Alright guys, so I made an account just to post my DAT breakdown. SDN has been such a great help during my studies that I found it necessary to give back to the community and see if I can help answer any of your questions in this post!
Well to start off, I'm 20 and I just finished Sophomore year as a Biomedical Sciences Major with a 3.9 GPA, and I thought that now would be the best time to take my DAT--I just finished Organic Chem and Cell and Molecular Biology and my memories of G Chem and Bio are just a year old. Hence, I decided to study 6 weeks for the test. I studied 6 days a week, about 8-10 hours day the first three weeks and about 5-7 hours a day the last 3 weeks. Now that's out of the way, let's go over what I used!
CourseSaver (Chad's Videos):
So many people have said that Chad's videos have been super helpful and I can't agree more. Though people mainly praise him for his G Chem info, I took full advantage of my subscription and watched everything he had. G Chem, O chem, QR, and even Bio (incomplete). I made sure to take notes on everything he wrote down as well as key phrases he said. I took all the quizzes and looked over all the questions I missed, even though some of them take forever haha! The one thing I found most useful with this resource is that I was able to get a conceptual understanding of the sciences, not just brutal memorization of formulas and little details. Knowing concepts will help you guess better when you're in doubt and learning the little details becomes easier.
DAT Bootcamp:
I would say to definitely use Bootcamp. I actually saw like a bunch similar questions on the real DAT across all sciences after going through all 5 of their Full-length tests. Some questions were even the exact same. Make sure to avoid taking any of the partial tests until you've finished all 5 full-length tests since the questions from the full-length are pooled from the partials. Bootcamp was great with their generators for PAT. Overall, I wish I really did these more, I got a little too overconfident on PAT and neglected my generators for a little bit, thus reflecting in my score. Overall, DAT Bootcamp, to me, is a must. Their pretty much all the sections were pretty similar to that of the real DAT. Just make sure to go take all the tests and look over ever single question, even if you answered it right. it will trigger you look at your notes and really help them stick to your mind. Make sure to go over each test before taking the next practice test to really see if you're improving. My mistake was I took all the practice tests first and then looked at my results and solutions after.
DAT Destroyer/Math Destroyer:
I only used about 75% of the DAT Destroyer and only took 1 of the practice tests in Math Destroyer. People say that it's overkill, and I would agree. However, it's good reinforcement to whatever you watched in Chad's. The only thing is that you won't feel confident answering all of Destroyers questions until you finish all of the lectures. Only after I finished all of my G chem lectures was I able to answer more than 5 questions right in a row. However, in the first week or so, I was having to constantly flip back and forth the problems and solutions. Some people don't like it, but I didn't mind.
Feralis Notes:
These notes were pretty much all I studied biology from during my 6 weeks. I went through the notes twice. The first time around, I read and highlighted. The second time, I scripted all 80 pages. I wrote down everything at least once and made sure I made acronyms as I went for whatever list I needed to remember. Such as remembering what arises from the 3 germ layers, or what hormones come from where. Feralis is wide, but still compact for what it's worth, which I feel is exactly what you want when studying biology. You wan't to be able to know as much about everything as possible.
Achiever:
I decided to go ahead with achiever, even though people say it's crazy hard. I can definitely agree that it was harder than Bootcamp tests and the real DAT. If anything it would be something along the lines of a Destroyer Full-length test. Mind you that their tests get progressively hard, so don't go crazy if you see lower and lower scores. Knowing all this, I wouldn't get any more than 3 tests from achiever. Make sure to go over all the questions on achiever as well, the more information you see, the better. Never forget that. You'll only thank yourself for over studying.
Extra Notes:
Make sure you get in the habit of sleeping early and waking up early during your study. You don't want to be awake at 2 am the night before your test because of your messed up circadian rhythm lol. Also drinks lot's of water while you study, it keeps you awake and focused. Change up the scenery here and there so you stay fresh. Make sure to go outside and breath the fresh air! It's relaxing and will help you focus more when you're actually studying. Do something recreational and social, even though you may feel guilty about it! Lastly, make sure your schedule has room for error, you never know if you'll get sick or if something urgent pops up. Also the day before the test, some people say to relax, but I decided to study the whole day lol. I personally think that it's the most important day, because skimming through will trigger memories of past information as well as force you to look at a little detail that might end up as a question the next day. Also sleep no later than 10:30 pm and wake up at 6 am. You want to give yourself some time to wake up before your test and still have 8 hours or so of sleep.
Well that's about it for what I used and how I used them. The next section will show my practice tests scores and my real DAT score. I know that as you take practice tests scores, you wanna have an idea of what that could translate into on the real DAT, so enjoy!
DAT Bootcamp Scores:
Bio / G Chem / O chem / PAT / RC / QR / AA
Test 1 21 22 21 20 19 19 20
Test 2 18 23 20 21 18 19 20
Test 3 20 24 19 21 22 18 21
Test 4 21 22 29 20 24 18 23
Test 5 20 22 20 20 20 19 21
Achiever Scores
Sadly, I deleted my Achiever App already, so I can't see individual categories, but my AA are.
20, 18, 17.
Real DAT
Bio / G Chem / O chem / PAT / RC / QR / AA
28 26 24 22 23 24 25
All I can say is that the hard work paid off, and I'm just glad it's over haha! Just remember to keep a level head and don't over stress, but don't under stress. No matter where you are in your studies, either a week in, or a week away from the big test, just keep pushing, and you'll reap what you sow! You got this!!!!
