dental566701
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2023
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Hi everyone, I just took the DAT on June 12, 2023 and scored a 24AA! I studied for about 3 months and only used DAT Bootcamp to prepare. Here are some of my takeaways!
Perceptual Ability (23)
I found that in general, practice was very important for PAT. The keyhole and hole punch sub-sections were the most time consuming for me so leading up to the test, I practiced 15 questions a day in addition to the full exams and timed myself.
Quantitative Reasoning (23)
Again, practice is so important. I didn’t score as highly as I hoped on this and looking back, I should have spent more time reviewing questions I got wrong and watching explanation videos instead of hoping I would never see that type of question again.
Reading Comprehension (24)
This is definitely my most improved section. After watching the strategy videos on Bootcamp, the ‘Question Mapping’ method sounded pretty good to me. But for the first couple practice passages, I would take maybe 35 minutes per passage and get half the questions wrong. I was feeling pretty hopeless at this point, so I reconsidered the strategy that I was using. I spent the next passages testing out each strategy for feel and eventually found that the ‘Simple Method’ worked best. Ultimately, I was able to score between 22-27 on my practices and scored a 24 on the real test. This section is truly about finding what strategy works for YOU!
Biology (27)
For me, this section was pure memorization. Earlier on in the study schedule, I spent a lot of time watching videos but realized that it was equally as effective for me to read the High-Yield Bio Notes in topics that I had already learned before. I think what gave me a high score in this section is using the Bootcamp provided Anki flashcards and reviewing them daily. It’s a lot of content so it helped me to review all flashcards of a chapter on the day I read that chapter and continue to review them every day following that. And always doing all the Bio Bites and practice questions.
General Chemistry (22)
Dr. Mike is awesome. Lectures can get boring and cause you to zone out but that never happened with Dr. Mike. I made sure to follow along with his lectures with the lecture outline, complete chapter related questions, and continue to review concepts.
Organic Chemistry (26)
I struggled with this section a lot in practice exams. I knew from reviewing my practices though that I was getting things wrong because I just couldn't remember certain reagents and what types of reactions were involved. Since I knew I had a memorization issue, leading up to the test, I would review reaction bites pretty much daily and also used the reaction Anki flashcards.
General Study Advice
I truly believe DAT Bootcamp is the most comprehensive plan out there. It has everything you need to score highly: lessons, practice questions, and video explanations for almost every practice question. I would say I generally struggle to memorize things. I knew this was my weakness going in so I just focused on reinforcing information. I made sure to see every section every day. That meant, Bio flashcards, PAT practice questions (even 5 a day was helpful), reviewing O Chem and Gen Chem questions I got wrong in the past, and revisiting reading passages I did poorly on.
Perceptual Ability (23)
I found that in general, practice was very important for PAT. The keyhole and hole punch sub-sections were the most time consuming for me so leading up to the test, I practiced 15 questions a day in addition to the full exams and timed myself.
Quantitative Reasoning (23)
Again, practice is so important. I didn’t score as highly as I hoped on this and looking back, I should have spent more time reviewing questions I got wrong and watching explanation videos instead of hoping I would never see that type of question again.
Reading Comprehension (24)
This is definitely my most improved section. After watching the strategy videos on Bootcamp, the ‘Question Mapping’ method sounded pretty good to me. But for the first couple practice passages, I would take maybe 35 minutes per passage and get half the questions wrong. I was feeling pretty hopeless at this point, so I reconsidered the strategy that I was using. I spent the next passages testing out each strategy for feel and eventually found that the ‘Simple Method’ worked best. Ultimately, I was able to score between 22-27 on my practices and scored a 24 on the real test. This section is truly about finding what strategy works for YOU!
Biology (27)
For me, this section was pure memorization. Earlier on in the study schedule, I spent a lot of time watching videos but realized that it was equally as effective for me to read the High-Yield Bio Notes in topics that I had already learned before. I think what gave me a high score in this section is using the Bootcamp provided Anki flashcards and reviewing them daily. It’s a lot of content so it helped me to review all flashcards of a chapter on the day I read that chapter and continue to review them every day following that. And always doing all the Bio Bites and practice questions.
General Chemistry (22)
Dr. Mike is awesome. Lectures can get boring and cause you to zone out but that never happened with Dr. Mike. I made sure to follow along with his lectures with the lecture outline, complete chapter related questions, and continue to review concepts.
Organic Chemistry (26)
I struggled with this section a lot in practice exams. I knew from reviewing my practices though that I was getting things wrong because I just couldn't remember certain reagents and what types of reactions were involved. Since I knew I had a memorization issue, leading up to the test, I would review reaction bites pretty much daily and also used the reaction Anki flashcards.
General Study Advice
I truly believe DAT Bootcamp is the most comprehensive plan out there. It has everything you need to score highly: lessons, practice questions, and video explanations for almost every practice question. I would say I generally struggle to memorize things. I knew this was my weakness going in so I just focused on reinforcing information. I made sure to see every section every day. That meant, Bio flashcards, PAT practice questions (even 5 a day was helpful), reviewing O Chem and Gen Chem questions I got wrong in the past, and revisiting reading passages I did poorly on.
