroyed by this section. Even 2 days ago, I was reviewing it and I felt like I didn't know anything. Despite that though, I recommend you go through it. The Destroyer doesn't predict how you'll do on the DAT but it's a fantastic learning tool that will cover all of your bases for the test. I wrote down every question (during my round 1 of going through it), and its corresponding solution. It took me hours to do, but I found it did help me do better when I went through round 2 (the timed version). I actually didn't look at the roadmaps and I was worried for my life this morning that I would regret doing so.
--- I made paper flashcards of every reaction and also some theory things (i.e.: what are some characteristics of an SN2 reaction). Not sure in retrospect if this helped at all, because I didn't really have time to look through them because there were so many.

General Chemistry (23): DAT Destroyer, Chad's Videos
--- Again, Chad is amazing. I actually watched all of his videos on Coursesaver (the paid version), and later I watched the newer versions for free on his website. I did think I would do better in GC than OC, but it didn't turn out that way. One highlight from Chad / his quizzes is that he talks a lot about exceptions to certain rules. I liked that he posed questions in a different way, kind of spinned them a little, and made me think of the reason why things happened. The OC section of his website (for the DAT) isn't up, but the GC (for the DAT) is. I watched both the Coursesaver and his new website and I actually liked the new one better. He has stuff like naming compounds that I don't remember seeing on the old version.
--- I loved loved loved the Destroyer's GC! In comparison to the OC portion that wrecked me, I thought the GC portion was doable once you got the basics down from Chad. I'm still surprised that I did better in OC than GC for this reason.
--- I made paper flashcards after watching the videos from Chad, totaling about 200 total. I would review them once every few weeks in full.

Reading Comprehension (25): DAT Bootcamp
--- All I did for this section was take the practice tests on Bootcamp. I usually try to read in my free time (even though it's stuff like young adult novels), but I've always been pretty fast at reading. I was however, pretty scared for this section after seeing my scores on BC (see below). The highest I got was a 25 which is what I got on the real thing but every other score was like a 19/20.
--- My method for this on the exam was the Vanilla Method aka read the passage in full, map it out, and answer the questions. I'm a pretty fast reader and it scares me when I do Search & Destroy because I feel like I didn't grasp what the author was saying. So that's why I stuck with the traditional method!
--- I did read some stuff on Scientific American at the beginning of my studying, but I started slacking after a while...

Quantitative Reasoning (26): Math Destroyer 2015, Bootcamp
--- Math Destroyer is my holy grail. I was getting so many wrong on it that I became very worried for this section, so that forced me to keep practicing until I became confident. The questions you find in Destroyer are pretty on point to what you'll find on the real DAT. I will say that I got destroyed by tests 11 and 12 and if you get there, you'll know what I'm talking about. I had to take those tests untimed because they were so difficult for me, and I ended up just going through the solutions very slowly for those. Without Math Destroyer, I wouldn't have gotten the score that I did. I also tried out the DAT Destroyer's Math but only got to question 100 or so. I just felt like those were a little too simplistic and I wanted to invest my time in harder problems.
--- Bootcamp is also pretty on point. I took these tests after I finished Math Destroyer. I think because I did Destroyer (and this goes for other sections as well), I didn't really have a hard time managing my time. My problem was that I would straight up not know how to do a problem, hahaha (but that's my own weakness).

PRACTICE TEST SCORES / THOUGHTS:
(AA / Bio / GC / OC / RC / QR)

DAT Bootcamp:
Test 1: (23 / 26 / 23 / 21 / 19 / 24)
Test 2: (20 / 16 / 22 / 22 / 20 / 21)
Test 3: (22 / 18 / 26 / 18 / 20 / 30)
Test 4: (23 / 23 / 25 / 24 / 25 / 19)
Test 5: (20 / 21 / 19 / 20 / 20 / 18)

ADA Official Exams:
2007: (20 / 19 / 19 / 20 / 17 / 23)
2009: (? / 25 / 20 / 17 / 20 / 17) [didn't calculate the AA]

