ver435
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Hello! I'm excited to write a DAT Breakdown for people. I read through a bunch of DAT breakdowns before taking the test and it helped me a lot. I wish this can help others too!
I took DAT twice, so first I will go over my 2nd DAT. Then, I will compare the studying materials and how I studied from 1st to 2nd.
2nd Score: (2022)
QR - 24
RC - 24
Bio - 25
GC - 24
OC - 24
TS - 24
AA - 24
Background:
Bio major senior
2nd time taking the DAT
Materials Used (in order of helpfulness):
I was really in a hurry because I had to take summer classes until the end of July. People were saying that I had to take the DAT at least in August to fit into an average timeline for the application, so I decided to do a 4-week study for the DAT.
1st - DAT bootcamp, PAT booster, chad’s prep / 2nd: DAT booster, Chad’s prep
I took the DAT exactly a year ago and I also studied 4-5 weeks. The main difference was that I used DAT bootcamp. I think that if you have more time and you want to build up more knowledge for biology, you should use DAT bootcamp’s bio bites which is not what you should use when trying to score high in a short time. However, it will really help you when you have enough time to go through those. Also, I feel like DAT bootcamp had more clear sections on organic chemistry…? The great thing about DAT bootcamp is their explanation when you get wrong on questions. I used the PAT booster for 3 months even before studying 4-5 weeks. This helped me a lot when I took DAT for the 2nd time. I barely studied for PAT. However, I feel like the practice tests were not really representative of the DAT compared to the DAT booster.
Improvement :
Bio: (18->25) For biology, I took more upper classes and that gave me more background knowledge to improve my bio grades. However, DAT booster’s Practice test questions are so good that you must use DAT booster and go through questions before taking the test. Also, please do not care about practice test scores and be thankful that you got a chance to look at the concept again. Write down your own solution and explanation on the questions you get wrong and memorize it.
GC: (19->24) Chad’s prep is the best for the lectures. Then, apply that knowledge in solving questions. DAT booster’s questions are amazing. Also, go through extra questions on weak topics. There were very similar or almost the same questions from practice tests.
OC: (19->24) I would say that the DAT booster’s practice test questions really helped me to get this score. I was so confused and lost when I was preparing for the DAT. So I decided to solve questions, review, and memorize the reaction charts. I also did extra questions on the booster. A lot of acid/base ranking, conjugate acid base questions.
PAT: (20-> 21) I did not have much time to prepare for this section… I would say that cube counting, hole punching is something you can improve 100% by practicing . Just do 5-10 questions every day and you will get everything right. For every section, please watch the PAT booster’s video because that helps a lot. You don’t have to follow everything they say, but it can give you better pathways to solve the questions.
RC: (21->24) I think the DAT booster’s passage was hard, so it overprepared me for RC. DAT Bootcamp was also representative too. In a real exam, very difficult passages don’t really expect you to understand everything. If the passage is hard, just use the search and destroy method.
QR: (23->24) I had a strong math background. Last year, there were so many yard, feet unit conversions. I would highly recommend memorizing it. However, this year there were no questions at all. DAT booster and bootcamp both had really good questions.
Practice test scores:
Booster’s practice test questions are really really representative of the real DAT questions.
Bio: 20-19-20-16-17-18-18-21-20-18
GC: 20-20-18-17-20-21-20-21-x-x
OC: 18-18-20-17-21-16-16-20-20-19
PAT: 18-21-x-x-x-x-20-20-x-x
QR: 23-30-x-x-x-x-25-26-x-x
RC: 18-20
A lot of people say that your last 3 practice test scores are similar to your real DAT scores. But don’t let that discourage you. What you have to do is go over the questions that you got wrong and know why you got that wrong. Because that is going to be on your real DAT. When I got 16 and 17 on the practice test, I was so depressed and felt like I was not ready at all. But believe in yourself and never give up. If you don’t feel confident, look at my practice scores and go back to studying! You will be fine!
I took DAT twice, so first I will go over my 2nd DAT. Then, I will compare the studying materials and how I studied from 1st to 2nd.
2nd Score: (2022)
QR - 24
RC - 24
Bio - 25
GC - 24
OC - 24
TS - 24
AA - 24
Background:
Bio major senior
2nd time taking the DAT
Materials Used (in order of helpfulness):
- DAT Booster- I would say the booster's practice tests are amazing. Many questions on real DAT were so similar that I was happy to study with a booster. Also, the biology videos are very well explained. I loved the animalia, embryology, and plant video. It helped me so much. GC and OC questions are very representative too and the extra questions help us to remember and understand how to apply the concepts to the questions very well. Acid/ base ranking is really important, so I really recommend doing those topics for both GC and OC.
- Feralis Notes- Feralis notes are detailed and enough for the DAT. I watched any videos or used diagrams online to understand easier if needed, next to the feralis notes. Feralis notes are actually less easy to understand than the bootcamp one, especially those who have weak bio backgrounds. I suggest using bootcamp bio notes if feralis is too detailed and hard. However, I used feralis because it was more detailed and had fewer pages. I used boot camp bio notes for some topics that were overwhelming in feralis. But feralis is all that you need if you can get through it.
- Chad’s Prep - Chad’s General chemistry is crazy, amazing, and thanks to Chad's, I could do GC with good knowledge. He explains all the mechanisms and how to approach the questions. His lectures are like- “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” But then… ochem is kind of stressful because there are too many things covered. I think it’s beyond DAT even though it’s in Chad's prep DAT package…. But I would still really recommend it. Take time to watch the video. 4 weeks were too tight to go through all the videos.
