- Joined
- Apr 10, 2018
- Messages
- 355
- Reaction score
- 344
Hi everyone! I've been a longtime lurker on SDN and have used a ton of advice from those in this forum, so I really thank you all a ton for everything. I'm writing this breakdown to give back for all the help I received, and to hopefully help some people who were more tight on money like myself. A huge, huge shoutout to Dr. Romano and Nancy (@orgoman22) for all of their help. Also, thank you @WithLove for introducing me to PATBooster, which is a fantastic and affordable resource for the PAT (thank you so much @Shahed B). This is going to be a long post, be forewarned. Without further adieu, here we go!
Scores (see score report below)
BIO: 25
GC: 30
OC: 22
PAT: 25
RC: 30
QR: 30
Background on Myself
I am a rising senior, Biology and Philosophy double major at a small college in NJ. I have a 4.00 sGPA and cGPA from my college (a little lower if you count college classes I took before attending undergrad, but no where under a 3.95). Now, just because my GPA is this high does NOT mean I am the smartest person out there. I only put my absolute all into everything I do, whether it be school, work, or studying for the DAT. You need to do the same if you want to do well on this exam. I’m also a tutor at school, and work over 20 hours a week tutoring in everything from gen chem, organic chem, biology, biochemistry, ethics, and philosophy. Tutoring was definitely a huge help in this process—it kept me very sharp for these subjects.
Materials Used
Crack the DAT Hero(?) Package (1/10)
I heard some good things about CracktheDAT from some old SDN posts, so I figured I would give it a shot. I managed to get one of their Math/Science/RC/PAT bundles for like $200 in one of the sales they were having. This program is incredibly outdated. The QR section has trig on it that you won't see on the exam, their video sound quality is utter trash, and their technical support is incredibly disrespectful. I tried taking their RC exams, which I talk about a bit more in my breakdown below. Not to mention, their packages are incredibly expensive for how little you get. Would not recommend this to anyone going forward.
2019 DAT Destroyer (10/10)
I made the Destroyer my bible for studying for the DAT, and I can't imagine how anyone could go into this test without it. That's not to say doing so would be impossible, but it would put you at a huge disadvantage. As you'll see in my breakdown per section, I went through this book multiple times and made sure to know everything in it, questions and answers. A lot of people ask if the 2019 version is necessary, and I think the answer depends on (1) how strong of a student you are and (2) how willing you are to lose a few points. They add tons of questions each year, especially in biology, so I think it's worth the investment. My only qualm is that sometimes the biology explanations were ambiguous and didn't seem to fit the question truly. That being said, Dr. Romano clarified most questions in his study group that seemed off.
2019 Math Destroyer (10/10)
This book carried me on the exam. All but one of the questions on my actual DAT resembled questions in the Math Destroyer. Although it's very challenging, this book is your key to scoring well on the QR section. Don't neglect it, because QR can bring down or bring up your AA remember. Tests 1-10 are very representative of the exam, and Tests 11-12 are very, very difficult. However, you should still make sure to do them (I did!). Although you may not have one of those questions end up on your test, if you do, you'll surely be prepared.
Biology Dynamite Destroyer Review (10/10)
Again, another product of Dr. Romano, available for free on his study group. This is a 560 some-odd page document that details pretty much every single thing you need to know on the biology section. I personally think it had everything in it that I needed for the exam, because the questions I got wrong I would not have been able to figure out regardless of the resource I used. I had a decently strong biology background, so this PDF file served as a great review and reminder of everything I needed to know. It also didn't go too into depth on things that were unlikely to show up on the exam compared to other notes sources I glanced at before sticking with this (e.g., Feralis).
2019 Official DAT Destroyer and OAT Destroyer Study Group (10/10)
If you're preparing for the DAT, you should really be a member of this group. Dr. Romano posts between 3-5 questions daily in GC, BIO, and OC, and they are really tough. But, I had a few questions he asked on there that popped up on my actual DAT. I highly recommend active participation in the group, because it's the only way you will learn the material. Plus, why wouldn't you want extra, free review every day?
Now at this point, I probably know what you're thinking: "This kid is definitely getting paid by the Orgoman team to write this review." And that would be false. Although I do like money, I do not intend on putting people at a disadvantage for a quick buck. I found the resources above vital to my success on the DAT, which is why I am such a strong proponent of all of them. That being said, I'm sure some people will not like the materials and will find others that suit them better. There's nothing wrong with that! I want to share what worked for me, because I think it will work for others too.
