predental303
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2023
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
Hello everyone! I took the DAT on July 14, 2023, and I'm here to provide some insight and advice for those still looking to take theirs. I only used DAT Bootcamp and a little bit of Anki just to review some of the orgo reactions. I got a 25 AA. My scores were:
PAT: 21
QR: 27
RC: 26
BIO: 24
GC: 23
OC: 26
TS: 24
AA: 25
I'm currently a rising Junior at UPenn in the 7 year bio-dental program, so I took the DAT this summer in order to fulfill the requirements (we need at least 20s in all categories). I only shadowed and studied for the summer, so I had lots of time to focus on the exam. I probably studied 5 hours/day for around 6 weeks using Ari's 2.5 month schedule (I ended up doing two days within a day for the content review).
I looked over mostly everything on the Bootcamp site. The only separate resource that I used was the Anki flashcards using the Bootcamp organic chemistry reaction deck. I think that was pretty helpful for knowing the reactions, but if you are uncomfortable with knowing the reactions, it's much easier to just do the sample problems (OC reaction bites) on Bootcamp to diversify the problems.
PAT:
I completely neglected this section in comparison to the other sections. I probably only did the problems from the practice exam and then reviewed them once. I always spent so much time on the keyhole, TFE, and angle ranking, so I would rush the other sections. During the practice exams, I would actually pause them to have more time to think about them (don't do this), but as I got to practice exams 7-10, I began to feel more comfortable. I would suggest using the tool that delays the questions to practice with more time constraints. I think the biggest tip for the keyhole, TFE, and pattern folding is definitely to find the odd ones out and determine if they are valid or not. The pattern folding seemed easier because I could identify what was immediately wrong. Looking back, I probably should have spent more time thinking about this section, but Bootcamp gives lots of practice questions, so don't overlook this section! I averaged 19-20 during my practice exams.
QR:
I tutored SAT and ACT math for the past couple of years, so these questions were very similar. The practice exams were a little bit harder than my exam, but it's really good practice, especially if you are rusty on the probability and permutation questions. The biggest benefit of bootcamp is that they have all the question formats, so if you need practice for one particular section, you have all the resources you need. I averaged 23-25 during my practice exams.
RC:
Bootcamp's RC practice is much harder than the real thing. On the exam, a lot of the questions were pretty basic. I was surprised. I thought that there was a trick to them, so I eased up because I thought I had a lot of spare time. Then, I realized that I didn't have as much time, so I had to rush the last couple of questions. Be sure to use the highlighting tool. Make sure you have concrete evidence when you are answering a question. They might trip you up by providing evidence to a different topic. I averaged 25-28 during my practice exams.
BIO:
I watched all the videos, did every bio bite section. I didn't do the question banks, but I heard they are more helpful than the bio bites. I looked through the notes a second time and hand-wrote everything that I didn't remember from the first time. This took forever, but it reminded me of things that I easily forgot or wasn't familiar with. The practice exam questions were pretty similar to the real exam, if not harder. The real exam seemed to be more broad. If I missed something on the practice exam, I would write it down and study it until I remembered all the steps and small details. I rewatched a couple of videos if I forgot a lot of content. The mnemonics were helpful like Me And Eve Don't Go. I averaged 19-20 during my practice exams.
GC:
I spent less time with this subject because I was scoring 22-23 without really needing to study. I did all the practice questions. There was some content that I don't remember ever learning in my GC classes, so I would suggest looking over the notes because they are incredibly helpful.
OC:
This section I thought I was going to do the worst on. Orgo was never really my strong suit, and I could never remember all the reactions. It's nice that you don't have to remember all the steps, but actually knowing the steps does help you with finding the end result of the reaction. Dr. Mike has great videos if you need a review. Once again, I saw some content that I didn't learn in class (though I also only took Orgo I, so I'm not sure if that made a difference). I did the reaction bites and question banks, which I always got wrong (RIP), but for the sections that I struggled on, I repeated them until I understood the answers. Anki is a great tool if you want to practice seeing the reactants and the products, but they only give you one way of seeing the reactions. Best thing to do is to go on the question banks and see how differently the reactions can look and how they can give you the same product. I averaged around 16-19 on Bootcamp. It was honestly surprising to see that I score the best on OC out of the entire science section.
Overall, Bootcamp really made it easy to study. The practice exams are the best. Don't skip out on those. I would complete a practice exam, and then I would write down explanations of everything I missed on paper. Then, the next day I would review and try to memorize everything. DO ALL 10! I didn't see that much improvement throughout practice tests 6-10 (I got 21 every single time), but I think that was do to me traveling the week before my exam and inconsistently doing my practice tests.
For exam day, I wanted to make sure I had enough energy, so I ate a nice salmon dinner (full of omega 3s). Then the morning of, I had some oatmeal. I also packed a banana and trail mix for the break. I drove to the testing center the day before to make sure I knew where I was going. I had to drive almost an hour to the testing center, so that meant I needed to leave my house at 6 to get there at 7. I closed my eyes for the entire tutorial in the beginning, and I also brought eyedrops because I knew my eyes would be so dry from staring at the screen. Definitely make sure you don't drink too much water during the break because even though I went to the bathroom before re-entering the testing room, I had to go in the middle of the reading section. It was brutal. I was shocked when I saw my score, so I was really relieved!
