- Joined
- Jun 9, 2020
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I just took my DAT today and would like to share how I studied and got my score.
Score Breakdown:
PAT: 19
QR: 21
RC: 30
BIO: 24
OCHEM: 24
GCHEM: 24
TS: 24
AA: 25
How I studied:
Kaplan prep course: I did the Kaplan online prep course, completed all their practice exams, did 85% of the extra practice questions available, along with all their tutorials and extra prep videos. Even though it was expensive, I felt that it prepared me for the exam. I was not getting good scores in the practice exams and that discouraged me. I would really say that these exams (overall) are harder than the actual DAT. But don't let that change how you study. The whole point of a prep course is to over-prepare you so that when you sit down to take the real deal, you are ready. I made flashcards from the Kaplan blue book for the bio section and that helped me more than the flashcards they provide.
Kaplan practice test scores:
1: 16 AA
2: 17 AA
3: 17 AA
4: 17 AA
5: 19 AA
6: 19 AA
7: 20 AA
Extra stuff:
* I purchased the cliff's ap bio book and read through it once. That helped with a general review and just seeing the material again.
* Feralis bio notes: AMAZING, I learned about them from SDN and read that someone suggested to review them 2-3 before testing. I reviewed them twice. Last time was in the last two days before my test.
* Chad's prep: holy crap this dude is amazing. His free DAT prep practice tests were so helpful and I think were part of the reason I improved from a 16 QR to a 21 QR. I would highly suggest doing every practice test he has to offer. They're super helpful. I would make flashcards after every one of the things I didn't know or missed as review. I went through every Ochem video and made a flashcard for every reaction/video and that was my main Ochem prep that helped me get a 24.
* DAT bootcamp: This was the prep I heard talked about over and over. And it terrified me that I really didn't hear many good things about Kaplan and saw mainly positive reviews about bootcamp. I did their free Ochem, bio, QR, and gchem sections as prep. I used their angle generator too since Kaplan doesn't prepare you well for the angles section. I would say if I had only gotten bootcamp I could've done well on the DAT but I won't know how it compared to Kaplan since I didn't get it.
* DAT destroyer: I really wanted to get the destroyer books but it was too late when I decided I wanted them; Professor Romano is a beast in the best way. Simply watching his free youtube videos, answering and reading the daily questions on FB, and looking at other peoples posts really helped me (and just the sense of community too, so encouraging!!!)
*PAT side note: didn't do as well as I would've liked but also not too upset with my score given I didn't focus on prepping for that section as much as the sciences and QR.
* Reading comp: was easy on the exam and would highly recommend just reading every day to practice for this section. The only practice I ever did was during the Kaplan practice tests (were much harder than the actual DAT; meaning the articles were harder to digest and the questions were longer and more in depth).
Timeline:
-began prep course in January, set exam date for April 4th
-studied hardcore mainly in march, only used Kaplan at this point, dat got cancelled due to COVID
-didnt actually reschedule dat until end of April for early june
-that gave me about a month and two weeks to get my crap together
-I continued with Kaplan but began to branch out to chads, dat bootcamp, and dat destroyer facebook page
-did all that extra stuff for about a month, really reviewed all the information, did tons of practice, made notecards of things I didn't know after every practice test
-week before exam: read feralis notes twice, did practice sections until the day before the exam (it helped me keep things fresh), and day before exam reviewed every notecard I ever made
Basically, you can do it. Any prep course can prepare you, what's most important is your level of dedication and willingness to persevere in the face of what might feel like failure. I always felt like I wasn't improving, but test day came and everything finally came to fruition. Whoever you are out there, you got this.
Score Breakdown:
PAT: 19
QR: 21
RC: 30
BIO: 24
OCHEM: 24
GCHEM: 24
TS: 24
AA: 25
How I studied:
Kaplan prep course: I did the Kaplan online prep course, completed all their practice exams, did 85% of the extra practice questions available, along with all their tutorials and extra prep videos. Even though it was expensive, I felt that it prepared me for the exam. I was not getting good scores in the practice exams and that discouraged me. I would really say that these exams (overall) are harder than the actual DAT. But don't let that change how you study. The whole point of a prep course is to over-prepare you so that when you sit down to take the real deal, you are ready. I made flashcards from the Kaplan blue book for the bio section and that helped me more than the flashcards they provide.
Kaplan practice test scores:
1: 16 AA
2: 17 AA
3: 17 AA
4: 17 AA
5: 19 AA
6: 19 AA
7: 20 AA
Extra stuff:
* I purchased the cliff's ap bio book and read through it once. That helped with a general review and just seeing the material again.
* Feralis bio notes: AMAZING, I learned about them from SDN and read that someone suggested to review them 2-3 before testing. I reviewed them twice. Last time was in the last two days before my test.
* Chad's prep: holy crap this dude is amazing. His free DAT prep practice tests were so helpful and I think were part of the reason I improved from a 16 QR to a 21 QR. I would highly suggest doing every practice test he has to offer. They're super helpful. I would make flashcards after every one of the things I didn't know or missed as review. I went through every Ochem video and made a flashcard for every reaction/video and that was my main Ochem prep that helped me get a 24.
* DAT bootcamp: This was the prep I heard talked about over and over. And it terrified me that I really didn't hear many good things about Kaplan and saw mainly positive reviews about bootcamp. I did their free Ochem, bio, QR, and gchem sections as prep. I used their angle generator too since Kaplan doesn't prepare you well for the angles section. I would say if I had only gotten bootcamp I could've done well on the DAT but I won't know how it compared to Kaplan since I didn't get it.
* DAT destroyer: I really wanted to get the destroyer books but it was too late when I decided I wanted them; Professor Romano is a beast in the best way. Simply watching his free youtube videos, answering and reading the daily questions on FB, and looking at other peoples posts really helped me (and just the sense of community too, so encouraging!!!)
*PAT side note: didn't do as well as I would've liked but also not too upset with my score given I didn't focus on prepping for that section as much as the sciences and QR.
* Reading comp: was easy on the exam and would highly recommend just reading every day to practice for this section. The only practice I ever did was during the Kaplan practice tests (were much harder than the actual DAT; meaning the articles were harder to digest and the questions were longer and more in depth).
Timeline:
-began prep course in January, set exam date for April 4th
-studied hardcore mainly in march, only used Kaplan at this point, dat got cancelled due to COVID
-didnt actually reschedule dat until end of April for early june
-that gave me about a month and two weeks to get my crap together
-I continued with Kaplan but began to branch out to chads, dat bootcamp, and dat destroyer facebook page
-did all that extra stuff for about a month, really reviewed all the information, did tons of practice, made notecards of things I didn't know after every practice test
-week before exam: read feralis notes twice, did practice sections until the day before the exam (it helped me keep things fresh), and day before exam reviewed every notecard I ever made
Basically, you can do it. Any prep course can prepare you, what's most important is your level of dedication and willingness to persevere in the face of what might feel like failure. I always felt like I wasn't improving, but test day came and everything finally came to fruition. Whoever you are out there, you got this.