DATBootcamp (2/10)
So I got to snag a quick week or two with BC off of another person around March, and I was frankly unimpressed. The first thing I did was watch some of the PAT videos because I was struggling with their free generators, and they really didn't help me at all. I don't mean to be rude, but I found them rather annoying. If I heard Joel say "we definitively eliminated" one more time, I think I would have screamed. Putting that aside, I also took a practice test just to see how I would fare after a couple of months of light review. I got something like a 27 BIO, 30 OC, 24 GC, 25 RC, 19 PAT, and 19 QR. Something seemed off to me about those scores--there was no way I should have gotten above a 20 after just a few months of review. I decided then that BC really wasn't worth it. Now that they increased the prices so drastically as well, I wouldn't recommend the program. $500 for 90 is much better spent on the Destroyer and PATBooster, and you would even save money! I know people do well using this program according to things I've read before, but $500 is ridiculous to expect of broke college students for even a lifetime membership. Wouldn't you be really mad if WebAssign or MasteringChemistry were $500 for a semester (sorry, I probably triggered some bad emotions in some of you)? Anyway, I digress. Moving on!
PATBooster (10/10)
I've always liked working with my hands, but I was never the type for origami, so I was at a bit of a disadvantage in this section. I found PATBooster thanks to @WithLove's breakdown that I stumbled upon in April if I remember correctly. Unlike BC, the videos here seem to be of higher quality and definitely helped me form proper strategies. I also really liked their logo and intro to the videos, but that's beside the point. Their exams are tough. I scored between 19-20 for most of them, and only hit a 26 on Test 7 and a 27 when I retook Test 2. I could never have scored as well as I did without this program. Their generators are superior to anything I used previously, and their compilation feature is absolutely awesome. The week before my exam I just used that feature to do test questions in random order from each section, and I really think it helped me out a ton.
Well, this is already a huge post but I have much more to go!
So just as a bit of a rundown: I started casually studying in the summer of 2018. Then, I bought the 2018 Destroyers to start working on questions in the late summer of 2018. Once it came out, I bought the 2019 Destroyers (math and regular) to really start working hard. I completed these slowly between December to May, twice to three times through for each section (see below for details). After finals (May 16), I started studying between 8-12 hours per day until my exam (June 8). I normally work during the summer because money is tight, but investing time now is investing for the future (and preventing a retake). Those three weeks were intense, and I had a strict schedule I followed every day religiously. I did not break the schedule besides on Sundays, where I allowed myself to sleep in and catch up on anything I may have fallen behind on. Here's more or less a rundown of what I did for those three weeks:
Studying for Each Section
BIO (25): The biology section scared me at first, even as a Biology major. The information in this section is very broad, and they can ask anything from classes you’ve taken in high school until now. Plants, A&P, embryology (know this), biomes—you name it! I first started studying for this subject (casually) in July of 2018 by reading Dr. Romano’s Dynamite Destroyer notes. I took some notes in OneNote and constantly added on to them, especially when Dr. Romano would ask a biology question I didn’t know the answer to in the study group. That notebook of pages has become a treasure trove of DAT biology questions. Dr. Romano’s biology videos were also golden for this section—I would watch one or two every night before heading to sleep for a long time. I originally bought the 2018 Destroyer to start practicing, but once the 2019 Destroyer came out in December I bought it right away to get all of the new questions (I think this is very important for everyone to do—that one extra question might be the difference between a 25 and a 22). I probably got ~40% of the questions wrong in the biology section going through the Destroyer for the first time. Keep in mind, though, I have a decent background in biology because I love the subject and read up on it quite often. I’ve also had some fantastic professors in college that have helped me learn more.
I went through the biology portion of the Destroyer twice between January and May. This may seem like a long time, but there are 740 some-odd questions with tons of information, so slow and steady wins here. Once I got into hardcore studying mode, I would do nearly 100 questions a day to test my knowledge going through for the third time. I started marking questions that would be useful for me to go over leading up to the exam on an Excel spreadsheet. I ended up marking around 240 questions and went through all of these the two days leading up to the DAT. By the way, on my third go, I only got around 10 out of the 740ish questions wrong—not bad!
Also, when I started my hardcore studying, I went through and highlighted all things that I did not remember off the top of my head from the Dynamite Destroyer Biology book. I kept going through the book and each time I knew something that I had highlighted, I would un-highlight it. This way I was constantly learning more without having to read the entire book over and over. 10/10 technique, would do it again.
GC (30): I have always loved chemistry, especially inorganic, since I was a little kid. For the longest time, everyone expected me to be a chemist. I even have a little lab that I do occasional fun experiments in! This section came quite naturally to me, so I hit the Destroyer right away. As with most of the sections, it ripped me to shreds the first time through. I can still remember thinking to myself: “What in the hell is an Azimuthal quantum number? This is chemistry, not physics!” I went through the Destroyer three times fully, and a fourth time only on marked questions. I also took some notes as I went through and included them into a OneNote document as well. As per the other sections, Dr. Romano has awesome videos on this section that really break things down.
