DAT Breakdown (taken 12/29/2015)

[plusalpha]

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Oh man, can't believe the day has come where I can write my own DAT breakdown! I was sooooo envious and soooo nervous when I read other people's breakdowns showing their stellar performances, but here I am writing my own breakdown that could possibly help out other SDN'ers here. The following are my scores, and everything I used as study materials. (Keep in mind that the materials I used and how I used them pertains to me only, and may not be beneficial to EVERYONE the same way. I believe that everyone has some things that work for them and some things that don't work for them, so use my breakdown as a reference only and please don't blame me if you follow exactly what I did but don't get the desired score lol. Also, the question types that you get on YOUR test day could be entirely different from what I got, so keep that in mind too. My study time was about 2.5 months with volunteer hours during the week, but nothing else besides that, so I did have quite a lot of freedom to study as much as I could)

PA: 24
QR: 22
RC: 22
BIO: 24
GC: 26
OC: 29
TS: 26
AA: 25



Biology
Study materials: Cliff's AP Biology 3rd edition, Barron's AP Biology 4th edition, DAT Destroyer 2015, DAT Bootcamp, DAT Champion (yes, I actually used this lol)

Comments: I read every chapter in the two AP books, marked notes right on the book itself. Went through Destroyer twice entirely, looked over EVERY question, even the ones I got wrong and tried to understand why the other answer choices were wrong. If the solution provided by Destroyer didn't make sense to me or I wanted to know more, I simply Googled it. With Bootcamp, I actually used it as a study tool rather than simulating "test conditions", which I've read that some people do. I did not focus on timing AT ALL, didn't worry about going over time. I simply focused on absorbing all the information at this stage. Champion was good in throwing you a variety of questions with the massive collection of 10 practice tests for each subject. Used it exactly like Bootcamp and Destroyer. Made note cards for every new information I gained from all these study materials. Notice that I didn't use Feralis' notes. Heard the notes were excellent and I don't doubt that one bit, but I don't know, I just felt reading through them will consume too much study time, and decided to use that time to study more of the other subjects instead.

Test day: Funny thing is, I currently don't remember ANY bio question I had on my actual test except for a few ones! I really don't remember.... I just remember that I had no plant questions and surprisingly not a single question about the hormones and menstrual cycle. I studied my butt off memorizing the hormones and the menstrual cycle......haha. There were a few that were clearly mentioned in Destroyer too.

Gen chem
Study materials: Chad's DAT videos, DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, DAT Champion

Comments: Oh man....I bet you heard this so many times but yes, Chad's your lifesaver when it come to GC and OC! Really good explanations and a great price for all the videos. At first I doubted if they were good because the price was relatively so cheap, but now that I've used it, I honestly think there's NO other resource like this one to cover everything on the DAT GC section effectively. Used Destroyer, Bootcamp, Champion exactly like I did for bio. Again, made note cards for every new information. Unlike bio, GC has calculation questions so I copied down the way Chad solved calculation problems.

Test day: Nothing too complicated here. To be honest, I thought Chad's videos alone were sufficient enough to answer all the questions. Destroyer has MUCH more complicated questions, but I would be careful about using the word "overkill", as some people do. Yes, it does chew up time going through all the questions, but hey, I thought this was my weakest section so I went through Destroyer twice, and I got a decent score, so I'm guessing Destroyer DID help me in some way or another. If you're REALLY running out of time to study, I think going through Destroyer once and continuously reviewing the ones you got wrong or you were "iffy" about the answer you got is good enough. Got quite a few questions on pH/pOH/pKa conversion but the numbers were very easy to work with.

Organic chemistry
Study materials: Chad's DAT videos, DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, DAT Champion, Organic Chemistry as a Second Language by David Klein

Comments: Again, Chad's videos helped TREMENDOUSLY. No more comment about that, you've probably heard too much about him haha. Used Destroyer, Bootcamp, Champion like I did with the above two sections.....focused on gaining/retaining new information rather than on timing. Made note cards the same way again. Occasionally referred back to Second Language, which I used during college, when I wanted to know the mechanisms. I think this book guides you through mechanisms really well, but don't get bogged down too much.... I just learned the mechanisms to memorize the overall big picture more easily. If you have the big picture down solid, don't bother with all the mechanisms. FOR example, if you already know that you'll get an ester if you add an alcohol to a carboxylic acid without even knowing the mechanism, you're good to go. I honestly had a hard time memorizing going from reactant to product when all the other carboxylic acid derivatives came into play, so I went over the mechanisms to get the big picture.

Test day: Quite surprised how simple the questions were..... not a single question on mechanisms and surprisingly none on enantiomers/diastereomers/meso. BUT, on the other hand, I did get like 3 questions regarding H-NMR and C-NMR...... they weren't too confusing, but I studied these the least so I was worried during the section. I wouldn't say this as an "advice", because everyone's test is varied in question content, but going breadth over depth was the way to go for me. Didn't focus on itty bitty details..... getting the big picture helped me a lot.

