DAT Breakdown [24AA, 23TS, 19PAT]
Hey guys! Just wanted to come on here and share my experience with the DAT and how I prepared for it! I remember reading so many of these while I was prepping (which was kind of toxic for me because they set a really high expectation), but overall they really helped me figure out what to use and how to assess myself. It’s my first time taking it!
Overall Score Breakdown:
Biology 23
Chemistry 24
Organic Chemistry 21
Quantitative Reasoning 26
Reading Comprehension 25
Perceptual Abilities 19
Total Sciences 23
Academic Average 24
Background: Junior with a 3.86 GPA, Honors Biology Major
Resources used: DATBooster and DATBootcamp - I used both pretty extensively mainly for access to the practice tests. I studied for a total of 5 months but the first 2 months were kind of dillydallying since I didn’t have the ability to focus for hours on end, so I wouldn’t even count them tbh. My last 3 months were my main grind months and I would say a perfect amount of time. I was taking either summer classes or fall classes throughout as well so my attention was divided. In the beginning of those three months I was spending around 3-4 hours a day, and towards the last month it was 6-8 hours a day. No social life. No break days. Also, I completely ditched the 10 week schedules after a week and just did my own thing. Fun fact: I never took a single full length practice test. I only took individual subject tests which was maybe a dumb idea but hey it worked.
Individual Subject Breakdown:
Biology (23) - I was most confident about this section by the end of my studying. I’m pretty good at memorizing things and biology just makes sense to me. I can’t say I have a great background bc I didn’t pay too much attention in my bio classes. I used feralis notes exclusively and went through it completely twice. The second time, I made my own quizlet deck (bc I hate anki to my core) of things that weren’t sticking in my brain and it ended up being 700 terms, mainly details. Feralis notes are plenty, but Bootcamp also has videos for the concepts that are a little harder to visualize. For me, this was reproduction and photosynthesis, because they just never stuck with me. I would score around 20-21 on the practice tests on both sites, and I can’t emphasize this enough: GO THROUGH THEM ALL AND MEMORIZE THE ONES YOU GET WRONG. Like others have said, some questions have been similar to the real test. The real test definitely had some curveballs and focused in on subjects I’m sure a lot of students kind of ignored, so I wouldn’t say it was easier. I maybe just got lucky with my guessing on some of these.
General Chemistry (24) - I was so shocked at this score. I’ve never been good at chemistry. I got Bs in my honors gen chem class. I’ll be honest, Booster has great notes but nothing was more helpful than Mike’s Videos. He has hilarious mnemonics and he’s just so funny to look at that I never felt bored watching him. Also, he gives in-video examples which are nice. The practice tests are great for exposing you to all sorts of problems on both bootcamp and booster, and I’d say both are harder than the real exam. My DAT asked pretty basic conceptual questions and had no calculations (just setting up equations). I would say taking notes is useless for this since it’s so math based. I would score around 19-20 on the practice tests. Do the practice tests and learn from your mistakes. That’s all you need.
Organic Chemistry (21) - I can’t even begin to explain how happy I am with this score. I SUCK at organic chemistry. I put studying it off until my last 2 weeks, which obviously is a dumb idea. I watched all the booster videos and looked at the reactions sheet and attempted to memorize them. I managed to get the alkene alkyne reactions and a few other main ones down, but at this point I was so burnt out and felt so hopeless that I completely ignored Carboxylic Acid derivatives and the last unit and focused on conceptual stuff instead. On all my practice tests, I would score 17-18’s which is with a lot of lucky guessing. The real test ended up being a lot of simple details about stereochemistry and sub/elim reactions. There were only a few actual reaction questions, and those were pretty intuitive.
RC (25) - I wasn’t surprised with this. It was pretty tough since you’re so burnt out from other subjects and it’s so many words. My passages were all 13 paragraphs and I finished in the nick of time. I only ever took 2 practice tests on booster and never really studied for it since reading comes easy for me. Search and destroy works pretty well, just have a general idea of what paragraph talks about what so you can find answers easier. The real DAT had way less inference, which was good. I scored the same as my practice tests.
QR (26) - Pretty happy about this! I only ever took 2 practice tests for this too since math comes easy to me, but I have always struggled with statistics and probability questions. My DAT had a lot less of that and more algebra. My practice test scores were both 20-21s, so this massive jump made me really happy. Know your equations and work QUICK. Booster videos are an excellent review.
PAT(19) - Didn’t do too hot on this so I won’t say too much, but I’m honestly ok with a 19. My strategy has always been to do angle ranking first and spend 10 seconds on them MAX. Then to keyholes, find a difference with each answer choice and eliminate it, pick one and never look back. Then I go to hole punching, which is the easiest section imo, but my DAT had a lot of half punches AND rock keyholes so I was annoyed. Funny thing is I have never ever done TFE. I always skip the entire section and either put B or C for all 15 questions and hope the numbers are on my side. I would rather use that time on subjects I’m more likely to get right.
Test Day: I got to my testing center 45 mins early and they let me start 30 mins early. My friend got a calculator on hers but the lady didn’t let me have one, so bummer. Testing room was cold af and the chairs were uncomfy, so I tried to speedrun my exam. I took 3 minutes of my 30 minute break just to pee and get back to it since my adrenaline was high and powering me. Have a high protein breakfast and take deep breaths. I was never a star student or a straight A student, so if I can do it you can definitely do it.
