I would like to start off and say that I am not proud of this score because I knew I could've done better and push myself harder even though every section improved over my last attempt.
I studied using Booster this time around, with last time being Bootcamp. Last time I effectively studied for 1.5-2 months where as this time I studied for 4.5 months, thus is why I am not necessarily happy with the outcome as I spent far more time studying. My method of studying was writing down every piece of information I was unsure of from the Booster's notes, followed by using all of the Booster's flashcards (which took up most of my time). From there I went through all of the presented extra questions, taking note of everything I was unsure of. Finally, I rewrote all of my notes. After my note completion I reread everything, and recited as much as possible from my head while walking around in my backyard (gotta get those steps in, lol). Finally, in the last 3-ish weeks I took about 3 tests, one per section, a day. Typically, I would study 6-8 hours a day for the first half the week and ~3 hours a day on the second half. This was because my family is divorced and my mother's household is very distracting and depressing to be in I just couldn't focus.
Between Bootcamp and Booster, I say if you have money and time use BC as it just gives you more material, more questions to play with. If you can't afford then Booster will be fine.
Here is my data
1st DAT: AA-19, TS-18, OC-19, GC-19, BIO-16, RC-20, QR-21, PA-19
Booster (of last 5 tests): AA-19, TS-18, OC-17, GC-18, BIO-17, RC-18, QR-21, PA-21
2nd DAT: AA-20, TS-20, OC-19, GC-21, BIO-20, RC-20, QR-20, PA-20
BIO (20): I must say, I studied biology far more this time than the first time around (and I mean this proportionally). The only thing that seems consistent was a poor understanding of 'Cell and Molecular Biology' and 'Developmentally Biology', everything else I nailed down. I suppose my poor experience with online, summer Physio is what contributed to this issue however that was a year ago however I shouldn't blame that experience. I'll admit, I don't give a damn about botany, I just couldn't come to care for it and instead wanted to focus on other subjects. In regards to the DAT, I definitely noticed some of the same questions on the DAT as are on the Booster however not too many questions I felt prepared for and played more with my intuition.
Chem (21): This is a subject that I was doing pretty well with and so I decided to deviate more time to OC. I find chemistry to be pretty straight forward as it's mostly pattern based.
OC (19): Unfortunately, this was the one subject that didn't go up. And of course, my biggest issue was reactions and mechanisms. I had a horrible experience with OC during undergrad as my professor, for whatever reason, stuck around for only the 2 years and everyone had a problem with her character. She once called out the entire class cause 1 person complained about her to the other professors.
I find studying for OC like Chem where it has a lot of patterns and one just needs to study the patterns, the one exception would be the reactions as they can be very dynamic. I generally don't have a strong foundation of OC and wish I would just forget everything and start from the bottom up.
Honestly, screw Kmno4, in some situations it inserts a carbonyl oxy in another it turns the oxy into a alcohol and more. The one thing I did find helpful was sorting a good portion of the reagents into "likes alcohols" or "doesn't like alcohols" all depending (as you may guess) how it reacts to alcohols.
RC (20): The problem I had with reading was just that I wasn't going anywhere with it for a while, scores were pretty consistent. The only suggestion I have is to just read more and keep your skills sharpened.
PA (20): Honestly, f*** key holes. Booster is not really good with PA, in my opinion. For instance, key holes in Booster were far more about the thin millimeter of space that may be add or subtracted to the 'hole', the same goes for top-front-end questions. These questions don't really train you to look for the details of the shape but rather precise angels, of which is the angel ranking's job. Also, something of note, this is a subject that didn't reflect well from the Booster's tests and I think I know why and I will talk about it in the next few paragraphs (same will go with math).
QR (20): Now listen, math is one of my strongest subjects and I became devastated to see I only got 20. I don't have much to say about this area due to this.
Reflection: Now I had the worst luck leading up to this test. 1. I live in Michigan and we had a storm a couple days ago leaving me without wifi the day before the test, thus no access to Booster. 2. I had virtually NO SLEEP the night before the exam and I don't know why, maybe it was caffeine maybe it was anxiety. This is what I think really hindered my abilities at least on the PA and QR sections ( as these sections were abnormally low for myself).
Overall, I did make improvements but I am quite disappointed in myself as I know I could've done better. I studied the entire summer, did no real projects or go anywhere and I just missed the mark for a score of 21.
Edit: another quick problem I experienced was that the DAT program was somewhat buggy. I'd click on an answer and it just wouldn't register, I think I mainly experienced this problem with QR as thats when I noticed it but did manage to fix my answers at the literal last second.
