Hello everyone, just finished with my DAT and I am very pleased with my scores! I began studying June 1St. I studied about 5 hours a day, even on weekends. I will begin my junior year this fall. I would like to post my breakdown so people know how I studied and how they can prepare.
DAT Scores: Bio/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR
21/26/22/19/20/20
Bootcamp Scores: Exams 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10
Bio: 20/18/20/18/19/16/16/19/16/19
GC: 21/18/21/18/19/19/19/17/19/20
OC: 22/19/20/29/20/19/22/19/22/21
Pat: 18/18/x/17/18
RC: 18/16/x/19/19/x/15/19/18/17
QR: 17/18/19/17/19/15/19/17/15/18
2007: Bio/GC/OC 19/19/30
2009: Bio/GC/OC 19/18/19
(I did exams 6-10 first. Bio scores are low for 6-10, because I still didn’t read any physiology.)
Biology (21)
I read through Cliffs Biology book 4 times! Yeah, I know, 4 times. I wanted to memorize it, which I did. I read the first few chapters of Feralis notes, but didn’t complete it. I felt it was the same as Cliffs, not much different. I did about 200 Destroyers problems. Didn’t have much time to do anymore. I mostly studied through this section with Bootcamp. I did all the exams and looked over them a lot.
Actual Test: Felt it was same difficulty as Bootcamp. Had some random questions that were hard. I thought I would end up with less than a 20, because I felt I got as many wrong as a Bootcamp exam that will give me less than a 20. I guess they had easier grading curve on the real DAT.
General Chemistry (26)
Watched Mike’s videos. Mike is the BEST!!! Thank you Mike so much. I did about 150 problems of Destroyer then stopped. I was getting most wrong and it was too time consuming. Felt the problems were too hard. I basically studied by watching Mikes videos and doing Bootcamp practice exams.
Actual Test: Easier than BC. Not a lot of calculations. I think I only missed two or three questions.
Organic Chemistry (22)
Just finished taking orgo in the spring. So I knew everything. I still watched Mikes videos though. I never took Orgo lab. I did most of the Destroyer problems. I manly studied though BC. I never took this section seriously because my orgo class was a million times harder than the DAT.
Actual Test: Same difficulty as BC.
PAT (19)
The only sections I was good at was cube counting and angle ranking. Angle ranking was my favorite section out of all. TFE, Keyhole, and hole punching were ok with. I never really liked pattern folding, never was good at it.
Actual Test: WOW! Keyhole was horridness. I had like 6 rock problems. And the others were difficult as well. TFE was terrible as well. Both these sections were harder than BC. Angle ranking was same difficulty as Bootcamp. Cube counting and pattern folding was easier. This section was just a blur for me.
Reading Comprehension (20)
English is my second language. I seriously have the vocabulary of a second grader. I did bad on the SAT with this section. Only way I studied was by bootcamp. This was the section I was most worried about, because I didn’t want a 17 or under, or it will hinder my chances of dental school.
Actual Test: Did mapping on the first passage. First passage was as difficult as BC ones. Answers all around the passage, not in order. Second and third ones were easy. Answers in order. Third one was a bit more difficult than second one. Didn’t have any statement one correct and stuff like that. Most were like normal questions.
Quantitative Reasoning (20)
Did about 7 Math Destroyer exams. Way too time consuming so I stopped. Also felt it was too outdated with their questions. I had the 2017 one but it had too many trig and geometry. Manly studied through BC.
Actual Test: WOW! I thought I was going to fail this section. After I finished solving problem 40, I only had 6 minutes left, and I had skipped about 15 questions. I started just guessing like a maniac. The actual exam was much, much harder than BC. Don’t know how I got a 20. Felt I got at least 15 questions wrong. One or two trig, and about 10 QC.
Final Thoughts:
I followed Aris study plan the first month, minus the daily reading and math videos. Didn’t have time for them. Only watched Mike’s videos (he is great). Didn’t watch Chads. Second month I did practice problems on my own. I felt BC 6-10 were better studying wise than the first five. I never posted what day I would take the exam on SDN because I felt I might do poorly. I would like to thank the SDN community for answering any questions I had.
