Took the DATs today! I wanted to do a score breakdown since I know they gave me a lot of guidance and motivation while I was in the studying process.
Background: 1 year out of college, BS in biochemistry. I started studying the summer I graduated with the intention of only taking one gap year. In the process of studying the self doubt really got to me and I realized I would need another year to really beef up my application. I barely had any shadowing/dental experience (I didnt pick this as a career choice till half way through senior year), LOR were taking forever to be submitted and my application would have been completed late into the cycle. So second gap year here I come!
At this time I bought Orgoman's DAT destroyer as well as the Math destroyer (2014 edition). I also subscribed to Chad's videos and started watching the GC and OG videos and answering the questions. Once I decided to push back my application my motivation plummeted. I finished Chad's (TOOK NOTES ON EVERYTHING!), got half way through Cliff's AP bio 3rd edition, and didn't even open up the orgoman materials. I stopped all studying.
I didnt start studying again till February of the next year. I reviewed all my notes from chad's videos, and started outlining CLIFF's. MY NUMBER ONE MISTAKE: I didnt sign up for a DAT date, so I didnt have a set deadline to aim for. I would modify my deadline every week. End of march turned into beginning of april etc... I finished learning most of the material by April (2-3 hours studying a day).
I didnt sign up for my DATs till the beginning of june and took the only time available. Crunch time 2 weeks 3 days.
By section breakdown:
Biology
I was super nervous for this section, I was a biochemistry major and knew NOTHING about plants, ecology, taxonomy, and barely remembered any physiology.
I took my first DAT bootcamp bio test (free) and scored a 23, this was after studying strictly from Cliff's 3rd edition. A month later (about 2 weeks before my test) I took the second test and got a 17. I WAS PANICKED. I thought my bio was strong. I printed out Ferrill's notes and got it bound. Spent 3 days reading it cover to cover. Went through the first 300 Questions on bootcamp bio (very specific questions, some info useful but most of it was really out there)
Took the other BC tests
BC bio: 23/17/23/23/22
ADA 2009: 23 (2 days before exam)
Actual DAT: 23
On test day most questions were covered in Cliffs/Ferrills. 3-4 questions completely lost and educated guess.
General Chemistry
ORGOMAN ALL THE WAY!! Chad's videos and quizzes are the way to go for main concepts. I personally had a really hard time with GC in undergrad. I needed to start from scratch. Started GC orgoman questions 3 weeks before exam. Did 60 Questions at a time. There were points where I would be clueless on 5-6 questions in a row. Filled a notebook with the questions I got wrong for quick reference. Orgoman really covers everything that you would possibly see on the DATs. It is one thing to watch videos, but something else to apply the knowledge to answer questions.
BC GC: 19/19/22/18/21
ADA 2009: 23 (2 days before exam)
Actual DAT: 27
Organic Chemistry
Same as above. Orgoman and Chad's videos! Orgoman roadmaps are the best! If you dont have time to go through all the questions. Make sure you at least understand all the reactions in the road maps.
BC OC: 19/21/21/22/21
ADA 2009: 22
Actual DAT: 24
PAT
I completely underestimated this section. I would watch online tutorial on the sections and do some question from Kaplan (got from local library, DO NOT BOTHER WITH THIS SOURCE! ) I was lulled into a false sense of security with these questions. I took my first PAT full length test from bootcamp less than 2 weeks till my test BIG MISTAKE. I ran out of time and got "less than 15" You need to learn how to pace yourself on this. This is the section that you can really improve from practice. There are a bunch of tutorials on youtube for this section!
I went from getting less than 15 to averaging about a 18 on BC. I wasnt too concerned since I know BC makes the test a lot more difficult. I took the ADA 2009 and scored a 21-but keep in mind that this is said to be a lot easier than the real DAT. On the actual DAT I was expecting to get 19/20 (middle ground of the two sources), but alas.. I scored an 18 *sigh*.
On the real DAT keyholes were a nightmare.
