Hey Everyone, I just wrote my DAT a few days ago and decided to share what I did and what worked/didn't work for me. I graduated in August with a degree in kinesiology (took lots of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry etc). My GPA is around 3.55 and Sci GPA is around 3.65.
Scores:
Bio - 26
Gen Chem - 28
O Chem - 25
PAT - 24
RC - 23
QR - 24
TS - 26
AA - 25
Materials Used:
Barron's/Cliffs AP Bio - 8/10
Feralis Notes - 8/10
Craig Savage/Bozeman Science Videos - 9/10
Chad's Videos/Quizzes - 10/10
Dat Destroyer - 10/10
Math Destroyer - 9/10
Dat Bootcamp - 10/10
Dat Genius - 10/10
How I studied:
I started studying in late August, so all together I studied for about 4 months. However, I was working 3 days a week and volunteering 2 days a week up until December so week days I could only get about 3-5 hours of studying in.
I started off by reading through Barron's and Cliffs AP books (I didn't take notes) and then I would reinforce every topic by watching the corresponding videos on youtube (either Craig savage or Bozeman). I also watched Chad's videos (for gen chem, o chem and QR) and took detailed notes and then did the quizzes after each section. I went through Chad's a 2nd time at 2x speed and took the quizzes again to really make sure I understood everything well (It's been 4 years since I took Gen Chem). After reviewing all the sciences I went through all of the destroyer and marked all the questions I got wrong (I ended up getting about 80% of Gen chem and o chem correct, and about 70% of the bio questions correct). Destroyer is meant to be tough so don't get down on yourself if your struggling. If you can get through destroyer test day will feel like a breeze.
Once I reviewed everything and finished destroyer I started taking Dat Genius & Bootcamp practice tests (around the beginning of November) as well as a Math destroyer test every day (untimed). Both of these are excellent resources to use and between the two and destroyer I think you'll run into just about every type of question there is to see. The few days before the test I wrote the 2007 and 2009 DAT, I believe the difficulty was kind of right between these two tests and your scores on these tests will be similar to what you actually get (at least it was for me).
Test Day:
Bio - I honestly didn't think I scored well on this section, I marked like 5 of the first 10 questions and got 2 questions that I have never seen anything like before. I was probably just nervous during the first little bit because I didn't switch any answers when I reviewed it afterwards. Be confident with your answers and don't overthink questions. Bootcamp was pretty representative of the Bio section. Dat Genius was more difficult but will prepare you for the harder questions and their solutions are excellent.
Gen Chem - This was probably the most straight forward section. There weren't many calculation based questions and the ones that were the numbers were extremely easy to work with. I found Bootcamp and Genius were very long because the amount of calculation based questions. If you can finish the Bootcamp and genius exams in time, you'll fly through the real test.
O Chem - This was my strongest section, I just completed organic I and II my last two semesters and they were my two best courses in undergrad. This section was very straightforward but I had two questions that didn't even have anything to do with organic chem (I thought they should have been in the Bio section? Weird.) I was honestly super surprised this was my lowest science mark.
I finished the science section with about 30 minutes to spare and spent all that extra time going through marked questions and double checking I made no stupid errors.
PAT - I was able to make my grids and tables during the tutorial (I never asked but they never said I couldn't so I figured I'd give it a go). My biggest mistake was I got into the habit of doing hole punching first, then cubes, then pattern folding then I'd skip to TFE, then Keyholes then Angles last. I knew there wasn't a review button on the test until you went through all 90 questions but I didn't think skipping through questions would be so slow (It was quick on genius and bootcamp). So my whole game plan got thrown off and I ended up wasting valuable time. Hole punching and cube counting was easy, pattern folding was also straight forward (this was my worst section for the longest time but after doing BC and Genius it ended up being one of my best). TFE was also fairly straight forward (on par or slightly easier then BC) and angles I found to be very easy (I constantly got 5+ wrong on BC and Genius). Lots of the angles had 1 arm in the same plane and the others were obvious to me. Keyholes were easier then Bootcamp but I did get 2 "rocks" and I was clueless about those questions.
On my break I just smashed a gatorade to get some sugar in me and went right back in to get it over with.
Reading - I never really did anything for reading other then read a few articles every day. I did my own strategy kind of like a hybrid between mapping and S&D. My only advice on this section is get a strategy down (make sure you practice it lots!) and stick to it. I got very lucky and knew a lot about 2 of the articles so I finished this section with 5 minutes to spare and reviewed the marked questions. The difficulty is very similar to Dat genius.
QR - The key to this section is skipping any LONG questions and coming back to them. I could do half the questions in about 20 seconds or less so take advantage of this and come back to the long questions at the end. Also, the calculator is very good and easy to use therefore, ABUSE it. I'm really good at quick math but I didn't want to risk making any stupid mistakes so I used the calculator a lot. I only did 2 DG QR tests and didn't do any BC tests but the questions were similar to the ones in the destroyer book (DAT destroyer not Math destroyer). I told myself I'd be happy with a 20 so when I saw 24 I was extremely pleased. Don't get scared over this section, its actually pretty straight forward.
