DAT Breakdown 23 AA 20 TS

[SRKLegend]

Hi guys, I recently took my DAT earlier this month and thought I'd just post my breakdown, see if it helps anyone. So here it goes:

PAT: 20
QR: 30
RC: 25
Bio: 21
GC: 22
OC: 19
TS: 20
AA:23

Study Materials: Feralis Bio Notes(Comprehensive version now on DAT Bootcamp), DAT Destroyer, Chad's Videos, DAT Bootcamp.

Background: I started "studying" around the middle of February and took my Test around June 1st. My first month-to month and a half, like to about April 1st, I focused on Content review. This was basically me watching Chad's videos, and going through all of the biology content the first time basically. If I'm being honest it kinda sucked for me mainly because the test was still so far away and I felt like I could take my sweet time with it, especially with classes and stuff going on. Keep in mind I haven't done any RC, QR, or PAT at all yet. QR and RC didn't worry me at all just because I did well with that stuff on my act/sat back in high school. I also bought DAT Destroyer sometime in this time period, but I didn't start it yet.

Anyway April 1st comes around: This was when I finally bought DAT Boot camp. Honestly I didn't really use it right (I wanted to just see what questions were like first because I heard compared to other source providers DAT Bootcamp's was most realistic) and i kinda clicked randomly in the science section looking at all these science questions and stuff. So I looked and I can say it honestly intimidated me, even scared me a bit. This is when all the regret and stuff comes rushing at me and I'm realizing man I should have taken my studying much more seriously from the beginning. Honestly though, I felt like that was my turning point because I knew i had to just discipline myself and make myself work. During the Month of April (to the beginning of May) I made a point to watch the PAT videos. This is important even if you think that some parts of it aren't so bad, because at some point everyone does have 0 knowledge of the PAT section(I'm pretty sure I quoted Joel, he's the PAT instructor on DAT Bootcamp). I finished going through Feralis Notes for the first time in this span and I think I finished Chad's videos very early into the month of April. I was also someway between halfway to 3 quarters of the way done with each of the science sections in Destroyer. BTW DAT DESTROYER IS A MUST. The science sections of the DAT are all about exposure as most of us aren't going remember every little piece of information. DAT Destroyers content is hard, its definitely above the level of the actual DAT. However, the exposure in each problem is definitely important. Learn the question, learn the answers, learn the answer choices (like when a question asks all the following are true EXCEPT), learn everything.

My last month of prep (May 1st to June 1st) was pretty intense, definitely the most hard work was done here, especially with the test feeling so close. To sum it up. I did all 10 of the individual tests on Bootcamp for the science sections, only about 4 individual tests for PAT (Thats why I only made a 20, work harder than me) and I did one RC test and no math tests. You could call me a little bit lucky on the Math and Reading stuff but for math, all i did was basically spend an hour or 2 learning the formula sheet on Bootcamp. For reading, the one test was enough for me in terms of just my confidence levels. Also I didn't do the Bootcamp math, I just used it for sciences (still an awesome resource). So by the end of May I went through Feralis notes three times (DAT boot camp kept on updating the notes while I was studying them everyday so I wanted to make sure at least all the exposure was there) and went through destroyer twice.

Also I never took a full practice test while I was preparing. This was a little bit stupid because on the day of my test I wanted to fall asleep after the science section. So words to the wise, take full practice tests, take advantage of your 30 minute break (if the first half of your test was hard, and you have a girlfriend,mom, or dude who makes u happy call them during your break, they'll make you feel better, for me I called both my gf and my mom).


Anyways the rest is history now, hope this remotely helps somebody if it can. Good luck to everyone and thank you for your time.

Remember:
Feralis Bio Notes(aka Bootcamp Biology Notes 3 times), DAT Destroyer 2 times, Chad's Videos, DAT Bootcamp.

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[Veni vidi vicii]

Wow congrats, so how did you prepare for QR? I find it hard to believe for someone to get a 30 in QR by just studying the formula sheet on BC.

 

[SRKLegend]

Wow congrats, so how did you prepare for QR? I find it hard to believe for someone to get a 30 in QR by just studying the formula sheet on BC.