OC (22): As the trend has shown, I thought I was good at organic chemistry before hitting the Destroyer. I took the ACS Organic final and scored 93rd percentile in the nation. Got to the Destroyer... got destroyed. Dr. Romano really takes organic chemistry to the next level. I went through the Destroyer three times, and then a fourth again through highlighted problems. I just want to note here something I see people ask about all of the time: memorizing reaction sheets, reagents, and roadmaps will get you NO WHERE in this section if that’s all you’re going to do. You have to truly understand the chemistry behind why reactions do what they do and how electrons move around the systems to produce products. This understanding goes for all of these sections. The only thing you should be memorizing, or at least memorizing the steps of arrow pushing, are reaction mechanisms. Mechanisms are the way to get every single reaction question correct 100% of the time, so long as you perform the proper arrow pushing. Dr Romano’s videos on this section are good too, so make sure to check those out.
PAT (25): I was at a complete loss for this section when I originally started studying. I found some free generators online (mostly through BC at the time), and I was doing horrible. Fast forward to April when I discovered PATBooster from someone in this group. At first, I didn’t use the program much until my hardcore studying began. I took the first practice test come May 16 and, surprisingly, got a 19—but it kicked my butt. If you didn’t notice yet, something that kicks your butt when you’re studying is a good thing. I kept practicing using their more advanced generators, and eventually, my practice scores went up to a 24, and then a 27. I only really recommend practicing timed tests with this section (and QR), because timing is key for PAT. It’s very important to know how much time you take per section so you can spend it wisely on the exam.
RC (30): I never really enjoyed reading as a child, and oftentimes wrote book reports based off of what I thought the book talked about from the cover and back description of the plot (yes, I’m talking about Magic Tree House books). But, I’ve always been interested in philosophy and ethics—hence my second major. Even if I didn’t want to read, I had to do plenty of it. Plus, I truly had to understand the material, which makes reading comprehension exams far more straightforward for me. The first week or two of my hardcore studying, I took 3 of the Crack the DAT RC tests and scored a 19 each time. Their questions are super ambiguous, tons of strange tone and inference ones, etc. To say the least, I was very discouraged. Since the Fall of 2018, I have been reading articles that Dr. Romano posted in the study group nearly daily, so I figured that would keep me well for the actual exam. When I couldn’t get enough, I’d sometimes just casually read some ScienceDaily articles on random things from autism to gut bacteria to Godzilla evolving thousands of times faster than normal living creatures (I’m not joking, there’s an article on it. Worth the read, very interesting philosophically/socially).
QR (30): I’ve never considered myself a “math person,” but I’ve always been decent with math classes. Unfortunately, the last math class I took was my freshman year Fall semester. To say the least, I was very rusty. I started with the regular QR/QC sections in the Destroyer to ease myself into studying. Those questions are a bit more straightforward than the ones in the Math Destroyer. After I went through all of those questions twice through, I started taking Math Destroyer practice tests and, as per the trend, got destroyed. I took them untimed the first time through. On Test 1, I scored a 31/40, and a 27/40 on Test 2. Then I turned to Dr. Romano and Professor Blois’ videos on YouTube for guidance. I watched them for three days straight, bookmarking videos I would go back to if I had any questions. These videos were spot on for both the Math Destroyer and the actual DAT. If you struggle with QR, watch through the ~70 video arsenal on their YouTube page.
After watching those videos, I returned to the Math Destroyer and started getting 37-39/40 right—clearly a massive improvement. I marked questions in an Excel doc that I would get wrong and had to revisit before the exam. I spent the last two days before the DAT going over marked questions and making sure I understood the concepts behind them. Note that I only used the free videos I found through the Orgoman page—nothing paid, and no Khan Academy. I don’t think either is necessary.
When I got closer to exam time, I took 8 of the Math Destroyer exams timed. I gave myself 50 minutes for each. If I had more time, I would have redone ALL of them timed, but I ended up just going over marked questions on exams 10-12. By the way, do all of the exams—you’re only cheating yourself if you don’t. I scored between 37-40 on all of them, which relieved me.
Exam Day
BIO (25): Most of this section was straightforward. There were several questions straight from the Destroyer that I knew as soon as I saw them. Unfortunately, there were two questions that I just couldn’t figure out for the life of me. One was a memory recall question that I should have gotten, while the other was an application question that I still cannot figure out even after the test. Regardless, I had no problems with the majority of the questions thanks to the Destroyer. I never got anything on the excretory/urinary system, which kind of upset me. But I had a bunch of neuroendocrinology/embryology, so make sure to know that well. Although I would have loved a little higher of a score in this section, I’m happy with a 25. Biology is such a broad section that anything 20 and greater is a great indication of how much you’ve learned in college and through studying for the exam.