Angle ranking was on par with BC. But if you are using BC generators, be wary of how the answer choices are organized. BC generators mainly group the two smallest angles together, and then the two largest angles together. ex: A) 1-2-4-3 B)2-1-4-3 etc.. THIS IS NOT THE CASE FOR MOST OF THE ANGLES QUESTIONS, it was something that really threw me off with timing since the answer choices were mixed.
hole punching- Easier than BC
Cube counting- On par with BC
TFE-Harder than BC. Some crazy stuff. TFE was my best section on BC, I would typically score 13-14/15. There were some problems with the quality of the images on the actual DAT. The lines were faded and distorted and I had a hard time figuring out if they were dashed or not.
pattern folding-Easier than BC. If you have a hard time with this the BC explanations and tricks ARE THE BOMB!
I used the 15 minute tutorial time in the beginning to make grids for the hole punching and cube counting sections.
BREAK- THE BREAK IS NOW 30 MIN!!
Reading Comp:
My passages were pretty fun. I used a strict search and destroy method going question by question. They also have changed it where you can highlight areas in the passage. If the question wasnt search and destroy based or was taking too long to locate in the passage I marked it and moved on. I had more than enough time at the end to come back and answer those questions.
BC: 20/19/-/-/-
Actual DAT: 21
QR
Quickly watched Chad's videos, everything is really basic math nothing crazy, but he does have a few tricks in his videos for problem solving that were worth it. Did all 15 of MATH destroyer tests. I did these untimed. It really helped me get used to obscure word problems.
My BC experience with math was rough. I had a lot of trouble with timing, but keep in mind BC asks you harder questions in the same amount of time! So if you can get through BC the real DAT will be a breeze!
One thing that did make me lose a lot of time on the DAT was the calculator. The keypad works! But you have to make sure to hit enter after each function for example if you are trying to calculate (2+4)/2=3, you have to hit the enter key after each function! It took me forever to realize why my answers were coming out so weird. It was doing 4/2=2
A good strategy for this section is to skip and mark all lengthy problems or one that involve too much thinking time. There are a lot of easy calculation questions that can be done fast! DO THOSE FIRST! They are guaranteed points if you get to them.
BC average: 18
Actual DAT: 20
Thanks if you have made it this far! And thanks for all the support GOOD LUCK ON YOUR STUDYING!! We are in this together!
Overall Scores
PAT:18
BIO: 23
GC:27
OC: 24
RC:21
QR: 20
TS:24
AA:23
Background: 1 year out of college, BS in biochemistry. I started studying the summer I graduated with the intention of only taking one gap year. In the process of studying the self doubt really got to me and I realized I would need another year to really beef up my application. I barely had any shadowing/dental experience (I didnt pick this as a career choice till half way through senior year), LOR were taking forever to be submitted and my application would have been completed late into the cycle. So second gap year here I come!
At this time I bought Orgoman's DAT destroyer as well as the Math destroyer (2014 edition). I also subscribed to Chad's videos and started watching the GC and OG videos and answering the questions. Once I decided to push back my application my motivation plummeted. I finished Chad's (TOOK NOTES ON EVERYTHING!), got half way through Cliff's AP bio 3rd edition, and didn't even open up the orgoman materials. I stopped all studying.
I didnt start studying again till February of the next year. I reviewed all my notes from chad's videos, and started outlining CLIFF's. MY NUMBER ONE MISTAKE: I didnt sign up for a DAT date, so I didnt have a set deadline to aim for. I would modify my deadline every week. End of march turned into beginning of april etc... I finished learning most of the material by April (2-3 hours studying a day).
I didnt sign up for my DATs till the beginning of june and took the only time available. Crunch time 2 weeks 3 days.
By section breakdown:
Biology
I was super nervous for this section, I was a biochemistry major and knew NOTHING about plants, ecology, taxonomy, and barely remembered any physiology.
I took my first DAT bootcamp bio test (free) and scored a 23, this was after studying strictly from Cliff's 3rd edition. A month later (about 2 weeks before my test) I took the second test and got a 17. I WAS PANICKED. I thought my bio was strong. I printed out Ferrill's notes and got it bound. Spent 3 days reading it cover to cover. Went through the first 300 Questions on bootcamp bio (very specific questions, some info useful but most of it was really out there)
Took the other BC tests
BC bio: 23/17/23/23/22
ADA 2009: 23 (2 days before exam)
Actual DAT: 23
On test day most questions were covered in Cliffs/Ferrills. 3-4 questions completely lost and educated guess.