PAT
Study material: DAT Bootcamp only, Youtube video

Comments: Bootcamp provided excellent answer explanations for the keyhole and pattern folding sections. For the pattern folding section, I really liked Ari's way of taking a piece off the unfolded structure, rotating the piece in your mind, and attaching it to where it should attach in the folded structure. Didn't really go through the TFE explanations thoroughly, because during the practice tests I could almost always eliminate two answer choices right off the bat, so I just focused on why the other remaining choice was wrong. For hole punching I just practiced using the tic-tac-toe method. For angle ranking, I honestly did not have a fixed strategy at all. I guess my "strategy" was to focus only on the area where the two lines meet and just decide which ones wider/narrower.....sorry don't have much to say here lol. Went through all 10 practice tests once and used the generators for practice.

Test day: I'll say something right now that will calm you down.... IT'S WAY EASIER THAN BOOTCAMP. When other people's Breakdowns said that the actual test was easier than Bootcamp, I always thought "Meh I guess it was easier for them cuz they're pretty good in visualizing things", but it really was easier, trust me and everyone else that says so. Of course, that doesn't mean going to the test center without having good practice with the PAT section is a smart idea. My point is that Bootcamp is really all you need to do decently well, I think. Bootcamp trained me in looking for EVERY contour of the object in the keyhole section that I thought the keyhole section on the real DAT was relatively a breeze..... seriously, one or two of the answer choices were blatantly wrong that made me wonder "Really....? Isn't this too obvious?" TFE was also easier than Bootcamp... no "hard-to-visualize" objects, on average two answer choices could be eliminated just by deducing the location of two pillars from the front view, for example. Angle ranking: also much easier...a few took a while, but most of them were easily distinguishable without too much effort. Hole punching: folds were very easy to visualize (did have quite a few with half-fold though). Cube counting: similar to what you see on Bootcamp. I didn't use strategy of counting all the 1-faced, 2-faced, etc and tallying them up.... I don't know about other people, but this method slowed me down a lot and tallying screwed me over during practice tests, so I simply counted the necessary cubes at every question. Pattern folding: not MUCH easier than Bootcamp, but either on par or slightly easier. The unfolded structure and the answer choices were smaller than I expected.... not what I was used to seeing the big, easy to visualize ones that Bootcamp provides. Looking at it now, I think the PAT section in the 2009 ADA test gives the best representation of what you'll see on test day (I did not use the 2009 ADA test for practice however). Also, I made the 16 grids for the hole punching section during the few minutes I had to spare from the sciences section.

RC
Study materials: First RC practice test of Bootcamp

Comments: I only used the first RC test from Bootcamp just to see where I stood in terms of scores. Got a 19 and initially decided to do more tests, but honestly, I really don't like reading such long passages in a constrained time, so I ultimately decided not to do any more tests. In August, I took the GRE general test to apply for a Master's program, so I guess the preparation of reading passages and clicking answers on a computer for an hour did help me A BIT, but I don't think this counts as study material I used for the DAT. After that GRE test, I never read any Scientific American articles, which some people have suggested, nor any other lengthy reading material for the entire time I was preparing for the DAT. Definitely not saying that I was cocky or thinking "Oh that RC section is going to be easy"... I just dislike reading a lot, so the mentality I had was just to wing it on test day haha

Test day: I thought the passages were pretty much on par with Bootcamp in terms of length and the grammar and diction they use, but the questions were more straightforward than I expected. Because I loathe reading and am a slow reader, I just decided to stick with the Search and Destroy method. Just went straight to the questions first without even reading the passage, looked for key words, clicked on an answer and moved on. If there was a mood or inference question, just guessed a random answer and moved on. Risky, yes, but for me as a slow reader, this method was my last resort. While using this method however, do NOT doze off or let your thoughts wander elsewhere. Because I knew I was going to struggle with those mood/inference type questions, I knew I had to get those more "simple" who/what/when/where/why questions correct as much as possible, so I just tried my best on those questions.

QR
Study materials: DAT Destroyer, Math Destroyer

Comments: Went through both Destroyers once completely, made note cards for each formula or "know-how" that I didn't know. Prepared for this section the second least, after RC.

Test day: Most were representative of the questions in the DAT Destroyer, around 4~5 were similar to those seen in Math Destroyer. Definitely know probabilities, and rate questions. Also every trig identity in the front few pages of the Math Destroyer. Pretty sure I could've gotten a higher score if I spent more time on probabilities and rate questions, which are two of my weakest math concepts.