For me, I didn't feel as though the official exams were representative of my score--these scores freaked me OUT when I saw them (I took them about a week before my DAT). As you can see, my OC score on the 2009 was a 17!!! Yikes, but luckily I managed a 26 on the real thing. I do agree that the tests are easy, but I can't really speak too much about it because either I choked or something when wrong in predicting my scores with those. I almost thought about rescheduling after those. The QR on the 2009 is insane by the way! I felt like Bootcamp scores were very representative, and at least for my version of the test, it was harder than my real exam so it prepares you well. The only other thing I want to say is don't let your scores dishearten you! Of course, please be honest with yourself on if you are really ready, but if you take a test and your scores suck, then use it as an opportunity to find out what you don't know and move forward. I had my fair share of bad scores--when I first started studying, I took a full length Bootcamp as a diagnostic and I got LOWER THAN 14 on almost all of the sections. Yes that's right. I did so badly that BC didn't even calculate my score! I was so discouraged, but I used it as motivation to do better.

THANK YOU ARI & NANCY:
I hope you two see this! Ari, I sent you some random as heck question from Destroyer and from the BC tests about something in the QR section and explained my thought process. You replied literally like a 3 paragraph response and told me to contact you again if I needed more help, and I thought that was really incredible. Your program is seriously top-notch and I'll be praising it to the skies for years to come to other pre-dental students. Nancy, thank you for calling me a few days before my exam and talking to me for 35 minutes! I felt a lot more calm and I am truly indebted to you and Dr. Romano for your invaluable resources.

OTHER THOUGHTS:
I want to emphasize again that I'm not a stellar student. I had to work a lot during college to pay for my tuition and because of that, I didn't do so hot in some of my classes. When I first started studying, I felt like the world was against me and that the odds weren't in my favor, and it wasn't until I changed my mindset that I started scoring well only my practice tests, which in turn gave me the confidence to take the DAT. I originally wanted to take it in September and then rescheduled. And then learned that my 6 months window was going to expire, so I ended up forfeiting the money and reapplying for this date. The past week or so I literally had dreams about the test and in one of them, I had won a subscription to Bootcamp. I went on SDN everyday reading breakdowns to see how practice tests compared to real scores, and last night I felt like I couldn't really breathe. I shed a lot of tears during this process, and often let my doubt get the best of me. My room is covered in DAT material and I'm really happy to finally take them down. Anyway, don't do that I did. Relax! If you're studying right now, please believe in yourself! Seriously, you can do it. Again, feel free to ask any questions if you have any. Good luck to those of you taking it this week! Seems like quite a few. You got this!

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes as motivation: "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" -- we are all going through this process, you are not alone, so keep your head up 🙂

Proof:
a62da0fc-f34a-4c06-85ab-9023099c188f_zps82z9fwce.jpg

Wow!!! Congratulation tin911! Thank you for the shout out and I am thrilled that you found our materials helpful. Dr. Romano loves the 26 in Orgo. Very consistent scores all 20 and above! You will receive mulitple interviews and acceptances with these scores.

Thank you for taking the time to post such a thorough DAT Breakdown and so happy my phone call helped, even if to only calm you nerves.

Wishing you the very best! Celebrate! You should be very proud of your accomplishment.

Take care..Nancy
 
would you mind posting the link to the quizlet flash cards? incredible scores!

OOPS I FORGOT THE LINK!!! edited! https://quizlet.com/illustratively/folders/biology

Here you go! The folder should have everything. Note that all of the "systems" like circulatory are from KaplanBB while the Animal Form and Function set with 243 terms is from Cliffs (contains all of the systems)! The one that says (Review) at the end is from Kaplan as well! Hope this helps 🙂
 
Last edited:
Wow!!! Congratulation tin911! Thank you for the shout out and I am thrilled that you found our materials helpful. Dr. Romano loves the 26 in Orgo. Very consistent scores all 20 and above! You will receive mulitple interviews and acceptances with these scores.

Thank you for taking the time to post such a thorough DAT Breakdown and so happy my phone call helped, even if to only calm you nerves.

Wishing you the very best! Celebrate! You should be very proud of your accomplishment.

