Andrew Hodgson
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- Jun 21, 2023
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Hey guys! I find these online forums very helpful to me so I figured I would write a breakdown about what helped me on my DAT journey. If you have further questions about anything for me please feel free to reach out!
Scores:
QR - 24
RC - 30
BIO - 23
GC - 22
OC - 19
TS - 21
PAT - 23
AA - 24
Background:
Graduated in the fall 2022 with a 3.9~ GPA.
Materials I Used:
My best advice is to study how you would take the test. The best thing I found to do was put my phone on do not disturb and find a desk and some quiet area. I also found a section that I enjoyed doing and made that be my mental break time. For me I did not hate the PAT section so when I got tired of studying the rest I would go to the PAT and do practice questions then return to Biology or Chemistry or whatever I was working on.
Day of Exam:
(Bio 24)- This section was pretty straight forward. I just went through and answered everything I was confident on at first and marked ones I was not sure about. Before I skipped them I would eliminate the answers I knew were wrong, skip them and then do them at the end. I only mark the wrong ones so if I have to guess I am not guessing entirely.
(GC 22)- This section I did the same sort of thing as the biology questions. I will say I skipped any questions in GC that I thought would take a lot of time because it was not worth trying to get that question right and not getting to multiple other questions.
(OC-19)-This was not my strongest section. I wish I had spent more time memorizing reactions is all I can say.
(PAT-23)- For the PAT I skipped to question 31 because I knew my angle ranking, cube counting and hole punching were good so I did not want to be guessing on those. Then I did the pattern folding and keyhole and finished with TFE which was my weakest section and only had to guess on two which was good for me.
(RC-30)- For the RC I did the search and destroy method which worked for me. I would make mental notes as I went through as to the organization of the passage and the main key to search and destroy for me was to find keywords. If I was not finding an answer right away I would skip it and mark it. I often found it searching for another answer.
(QR-24)-For the QR I skipped anything that was taking me too much time then I would go back to it at the end just because I wanted to be able to answer everything I was confident in.
ETC:
Before my test I will admit I was pretty nervous and felt like I did not know anything the night before. I simply just had to know I had prepared and understand that late night cramming or worrying was not going to help me. I spent the night before my test just relaxing after I had reviewed a few things that morning. I also did not take the full 30 minute break simply because when I get in my testing mode I do not like to be interrupted or get out of it. Just something to think about if that is how you work as well. I left long enough to use the restroom, drink a little bit of water and eat a candy bar to give myself some fuel to finish the test.
Ending Advice:
Find what works for you. I operate differently than most when it comes to testing I think. I do my best to stay consistent because when I am consistent with the way in which I work I tend to do better. Work hard and keep your head up y’all got this!
Scores:
QR - 24
RC - 30
BIO - 23
GC - 22
OC - 19
TS - 21
PAT - 23
AA - 24
Background:
Graduated in the fall 2022 with a 3.9~ GPA.
Materials I Used:
- DAT Booster: I did my research and reached out to the one person I knew from my undergrad who had taken the DAT before landing on DAT Booster. He had done well on it so I took his word on the Booster program. Overall I think that the material you need to study to do well on the test is all there. The DAT Booster program was great as it broke down all the sections and the content which they tested over without having a lot of extra stuff that was not needed. The videos and practice tests were great as the practice tests told you what areas within that subject you were missing more frequently, and with this info you could then go watch the corresponding videos to improve those areas. All the sections on the DAT Booster practice tests are very representative of the real exam. The only difference between the real test and the program I would say is that the real DAT is a bit more tricky with their wording on some questions and the PAT on the Booster I thought was harder.
- DAT Bootcamp App: I never subscribed to the app or program. I only used the free version of the app in order to have the PAT question generators. I really liked being able to pull up the app while I was waiting for something whether I was home or not and practice the PAT questions. These questions are more mindless questions that you just need to do more of and develop a strategy for to get good at. I often found myself doing these questions on my lunch break at work.
