Dat Done!! 9/14/16 22AA, 21TS Breakdown + Study Tips (New study tip for Bio)

[futureortho11]

Wow I can't believe it's finally over!! Took the DAT on 9/14/16 and spent the last two months locked in the library and it was totally worth it. I'm a psychology major and just finished my bachelor's in May so I've taken the minimum number of science classes required, so you don't need a heavy heavy science background to do well on this exam!! During these 2 months, I made it a point to hang out or facetime with a friend or something on Friday nights so I wouldn't go completely crazy but I was pretty disciplined about not being too social.

I am pretty proud of my Bio Strategy so TL;DR just scroll down to that part

Bio: 22
GC: 25 (!!!!)
OC: 18 (??)
PAT: 22
RC: 23
QR: 23
TS: 21
AA: 22

Lol @ Orgo I honestly couldn't tell you what happened with that. I definitely thought I was more prepared for that section but i'm so happy with my other scores I honestly couldn't care less because that means I only got 6 questions wrong. Although I'm not sure if I actually should be worried.....

Anyway, I have been on this site and reading other's posts for a little over a year now and they have been so so so helpful so I wanted to post my experience!

My Science Background: Gen Chem, Bio, Orgo, Genetics, Microbiology, Genetics, Anatomy I, Anatomy II (currently taking Cell Bio and Biochem as postgrad)

Materials Used: (pretty basic)

• DAT Destroyer
• Chad's Videos
• DAT Bootcamp
• Cliff's AP Bio 3rd edition
• Feralis Notes
• Crash Course Videos

I took Anatomy II for the first 6 weeks of the summer and didn't start studying until the week after the class ended. I started "studying" on July 19th and by "studying" I mean I watched the first section of Chad's Gen Chem videos and tried to read the first chapter of Cliff's bio book. I spent that first week kind of researching and like fumbling trying to figure out how to study. I made a schedule that first day but did not stick to it in the slightest. My original test date was 9/2/16 and I had read a couple people who had done well by studying in 6 weeks so I thought I could also.