For me math just clicks naturally like that. I made an 800 on my sat in the math section and 36 in math on my act. I could have gotten an easy test idk, but I wasn't really worried about it. From the formula sheet I forgot the compound interest stuff and how that worked and I forgot how the logs work, but everything else was just stuff in the back of my head. I heard Khan academy and stuff helps in learning concepts, but I also heard Bootcamp QR was hard so I didn't want to discourage myself.

 

[Veni vidi vicii]

For me math just clicks naturally like that. I made an 800 on my sat in the math section and 36 in math on my act. I could have gotten an easy test idk, but I wasn't really worried about it. From the formula sheet I forgot the compound interest stuff and how that worked and I forgot how the logs work, but everything else was just stuff in the back of my head. I heard Khan academy and stuff helps in learning concepts, but I also heard Bootcamp QR was hard so I didn't want to discourage myself.

Wow I never heard of anyone getting a 30 in QR without studying. Any tips for those who struggle? You must have done something, or at least some problems in destroyer? Is SRK for Shahrukh Khan my guy lol?

Also, what did you do for RC?

Lastly and the most important question, you said you did destroyer 2x and BC but got a 19 in OC, what happened in that section? I would expect higher than 19 for someone who used those prep materials. In fact I would expect higher TS than a 20 if you did destroyer twice and used BC. What happened because I would have expected at least a 23 TS if you did each BC science test and destroyer twice?

 

[SRKLegend]

Wow I never heard of anyone getting a 30 in QR without studying. Any tips for those who struggle? You must have done something, or at least some problems in destroyer? Is SRK for Shahrukh Khan my guy lol?

Also, what did you do for RC?

Lastly and the most important question, you said you did destroyer 2x and BC but got a 19 in OC, what happened in that section? I would expect higher than 19 for someone who used those prep materials. In fact I would expect higher TS than a 20 if you did destroyer twice and used BC. What happened because I would have expected at least a 23 TS if you did each BC science test and destroyer twice?

Well for math I would say I scanned problems just to know like what the questions are like( at least to not go into the test completely blind y'know), but other than that the prep was minimal for that. As for sciences yea I was a little bit disappointed by that. I was aiming for a 25 AA on the whole thing but I came up short. The ochem 19 for me is just that it was a hard test for me; I felt a little bit like I came into the test a bit overconfident for the science section and it kinda hit me hard during the real thing. Some of the ochem problems on there just caught me off guard with all the different reaction mechanisms, some of the biology, and gen chem threw me off a bit too. That's why after like halfway through the exam(after the pat section) I kinda just needed someone to tell me it'll be okay and that I could keep on pushing forward. Ultimately tho the math and reading saved my score. If I could go back and do my prep again I would have definitely spent more time just with a bit of my content learning in the beginning, I feel like part of it was instead of actively learning, I was passively learning due to the seriousness of the exam not weighing down on me until I was just doing a bunch of cram work towards the end. I would just stay poised and confident enough to where you can think you'll do well on your exam but not be overconfident about it. I'm not going to retake it again tho. As for reading, search and destroy is amazing. Literally just go one problem at a time, and as you're searching for your answer in the passage you're answer in the passage you kinda realize that you are basically reading the passage as you go. Or, if you are fast reader, take 3-4 minutes and read the passage and then allot the remaining 16-17 minutes per passage focusing on the questions and looking at everything.

As for SRK my parents named my initals after him yes haha, he's my man lolol

 

[lwergod]

BC averages?

 

[SRKLegend]

BC averages?

Bio: 18,19, 19, 21, 19, 22, 20,24,20,24
GC:21, 23, 24, 25, 22, 20, 22, 20,23,25
OC:19, 21, 22, 20,19, 22, 21, 19,19,22
PAT:18, 19, 21, 22
RC: 25
QR: NA

 

[lwergod]

curious though, you seem to have under-performed on GC/OC especially compared to your BC scores. Did you just rush those sections in a zip and make careless errors or was it harder than BC?

 

[SRKLegend]

curious though, you seem to have under-performed on GC/OC especially compared to your BC scores. Did you just rush those sections in a zip and make careless errors or was it harder than BC?

For my Ochem section I definitely felt personally that it was one of the hardest tests I've taken. As for Gen chem I was surprised my score was that low so it's possible I made some sloppy errors. Ultimately I would say the first half of the test for me (science and pat) was harder than I expected where as Math and Reading were about what I was expecting. Ultimately though, every test is different, sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.

 

[Endophin]

Congrats! Your QR is gold!