First DBC Test Results after 16 days of study

[Axiomatician]

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A short introduction:

I am biochemistry major going into my junior year this coming fall. After having completed Organic 2 this past spring, I am spending my summer studying in efforts to ace the DAT. I am following Ari's study schedule mostly to a tee.

Here are my First DAT Bootcamp practice test scores. These are from Practice Test 1, which everyone has access to, whether or not you have an account.

Bio/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR

17/17/<14/18/19/17

I have already had considerable difficulty learning biology.I have been using Cliff's AP Bio 3rd ed., as well as Feralis notes, but the past few chapters I feel like I haven't absorbed half of the information. This will undoubtedly be the hardest section for me, as I don't learn well from reading or typing notes.

As for Gen Chem, I have used Chad's videos to review. I just finished Chad's videos for gen chem. Overall, I did not find them very helpful. It may be that I am not too keen on Chad's lecture style, but I printed off sheets and took handwritten notes every time, and went through quizzes as well.

I have not yet started to review OC. What is scary is that organic chemistry is one of my strongest suits. I have a 3.94 GPA, with about 75 credit hours. I have made A's in every chemistry class I have taken, besides OC 2 Lab, which I made an 89.2. Relatively, I think my school is rather difficult in the chemistry department. I feel like the way it was presented was somewhat strange, and there were a couple of common reagents that I forgot what they did. Either way, a <14 is scary, theres no way to explain that away..

QR has been reviewed with Chad as well. I don't think he is very helpful, but I know I am against the grain for this. People rave about how helpful he is. I guess I am just different.

As for the RC... Didn't expect to do that well. I did best in RC and reading comprehension is my worst subject, (although I scored a 33 on the science section of my ACT with no attempted study, and my English at a 20 and Reading at a 21 or so... Just to give you an idea of scientific reading background.)

As for PAT.. I haven't been practicing TFE at ALL in a couple of weeks. I practiced maybe 30 problems total over the course of 3 days at the beginning of my studies (2.5 weeks ago), and because of this, I bombed the TFE, only getting 4/15 of them. It also slowed me down quite a bit and I had to rush through the rest of the test. I was surprised at angles, because I generally do awful on them, yet I got 10 or 11/15. Overall, I feel like PAT has become my strongest due to fear of it, but now I am fearing the sciences... which matter the most.

Let me know what you think and if you have any advice, I would gladly appreciate it. I think I will start working DAT Destroyer Gen Chem problems, even though Ari doesn't recommend it until later, in the 5th week of study.

 

[FutureDDS_11]

I'm on my day 14! When are you planning on taking the DAT?

 

[zyzzbruh]

17/17/<14/18/19/17

I have not yet started to review OC. What is scary is that organic chemistry is one of my strongest suits. I have a 3.94 GPA, with about 75 credit hours. I have made A's in every chemistry class I have taken, besides OC 2 Lab, which I made an 89.2. Relatively, I think my school is rather difficult in the chemistry department. I feel like the way it was presented was somewhat strange, and there were a couple of common reagents that I forgot what they did. Either way, a <14 is scary, theres no way to explain that away..

I think there's a way to explain that 🙄

 

[Ari Rezaei]

I wouldn't really take your estimated scores too seriously at this point. You haven't finished reviewing entire sections and haven't been practicing with QR and PAT too much yet. I understand there is a strong urge to find out exactly how well you're doing, but you should already know just by how you feel when you're reviewing. If you're looking at the things you studied yesterday and wondering 'what the heck does this stuff mean?', then you likely need to review and study more. You want to feel a sense of confidence in the topics after you review them.

Taking practice tests early on is likely to just frustrate students, but they really shouldn't. The more productive approach is to take them after you have reviewed everything and practiced at least a little. Finish up your review and then start working on practice problems like in the DAT Destroyer, and later on start taking DAT practice tests.

 

[Axiomatician]

I wouldn't really take your estimated scores too seriously at this point. You haven't finished reviewing entire sections and haven't been practicing with QR and PAT too much yet. I understand there is a strong urge to find out exactly how well you're doing, but you should already know just by how you feel when you're reviewing. If you're looking at the things you studied yesterday and wondering 'what the heck does this stuff mean?', then you likely need to review and study more. You want to feel a sense of confidence in the topics after you review them.

Taking practice tests early on is likely to just frustrate students, but they really shouldn't. The more productive approach is to take them after you have reviewed everything and practiced at least a little. Finish up your review and then start working on practice problems like in the DAT Destroyer, and later on start taking DAT practice tests.

Thank you for replying Ari!!! I really appreciate your input. To be honest, I have practiced PAT quite a bit. Since February, I would practice the generators while waiting for reactions to happen in the lab. I am on my second subscription of DAT Bootcamp, and I primarily used it for PAT generators, although I did some light study of biology and the chemistries, because I was pretty worried about biology.

The main reason I took the first full test and put these scores up SO early was to get a baseline on where I was thus far. If I missed specific questions on material that I have covered (8 Chapters of biology and all of Gen Chem), then I want to go back over it and get it down. I am not frustrated at my scores, and while I said that a <14 score in organic was very scary, I am aware that I haven't even started review for it. I did just finish Organic chemistry 2 with high A's in both organics, though, and I wanted to see how well that translated over into the OC section.

Thanks again for your reply.

 

[Axiomatician]

I'm on my day 14! When are you planning on taking the DAT?

I am taking it July 29th at 12:45! I have a little over 60 days left.