- Joined
- May 17, 2008
- Messages
- 3,022
- Reaction score
- 3,617
UPDATE: I've since created a study schedule and new resources for students, including an updated version of my notes, which can be found on DATBooster
DAT Breakdown
AA 28
TS 30
PAT 23
QR 22
RC 28
Bio 30
GC 30
OC 29
(confirmation)
Educational background
I majored in biology and finished college about 5 years before I took the DAT, so a lot of the material covered by the DAT was a distant memory for me by the time I started studying.
Time spent studying
~6 months (including all the times I started studying and gave up). My pre-req courses were completed 7-8 years ago so I had to relearn all of general chemistry, organic chemistry, and around half of biology. I also spent a lot of time making my notes - if I already had notes I could have studied for around 3 months and done just as well. If you are still in undergrad you will not need to spend nearly as much time studying.
Study Materials (most important ones in bold)
-DAT Bootcamp: A resource that I would consider absolutely essential. The PAT preparation is the best out there period. The generators for PAT are amazing practice that you'll never run out of, the PAT tests are tough but the best preparation for the real thing and the answer explanations are incredibly helpful. The RC test passages and questions are very similar in style to the real thing. The science tests were challenging but thorough and the question style/content was very similar to the real test. I did not use their QR material.
-Chad's Videos + Quizzes (Coursesaver): The chemistry videos are great if you are like me and haven't been exposed to the material in a long time. I built up my chemistry fundamentals through these videos before moving on to other material - Chad's explanations are fantastic and keep things very simple and easy to learn. The quizzes are great at testing the concepts he teaches as well, my only criticism here would be that they do not cover the full scope of what could show up on the real exam, so you will want to supplement with other resources for thorough practice. The videos and quizzes for QR are good but very basic and should be supplemented with another resource. The videos and quizzes for biology (which have yet to be updated) do not cover the full scope of the test and can be skipped over in favor of other resources.
-My notes: I created a thorough set of biology notes that students have found helpful. I also have a set of general chemistry and organic chemistry notes that I plan on cleaning up and uploading when I have the time, and a large set of useful QR formulas. These notes helped me condense everything important down for review. Please private message me if you'd like me to send these to you - they are currently being updated.
-DAT Qvault: The layout of the site is great, and I like that they break their questions down by subject so you can always test yourself on a specific concept. I also love that you can save individual questions and go back to them later. I dislike that their site only loads 10 questions at a time which can make going back through a large number of saved or previously seen questions very tedious because it requires you to answer all 10 questions before it will let you load the next set of 10...a very aggravating and sloppy design decision. As far as content goes: the biology is pretty good and they've got some nice application style questions. Chemistry and organic chemistry were decent practice despite a few mistakes along the way. QR and PAT sections were also pretty good practice. I'd recommend this as a resource but they're the most expensive one and their customer support is almost non-existent. However if you've already bought the resources listed above and have the extra money and really want the extra practice, this is a nice addition.
-CrackDAT: This is good introductory material for PAT but ultimately its tests are way too easy in the keyhole section. Otherwise it's roughly on par with the real DAT's difficulty but I'd still recommend Bootcamp for PAT over CrackDAT because its answer explanations are better and the tougher stuff will make you a lot faster on the real thing. If you still need additional PAT practice, then I'd say get this for it. CrackDAT's RC practice was not bad, but the passages ran a little too long and had way too many tone/inference questions. CrackDAT's QR practice was actually pretty good, I used it to get my timing down for the real thing. I did not use it for the sciences as I've heard it's way off base in terms of difficulty and not worth doing. Their customer support was not good.
-Cliff's AP Biology (3rd edition): Used this to lay down a strong base for biology before using other materials for additional information. This alone actually covers a lot of what you need to know, but it's a bit weak in the physiology section.
-Examkrackers Biology: Used this alongside Cliff's for getting the fundamentals of biology down. Its physiology section is very strong in contrast to Cliff's, whereas its other sections are a bit weaker, so the two compliment each other well. At least 95% of the content in my notes is covered by these two sources.