ALL IN ALL, it's an awesome feeling to be done with the DAT finally..... the fear of DAT had haunted me ever since last summer when I first thought of taking it. Only a tiny step toward the endless journey of dental school application + interviews accomplished.....haha but still feels good. I hope my breakdown gives other soon-to-be DAT takers encouragement and a little "preview" of what the actual DAT feels like. Those standard DAT prep materials (DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, Cliff's, Feralis notes), which I'm sure most SDN'ers know about, WILL get you very good scores if you dedicate yourself the time to study and go through every question diligently. These products will prepare you so much that the actual DAT will feel pretty comfortable.

Thanks to Dr. Romano's excellent Destroyer books for challenging me with difficult questions, thanks to Ari's wonderful Bootcamp product for helping me most with the PAT section, thanks to Chad's videos for an awesome price and stellar explanations, and thanks to DAT Champion for providing 10 practice tests for each section. Enjoy the last day of 2015 and good luck to everyone in 2016!!

 

[HUNKDENTIST]

How did the DAT Champion tests compare to the Real thing?

 

[DAT Destroyer]

Oh man, can't believe the day has come where I can write my own DAT breakdown! I was sooooo envious and soooo nervous when I read other people's breakdowns showing their stellar performances, but here I am writing my own breakdown that could possibly help out other SDN'ers here. The following are my scores, and everything I used as study materials. (Keep in mind that the materials I used and how I used them pertains to me only, and may not be beneficial to EVERYONE the same way. I believe that everyone has some things that work for them and some things that don't work for them, so use my breakdown as a reference only and please don't blame me if you follow exactly what I did but don't get the desired score lol. Also, the question types that you get on YOUR test day could be entirely different from what I got, so keep that in mind too. My study time was about 2.5 months with volunteer hours during the week, but nothing else besides that, so I did have quite a lot of freedom to study as much as I could)

PA: 24
QR: 22
RC: 22
BIO: 24
GC: 26
OC: 29
TS: 26
AA: 25

View attachment 199145

Biology
Study materials: Cliff's AP Biology 3rd edition, Barron's AP Biology 4th edition, DAT Destroyer 2015, DAT Bootcamp, DAT Champion (yes, I actually used this lol)

Comments: I read every chapter in the two AP books, marked notes right on the book itself. Went through Destroyer twice entirely, looked over EVERY question, even the ones I got wrong and tried to understand why the other answer choices were wrong. If the solution provided by Destroyer didn't make sense to me or I wanted to know more, I simply Googled it. With Bootcamp, I actually used it as a study tool rather than simulating "test conditions", which I've read that some people do. I did not focus on timing AT ALL, didn't worry about going over time. I simply focused on absorbing all the information at this stage. Champion was good in throwing you a variety of questions with the massive collection of 10 practice tests for each subject. Used it exactly like Bootcamp and Destroyer. Made note cards for every new information I gained from all these study materials. Notice that I didn't use Feralis' notes. Heard the notes were excellent and I don't doubt that one bit, but I don't know, I just felt reading through them will consume too much study time, and decided to use that time to study more of the other subjects instead.

Test day: Funny thing is, I currently don't remember ANY bio question I had on my actual test except for a few ones! I really don't remember.... I just remember that I had no plant questions and surprisingly not a single question about the hormones and menstrual cycle. I studied my butt off memorizing the hormones and the menstrual cycle......haha. There were a few that were clearly mentioned in Destroyer too.

Gen chem
Study materials: Chad's DAT videos, DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, DAT Champion

Comments: Oh man....I bet you heard this so many times but yes, Chad's your lifesaver when it come to GC and OC! Really good explanations and a great price for all the videos. At first I doubted if they were good because the price was relatively so cheap, but now that I've used it, I honestly think there's NO other resource like this one to cover everything on the DAT GC section effectively. Used Destroyer, Bootcamp, Champion exactly like I did for bio. Again, made note cards for every new information. Unlike bio, GC has calculation questions so I copied down the way Chad solved calculation problems.

Test day: Nothing too complicated here. To be honest, I thought Chad's videos alone were sufficient enough to answer all the questions. Destroyer has MUCH more complicated questions, but I would be careful about using the word "overkill", as some people do. Yes, it does chew up time going through all the questions, but hey, I thought this was my weakest section so I went through Destroyer twice, and I got a decent score, so I'm guessing Destroyer DID help me in some way or another. If you're REALLY running out of time to study, I think going through Destroyer once and continuously reviewing the ones you got wrong or you were "iffy" about the answer you got is good enough. Got quite a few questions on pH/pOH/pKa conversion but the numbers were very easy to work with.