Take care..Nancy

Nancy!!! Thank you so, so much again. I admire how much you care about your students are willing to talk to them when they need it the most. I couldn't have done this without you and Dr. Romano. Hope you have a wonderful day 🙂
 
Here you go! The folder should have everything. Note that all of the "systems" like circulatory are from KaplanBB while the Animal Form and Function set with 243 terms is from Cliffs (contains all of the systems)! The one that says (Review) at the end is from Kaplan as well! Hope this helps 🙂
can you send me the link also please
 
Congratulations @tin911 !! Those scores are off the charts, you did excellent and your hard work paid off. It's clear you put in a lot of time and effort into preparing for this test, your tips will be super helpful to others preparing for their DAT as well. Congrats again, and thanks for the shout out! Let me know if you come interview at Columbia.
 
Thank you all for your support and kind words!!! If any of you are taking it soon, I wish you the absolute best of luck 🙂

And Ari, Columbia would be an absolute dream! I can't even imagine. I will definitely let you know if any good news comes my way. Thanks again for your fantastic resource.
 
Wow congrats!!

Thanks a bunch for sharing your tips and tricks. It looks like your flashcards have some info from feralis as well as cliffs? If so, then it looks like the best of many worlds haha
 
Wow congrats!!

Thanks a bunch for sharing your tips and tricks. It looks like your flashcards have some info from feralis as well as cliffs? If so, then it looks like the best of many worlds haha

Thank you! They do! Some info from Cliffs, Kaplan, Feralis and a few random Wikipedia / Destroyer! 🙂 hopefully it can help people out.
 
First off, the scores are beyond amazing. Like honestly and this is a very well written post with a lot of information!! Are you currently in your undergrad? What is your cGPA and sGPA?

Sent from my SM-G920T using SDN mobile
 
First off, the scores are beyond amazing. Like honestly and this is a very well written post with a lot of information!! Are you currently in your undergrad? What is your cGPA and sGPA?

Sent from my SM-G920T using SDN mobile

Thanks so much everyone! I'm no longer in undergrad--had a 3.3 gpa for both, so I felt lots of pressure to do well on this exam. In no way do you have to be a genius to do well on this test because I am an example of that! 🙂 I was super surprised with my OC score because that was one of the hardest classes I had ever taken, but somehow I did okay on that portion of the test. Anyway good luck and thanks again for all of the kind words!
 
Just out of curiosity what is your GPA and sGPA? Mine are very low and you just motivated me!

Hi! I answered in the post right above yours but it was a 3.3! Don't let your past determine your future. I am definitely not naturally smart by any means, but with hard work, I believe you can do it! I used to say stuff to myself like dang I got X grade in this class and it really sucked, how am I gonna do well on that part of the DAT? It wasn't until I let go of that mentality and just focused on the test that I was able to score well on my practice tests. The first time I hit a 24 on one of the subsections on bootcamp, I literally cried cause I felt like my hard work was finally showing in my scores and my scores only went up / stayed constant from there because of that confidence. Good luck 🙂 know that I've been in your shoes and that you can do it.
 
Thank you for the breakdown! You mentioned you used Chad's videos for OC, however on his site it says: "There is a current dispute between the current and/or former partners of CourseSaver.com. Until further notice, subject matter regarding Organic Chemistry for the DAT/OAT will remain down on Chad’s Videos. I will send out an update in the next month or so, or when I have further information. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and please know that I am working diligently to resolve this dispute."

Did you just use the normal Organic Chemistry videos rather than the ones FOR the DAT/OAT?
 
Thank you for the breakdown! You mentioned you used Chad's videos for OC, however on his site it says: "There is a current dispute between the current and/or former partners of CourseSaver.com. Until further notice, subject matter regarding Organic Chemistry for the DAT/OAT will remain down on Chad’s Videos. I will send out an update in the next month or so, or when I have further information. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and please know that I am working diligently to resolve this dispute."

Did you just use the normal Organic Chemistry videos rather than the ones FOR the DAT/OAT?

