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Took the DAT today and thought I'd share my experience and what I used to study.
Scores:
Bio: 30
GC: 24
OC: 24
PAT: 24
RC: 20
QR: 21
TS: 25
AA: 24
Overall Summary: I studied a solid 2 and a half months at about 7-9 hours a day. I am a biology major with a 3.98 GPA. I think what helped the most was doing well in my classes to begin with. Actually learning the material so that studying for the test is mostly review instead of learning new things (although there is still plenty to learn outside of classes). Test day wasn't as stressful as I anticipated. The days leading up to the test I was very anxious, but on test day I managed to calm myself down. Remaining calm on test day is crucial.
Materials used: Cliff's AP Biology (8/10), DAT destroyer (10/10), Math Destroyer (10/10), Chad's videos (10/10), DAT Bootcamp (10/10), Kaplan Blue book (4/10)
Bio (30): Wow, I was shocked when I saw that 30. Bio was actually the section I was least confident in while I took the test. I marked about 5 of the questions and had to give them my best guess in the end. Cliff's AP Biology is a good overview of what you need to know, however, if you really want to learn to the depth that the DAT calls for, DAT destroyer is the answer. There were about 4 or 5 questions I know I wouldn't have gotten if it wasn't for destroyer.
GC (24): There were a couple of questions that I should have gotten. I studied it but for some reason it wasn't coming to me. Nonetheless, I am still very pleased with my score. I'd say that the recipe for success for GC is a combination of Chad's videos, DAT destroyer, and DAT bootcamp. Chad is the man. He gives an excellent review for what you need to know for GC, take detailed notes and understand all of his quiz questions. DAT destroyer is gold. Although its more difficult than the real deal, its excellent for practice and learning. Bootcamp is awesome for getting a feel for the real thing while also learning more.
OC (24): I was actually expecting a higher score in OC. I scored the highest in OC in all my practice tests and did really well in my Ochem classes. If I were to do it over again, I would spend more time reviewing reactions with flash cards. The best resources for OC are DAT destroyer and Bootcamp, imo. If you can't tell, I'm a huge fan of destroyer and bootcamp.
PAT (24): Kaplan blue book is deceiving as it is way way way easier than the real thing. Once I realized this I never touched it again and solely used Bootcamp. Bootcamp is definitely more difficult than the real deal but it is great practice. I got mostly 20's or 21's on my practice tests but it prepared me well. Caution with the angle ranking generator though, I felt that the real angle ranking was more difficult.
RC (20): I was most worried about this section than anything else. I didn't really know how to prepare for it and never really found a great strategy that worked for me. I used search and destroy. If you want to score higher on RC, it seems that other people use a different strategy. If I were to do it over again, I would have found some more RC practice tests to find a better strategy. Bootcamp was slightly more difficult than the real thing.
QR (21): Thought I'd score higher in this section to be honest. I was getting 22-24 with math destroyer. The questions weren't all that difficult on the DAT, but I ran out of time. Usually I'd go through the test in two waves; the first going through all the easy problems and the second wave, finishing the harder questions. However, I didn't have time to do the second wave! My mistake was spending too much time on harder questions in the first wave. Math destroyer seemed to have a lot of similar questions to the real thing and prepared me well. However, I think DAT destroyer QR is more representative (the real thing is a tiny bit harder). Usually I am a big fan of Bootcamp, but I hated Bootcamp's QR section.
Bootcamp Practice scores:
Bio: 26/26/24/23/25
GC: 24/20/26/21/23
OC: 25/26/29/22/26
PAT: 22/20/20/20/21/20/20/21/22/21
RC: 19/19/21/22/20
2007 ADA: I got a 25 AA, way easier than the real thing, take it with a grain of salt.
2009 ADA: Another 25 AA, sciences were more on par, but the RC and QR was harder than the current DAT.
Thanks for reading my lengthy breakdown, hope this helps. Good luck with your studies, YOU GOT THIS!