Well to start off, I'm 20 and I just finished Sophomore year as a Biomedical Sciences Major with a 3.9 GPA, and I thought that now would be the best time to take my DAT--I just finished Organic Chem and Cell and Molecular Biology and my memories of G Chem and Bio are just a year old. Hence, I decided to study 6 weeks for the test. I studied 6 days a week, about 8-10 hours day the first three weeks and about 5-7 hours a day the last 3 weeks. Now that's out of the way, let's go over what I used!
CourseSaver (Chad's Videos):
So many people have said that Chad's videos have been super helpful and I can't agree more. Though people mainly praise him for his G Chem info, I took full advantage of my subscription and watched everything he had. G Chem, O chem, QR, and even Bio (incomplete). I made sure to take notes on everything he wrote down as well as key phrases he said. I took all the quizzes and looked over all the questions I missed, even though some of them take forever haha! The one thing I found most useful with this resource is that I was able to get a conceptual understanding of the sciences, not just brutal memorization of formulas and little details. Knowing concepts will help you guess better when you're in doubt and learning the little details becomes easier.
DAT Bootcamp:
I would say to definitely use Bootcamp. I actually saw like a bunch similar questions on the real DAT across all sciences after going through all 5 of their Full-length tests. Some questions were even the exact same. Make sure to avoid taking any of the partial tests until you've finished all 5 full-length tests since the questions from the full-length are pooled from the partials. Bootcamp was great with their generators for PAT. Overall, I wish I really did these more, I got a little too overconfident on PAT and neglected my generators for a little bit, thus reflecting in my score. Overall, DAT Bootcamp, to me, is a must. Their pretty much all the sections were pretty similar to that of the real DAT. Just make sure to go take all the tests and look over ever single question, even if you answered it right. it will trigger you look at your notes and really help them stick to your mind. Make sure to go over each test before taking the next practice test to really see if you're improving. My mistake was I took all the practice tests first and then looked at my results and solutions after.
DAT Destroyer/Math Destroyer:
I only used about 75% of the DAT Destroyer and only took 1 of the practice tests in Math Destroyer. People say that it's overkill, and I would agree. However, it's good reinforcement to whatever you watched in Chad's. The only thing is that you won't feel confident answering all of Destroyers questions until you finish all of the lectures. Only after I finished all of my G chem lectures was I able to answer more than 5 questions right in a row. However, in the first week or so, I was having to constantly flip back and forth the problems and solutions. Some people don't like it, but I didn't mind.
Feralis Notes:
These notes were pretty much all I studied biology from during my 6 weeks. I went through the notes twice. The first time around, I read and highlighted. The second time, I scripted all 80 pages. I wrote down everything at least once and made sure I made acronyms as I went for whatever list I needed to remember. Such as remembering what arises from the 3 germ layers, or what hormones come from where. Feralis is wide, but still compact for what it's worth, which I feel is exactly what you want when studying biology. You wan't to be able to know as much about everything as possible.
Achiever:
I decided to go ahead with achiever, even though people say it's crazy hard. I can definitely agree that it was harder than Bootcamp tests and the real DAT. If anything it would be something along the lines of a Destroyer Full-length test. Mind you that their tests get progressively hard, so don't go crazy if you see lower and lower scores. Knowing all this, I wouldn't get any more than 3 tests from achiever. Make sure to go over all the questions on achiever as well, the more information you see, the better. Never forget that. You'll only thank yourself for over studying.
Extra Notes:
Make sure you get in the habit of sleeping early and waking up early during your study. You don't want to be awake at 2 am the night before your test because of your messed up circadian rhythm lol. Also drinks lot's of water while you study, it keeps you awake and focused. Change up the scenery here and there so you stay fresh. Make sure to go outside and breath the fresh air! It's relaxing and will help you focus more when you're actually studying. Do something recreational and social, even though you may feel guilty about it! Lastly, make sure your schedule has room for error, you never know if you'll get sick or if something urgent pops up. Also the day before the test, some people say to relax, but I decided to study the whole day lol. I personally think that it's the most important day, because skimming through will trigger memories of past information as well as force you to look at a little detail that might end up as a question the next day. Also sleep no later than 10:30 pm and wake up at 6 am. You want to give yourself some time to wake up before your test and still have 8 hours or so of sleep.
Well that's about it for what I used and how I used them. The next section will show my practice tests scores and my real DAT score. I know that as you take practice tests scores, you wanna have an idea of what that could translate into on the real DAT, so enjoy!
DAT Bootcamp Scores:
Bio / G Chem / O chem / PAT / RC / QR / AA
Test 1 21 22 21 20 19 19 20
Test 2 18 23 20 21 18 19 20
Test 3 20 24 19 21 22 18 21
Test 4 21 22 29 20 24 18 23
Test 5 20 22 20 20 20 19 21
Achiever Scores
Sadly, I deleted my Achiever App already, so I can't see individual categories, but my AA are.
20, 18, 17.
Real DAT
Bio / G Chem / O chem / PAT / RC / QR / AA
28 26 24 22 23 24 25
All I can say is that the hard work paid off, and I'm just glad it's over haha! Just remember to keep a level head and don't over stress, but don't under stress. No matter where you are in your studies, either a week in, or a week away from the big test, just keep pushing, and you'll reap what you sow! You got this!!!!
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What was your QR section like in terms of the distribution of the diff. types of questions (comparison, data sufficiency, algebra, trig, prob & stat, geometry data interpretation, etc.)? I know every test will be different, but just want to get an idea!