Organic chemistry
Study materials: Chad's DAT videos, DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, DAT Champion, Organic Chemistry as a Second Language by David Klein

Comments: Again, Chad's videos helped TREMENDOUSLY. No more comment about that, you've probably heard too much about him haha. Used Destroyer, Bootcamp, Champion like I did with the above two sections.....focused on gaining/retaining new information rather than on timing. Made note cards the same way again. Occasionally referred back to Second Language, which I used during college, when I wanted to know the mechanisms. I think this book guides you through mechanisms really well, but don't get bogged down too much.... I just learned the mechanisms to memorize the overall big picture more easily. If you have the big picture down solid, don't bother with all the mechanisms. FOR example, if you already know that you'll get an ester if you add an alcohol to a carboxylic acid without even knowing the mechanism, you're good to go. I honestly had a hard time memorizing going from reactant to product when all the other carboxylic acid derivatives came into play, so I went over the mechanisms to get the big picture.

Test day: Quite surprised how simple the questions were..... not a single question on mechanisms and surprisingly none on enantiomers/diastereomers/meso. BUT, on the other hand, I did get like 3 questions regarding H-NMR and C-NMR...... they weren't too confusing, but I studied these the least so I was worried during the section. I wouldn't say this as an "advice", because everyone's test is varied in question content, but going breadth over depth was the way to go for me. Didn't focus on itty bitty details..... getting the big picture helped me a lot.

PAT
Study material: DAT Bootcamp only, Youtube video

Comments: Bootcamp provided excellent answer explanations for the keyhole and pattern folding sections. For the pattern folding section, I really liked Ari's way of taking a piece off the unfolded structure, rotating the piece in your mind, and attaching it to where it should attach in the folded structure. Didn't really go through the TFE explanations thoroughly, because during the practice tests I could almost always eliminate two answer choices right off the bat, so I just focused on why the other remaining choice was wrong. For hole punching I just practiced using the tic-tac-toe method. For angle ranking, I honestly did not have a fixed strategy at all. I guess my "strategy" was to focus only on the area where the two lines meet and just decide which ones wider/narrower.....sorry don't have much to say here lol. Went through all 10 practice tests once and used the generators for practice.

Test day: I'll say something right now that will calm you down.... IT'S WAY EASIER THAN BOOTCAMP. When other people's Breakdowns said that the actual test was easier than Bootcamp, I always thought "Meh I guess it was easier for them cuz they're pretty good in visualizing things", but it really was easier, trust me and everyone else that says so. Of course, that doesn't mean going to the test center without having good practice with the PAT section is a smart idea. My point is that Bootcamp is really all you need to do decently well, I think. Bootcamp trained me in looking for EVERY contour of the object in the keyhole section that I thought the keyhole section on the real DAT was relatively a breeze..... seriously, one or two of the answer choices were blatantly wrong that made me wonder "Really....? Isn't this too obvious?" TFE was also easier than Bootcamp... no "hard-to-visualize" objects, on average two answer choices could be eliminated just by deducing the location of two pillars from the front view, for example. Angle ranking: also much easier...a few took a while, but most of them were easily distinguishable without too much effort. Hole punching: folds were very easy to visualize (did have quite a few with half-fold though). Cube counting: similar to what you see on Bootcamp. I didn't use strategy of counting all the 1-faced, 2-faced, etc and tallying them up.... I don't know about other people, but this method slowed me down a lot and tallying screwed me over during practice tests, so I simply counted the necessary cubes at every question. Pattern folding: not MUCH easier than Bootcamp, but either on par or slightly easier. The unfolded structure and the answer choices were smaller than I expected.... not what I was used to seeing the big, easy to visualize ones that Bootcamp provides. Looking at it now, I think the PAT section in the 2009 ADA test gives the best representation of what you'll see on test day (I did not use the 2009 ADA test for practice however). Also, I made the 16 grids for the hole punching section during the few minutes I had to spare from the sciences section.

RC
Study materials: First RC practice test of Bootcamp

Comments: I only used the first RC test from Bootcamp just to see where I stood in terms of scores. Got a 19 and initially decided to do more tests, but honestly, I really don't like reading such long passages in a constrained time, so I ultimately decided not to do any more tests. In August, I took the GRE general test to apply for a Master's program, so I guess the preparation of reading passages and clicking answers on a computer for an hour did help me A BIT, but I don't think this counts as study material I used for the DAT. After that GRE test, I never read any Scientific American articles, which some people have suggested, nor any other lengthy reading material for the entire time I was preparing for the DAT. Definitely not saying that I was cocky or thinking "Oh that RC section is going to be easy"... I just dislike reading a lot, so the mentality I had was just to wing it on test day haha

Test day: I thought the passages were pretty much on par with Bootcamp in terms of length and the grammar and diction they use, but the questions were more straightforward than I expected. Because I loathe reading and am a slow reader, I just decided to stick with the Search and Destroy method. Just went straight to the questions first without even reading the passage, looked for key words, clicked on an answer and moved on. If there was a mood or inference question, just guessed a random answer and moved on. Risky, yes, but for me as a slow reader, this method was my last resort. While using this method however, do NOT doze off or let your thoughts wander elsewhere. Because I knew I was going to struggle with those mood/inference type questions, I knew I had to get those more "simple" who/what/when/where/why questions correct as much as possible, so I just tried my best on those questions.

