2023 DAT Breakdown

[obi3]

I took my DAT last week and thought it fitting to post my breakdown about it.

Scores:
PAT - 18
QR - 18
RC - 17
BIO - 24
GC - 23
OC - 22
TS - 23
AA - 21

Background:

Rising Senior with a 3.61 ~ GPA

Material Used (from most helpful to least helpful):

1. DAT Booster (9/10): The best resource and my favorite honestly. I think to be successful on this exam DAT booster is the only source that you truly need. The practice test was very representative of the DAT and I even saw maybe 1 or 2 EXACT questions and a handful of similar questions on my real DAT. further, due to the practice test being really representative I went back and took each test twice and sometimes 3 times to help me with understanding the information. They have a great team and are great with responding to you if you need any help with the website or anything like that. Each question had an explanation and even explained why the other answers' choices were wrong. This really helped me learn the information for the real exam.
2. DAT BOOSTER BIO CRASH COURSE 1-3 (8/10): I genuinely want to credit this to my bio score. I have never been good at bio and I took Bio 1 and Bio 2 during the pandemic and I think that altogether hindered any of the information staying with me for the DAT. On my first 3 practice tests, I scored a 13 in bio. It was by far my lowest section and I SICK because I couldn't even really understand what I was doing wrong. It wasn’t until I took the bio crash course that my scores skyrocketed. The bio crash course did not provide any new information that was not already in the feralis notes or cheat sheets; however, I do think it provided the information the exact way you needed to know it for the real exam. If Bio is a struggle for you and you are somewhat lost, I would recommend the bio crash course.
3. Anki (5/10): Honestly, I think my biggest problem with Anki is that it is not the way I learn and retain information. I utilized Booster’s bio, gen chem, ochem, and QR anki deck and I think the only one that was slightly helpful was gen chem. A lot of the information in the bio anki was way too specific and ultimately very low yield. I wish I stopped using it sooner honestly because for a few weeks, I focused my time on Anki and I saw little to no improvement in my scores.
4. The Booster Study Guide (5/10): The booster study guide is a resource that basically gives you a timeline on when/what you need to do for each day you are studying (it even includes breaks). The reason I ranked this so low is because I do not think it is going to be helpful for everybody as the study guide is pretty broad and just makes sure you get through all the information. At some point during my studying, it started to feel more like a checklist and less like a study guide.

Day of Exam:

BIO (24): Very straightforward. I think the practice test was representative of the questions that I saw on the exam DAT. I went through this section and finished it in 10 mins so I have about 90 minutes left for GC and OC. Also, closer to my exam I did not look at the feralis notes at all and just focused on the crash course material and the bio cheat sheets. For the actual content on the test, I did not get a lot of questions about structures and functions or diversity of life but I did get a lot of questions about developmental biology and embryology. Maybe that was only for my exam. I honestly wouldn’t know lol.
GC (23): I was most worried about this section because of the calculations but I got literally 1 calculation and it was super easy. I am honestly very grateful that I started to focus more on conceptual material closer to my exam because that is mostly what I got. Super straightforward question.
OC (22): Within all the sciences, this was the section that I was least worried about but maybe I should have worried more because it is my lowest science score lmao. But little to no reaction questions. Sn1/Sn2/E1/E2, spectroscopy, and super easy mechanisms were the bulk of my questions.
PAT (18): Was never really strong at this section and didn’t focus too much on it. If you are not a super high achiever, I think in this section you are better off focusing only on the things you know you can get right. If you suck at keyholes and can’t figure them out after weeks of studying, I don’t think it's the best idea to waste time trying to learn how to do them when there are other more important/less bs sections to focus on. That was my problem.
RC (17): I never practiced this section other than the practice test. I was honestly not expecting this score and am quite disappointed with my performance. This section was much harder on the real DAT than the practice exams and the 2 of my passages were pretty long. One of my passages had graphs and charts and it threw me off completely. I think if I could go back, I would practice my reading skills more.
QR (18): Once again, never practiced this section other than the practice test. I was scoring decently on this section during my practice test but I never reviewed what I got wrong because I was just focusing on my sciences. If I could go back/had more time to study, I think I would just review what I got wrong and write down anything I did not know.

Ending Advice:
I think the thing that helped me the most when studying for my DAT is sticking to the way I study for everything else in my undergrad. Never in my life had I ever really used anki but everybody recommended it so I tried it and honestly felt like I wasted a lot of my time with it. With that being said, figure out what works for you and stick with it.
Another thing. you might get discouraged, you might get tired and you might want to take breaks but just make sure you stick with it. My practice exams AAs were around 15-16 when I started and now I got a decent score by just sticking with it. Anybody can do this. Good luck.

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[sourpatchsloth]

July 2023 DAT Breakdown

July 2023 DAT Breakdown (RETAKE AA:20 -> AA:23)

Hi there! I took my DAT in July of this year and wanted to share my scores with you as a retaker! I first took the DAT 3 years ago and scored a 20 on my first take, so I was looking to improve at least by a point this go around. I was shocked when I got my score, so I hope to help with any fears and uneasiness by sharing what I did!

