Hi guys!!
I just finished my junior year of undergrad. I took my DAT in May of 2022 after about 8 months of really discontinuous studying. I used multiple resources, but only parts of each so don’t feel like you need to purchase everything you see below. Because I took it immediately after the Spring semester of my junior year, much of my studying was reduced because of the classes I was taking. But anyway! Here’s all that I used to prepare, and I hope at least some part of it helps you as well!
Biology - 27
General Chemistry - 21
Organic Chemistry - 24
TS - 23
Reading Comprehension - 21
Quantitative Reasoning - 24
Perceptual Ability - 18
Academic Average - 23
Biology:
So the biology section covers A LOT of material! My major is Biology which obviously requires me to take many advanced biology credits. Some of these classes include General Bio 1 and 2, Plant Science, Genetics, Ecology, Human Physiology and Anatomy. If you’re majoring in Biology (which I think most people do) I would definitely recommend taking them in a classroom setting with a professor who can properly teach you. Don’t leave these classes to the last minute, and definitely don’t skip out on them completely! Biology material ranges from the body to plants to ecoregions. It can be frustrating to try to teach yourself everything. With that being said, I still needed to review and practice! Here’s what I did:
General Chemistry:
Gen chem was one of my weaker subjects both in undergrad and the DAT study stuff. I did well in the classes at college but I needed a major review since I took it during COVID.
Organic Chemistry:
OChem was the most recent chemistry I did, but it’s also the one that made the most sense to me logically. I had a great professor so the info I was taught actually stuck! Basically, make sense of what you’re learning, and you’ll be able to piece together the puzzles on the tests. Ochem reactions are just that - puzzles! The only thing you need to really memorize is the reagents. I have a terrible memory, and I could do it, so I’m sure y’all can too.
Reading Comprehension
Honestly, this was impossible to study for. The only time I really “practiced” was when I took full-length tests. Bootcamp and Booster shared a lot of different methods for how to best use your time, but here’s what I did:
Quantitative Reasoning
This was a weird one! All my practice questions were super hard and my tests were in the high teens (18-19), but my real one was not bad at all. Just keep practicing and memorize the most common formulas. It’s all algebra and geometry, just with some slightly more complex wording and more variables.
Perceptual Ability:
Clearly my worst section… I didn’t practice nearly enough. I would get super frustrated and couldn’t push myself through multiple sets of questions because it's so hard!! My advice is to find 2-3 of the sections that are easier for you and really really master them. It will help you maximize the correct number of questions.
My ‘best’ sections were the hole punch, angle ranking, and cube counting.
I’ve seen plenty of people share their score breakdown and they’ve done better than me through more practice. You can do it too!!
That’s all there is from me!
In conclusion, I used both Bootcamp and Booster - but if I had to choose just one, I would recommend DAT Booster! For Booster’s price point, they offered lots of materials and even beat Bootcamp in some aspects.I can’t rave enough about Feralis notes!!
Also, in case you’re wondering, I didn’t use Anki at all. If you really want to, I would suggest using it for the reagents in ochem and memorizing what each of them do. But make your own cards!
I hope my advice helps you. Take everything with a grain of salt, because again, every test is different, and every person is also different. Do what works for you!
I just finished my junior year of undergrad. I took my DAT in May of 2022 after about 8 months of really discontinuous studying. I used multiple resources, but only parts of each so don’t feel like you need to purchase everything you see below. Because I took it immediately after the Spring semester of my junior year, much of my studying was reduced because of the classes I was taking. But anyway! Here’s all that I used to prepare, and I hope at least some part of it helps you as well!
Biology - 27
General Chemistry - 21
Organic Chemistry - 24
TS - 23
Reading Comprehension - 21
Quantitative Reasoning - 24
Perceptual Ability - 18
Academic Average - 23
Biology:
So the biology section covers A LOT of material! My major is Biology which obviously requires me to take many advanced biology credits. Some of these classes include General Bio 1 and 2, Plant Science, Genetics, Ecology, Human Physiology and Anatomy. If you’re majoring in Biology (which I think most people do) I would definitely recommend taking them in a classroom setting with a professor who can properly teach you. Don’t leave these classes to the last minute, and definitely don’t skip out on them completely! Biology material ranges from the body to plants to ecoregions. It can be frustrating to try to teach yourself everything. With that being said, I still needed to review and practice! Here’s what I did:
- First I used DAT Bootcamp. It was and still is the most popular study program for the DAT. And for good reason! They have LOTS of resources including a DAT-focused textbook, compressed notes for each chapter, practice questions for each chapter, and timed practice exams. I took handwritten notes for every single chapter - which was a waste of time because I knew most of the materials. So if you’re confident with a subject, DON’T waste time relearning it! Move on and save your energy for the harder stuff.
