Hello everyone,
I just finished my DAT a couple hours ago, and I am exhausted. However, I will do a quick break down of my experience.
To start things off, my gpa isn't high, so I understood I will need to do well on the DAT exam in order to compete with students with stellar GPA and DAT scores. So instead of working full time, I found a part time job during the weekend, and I basically just treated studying as my full time job for 3 months.
The course materials I used for this exam were: DAT destroyer, Chad's Videos, Math Destroyer, Cliff's AP biology + feralis notes, DATbootcamp and Crack the PAT.
Biology
Exam:
I would say Cliff's biology (+ bootcamp) covered around 80% of the questions on my exam. The Feralis notes and the dat destroyer (440+ questions) covered the other 20%. If I had to redo it again, I would probably focus more on the feralis notes and Cliff's AP.
Study method: Believe it or not, I didn't take any biology notes, not even 1 page. I basically just read the text book and the feralis notes over and over again. I probably read over 4 times each. Then I did the a LOT of questions. I went over the DAT destroyer (biology section) 3 times, and made sure I understood every single mistake on there. Moreover, I did the Bootcamp Biology until I hit 100% every time. The bootcamp had the most representative questions compared to the exam.
Basically, I just read the materials over and over again, until they're cemented in my head.
Chemistry
Exam:
I thought Chad's quizzes along with DAT bootcamp really covered everything (90%). The last 10% I would have to thank DAT destroyer. I honestly felt like I knew how to do every question on the chemistry section, but I guess I made a silly mistake somewhere during the test.
Study method:
Unlike how I studied biology, I copied down everything chad had to say in his videos. I watched his videos at least twice (and right before I sleep, I would just randomly select one to fall asleep with -__-) . I did the DAT destroyer three times (now I think about it, it was really an over kill), and I also made sure I got 30/30 on the bootcamp every single time at the end.
Basically, I did a lot of questions, and I listened to chad lol.
Organic Chemistry
Exam:
I thought this section was very basic. Compared to the DAT destroyer, the actual exam would be considered as laughable. I would say Chad and the Bootcamp are the way to go for this section, the DAT destroyer is really an over kill.
Study Method:
Same as how I studied for General Chemistry! I knew going in to this exam that the DAT bootcamp is the most representative material (which it is), so I just forced myself to get used to the wording on the bootcamp (for both gc and oc) so there wouldn't be any surprises.
Basically, bootcamp + chad would cover everything you need to know for this exam, but use the dat destroyer if you really want to know everything.
Finished all three sections with 18 minutes to go. I just went through all the questions again during the time.
Reading Comprehension
Exam:
I would consider myself as an average reader. I knew reading comprehension was going to give me the most trouble, because I could only score a 21 at the highest through bootcamp. (I didn't redo the RC exams on the bootcamp, because it kind of defeats the purpose). So I just tried my best and hoped for the best.
For the actual exam, I got a passage that was 15-18 paragraphs long (I can't remember). In the end of that passage, I just lost focus and I started panicking. That's probably why I only got 19 in this section. (Reached the time limit)
Study:
I only used bootcamp for this section and I felt like the questions were not as representative as to the actual exam compared to the other sections. I think if I was good with search and destroy, it would probably be the method of choice.
Basically, just bootcamp it. lol
PAT
Exam:
A lot easier than the bootcamp. The exam was equivalent to Crack the PAT. I think I lost all my marks in the angle section, so just be prepared to see some 3 degree differences. (I had at least 5 questions that were all different by just 3 degrees)
Study:
I thought the bootcamp helped the most. The bootcamp has much harder key hole and folding patterns questions than the actual DAT. I would get 20's on the DAT bootcamp, and 23's on the Crack the PAT. I went over all the questions (75 questions for each section) on the DAT bootcamp without time limit. I didn't use any line counting method, I just used my perceptual ability for the TFE section.
Basically, I used DAT bootcamp as the primary practice and I supplemented it with Crack the pat (5 exams).
Math
Exam:
Questions were all over the place on my exam. It would jump from trig to algebra to word problems, then back to trig. I thought I would've done a lot worse in this section than my actual mark. I had to guess at least 5 questions throughout the exam. The questions on the DAT/Math Destroyers were representative of the actual exam. I used the formulas I learned through the Math destroyer, so I guess it was a good investment. The calculator on my computer was lagging and it kind of threw me off.
Study:
I spent the least time on math. I knew most of the formulas already, but I wasn't familiar with my trig identities. The math destroyer was very good in covering the trig questions! The bootcamp was surprisingly good at estimating my math scores. I would get an average of around 20 on bootcamp, and that's what I got on the actual exam! However, the questions on bootcamp seemed harder than the actual exam.
Basically, DAT/Math Destroyer this section! Don't just rely on chad's videos for math, do problems!!
That's all for my breakdown. Sorry if I made grammar mistakes. I am exhausted, and I don't feel like staring at this screen anymore. Let me know if you have any questions.
My gpa is 3.1 overall (my first year was 1.8 lol). My major is Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and I have a really strong upward trend, so I hope I can get interviewed somewhere.
Let me know how I did and any opinions/suggestions are welcomed!
