Hey guys! part of the reason that I managed to achieve the scores I got was this forum and I wanna thank all those who have posted really helpful breakdowns.
Official Scores:
PAT 19
QR 18
RC 26
BIO 22
GCHEM 22
OCHEM 23
TS 22
AA 22
I studied for about 2 and a half months for ~4-6 hours each day and finally took the test! I am honestly thankful for my scores but I don't know what happened with QR. I thought it was my strongest subject and I was scoring 21-22 on BC so I thought I gonna do well but scored an 18..I guess I got nervous towards the end or something.
And the exact opposite happened for RC. The only prep I did for RC was 3 BC tests and this was a week before my test date too. I was scoring 19/20 on BC but I somehow miraculously pulled out a 26
Things I studied with:
BOOTCAMP (10/10)
In my opinion, BC was the best tool in terms of learning how to pace yourself in test-like situations and it was also excellent in determining your areas of weakness. After taking practice tests, I would try to understand what I got it wrong and try to do a light review of the concept. A lot of the questions are similar to the real DAT but keep in mind that Math BC is killer. I literally never finished in time lol PAT BC prepared me well but no matter how hard I tried I would always struggle so I'm happy with my score of 19.
For chem/ ochem / Bio BC is excellent so make sure you do all the practice tests.
DESTROYER (9.5/10)
The destroyer was excellent in reinforcing concepts that you have to know for the test and also some of the questions were similar to the real test. I think going through the whole destroyer once and then doing a light review a second time is enough. As long as you understand the concepts and can do the problems you will be solid. WARNING you will get discouraged while going through it the first time. And remember, always understand why you got a question wrong.
CHAD's Videos (10/10)
When I first started studying for the DAT I had no idea what I was doing so what I did was take the first month to just completely go over the chem and ochem section of chad's videos little by little each day. I took notes on all the lessons and also took the quizzes. This is perhaps the best way to build your foundation of chem/ochem if you were mediocre like me.
KBB (7/10)
I didn't really use the kaplan book all that much. I basically just used it to take the practice test and get familiarized with the PAT section.
AP BIO CLIFFS (8.5/10)
Just like how I used Chad's videos to build my foundation of the chems, I used this book to get a solid grasp of biology. It is really good and detailed and has all the information you need to do well on the DAT. I think one way to improve your learning when it comes to bio is to definitely take the time to study a new subject each day. I spread out the chapters by day and took notes on everything.
2007 DAT: it was easy compared to the problems that I was used to, but it was a good confidence booster
gchem 22/ ochem 28/ Bio 21
2009 DAT: definitely harder than the 2007 but also a somewhat accurate representation of your scores on the real test.
gchem 21/ ochem 21/ Bio 20
For the most part, I think if you take the avg of the two sample DAT tests, it'll give you a pretty accurate reflection of what you're gonna score on the real thing.
I'm happy with my scores but idk if they'll be good enough considering my PAT and QR scores..The materials I posted above are the only things I used to study. If there's one thing I would have done differently, it would have been to buy Crack DAT PAT. ( I ended up not buying it because I thought it was too expensive)
Anyways I'm relieved that it's over and hope that this post is somewhat helpful to those of you studying. Good luck to you guys and let me know if you have any questions!
Official Scores:
PAT 19
QR 18
RC 26
BIO 22
GCHEM 22
OCHEM 23
TS 22
AA 22
I studied for about 2 and a half months for ~4-6 hours each day and finally took the test! I am honestly thankful for my scores but I don't know what happened with QR. I thought it was my strongest subject and I was scoring 21-22 on BC so I thought I gonna do well but scored an 18..I guess I got nervous towards the end or something.
And the exact opposite happened for RC. The only prep I did for RC was 3 BC tests and this was a week before my test date too. I was scoring 19/20 on BC but I somehow miraculously pulled out a 26
Things I studied with:
BOOTCAMP (10/10)
In my opinion, BC was the best tool in terms of learning how to pace yourself in test-like situations and it was also excellent in determining your areas of weakness. After taking practice tests, I would try to understand what I got it wrong and try to do a light review of the concept. A lot of the questions are similar to the real DAT but keep in mind that Math BC is killer. I literally never finished in time lol PAT BC prepared me well but no matter how hard I tried I would always struggle so I'm happy with my score of 19.
For chem/ ochem / Bio BC is excellent so make sure you do all the practice tests.
DESTROYER (9.5/10)
The destroyer was excellent in reinforcing concepts that you have to know for the test and also some of the questions were similar to the real test. I think going through the whole destroyer once and then doing a light review a second time is enough. As long as you understand the concepts and can do the problems you will be solid. WARNING you will get discouraged while going through it the first time. And remember, always understand why you got a question wrong.
CHAD's Videos (10/10)
When I first started studying for the DAT I had no idea what I was doing so what I did was take the first month to just completely go over the chem and ochem section of chad's videos little by little each day. I took notes on all the lessons and also took the quizzes. This is perhaps the best way to build your foundation of chem/ochem if you were mediocre like me.
KBB (7/10)
I didn't really use the kaplan book all that much. I basically just used it to take the practice test and get familiarized with the PAT section.
AP BIO CLIFFS (8.5/10)
Just like how I used Chad's videos to build my foundation of the chems, I used this book to get a solid grasp of biology. It is really good and detailed and has all the information you need to do well on the DAT. I think one way to improve your learning when it comes to bio is to definitely take the time to study a new subject each day. I spread out the chapters by day and took notes on everything.
2007 DAT: it was easy compared to the problems that I was used to, but it was a good confidence booster
gchem 22/ ochem 28/ Bio 21
2009 DAT: definitely harder than the 2007 but also a somewhat accurate representation of your scores on the real test.
gchem 21/ ochem 21/ Bio 20
For the most part, I think if you take the avg of the two sample DAT tests, it'll give you a pretty accurate reflection of what you're gonna score on the real thing.
I'm happy with my scores but idk if they'll be good enough considering my PAT and QR scores..The materials I posted above are the only things I used to study. If there's one thing I would have done differently, it would have been to buy Crack DAT PAT. ( I ended up not buying it because I thought it was too expensive)
Anyways I'm relieved that it's over and hope that this post is somewhat helpful to those of you studying. Good luck to you guys and let me know if you have any questions!
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