QR
Study materials: DAT Destroyer, Math Destroyer

Comments: Went through both Destroyers once completely, made note cards for each formula or "know-how" that I didn't know. Prepared for this section the second least, after RC.

Test day: Most were representative of the questions in the DAT Destroyer, around 4~5 were similar to those seen in Math Destroyer. Definitely know probabilities, and rate questions. Also every trig identity in the front few pages of the Math Destroyer. Pretty sure I could've gotten a higher score if I spent more time on probabilities and rate questions, which are two of my weakest math concepts.


ALL IN ALL, it's an awesome feeling to be done with the DAT finally..... the fear of DAT had haunted me ever since last summer when I first thought of taking it. Only a tiny step toward the endless journey of dental school application + interviews accomplished.....haha but still feels good. I hope my breakdown gives other soon-to-be DAT takers encouragement and a little "preview" of what the actual DAT feels like. Those standard DAT prep materials (DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, Cliff's, Feralis notes), which I'm sure most SDN'ers know about, WILL get you very good scores if you dedicate yourself the time to study and go through every question diligently. These products will prepare you so much that the actual DAT will feel pretty comfortable.

Thanks to Dr. Romano's excellent Destroyer books for challenging me with difficult questions, thanks to Ari's wonderful Bootcamp product for helping me most with the PAT section, thanks to Chad's videos for an awesome price and stellar explanations, and thanks to DAT Champion for providing 10 practice tests for each section. Enjoy the last day of 2015 and good luck to everyone in 2016!!

Congratulations plusalpha!

You knocked it out of the ballpark! HOMERUN!!! I have seen you on the board the pasts few months and all your hard work paid off..

The DAT Beast will have to wait for another test taker, you defeated the BEAST!

Dental schools will take notice of your highs score, love those science scores, especially that 29 in Orgo😍

Thank you for the detailed breakdown and we are happy to hear our materials helped you achieve your goal. You are starting the new year with a bang!

Happy New Year and wishing you the best in your journey to becoming a dentist.

Dr. Jim Romano and Nancy

 

[qkrdpsk]

Oh man, can't believe the day has come where I can write my own DAT breakdown! I was sooooo envious and soooo nervous when I read other people's breakdowns showing their stellar performances, but here I am writing my own breakdown that could possibly help out other SDN'ers here. The following are my scores, and everything I used as study materials. (Keep in mind that the materials I used and how I used them pertains to me only, and may not be beneficial to EVERYONE the same way. I believe that everyone has some things that work for them and some things that don't work for them, so use my breakdown as a reference only and please don't blame me if you follow exactly what I did but don't get the desired score lol. Also, the question types that you get on YOUR test day could be entirely different from what I got, so keep that in mind too. My study time was about 2.5 months with volunteer hours during the week, but nothing else besides that, so I did have quite a lot of freedom to study as much as I could)

PA: 24
QR: 22
RC: 22
BIO: 24
GC: 26
OC: 29
TS: 26
AA: 25

View attachment 199145

Biology
Study materials: Cliff's AP Biology 3rd edition, Barron's AP Biology 4th edition, DAT Destroyer 2015, DAT Bootcamp, DAT Champion (yes, I actually used this lol)

Comments: I read every chapter in the two AP books, marked notes right on the book itself. Went through Destroyer twice entirely, looked over EVERY question, even the ones I got wrong and tried to understand why the other answer choices were wrong. If the solution provided by Destroyer didn't make sense to me or I wanted to know more, I simply Googled it. With Bootcamp, I actually used it as a study tool rather than simulating "test conditions", which I've read that some people do. I did not focus on timing AT ALL, didn't worry about going over time. I simply focused on absorbing all the information at this stage. Champion was good in throwing you a variety of questions with the massive collection of 10 practice tests for each subject. Used it exactly like Bootcamp and Destroyer. Made note cards for every new information I gained from all these study materials. Notice that I didn't use Feralis' notes. Heard the notes were excellent and I don't doubt that one bit, but I don't know, I just felt reading through them will consume too much study time, and decided to use that time to study more of the other subjects instead.

Test day: Funny thing is, I currently don't remember ANY bio question I had on my actual test except for a few ones! I really don't remember.... I just remember that I had no plant questions and surprisingly not a single question about the hormones and menstrual cycle. I studied my butt off memorizing the hormones and the menstrual cycle......haha. There were a few that were clearly mentioned in Destroyer too.