Hi! Sorry for the confusion. I used Chad's free videos ONLY for GC. For OC, I watched them on course saver which is the paid version. I didn't watch the free one because to my understanding, the ochem regular version might have things that are outside of the realm of the DAT BUT I am not sure 🙁 sorry I can't be of more help! Let me know if you have more questions!
 
hey so does this cover all of feralis or just important chunks?
The flashcards are heavily based on AP Cliffs which is what I relied on, with stuff from Wiki, Destroyer, Feralis, and KBB so probably the latter. Edit: if you want feralis-based notes, I recommend you download the Anki set which you can find on Bootcamp
 
Hi! Sorry for the confusion. I used Chad's free videos ONLY for GC. For OC, I watched them on course saver which is the paid version. I didn't watch the free one because to my understanding, the ochem regular version might have things that are outside of the realm of the DAT BUT I am not sure 🙁 sorry I can't be of more help! Let me know if you have more questions!
Where Chad's free GC videos targetted enough for the DAT?
 
Where Chad's free GC videos targetted enough for the DAT?

I believe that they are! But make sure you use the ones that are meant for the DAT (it says it on the website) and not simply the general chemistry course. I actually learned more in the free videos than the paid Coursesaver ones--mentioned it in my original post, but he talks about naming ionic & molecular compounds, which I didn't remember seeing in Coursesaver.
 
Congratulations on the fruition of all of your hard work! Those are incredible scores! Good luck with applications and interviews!
 
Hi everyone! I took the DAT today and I never thought in a million years of posting a breakdown, but I want to give back to the community, so I'm going to post a very long and detailed breakdown and I hope it helps some of you! I wouldn't have survived this test had it not been for SDN because it gave me a sense of community even though I isolated myself from the outside world for this test. I want to throw it out there that I have a sub-par GPA so I knew I needed to do well on this test for a chance to get into a school, and I had hoped for a 22AA. I also want to preface by saying that I rarely post on SDN despite lurking a lot, so if the formatting is strange, I do apologize. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! I'll try and help out as much as I can 🙂

SCORE:

AA: 24 / Bio: 21 / GC: 23 / OC: 26 /RC: 25 / QR: 26 /PAT: 20

MATERIALS USED / USEFULNESS ON TEST:

Biology (21): Cliffs AP Biology 3rd Edition, Kaplan Blue Book 2015, Wikipedia, Feralis Notes, Destroyer
--- I relied on the AP Cliffs the most because I found it the easiest to read, but also knew that it wasn't going to be enough to cover all aspects of the bio portion. What I did was make flashcard sets on the website Quizlet (literally have 2,000 cards total), as I was reading Cliffs.
--- I feel the most useful way to use the flashcards is NOT actually as flashcards (i.e: showing a random term and pulling all of the details about it from your mind), but actually using Quizlet's "test" feature. It's something they just started, but basically you can generate tests in many styles (fill in the blank, multiple choice, true false), and I would went through these tests over and over. The great thing is if you miss a card, it'll tell you later by breaking down your cards into "never missed" "sometimes missed" "missed a lot". I also used Quizlet cause their mobile app is awesome (I tried out Anki, but had a hard time with the mobile web version).
----- Edit, here's the link: illustratively | Quizlet
--- Everything you find in KBB can be found anywhere else, but surprisingly, I kind of liked their taxonomy section (though it may not be as detailed as you want). For instance, I felt the plants section and animals in Cliffs was SUPER detailed, so what I went through KBB first to see what topics they focused on, and then went and found more details about each of those topics in Feralis / Cliffs. But overall, I don't recommend KBB. Maybe borrow it from someone if you can for this one portion?
--- Destroyer has really random questions for biology, and if you can get through all of them and really try to understand them, I think you'll be pretty solid for the biology portion.
--- The last thing that I did was look up pictures of confusing concepts on Wikipedia and DREW them out. I really like to draw, and I felt like after I drew out things like mollusca, or where reabsorption is actively done in a kidney, etc., it really stuck a lot better than simply just reading off a page.

PAT (20): Crack DAT PAT, DAT Bootcamp Generators / Tests, Eyeballing Game
-- I only used Crack DAT PAT for 2 Tests. In retrospect, I wish I didn't buy it (though I didn't get the best PAT score so maybe I should've used it more...). I just found the explanations on Bootcamp to be much more useful and I didn't really like having to watch videos to understand the right answer on Crack. They also have pictures of the solutions, but sometimes I found them hard to follow. I do think that the real DAT falls somewhere in the difficulty of Crack and Bootcamp. I knew going in that I sucked at the PAT and kind of accepted my fate here. I wish I had put more effort in, but I was just too slow and got too confused at TFE. Also for TFE, DO NOT USE THE LINE COUNTING METHOD. DON'T DO IT!!!
-- The explanations on Bootcamp are AMAZING. I would recommend going through each and every single question (even if you got it right), to see the little tips and tricks to master the PAT.
-- The eyeballing game is a fun way to practice daily. A version of it can be found in Bootcamp, which incorporates more things such as cube counting (which the original eyeballing game didn't).

