hokiefan13
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Hello! I took my DAT in August of 2023, and here is the breakdown of my scores and how I studied:
I decided to study over the summer rather than during the school year, and personally I am very glad I made this decision. I was working over the summer in addition to studying, but I made sure that I only worked 3-4 days a week so that I could spend the rest of the week focusing on the DAT. I found that I didn’t have as many distractions to my studying over the summer as I might have had during the semester with other classes and tests to study for. Additionally, I took the DAT between my sophomore and junior year of college, so I had already completed gen bio and gen chem, and had just finished organic chemistry.
I used the Bootcamp 90 day subscription and followed Dr. Ari’s 2.5 month study schedule. During the first 3 or so weeks of studying (fresh off of Spring semester finals), I struggled to find the motivation to study and fell behind on the study schedule. If I could go back, I wish I gave myself a little more time after finals to recover and get ready to study again. However, once I took a few days to relax and found a little more motivation, I was able to get back on schedule and even double up on some days of the study schedule to make sure I got everything completed. When I was planning out my summer, I knew that I was taking a few vacations so I built those days of not studying into my schedule. It was nice having things to look forward to and knowing that I would have short breaks from studying throughout the summer. Even if you don’t have any trips out of town planned, I would build long weekends or even a full week off of studying into your schedule so you don’t burn yourself out! You have the subscription for 90 days, and Dr. Ari’s study schedule is only 77 days long. Use some of those 13 extra days for some you time!
Biology (25):
Originally, I assumed biology would be the easiest section. Once I started studying, I thought the opposite. Since there are so many lessons, I definitely spent the most time studying biology. At the beginning of the summer, I started by reading all of the lesson notes, downloading the slide decks, watching the videos, taking notes, completing the bio bites, and then the question banks. I found that a lot of the material was much more in depth than I remember learning in my general biology course, so I psyched myself into thinking that I needed to complete all of the study materials provided. After I got through a bunch of the lessons, I realized that I was moving through the biology material too slowly and was falling behind on the study schedule. So, I decided to stop watching the videos. I found that I had trouble paying attention to the videos and learned more by doing the practice questions, so I started reading the lesson notes to get an idea of what I needed to know and went right to the bio bites. I would go through those questions and then move on to the question banks. I would redo any questions that I got wrong and marked red. Once I finished all of the lessons, I went back and reviewed as many of the questions I got wrong as I could to review before taking practice tests.
When I took the practice tests, I could never score higher than a 20. Over the 7 practice tests I completed, I scored 18s, 19s, and one 20, so I hoped for maybe a 21 on the real DAT. In the last few days before I took the DAT, I tried to review as many of the questions I had gotten wrong on the practice tests as I could to fill any gaps in my knowledge. I ended up scoring a 25, so I was very shocked by how much better I did compared to the practice exams. I found that the biology section on my real exam was much easier than the Bootcamp practice tests, so I am glad that I felt overprepared. If I could go back, I would focus more on completing all of the practice exams because those really get you prepared to face anything.
General Chemistry (21):
Similar to the biology section, I found that completing practice problems was the best way for me to practice for chemistry. A lot of the chemistry material felt like a review from general chemistry, but I was a bit rusty with remembering some of it. When going through the practice problems, I would watch Dr. Mike’s videos when I needed clarification on the answer to a problem or if I was confused on a topic. In the end, I do wish I had put a bit more effort into the chemistry portion. I answered most of the question bank problems, but I only completed 5 practice exams. I scored 20s and 22s on my practice exams, so a 21 was on par with how I was performing. I’m fairly sure that completing more practice exams might have exposed me to more questions and helped me to score higher, so I would definitely dedicate more time to chemistry practice exams if I were to study again. My real exam seemed to be pretty on par with the Bootcamp practice exams.