GC (30): Compared to the Destroyer, this section on the exam was a breeze. I had no trick questions, and the Destroyer prepared me for everything I needed to know. This section was a good split of conceptual and calculations (none of which were difficult numerically), plus a few that seemed like lengthy calculations but were actually just conceptual! Make sure to know Henderson-Hassalbach, scientific notation, and logs very well. I really don’t have many comments for this section because it felt like I was walking on Cloud 9 after the beating I took from the study group and Destroyer. I’m very pleased with this score, of course!
OC (22): Now this section I am slightly bothered by. I love organic chemistry. But for some reason, this section was my lowest score! I must have missed some super easy questions, because I thought this section was relatively simple. I’m interested to know what I got wrong—much of it was alkene reactions, Sn1/Sn2/E1/E2 and the like. Alas, I will never know. Around 1/3 was reactions, while the other 2/3 was mostly conceptual (that knowing reactions would help you do well on). I finished this section very confidently, and I suppose I should not be too upset about the score, given the rest. Overall, if you know the concepts and why things happen in reactions, what makes certain compounds more acidic/basic, etc., you should be set for this section—especially if you prepare extensively with the Destroyer.
SNS Overall: I finished this section with 40 minutes to spare. That’s right—I did all 100 questions in only 50 minutes. When you truly know what to expect from using the Destroyer, you’ll see that a timed test really won’t help you at all in this section. Know the stuff and you'll have no problems!
PAT (25): When I saw my score from this section, I was absolutely shocked. Most of my PATBooster scores were 19-20. My strategy was to skip keyholes and TFE and go straight to angle ranking. I could get 10-13/15 right in that section, so I figured it was best to start with it; that way I didn’t have to stare at the lines too long. This section felt tough—there were several angles that definitely only have a 3-4° difference, but I powered through. Then I went on to hole punching, which was also surprisingly difficult. I was getting 14-15/15 consistently, but these had some super weird folds that I just didn’t know how to do very well. I used the grid/line-of-symmetry method here. Cube counting came and went, pretty general—no big issues there, used the typical tallying method.
After cubes, I skipped all the way back to TFE because I was decent at it. Definitely an easier version for that section, but the shapes they gave me were really weird. Nothing I had really seen before, but there was almost always ONE distinguishing feature that helped me find the answer choice quickly. Then I skipped all the way to pattern folding, which I expected to be a breeze. It really wasn’t though—some of the folds were whacky with some strange shading. I think I got most of these thanks to my practice with the PATBooster generators.
Once patterns were done with, I had about 22 minutes to spare for keyholes (record timing for me). Let me tell you, I always hated keyholes. But on the exam, most of them were straightforward. I only got 3 rock/boulder type questions, which I guessed on and moved on to checking my marked questions from other sections. No point on dwelling on those when you can get points elsewhere. I ran straight until the clock ended and went on my break! Very happy with the result from this section overall!
RC (30): All three of my passages were about things I previously knew from background science reading or from the articles Dr. Romano posted, or others I read myself. They were incredibly straightforward, and I could have answered a good amount of the questions without reading the passages. I personally used the vanilla technique—read the passage first, highlight things that might be important, and then go answer questions. Overall, very interesting articles that kept me intrigued, so this section was almost fun to do. Again, very happy with the result!
QR (30): Again, this section was surprisingly straightforward. Know your penny-nickel-dime-quarter problems, age problems, how to interpret graphs, combined work, and average velocity problems well—they all landed. The Math Destroyer and videos on YouTube carried me for this section. I’d seen everything before besides one of the questions and finished with 10 minutes remaining. The quantitative comparison problems were nothing in terms of difficulty compared to the ones in both Destroyers—know those and you will be set. I’d highly recommend getting used to using a simple calculator to know what you’re going to be using on the DAT. Just the generic Windows calculator would do just fine. Overall, I’m quite happy with this score (obviously, ChemistryDentist, we get it). I know a ton of people ignore the QR section and it drags down their AA, but this brought mine up!
Last Minute Thoughts
I highly recommend the Prometric Test Drive. I did mine the week before my exam and it really calmed me down on the day of the DAT to know exactly what to expect with regards to check-in procedure. The interface, periodic table, and calculator they show you are nothing like on the actual DAT, however, so be careful of that.
While you study, make sure you get more sleep than average so you have enough rest time in between studying time. I personally didn't break my schedule very often to go out (or at all, really), and I think it was because of how much I was able to sleep (~7.5-8 hours per night). Try to get to bed early the night before the exam too--that way you'll get enough sleep in.
Well, this was a long post. I really hope it's helpful for those of you preparing. Please let me know if there's anything else you want me to add or talk about--I would gladly do so! Thank you again to @orgoman22 and @Shahed B. I couldn't have done this without both of your works.