Organic Chemistry (26): DAT Destroyer, Chad's Videos, Bootcamp
--- Whoa, Chad is a godsend. When you watch his videos, write down everything he says. Sometimes even the funny jokes he makes will help you! I watched the Coursesaver versions twice, once while taking notes and again to just listen and really pay attention. I would recommend downloading the two "packets" that they have up: the first is the unannotated notes that you can take your own notes on. In this first packet, there's a table where he lists all of the alkene reactions, their intermediates, their stereoselectivity, etc. It wasn't until I looked at this table that it just clicked for me. I started noticing things like, wow there's only 3 alkene reactions that could undergo rearrangement? Oh, if something goes through a cyclic intermediate like bromonium ion, it would have an inversion? Stuff like that. Also, Chad is really responsive to questions so if you have any, you can contact him through his website and he usually gets back right away. I had a question about the reactivity of benzenes and he typed up a long paragraph to explain it to me!
--- I love Destroyer and it fills in the gaps for some stuff such as the Tollens Test, but man, I got destroyed by this section. Even 2 days ago, I was reviewing it and I felt like I didn't know anything. Despite that though, I recommend you go through it. The Destroyer doesn't predict how you'll do on the DAT but it's a fantastic learning tool that will cover all of your bases for the test. I wrote down every question (during my round 1 of going through it), and its corresponding solution. It took me hours to do, but I found it did help me do better when I went through round 2 (the timed version). I actually didn't look at the roadmaps and I was worried for my life this morning that I would regret doing so.
--- I made paper flashcards of every reaction and also some theory things (i.e.: what are some characteristics of an SN2 reaction). Not sure in retrospect if this helped at all, because I didn't really have time to look through them because there were so many.

General Chemistry (23): DAT Destroyer, Chad's Videos
--- Again, Chad is amazing. I actually watched all of his videos on Coursesaver (the paid version), and later I watched the newer versions for free on his website. I did think I would do better in GC than OC, but it didn't turn out that way. One highlight from Chad / his quizzes is that he talks a lot about exceptions to certain rules. I liked that he posed questions in a different way, kind of spinned them a little, and made me think of the reason why things happened. The OC section of his website (for the DAT) isn't up, but the GC (for the DAT) is. I watched both the Coursesaver and his new website and I actually liked the new one better. He has stuff like naming compounds that I don't remember seeing on the old version.
--- I loved loved loved the Destroyer's GC! In comparison to the OC portion that wrecked me, I thought the GC portion was doable once you got the basics down from Chad. I'm still surprised that I did better in OC than GC for this reason.
--- I made paper flashcards after watching the videos from Chad, totaling about 200 total. I would review them once every few weeks in full.

Reading Comprehension (25): DAT Bootcamp
--- All I did for this section was take the practice tests on Bootcamp. I usually try to read in my free time (even though it's stuff like young adult novels), but I've always been pretty fast at reading. I was however, pretty scared for this section after seeing my scores on BC (see below). The highest I got was a 25 which is what I got on the real thing but every other score was like a 19/20.
--- My method for this on the exam was the Vanilla Method aka read the passage in full, map it out, and answer the questions. I'm a pretty fast reader and it scares me when I do Search & Destroy because I feel like I didn't grasp what the author was saying. So that's why I stuck with the traditional method!
--- I did read some stuff on Scientific American at the beginning of my studying, but I started slacking after a while...

