Brenden Weaver
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Hey guys! I took the DAT back in May and wanted to post a breakdown of my scores, bootcamp was the only resource I used to study over the span of about four months. If you’re getting ready for the DAT right now, keep working hard and be optimistic! I really believe that anyone can crush the DAT if you put in the work and use study time efficiently. Here’s my scores and breakdown of what helped most for each section:
Most of what I have below is pertinent to using the Bootcamp program, but I'm sure could be applied to other study programs as well.
PAT: I was averaging about 18 on this section on the full length practice tests. For this one, I just used Bootcamp’s videos to learn the strategies for each question type, and spent a lot of time practicing them. Start out going slow with questions to get the hang of the strategies, then ramp up the pace until you can do them quickly, speed is key. Another tip I would give for this section, feel free to skip questions. There were a lot of questions I skipped after choosing a quick guess answer because they weren’t worth all the time it would take to solve them. I would say that there were less hard PAT questions on the actual DAT than on bootcamp’s test.
QR: I was averaging a 19 on this section on the full length practice tests. I used to be an engineering student so I’ve taken lots of math, but your score on this section is NOT determined by “how good you are at math.” I thought this one wouldn’t be too hard for me, but the first practice test I took I got a score of <15. Like, bootcamp didn’t even know what score it was, just that it was less than 15. So that was discouraging, but I ended up really happy with my score on this section! The key is that the same types of questions are used over and over again. I didn’t watch all of the videos for the QR because there are a lot of them, so instead I just would take a practice test, see which types of questions I got wrong, review those and watch videos for them, repeat. Just focus on one question type at a time and on the real DAT you’ll find that the question types are exactly the same, so you’ll already know how to solve them. Pacing is also key on this section, and bootcamp’s questions were a little bit harder but the same question types.
Reading Comprehension: I was averaging about a 21.5 on my full length practice tests for this section. For this section I would just find the right strategy that works for you. I did two practice passages using each of the strategies taught on bootcamp (vanilla, search and destroy, etc) while keeping track of my scores. Then, I compared my scores to see which method was helping me score the highest, and which method I felt most comfortable with. Also, something I did was check really quickly what each of the three passages were about at the start of the QR section. I would think about which passage seemed the most technical or complicated, and leave that one for last so that I didn’t spend too much time on it- harder questions aren’t worth any more points than easier questions!
Biology: I was averaging 19 on my full length practice tests, and was very intimidated by the sheer volume of information. Obviously, my actual bio score on the DAT was a lot higher than my bio practice test scores. This is the key: when you take bootcamp practice tests and the BIO practice tests, you’re going to see new questions/topics covered in pretty much every test. So when you take bio practice test #5, you’ll see different questions/topics than tests #1-4 because bootcamp wants to expose you to as much high-yield material as possible. Seeing new question types every time, your scores might not be great. However, when you take the actual DAT, pretty much every question will be very similar to a question from practice tests #1-10. So, do NOT spend all your time using the notes and question banks to master alllllll the material and questions banks, instead try to master the content covered in questions from the practice tests. I would spend as much time as possible reviewing bio practice tests #1-10 over and over again. See what a question is asking, and make sure you know and understand the information specific to answer that question. There’s a lot of time to be spent studying for this section, but it will pay off if you use it to study in this way.
General Chemistry: I was averaging about a 22 on the practice tests. I got caught up on a few questions on this section that I spent too much time on when I took the actual DAT. Similar to other sections, use the practice tests to see what the most recurring type of questions are, and know that almost every question involving calculations will be similar to something you’ve seen on the practice tests. Make sure you really know how to do all of those types of problems! For the conceptual questions, I would use the practice tests to identify what general topics I needed improvement on, then review the videos to learn more about them.
Organic Chemistry: I was averaging a 23 for this section on my practice tests. I’m going to be honest, I love ochem and TA’d for the class which really helped me learn the information. I used the anki decks to practice the different reactions, there’s so many of them so spaced and repeated review was helpful. Spend time making sure you know SN1 vs SN2 vs E1 vs E2 reactions well and the concepts behind them. I also used the practice tests to see what topics were covered for the lab techniques questions and get familiar with the kinds of concepts it would likely ask about.
I spent a lot of time before the DAT looking at what other people got on bootcamp practice tests vs the real thing to try to predict my score. Honestly, I don’t think you really can. I took four full length practice tests and averaged a 22 AA on them (never got above a 23 AA) and I did a lot better on the real thing, but there are some people who don’t do as well on the real test as their practice tests. Keep studying knowing that you can do a LOT better on the real thing, but don’t settle because you are banking on a higher score than practice tests. In general, I would say that bootcamp uses a higher quantity of challenging questions which helps prepare you well. Some of the most important advice I could give: after every practice test it says “Don't focus too much on the estimate - instead, continue to review your areas of knowledge” It’s really true! Try to ignore your scores except for seeing where you need to improve, and just spend as much time as possible seeing where one of your weaknesses is, then working to improve that weakness. You can do it! I’m not a straight A student and often struggle in classes, but I think following some of the strategies I mentioned can really help. Don’t compare your DAT scores to others, we all have different strengths and weaknesses in our applications and that’s why application reviews are wholistic. Please let me know if you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them!