Organic Chemistry (26):
Organic Chemistry was the science section that I spent the least amount of time preparing for. When I started studying, I had just completed the second semester of organic chemistry at college. When I started to review the Bootcamp materials and complete the practice questions, I found a lot of it to be fresh in my mind. I definitely made sure to complete all of the question banks to keep reviewing and relearning things I might have forgotten, but I felt like this was a section I could forfeit a bit of time from in order to spend more time on Biology or Perceptual Ability. On my practice exams, I scored a 20, 21s, and a 22, so I hoped for a 22 or 23 on the DAT. On the real exam, I scored a 26. I found both Bootcamp and college organic chemistry to be harder than the organic chemistry section on my exam. My advice would be to take the DAT as soon as you can after you complete your ochem sequence at college. It will make your studying so much easier and allow you to spend more time on material you may have learned a year or 2 ago and forget more. It is no secret that organic chemistry is a hard subject, but repetition and repeated exposure to the material over time will help you to do well.
Perceptual Ability (24):
When I first looked at the perceptual ability practice problems, I was so confused. But, as mentioned in the PAT academy videos, practice makes perfect and doing a bit every day will help you to become great at this section. This was a subject that I made sure to watch all of the videos for. I found the explanations in the videos as well as the strategies they shared to be super helpful. Once I got the hang of it, I found PAT so much fun! My favorite sections were cube counting, hole punching, and pattern folding. I found angle counting to be the hardest, and I needed to practice that section the most.
When I started taking the practice exams, I was overwhelmed by how many problems you need to complete within the time frame. At first I scored 19s and 20s while practicing PAT. Speed and efficiency are both necessary for this section, so to practice I would go through the question banks as fast as I could while trying to be as accurate as possible. By doing this, I was able to pick up on little tricks that helped me to figure out each problem in a short amount of time. When I completed my next practice test, I was able to score a 22. This made me feel much more confident going into the real exam. During my real DAT, I thought that the problems were on par with the Bootcamp practice tests. I was surprised when I got my score back and it was 2 points higher than any of my practice exams. My advice for this section is to make sure you see some kind of PAT problem every day, even if you only practice for a few minutes. Repetition is really the key to this section.
Quantitative Reasoning (27):
QR was a section that I did not spend very much time at all on. I did not watch any of the videos and I only completed ⅔ of the practice problems. I assumed that it would be easy since I had already taken math classes for so many years. When I finally got around to practicing this section, I found the Bootcamp practice problems challenging. The word problems, quantitative sufficiency, and quantitative comparison problems were particularly challenging for me. On my first practice exam, I scored an 18 and immediately realized I needed to put much more time into this section in the weeks before my real exam. After some practice, I was able to get my score up to a 20 and 21. I made sure to review a bit of this section every day in the week or so before my exam to get the strategy and patterns down. I found the real exam to be much easier than the Bootcamp practice exams as I scored a 27 on the real DAT. I love how Bootcamp lets you see how challenging the questions might possibly be, leading you to be over prepared and subsequently perform very well when it matters. My advice: don’t underestimate QR and give it the time it deserves so you have plenty of time to practice and bring your score up.
Reading Comprehension (30):
When I started reviewing RC, I had trouble finding a method that worked for me. I did not like search and destroy or a lot of the other popular methods mentioned in the RC Academy videos. As I went through the practice passages and tried different methods, I found that reading the entire passage and then going back to answer the questions worked best for me. I think it was called the “Vanilla” method or something along those lines. I completed 8/13 practice passages, and 3 practice exams. On the practice exams I scored two 26s and one 30, so I felt very prepared for the real exam. I found that the real DAT was even easier than Bootcamp’s passages, so RC was definitely the easiest section for me. I think the hardest part of RC is finding a method that works for you, and once you find one, practice and execution will lead you to success.
Leading up to Exam Day:
Although I was able to stay mostly on track with Dr. Ari’s study schedule, especially when I cut out watching the videos, I still fell behind a bit. I allotted time after work some days to study, but after a long day, I couldn’t not complete everything I hoped I would. And that’s okay! Some days will be more productive than others, and you just need to make the most of your productive days. There were some days that I could complete 2 days of the study schedule in one study session. In the end, I did not have as many days when I was done reviewing the material to complete practice exams as I had hoped. My advice to anyone studying for the DAT would be to complete as many practice exams as possible. I felt stressed at the end that I had not completed all of them, and I just had to trust that I had already reviewed all of the material. This stress could have been alleviated if I had more time to complete the practice exams. However, I do not regret any of the time that I took off of studying for vacation as it helped to keep me motivated throughout the summer.
