Hi everyone I just want to post a thread here because I wish I had more to go by (for both study tips and confidence boosts). I want to talk about what I used, what I liked, what I didn't, and how it went! I took my test on April 19th in Rochester NY (slowest computers I have ever been on, prometric if you read this that was so awful). I scored as follows; PA: 21 QR:21 RC:30 Bio:20 GC:22 OC:21, TS:21 AA:23. For background about me, I am a Junior Honors student at a SUNY school (New York), my overall GPA is 3.72, Science GPA is 3.65, 230 shadow hours and 100 volunteer hours.
WHAT DID NOT WORK
KAPLAN: Truthfully, wholeheartedly, I disliked this. This cost me like $300 I think and I used it the least. It was so mundane and boring that I could barely get through a short set of practice problems. I also found the questions here to be more difficult than the actual DAT. This does not mean it won't work for you, but I did not use this and I do not personally recommend using this resource.
WHAT MIGHT WORK FOR YOU
DAT DESTROYER: This in terms of price was not bad at all, it is a very thick book and there are plentiful free videos and advice on their Facebook page. That being said, I only did about half the bio questions, half the gen-chem, and barely any o-chem questions. The reason being because good lord these are difficult questions. I always read posts where people said that but this resource is ridiculous overkill. I know the motto is "Think 30", and truthfully I believe if you do go through this book a bunch of times and memorize everything you might actually score a 30 because holy crap. Another thing that is a personal preference really, I hated flipping to the back of the section for the answers. So overall, I do not like, nor dislike, DAT DESTROYER. A good friend of mine who is currently in the enrolled class at UB scored better than me (TS:24 AA:24 maybe? I know it was higher, but with the DAT that is a matter of 2 or 3 questions more than I got right). I know he studied all summer, 7-9 hours a day, for two months using this (whereas I studied probably 5-6 hours a day on average for about 2 1/2 months during this spring semester). I do not think I saw any identical questions on my actual DAT and at the end of the day I really think this is too much. I did use the Facebook page though, I also read half of the Bio Dynamite notes and made Anki cards but never went over them.
WHAT I LOVED
CHADS VIDEOS!!!: This man's whole DAT prep course is a god send. He got me through Organic Chem II, and taught me all of Gen Chem because I learned NOTHING during Covid-19 in Gen Chem it was awful. I truly recommend watching his o-chem and gen-chem videos in the DAT prep course at least 2 or 3 times. Take his practice questions, and his practice test, and just listen to the man he knows what he is talking about. Chad gave me such a strong foundation and I do not think I could have scored well without him. I think the price is $60 a month and it is WORTH IT.
DAT BOOSTER: I swear on my life I am not sponsored, but it will seriously sound like it. This resource saved me, I think I could have got this alone and done well but still, get Chad's. DAT BOOSTER had by far the most similar style questions, and the absolute best practice exams. The PAT is almost identical difficulty, the bio is slightly harder, and same goes for o-chem, gen-chem, and QR. I read all the gen-chem notes they give, and I watched all the bio videos and some of the o-chem videos. I think the most important thing here though was the practice problems and exams. I saw a handful of identical questions which is awesome. After you go through all the practice questions and exams I highly recommend spending 1-2 weeks and literally memorizing every single one you marked for review, everyone you got wrong, and everyone you were unsure about (even if you got it right). Always read the why it was wrong, and if there is a video watch it! ALSO, do not get demoralized by the practice exam scores! I did, I was so worried that I was gonna get like a 17 on everything (or worse, my last QR practice I got a freaking 13, I ran out of time with like 17 questions left, where on the real thing I had 4 minutes extra!). My practice exam scores are as follows (in order 1-10, except PAT and QR I hopped around):
Bio: 18, 15, 17, 15, 16, 16, 15, 18, 17, 16 - REAL SCORE: 20
Gen-Chem: 19, 20, 18, 16, 16, 17, 16, 21, 16, 19 - REAL SCORE: 22
O-Chem: 18, 16, 20, 20, 18, 18, 18, 20, 20, 17 - REAL SCORE: 21
RC: 20, 21 - REAL SCORE: 30
QR: 17, 18, 13 (I never finished one of these in the time limit) - REAL SCORE: 21
PAT: 20, 22, 21, 20, 19 - REAL SCORE: 21
The biggest thing is to stay positive and just work hard. I definitely got borderline depressed about two months in because I did not feel I was getting anywhere. But you got this!!! Just keep pushing forward. I am also going to link another post here that honestly helped me get through this whole process knowing that there was someone out there who felt like me. DAT Breakdown (23AA) - Booster vs Actual DAT - One and Done!
