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I just finished the DAT today. I spend much time researching on SDN so I felt it necessary to post my experience. I will get right to it. First; what to study.
1. Bio - Bio is very broad. I feel that what your are taught in Bio 1 and 2 makes up maybe 60% of the questions they can ask on the Biology section. If you do not have extensive experience in Biology, make sure you get Cliffs, Shaums, and have your textbook handy. You really need to know all of it. I read Cliffs and Shaums several times and made flash cards of every single word I did not know. They can ask questions from everywhere so you need to know it all. DAT destroyer is a good account of difficulty of questions. The ones I got were honestly close to that. A week before the exam I read the explanation to every Bio question. It helps with extra studying. Do not underestimate this section. The questions they can ask can be very random and very detailed so actual knowledge is required.
2. General Chemistry - if you know everything in your textbook this still will not be enough. You should know everything in the whole book conceptually. DAT Destroyer is an absolute necessity. I went through the entire book several times. Practice exams are a must to get you acclimated to the types of questions you will encounter but do not get discouraged because the real exam is not as difficult as any of the exams but the Kaplan free one online.
3. Organic - If you struggle with Organic, give yourself a month of practice with Organic Chemistry Odyssey from the Orgoman. That book is brutal and will beat you up with it's tricks but it really makes a difference. I have never had an Organic Chemistry class and this book made a huge difference. DAT Destroyer is basically an extension of this book but does not give you nearly enough practice. For Organic you need to be very solid with stereochemistry, basic reactions, names of the reactions, and naming. Practice exams will give you great insight into what you may be missing but my real DAT was more difficult than all of them so do not go in too proud.
4. PAT - Crack PAT is great. It is the best representation of the real thing. The angles are much more difficult in Crack and the folding is a bit more difficult (but not much). Doing ten of them plus six practice exams will increase your first score significantly.
5. Reading. This is all up to you and your own brain. I used search and destroy and I got a 21. It is fairly safe but you will never get a 28 that way.
6. QR - I got math destroyer and it made all the difference. You still need to do many practice exams because there is questions that came up that destroyer did not cover. I also had DAT professor and there were several practice exams there.
Practice Exams.
I got three TopScore, three Achiever, the free one on the ADA website, and the free one on the Kaplan website. I cannot stress practice exams enough. Do every one. Do them in whatever order you wish but make sure you do at least one or two TopScore as your last. This will give you the best indication of how you will do on the exam. Achiever is best done in the middle. It will destroy your confidence. It is way harder than the real thing. Average scores are 3 to 5 points higher. I found the Organic and Bio sections to be about same difficulty but found Chem and Reading to be much more difficult. If you are going to use search and destroy for reading because your reading comprehension is bad, do not let Achiever discourage you. The reading sections are brutal and the questions are much more difficult to answer with that method on Achiever. The ADA free exam is too easy. Do not get over confident. I ended up with the same score on the real thing as my last topscore exam. I went up three points in GenChem from any of my practice because it really is more simple than any of the practice exams.
The Day of the exam.
Bring squishy earplugs. They will give you headphones but the plugs are much more comfortable. Make sure to grab a tissue because they did not give me an eraser for the dry erase board. Use the 15 minute break to clear your head.
I have only taken Bio1 and Chem1 and have taught myself all the other information in the last 5 months so do not look at my scores the same as others. I did not even know what a cell was in January. The plan that I had and the materials I used were what got me here. Good luck everyone. It is great when it is over.
PAT 23
QR 21
RC 21
GC 22
BIO 22
OC 19
TS 21
AA 21
1. Bio - Bio is very broad. I feel that what your are taught in Bio 1 and 2 makes up maybe 60% of the questions they can ask on the Biology section. If you do not have extensive experience in Biology, make sure you get Cliffs, Shaums, and have your textbook handy. You really need to know all of it. I read Cliffs and Shaums several times and made flash cards of every single word I did not know. They can ask questions from everywhere so you need to know it all. DAT destroyer is a good account of difficulty of questions. The ones I got were honestly close to that. A week before the exam I read the explanation to every Bio question. It helps with extra studying. Do not underestimate this section. The questions they can ask can be very random and very detailed so actual knowledge is required.
2. General Chemistry - if you know everything in your textbook this still will not be enough. You should know everything in the whole book conceptually. DAT Destroyer is an absolute necessity. I went through the entire book several times. Practice exams are a must to get you acclimated to the types of questions you will encounter but do not get discouraged because the real exam is not as difficult as any of the exams but the Kaplan free one online.
3. Organic - If you struggle with Organic, give yourself a month of practice with Organic Chemistry Odyssey from the Orgoman. That book is brutal and will beat you up with it's tricks but it really makes a difference. I have never had an Organic Chemistry class and this book made a huge difference. DAT Destroyer is basically an extension of this book but does not give you nearly enough practice. For Organic you need to be very solid with stereochemistry, basic reactions, names of the reactions, and naming. Practice exams will give you great insight into what you may be missing but my real DAT was more difficult than all of them so do not go in too proud.
4. PAT - Crack PAT is great. It is the best representation of the real thing. The angles are much more difficult in Crack and the folding is a bit more difficult (but not much). Doing ten of them plus six practice exams will increase your first score significantly.
5. Reading. This is all up to you and your own brain. I used search and destroy and I got a 21. It is fairly safe but you will never get a 28 that way.
6. QR - I got math destroyer and it made all the difference. You still need to do many practice exams because there is questions that came up that destroyer did not cover. I also had DAT professor and there were several practice exams there.
Practice Exams.
I got three TopScore, three Achiever, the free one on the ADA website, and the free one on the Kaplan website. I cannot stress practice exams enough. Do every one. Do them in whatever order you wish but make sure you do at least one or two TopScore as your last. This will give you the best indication of how you will do on the exam. Achiever is best done in the middle. It will destroy your confidence. It is way harder than the real thing. Average scores are 3 to 5 points higher. I found the Organic and Bio sections to be about same difficulty but found Chem and Reading to be much more difficult. If you are going to use search and destroy for reading because your reading comprehension is bad, do not let Achiever discourage you. The reading sections are brutal and the questions are much more difficult to answer with that method on Achiever. The ADA free exam is too easy. Do not get over confident. I ended up with the same score on the real thing as my last topscore exam. I went up three points in GenChem from any of my practice because it really is more simple than any of the practice exams.
The Day of the exam.
Bring squishy earplugs. They will give you headphones but the plugs are much more comfortable. Make sure to grab a tissue because they did not give me an eraser for the dry erase board. Use the 15 minute break to clear your head.
I have only taken Bio1 and Chem1 and have taught myself all the other information in the last 5 months so do not look at my scores the same as others. I did not even know what a cell was in January. The plan that I had and the materials I used were what got me here. Good luck everyone. It is great when it is over.
PAT 23
QR 21
RC 21
GC 22
BIO 22
OC 19
TS 21
AA 21
12-14 hours a day every day for five months!!!!!!... Thats crazy!!... But good job!!... Congrats on your scores!!!.. Hard work paid off!!
