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So I finished my DAT almost 2 weeks ago. This site helped me a lot with preparation for the test, so I feel obliged to give back to people that are in the position I was a month ago. First I would like to say that the actual test was easier than the practice tests that I took. My scores are:
PA: 20
QR: 19
RC: 22
BIO: 30
GCHEM: 22
OCHEM: 22
TS: 23
AA: 23
I had six weeks to study for the test. I began with MCAT Examkrackers complete study package. Biology, Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry EK are fantastic books. They really helped with the concepts, and such an easy read! You can literally go through a book in one day. Obviously you won't remember all the concepts, so read it twice, or three times - depends on the person I guess. To supplement these books, I got the Audio Osmosis (by same company). These audio CDs were great - they really break down the concepts that are hard to understand (digestion, kidney, immune system, thermodynamics, etc.). The CD's follow the book chapters closely. Problem: DAT Bio has plants and taxonomy which are not covered in MCAT books. To study plants and taxonomy I got the Kaplan Blue Book. Kaplan BB is kind of boring, but it is great to use different sources (try to use as many as you can!). Now the best way to learn, is to practice. I got the Examkrackers 1001 Questions in Chemistry (What a pain in the ***** to do all these questions, but they really test your concept understanding.) Because they are so many questions, they really hit every point in General Chemistry. These questions are not passage based, so they are a good practice for DAT. For Organic Chemistry and Biology I got the Destroyer. Destroyer Road Maps were of great help. Memorize these, and you should be good for the synthesis problems for the actual DAT. However, I was surprised to see how many conceptual questions there were for OChem - so know your reactions, and the reasoning behind them.
I am a big fan of flash cards. Once I got through all the questions in EK 1001 questions and Destroyer, I would read all the explanations (for questions I got right AND questions I got wrong) to make sure I understanding the reasoning behind each question. For whatever concepts I find tricky, or could come up on the exam, I would write down on my flashcards. They're easy to carry around with you, and great for memorizing. In my opinion, to memorize as much as possible, try involving different kinds of memory processing - listening, writing, and reading. Hence, audio CDs, writing on flashcards and/or taking notes, and reading the books.
Once I would go over my flashcards a few times, I started taking practice tests. I purchased TOPSCORE, and Crack DAT PAT. I also had a full length test that come in Kaplan's Blue Book. I don't remember what I have gotten on the Kaplan test, but my scores for TOPSCORE were:
TEST 1:
AA:19
BIO:20
GCHEM:19
OCHEM:19
PA:19
QR:17
RC:21
TS:20
TEST 2:
AA:21
BIO:24
GCHEM:19
OCHEM:19
PA:20
QR:19
RC:22
TS:21
TEST 3:
AA:21
BIO:19
GCHEM:19
OCHEM:23
PA:20
QR:24
RC:21
TS:20
As you can tell by the scores, if you were to take the average of all of them, it would be a good prediction of my actual score (except for bio). In my opinion, the Biology on the actual DAT was very random, and some questions I only knew from my undergraduate classes that I took at Rutgers (I am a Cell Biology major). For math, the main concern is time. None of the problems were hard, but there is no room for error, so if you get stuck on something, as hard as it is to let go, just guess on it and mark for review (you probably won't have time to go back though). My strategy was to get as many right as I can, and to make sure to get to make sure to get to the end. TOPSCORE is great practice for GCHEM and OCHEM for the actual DAT. Destroyer definitely helps with the harder problems. Again, make sure you know your concepts! Crack DAT PAT was really great practice too, and I would strongly recommend it. In my opinion the difficulty of the DAT PAT, contrary to what other people say on this site, closely matches Crack DAT PAT. As for Reading Comp: I used Search & Destroy method. I wasn't aiming to nail RC, and this strategy worked well (I did not get pianoed or frapped tho). I would read the first three or four questions of the passage, then skim the passage and see what I can answer first, and mark the rest. Don't panick! I promise once you get to the last questions for the passage you will be able to answer all your marked questions with no problem.