Feel free to ask questions! I will try to reply, we are a community and we have each others backs!
WHAT DID NOT WORK
KAPLAN: Truthfully, wholeheartedly, I disliked this. This cost me like $300 I think and I used it the least. It was so mundane and boring that I could barely get through a short set of practice problems. I also found the questions here to be more difficult than the actual DAT. This does not mean it won't work for you, but I did not use this and I do not personally recommend using this resource.
WHAT MIGHT WORK FOR YOU
DAT DESTROYER: This in terms of price was not bad at all, it is a very thick book and there are plentiful free videos and advice on their Facebook page. That being said, I only did about half the bio questions, half the gen-chem, and barely any o-chem questions. The reason being because good lord these are difficult questions. I always read posts where people said that but this resource is ridiculous overkill. I know the motto is "Think 30", and truthfully I believe if you do go through this book a bunch of times and memorize everything you might actually score a 30 because holy crap. Another thing that is a personal preference really, I hated flipping to the back of the section for the answers. So overall, I do not like, nor dislike, DAT DESTROYER. A good friend of mine who is currently in the enrolled class at UB scored better than me (TS:24 AA:24 maybe? I know it was higher, but with the DAT that is a matter of 2 or 3 questions more than I got right). I know he studied all summer, 7-9 hours a day, for two months using this (whereas I studied probably 5-6 hours a day on average for about 2 1/2 months during this spring semester). I do not think I saw any identical questions on my actual DAT and at the end of the day I really think this is too much. I did use the Facebook page though, I also read half of the Bio Dynamite notes and made Anki cards but never went over them.
WHAT I LOVED
CHADS VIDEOS!!!: This man's whole DAT prep course is a god send. He got me through Organic Chem II, and taught me all of Gen Chem because I learned NOTHING during Covid-19 in Gen Chem it was awful. I truly recommend watching his o-chem and gen-chem videos in the DAT prep course at least 2 or 3 times. Take his practice questions, and his practice test, and just listen to the man he knows what he is talking about. Chad gave me such a strong foundation and I do not think I could have scored well without him. I think the price is $60 a month and it is WORTH IT.
DAT BOOSTER: I swear on my life I am not sponsored, but it will seriously sound like it. This resource saved me, I think I could have got this alone and done well but still, get Chad's. DAT BOOSTER had by far the most similar style questions, and the absolute best practice exams. The PAT is almost identical difficulty, the bio is slightly harder, and same goes for o-chem, gen-chem, and QR. I read all the gen-chem notes they give, and I watched all the bio videos and some of the o-chem videos. I think the most important thing here though was the practice problems and exams. I saw a handful of identical questions which is awesome. After you go through all the practice questions and exams I highly recommend spending 1-2 weeks and literally memorizing every single one you marked for review, everyone you got wrong, and everyone you were unsure about (even if you got it right). Always read the why it was wrong, and if there is a video watch it! ALSO, do not get demoralized by the practice exam scores! I did, I was so worried that I was gonna get like a 17 on everything (or worse, my last QR practice I got a freaking 13, I ran out of time with like 17 questions left, where on the real thing I had 4 minutes extra!). My practice exam scores are as follows (in order 1-10, except PAT and QR I hopped around):
Bio: 18, 15, 17, 15, 16, 16, 15, 18, 17, 16 - REAL SCORE: 20
Gen-Chem: 19, 20, 18, 16, 16, 17, 16, 21, 16, 19 - REAL SCORE: 22
O-Chem: 18, 16, 20, 20, 18, 18, 18, 20, 20, 17 - REAL SCORE: 21
RC: 20, 21 - REAL SCORE: 30
QR: 17, 18, 13 (I never finished one of these in the time limit) - REAL SCORE: 21
PAT: 20, 22, 21, 20, 19 - REAL SCORE: 21
The biggest thing is to stay positive and just work hard. I definitely got borderline depressed about two months in because I did not feel I was getting anywhere. But you got this!!! Just keep pushing forward. I am also going to link another post here that honestly helped me get through this whole process knowing that there was someone out there who felt like me. DAT Breakdown (23AA) - Booster vs Actual DAT - One and Done!
Feel free to ask questions! I will try to reply, we are a community and we have each others backs!