The real exam is a lot easier than Bootcamp, but that's not to say that you don't need to put in the work. Good luck!!
PAT: 21
QR: 27
RC: 26
BIO: 24
GC: 23
OC: 26
TS: 24
AA: 25
I'm currently a rising Junior at UPenn in the 7 year bio-dental program, so I took the DAT this summer in order to fulfill the requirements (we need at least 20s in all categories). I only shadowed and studied for the summer, so I had lots of time to focus on the exam. I probably studied 5 hours/day for around 6 weeks using Ari's 2.5 month schedule (I ended up doing two days within a day for the content review).
I looked over mostly everything on the Bootcamp site. The only separate resource that I used was the Anki flashcards using the Bootcamp organic chemistry reaction deck. I think that was pretty helpful for knowing the reactions, but if you are uncomfortable with knowing the reactions, it's much easier to just do the sample problems (OC reaction bites) on Bootcamp to diversify the problems.
PAT:
I completely neglected this section in comparison to the other sections. I probably only did the problems from the practice exam and then reviewed them once. I always spent so much time on the keyhole, TFE, and angle ranking, so I would rush the other sections. During the practice exams, I would actually pause them to have more time to think about them (don't do this), but as I got to practice exams 7-10, I began to feel more comfortable. I would suggest using the tool that delays the questions to practice with more time constraints. I think the biggest tip for the keyhole, TFE, and pattern folding is definitely to find the odd ones out and determine if they are valid or not. The pattern folding seemed easier because I could identify what was immediately wrong. Looking back, I probably should have spent more time thinking about this section, but Bootcamp gives lots of practice questions, so don't overlook this section! I averaged 19-20 during my practice exams.
QR:
I tutored SAT and ACT math for the past couple of years, so these questions were very similar. The practice exams were a little bit harder than my exam, but it's really good practice, especially if you are rusty on the probability and permutation questions. The biggest benefit of bootcamp is that they have all the question formats, so if you need practice for one particular section, you have all the resources you need. I averaged 23-25 during my practice exams.
RC:
Bootcamp's RC practice is much harder than the real thing. On the exam, a lot of the questions were pretty basic. I was surprised. I thought that there was a trick to them, so I eased up because I thought I had a lot of spare time. Then, I realized that I didn't have as much time, so I had to rush the last couple of questions. Be sure to use the highlighting tool. Make sure you have concrete evidence when you are answering a question. They might trip you up by providing evidence to a different topic. I averaged 25-28 during my practice exams.
BIO:
I watched all the videos, did every bio bite section. I didn't do the question banks, but I heard they are more helpful than the bio bites. I looked through the notes a second time and hand-wrote everything that I didn't remember from the first time. This took forever, but it reminded me of things that I easily forgot or wasn't familiar with. The practice exam questions were pretty similar to the real exam, if not harder. The real exam seemed to be more broad. If I missed something on the practice exam, I would write it down and study it until I remembered all the steps and small details. I rewatched a couple of videos if I forgot a lot of content. The mnemonics were helpful like Me And Eve Don't Go. I averaged 19-20 during my practice exams.
GC:
I spent less time with this subject because I was scoring 22-23 without really needing to study. I did all the practice questions. There was some content that I don't remember ever learning in my GC classes, so I would suggest looking over the notes because they are incredibly helpful.
OC:
This section I thought I was going to do the worst on. Orgo was never really my strong suit, and I could never remember all the reactions. It's nice that you don't have to remember all the steps, but actually knowing the steps does help you with finding the end result of the reaction. Dr. Mike has great videos if you need a review. Once again, I saw some content that I didn't learn in class (though I also only took Orgo I, so I'm not sure if that made a difference). I did the reaction bites and question banks, which I always got wrong (RIP), but for the sections that I struggled on, I repeated them until I understood the answers. Anki is a great tool if you want to practice seeing the reactants and the products, but they only give you one way of seeing the reactions. Best thing to do is to go on the question banks and see how differently the reactions can look and how they can give you the same product. I averaged around 16-19 on Bootcamp. It was honestly surprising to see that I score the best on OC out of the entire science section.
Overall, Bootcamp really made it easy to study. The practice exams are the best. Don't skip out on those. I would complete a practice exam, and then I would write down explanations of everything I missed on paper. Then, the next day I would review and try to memorize everything. DO ALL 10! I didn't see that much improvement throughout practice tests 6-10 (I got 21 every single time), but I think that was do to me traveling the week before my exam and inconsistently doing my practice tests.
For exam day, I wanted to make sure I had enough energy, so I ate a nice salmon dinner (full of omega 3s). Then the morning of, I had some oatmeal. I also packed a banana and trail mix for the break. I drove to the testing center the day before to make sure I knew where I was going. I had to drive almost an hour to the testing center, so that meant I needed to leave my house at 6 to get there at 7. I closed my eyes for the entire tutorial in the beginning, and I also brought eyedrops because I knew my eyes would be so dry from staring at the screen. Definitely make sure you don't drink too much water during the break because even though I went to the bathroom before re-entering the testing room, I had to go in the middle of the reading section. It was brutal. I was shocked when I saw my score, so I was really relieved!
The real exam is a lot easier than Bootcamp, but that's not to say that you don't need to put in the work. Good luck!!