Gen chem
Study materials: Chad's DAT videos, DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, DAT Champion

Comments: Oh man....I bet you heard this so many times but yes, Chad's your lifesaver when it come to GC and OC! Really good explanations and a great price for all the videos. At first I doubted if they were good because the price was relatively so cheap, but now that I've used it, I honestly think there's NO other resource like this one to cover everything on the DAT GC section effectively. Used Destroyer, Bootcamp, Champion exactly like I did for bio. Again, made note cards for every new information. Unlike bio, GC has calculation questions so I copied down the way Chad solved calculation problems.

Test day: Nothing too complicated here. To be honest, I thought Chad's videos alone were sufficient enough to answer all the questions. Destroyer has MUCH more complicated questions, but I would be careful about using the word "overkill", as some people do. Yes, it does chew up time going through all the questions, but hey, I thought this was my weakest section so I went through Destroyer twice, and I got a decent score, so I'm guessing Destroyer DID help me in some way or another. If you're REALLY running out of time to study, I think going through Destroyer once and continuously reviewing the ones you got wrong or you were "iffy" about the answer you got is good enough. Got quite a few questions on pH/pOH/pKa conversion but the numbers were very easy to work with.

Organic chemistry
Study materials: Chad's DAT videos, DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, DAT Champion, Organic Chemistry as a Second Language by David Klein

Comments: Again, Chad's videos helped TREMENDOUSLY. No more comment about that, you've probably heard too much about him haha. Used Destroyer, Bootcamp, Champion like I did with the above two sections.....focused on gaining/retaining new information rather than on timing. Made note cards the same way again. Occasionally referred back to Second Language, which I used during college, when I wanted to know the mechanisms. I think this book guides you through mechanisms really well, but don't get bogged down too much.... I just learned the mechanisms to memorize the overall big picture more easily. If you have the big picture down solid, don't bother with all the mechanisms. FOR example, if you already know that you'll get an ester if you add an alcohol to a carboxylic acid without even knowing the mechanism, you're good to go. I honestly had a hard time memorizing going from reactant to product when all the other carboxylic acid derivatives came into play, so I went over the mechanisms to get the big picture.

Test day: Quite surprised how simple the questions were..... not a single question on mechanisms and surprisingly none on enantiomers/diastereomers/meso. BUT, on the other hand, I did get like 3 questions regarding H-NMR and C-NMR...... they weren't too confusing, but I studied these the least so I was worried during the section. I wouldn't say this as an "advice", because everyone's test is varied in question content, but going breadth over depth was the way to go for me. Didn't focus on itty bitty details..... getting the big picture helped me a lot.

PAT
Study material: DAT Bootcamp only, Youtube video

Comments: Bootcamp provided excellent answer explanations for the keyhole and pattern folding sections. For the pattern folding section, I really liked Ari's way of taking a piece off the unfolded structure, rotating the piece in your mind, and attaching it to where it should attach in the folded structure. Didn't really go through the TFE explanations thoroughly, because during the practice tests I could almost always eliminate two answer choices right off the bat, so I just focused on why the other remaining choice was wrong. For hole punching I just practiced using the tic-tac-toe method. For angle ranking, I honestly did not have a fixed strategy at all. I guess my "strategy" was to focus only on the area where the two lines meet and just decide which ones wider/narrower.....sorry don't have much to say here lol. Went through all 10 practice tests once and used the generators for practice.

Test day: I'll say something right now that will calm you down.... IT'S WAY EASIER THAN BOOTCAMP. When other people's Breakdowns said that the actual test was easier than Bootcamp, I always thought "Meh I guess it was easier for them cuz they're pretty good in visualizing things", but it really was easier, trust me and everyone else that says so. Of course, that doesn't mean going to the test center without having good practice with the PAT section is a smart idea. My point is that Bootcamp is really all you need to do decently well, I think. Bootcamp trained me in looking for EVERY contour of the object in the keyhole section that I thought the keyhole section on the real DAT was relatively a breeze..... seriously, one or two of the answer choices were blatantly wrong that made me wonder "Really....? Isn't this too obvious?" TFE was also easier than Bootcamp... no "hard-to-visualize" objects, on average two answer choices could be eliminated just by deducing the location of two pillars from the front view, for example. Angle ranking: also much easier...a few took a while, but most of them were easily distinguishable without too much effort. Hole punching: folds were very easy to visualize (did have quite a few with half-fold though). Cube counting: similar to what you see on Bootcamp. I didn't use strategy of counting all the 1-faced, 2-faced, etc and tallying them up.... I don't know about other people, but this method slowed me down a lot and tallying screwed me over during practice tests, so I simply counted the necessary cubes at every question. Pattern folding: not MUCH easier than Bootcamp, but either on par or slightly easier. The unfolded structure and the answer choices were smaller than I expected.... not what I was used to seeing the big, easy to visualize ones that Bootcamp provides. Looking at it now, I think the PAT section in the 2009 ADA test gives the best representation of what you'll see on test day (I did not use the 2009 ADA test for practice however). Also, I made the 16 grids for the hole punching section during the few minutes I had to spare from the sciences section.