-Campbell Biology textbook: Used this as a reference for more difficult concepts when I needed a thorough explanation. Also used it for its excellent visuals; a lot of the images condense, summarize, and illustrate concepts very well. This can be found fairly cheap and is a great resource to have on hand.
-Examkrackers 1001 Questions Chemistry + Organic Chemistry: Don't bother. They were next to useless.
-Campbell's Biology quizzes: Not bad, but excessive and not the best use of one's time.
-DAT + Math Destroyer: An extremely thorough resource that is wide in scope. It can get pretty difficult, but I prefer to be overprepared for the real test than underprepared. You may find the questions extremely challenging, but they are designed to cement your knowledge of important concepts.
-Organic Odyssey: Extremely thorough resource for Organic Chemistry. If you feel you are weak in organic chemistry, you should get this - it's broken down by individual subject and has a very solid range of questions, including some very tough and tricky ones. If there's a part of organic chemistry you don't feel confident in and you work through a section of it here, by the time you finish it and go over the explanations you should feel like an expert. I used this before doing DAT Destroyer and it made the Destroyer feel easy in comparison. If you are already solid in organic chem then it may be unnecessary, and it tends to be harder than the real thing.
-I did not end up using Topscore, Achiever, or the 2007/2009 ADA exams since I ran out of time.
To recap: Bootcamp and Coursesaver (Chad's videos) were 100% essential here. Everything else varies in usefulness.
Real DAT
It's important to remember I had just one version of many when it comes to the DAT. It is very possible that your own experience with the test will differ from my own - it could be harder, easier, emphasize different types of questions, etc. You want to be prepared for anything the DAT can throw at you, not just what it happened to throw at a single person.
Bio (30): Very simple, basic, generalized test that didn't focus too much on specific details. If someone erased my memory of all biology knowledge and then had me read Cliff's the night before and made sure I knew everything in my notes, I'd probably still have gotten a 30.
GC (30): Like biology, it was overall very simple. Expose yourself to a wide variety of resources and you should be prepared for anything.
OC (29): Again, surprisingly simple. Very straightforward, no tricks, nothing I hadn't seen before. I didn't even get asked about the more challenging material.
-I finished my first pass through the science section with about 45 minutes left. I used the remaining time to just go through it again. Surprisingly straightforward and low stress overall.
PAT (23): The keyhole section of this exam was hard - I'm surprised I didn't score lower in this section as a result. The keyholes were insane, the objects were insane, the views didn't make any sense. TFE was not bad at all, about on par with CrackDAT, nothing stuck out as being particularly challenging. Angle ranking was very easy compared to the practice materials I'd used, almost all angles could be differentiated at a quick glance. Hole punching was actually kind of weird, the sizes of the holes varied between questions and it was difficult at times to tell where they actually placed a hole punch. I stuck with the line of symmetry method and I'm pretty sure I managed to get all of these. Cube counting was straightforward as usual, and pattern folding was very basic, on about CrackDAT's level of difficulty. Again I would suggest using Bootcamp as preparation here despite it being tougher overall because the explanations are incredibly useful and it will get your skills to a point where you will have plenty of extra time to spend on harder sections.
RC (28): Much easier than expected. You could use search and destroy on most of the questions (I still read all the passages first), the few tone/inference ones were not challenging or ambiguous. The answer choices never really put you in a situation where it felt like more than one answer was plausible. My only criticism is that there was a question or two that couldn't be answered without having some (admittedly basic) background in geography.
QR (22): Straightforward, didn't encounter a single question that wasn't doable. I ran out of time because at this point I was very tired and the Prometric people didn't swap my sheets out for a few minutes. QR was typically my best section and if I had slept enough leading up to my exam I probably could have gotten a 30 here too.
How I studied
Every morning I would wake up and do ~30 minutes of PAT practice (usually with the Bootcamp generators for angles, hole punching, cube counting, and pattern folding + a set of questions from Qvault's keyholes and TFE). Then I'd read 3 articles from Scientific American for reading practice, and I'd do a math test from Math Destroyer or a math test from CrackDAT QR. This helped me keep my skills sharp for the PAT/RC/QR sections of the exam. Occasionally for all three of these instead of doing my practice routine I'd do a full graded test.
