predentalstudent12
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- Aug 18, 2022
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Hi everyone! I have been reading breakdowns religiously for the last couple of months while I studied for my DAT and found them incredibly helpful, so I wanted to share one as well.
For some background: I am a junior and I just completed Ochem 2 and Bio 2 spring semester so a lot of the content from these sections was fresh on my mind. I dedicated my whole summer (June 1st to August 15th - my test date) to studying for the exam and spend around 6-8 hours every day. I should’ve taken more breaks, but I get anxious about testing, so I studied on weekends too. This is just what worked for me, but I don’t think that much time is necessary to do good on the exam.
Materials Used:
1) DAT booster: this was my main source when it came to studying for the DAT, and I found the practice exams to be extremely representative of the real exam. I would highly recommend Booster to anyone starting their studying. DO ALL THE EXAMS because nothing will prepare you better.
2) Anki: this may not be for everyone, but anki was my saving grace. I entered everything from the Feralis Booster bio notes into a deck and added cards for every question I got wrong on the practice exams which helped me continuously learn the topics I was weak in. I also made a genchem and ochem deck later in my studying (around month 2 when I started practice tests) and added questions I was getting wrong on practice exams.
3) DAT Destroyer/Math Destroyer: the destroyer books had questions that were way harder than what the actual DAT had but it was a great way to expose myself to some of the harder concepts + practice questions always help. However, I’d say math destroyer was very representative of the QR on the real exam, and the math problems really helped me learn the different types of questions that could show up.
On the exam day:
Bio: Booster Practice (19-24) - 26 Real
I felt good about this section while taking the exam because the questions were simpler and less specific than the ones I had seen on booster. Again, anki helped a lot with bio because active recall is important with exams covering large amounts of material like this. I didn’t have a single question that I hadn’t seen on the Booster bio notes. Even though they are long, I recommend going through them and making your own anki deck or using the one booster provided.
Genchem: Booster (15-27) - 30 Real
This is the section where I saw the greatest improvement (went from a 15 on my first practice test before content review to a 30 on the real exam). I think the material in booster covers all of the information you’d need to know. I was struggling with this subject, so the destroyer books were really helpful because the extra practice questions were helping me solidify my knowledge.
OChem: Booster (20-26) - 23 Real
Honestly, this is the score that I was the most surprised by because ochem is my favorite subject and probably the one I felt most confident about going in. On the actual exam, it seemed a bit harder than what I had practiced, but the types of questions were really similar to booster. I think focusing on the practice exams from Booster would be helpful for this section. Know your reactions and basics like acid/base chemistry + spectroscopy/HNRM/CNMR.
PAT: Booster (19-22) - 21 Real
I don’t have much advice other than trying to practice every day for PAT and you will see improvement over time. I used the generators and practice question banks for Booster, but I always struggled with this section so my score was no surprise as most of my practice tests from booster had the same score. Start as early as you can for PAT.
RC: Booster (18-22) 30 Real
I think I got lucky with my exam because I could find all my answers with search and destroy and had time left on the real exam to review marked questions (never had time on booster practice exams).
QR: Booster (18-26 -Avg 24) 21 Real
I think I could’ve done better on this section because my practice scores were much higher, but my exam started lagging significantly during this section. There was a small lag throughout, but the lag during QR was huge which is why I struggled to do the math. My advice for this section would be to practice as much as you can because there are certain types of questions (age, percentage, work-rate) that repeatedly get tested. I found math destroyer to be the most helpful in preparing for this section.
Overall: Just try your best and aim for learning from your mistakes while you study and you should be able to see good results. Booster, anki, and destroyer are some great resources and I think that the combination of them is what allowed me to do well on my exam.
For some background: I am a junior and I just completed Ochem 2 and Bio 2 spring semester so a lot of the content from these sections was fresh on my mind. I dedicated my whole summer (June 1st to August 15th - my test date) to studying for the exam and spend around 6-8 hours every day. I should’ve taken more breaks, but I get anxious about testing, so I studied on weekends too. This is just what worked for me, but I don’t think that much time is necessary to do good on the exam.
Materials Used:
1) DAT booster: this was my main source when it came to studying for the DAT, and I found the practice exams to be extremely representative of the real exam. I would highly recommend Booster to anyone starting their studying. DO ALL THE EXAMS because nothing will prepare you better.
2) Anki: this may not be for everyone, but anki was my saving grace. I entered everything from the Feralis Booster bio notes into a deck and added cards for every question I got wrong on the practice exams which helped me continuously learn the topics I was weak in. I also made a genchem and ochem deck later in my studying (around month 2 when I started practice tests) and added questions I was getting wrong on practice exams.
3) DAT Destroyer/Math Destroyer: the destroyer books had questions that were way harder than what the actual DAT had but it was a great way to expose myself to some of the harder concepts + practice questions always help. However, I’d say math destroyer was very representative of the QR on the real exam, and the math problems really helped me learn the different types of questions that could show up.
On the exam day:
Bio: Booster Practice (19-24) - 26 Real
I felt good about this section while taking the exam because the questions were simpler and less specific than the ones I had seen on booster. Again, anki helped a lot with bio because active recall is important with exams covering large amounts of material like this. I didn’t have a single question that I hadn’t seen on the Booster bio notes. Even though they are long, I recommend going through them and making your own anki deck or using the one booster provided.
Genchem: Booster (15-27) - 30 Real
This is the section where I saw the greatest improvement (went from a 15 on my first practice test before content review to a 30 on the real exam). I think the material in booster covers all of the information you’d need to know. I was struggling with this subject, so the destroyer books were really helpful because the extra practice questions were helping me solidify my knowledge.
OChem: Booster (20-26) - 23 Real
Honestly, this is the score that I was the most surprised by because ochem is my favorite subject and probably the one I felt most confident about going in. On the actual exam, it seemed a bit harder than what I had practiced, but the types of questions were really similar to booster. I think focusing on the practice exams from Booster would be helpful for this section. Know your reactions and basics like acid/base chemistry + spectroscopy/HNRM/CNMR.
PAT: Booster (19-22) - 21 Real
I don’t have much advice other than trying to practice every day for PAT and you will see improvement over time. I used the generators and practice question banks for Booster, but I always struggled with this section so my score was no surprise as most of my practice tests from booster had the same score. Start as early as you can for PAT.
RC: Booster (18-22) 30 Real
I think I got lucky with my exam because I could find all my answers with search and destroy and had time left on the real exam to review marked questions (never had time on booster practice exams).
QR: Booster (18-26 -Avg 24) 21 Real
I think I could’ve done better on this section because my practice scores were much higher, but my exam started lagging significantly during this section. There was a small lag throughout, but the lag during QR was huge which is why I struggled to do the math. My advice for this section would be to practice as much as you can because there are certain types of questions (age, percentage, work-rate) that repeatedly get tested. I found math destroyer to be the most helpful in preparing for this section.
Overall: Just try your best and aim for learning from your mistakes while you study and you should be able to see good results. Booster, anki, and destroyer are some great resources and I think that the combination of them is what allowed me to do well on my exam.