Most of what I have below is pertinent to using the Bootcamp program, but I'm sure could be applied to other study programs as well.
PAT: I was averaging about 18 on this section on the full length practice tests. For this one, I just used Bootcamp’s videos to learn the strategies for each question type, and spent a lot of time practicing them. Start out going slow with questions to get the hang of the strategies, then ramp up the pace until you can do them quickly, speed is key. Another tip I would give for this section, feel free to skip questions. There were a lot of questions I skipped after choosing a quick guess answer because they weren’t worth all the time it would take to solve them. I would say that there were less hard PAT questions on the actual DAT than on bootcamp’s test.
QR: I was averaging a 19 on this section on the full length practice tests. I used to be an engineering student so I’ve taken lots of math, but your score on this section is NOT determined by “how good you are at math.” I thought this one wouldn’t be too hard for me, but the first practice test I took I got a score of <15. Like, bootcamp didn’t even know what score it was, just that it was less than 15. So that was discouraging, but I ended up really happy with my score on this section! The key is that the same types of questions are used over and over again. I didn’t watch all of the videos for the QR because there are a lot of them, so instead I just would take a practice test, see which types of questions I got wrong, review those and watch videos for them, repeat. Just focus on one question type at a time and on the real DAT you’ll find that the question types are exactly the same, so you’ll already know how to solve them. Pacing is also key on this section, and bootcamp’s questions were a little bit harder but the same question types.
Reading Comprehension: I was averaging about a 21.5 on my full length practice tests for this section. For this section I would just find the right strategy that works for you. I did two practice passages using each of the strategies taught on bootcamp (vanilla, search and destroy, etc) while keeping track of my scores. Then, I compared my scores to see which method was helping me score the highest, and which method I felt most comfortable with. Also, something I did was check really quickly what each of the three passages were about at the start of the QR section. I would think about which passage seemed the most technical or complicated, and leave that one for last so that I didn’t spend too much time on it- harder questions aren’t worth any more points than easier questions!
Biology: I was averaging 19 on my full length practice tests, and was very intimidated by the sheer volume of information. Obviously, my actual bio score on the DAT was a lot higher than my bio practice test scores. This is the key: when you take bootcamp practice tests and the BIO practice tests, you’re going to see new questions/topics covered in pretty much every test. So when you take bio practice test #5, you’ll see different questions/topics than tests #1-4 because bootcamp wants to expose you to as much high-yield material as possible. Seeing new question types every time, your scores might not be great. However, when you take the actual DAT, pretty much every question will be very similar to a question from practice tests #1-10. So, do NOT spend all your time using the notes and question banks to master alllllll the material and questions banks, instead try to master the content covered in questions from the practice tests. I would spend as much time as possible reviewing bio practice tests #1-10 over and over again. See what a question is asking, and make sure you know and understand the information specific to answer that question. There’s a lot of time to be spent studying for this section, but it will pay off if you use it to study in this way.
General Chemistry: I was averaging about a 22 on the practice tests. I got caught up on a few questions on this section that I spent too much time on when I took the actual DAT. Similar to other sections, use the practice tests to see what the most recurring type of questions are, and know that almost every question involving calculations will be similar to something you’ve seen on the practice tests. Make sure you really know how to do all of those types of problems! For the conceptual questions, I would use the practice tests to identify what general topics I needed improvement on, then review the videos to learn more about them.
Organic Chemistry: I was averaging a 23 for this section on my practice tests. I’m going to be honest, I love ochem and TA’d for the class which really helped me learn the information. I used the anki decks to practice the different reactions, there’s so many of them so spaced and repeated review was helpful. Spend time making sure you know SN1 vs SN2 vs E1 vs E2 reactions well and the concepts behind them. I also used the practice tests to see what topics were covered for the lab techniques questions and get familiar with the kinds of concepts it would likely ask about.
I spent a lot of time before the DAT looking at what other people got on bootcamp practice tests vs the real thing to try to predict my score. Honestly, I don’t think you really can. I took four full length practice tests and averaged a 22 AA on them (never got above a 23 AA) and I did a lot better on the real thing, but there are some people who don’t do as well on the real test as their practice tests. Keep studying knowing that you can do a LOT better on the real thing, but don’t settle because you are banking on a higher score than practice tests. In general, I would say that bootcamp uses a higher quantity of challenging questions which helps prepare you well. Some of the most important advice I could give: after every practice test it says “Don't focus too much on the estimate - instead, continue to review your areas of knowledge” It’s really true! Try to ignore your scores except for seeing where you need to improve, and just spend as much time as possible seeing where one of your weaknesses is, then working to improve that weakness. You can do it! I’m not a straight A student and often struggle in classes, but I think following some of the strategies I mentioned can really help. Don’t compare your DAT scores to others, we all have different strengths and weaknesses in our applications and that’s why application reviews are wholistic. Please let me know if you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them!