I'll attach my practice scores and if you have any questions ask away! I can upload my printout as well when I get home tonight.
Scores:
Bio - 26
Gen Chem - 28
O Chem - 25
PAT - 24
RC - 23
QR - 24
TS - 26
AA - 25
Materials Used:
Barron's/Cliffs AP Bio - 8/10
Feralis Notes - 8/10
Craig Savage/Bozeman Science Videos - 9/10
Chad's Videos/Quizzes - 10/10
Dat Destroyer - 10/10
Math Destroyer - 9/10
Dat Bootcamp - 10/10
Dat Genius - 10/10
How I studied:
I started studying in late August, so all together I studied for about 4 months. However, I was working 3 days a week and volunteering 2 days a week up until December so week days I could only get about 3-5 hours of studying in.
I started off by reading through Barron's and Cliffs AP books (I didn't take notes) and then I would reinforce every topic by watching the corresponding videos on youtube (either Craig savage or Bozeman). I also watched Chad's videos (for gen chem, o chem and QR) and took detailed notes and then did the quizzes after each section. I went through Chad's a 2nd time at 2x speed and took the quizzes again to really make sure I understood everything well (It's been 4 years since I took Gen Chem). After reviewing all the sciences I went through all of the destroyer and marked all the questions I got wrong (I ended up getting about 80% of Gen chem and o chem correct, and about 70% of the bio questions correct). Destroyer is meant to be tough so don't get down on yourself if your struggling. If you can get through destroyer test day will feel like a breeze.
Once I reviewed everything and finished destroyer I started taking Dat Genius & Bootcamp practice tests (around the beginning of November) as well as a Math destroyer test every day (untimed). Both of these are excellent resources to use and between the two and destroyer I think you'll run into just about every type of question there is to see. The few days before the test I wrote the 2007 and 2009 DAT, I believe the difficulty was kind of right between these two tests and your scores on these tests will be similar to what you actually get (at least it was for me).
Test Day:
Bio - I honestly didn't think I scored well on this section, I marked like 5 of the first 10 questions and got 2 questions that I have never seen anything like before. I was probably just nervous during the first little bit because I didn't switch any answers when I reviewed it afterwards. Be confident with your answers and don't overthink questions. Bootcamp was pretty representative of the Bio section. Dat Genius was more difficult but will prepare you for the harder questions and their solutions are excellent.
Gen Chem - This was probably the most straight forward section. There weren't many calculation based questions and the ones that were the numbers were extremely easy to work with. I found Bootcamp and Genius were very long because the amount of calculation based questions. If you can finish the Bootcamp and genius exams in time, you'll fly through the real test.
O Chem - This was my strongest section, I just completed organic I and II my last two semesters and they were my two best courses in undergrad. This section was very straightforward but I had two questions that didn't even have anything to do with organic chem (I thought they should have been in the Bio section? Weird.) I was honestly super surprised this was my lowest science mark.
I finished the science section with about 30 minutes to spare and spent all that extra time going through marked questions and double checking I made no stupid errors.
PAT - I was able to make my grids and tables during the tutorial (I never asked but they never said I couldn't so I figured I'd give it a go). My biggest mistake was I got into the habit of doing hole punching first, then cubes, then pattern folding then I'd skip to TFE, then Keyholes then Angles last. I knew there wasn't a review button on the test until you went through all 90 questions but I didn't think skipping through questions would be so slow (It was quick on genius and bootcamp). So my whole game plan got thrown off and I ended up wasting valuable time. Hole punching and cube counting was easy, pattern folding was also straight forward (this was my worst section for the longest time but after doing BC and Genius it ended up being one of my best). TFE was also fairly straight forward (on par or slightly easier then BC) and angles I found to be very easy (I constantly got 5+ wrong on BC and Genius). Lots of the angles had 1 arm in the same plane and the others were obvious to me. Keyholes were easier then Bootcamp but I did get 2 "rocks" and I was clueless about those questions.
On my break I just smashed a gatorade to get some sugar in me and went right back in to get it over with.
Reading - I never really did anything for reading other then read a few articles every day. I did my own strategy kind of like a hybrid between mapping and S&D. My only advice on this section is get a strategy down (make sure you practice it lots!) and stick to it. I got very lucky and knew a lot about 2 of the articles so I finished this section with 5 minutes to spare and reviewed the marked questions. The difficulty is very similar to Dat genius.
QR - The key to this section is skipping any LONG questions and coming back to them. I could do half the questions in about 20 seconds or less so take advantage of this and come back to the long questions at the end. Also, the calculator is very good and easy to use therefore, ABUSE it. I'm really good at quick math but I didn't want to risk making any stupid mistakes so I used the calculator a lot. I only did 2 DG QR tests and didn't do any BC tests but the questions were similar to the ones in the destroyer book (DAT destroyer not Math destroyer). I told myself I'd be happy with a 20 so when I saw 24 I was extremely pleased. Don't get scared over this section, its actually pretty straight forward.
I'll attach my practice scores and if you have any questions ask away! I can upload my printout as well when I get home tonight.
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