DAT Scores: Bio/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR
21/26/22/19/20/20
Bootcamp Scores: Exams 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10
Bio: 20/18/20/18/19/16/16/19/16/19
GC: 21/18/21/18/19/19/19/17/19/20
OC: 22/19/20/29/20/19/22/19/22/21
Pat: 18/18/x/17/18
RC: 18/16/x/19/19/x/15/19/18/17
QR: 17/18/19/17/19/15/19/17/15/18
2007: Bio/GC/OC 19/19/30
2009: Bio/GC/OC 19/18/19
(I did exams 6-10 first. Bio scores are low for 6-10, because I still didn’t read any physiology.)
Biology (21)
I read through Cliffs Biology book 4 times! Yeah, I know, 4 times. I wanted to memorize it, which I did. I read the first few chapters of Feralis notes, but didn’t complete it. I felt it was the same as Cliffs, not much different. I did about 200 Destroyers problems. Didn’t have much time to do anymore. I mostly studied through this section with Bootcamp. I did all the exams and looked over them a lot.
Actual Test: Felt it was same difficulty as Bootcamp. Had some random questions that were hard. I thought I would end up with less than a 20, because I felt I got as many wrong as a Bootcamp exam that will give me less than a 20. I guess they had easier grading curve on the real DAT.
General Chemistry (26)
Watched Mike’s videos. Mike is the BEST!!! Thank you Mike so much. I did about 150 problems of Destroyer then stopped. I was getting most wrong and it was too time consuming. Felt the problems were too hard. I basically studied by watching Mikes videos and doing Bootcamp practice exams.
Actual Test: Easier than BC. Not a lot of calculations. I think I only missed two or three questions.
Organic Chemistry (22)
Just finished taking orgo in the spring. So I knew everything. I still watched Mikes videos though. I never took Orgo lab. I did most of the Destroyer problems. I manly studied though BC. I never took this section seriously because my orgo class was a million times harder than the DAT.
Actual Test: Same difficulty as BC.
PAT (19)
The only sections I was good at was cube counting and angle ranking. Angle ranking was my favorite section out of all. TFE, Keyhole, and hole punching were ok with. I never really liked pattern folding, never was good at it.
Actual Test: WOW! Keyhole was horridness. I had like 6 rock problems. And the others were difficult as well. TFE was terrible as well. Both these sections were harder than BC. Angle ranking was same difficulty as Bootcamp. Cube counting and pattern folding was easier. This section was just a blur for me.
Reading Comprehension (20)
English is my second language. I seriously have the vocabulary of a second grader. I did bad on the SAT with this section. Only way I studied was by bootcamp. This was the section I was most worried about, because I didn’t want a 17 or under, or it will hinder my chances of dental school.
Actual Test: Did mapping on the first passage. First passage was as difficult as BC ones. Answers all around the passage, not in order. Second and third ones were easy. Answers in order. Third one was a bit more difficult than second one. Didn’t have any statement one correct and stuff like that. Most were like normal questions.
Quantitative Reasoning (20)
Did about 7 Math Destroyer exams. Way too time consuming so I stopped. Also felt it was too outdated with their questions. I had the 2017 one but it had too many trig and geometry. Manly studied through BC.
Actual Test: WOW! I thought I was going to fail this section. After I finished solving problem 40, I only had 6 minutes left, and I had skipped about 15 questions. I started just guessing like a maniac. The actual exam was much, much harder than BC. Don’t know how I got a 20. Felt I got at least 15 questions wrong. One or two trig, and about 10 QC.
Final Thoughts:
I followed Aris study plan the first month, minus the daily reading and math videos. Didn’t have time for them. Only watched Mike’s videos (he is great). Didn’t watch Chads. Second month I did practice problems on my own. I felt BC 6-10 were better studying wise than the first five. I never posted what day I would take the exam on SDN because I felt I might do poorly. I would like to thank the SDN community for answering any questions I had.