I was really in a hurry because I had to take summer classes until the end of July. People were saying that I had to take the DAT at least in August to fit into an average timeline for the application, so I decided to do a 4-week study for the DAT.
- 1st Week:
- Bio: Read and understand Feralis notes in 7 days (10 page per day)
- GC: Chad’s prep 1 chp per day
- OC: Chad’s prep 1 chp per day
- PAT: two section 15 questions per day (~30min)
- 2nd Week:
- Bio: Go through hardest chapters, write notes, watch booster videos (Ecology, Embryology, Animalia)
- GC: Chad’s prep 1chp per day
- OC: Chad’s prep 1 chp per day - basically gave up after chp 9/10 stopped watching chad’s prep
- PAT: two section 15 questions per day (~30min)
- 3rd Week: Practice test (1~6) Practice test every day, make review notes, do extra questions on boosters if you do really bad on a specific topic for GC and Ochem. Took a day off and went through notes and relaxed.
- Bio: I did really bad starting from PT 4… I was very depressed but my friend told me not to think about the scores and study with the questions I get wrong. So I started to not care about the scores at all and when my mom was asking if practice tests were going ok, I was like - I’m doing so great! I got great scores! - and I laugh and cry at the same time when I go to bed and do that almost every day LOL. (Literal mental breakdown)
- GC: I was getting ok scores and I would go over key concepts that I missed and memorize equations.
- OC: Was not ready for Ochem so decided to go through questions in booster. Not all but acid/base and other few that I wanted to do. If I felt overwhelmed, I stopped. But I would do practice tests every day and go over 30 questions clearly.
- 4th week: Practice test (7-10) Practice test every day, make review notes. I scored really bad like 16s and 17s, so I freaked out. I would look at DAT breakdowns that said their PT scores were low but got high scores on DAT and give myself some courage.
- I went through and skimmed the review notes that I wrote for questions that I got wrong in practice tests.
- I brought water and dried mango bites and trolli sour bite crawlers….
- I just took the test as if it was one of the booster’s practice tests.
1st - DAT bootcamp, PAT booster, chad’s prep / 2nd: DAT booster, Chad’s prep
I took the DAT exactly a year ago and I also studied 4-5 weeks. The main difference was that I used DAT bootcamp. I think that if you have more time and you want to build up more knowledge for biology, you should use DAT bootcamp’s bio bites which is not what you should use when trying to score high in a short time. However, it will really help you when you have enough time to go through those. Also, I feel like DAT bootcamp had more clear sections on organic chemistry…? The great thing about DAT bootcamp is their explanation when you get wrong on questions. I used the PAT booster for 3 months even before studying 4-5 weeks. This helped me a lot when I took DAT for the 2nd time. I barely studied for PAT. However, I feel like the practice tests were not really representative of the DAT compared to the DAT booster.
Improvement :
Bio: (18->25) For biology, I took more upper classes and that gave me more background knowledge to improve my bio grades. However, DAT booster’s Practice test questions are so good that you must use DAT booster and go through questions before taking the test. Also, please do not care about practice test scores and be thankful that you got a chance to look at the concept again. Write down your own solution and explanation on the questions you get wrong and memorize it.
GC: (19->24) Chad’s prep is the best for the lectures. Then, apply that knowledge in solving questions. DAT booster’s questions are amazing. Also, go through extra questions on weak topics. There were very similar or almost the same questions from practice tests.
OC: (19->24) I would say that the DAT booster’s practice test questions really helped me to get this score. I was so confused and lost when I was preparing for the DAT. So I decided to solve questions, review, and memorize the reaction charts. I also did extra questions on the booster. A lot of acid/base ranking, conjugate acid base questions.
PAT: (20-> 21) I did not have much time to prepare for this section… I would say that cube counting, hole punching is something you can improve 100% by practicing . Just do 5-10 questions every day and you will get everything right. For every section, please watch the PAT booster’s video because that helps a lot. You don’t have to follow everything they say, but it can give you better pathways to solve the questions.
RC: (21->24) I think the DAT booster’s passage was hard, so it overprepared me for RC. DAT Bootcamp was also representative too. In a real exam, very difficult passages don’t really expect you to understand everything. If the passage is hard, just use the search and destroy method.
QR: (23->24) I had a strong math background. Last year, there were so many yard, feet unit conversions. I would highly recommend memorizing it. However, this year there were no questions at all. DAT booster and bootcamp both had really good questions.
Practice test scores:
Booster’s practice test questions are really really representative of the real DAT questions.
Bio: 20-19-20-16-17-18-18-21-20-18
GC: 20-20-18-17-20-21-20-21-x-x
OC: 18-18-20-17-21-16-16-20-20-19
PAT: 18-21-x-x-x-x-20-20-x-x
QR: 23-30-x-x-x-x-25-26-x-x
RC: 18-20
A lot of people say that your last 3 practice test scores are similar to your real DAT scores. But don’t let that discourage you. What you have to do is go over the questions that you got wrong and know why you got that wrong. Because that is going to be on your real DAT. When I got 16 and 17 on the practice test, I was so depressed and felt like I was not ready at all. But believe in yourself and never give up. If you don’t feel confident, look at my practice scores and go back to studying! You will be fine!