In the days before the test, I spent my free time looking over the sections that I felt the least confident in. By reviewing problems I had previously gotten wrong, I felt more confident in those sections as I learned from my mistakes. I meant to completely relax the day before my exam, but I couldn’t help but review a bit more that day. Did I learn anything from those few hours? I’m not sure. Did it stress me out? A little bit. It made me think that I knew less than I really did, and at that point, you just need to trust all of the work you put in over the last 2.5 months. So, take the day before your exam to relax! Watch a movie, workout, see friends, and do whatever you need to relax yourself and take your mind off of your upcoming exam.
Reflections:
I am very happy with how my score turned out. It felt so great to see that my months of studying and hard work paid off. Whenever you choose to study for the DAT, whether it be over the summer or during the school year, there will be things that you miss out on and much less free time on your calendar. It can be frustrating and discouraging, especially when you hit a lesson that you just can’t seem to grasp. It really helps to have a support system around you to help you relax when you have had a hard day of studying or support you when you are having one of those days where you feel like you can’t do it anymore. I think we have all felt this way at least once. Believe in yourself, and don’t be so hard on yourself! You can do it, and your hard work will pay off.
I am very glad that I chose to study with Bootcamp. I felt like I had all of the materials I needed to study with on the Bootcamp website, and I don’t think I even needed to use any outside sources other than the occasional google search. Bootcamp challenges you with their practice questions and practice tests, which I am grateful for. I did not feel like any section on my real DAT was harder than the Bootcamp practice exams, and some were even easier than Bootcamp, which made me feel so much more confident as I was taking the test.
Feel free to comment with any questions! If you are in the process of studying, good luck! I know you will do great
- AA: 26
- TS: 23
- BIO: 25
- GC: 21
- OC: 26
- PA: 24
- QR: 27
- RC: 30
I decided to study over the summer rather than during the school year, and personally I am very glad I made this decision. I was working over the summer in addition to studying, but I made sure that I only worked 3-4 days a week so that I could spend the rest of the week focusing on the DAT. I found that I didn’t have as many distractions to my studying over the summer as I might have had during the semester with other classes and tests to study for. Additionally, I took the DAT between my sophomore and junior year of college, so I had already completed gen bio and gen chem, and had just finished organic chemistry.
I used the Bootcamp 90 day subscription and followed Dr. Ari’s 2.5 month study schedule. During the first 3 or so weeks of studying (fresh off of Spring semester finals), I struggled to find the motivation to study and fell behind on the study schedule. If I could go back, I wish I gave myself a little more time after finals to recover and get ready to study again. However, once I took a few days to relax and found a little more motivation, I was able to get back on schedule and even double up on some days of the study schedule to make sure I got everything completed. When I was planning out my summer, I knew that I was taking a few vacations so I built those days of not studying into my schedule. It was nice having things to look forward to and knowing that I would have short breaks from studying throughout the summer. Even if you don’t have any trips out of town planned, I would build long weekends or even a full week off of studying into your schedule so you don’t burn yourself out! You have the subscription for 90 days, and Dr. Ari’s study schedule is only 77 days long. Use some of those 13 extra days for some you time!
Biology (25):
Originally, I assumed biology would be the easiest section. Once I started studying, I thought the opposite. Since there are so many lessons, I definitely spent the most time studying biology. At the beginning of the summer, I started by reading all of the lesson notes, downloading the slide decks, watching the videos, taking notes, completing the bio bites, and then the question banks. I found that a lot of the material was much more in depth than I remember learning in my general biology course, so I psyched myself into thinking that I needed to complete all of the study materials provided. After I got through a bunch of the lessons, I realized that I was moving through the biology material too slowly and was falling behind on the study schedule. So, I decided to stop watching the videos. I found that I had trouble paying attention to the videos and learned more by doing the practice questions, so I started reading the lesson notes to get an idea of what I needed to know and went right to the bio bites. I would go through those questions and then move on to the question banks. I would redo any questions that I got wrong and marked red. Once I finished all of the lessons, I went back and reviewed as many of the questions I got wrong as I could to review before taking practice tests.