- I practiced and practiced on Bootcamp until my membership expired. But instead of renewing, I decided to try another popular resource: DAT Booster
- DAT Booster was definitely underutilized by me. Feralis Notes were a BLESSING. They’re so neat, concise, but detailed enough to cover all the Bio material. Unfortunately I didn’t even see them until like 2 days before my exam, otherwise, I definitely would have scored higher.
General Chemistry:
Gen chem was one of my weaker subjects both in undergrad and the DAT study stuff. I did well in the classes at college but I needed a major review since I took it during COVID.
- DAT Bootcamp was really really good for both chems. Dr. Mike’s Videos are amazing because he teaches in short videos (I have a short attention span) and they’re also very concise and easy to follow. There’s also plenty of practice questions and a range of difficulties.
- DAT Booster, once again, came in clutch with Feralis Notes!!!!!! It’s hard to put gen chem into JUST words, but they’re so easy to follow!! I didn’t use much else, but I’ve heard great things about Dave’s Chem videos as well!
Organic Chemistry:
OChem was the most recent chemistry I did, but it’s also the one that made the most sense to me logically. I had a great professor so the info I was taught actually stuck! Basically, make sense of what you’re learning, and you’ll be able to piece together the puzzles on the tests. Ochem reactions are just that - puzzles! The only thing you need to really memorize is the reagents. I have a terrible memory, and I could do it, so I’m sure y’all can too.
- I watched Dr. Mike’s Ochem videos to study for this subject too. Same as gen chem - super concise and easy to understand. Cleared up some questions I had as well.
- I used practice questions from both Bootcamp and Booster.
- FERALIS NOTES! Mwah
Reading Comprehension
Honestly, this was impossible to study for. The only time I really “practiced” was when I took full-length tests. Bootcamp and Booster shared a lot of different methods for how to best use your time, but here’s what I did:
- I would find the shortest/easiest looking passage and start reading it. Not just scanning, but reading and really trying to understand the passage.
- I highlighted parts that seemed important, stuff that looked like it would make good questions for them to ask, so I could find it later.
- The hardest questions were the ones about tone, because some of them I didn’t know the definitions of (oops). Work on your vocab if you’re like me!
- After reading and highlighting, I moved to the questions and because I paid attention I was able to move through them pretty fast.
- Mark and move on if you can’t answer them right away.
Quantitative Reasoning
This was a weird one! All my practice questions were super hard and my tests were in the high teens (18-19), but my real one was not bad at all. Just keep practicing and memorize the most common formulas. It’s all algebra and geometry, just with some slightly more complex wording and more variables.
- I practiced with DAT Bootcamp and it was good to kind of get the pace of it, but they were a little too easy, and I ran out of questions to practice :/
- Booster had lots of practice questions that I didn’t get a chance to use, but the ones on the full-length practice tests were challenging enough to get me used to the real thing.
Perceptual Ability:
Clearly my worst section… I didn’t practice nearly enough. I would get super frustrated and couldn’t push myself through multiple sets of questions because it's so hard!! My advice is to find 2-3 of the sections that are easier for you and really really master them. It will help you maximize the correct number of questions.
My ‘best’ sections were the hole punch, angle ranking, and cube counting.
I’ve seen plenty of people share their score breakdown and they’ve done better than me through more practice. You can do it too!!
That’s all there is from me!
In conclusion, I used both Bootcamp and Booster - but if I had to choose just one, I would recommend DAT Booster! For Booster’s price point, they offered lots of materials and even beat Bootcamp in some aspects.I can’t rave enough about Feralis notes!!
Also, in case you’re wondering, I didn’t use Anki at all. If you really want to, I would suggest using it for the reagents in ochem and memorizing what each of them do. But make your own cards!
I hope my advice helps you. Take everything with a grain of salt, because again, every test is different, and every person is also different. Do what works for you!
