Hi all I just took my DAT for the first time. I only had about 3 weeks over winter break (senior Biochemistry major) to prepare, and admittedly I spent most of that time playing video games. So here are my scores:
PAT: 24
QR: 30
RC: 23
Bio: 19
GenChem: 22
OChem: 18
TS: 19
AA: 22
As you can see, I really didn't study enough as I should have for the science sections. The biology section was TOUGH. I only took GenBio in school, so my anatomy/embryology/human development background is limited to general knowledge - and there were quite a few questions on those.
Organic chemistry was also hard, but mostly because I've never been good at it. I honestly thought I did better on this section than Biology. Shows what I know lol. Review IR, H NMR, and C NMR. Know ortho/meta/para directors. Know Sn1/sn2/e1/e2 and how to recognize them. Know as many reagents as possible: LiAlH4, CrO3, O3, SOCl2, PBr3, etc.
The PAT section was fairly easy. You should know how to do these problems fairly easily before taking the exam. There are a lot of trick answers on this section (the QR too). I was given two laminated sheets of paper and 2 whiteboard markers at the beginning of the test and they came in handy here. For the paper folding I drew a large 4x4 grid on the paper and dotted where the hole would be punched through. You cant fold the paper, of course, but it helps you remember where each of the dots are after each fold. Unfortunately I wasn't given an eraser, so make tiny dots and expect to have smudges on your hand from erasing. One of the biggest factors in this section was time. I guessed (educatedly(?)) on the last 3 box folding problems because I ran out of time.
The QR section was super easy. I didn't study for this other than looking at the 2007 and 2009 sample DAT exams. I honestly think I may have gotten an easy go of it, since there weren't many hard problems. One thing that came in handy was remembering that sec x is the inverse of cos x, and csc x is the inverse of sin x. Also tan x = sinx/cosx. If you're mathematically inclined, this should be no trouble to you. If you aren't, start studying.
The RC section wasn't too bad. I mean you're frantically searching for the answer in a giant block of text the whole time, but I actually finished it with time to spare. I suggest skimming the passage first, finding the broad meaning of each paragraph as quickly as possible. Then look for the key words in each question and find them where you'd think they'd be in the passage. About 90% of the questions are word for word from the passage, but a few require individual thought and reasoning.
My advice is to practice as many Bio and Ochem questions as you can, i.e. what I should have done. These sections are the most competitive to get a good score, so you need to put extra effort into them as well to stay competitive.
PAT: 24
QR: 30
RC: 23
Bio: 19
GenChem: 22
OChem: 18
TS: 19
AA: 22
As you can see, I really didn't study enough as I should have for the science sections. The biology section was TOUGH. I only took GenBio in school, so my anatomy/embryology/human development background is limited to general knowledge - and there were quite a few questions on those.
Organic chemistry was also hard, but mostly because I've never been good at it. I honestly thought I did better on this section than Biology. Shows what I know lol. Review IR, H NMR, and C NMR. Know ortho/meta/para directors. Know Sn1/sn2/e1/e2 and how to recognize them. Know as many reagents as possible: LiAlH4, CrO3, O3, SOCl2, PBr3, etc.
The PAT section was fairly easy. You should know how to do these problems fairly easily before taking the exam. There are a lot of trick answers on this section (the QR too). I was given two laminated sheets of paper and 2 whiteboard markers at the beginning of the test and they came in handy here. For the paper folding I drew a large 4x4 grid on the paper and dotted where the hole would be punched through. You cant fold the paper, of course, but it helps you remember where each of the dots are after each fold. Unfortunately I wasn't given an eraser, so make tiny dots and expect to have smudges on your hand from erasing. One of the biggest factors in this section was time. I guessed (educatedly(?)) on the last 3 box folding problems because I ran out of time.
The QR section was super easy. I didn't study for this other than looking at the 2007 and 2009 sample DAT exams. I honestly think I may have gotten an easy go of it, since there weren't many hard problems. One thing that came in handy was remembering that sec x is the inverse of cos x, and csc x is the inverse of sin x. Also tan x = sinx/cosx. If you're mathematically inclined, this should be no trouble to you. If you aren't, start studying.
The RC section wasn't too bad. I mean you're frantically searching for the answer in a giant block of text the whole time, but I actually finished it with time to spare. I suggest skimming the passage first, finding the broad meaning of each paragraph as quickly as possible. Then look for the key words in each question and find them where you'd think they'd be in the passage. About 90% of the questions are word for word from the passage, but a few require individual thought and reasoning.
My advice is to practice as many Bio and Ochem questions as you can, i.e. what I should have done. These sections are the most competitive to get a good score, so you need to put extra effort into them as well to stay competitive.