When I took the practice tests, I could never score higher than a 20. Over the 7 practice tests I completed, I scored 18s, 19s, and one 20, so I hoped for maybe a 21 on the real DAT. In the last few days before I took the DAT, I tried to review as many of the questions I had gotten wrong on the practice tests as I could to fill any gaps in my knowledge. I ended up scoring a 25, so I was very shocked by how much better I did compared to the practice exams. I found that the biology section on my real exam was much easier than the Bootcamp practice tests, so I am glad that I felt overprepared. If I could go back, I would focus more on completing all of the practice exams because those really get you prepared to face anything.
General Chemistry (21):
Similar to the biology section, I found that completing practice problems was the best way for me to practice for chemistry. A lot of the chemistry material felt like a review from general chemistry, but I was a bit rusty with remembering some of it. When going through the practice problems, I would watch Dr. Mike’s videos when I needed clarification on the answer to a problem or if I was confused on a topic. In the end, I do wish I had put a bit more effort into the chemistry portion. I answered most of the question bank problems, but I only completed 5 practice exams. I scored 20s and 22s on my practice exams, so a 21 was on par with how I was performing. I’m fairly sure that completing more practice exams might have exposed me to more questions and helped me to score higher, so I would definitely dedicate more time to chemistry practice exams if I were to study again. My real exam seemed to be pretty on par with the Bootcamp practice exams.
Organic Chemistry (26):
Organic Chemistry was the science section that I spent the least amount of time preparing for. When I started studying, I had just completed the second semester of organic chemistry at college. When I started to review the Bootcamp materials and complete the practice questions, I found a lot of it to be fresh in my mind. I definitely made sure to complete all of the question banks to keep reviewing and relearning things I might have forgotten, but I felt like this was a section I could forfeit a bit of time from in order to spend more time on Biology or Perceptual Ability. On my practice exams, I scored a 20, 21s, and a 22, so I hoped for a 22 or 23 on the DAT. On the real exam, I scored a 26. I found both Bootcamp and college organic chemistry to be harder than the organic chemistry section on my exam. My advice would be to take the DAT as soon as you can after you complete your ochem sequence at college. It will make your studying so much easier and allow you to spend more time on material you may have learned a year or 2 ago and forget more. It is no secret that organic chemistry is a hard subject, but repetition and repeated exposure to the material over time will help you to do well.
Perceptual Ability (24):
When I first looked at the perceptual ability practice problems, I was so confused. But, as mentioned in the PAT academy videos, practice makes perfect and doing a bit every day will help you to become great at this section. This was a subject that I made sure to watch all of the videos for. I found the explanations in the videos as well as the strategies they shared to be super helpful. Once I got the hang of it, I found PAT so much fun! My favorite sections were cube counting, hole punching, and pattern folding. I found angle counting to be the hardest, and I needed to practice that section the most.
When I started taking the practice exams, I was overwhelmed by how many problems you need to complete within the time frame. At first I scored 19s and 20s while practicing PAT. Speed and efficiency are both necessary for this section, so to practice I would go through the question banks as fast as I could while trying to be as accurate as possible. By doing this, I was able to pick up on little tricks that helped me to figure out each problem in a short amount of time. When I completed my next practice test, I was able to score a 22. This made me feel much more confident going into the real exam. During my real DAT, I thought that the problems were on par with the Bootcamp practice tests. I was surprised when I got my score back and it was 2 points higher than any of my practice exams. My advice for this section is to make sure you see some kind of PAT problem every day, even if you only practice for a few minutes. Repetition is really the key to this section.