• GC (25): I had a separate notebook for each of the three subjects which really helped me keep organized.
  • So I watched 1 section of Chad's GC videos per day and took notes on those in my notebook. (took me about 8 days) I wrote down each question I got wrong on the quizzes and re did the quiz until I got them all right. After I finished Chad's videos, I took a Gen Chem BC Practice Test just to see how I was doing.
  • After that, I did 30 Destroyer Gen Chem questions every day for about a week. My first mistake was trying to do them timed. I got so discouraged because I would only be able to get through about 20 each time and even then I was only getting 12-13 of those right. So I started doing them untimed until I realized timing was a huge issue for me during practice tests. Then I started giving myself 45 minutes to do the 30 questions and I think that helped me immensely because Destroyer is a lot harder obviously than the real but making myself do those hard questions almost every day still timed forced me to think fast.
• Bio (22): I did half a chapter of cliff's every night just to really absorb it during that first week (the first 3 chapters). Then as time went on, I did a chapter a day because I wasn't spending so much time watching Chad's videos. I did the harder chapters earlier and the easier and less tested ones later.
  • I'm the type of person who LOOOOVEESSSS a whiteboard haha. The library/ university I studied at had classrooms that had whiteboards and Target sells big ones for $20 so I bought one and would practice and whiteboard my notes there and at home just to reinforce. I also have tendonitis in my wrist so handwriting my notes in my notebook over and over would hurt my wrist but for some reason, whiteboarding my notes didn't put as much stress/pressure on my wrist.
• How I used Bio materials (Feralis, Cliff's, Destroyer):
  • I would stand at the whiteboard with my Cliff's book open and Feralis open on my computer in Word and would take notes from Cliff's for a paragraph or page and then read through Feralis's section on it and add anything that wasn't in Cliff's from there. It helped me to read in detail from Cliff's and helped me reinforce to read Feralis's condensed version. Feralis also has much more pertinent information than Cliff's, but Cliff's does a good job of explaining for the first time- Feralis is good for condensed notes once you've already gone over it.
  • Once I had filled up the whiteboard with all the information, I would copy it all down in my notebook and then anything that was in Cliff's that wasn't in Feralis, I would type into that document. 2 weeks before my test, I printed my own version of Feralis's notes and put them in a binder (I know, 85 pages, but worth it in my opinion) because then I went through a couple chapters a night and just highlighted and wrote some notes in the margin to keep refreshing. Any charts that I really liked from my whiteboard drawings I also printed (I'll attach an example) because that is what I would picture and remember.
  • (If you can't already tell, reinforcement is a huge part of how I study)
• *********THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF ADVICE I would give for this section and something I haven't seen before is that on the first day I studied, I spent about half an hour going through my Bio Destroyer and dividing the questions into which chapters from Cliff's they were asking questions about. After I finished a chapter of Cliff's, I would do those respective questions from Destroyer just to make sure I really understood the concepts and because the Cliff's questions weren't really sufficient. *******
  • Anything I got wrong from Destroyer, I would write in my notes for that chapter and I would make flashcards for each question by actually writing the question and answer choices on the front and writing full explanations on the back. And I carried that pack of flashcards with me everywhere I went and would just pull them out and do a couple at a time, waiting in line somewhere, walking places, sitting on the bus, etc.
  • Then about two weeks before my exam, when I started my bio review, I did the destroyer questions in the order that they are written in the book just to mix everything up and to ensure that I did each question at least twice. I know my Bio score isn't as high as others but I worked hard for that score and i'm so happy about it I've come a long way from my first BC PT for it. (After BC Test 5, I realized most of the questions I was getting wrong were from Anatomy I so I spent that day just going through all my Anatomy I stuff (Nervous, Skeletal, Muscular, Integumentary) and did SO SO SO much better on the next test - I was getting complacent about Anatomy because I had just taken it BUT NEVER GET COMPLACENT!!!!!)
  • I watched the Crash Course videos corresponding to the chapters I was reviewing.
• OC (18): To be honest, I'm not sure what to write for this section.
  • I watched Chad's videos the same way I did for Gen Chem- did 1 section per day and took notes on it and then rewrote those. I made flashcards for every reaction and made flashcards for the Bootcamp questions I was getting wrong. I think what screwed me over was that there were very minimal reactions on my actual Orgo section because I knew those reactions and reagents like the back of my hand.
  • I wrote the reactant and reagent on the front with a question mark on the front and then on the back, I wrote the product with an arrow/ question mark and then the product so I could use the back or the front to test my knowledge. And I knew every single one of those 135 flashcards but my actual Orgo section turned out to be a lot more conceptual than I had expected or seen. A lot of stereochem questions which just happened to be my weakest section in Orgo.
  • I also did not utilize Destroyer enough for this section just because it scared me so much haha I'm sure if I had used it more, I would have done better but oh well, it is what it is!
• PAT (22): The generators saved my life here.
  • I did them every night, especially angle ranking. I did the PAT Trainer game every night in bed for the first couple of days just to get myself used to how to think about it and I watched Bootcamp's videos on it.
  • The generators are life saving and I also downloaded this app called "DAT Angle Ranking" and I would just do it whenever I was on my phone for 5 minutes. It's completely free!! You should definitely do all of the bootcamp practice tests.
  • For me, Keyhole was one of the worst and I could never get through all 15 and get them right so I decided to only do 12 of them. Spending less time on each one meant I got more wrong so If I felt I couldn't do it in the first 10 seconds of looking at it, I moved on but spent a full minute on each one so I spent the full 15 minutes to get more right and after that, my score improved drastically for the keyholes!
• RC (23): I'm sure you've heard a lot about this section already- I didn't do anything differently.
• QR (23): I am so surprised by this score because I was consistently getting 18s or 19s so I spent the two days before the exam watching Chad's videos on the types of questions I was getting consistently wrong and that really helped!!

Test Day (9/14/16): They have this new strikethrough feature which saved me SO MUCH TIME. You right click on an answer to put a line through it and you can right click on it again to remove the line. It is available for all the sections and they have a new highlight tool in the Reading Comp section that is also beautiful. My testing center didn't let me write during the tutorial but honestly with these new features I really didn't have to. (@Ari Rezaei maybe you could try to implement these new features into Bootcamp!). After looking over all my answers, I had a minute left at the end of NS so I took that time to draw my hole-punching grids and my numbers for cube counting. During the break, I went over my math formula sheet and took a couple deep breaths before going back inside.

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[LuckBloodandSweat]

Still a solid job regardless. Amazing BIO strategy . I love writing stuff down too and probably should've bought a giant whiteboard lol.

 

[aks28]

Hi what did you use for the PAT section to study was it the bootcamp or anything else?

 

[futureortho11]

Hi what did you use for the PAT section to study was it the bootcamp or anything else?

Yeah it was just bootcamp!! And that app But the bootcamp generators and the PAT Trainer Game are honestly all you need. I tried Crack and Crack is good if you want practice but TFE and Angle Ranking are better represented by Bootcamp

 

[averageasian]

nice scores! you're done! go celebrate

 

[aks28]

Yeah it was just bootcamp!! And that app But the bootcamp generators and the PAT Trainer Game are honestly all you need. I tried Crack and Crack is good if you want practice but TFE and Angle Ranking are better represented by Bootcamp

Thank you ...is it possible for you to post a link for boot camp or any helpful links....

 

[futureortho11]

Thank you ...is it possible for you to post a link for boot camp or any helpful links....

Honestly, the best resources were Bootcamp and DAT Destroyer!! (THANK YOU so much @Ari Rezaei and @orgoman22!!! Seriously you guys saved my life here)