For the sciences I spent ~8 weeks relearning everything, doing content review, and tweaking my notes. In the later ~8 weeks I started doing practice questions from different sources while continuing to review my notes. I didn't schedule my resource use too wisely here and ended up having to do all of DAT Destroyer, the Bootcamp tests, and the Qvault tests in my last 17 days before the exam. This was a very intense schedule (that I wouldn't recommend trying) and I wasn't able to complete everything there (e.g. the 2007/2009 DAT tests), but I got most of it done.
Practice scores
I logged my scores (with averages for all subjects in a specific resource bolded in orange):
General advice
-Try not to study for as long as I did. The stress from sustaining that amount of effort for so long was unhealthy and I felt like I was going crazy at the end. Leave adequate time each day to unwind.
-When learning, if you come across something that is difficult or seems to contradict something you've learned earlier - make an effort to fully understand it. A deep understanding of the material is the best preparation one can have.
-When you make mistakes in practice tests/quizzes/material, make a note of it somewhere. I would highlight in red topics that I got a question wrong on in my notes. I also kept a separate file to accumulate all the questions with my mistakes (usually with screenshots) so I could review all my weaknesses in one place.
-Get enough rest, not just the day before your exam, but the week leading into it. Get a full night's sleep each day the week before the exam and try to relax - the benefits of a rested mind greatly outweigh the benefits of cramming in a few last second facts.
-PAT/RC/QR are relatively easy to learn and just need to be practiced regularly to keep your skills and timing sharp. Don't neglect these sections, do a small amount of practice in each every day.
-Understand the difference between feeling prepared and feeling ready. You will never feel 100% ready for an exam like this, it's too broad in scope. But at some point you will feel prepared enough to do reasonably well. Don't continue to delay the exam unless you truly feel like you would benefit substantially from the additional time (e.g. if you haven't covered the second half of organic chemistry...that's not nerves, that's an actual lack of preparation. But don't delay your exam because you can't remember every single incredibly minor detail that could show up on the test).
If you have any questions, feel free to ask here or PM me.
DAT Breakdown
AA 28
TS 30
PAT 23
QR 22
RC 28
Bio 30
GC 30
OC 29
(confirmation)
Educational background
I majored in biology and finished college about 5 years before I took the DAT, so a lot of the material covered by the DAT was a distant memory for me by the time I started studying.
Time spent studying
~6 months (including all the times I started studying and gave up). My pre-req courses were completed 7-8 years ago so I had to relearn all of general chemistry, organic chemistry, and around half of biology. I also spent a lot of time making my notes - if I already had notes I could have studied for around 3 months and done just as well. If you are still in undergrad you will not need to spend nearly as much time studying.
Study Materials (most important ones in bold)
-DAT Bootcamp: A resource that I would consider absolutely essential. The PAT preparation is the best out there period. The generators for PAT are amazing practice that you'll never run out of, the PAT tests are tough but the best preparation for the real thing and the answer explanations are incredibly helpful. The RC test passages and questions are very similar in style to the real thing. The science tests were challenging but thorough and the question style/content was very similar to the real test. I did not use their QR material.
-Chad's Videos + Quizzes (Coursesaver): The chemistry videos are great if you are like me and haven't been exposed to the material in a long time. I built up my chemistry fundamentals through these videos before moving on to other material - Chad's explanations are fantastic and keep things very simple and easy to learn. The quizzes are great at testing the concepts he teaches as well, my only criticism here would be that they do not cover the full scope of what could show up on the real exam, so you will want to supplement with other resources for thorough practice. The videos and quizzes for QR are good but very basic and should be supplemented with another resource. The videos and quizzes for biology (which have yet to be updated) do not cover the full scope of the test and can be skipped over in favor of other resources.
-My notes: I created a thorough set of biology notes that students have found helpful. I also have a set of general chemistry and organic chemistry notes that I plan on cleaning up and uploading when I have the time, and a large set of useful QR formulas. These notes helped me condense everything important down for review. Please private message me if you'd like me to send these to you - they are currently being updated.
