DAT Breakdown/Opinions 24AA/ 24TS/ 22PAT

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bigboikhoa

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I'm finally done! Weeks of studying and it all paid off!

Real DAT: Bio/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR
23/28/23/22/23/24

Dat Bootcamp 6-10
Bio:24/22/23/20/19
GC:23/21/21/20/20
OC:23/21/21/22/20
PAT:20/20/21/20/20
RC:19/19/20/20/19
QR:19/20/24/20/20

Resources: DAT Bootcamp, DAT Destroyer, Feralis Notes, Cliffs AP Bio 3rd Edition, Chad's(GChem), Mike's Videos(Ochem).

Study Schedule: I studied for 6 weeks, 10-12 hours a day. I basically did the first month of Ari's 10-week plan in about 2 weeks. After this week, I spent week 3 and 4 working on DAT Destroyer problems, doing PAT generators, and working on DAT BC Subject tests 1-5. I made an excel sheet and corrected every problem I got wrong or did not understand. The Bootcamp explanations are amazing, so definitely utilize those. During this week I also made a lot of flashcards for biology and o chem. For my last week, I did DATBC Full length 6-10. I did one test/day and used Saturday and Sunday to review the material.

Dat Bootcamp: The best resource you can get for the DAT. Bootcamp provides you with so many materials. Mikes Vids, PAT Generators, Formula sheets. I do believe bootcamp questions were harder than the actual test, but it helped to prepare me.

Dat Destroyer: I believe the Bio and G chem portions are really great for learning; however, the O chem sections were honestly a bit hard. When I started to try and do Ochem problems during my 3rd week, it honestly crushed my self-esteem haha. Overall, I think the questions were overkill, but I probably would have gotten higher on OC if I did them. All I ended up using for OC was mike's videos and Bootcamp.

Feralis Notes: I honestly used this as a bible for 6 weeks. Especially for Physiology and Anatomy, where I used the information to make flashcards of the circulatory, respiratory, digestive systems. I used this to study anything I was uncomfortable with.

Chad's Videos: Use it! It is the best resource for Gchem. Every single problem I saw was covered by chad's videos.

Biology: For this section, I used Feralis notes, AP Cliffs 3rd Edition, Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp. This section is kinda straightforward. I would advise breadth over depth. Since the topic of bio is so drastically large, the best way to prepare would be to increase your exposure. I read AP Cliffs twice. I used Feralis to review the material I didn't really understand. It also gave much more detail than cliffs. Anatomy and Physiology were amazing in Feralis (Cliffs does not cover A&P). I used Destroyer to continue learning topics I wasn't familiar with. Creating flashcards was especially helpful for topics like circulation, respiration, and immune systems.

G Chem: Chads... That's really all I have to say. If you want to take it any further, destroyer was great for prepping me for the harder problems. Specifically calculations, and some elemental trends. The problems from DAT BC were fairly accurate, but definitely harder.

O Chem: I've actually used both Chad's and Mikes videos. If I had to choose one, I would definitely go with Mikes videos. I printed out his chapter outlines, took notes, and went through all the quizzes. DAT Bootcamp was my main resource for practice problems. I tried destroyer but found it to be way too hard. ***I actually memorized the 25 NEED TO KNOW reactions from Destroyer. This was all I studied and it seemed to pay off. Mike will prepare you for the lab techniques and spectroscopy.

PAT: All I can really say is practice. The Dat Bootcamp generators were really helpful. My opinion may differ from others, but I felt like the actual DAT was easier in terms of angle ranking and TFE. Cube counting, pattern folding, hole punching, and keyholes were pretty much the same.

RC: I didn't prepare for this section. All I did was take practice tests from Bootcamp the week before my exam. Just find a strategy and stick with it. The actual DAT is definitely easier than the bootcamp passages.

QR: I did the problems from DAT Destroyer, and did all the tests from DATBootcamp. Unless you are really having trouble with math, I don't think you really need Math Destroyer. It would probably have gotten me a higher score though.

Side Notes:
-You are NOT allowed to draw your grids for hole punching during the tutorial. However, I was able to finish my sciences 10 minutes early, so I decided to use that time to draw my grids.
-Angle ranking was way easier on the real test
-Reading comp was way more straightforward

Special thanks to Ari, Mike's Videos, Chad, and Dr. Romano. I am really grateful for the amount of support this community has and I hope this breakdown helps anyone studying at the moment.

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