RC
Study materials: First RC practice test of Bootcamp

Comments: I only used the first RC test from Bootcamp just to see where I stood in terms of scores. Got a 19 and initially decided to do more tests, but honestly, I really don't like reading such long passages in a constrained time, so I ultimately decided not to do any more tests. In August, I took the GRE general test to apply for a Master's program, so I guess the preparation of reading passages and clicking answers on a computer for an hour did help me A BIT, but I don't think this counts as study material I used for the DAT. After that GRE test, I never read any Scientific American articles, which some people have suggested, nor any other lengthy reading material for the entire time I was preparing for the DAT. Definitely not saying that I was cocky or thinking "Oh that RC section is going to be easy"... I just dislike reading a lot, so the mentality I had was just to wing it on test day haha

Test day: I thought the passages were pretty much on par with Bootcamp in terms of length and the grammar and diction they use, but the questions were more straightforward than I expected. Because I loathe reading and am a slow reader, I just decided to stick with the Search and Destroy method. Just went straight to the questions first without even reading the passage, looked for key words, clicked on an answer and moved on. If there was a mood or inference question, just guessed a random answer and moved on. Risky, yes, but for me as a slow reader, this method was my last resort. While using this method however, do NOT doze off or let your thoughts wander elsewhere. Because I knew I was going to struggle with those mood/inference type questions, I knew I had to get those more "simple" who/what/when/where/why questions correct as much as possible, so I just tried my best on those questions.

QR
Study materials: DAT Destroyer, Math Destroyer

Comments: Went through both Destroyers once completely, made note cards for each formula or "know-how" that I didn't know. Prepared for this section the second least, after RC.

Test day: Most were representative of the questions in the DAT Destroyer, around 4~5 were similar to those seen in Math Destroyer. Definitely know probabilities, and rate questions. Also every trig identity in the front few pages of the Math Destroyer. Pretty sure I could've gotten a higher score if I spent more time on probabilities and rate questions, which are two of my weakest math concepts.


ALL IN ALL, it's an awesome feeling to be done with the DAT finally..... the fear of DAT had haunted me ever since last summer when I first thought of taking it. Only a tiny step toward the endless journey of dental school application + interviews accomplished.....haha but still feels good. I hope my breakdown gives other soon-to-be DAT takers encouragement and a little "preview" of what the actual DAT feels like. Those standard DAT prep materials (DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, Cliff's, Feralis notes), which I'm sure most SDN'ers know about, WILL get you very good scores if you dedicate yourself the time to study and go through every question diligently. These products will prepare you so much that the actual DAT will feel pretty comfortable.

Thanks to Dr. Romano's excellent Destroyer books for challenging me with difficult questions, thanks to Ari's wonderful Bootcamp product for helping me most with the PAT section, thanks to Chad's videos for an awesome price and stellar explanations, and thanks to DAT Champion for providing 10 practice tests for each section. Enjoy the last day of 2015 and good luck to everyone in 2016!!

You killed it. 🙂 Congrats.

 

[MolarDentist]

Solid scores!!!!! What a way to ring the new year!!!!!
Congrats

 

[Baileyy259]

How long did you study for?

Awesome, awesome job by the way!

 

[Baileyy259]

How long did you study for?

Awesome, awesome job by the way!

Never mind just saw 2.5 months...

 

[plusalpha]

How did the DAT Champion tests compare to the Real thing?

Hi Hunkdentist, I personally thought that DAT Champion was similar to DAT Bootcamp with its biology, gen chem, and orgo tests, so yeah if you tried Bootcamp already you should have a pretty good idea of Champion. Compared to the real DAT I took, Champion's bio was slightly more difficult (but it is a good resource to prepare for you for those "random" bio question on the real test), gen chem was really on par with the real test in terms of calculations and concept questions, and orgo was much harder than the real test. The actual DAT had much more straightforward organic reactions and concept questions. I did not use Champion's PAT, QR or RC tests because my test day was coming near and I wanted to focus on the sciences specifically. Feel free to ask me any more questions if you have, and happy 2016!

Congratulations plusalpha!

You knocked it out of the ballpark! HOMERUN!!! I have seen you on the board the pasts few months and all your hard work paid off..

The DAT Beast will have to wait for another test taker, you defeated the BEAST!