-DAT Qvault: The layout of the site is great, and I like that they break their questions down by subject so you can always test yourself on a specific concept. I also love that you can save individual questions and go back to them later. I dislike that their site only loads 10 questions at a time which can make going back through a large number of saved or previously seen questions very tedious because it requires you to answer all 10 questions before it will let you load the next set of 10...a very aggravating and sloppy design decision. As far as content goes: the biology is pretty good and they've got some nice application style questions. Chemistry and organic chemistry were decent practice despite a few mistakes along the way. QR and PAT sections were also pretty good practice. I'd recommend this as a resource but they're the most expensive one and their customer support is almost non-existent. However if you've already bought the resources listed above and have the extra money and really want the extra practice, this is a nice addition.
-CrackDAT: This is good introductory material for PAT but ultimately its tests are way too easy in the keyhole section. Otherwise it's roughly on par with the real DAT's difficulty but I'd still recommend Bootcamp for PAT over CrackDAT because its answer explanations are better and the tougher stuff will make you a lot faster on the real thing. If you still need additional PAT practice, then I'd say get this for it. CrackDAT's RC practice was not bad, but the passages ran a little too long and had way too many tone/inference questions. CrackDAT's QR practice was actually pretty good, I used it to get my timing down for the real thing. I did not use it for the sciences as I've heard it's way off base in terms of difficulty and not worth doing. Their customer support was not good.
-Cliff's AP Biology (3rd edition): Used this to lay down a strong base for biology before using other materials for additional information. This alone actually covers a lot of what you need to know, but it's a bit weak in the physiology section.
-Examkrackers Biology: Used this alongside Cliff's for getting the fundamentals of biology down. Its physiology section is very strong in contrast to Cliff's, whereas its other sections are a bit weaker, so the two compliment each other well. At least 95% of the content in my notes is covered by these two sources.
-Campbell Biology textbook: Used this as a reference for more difficult concepts when I needed a thorough explanation. Also used it for its excellent visuals; a lot of the images condense, summarize, and illustrate concepts very well. This can be found fairly cheap and is a great resource to have on hand.
-Examkrackers 1001 Questions Chemistry + Organic Chemistry: Don't bother. They were next to useless.
-Campbell's Biology quizzes: Not bad, but excessive and not the best use of one's time.
-DAT + Math Destroyer: An extremely thorough resource that is wide in scope. It can get pretty difficult, but I prefer to be overprepared for the real test than underprepared. You may find the questions extremely challenging, but they are designed to cement your knowledge of important concepts.
-Organic Odyssey: Extremely thorough resource for Organic Chemistry. If you feel you are weak in organic chemistry, you should get this - it's broken down by individual subject and has a very solid range of questions, including some very tough and tricky ones. If there's a part of organic chemistry you don't feel confident in and you work through a section of it here, by the time you finish it and go over the explanations you should feel like an expert. I used this before doing DAT Destroyer and it made the Destroyer feel easy in comparison. If you are already solid in organic chem then it may be unnecessary, and it tends to be harder than the real thing.
-I did not end up using Topscore, Achiever, or the 2007/2009 ADA exams since I ran out of time.
To recap: Bootcamp and Coursesaver (Chad's videos) were 100% essential here. Everything else varies in usefulness.
Real DAT
It's important to remember I had just one version of many when it comes to the DAT. It is very possible that your own experience with the test will differ from my own - it could be harder, easier, emphasize different types of questions, etc. You want to be prepared for anything the DAT can throw at you, not just what it happened to throw at a single person.
Bio (30): Very simple, basic, generalized test that didn't focus too much on specific details. If someone erased my memory of all biology knowledge and then had me read Cliff's the night before and made sure I knew everything in my notes, I'd probably still have gotten a 30.
GC (30): Like biology, it was overall very simple. Expose yourself to a wide variety of resources and you should be prepared for anything.
OC (29): Again, surprisingly simple. Very straightforward, no tricks, nothing I hadn't seen before. I didn't even get asked about the more challenging material.