I hope this helps people that are stressing or don't know how to start studying for this test. Oh, and bring a few red bulls with ya to the test
PA: 20
QR: 19
RC: 22
BIO: 30
GCHEM: 22
OCHEM: 22
TS: 23
AA: 23
I had six weeks to study for the test. I began with MCAT Examkrackers complete study package. Biology, Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry EK are fantastic books. They really helped with the concepts, and such an easy read! You can literally go through a book in one day. Obviously you won't remember all the concepts, so read it twice, or three times - depends on the person I guess. To supplement these books, I got the Audio Osmosis (by same company). These audio CDs were great - they really break down the concepts that are hard to understand (digestion, kidney, immune system, thermodynamics, etc.). The CD's follow the book chapters closely. Problem: DAT Bio has plants and taxonomy which are not covered in MCAT books. To study plants and taxonomy I got the Kaplan Blue Book. Kaplan BB is kind of boring, but it is great to use different sources (try to use as many as you can!). Now the best way to learn, is to practice. I got the Examkrackers 1001 Questions in Chemistry (What a pain in the ***** to do all these questions, but they really test your concept understanding.) Because they are so many questions, they really hit every point in General Chemistry. These questions are not passage based, so they are a good practice for DAT. For Organic Chemistry and Biology I got the Destroyer. Destroyer Road Maps were of great help. Memorize these, and you should be good for the synthesis problems for the actual DAT. However, I was surprised to see how many conceptual questions there were for OChem - so know your reactions, and the reasoning behind them.
I am a big fan of flash cards. Once I got through all the questions in EK 1001 questions and Destroyer, I would read all the explanations (for questions I got right AND questions I got wrong) to make sure I understanding the reasoning behind each question. For whatever concepts I find tricky, or could come up on the exam, I would write down on my flashcards. They're easy to carry around with you, and great for memorizing. In my opinion, to memorize as much as possible, try involving different kinds of memory processing - listening, writing, and reading. Hence, audio CDs, writing on flashcards and/or taking notes, and reading the books.
Once I would go over my flashcards a few times, I started taking practice tests. I purchased TOPSCORE, and Crack DAT PAT. I also had a full length test that come in Kaplan's Blue Book. I don't remember what I have gotten on the Kaplan test, but my scores for TOPSCORE were:
TEST 1:
AA:19
BIO:20
GCHEM:19
OCHEM:19
PA:19
QR:17
RC:21
TS:20
TEST 2:
AA:21
BIO:24
GCHEM:19
OCHEM:19
PA:20
QR:19
RC:22
TS:21
TEST 3:
AA:21
BIO:19
GCHEM:19
OCHEM:23
PA:20
QR:24
RC:21
TS:20
As you can tell by the scores, if you were to take the average of all of them, it would be a good prediction of my actual score (except for bio). In my opinion, the Biology on the actual DAT was very random, and some questions I only knew from my undergraduate classes that I took at Rutgers (I am a Cell Biology major). For math, the main concern is time. None of the problems were hard, but there is no room for error, so if you get stuck on something, as hard as it is to let go, just guess on it and mark for review (you probably won't have time to go back though). My strategy was to get as many right as I can, and to make sure to get to make sure to get to the end. TOPSCORE is great practice for GCHEM and OCHEM for the actual DAT. Destroyer definitely helps with the harder problems. Again, make sure you know your concepts! Crack DAT PAT was really great practice too, and I would strongly recommend it. In my opinion the difficulty of the DAT PAT, contrary to what other people say on this site, closely matches Crack DAT PAT. As for Reading Comp: I used Search & Destroy method. I wasn't aiming to nail RC, and this strategy worked well (I did not get pianoed or frapped tho). I would read the first three or four questions of the passage, then skim the passage and see what I can answer first, and mark the rest. Don't panick! I promise once you get to the last questions for the passage you will be able to answer all your marked questions with no problem.
I hope this helps people that are stressing or don't know how to start studying for this test. Oh, and bring a few red bulls with ya to the test