Quantitative Reasoning (27):
QR was a section that I did not spend very much time at all on. I did not watch any of the videos and I only completed ⅔ of the practice problems. I assumed that it would be easy since I had already taken math classes for so many years. When I finally got around to practicing this section, I found the Bootcamp practice problems challenging. The word problems, quantitative sufficiency, and quantitative comparison problems were particularly challenging for me. On my first practice exam, I scored an 18 and immediately realized I needed to put much more time into this section in the weeks before my real exam. After some practice, I was able to get my score up to a 20 and 21. I made sure to review a bit of this section every day in the week or so before my exam to get the strategy and patterns down. I found the real exam to be much easier than the Bootcamp practice exams as I scored a 27 on the real DAT. I love how Bootcamp lets you see how challenging the questions might possibly be, leading you to be over prepared and subsequently perform very well when it matters. My advice: don’t underestimate QR and give it the time it deserves so you have plenty of time to practice and bring your score up.
Reading Comprehension (30):
When I started reviewing RC, I had trouble finding a method that worked for me. I did not like search and destroy or a lot of the other popular methods mentioned in the RC Academy videos. As I went through the practice passages and tried different methods, I found that reading the entire passage and then going back to answer the questions worked best for me. I think it was called the “Vanilla” method or something along those lines. I completed 8/13 practice passages, and 3 practice exams. On the practice exams I scored two 26s and one 30, so I felt very prepared for the real exam. I found that the real DAT was even easier than Bootcamp’s passages, so RC was definitely the easiest section for me. I think the hardest part of RC is finding a method that works for you, and once you find one, practice and execution will lead you to success.
Leading up to Exam Day:
Although I was able to stay mostly on track with Dr. Ari’s study schedule, especially when I cut out watching the videos, I still fell behind a bit. I allotted time after work some days to study, but after a long day, I couldn’t not complete everything I hoped I would. And that’s okay! Some days will be more productive than others, and you just need to make the most of your productive days. There were some days that I could complete 2 days of the study schedule in one study session. In the end, I did not have as many days when I was done reviewing the material to complete practice exams as I had hoped. My advice to anyone studying for the DAT would be to complete as many practice exams as possible. I felt stressed at the end that I had not completed all of them, and I just had to trust that I had already reviewed all of the material. This stress could have been alleviated if I had more time to complete the practice exams. However, I do not regret any of the time that I took off of studying for vacation as it helped to keep me motivated throughout the summer.
In the days before the test, I spent my free time looking over the sections that I felt the least confident in. By reviewing problems I had previously gotten wrong, I felt more confident in those sections as I learned from my mistakes. I meant to completely relax the day before my exam, but I couldn’t help but review a bit more that day. Did I learn anything from those few hours? I’m not sure. Did it stress me out? A little bit. It made me think that I knew less than I really did, and at that point, you just need to trust all of the work you put in over the last 2.5 months. So, take the day before your exam to relax! Watch a movie, workout, see friends, and do whatever you need to relax yourself and take your mind off of your upcoming exam.
Reflections:
I am very happy with how my score turned out. It felt so great to see that my months of studying and hard work paid off. Whenever you choose to study for the DAT, whether it be over the summer or during the school year, there will be things that you miss out on and much less free time on your calendar. It can be frustrating and discouraging, especially when you hit a lesson that you just can’t seem to grasp. It really helps to have a support system around you to help you relax when you have had a hard day of studying or support you when you are having one of those days where you feel like you can’t do it anymore. I think we have all felt this way at least once. Believe in yourself, and don’t be so hard on yourself! You can do it, and your hard work will pay off.
I am very glad that I chose to study with Bootcamp. I felt like I had all of the materials I needed to study with on the Bootcamp website, and I don’t think I even needed to use any outside sources other than the occasional google search. Bootcamp challenges you with their practice questions and practice tests, which I am grateful for. I did not feel like any section on my real DAT was harder than the Bootcamp practice exams, and some were even easier than Bootcamp, which made me feel so much more confident as I was taking the test.
Feel free to comment with any questions! If you are in the process of studying, good luck! I know you will do great