-I finished my first pass through the science section with about 45 minutes left. I used the remaining time to just go through it again. Surprisingly straightforward and low stress overall.
PAT (23): The keyhole section of this exam was hard - I'm surprised I didn't score lower in this section as a result. The keyholes were insane, the objects were insane, the views didn't make any sense. TFE was not bad at all, about on par with CrackDAT, nothing stuck out as being particularly challenging. Angle ranking was very easy compared to the practice materials I'd used, almost all angles could be differentiated at a quick glance. Hole punching was actually kind of weird, the sizes of the holes varied between questions and it was difficult at times to tell where they actually placed a hole punch. I stuck with the line of symmetry method and I'm pretty sure I managed to get all of these. Cube counting was straightforward as usual, and pattern folding was very basic, on about CrackDAT's level of difficulty. Again I would suggest using Bootcamp as preparation here despite it being tougher overall because the explanations are incredibly useful and it will get your skills to a point where you will have plenty of extra time to spend on harder sections.
RC (28): Much easier than expected. You could use search and destroy on most of the questions (I still read all the passages first), the few tone/inference ones were not challenging or ambiguous. The answer choices never really put you in a situation where it felt like more than one answer was plausible. My only criticism is that there was a question or two that couldn't be answered without having some (admittedly basic) background in geography.
QR (22): Straightforward, didn't encounter a single question that wasn't doable. I ran out of time because at this point I was very tired and the Prometric people didn't swap my sheets out for a few minutes. QR was typically my best section and if I had slept enough leading up to my exam I probably could have gotten a 30 here too.
How I studied
Every morning I would wake up and do ~30 minutes of PAT practice (usually with the Bootcamp generators for angles, hole punching, cube counting, and pattern folding + a set of questions from Qvault's keyholes and TFE). Then I'd read 3 articles from Scientific American for reading practice, and I'd do a math test from Math Destroyer or a math test from CrackDAT QR. This helped me keep my skills sharp for the PAT/RC/QR sections of the exam. Occasionally for all three of these instead of doing my practice routine I'd do a full graded test.
For the sciences I spent ~8 weeks relearning everything, doing content review, and tweaking my notes. In the later ~8 weeks I started doing practice questions from different sources while continuing to review my notes. I didn't schedule my resource use too wisely here and ended up having to do all of DAT Destroyer, the Bootcamp tests, and the Qvault tests in my last 17 days before the exam. This was a very intense schedule (that I wouldn't recommend trying) and I wasn't able to complete everything there (e.g. the 2007/2009 DAT tests), but I got most of it done.
Practice scores
I logged my scores (with averages for all subjects in a specific resource bolded in orange):
General advice
-Try not to study for as long as I did. The stress from sustaining that amount of effort for so long was unhealthy and I felt like I was going crazy at the end. Leave adequate time each day to unwind.
-When learning, if you come across something that is difficult or seems to contradict something you've learned earlier - make an effort to fully understand it. A deep understanding of the material is the best preparation one can have.
-When you make mistakes in practice tests/quizzes/material, make a note of it somewhere. I would highlight in red topics that I got a question wrong on in my notes. I also kept a separate file to accumulate all the questions with my mistakes (usually with screenshots) so I could review all my weaknesses in one place.
-Get enough rest, not just the day before your exam, but the week leading into it. Get a full night's sleep each day the week before the exam and try to relax - the benefits of a rested mind greatly outweigh the benefits of cramming in a few last second facts.
-PAT/RC/QR are relatively easy to learn and just need to be practiced regularly to keep your skills and timing sharp. Don't neglect these sections, do a small amount of practice in each every day.
-Understand the difference between feeling prepared and feeling ready. You will never feel 100% ready for an exam like this, it's too broad in scope. But at some point you will feel prepared enough to do reasonably well. Don't continue to delay the exam unless you truly feel like you would benefit substantially from the additional time (e.g. if you haven't covered the second half of organic chemistry...that's not nerves, that's an actual lack of preparation. But don't delay your exam because you can't remember every single incredibly minor detail that could show up on the test).
If you have any questions, feel free to ask here or PM me.
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