I just finished my DAT a couple hours ago, and I am exhausted. However, I will do a quick break down of my experience.
To start things off, my gpa isn't high, so I understood I will need to do well on the DAT exam in order to compete with students with stellar GPA and DAT scores. So instead of working full time, I found a part time job during the weekend, and I basically just treated studying as my full time job for 3 months.
The course materials I used for this exam were: DAT destroyer, Chad's Videos, Math Destroyer, Cliff's AP biology + feralis notes, DATbootcamp and Crack the PAT.
Biology
Exam:
I would say Cliff's biology (+ bootcamp) covered around 80% of the questions on my exam. The Feralis notes and the dat destroyer (440+ questions) covered the other 20%. If I had to redo it again, I would probably focus more on the feralis notes and Cliff's AP.
Study method: Believe it or not, I didn't take any biology notes, not even 1 page. I basically just read the text book and the feralis notes over and over again. I probably read over 4 times each. Then I did the a LOT of questions. I went over the DAT destroyer (biology section) 3 times, and made sure I understood every single mistake on there. Moreover, I did the Bootcamp Biology until I hit 100% every time. The bootcamp had the most representative questions compared to the exam.
Basically, I just read the materials over and over again, until they're cemented in my head.
Chemistry
Exam:
I thought Chad's quizzes along with DAT bootcamp really covered everything (90%). The last 10% I would have to thank DAT destroyer. I honestly felt like I knew how to do every question on the chemistry section, but I guess I made a silly mistake somewhere during the test.
Study method:
Unlike how I studied biology, I copied down everything chad had to say in his videos. I watched his videos at least twice (and right before I sleep, I would just randomly select one to fall asleep with -__-) . I did the DAT destroyer three times (now I think about it, it was really an over kill), and I also made sure I got 30/30 on the bootcamp every single time at the end.
Basically, I did a lot of questions, and I listened to chad lol.
Organic Chemistry
Exam:
I thought this section was very basic. Compared to the DAT destroyer, the actual exam would be considered as laughable. I would say Chad and the Bootcamp are the way to go for this section, the DAT destroyer is really an over kill.
Study Method:
Same as how I studied for General Chemistry! I knew going in to this exam that the DAT bootcamp is the most representative material (which it is), so I just forced myself to get used to the wording on the bootcamp (for both gc and oc) so there wouldn't be any surprises.
Basically, bootcamp + chad would cover everything you need to know for this exam, but use the dat destroyer if you really want to know everything.
Finished all three sections with 18 minutes to go. I just went through all the questions again during the time.
Reading Comprehension
Exam:
I would consider myself as an average reader. I knew reading comprehension was going to give me the most trouble, because I could only score a 21 at the highest through bootcamp. (I didn't redo the RC exams on the bootcamp, because it kind of defeats the purpose). So I just tried my best and hoped for the best.
For the actual exam, I got a passage that was 15-18 paragraphs long (I can't remember). In the end of that passage, I just lost focus and I started panicking. That's probably why I only got 19 in this section. (Reached the time limit)
Study:
I only used bootcamp for this section and I felt like the questions were not as representative as to the actual exam compared to the other sections. I think if I was good with search and destroy, it would probably be the method of choice.
Basically, just bootcamp it. lol
PAT
Exam:
A lot easier than the bootcamp. The exam was equivalent to Crack the PAT. I think I lost all my marks in the angle section, so just be prepared to see some 3 degree differences. (I had at least 5 questions that were all different by just 3 degrees)
Study:
I thought the bootcamp helped the most. The bootcamp has much harder key hole and folding patterns questions than the actual DAT. I would get 20's on the DAT bootcamp, and 23's on the Crack the PAT. I went over all the questions (75 questions for each section) on the DAT bootcamp without time limit. I didn't use any line counting method, I just used my perceptual ability for the TFE section.
Basically, I used DAT bootcamp as the primary practice and I supplemented it with Crack the pat (5 exams).
Math
Exam:
Questions were all over the place on my exam. It would jump from trig to algebra to word problems, then back to trig. I thought I would've done a lot worse in this section than my actual mark. I had to guess at least 5 questions throughout the exam. The questions on the DAT/Math Destroyers were representative of the actual exam. I used the formulas I learned through the Math destroyer, so I guess it was a good investment. The calculator on my computer was lagging and it kind of threw me off.
Study:
I spent the least time on math. I knew most of the formulas already, but I wasn't familiar with my trig identities. The math destroyer was very good in covering the trig questions! The bootcamp was surprisingly good at estimating my math scores. I would get an average of around 20 on bootcamp, and that's what I got on the actual exam! However, the questions on bootcamp seemed harder than the actual exam.
Basically, DAT/Math Destroyer this section! Don't just rely on chad's videos for math, do problems!!
That's all for my breakdown. Sorry if I made grammar mistakes. I am exhausted, and I don't feel like staring at this screen anymore. Let me know if you have any questions.
My gpa is 3.1 overall (my first year was 1.8 lol). My major is Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and I have a really strong upward trend, so I hope I can get interviewed somewhere.
Let me know how I did and any opinions/suggestions are welcomed!
. Please teach me your ways!!!