Scores (see score report below)
BIO: 25
GC: 30
OC: 22
PAT: 25
RC: 30
QR: 30
Background on Myself
I am a rising senior, Biology and Philosophy double major at a small college in NJ. I have a 4.00 sGPA and cGPA from my college (a little lower if you count college classes I took before attending undergrad, but no where under a 3.95). Now, just because my GPA is this high does NOT mean I am the smartest person out there. I only put my absolute all into everything I do, whether it be school, work, or studying for the DAT. You need to do the same if you want to do well on this exam. I’m also a tutor at school, and work over 20 hours a week tutoring in everything from gen chem, organic chem, biology, biochemistry, ethics, and philosophy. Tutoring was definitely a huge help in this process—it kept me very sharp for these subjects.
Materials Used
Crack the DAT Hero(?) Package (1/10)
I heard some good things about CracktheDAT from some old SDN posts, so I figured I would give it a shot. I managed to get one of their Math/Science/RC/PAT bundles for like $200 in one of the sales they were having. This program is incredibly outdated. The QR section has trig on it that you won't see on the exam, their video sound quality is utter trash, and their technical support is incredibly disrespectful. I tried taking their RC exams, which I talk about a bit more in my breakdown below. Not to mention, their packages are incredibly expensive for how little you get. Would not recommend this to anyone going forward.
2019 DAT Destroyer (10/10)
I made the Destroyer my bible for studying for the DAT, and I can't imagine how anyone could go into this test without it. That's not to say doing so would be impossible, but it would put you at a huge disadvantage. As you'll see in my breakdown per section, I went through this book multiple times and made sure to know everything in it, questions and answers. A lot of people ask if the 2019 version is necessary, and I think the answer depends on (1) how strong of a student you are and (2) how willing you are to lose a few points. They add tons of questions each year, especially in biology, so I think it's worth the investment. My only qualm is that sometimes the biology explanations were ambiguous and didn't seem to fit the question truly. That being said, Dr. Romano clarified most questions in his study group that seemed off.
2019 Math Destroyer (10/10)
This book carried me on the exam. All but one of the questions on my actual DAT resembled questions in the Math Destroyer. Although it's very challenging, this book is your key to scoring well on the QR section. Don't neglect it, because QR can bring down or bring up your AA remember. Tests 1-10 are very representative of the exam, and Tests 11-12 are very, very difficult. However, you should still make sure to do them (I did!). Although you may not have one of those questions end up on your test, if you do, you'll surely be prepared.
Biology Dynamite Destroyer Review (10/10)
Again, another product of Dr. Romano, available for free on his study group. This is a 560 some-odd page document that details pretty much every single thing you need to know on the biology section. I personally think it had everything in it that I needed for the exam, because the questions I got wrong I would not have been able to figure out regardless of the resource I used. I had a decently strong biology background, so this PDF file served as a great review and reminder of everything I needed to know. It also didn't go too into depth on things that were unlikely to show up on the exam compared to other notes sources I glanced at before sticking with this (e.g., Feralis).
2019 Official DAT Destroyer and OAT Destroyer Study Group (10/10)
If you're preparing for the DAT, you should really be a member of this group. Dr. Romano posts between 3-5 questions daily in GC, BIO, and OC, and they are really tough. But, I had a few questions he asked on there that popped up on my actual DAT. I highly recommend active participation in the group, because it's the only way you will learn the material. Plus, why wouldn't you want extra, free review every day?
Now at this point, I probably know what you're thinking: "This kid is definitely getting paid by the Orgoman team to write this review." And that would be false. Although I do like money, I do not intend on putting people at a disadvantage for a quick buck. I found the resources above vital to my success on the DAT, which is why I am such a strong proponent of all of them. That being said, I'm sure some people will not like the materials and will find others that suit them better. There's nothing wrong with that! I want to share what worked for me, because I think it will work for others too.
DATBootcamp (2/10)
So I got to snag a quick week or two with BC off of another person around March, and I was frankly unimpressed. The first thing I did was watch some of the PAT videos because I was struggling with their free generators, and they really didn't help me at all. I don't mean to be rude, but I found them rather annoying. If I heard Joel say "we definitively eliminated" one more time, I think I would have screamed. Putting that aside, I also took a practice test just to see how I would fare after a couple of months of light review. I got something like a 27 BIO, 30 OC, 24 GC, 25 RC, 19 PAT, and 19 QR. Something seemed off to me about those scores--there was no way I should have gotten above a 20 after just a few months of review. I decided then that BC really wasn't worth it. Now that they increased the prices so drastically as well, I wouldn't recommend the program. $500 for 90 is much better spent on the Destroyer and PATBooster, and you would even save money! I know people do well using this program according to things I've read before, but $500 is ridiculous to expect of broke college students for even a lifetime membership. Wouldn't you be really mad if WebAssign or MasteringChemistry were $500 for a semester (sorry, I probably triggered some bad emotions in some of you)? Anyway, I digress. Moving on!
