If you're like me you would come on here and feel incredibly inadequate by everyone with their 25+ scores. I am smart when I apply myself but honestly I'm just lazy. For classes, I learn things for the test and forget it as soon as I turn in so the DAT was going to be a lot to study for.
How I went about it: I did that 8 week program that was posted on here. By the 5th week I realized I was feeling good because I was crossing stuff off that list but I didn't really learn anything. With 2.5 weeks left I felt SOL but I wanted to get the test over with I thought I would just power through. STUDY IN A WAY THAT'S RIGHT FOR YOU!
So 2.5 weeks left what do I do? I watched all of Chads Videos for gen chem and orgo. This is literally all you need for the real DAT. Again my laziness at its finest didn't want to pay too close of attention by the time I got to orgo but oh well. Then I bought Qvault for orgo and chem and did all of the tests plus the unseen questions. I didn't feel like the destroyer was necessary for orgo and gen chem since I got maybe 1/8 correct. Since I was so discouraged I just decided not to do the destroyer anymore lol.
Bio: for me this was incredibly hard to study for since when it comes to science reading I'm illiterate. But I persevered and made my way though AP Cliffs, and AP Barron's. After getting a basis I did all of the Qvault tests and all of the Bio Destroyer.
Math: Kind of mad at my math scores. I did the first 8ish math destroyer tests and got ~22 on them. So I put math on the back burner and focused on my sciences. I recommend to refresh your memory on how the problems work to make sure you know everything. I feel the Math Destroyer by itself will prepare you.
Reading: I did one practice test on Qvault because it was free and got a 20. Reading you either can read or you can't I don't see a way to improve it that much.
PAT: I did Crack DAT PAT 5 tests and got an average of 20. I was learning tricks each time so I improved a lot and felt confident so I didn't go over this much more than 5 tests.
REAL DAT: Woke up around 6:30 and left at 7:30 for my 8:30 test because I was getting antsy. I recommend bumpin some pump up music like I did on the way there. It made me feel great and confident. Started the tutorial and during that I set up one of my whiteboards for the PAT (cube counting sections, tic tac toe method etc.)
Science section: finished with 37 minutes to spare and went over the whole thing 2.5 times. I felt good but there were a bunch of just random guesses especially on bio. Orgo wasn't anything I haven't seen but again I got lazy and didn't learn all the reactions. I tried to draw out all the mechs which I recommend knowing because it makes it easier to understand in my opinion. Took a 7 minute rest for the clock to go down and went on to the PAT.
PAT: Finished with 7 minutes to spare with a "what the **** was that" glare in my eyes. The keyholes were crazy shapes I didn't know existed. The TFE line counting trick only eliminated one answer. The hole punch had folds I couldn't even fathom. On the plus side cube counting, pattern folding, and angles could have been done in my sleep. word of advice: if you wear glasses for any reason wear them for PAT! I'm a ******* and forgot mine =/
Break: Take it. Relax. Eat. Drink. Pee.
Reading: Holy balls did I get boring topics. I read the first passage without knowing what it was about and the answers weren't directly in the passage. The second passage was about something I knew about so I knew a few of the answers without reading. My last one was about something stupid. My method: read 5 paragraphs then go through all the questions and see what you can answer from that then repeat.
Math: Real disappointed with it but oh well. Should've put more time into it in the end. It felt like the same test as a Math Destroyer I just did worse.
Ok so down to the actual scores!!
First I'm going to put my Qvault scores so you see where I stood
BIO: 18, 17, 15, 16, 16, 16, 18, 16, 18, 15, 15 (REAL 18) Yeah my practice scores sucked
Gen Chem: 17, 18, 18, 20, 18, 18, 17, 18, 21, 19 (REAL 23)
Orgo: 18, 18, 21, 18, 16, 20, 18, 17, 16 (REAL 19)
Math: 18
Reading: 19
PAT: 18
I definitely could have done better if studied efficiently. All together I probably spent 5.5 weeks at 3 hours a day then 2.5 weeks about 5 hours a day. It's really important to study in a way that is good for you. My first 5.5 weeks were pretty pointless. Also just be confident! It goes a long way. I wasn't confident (obviously with those practice scores) until the morning of. I just told myself you're going to do great! And if you don't who cares you get to take a year off! Good luck everyone! hope this helps in some way
How I went about it: I did that 8 week program that was posted on here. By the 5th week I realized I was feeling good because I was crossing stuff off that list but I didn't really learn anything. With 2.5 weeks left I felt SOL but I wanted to get the test over with I thought I would just power through. STUDY IN A WAY THAT'S RIGHT FOR YOU!
