Must haves for preparing for the DAT

[ChickasawPup]

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I took the DAT in May and killed the Organic section (26) (22 TS, 21 AA). Here are the two books I studied. Both are must haves.

1. Organic Chemistry, the stuff that counts
-this book basically list every relevant organic chemistry reaction you can expect to see on the DAT. Many of question were almost directly from here. Plus it has a nearly identical NMR problem.

2. Dat Destroyer
Great source of practice questions

For Biology (this might sound strange, but I used an audiobook) here is the link, it's from Barrons. I just listened to this audiobook three times and then took the DAT

And for the PAT- nothing beats crack the DAT- it is super realistic. I did four of the PAT practice sessions and felt very confident

I will give a full breakdown as soon as possible.

P.S. my scores are below, because

 

[DoeAdeer]

I took the DAT in May and killed the Organic section (26) (22 TS, 21 AA). Here are the two books I studied. Both are must haves.

1. Organic Chemistry, the stuff that counts
-this book basically list every relevant organic chemistry reaction you can expect to see on the DAT. Many of question were almost directly from here. Plus it has a nearly identical NMR problem.

2. Dat Destroyer
Great source of practice questions

No thanks to the first one.

Way to throw in DAT Destroyer to make your marketing seem legitimate...👎

 

[ChickasawPup]

Not marketing my friend

 

[chellis]

Honestly, I'd have to agree with ChickasawPup a bit here. Five years removed from school I was willing to give anything and everything a chance. I found DAT Destroyer and Crack DAT worked well for me. Of course, I also used Kaplan and my undergraduate books. Occasionally, I went to Barnes and Nobles and sat down and read through some of the organic, g chem, and bio books they had there.

At the end of the day, Destroyer and Crack DAT worked for me. It may not work for others though. Re-learning the material through Kaplan, course books, etc was great, but didn't offer a lot of opportunities to practice DAT style questions. Destroyer wasn't very DAT-like considering once you figured out how the guy wrote questions, it was pretty easy to get the answers right. The explainations in the back were key though. Crack DAT helped train me to start answering questions in a timely manner, but I found WAY too many errors with the information. I actually had to contact them about the inaccuracies of their product.

In the end, everyone's different. I say be open to using anything, but find what's best for you.

 

[ChickasawPup]

Thanks Chellis.

Also, would like to add. I studied biology by listening to a Baron's biology book on tape from audible.com
here's that link

 

[wo5678]

Crack DAT helped train me to start answering questions in a timely manner, but I found WAY too many errors with the information. I actually had to contact them about the inaccuracies of their product.

In the end, everyone's different. I say be open to using anything, but find what's best for you.

Cracked the DAT has SOOOO many errors. I hated it. I only used it for the reading, math and PAT. The science sections were counterproductive.

 

[ChickasawPup]

Agree. Crack the DAT was most helpful on the PAT (i dont think it can be beat for the PAT). It was just meh on everything else

 

[bluesprite13]

Great job ChickasawPup! That ochem score is very impressive!

 

[ChickasawPup]

Thanks bluesprite. I've been meaning to do a full break down but I got busy with applying to schools and work 😳

 

[fuser]

.

 

[Mark_Il]

20s are 65 and 75th percentile? I had no idea.. I got a 19 in bio and got in the 86.6 percentile. odd. must have been the difficulty of the exams.

I was thinking the same thing. My 19 on the QR section was good enough for 91.7 percentile, but all the d-schools see is the standard score.

 

[ChickasawPup]

I think what it means is that tons of people make 18s on the QR. I wish they would just report the raw scores, like how many you got correct.

Actually this thread wasn't what I was hoping. Was hoping others would say what they considered "must haves" for DAT prep....

 

[cwoodds]

I think what it means is that tons of people make 18s on the QR. I wish they would just report the raw scores, like how many you got correct.

Actually this thread wasn't what I was hoping. Was hoping others would say what they considered "must haves" for DAT prep....

Must haves in my opinion: Chad's Videos and datQvault, but you might get more response in the 'DAT Discussions' forum.

 

[sacapuntas]

I think what it means is that tons of people make 18s on the QR. I wish they would just report the raw scores, like how many you got correct.

Actually this thread wasn't what I was hoping. Was hoping others would say what they considered "must haves" for DAT prep....

DAT Destroyer and Math Destroyer
Cliffs or Barron's AP (preferably both)
Chad's Videos
Crack DAT PAT

 

[NDPitch]

I say the essentials are...

DAT Destroyer (Math Destroyer wasn't necessary in my opinion)
DAT qVault (all sections were useful EXCEPT reading)
Crack DAT PAT
Crack DAT Reading
Cliff's AP Bio
Chad's Videos - full DAT package

I say stay away from DAT Acheiver - too demoralizing.

 

[sacapuntas]

I say the essentials are...

DAT Destroyer (Math Destroyer wasn't necessary in my opinion)
DAT qVault (all sections were useful EXCEPT reading)
Crack DAT PAT
Crack DAT Reading
Cliff's AP Bio
Chad's Videos - full DAT package

I say stay away from DAT Acheiver - too demoralizing.

To me the necessity of Math Destroyer varies greatly with the person. If you have a strong background in math or will be satisfied with an acceptable but not terrific QR score (i.e. 18 or 19) then Math Destroyer may not be necessary. For me, It had been a long time with no math courses and I really wanted to nail the QR to boost my AA. I found Math Destroyer to be the single best QR resource.

 

[bluesprite13]

Highly recommend Math Destroyer. Those rate problems in each of the practice tests are extremely helpful when you take the real DAT!

 

[scsc7211]

To me the necessity of Math Destroyer varies greatly with the person. If you have a strong background in math or will be satisfied with an acceptable but not terrific QR score (i.e. 18 or 19) then Math Destroyer may not be necessary. For me, It had been a long time with no math courses and I really wanted to nail the QR to boost my AA. I found Math Destroyer to be the single best QR resource.

I mostly agree, but with an average to decent background/interest level in math, I solely relied on:
-datQvault QR problem sets as a beta testaer
-DAT Destroyer (about half of the problems)
-Topscore exams.

I only encountered 2 or 3 problems on the real thing that threw me for a loop. I'm not even sure what the datQvault QR package costs at this point, but this combination of resources might be able to save somebody some $$$ if they aren't looking to buy Math Destroyer.