PATBooster (10/10)
I've always liked working with my hands, but I was never the type for origami, so I was at a bit of a disadvantage in this section. I found PATBooster thanks to @WithLove's breakdown that I stumbled upon in April if I remember correctly. Unlike BC, the videos here seem to be of higher quality and definitely helped me form proper strategies. I also really liked their logo and intro to the videos, but that's beside the point. Their exams are tough. I scored between 19-20 for most of them, and only hit a 26 on Test 7 and a 27 when I retook Test 2. I could never have scored as well as I did without this program. Their generators are superior to anything I used previously, and their compilation feature is absolutely awesome. The week before my exam I just used that feature to do test questions in random order from each section, and I really think it helped me out a ton.
Well, this is already a huge post but I have much more to go!
So just as a bit of a rundown: I started casually studying in the summer of 2018. Then, I bought the 2018 Destroyers to start working on questions in the late summer of 2018. Once it came out, I bought the 2019 Destroyers (math and regular) to really start working hard. I completed these slowly between December to May, twice to three times through for each section (see below for details). After finals (May 16), I started studying between 8-12 hours per day until my exam (June 8). I normally work during the summer because money is tight, but investing time now is investing for the future (and preventing a retake). Those three weeks were intense, and I had a strict schedule I followed every day religiously. I did not break the schedule besides on Sundays, where I allowed myself to sleep in and catch up on anything I may have fallen behind on. Here's more or less a rundown of what I did for those three weeks:
6 AM – 8 AM | Wake up, shower, eat, mentally prepare |
8 AM – 9 AM | PAT Practice (mostly generators) |
9 AM – 9:30 AM | DAT Questions from Study Group |
9:30 AM – 12:30 PM | Biology |
12:30 PM – 1 PM | Lunch Break |
1 PM – 3 PM | Quantitative Reasoning |
3 PM – 5 PM | General Chemistry |
5 PM – 5:30 PM | Dinner Break |
5:30 PM – 7 PM | Organic Chemistry |
7:30 PM – 9 PM | PAT (Practice Exam/Generators) |
9 PM – 10 PM | Reading |
Studying for Each Section
BIO (25): The biology section scared me at first, even as a Biology major. The information in this section is very broad, and they can ask anything from classes you’ve taken in high school until now. Plants, A&P, embryology (know this), biomes—you name it! I first started studying for this subject (casually) in July of 2018 by reading Dr. Romano’s Dynamite Destroyer notes. I took some notes in OneNote and constantly added on to them, especially when Dr. Romano would ask a biology question I didn’t know the answer to in the study group. That notebook of pages has become a treasure trove of DAT biology questions. Dr. Romano’s biology videos were also golden for this section—I would watch one or two every night before heading to sleep for a long time. I originally bought the 2018 Destroyer to start practicing, but once the 2019 Destroyer came out in December I bought it right away to get all of the new questions (I think this is very important for everyone to do—that one extra question might be the difference between a 25 and a 22). I probably got ~40% of the questions wrong in the biology section going through the Destroyer for the first time. Keep in mind, though, I have a decent background in biology because I love the subject and read up on it quite often. I’ve also had some fantastic professors in college that have helped me learn more.
I went through the biology portion of the Destroyer twice between January and May. This may seem like a long time, but there are 740 some-odd questions with tons of information, so slow and steady wins here. Once I got into hardcore studying mode, I would do nearly 100 questions a day to test my knowledge going through for the third time. I started marking questions that would be useful for me to go over leading up to the exam on an Excel spreadsheet. I ended up marking around 240 questions and went through all of these the two days leading up to the DAT. By the way, on my third go, I only got around 10 out of the 740ish questions wrong—not bad!
Also, when I started my hardcore studying, I went through and highlighted all things that I did not remember off the top of my head from the Dynamite Destroyer Biology book. I kept going through the book and each time I knew something that I had highlighted, I would un-highlight it. This way I was constantly learning more without having to read the entire book over and over. 10/10 technique, would do it again.
GC (30): I have always loved chemistry, especially inorganic, since I was a little kid. For the longest time, everyone expected me to be a chemist. I even have a little lab that I do occasional fun experiments in! This section came quite naturally to me, so I hit the Destroyer right away. As with most of the sections, it ripped me to shreds the first time through. I can still remember thinking to myself: “What in the hell is an Azimuthal quantum number? This is chemistry, not physics!” I went through the Destroyer three times fully, and a fourth time only on marked questions. I also took some notes as I went through and included them into a OneNote document as well. As per the other sections, Dr. Romano has awesome videos on this section that really break things down.
