DAT path of vengeance. Need guidance..

[BTR1208]

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okay so I took the DAT two days ago as many of you know and didn't do as well as I wanted. Several people have suggested a retake. I want to dominate this thing this time around. I have 88 days... Any guidance and help would be awesome!

Only problem is I can only commit 3-4hrs a day this time until the test due to work and class. I'm hoping since I've already taken it once and I know the test I can focus on weak areas (bio) and stay fresh in the ther while trying to improve as much as possible.


First my scores...

19 AA
18 TS
21 PAT
22 RC
18 QR
17 BIO
20 GC
19 OC


Here is where I need your help... my thoughts and how to improve in red.


QR: I did not even study; did maybe 50 problems from the back of destroyer + BC test 1 (21). But I'm decent at math. Getting this up to a 20 would be nice. I will just practice and do destroyer problems often.


PAT: I feel very comfortable here but more practice to keep sharp. BOOTCAMP IS AMAZING! Retake I want a 25+. Period. Practice practice practice.


BIO: this is where I need help! i did BC tests but by doing them a second time I sort of memorized the answers to an extent. Regardless it helped. I went over Alan's notes, Ferralis and Cliffs. Not good enough clearly. I honestly think even if I had Cliffs in front of me on the exam I couldn't have gotten many more right. The questions were crazy!! All over the place. I felt I knew the basics pretty well. This time around I think destroyer practice daily, know the questions inside out as well as hitting Ferallis notes hard.


GC/OC: just keep going over flashcards/notes as well as do destroyer. Stay fresh with practice problems and reviewing notes. I feel good here and honestly I don't know what I missed as I felt I knew them all. All I used was Chad's and Bootcamp.



Was my issue never utilizing destroyer?? I felt I had a good understanding of everything to be honest. If I'm going to retake this I want a great score. Not average. Great.

 

[changtw]

How did you feel in terms of timing for QR? Also how did you score on the 2009 DAT?

My biggest takeaway from doing the 2009 DAT, which was heavily front-loaded, was how important it is to skip problems you don't immediately know how to do. If I remember correctly, there were 3-4 problems on the first page that were not only long to read, but seemed pretty complicated off the bat. I skimmed them, realizing I would need a good chunk of time to answer, so I skipped them and went on to finish the exam before returning to try to answer them. You mentioned math is a strong suit of yours, however, so maybe this won't be a problem. On my DAT, I needed to skip 4 questions in row within the first set of 10 questions, and finished with only a few minutes to spare. I had to go back and guess on the questions I had skipped, but still wound up with a QR of 23. I think timing gets people, so make sure to do enough *timed* practice to get yourself going at a good speed.

Bootcamp was a great resource for PAT, so I think you have the right mindset there. Practice and practice some more until you have it down using their random question generator.

Bio...I thought Cliff's was only useful to get down the fundamentals. Since you've already gone through it, maybe you can just focus on Ferralis' notes now and go through Destroyer problems another time (preferably 2). I regret only going through the Bio once, but I didn't have enough time. If I could do it over again, I would have gone through Destroyer a second time. This was my lowest score.

GC/OC I highly recommend going through Chad's videos twice/multiple times + doing the quizzes before committing all your time towards Destroyer. I had a really hard time pushing myself to watch everything a second time since I felt pressed for time, but I'm so glad I did. I didn't feel confident doing the Destroyer problems, so I went back to watch Chad's again. After the second time, Destroyer became much easier to get through. I felt like I understood how to approach the problems rather than referring to the answers and *thinking* I understood the concept/how the answer was derived.

Make sure you study a mixture of topics every day the weeks before the exam, so the subjects stay fresh.

I am rooting for you!!

 

[BTR1208]

How did you feel in terms of timing for QR? Also how did you score on the 2009 DAT?

My biggest takeaway from doing the 2009 DAT, which was heavily front-loaded, was how important it is to skip problems you don't immediately know how to do. If I remember correctly, there were 3-4 problems on the first page that were not only long to read, but seemed pretty complicated off the bat. I skimmed them, realizing I would need a good chunk of time to answer, so I skipped them and went on to finish the exam before returning to try to answer them. You mentioned math is a strong suit of yours, however, so maybe this won't be a problem. On my DAT, I needed to skip 4 questions in row within the first set of 10 questions, and finished with only a few minutes to spare. I had to go back and guess on the questions I had skipped, but still wound up with a QR of 23. I think timing gets people, so make sure to do enough *timed* practice to get yourself going at a good speed.

Bootcamp was a great resource for PAT, so I think you have the right mindset there. Practice and practice some more until you have it down using their random question generator.

Bio...I thought Cliff's was only useful to get down the fundamentals. Since you've already gone through it, maybe you can just focus on Ferralis' notes now and go through Destroyer problems another time (preferably 2). I regret only going through the Bio once, but I didn't have enough time. If I could do it over again, I would have gone through Destroyer a second time. This was my lowest score.