Quantitative Reasoning (26): Math Destroyer 2015, Bootcamp
--- Math Destroyer is my holy grail. I was getting so many wrong on it that I became very worried for this section, so that forced me to keep practicing until I became confident. The questions you find in Destroyer are pretty on point to what you'll find on the real DAT. I will say that I got destroyed by tests 11 and 12 and if you get there, you'll know what I'm talking about. I had to take those tests untimed because they were so difficult for me, and I ended up just going through the solutions very slowly for those. Without Math Destroyer, I wouldn't have gotten the score that I did. I also tried out the DAT Destroyer's Math but only got to question 100 or so. I just felt like those were a little too simplistic and I wanted to invest my time in harder problems.
--- Bootcamp is also pretty on point. I took these tests after I finished Math Destroyer. I think because I did Destroyer (and this goes for other sections as well), I didn't really have a hard time managing my time. My problem was that I would straight up not know how to do a problem, hahaha (but that's my own weakness).

PRACTICE TEST SCORES / THOUGHTS:
(AA / Bio / GC / OC / RC / QR)

DAT Bootcamp:
Test 1: (23 / 26 / 23 / 21 / 19 / 24)
Test 2: (20 / 16 / 22 / 22 / 20 / 21)
Test 3: (22 / 18 / 26 / 18 / 20 / 30)
Test 4: (23 / 23 / 25 / 24 / 25 / 19)
Test 5: (20 / 21 / 19 / 20 / 20 / 18)

ADA Official Exams:
2007: (20 / 19 / 19 / 20 / 17 / 23)
2009: (? / 25 / 20 / 17 / 20 / 17) [didn't calculate the AA]

For me, I didn't feel as though the official exams were representative of my score--these scores freaked me OUT when I saw them (I took them about a week before my DAT). As you can see, my OC score on the 2009 was a 17!!! Yikes, but luckily I managed a 26 on the real thing. I do agree that the tests are easy, but I can't really speak too much about it because either I choked or something when wrong in predicting my scores with those. I almost thought about rescheduling after those. The QR on the 2009 is insane by the way! I felt like Bootcamp scores were very representative, and at least for my version of the test, it was harder than my real exam so it prepares you well. The only other thing I want to say is don't let your scores dishearten you! Of course, please be honest with yourself on if you are really ready, but if you take a test and your scores suck, then use it as an opportunity to find out what you don't know and move forward. I had my fair share of bad scores--when I first started studying, I took a full length Bootcamp as a diagnostic and I got LOWER THAN 14 on almost all of the sections. Yes that's right. I did so badly that BC didn't even calculate my score! I was so discouraged, but I used it as motivation to do better.

THANK YOU ARI & NANCY:
I hope you two see this! Ari, I sent you some random as heck question from Destroyer and from the BC tests about something in the QR section and explained my thought process. You replied literally like a 3 paragraph response and told me to contact you again if I needed more help, and I thought that was really incredible. Your program is seriously top-notch and I'll be praising it to the skies for years to come to other pre-dental students. Nancy, thank you for calling me a few days before my exam and talking to me for 35 minutes! I felt a lot more calm and I am truly indebted to you and Dr. Romano for your invaluable resources.

OTHER THOUGHTS:
I want to emphasize again that I'm not a stellar student. I had to work a lot during college to pay for my tuition and because of that, I didn't do so hot in some of my classes. When I first started studying, I felt like the world was against me and that the odds weren't in my favor, and it wasn't until I changed my mindset that I started scoring well only my practice tests, which in turn gave me the confidence to take the DAT. I originally wanted to take it in September and then rescheduled. And then learned that my 6 months window was going to expire, so I ended up forfeiting the money and reapplying for this date. The past week or so I literally had dreams about the test and in one of them, I had won a subscription to Bootcamp. I went on SDN everyday reading breakdowns to see how practice tests compared to real scores, and last night I felt like I couldn't really breathe. I shed a lot of tears during this process, and often let my doubt get the best of me. My room is covered in DAT material and I'm really happy to finally take them down. Anyway, don't do that I did. Relax! If you're studying right now, please believe in yourself! Seriously, you can do it. Again, feel free to ask any questions if you have any. Good luck to those of you taking it this week! Seems like quite a few. You got this!

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes as motivation: "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" -- we are all going through this process, you are not alone, so keep your head up 🙂

Proof:
a62da0fc-f34a-4c06-85ab-9023099c188f_zps82z9fwce.jpg
can you please send the direct link to buy the Kaplan blue book? also for ochem how did you memorize the reactions?
 
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