I studied using Booster this time around, with last time being Bootcamp. Last time I effectively studied for 1.5-2 months where as this time I studied for 4.5 months, thus is why I am not necessarily happy with the outcome as I spent far more time studying. My method of studying was writing down every piece of information I was unsure of from the Booster's notes, followed by using all of the Booster's flashcards (which took up most of my time). From there I went through all of the presented extra questions, taking note of everything I was unsure of. Finally, I rewrote all of my notes. After my note completion I reread everything, and recited as much as possible from my head while walking around in my backyard (gotta get those steps in, lol). Finally, in the last 3-ish weeks I took about 3 tests, one per section, a day. Typically, I would study 6-8 hours a day for the first half the week and ~3 hours a day on the second half. This was because my family is divorced and my mother's household is very distracting and depressing to be in I just couldn't focus.
Between Bootcamp and Booster, I say if you have money and time use BC as it just gives you more material, more questions to play with. If you can't afford then Booster will be fine.
Here is my data
1st DAT: AA-19, TS-18, OC-19, GC-19, BIO-16, RC-20, QR-21, PA-19
Booster (of last 5 tests): AA-19, TS-18, OC-17, GC-18, BIO-17, RC-18, QR-21, PA-21
2nd DAT: AA-20, TS-20, OC-19, GC-21, BIO-20, RC-20, QR-20, PA-20
BIO (20): I must say, I studied biology far more this time than the first time around (and I mean this proportionally). The only thing that seems consistent was a poor understanding of 'Cell and Molecular Biology' and 'Developmentally Biology', everything else I nailed down. I suppose my poor experience with online, summer Physio is what contributed to this issue however that was a year ago however I shouldn't blame that experience. I'll admit, I don't give a damn about botany, I just couldn't come to care for it and instead wanted to focus on other subjects. In regards to the DAT, I definitely noticed some of the same questions on the DAT as are on the Booster however not too many questions I felt prepared for and played more with my intuition.
Chem (21): This is a subject that I was doing pretty well with and so I decided to deviate more time to OC. I find chemistry to be pretty straight forward as it's mostly pattern based.
OC (19): Unfortunately, this was the one subject that didn't go up. And of course, my biggest issue was reactions and mechanisms. I had a horrible experience with OC during undergrad as my professor, for whatever reason, stuck around for only the 2 years and everyone had a problem with her character. She once called out the entire class cause 1 person complained about her to the other professors.
I find studying for OC like Chem where it has a lot of patterns and one just needs to study the patterns, the one exception would be the reactions as they can be very dynamic. I generally don't have a strong foundation of OC and wish I would just forget everything and start from the bottom up.
Honestly, screw Kmno4, in some situations it inserts a carbonyl oxy in another it turns the oxy into a alcohol and more. The one thing I did find helpful was sorting a good portion of the reagents into "likes alcohols" or "doesn't like alcohols" all depending (as you may guess) how it reacts to alcohols.
RC (20): The problem I had with reading was just that I wasn't going anywhere with it for a while, scores were pretty consistent. The only suggestion I have is to just read more and keep your skills sharpened.
PA (20): Honestly, f*** key holes. Booster is not really good with PA, in my opinion. For instance, key holes in Booster were far more about the thin millimeter of space that may be add or subtracted to the 'hole', the same goes for top-front-end questions. These questions don't really train you to look for the details of the shape but rather precise angels, of which is the angel ranking's job. Also, something of note, this is a subject that didn't reflect well from the Booster's tests and I think I know why and I will talk about it in the next few paragraphs (same will go with math).
QR (20): Now listen, math is one of my strongest subjects and I became devastated to see I only got 20. I don't have much to say about this area due to this.
Reflection: Now I had the worst luck leading up to this test. 1. I live in Michigan and we had a storm a couple days ago leaving me without wifi the day before the test, thus no access to Booster. 2. I had virtually NO SLEEP the night before the exam and I don't know why, maybe it was caffeine maybe it was anxiety. This is what I think really hindered my abilities at least on the PA and QR sections ( as these sections were abnormally low for myself).
Overall, I did make improvements but I am quite disappointed in myself as I know I could've done better. I studied the entire summer, did no real projects or go anywhere and I just missed the mark for a score of 21.
Edit: another quick problem I experienced was that the DAT program was somewhat buggy. I'd click on an answer and it just wouldn't register, I think I mainly experienced this problem with QR as thats when I noticed it but did manage to fix my answers at the literal last second.
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