OC (22): As the trend has shown, I thought I was good at organic chemistry before hitting the Destroyer. I took the ACS Organic final and scored 93rd percentile in the nation. Got to the Destroyer... got destroyed. Dr. Romano really takes organic chemistry to the next level. I went through the Destroyer three times, and then a fourth again through highlighted problems. I just want to note here something I see people ask about all of the time: memorizing reaction sheets, reagents, and roadmaps will get you NO WHERE in this section if that’s all you’re going to do. You have to truly understand the chemistry behind why reactions do what they do and how electrons move around the systems to produce products. This understanding goes for all of these sections. The only thing you should be memorizing, or at least memorizing the steps of arrow pushing, are reaction mechanisms. Mechanisms are the way to get every single reaction question correct 100% of the time, so long as you perform the proper arrow pushing. Dr Romano’s videos on this section are good too, so make sure to check those out.
PAT (25): I was at a complete loss for this section when I originally started studying. I found some free generators online (mostly through BC at the time), and I was doing horrible. Fast forward to April when I discovered PATBooster from someone in this group. At first, I didn’t use the program much until my hardcore studying began. I took the first practice test come May 16 and, surprisingly, got a 19—but it kicked my butt. If you didn’t notice yet, something that kicks your butt when you’re studying is a good thing. I kept practicing using their more advanced generators, and eventually, my practice scores went up to a 24, and then a 27. I only really recommend practicing timed tests with this section (and QR), because timing is key for PAT. It’s very important to know how much time you take per section so you can spend it wisely on the exam.
RC (30): I never really enjoyed reading as a child, and oftentimes wrote book reports based off of what I thought the book talked about from the cover and back description of the plot (yes, I’m talking about Magic Tree House books). But, I’ve always been interested in philosophy and ethics—hence my second major. Even if I didn’t want to read, I had to do plenty of it. Plus, I truly had to understand the material, which makes reading comprehension exams far more straightforward for me. The first week or two of my hardcore studying, I took 3 of the Crack the DAT RC tests and scored a 19 each time. Their questions are super ambiguous, tons of strange tone and inference ones, etc. To say the least, I was very discouraged. Since the Fall of 2018, I have been reading articles that Dr. Romano posted in the study group nearly daily, so I figured that would keep me well for the actual exam. When I couldn’t get enough, I’d sometimes just casually read some ScienceDaily articles on random things from autism to gut bacteria to Godzilla evolving thousands of times faster than normal living creatures (I’m not joking, there’s an article on it. Worth the read, very interesting philosophically/socially).
QR (30): I’ve never considered myself a “math person,” but I’ve always been decent with math classes. Unfortunately, the last math class I took was my freshman year Fall semester. To say the least, I was very rusty. I started with the regular QR/QC sections in the Destroyer to ease myself into studying. Those questions are a bit more straightforward than the ones in the Math Destroyer. After I went through all of those questions twice through, I started taking Math Destroyer practice tests and, as per the trend, got destroyed. I took them untimed the first time through. On Test 1, I scored a 31/40, and a 27/40 on Test 2. Then I turned to Dr. Romano and Professor Blois’ videos on YouTube for guidance. I watched them for three days straight, bookmarking videos I would go back to if I had any questions. These videos were spot on for both the Math Destroyer and the actual DAT. If you struggle with QR, watch through the ~70 video arsenal on their YouTube page.
After watching those videos, I returned to the Math Destroyer and started getting 37-39/40 right—clearly a massive improvement. I marked questions in an Excel doc that I would get wrong and had to revisit before the exam. I spent the last two days before the DAT going over marked questions and making sure I understood the concepts behind them. Note that I only used the free videos I found through the Orgoman page—nothing paid, and no Khan Academy. I don’t think either is necessary.
When I got closer to exam time, I took 8 of the Math Destroyer exams timed. I gave myself 50 minutes for each. If I had more time, I would have redone ALL of them timed, but I ended up just going over marked questions on exams 10-12. By the way, do all of the exams—you’re only cheating yourself if you don’t. I scored between 37-40 on all of them, which relieved me.
Exam Day
BIO (25): Most of this section was straightforward. There were several questions straight from the Destroyer that I knew as soon as I saw them. Unfortunately, there were two questions that I just couldn’t figure out for the life of me. One was a memory recall question that I should have gotten, while the other was an application question that I still cannot figure out even after the test. Regardless, I had no problems with the majority of the questions thanks to the Destroyer. I never got anything on the excretory/urinary system, which kind of upset me. But I had a bunch of neuroendocrinology/embryology, so make sure to know that well. Although I would have loved a little higher of a score in this section, I’m happy with a 25. Biology is such a broad section that anything 20 and greater is a great indication of how much you’ve learned in college and through studying for the exam.