GC/OC I highly recommend going through Chad's videos twice/multiple times + doing the quizzes before committing all your time towards Destroyer. I had a really hard time pushing myself to watch everything a second time since I felt pressed for time, but I'm so glad I did. I didn't feel confident doing the Destroyer problems, so I went back to watch Chad's again. After the second time, Destroyer became much easier to get through. I felt like I understood how to approach the problems rather than referring to the answers and *thinking* I understood the concept/how the answer was derived.

Make sure you study a mixture of topics every day the weeks before the exam, so the subjects stay fresh.

I am rooting for you!!

Thank you for the encouragement!!

Okay so QR I didn't know it I skipped right away. I did the ones I knew and the ones I didn't know but I knew I could use the calculator to derive the answer. That left maybe 5-6 that I marked and guessed.

Bio... Yes I will bust tail on Ferralis, maybe just rewrote them myself and do destroyer multiple times. I never used it for bio. Regret it now.

Chems... I did chads twice. I have great notes. So now will review noes and move onto destroyer.

PAT... I agree. BOOTCAMP random generator will be my best friend! 🙂 surprisingly my angles were much harder than I expected. I put it right there with the angle generator and harder than the actual BC pat tests. Everything else was easier than BC tests.

I never took 2009 DAT but I did well on 2007. My exam was far harder than 2007 I will say that. I may have gotten very unlucky idk.

 

[changtw]

Oh for sure the 2007 felt easy. Most of those I've spoken to have agreed that relative to the current DAT, 2007 was far too easy, and 2009 (sciences) was more on point with difficulty level, though I felt the 2009 Bio was more straight-forward than the actual DAT. Gchem and Ochem were pretty on point.

It seems like you're on the right track! Good luck and definitely keep us posted 🙂

 

[577455]

Hey, I just took the DAT and got a 23 on BIO. What I did was read Feralis, then did 20 BIO Destroyer questions. If you notice you got 2 or more questions wrong in a single category, like Ecology or Evolution, then re-read that chapter in Feralis. Eventually you'll notice you're getting less and less wrong and you won't need to re-read anything. Re-reading a chapter in Feralis is annoying, but not annoying as getting questions about mitosis wrong over and over again. Some of the BIO concepts were difficult to understand, like the gray crescent in Frog development. For that I would watch Crash Course Biology for some good visuals and introduction to the topic. I found it was easier to read about the topic after watching an introductory video on it first. I was able to visualize what was going on while I read about it.

 

[DentalGirl5]

Hey! So if you read my DAT breakdown in my signature, you'll see how much I believe in the Destroyer. You'll 100% get at least a 20-21 on the biology section if you go through each question and meticulously understand every detail--why some are wrong and why some are right. It took me a while to get through that giant section of the book, but it was so incredibly worth it. I went through the section many times and didn't just memorize, but I took notes in the margins extensively. If there were any gaps in my knowledge of the subject in the question, I would Google it if it wasn't already provided in the back of the book and I'd write every detail down. This is the only way I learned an insane amount of information and almost every question I had on the biology section of the real DAT was discussed in the Destroyer. If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me! Good luck with everything! You're almost there 🙂

 

[BTR1208]

Okay got my plan of attack setup. Thank you to Nancy for taking the time to talk with me and get me straightened out. I will be using the new and improved Destroyer. 25 AA or bust! I'm confident and determined and ready to do this thing.

Ahead of the game as far as review goes. So here's my plan...

This week: rewrite/organize Chem notes.

Then once Dec 27 comes and I've rested up somewhat...

Every morning: 30min PAT practice; I want a 25+ here.

Every night: 30min reading before bed.

Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday: BIO/QR
Read one chapter bio (either Ferralis or Barron) haven't decided yet), writing down notes. Then do 40 destroyer BIO problems, reviewing answers. Then 25 QR problems.

Monday/Wednesday/Saturday: GC/OC
Review notes, watch Chad's videos on anything unclear. 20 destroyer GC + 20 OC problems. Reviewing answer and questions.


This way i get through bio twice as well as the complete destroyer book twice. I will know every little detail about every question and answer. Nothing will be left unstudied this time! Look good?

I will start Dec 27 and take the exam March 10.

 

[dentkid411]

I think doing bio questions are really important (not just rereading notes). Amazon product ASIN 1499211171
Has lots of questions and they break it down by sections. So you can focus on the sections you are weaker on. I agree that crash course was an essential for me. And I think that if you are able to significantly do better on bio section it'll help raise your TS and AA (since it is 40 questions while GC and OC is 30 questions each).

 

[BTR1208]

I think doing bio questions are really important (not just rereading notes). Amazon product ASIN 1499211171
Has lots of questions and they break it down by sections. So you can focus on the sections you are weaker on. I agree that crash course was an essential for me. And I think that if you are able to significantly do better on bio section it'll help raise your TS and AA (since it is 40 questions while GC and OC is 30 questions each).

When it's all said and done I will have done 600 bio questions 2 times each through destroyer 🙂

And around 300 x2 of chems