General Chemistry
ORGOMAN ALL THE WAY!! Chad's videos and quizzes are the way to go for main concepts. I personally had a really hard time with GC in undergrad. I needed to start from scratch. Started GC orgoman questions 3 weeks before exam. Did 60 Questions at a time. There were points where I would be clueless on 5-6 questions in a row. Filled a notebook with the questions I got wrong for quick reference. Orgoman really covers everything that you would possibly see on the DATs. It is one thing to watch videos, but something else to apply the knowledge to answer questions.
BC GC: 19/19/22/18/21
ADA 2009: 23 (2 days before exam)
Actual DAT: 27
Organic Chemistry
Same as above. Orgoman and Chad's videos! Orgoman roadmaps are the best! If you dont have time to go through all the questions. Make sure you at least understand all the reactions in the road maps.
BC OC: 19/21/21/22/21
ADA 2009: 22
Actual DAT: 24
PAT
I completely underestimated this section. I would watch online tutorial on the sections and do some question from Kaplan (got from local library, DO NOT BOTHER WITH THIS SOURCE! ) I was lulled into a false sense of security with these questions. I took my first PAT full length test from bootcamp less than 2 weeks till my test BIG MISTAKE. I ran out of time and got "less than 15" You need to learn how to pace yourself on this. This is the section that you can really improve from practice. There are a bunch of tutorials on youtube for this section!
I went from getting less than 15 to averaging about a 18 on BC. I wasnt too concerned since I know BC makes the test a lot more difficult. I took the ADA 2009 and scored a 21-but keep in mind that this is said to be a lot easier than the real DAT. On the actual DAT I was expecting to get 19/20 (middle ground of the two sources), but alas.. I scored an 18 *sigh*.
On the real DAT keyholes were a nightmare.
Angle ranking was on par with BC. But if you are using BC generators, be wary of how the answer choices are organized. BC generators mainly group the two smallest angles together, and then the two largest angles together. ex: A) 1-2-4-3 B)2-1-4-3 etc.. THIS IS NOT THE CASE FOR MOST OF THE ANGLES QUESTIONS, it was something that really threw me off with timing since the answer choices were mixed.
hole punching- Easier than BC
Cube counting- On par with BC
TFE-Harder than BC. Some crazy stuff. TFE was my best section on BC, I would typically score 13-14/15. There were some problems with the quality of the images on the actual DAT. The lines were faded and distorted and I had a hard time figuring out if they were dashed or not.
pattern folding-Easier than BC. If you have a hard time with this the BC explanations and tricks ARE THE BOMB!
I used the 15 minute tutorial time in the beginning to make grids for the hole punching and cube counting sections.
BREAK- THE BREAK IS NOW 30 MIN!!
Reading Comp:
My passages were pretty fun. I used a strict search and destroy method going question by question. They also have changed it where you can highlight areas in the passage. If the question wasnt search and destroy based or was taking too long to locate in the passage I marked it and moved on. I had more than enough time at the end to come back and answer those questions.
BC: 20/19/-/-/-
Actual DAT: 21
QR
Quickly watched Chad's videos, everything is really basic math nothing crazy, but he does have a few tricks in his videos for problem solving that were worth it. Did all 15 of MATH destroyer tests. I did these untimed. It really helped me get used to obscure word problems.
My BC experience with math was rough. I had a lot of trouble with timing, but keep in mind BC asks you harder questions in the same amount of time! So if you can get through BC the real DAT will be a breeze!
One thing that did make me lose a lot of time on the DAT was the calculator. The keypad works! But you have to make sure to hit enter after each function for example if you are trying to calculate (2+4)/2=3, you have to hit the enter key after each function! It took me forever to realize why my answers were coming out so weird. It was doing 4/2=2
A good strategy for this section is to skip and mark all lengthy problems or one that involve too much thinking time. There are a lot of easy calculation questions that can be done fast! DO THOSE FIRST! They are guaranteed points if you get to them.
BC average: 18
Actual DAT: 20
Thanks if you have made it this far! And thanks for all the support GOOD LUCK ON YOUR STUDYING!! We are in this together!
Overall Scores
PAT:18
BIO: 23
GC:27
OC: 24
RC:21
QR: 20
TS:24
AA:23