Scores:

QR: 18 RC: 27 Bio: 23 GC: 24 OC: 21 TS: 23 AA: 23

Background: I am 2 years out of college and graduated with a Biological Sciences degree. I had not been in a studying mindset in awhile.

Materials:

DAT Booster: This was my main source of studying. I used it back in 2020 and wanted to reuse the platform because of its easy layout of materials. I think they have a great representation on what to expect on test day.

ANKI: I used this for biology only, specifically taxonomy. I recommend making your own cards as you go along with the videos; or along with the Feralis Notes. The app is really useful when you have a busy schedule. You can flip through a few cards in any breaks you have in the day!

Quizlet +: I again used this for biology, but specifically the Systems & Functions. I used the “Learn” modules for the premade cards that DAT Booster gave access to. The Learn modules helped me to memorize information by making me type in answers. I always find writing or typing out information better for my memory

Study Timeline:

I am not going to act like I was incredibly structured in my studying. I found it really hard to devote a lot of time during the day to studying and would max out at about 3 hours.

There were many days where I would wake up and keep putting studying off until I just didn’t that day. I’d stay up and say the next day would change (It didn’t) . I am a procrastinator in that sense. I think if you’re using your time usefully during a short period then you will get farther than studying too much in the day. If I studied for too long I would forget material the next day. I began studying in May 2023. I had the privilege of being unemployed during this period, so I recommend starting earlier if you have other obligations.

I ended up pushing my DAT back 2 weeks from the end of June to July 13th. This was crunch time for me and I spent a lot more time actually studying here.

How I studied and Test Day:

Biology (23): I am a visual learner, so the Booster videos were helpful for me. I also decided to print out ALL of the Feralis notes, because I liked having something to write up and highlight. Their cheat sheets specifically were the perfect summation of the notes. As I said earlier, I used Anki and Quizlet+ here, but I would say the most helpful thing for me was to make my own cheat sheets. For example, I wrote out the endocrine system by drawing a map of the body with each organ highlighted then would web out each to write out the hormones that were released. When I write my own information I can recall it easier by imagining my own handwriting.

On Test day, I was surprised at how similar the practice test questions were to the real exam. The test was EASIER, so I recommend understanding the concept over memorizing very specific information. Know the basics of everything; the cheat sheets are all you need to know.

GC (24): I watched all of the videos and printed all the information again here. The practice questions were my go to for studying and I wrote them all down.

On test day, I noticed that there were not many math specific questions. They really cut it to the basics and concepts. The problems will probably not be as specific as the Booster practice questions. There were practically no Acid Base questions on my exam, which is what I worried about. Concept> memory here. I would have gone back and studied the first 3 chapters if I could, because they cut it down so much.

OC (21): I scored a 24 the first time I took this test, so I didn’t really put in enough time into it this time. I decided to use physical notecards to draw out each reaction in the DAT Booster reaction chart. I would recommend just understanding how electrons move in acids or bases. If there was a question I couldn’t remember the reaction to, I could usually figure it out by drawing out the electron movement. Reaction mechanisms aren’t covered, but they are so helpful conceptually.

On test day, I was surprised at the number of IR/ NMR questions. Definitely remember the numbers that the functional groups show up at. I was surprised that they asked that. There was also quite a few questions on benzene functional groups.
PAT (22): I was scared for this section. As a retaker, I didn’t feel the need to rewatch the videos but I used the generators. I found that angle ranking, cube counting, hole punching, and pattern folding were the easiest sections for me. I began immediately going to question 31 to go to angle ranking.

On test day, I was going too slow. The sections above I started at, and only had about 10 minutes to do TFE and Keyhole. I simply filled them out randomly first then went back and tried to answer as many as possible. This sections is so hard, so put more time into it than I did.

RC(27): I was very confident in this section, which led me to only take a few practice tests. I don’t read often, but I felt like I could get through it quickly. My method was reading each question first and writing a list with a keyword. The keywords would show up in the question itself or in the answer choices. Then, I would read the passage and know exactly what to highlight. I don’t think you should read the passage first. It is a waste of time.

On test day, I did exactly as above.

QR (18): I genuinely did not put in any effort here, and it shows. I was getting a 20 in the practice test, so I thought this was enough for me. I was confident in algebra and memorized the geometry formulas. Applied mathematics and probability is my weakness. I studied them, but definitely not enough. If I could go back I would hit this area hard.

On test day, I was frantic. I realized as I went through I was struggling. My test was HEAVY on probability, which made me upset. I didn’t get a single geometry question... not one.

Ending Advice: I was scoring 18’s, 19’s, and 20’s on my practice exams. I had heard that the test would end up higher, but I didn’t know the extent. I was worried before and during the test, but I couldn’t be happier with my score. Just keep moving. You probably won’t ever feel ready. You just have to try. I told myself that I either knew it or didn’t by this point. Show side panel