So 2.5 weeks left what do I do? I watched all of Chads Videos for gen chem and orgo. This is literally all you need for the real DAT. Again my laziness at its finest didn't want to pay too close of attention by the time I got to orgo but oh well. Then I bought Qvault for orgo and chem and did all of the tests plus the unseen questions. I didn't feel like the destroyer was necessary for orgo and gen chem since I got maybe 1/8 correct. Since I was so discouraged I just decided not to do the destroyer anymore lol.
Bio: for me this was incredibly hard to study for since when it comes to science reading I'm illiterate. But I persevered and made my way though AP Cliffs, and AP Barron's. After getting a basis I did all of the Qvault tests and all of the Bio Destroyer.
Math: Kind of mad at my math scores. I did the first 8ish math destroyer tests and got ~22 on them. So I put math on the back burner and focused on my sciences. I recommend to refresh your memory on how the problems work to make sure you know everything. I feel the Math Destroyer by itself will prepare you.
Reading: I did one practice test on Qvault because it was free and got a 20. Reading you either can read or you can't I don't see a way to improve it that much.
PAT: I did Crack DAT PAT 5 tests and got an average of 20. I was learning tricks each time so I improved a lot and felt confident so I didn't go over this much more than 5 tests.
REAL DAT: Woke up around 6:30 and left at 7:30 for my 8:30 test because I was getting antsy. I recommend bumpin some pump up music like I did on the way there. It made me feel great and confident. Started the tutorial and during that I set up one of my whiteboards for the PAT (cube counting sections, tic tac toe method etc.)
Science section: finished with 37 minutes to spare and went over the whole thing 2.5 times. I felt good but there were a bunch of just random guesses especially on bio. Orgo wasn't anything I haven't seen but again I got lazy and didn't learn all the reactions. I tried to draw out all the mechs which I recommend knowing because it makes it easier to understand in my opinion. Took a 7 minute rest for the clock to go down and went on to the PAT.
PAT: Finished with 7 minutes to spare with a "what the **** was that" glare in my eyes. The keyholes were crazy shapes I didn't know existed. The TFE line counting trick only eliminated one answer. The hole punch had folds I couldn't even fathom. On the plus side cube counting, pattern folding, and angles could have been done in my sleep. word of advice: if you wear glasses for any reason wear them for PAT! I'm a ******* and forgot mine =/
Break: Take it. Relax. Eat. Drink. Pee.
Reading: Holy balls did I get boring topics. I read the first passage without knowing what it was about and the answers weren't directly in the passage. The second passage was about something I knew about so I knew a few of the answers without reading. My last one was about something stupid. My method: read 5 paragraphs then go through all the questions and see what you can answer from that then repeat.
Math: Real disappointed with it but oh well. Should've put more time into it in the end. It felt like the same test as a Math Destroyer I just did worse.
Ok so down to the actual scores!!
First I'm going to put my Qvault scores so you see where I stood
BIO: 18, 17, 15, 16, 16, 16, 18, 16, 18, 15, 15 (REAL 18) Yeah my practice scores sucked
Gen Chem: 17, 18, 18, 20, 18, 18, 17, 18, 21, 19 (REAL 23)
Orgo: 18, 18, 21, 18, 16, 20, 18, 17, 16 (REAL 19)
Math: 18
Reading: 19
PAT: 18
I definitely could have done better if studied efficiently. All together I probably spent 5.5 weeks at 3 hours a day then 2.5 weeks about 5 hours a day. It's really important to study in a way that is good for you. My first 5.5 weeks were pretty pointless. Also just be confident! It goes a long way. I wasn't confident (obviously with those practice scores) until the morning of. I just told myself you're going to do great! And if you don't who cares you get to take a year off! Good luck everyone! hope this helps in some way
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enjoyed reading your breakdown. It gives me hope! Congrats on your scores~