Dental schools will take notice of your highs score, love those science scores, especially that 29 in Orgo😍

Thank you for the detailed breakdown and we are happy to hear our materials helped you achieve your goal. You are starting the new year with a bang!

Happy New Year and wishing you the best in your journey to becoming a dentist.

Dr. Jim Romano and Nancy

Hi Dr. Romano, it really did pay off working with your Destroyer products! I really couldn't have gotten that score without your products and your answers to my SDN questions. Thank you for your wishes and I hope you and your staff have a wonderful 2016!


Thanks to everyone else who congratulated me and I wish the best of luck to you all for this year!

 

[Dr. Dan]

These are amazing scores, you definitely earned this with all your hard work! Congrats!!!

 

[HatInTheCat]

Congrats to you!!! I hope to do as well as you when I take it in March! Best of luck for the upcoming cycle!!!

By the way, did you find the scores you earned in Bootcamp to be indicative of what you earned on the DAT, or did you use them as baseline data to show you what you needed to work on?

 

[HUNKDENTIST]

Thanks for the reply. Those are very impressive scores, I hope I can come close to that result. I have not started studying yet. Right now I am in the process of planning a study schedule and deciding which resources to use. I have a plan together, but I am tweaking it.

 

[plusalpha]

These are amazing scores, you definitely earned this with all your hard work! Congrats!!!

Thanks Dr. Dan! Congrats on your awesome scores too!!

Congrats to you!!! I hope to do as well as you when I take it in March! Best of luck for the upcoming cycle!!!

By the way, did you find the scores you earned in Bootcamp to be indicative of what you earned on the DAT, or did you use them as baseline data to show you what you needed to work on?

Thank you and best of luck for your March test day! The scores I got on Bootcamp were lower than my actual DAT scores in all the sections; I was getting 19/20 in ALL the six sections. I wasn't focused too much on my timing or my scores with Bootcamp to be honest, so to answer your question, nope I didn't use them specifically as baseline scores. Sure, I did use the scores just to have a vague idea of where I stood in terms of scores, but like I said in my breakdown, I used Bootcamp like I had used Destroyer (didn't really care about the numerical scores I got, just focused on the reasoning behind what I got wrong AND right). Feel free to ask more questions you may have!

Thanks for the reply. Those are very impressive scores, I hope I can come close to that result. I have not started studying yet. Right now I am in the process of planning a study schedule and deciding which resources to use. I have a plan together, but I am tweaking it.

Yup, no problem! DAT Destroyer, DAT Bootcamp, Chad's videos, and the two AP books alone can get you a pretty solid score, I think. Speaking of a study schedule, I didn't include the timeline of my study schedule....anyways I'll just spew out the study materials I had used in chronological order, you can take it however you wish:
First entire month of studying: watched every one of Chad's DAT GC and OC videos and took notes on note cards METICULOUSLY (didn't want to go back and re-watch the videos in case I missed anything lol). Watching his videos does chew up quite a bit of time so I decided to knock off GC and OC studying right away. Read Cliff's and Barron's AP bio books when I wasn't studying the two chem sections.
First two weeks of my second month: ploughed through the Destroyer. I wanted to have time to go through Destroyer at least one more time, so I sort of "rushed" through all the questions the first time (but I did note down all the mistakes and read through the solutions). Started to incorporate Bootcamp as well during this time. I felt I had sufficient practice with the sciences so I dove straight into the PAT section, which I had absolutely no practice on.
Last two weeks of the second month: went through Destroyer the second time, started doing Bootcamp science sections while continuing to do Bootcamp's PAT section.
Last ~0.5 month of studying: by this time I started feeling saturated with all the info/strategies I learned during the two months so I decided to back off from the science Destroyer. This time period was my "xerox" period: like a xerox machine, I continuously went through ALL the note cards that I had accumulated from Destroyer + Chad's vids + Bootcamp up until test day. My mind refused to absorb any more new information so I decided to focus on the note cards I had. This is also when I started to look through Math Destroyer too. Kept up with Bootcamp's PAT practice as well.
Best of luck with your study schedule, I'm sure you can get the score you want! Again, feel free to ask any other questions you may have.

 

[arthur aga]

I'm confused why did you use Cliffs Ap biology books aren't those designed for high school,not for studying for the DAT.Thanks

 

[plusalpha]

I'm confused why did you use Cliffs Ap biology books aren't those designed for high school,not for studying for the DAT.Thanks

The two AP bio books give a solid foundation for most of the questions on the DAT. Similar to the gen chem section of the DAT, which tests you on chem stuff which you've learned in high school, the bio section also tests you on a lot of stuff which you've learned in high school. The actual test may throw you some oddball questions which you haven't encountered in high school, but I thought that most of the questions were fairly simple and straightforward. Supplementing the AP bio books with Destroyer is a good way to go.