- Anki App: I attempted to use the Anki app for a short period of time. To be honest I did not care for the Anki app. This is just not how my brain works.
My best advice is to study how you would take the test. The best thing I found to do was put my phone on do not disturb and find a desk and some quiet area. I also found a section that I enjoyed doing and made that be my mental break time. For me I did not hate the PAT section so when I got tired of studying the rest I would go to the PAT and do practice questions then return to Biology or Chemistry or whatever I was working on.
- Undergrad(2019-2022): I only add this because I think this greatly affected my score, but the Reading Comprehension portion was fairly easy for me I think in part because in my undergrad we were forced to read a lot of journal articles which made reading the science articles in the RC a lot easier.
- January 2023: January I didn't really do any studying, but I signed up for the DAT and then figured out I wanted to use the DAT Booster Program
- February-April 2023: I did a few hours of studying a week. Maybe 2-3, but was not motivated whatsoever. I did a few practice tests and reviewed some of the science and math topics that I figured would take some more time to really solidify.
- May-June 12th when I took my test: The last month or so is when I ramped up my studying. I was working full time during this, but I spent about 5 hours a night when I got home studying and then about 8 hours or so on weekend days. I started with the biology, chemistry and organic sections because I figured those would take the most time. I then worked the perceptual ability sections into my breaks. I started by taking practice tests for each science portion and then from there I studied the areas I was lacking in because I figured why waste time on stuff I already knew. After that I used the videos and practice questions on DAT Booster to supplement the video content and worked my way through the trouble areas. The last week before the test I did about three reading practice tests and felt fairly confident in the RC portion. As for the PAT section I made sure the Angle ranking and box counting portion was solid and then figured out the hole punching and figured out a method to it. I then did a lot of keyhole, pattern folding and tfe questions on the DAT Bootcamp app and tried my best to come up with a method. I did several PAT practice tests and figured out the best strategy to combat the lack of time I was having to finish it. For the QR I did a few practice tests and found that the area I struggled in was statistical analysis and a few other things so I once again watched the videos and did the corresponding practice questions.
Day of Exam:
(Bio 24)- This section was pretty straight forward. I just went through and answered everything I was confident on at first and marked ones I was not sure about. Before I skipped them I would eliminate the answers I knew were wrong, skip them and then do them at the end. I only mark the wrong ones so if I have to guess I am not guessing entirely.
(GC 22)- This section I did the same sort of thing as the biology questions. I will say I skipped any questions in GC that I thought would take a lot of time because it was not worth trying to get that question right and not getting to multiple other questions.
(OC-19)-This was not my strongest section. I wish I had spent more time memorizing reactions is all I can say.
(PAT-23)- For the PAT I skipped to question 31 because I knew my angle ranking, cube counting and hole punching were good so I did not want to be guessing on those. Then I did the pattern folding and keyhole and finished with TFE which was my weakest section and only had to guess on two which was good for me.
(RC-30)- For the RC I did the search and destroy method which worked for me. I would make mental notes as I went through as to the organization of the passage and the main key to search and destroy for me was to find keywords. If I was not finding an answer right away I would skip it and mark it. I often found it searching for another answer.
(QR-24)-For the QR I skipped anything that was taking me too much time then I would go back to it at the end just because I wanted to be able to answer everything I was confident in.
ETC:
Before my test I will admit I was pretty nervous and felt like I did not know anything the night before. I simply just had to know I had prepared and understand that late night cramming or worrying was not going to help me. I spent the night before my test just relaxing after I had reviewed a few things that morning. I also did not take the full 30 minute break simply because when I get in my testing mode I do not like to be interrupted or get out of it. Just something to think about if that is how you work as well. I left long enough to use the restroom, drink a little bit of water and eat a candy bar to give myself some fuel to finish the test.
Ending Advice:
Find what works for you. I operate differently than most when it comes to testing I think. I do my best to stay consistent because when I am consistent with the way in which I work I tend to do better. Work hard and keep your head up y’all got this!