GC (30): Compared to the Destroyer, this section on the exam was a breeze. I had no trick questions, and the Destroyer prepared me for everything I needed to know. This section was a good split of conceptual and calculations (none of which were difficult numerically), plus a few that seemed like lengthy calculations but were actually just conceptual! Make sure to know Henderson-Hassalbach, scientific notation, and logs very well. I really don’t have many comments for this section because it felt like I was walking on Cloud 9 after the beating I took from the study group and Destroyer. I’m very pleased with this score, of course!
OC (22): Now this section I am slightly bothered by. I love organic chemistry. But for some reason, this section was my lowest score! I must have missed some super easy questions, because I thought this section was relatively simple. I’m interested to know what I got wrong—much of it was alkene reactions, Sn1/Sn2/E1/E2 and the like. Alas, I will never know. Around 1/3 was reactions, while the other 2/3 was mostly conceptual (that knowing reactions would help you do well on). I finished this section very confidently, and I suppose I should not be too upset about the score, given the rest. Overall, if you know the concepts and why things happen in reactions, what makes certain compounds more acidic/basic, etc., you should be set for this section—especially if you prepare extensively with the Destroyer.
SNS Overall: I finished this section with 40 minutes to spare. That’s right—I did all 100 questions in only 50 minutes. When you truly know what to expect from using the Destroyer, you’ll see that a timed test really won’t help you at all in this section. Know the stuff and you'll have no problems!
PAT (25): When I saw my score from this section, I was absolutely shocked. Most of my PATBooster scores were 19-20. My strategy was to skip keyholes and TFE and go straight to angle ranking. I could get 10-13/15 right in that section, so I figured it was best to start with it; that way I didn’t have to stare at the lines too long. This section felt tough—there were several angles that definitely only have a 3-4° difference, but I powered through. Then I went on to hole punching, which was also surprisingly difficult. I was getting 14-15/15 consistently, but these had some super weird folds that I just didn’t know how to do very well. I used the grid/line-of-symmetry method here. Cube counting came and went, pretty general—no big issues there, used the typical tallying method.
After cubes, I skipped all the way back to TFE because I was decent at it. Definitely an easier version for that section, but the shapes they gave me were really weird. Nothing I had really seen before, but there was almost always ONE distinguishing feature that helped me find the answer choice quickly. Then I skipped all the way to pattern folding, which I expected to be a breeze. It really wasn’t though—some of the folds were whacky with some strange shading. I think I got most of these thanks to my practice with the PATBooster generators.
Once patterns were done with, I had about 22 minutes to spare for keyholes (record timing for me). Let me tell you, I always hated keyholes. But on the exam, most of them were straightforward. I only got 3 rock/boulder type questions, which I guessed on and moved on to checking my marked questions from other sections. No point on dwelling on those when you can get points elsewhere. I ran straight until the clock ended and went on my break! Very happy with the result from this section overall!
RC (30): All three of my passages were about things I previously knew from background science reading or from the articles Dr. Romano posted, or others I read myself. They were incredibly straightforward, and I could have answered a good amount of the questions without reading the passages. I personally used the vanilla technique—read the passage first, highlight things that might be important, and then go answer questions. Overall, very interesting articles that kept me intrigued, so this section was almost fun to do. Again, very happy with the result!
QR (30): Again, this section was surprisingly straightforward. Know your penny-nickel-dime-quarter problems, age problems, how to interpret graphs, combined work, and average velocity problems well—they all landed. The Math Destroyer and videos on YouTube carried me for this section. I’d seen everything before besides one of the questions and finished with 10 minutes remaining. The quantitative comparison problems were nothing in terms of difficulty compared to the ones in both Destroyers—know those and you will be set. I’d highly recommend getting used to using a simple calculator to know what you’re going to be using on the DAT. Just the generic Windows calculator would do just fine. Overall, I’m quite happy with this score (obviously, ChemistryDentist, we get it). I know a ton of people ignore the QR section and it drags down their AA, but this brought mine up!
Last Minute Thoughts
I highly recommend the Prometric Test Drive. I did mine the week before my exam and it really calmed me down on the day of the DAT to know exactly what to expect with regards to check-in procedure. The interface, periodic table, and calculator they show you are nothing like on the actual DAT, however, so be careful of that.
While you study, make sure you get more sleep than average so you have enough rest time in between studying time. I personally didn't break my schedule very often to go out (or at all, really), and I think it was because of how much I was able to sleep (~7.5-8 hours per night). Try to get to bed early the night before the exam too--that way you'll get enough sleep in.
Well, this was a long post. I really hope it's helpful for those of you preparing. Please let me know if there's anything else you want me to add or talk about--I would gladly do so! Thank you again to @orgoman22 and @Shahed B. I couldn't have done this without both of your works.