Scores:
Bio: 30
GC: 24
OC: 24
PAT: 24
RC: 20
QR: 21
TS: 25
AA: 24
Overall Summary: I studied a solid 2 and a half months at about 7-9 hours a day. I am a biology major with a 3.98 GPA. I think what helped the most was doing well in my classes to begin with. Actually learning the material so that studying for the test is mostly review instead of learning new things (although there is still plenty to learn outside of classes). Test day wasn't as stressful as I anticipated. The days leading up to the test I was very anxious, but on test day I managed to calm myself down. Remaining calm on test day is crucial.
Materials used: Cliff's AP Biology (8/10), DAT destroyer (10/10), Math Destroyer (10/10), Chad's videos (10/10), DAT Bootcamp (10/10), Kaplan Blue book (4/10)
Bio (30): Wow, I was shocked when I saw that 30. Bio was actually the section I was least confident in while I took the test. I marked about 5 of the questions and had to give them my best guess in the end. Cliff's AP Biology is a good overview of what you need to know, however, if you really want to learn to the depth that the DAT calls for, DAT destroyer is the answer. There were about 4 or 5 questions I know I wouldn't have gotten if it wasn't for destroyer.
GC (24): There were a couple of questions that I should have gotten. I studied it but for some reason it wasn't coming to me. Nonetheless, I am still very pleased with my score. I'd say that the recipe for success for GC is a combination of Chad's videos, DAT destroyer, and DAT bootcamp. Chad is the man. He gives an excellent review for what you need to know for GC, take detailed notes and understand all of his quiz questions. DAT destroyer is gold. Although its more difficult than the real deal, its excellent for practice and learning. Bootcamp is awesome for getting a feel for the real thing while also learning more.
OC (24): I was actually expecting a higher score in OC. I scored the highest in OC in all my practice tests and did really well in my Ochem classes. If I were to do it over again, I would spend more time reviewing reactions with flash cards. The best resources for OC are DAT destroyer and Bootcamp, imo. If you can't tell, I'm a huge fan of destroyer and bootcamp.
PAT (24): Kaplan blue book is deceiving as it is way way way easier than the real thing. Once I realized this I never touched it again and solely used Bootcamp. Bootcamp is definitely more difficult than the real deal but it is great practice. I got mostly 20's or 21's on my practice tests but it prepared me well. Caution with the angle ranking generator though, I felt that the real angle ranking was more difficult.
RC (20): I was most worried about this section than anything else. I didn't really know how to prepare for it and never really found a great strategy that worked for me. I used search and destroy. If you want to score higher on RC, it seems that other people use a different strategy. If I were to do it over again, I would have found some more RC practice tests to find a better strategy. Bootcamp was slightly more difficult than the real thing.
QR (21): Thought I'd score higher in this section to be honest. I was getting 22-24 with math destroyer. The questions weren't all that difficult on the DAT, but I ran out of time. Usually I'd go through the test in two waves; the first going through all the easy problems and the second wave, finishing the harder questions. However, I didn't have time to do the second wave! My mistake was spending too much time on harder questions in the first wave. Math destroyer seemed to have a lot of similar questions to the real thing and prepared me well. However, I think DAT destroyer QR is more representative (the real thing is a tiny bit harder). Usually I am a big fan of Bootcamp, but I hated Bootcamp's QR section.
Bootcamp Practice scores:
Bio: 26/26/24/23/25
GC: 24/20/26/21/23
OC: 25/26/29/22/26
PAT: 22/20/20/20/21/20/20/21/22/21
RC: 19/19/21/22/20
2007 ADA: I got a 25 AA, way easier than the real thing, take it with a grain of salt.
2009 ADA: Another 25 AA, sciences were more on par, but the RC and QR was harder than the current DAT.
Thanks for reading my lengthy breakdown, hope this helps. Good luck with your studies, YOU GOT THIS!