Feel free to dm me with any questions!
Hey guys! Just wanted to come on here and share my experience with the DAT and how I prepared for it! I remember reading so many of these while I was prepping (which was kind of toxic for me because they set a really high expectation), but overall they really helped me figure out what to use and how to assess myself. It’s my first time taking it!
Overall Score Breakdown:
Biology 23
Chemistry 24
Organic Chemistry 21
Quantitative Reasoning 26
Reading Comprehension 25
Perceptual Abilities 19
Total Sciences 23
Academic Average 24
Background: Junior with a 3.86 GPA, Honors Biology Major
Resources used: DATBooster and DATBootcamp - I used both pretty extensively mainly for access to the practice tests. I studied for a total of 5 months but the first 2 months were kind of dillydallying since I didn’t have the ability to focus for hours on end, so I wouldn’t even count them tbh. My last 3 months were my main grind months and I would say a perfect amount of time. I was taking either summer classes or fall classes throughout as well so my attention was divided. In the beginning of those three months I was spending around 3-4 hours a day, and towards the last month it was 6-8 hours a day. No social life. No break days. Also, I completely ditched the 10 week schedules after a week and just did my own thing. Fun fact: I never took a single full length practice test. I only took individual subject tests which was maybe a dumb idea but hey it worked.
Individual Subject Breakdown:
Biology (23) - I was most confident about this section by the end of my studying. I’m pretty good at memorizing things and biology just makes sense to me. I can’t say I have a great background bc I didn’t pay too much attention in my bio classes. I used feralis notes exclusively and went through it completely twice. The second time, I made my own quizlet deck (bc I hate anki to my core) of things that weren’t sticking in my brain and it ended up being 700 terms, mainly details. Feralis notes are plenty, but Bootcamp also has videos for the concepts that are a little harder to visualize. For me, this was reproduction and photosynthesis, because they just never stuck with me. I would score around 20-21 on the practice tests on both sites, and I can’t emphasize this enough: GO THROUGH THEM ALL AND MEMORIZE THE ONES YOU GET WRONG. Like others have said, some questions have been similar to the real test. The real test definitely had some curveballs and focused in on subjects I’m sure a lot of students kind of ignored, so I wouldn’t say it was easier. I maybe just got lucky with my guessing on some of these.
General Chemistry (24) - I was so shocked at this score. I’ve never been good at chemistry. I got Bs in my honors gen chem class. I’ll be honest, Booster has great notes but nothing was more helpful than Mike’s Videos. He has hilarious mnemonics and he’s just so funny to look at that I never felt bored watching him. Also, he gives in-video examples which are nice. The practice tests are great for exposing you to all sorts of problems on both bootcamp and booster, and I’d say both are harder than the real exam. My DAT asked pretty basic conceptual questions and had no calculations (just setting up equations). I would say taking notes is useless for this since it’s so math based. I would score around 19-20 on the practice tests. Do the practice tests and learn from your mistakes. That’s all you need.
Organic Chemistry (21) - I can’t even begin to explain how happy I am with this score. I SUCK at organic chemistry. I put studying it off until my last 2 weeks, which obviously is a dumb idea. I watched all the booster videos and looked at the reactions sheet and attempted to memorize them. I managed to get the alkene alkyne reactions and a few other main ones down, but at this point I was so burnt out and felt so hopeless that I completely ignored Carboxylic Acid derivatives and the last unit and focused on conceptual stuff instead. On all my practice tests, I would score 17-18’s which is with a lot of lucky guessing. The real test ended up being a lot of simple details about stereochemistry and sub/elim reactions. There were only a few actual reaction questions, and those were pretty intuitive.
RC (25) - I wasn’t surprised with this. It was pretty tough since you’re so burnt out from other subjects and it’s so many words. My passages were all 13 paragraphs and I finished in the nick of time. I only ever took 2 practice tests on booster and never really studied for it since reading comes easy for me. Search and destroy works pretty well, just have a general idea of what paragraph talks about what so you can find answers easier. The real DAT had way less inference, which was good. I scored the same as my practice tests.
QR (26) - Pretty happy about this! I only ever took 2 practice tests for this too since math comes easy to me, but I have always struggled with statistics and probability questions. My DAT had a lot less of that and more algebra. My practice test scores were both 20-21s, so this massive jump made me really happy. Know your equations and work QUICK. Booster videos are an excellent review.
PAT(19) - Didn’t do too hot on this so I won’t say too much, but I’m honestly ok with a 19. My strategy has always been to do angle ranking first and spend 10 seconds on them MAX. Then to keyholes, find a difference with each answer choice and eliminate it, pick one and never look back. Then I go to hole punching, which is the easiest section imo, but my DAT had a lot of half punches AND rock keyholes so I was annoyed. Funny thing is I have never ever done TFE. I always skip the entire section and either put B or C for all 15 questions and hope the numbers are on my side. I would rather use that time on subjects I’m more likely to get right.
Test Day: I got to my testing center 45 mins early and they let me start 30 mins early. My friend got a calculator on hers but the lady didn’t let me have one, so bummer. Testing room was cold af and the chairs were uncomfy, so I tried to speedrun my exam. I took 3 minutes of my 30 minute break just to pee and get back to it since my adrenaline was high and powering me. Have a high protein breakfast and take deep breaths. I was never a star student or a straight A student, so if I can do it you can definitely do it.
Feel free to dm me with any questions!
