dorthelefty
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2023
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Hi everyone! I wanted to write a breakdown since reading other people's breakdowns helped me a lot with how to start studying and best prepare for this test.
Scores:
PAT- 19
QR- 23
RC- 30
BIO- 25
GC- 24
OC- 20
TS- 23
AA- 24
Background:
Just graduated with a 3.85 GPA (Anthropology, B.S. major)
Materials used:
The amount of time I studied varied but on average I would say in the first 8 weeks it was 3-4 hours a day (no weekends) but in the week before my exam, I was studying 8-10 hours per day. I also took the last 3 weeks of my senior year off because I wanted to enjoy my last year and was okay pushing the test back a bit. I believe the last 2 weeks were where I saw the most progress. I did all 3 bio crash courses through booster and those were absolutely amazing. The high yield questions at the end of each course were very representative of the level of difficulty the exam was.
I also took a 3 week trip to Europe a month before my exam which was probably not the smartest idea but I ended up using my free time to make physical flashcards, whether it was of the ochem reactions or just questions I got wrong from the practice exams, and would take those flashcards with me everywhere. I didn’t use Quizlet or Anki.
Day of Exam:
Bio was very straightforward and just felt like another booster practice exam. I always went with my gut feeling and marked whatever I was unsure about. I tried not to spend too much time here as I knew gen chem and ochem would be harder for me.
GC had barely any calculations and was more based on theory. The numbers they gave for the calculations were very simple and usually you could rule out 2 answers quickly leaving you with already a 50% higher chance of getting the right answer. I think booster’s exams 4-7 were the most representative of the real thing.
OC had maybe 2 reactions but a lot of ranking the strongest acid, or choosing the acid/base pairs. I was cutting close on time so I had to go quick on this section. I knew ochem wasn’t my strongest section so I honestly just wanted to do well on bio and gc to make up for it.
PAT was whatever. I would always skip practicing it whenever it was on the study guide and that’s probably why I didn’t get that good of a score. I think setting aside even 15-20 mins per day to get it done could really boost this score because the questions felt really similar to booster. I got 2 rock keyholes lol
For RC I just used the vanilla method of reading the whole passage and highlighting what I thought would be asked about, then answered questions. Honestly after practicing the 22 reading comprehension tests on booster, I felt I had a really good idea of what to look for when annotating so definitely do all the practice tests.
QR: The question banks on booster were representative of this section on test day as well. I had a lot of rate questions along with simple algebra. I only had like 2 statement sufficiency questions which was weird. Just do the booster banks and review marked questions and you will be fine for this section. Try to memorize the cheat sheets as well.
Overall: I think 10 weeks is the perfect amount of time to study for this test. Take all the practice tests, do the crash courses if possible, make flashcards for things that aren’t sticking, and you will be fine. I also liked going to different cafes to study because I was going crazy at home. Don’t forget to take breaks and even rest days because it can get very draining and your brain will thank you. You got this!!!
Scores:
PAT- 19
QR- 23
RC- 30
BIO- 25
GC- 24
OC- 20
TS- 23
AA- 24
Background:
Just graduated with a 3.85 GPA (Anthropology, B.S. major)
Materials used:
- DAT booster - definitely what helped me the most. I bought the membership during my spring quarter of senior year and pretty much got through the learning phase then had to renew it to have time to do all the practice tests (I did some twice which also helped majorly). I was planning to do the 12 week study guide then take the test before graduating but graduation week was hectic so I postponed my test until July 21, a few weeks into summer. The practice tests on booster were extremely representative of the test. I definitely saw some bio repeats along with gen chem and ochem.
- DAT bootcamp - I personally wasn’t a fan of the ochem videos on booster and it had been a while since I took ochem in school so I watched the videos on bootcamp to relearn everything and felt prepared by the time my test came along.
The amount of time I studied varied but on average I would say in the first 8 weeks it was 3-4 hours a day (no weekends) but in the week before my exam, I was studying 8-10 hours per day. I also took the last 3 weeks of my senior year off because I wanted to enjoy my last year and was okay pushing the test back a bit. I believe the last 2 weeks were where I saw the most progress. I did all 3 bio crash courses through booster and those were absolutely amazing. The high yield questions at the end of each course were very representative of the level of difficulty the exam was.
I also took a 3 week trip to Europe a month before my exam which was probably not the smartest idea but I ended up using my free time to make physical flashcards, whether it was of the ochem reactions or just questions I got wrong from the practice exams, and would take those flashcards with me everywhere. I didn’t use Quizlet or Anki.
Day of Exam:
Bio was very straightforward and just felt like another booster practice exam. I always went with my gut feeling and marked whatever I was unsure about. I tried not to spend too much time here as I knew gen chem and ochem would be harder for me.
GC had barely any calculations and was more based on theory. The numbers they gave for the calculations were very simple and usually you could rule out 2 answers quickly leaving you with already a 50% higher chance of getting the right answer. I think booster’s exams 4-7 were the most representative of the real thing.
OC had maybe 2 reactions but a lot of ranking the strongest acid, or choosing the acid/base pairs. I was cutting close on time so I had to go quick on this section. I knew ochem wasn’t my strongest section so I honestly just wanted to do well on bio and gc to make up for it.
PAT was whatever. I would always skip practicing it whenever it was on the study guide and that’s probably why I didn’t get that good of a score. I think setting aside even 15-20 mins per day to get it done could really boost this score because the questions felt really similar to booster. I got 2 rock keyholes lol
For RC I just used the vanilla method of reading the whole passage and highlighting what I thought would be asked about, then answered questions. Honestly after practicing the 22 reading comprehension tests on booster, I felt I had a really good idea of what to look for when annotating so definitely do all the practice tests.
QR: The question banks on booster were representative of this section on test day as well. I had a lot of rate questions along with simple algebra. I only had like 2 statement sufficiency questions which was weird. Just do the booster banks and review marked questions and you will be fine for this section. Try to memorize the cheat sheets as well.
Overall: I think 10 weeks is the perfect amount of time to study for this test. Take all the practice tests, do the crash courses if possible, make flashcards for things that aren’t sticking, and you will be fine. I also liked going to different cafes to study because I was going crazy at home. Don’t forget to take breaks and even rest days because it can get very draining and your brain will thank you. You got this!!!
