Hey Everyone
Over the last few months I’ve read through countless breakdowns and I always found them to be quite useful. I thought I would take the chance to pay it forward and give you my exam experience as well as provide some insights as to how I prepared for the test.
Scores:
AA – 27
TS – 30
BIO – 30
GC – 30
OC – 30
PAT – 21
RC – 26
QR – 21
Study Materials:
DATBooster
DATBootcamp
Chads Videos
Breakdown:
BIO- This was the section I spent most of my time preparing for just because of the sheer amount of information that is out there. I don’t want lull anyone into a false sense of security, but the biology questions on my exam were very surface level and in hindsight I was incredibly overprepared for this section. I used a combination of the Bio Academy Notes on DAT Bootcamp as well as the Booster notes. The Booster notes are not broken up into chapters like the Bio Academy notes are, so I ended up downloading the PDFs and manually separating the Booster notes to mirror Bio Academy chapters. This made things a bit more digestible and easier to navigate during review. To be frank, it’s hard for me to give an ultimate truth on how to prepare for this section most efficiently. However, my process was this: I would read each chapter and write my own notes alongside. After, I would quiz myself using the DAT Bootcamp Biobites to see how much information I retained and what I missed. After a day or two, I would quiz myself again using Biobites to see where my knowledge gaps lied. From there, I would create ANKI flashcards for the topics that I had the most trouble remembering and continually review those. Once I had confidence in my mastery of the section I would go over the question banks on both Booster and Bootcamp. One of the toughest parts about this section is retention over long periods of time. I found myself reviewing and re-reviewing various bio sections over the duration of my prep. Unfortunately, I don’t have a great solve for this. But don’t be discouraged by the fact that you may need to periodically refresh topics that you had previously learned.
The Booster section tests are awesome and I saw a couple of questions on my actual exam that were very similar to ones I had gone over in Booster. I think if you can score well on the Booster practice tests you are in great shape. One last note, I also recommend attending a Crash Course if you can. I felt that after attending a Bio Crash Course, it gave me a better idea about the level of depth I needed to go in.
GC- Like a lot of posters have mentioned here, I did not see as many calculation type questions and got more conceptual questions. My best piece of advice would be to try and understand the concepts behind the topics you are learning and avoid simply memorizing formulas/trends. To prepare I used Chads videos and took my own notes alongside his “lectures”. His videos are in a classroom setting and he does a great job of explaining the concepts in a way that is easily digestible. After watching a topic I would go through the questions banks on Bootcamp and Booster to gain mastery of the subject. Make sure to review the solutions at the end. Not only the wrong ones but the right ones as well. This helps to reinforce your understanding and also ensures you have the right line of reasoning.
OC – I also used Chads videos for this section and found that they were more helpful than the video series on both Booster and Bootcamp for learning. However, as was the case with Gen Chem, I thought that both services did a great job of providing questions that were on par with what I saw on my real exam. While it’s not necessary to memorize mechanisms, I think it’s a useful exercise to look up some of the less obvious reaction mechanisms to see how they progress. It gives you an idea of what’s acting as a nucleophile/electrophile or why a seemingly random reagent is used in a reaction. That in turn will bolster your ability to remember the reactions. With that being said, I think Chad does a great job of including some key mechanism steps throughout his video series for various reactions. I was definitely a little worried about NMR and IR since I remember these being incredibly tough in my undergraduate Ochem classes. But the questions that I got on the real exam were very surface level and I think anything you see in the Booster practice questions will prepare you for the real test. Overall, I got a mixed bag of questions so don’t solely focus on memorizing reactions and make sure you know your acid base chemistry etc.
PAT- Start early on this section and don’t neglect it until the end like I did. Practice is the name of the game here. Between Booster and Bootcamp, I think Booster does a better job of preparing you for the exam. I say this because I think Booster trains you to see the subtle differences between objects, especially as it pertains to the TFE, Keyhole, and Pattern Folding sections. In conjunction with Booster, I also used a YouTube Channel called Mental Dental that appears to be Booster affiliated. I thought the strategies presented in those videos were very helpful and also a bit different than what was being presented in the Booster video series. I recommend watching those if you’re struggling and just need a fresh approach for certain problems. Overall, I found that Booster TFE and Keyholes were harder than my real exam. Pattern Folding and Hole Punch slightly harder. Angles and Cubes spot on.
RC- Highlighter is a must. But get good at only highlighting the important words (names, dates, etc). Most of my questions were search and destroy so you just want to be able to read the question and reference back to the correct paragraph quickly. If there’s too much highlighting going on, it does you no good. Didn’t prepare for this one other than picking a good strategy and doing a practice test. I used the straightforward approach. I read through the passage while highlighting and then went about answering the questions.
QR- If you’re running out of time on these practice sections, don’t freak out. I believe it was tests #6-9 that I had a hard time completing in 45 minutes. I think these are definitely meant to be harder than your actual exam so that you can learn how to manage your time more effectively. On this section, you’ve got to be able to pick and choose your battles. Skip the hard ones, get the easy ones. To prepare, I watched the video series to learn forgotten topics and then went through the question bank on Booster. The video series did a good job of providing baseline knowledge, but I did most of my learning through the question bank.
Test Day Tips:
Hope this helps and best of luck to everyone!
Over the last few months I’ve read through countless breakdowns and I always found them to be quite useful. I thought I would take the chance to pay it forward and give you my exam experience as well as provide some insights as to how I prepared for the test.
Scores:
AA – 27
TS – 30
BIO – 30
GC – 30
OC – 30
PAT – 21
RC – 26
QR – 21
Study Materials:
DATBooster
DATBootcamp
Chads Videos
Breakdown:
BIO- This was the section I spent most of my time preparing for just because of the sheer amount of information that is out there. I don’t want lull anyone into a false sense of security, but the biology questions on my exam were very surface level and in hindsight I was incredibly overprepared for this section. I used a combination of the Bio Academy Notes on DAT Bootcamp as well as the Booster notes. The Booster notes are not broken up into chapters like the Bio Academy notes are, so I ended up downloading the PDFs and manually separating the Booster notes to mirror Bio Academy chapters. This made things a bit more digestible and easier to navigate during review. To be frank, it’s hard for me to give an ultimate truth on how to prepare for this section most efficiently. However, my process was this: I would read each chapter and write my own notes alongside. After, I would quiz myself using the DAT Bootcamp Biobites to see how much information I retained and what I missed. After a day or two, I would quiz myself again using Biobites to see where my knowledge gaps lied. From there, I would create ANKI flashcards for the topics that I had the most trouble remembering and continually review those. Once I had confidence in my mastery of the section I would go over the question banks on both Booster and Bootcamp. One of the toughest parts about this section is retention over long periods of time. I found myself reviewing and re-reviewing various bio sections over the duration of my prep. Unfortunately, I don’t have a great solve for this. But don’t be discouraged by the fact that you may need to periodically refresh topics that you had previously learned.
The Booster section tests are awesome and I saw a couple of questions on my actual exam that were very similar to ones I had gone over in Booster. I think if you can score well on the Booster practice tests you are in great shape. One last note, I also recommend attending a Crash Course if you can. I felt that after attending a Bio Crash Course, it gave me a better idea about the level of depth I needed to go in.
GC- Like a lot of posters have mentioned here, I did not see as many calculation type questions and got more conceptual questions. My best piece of advice would be to try and understand the concepts behind the topics you are learning and avoid simply memorizing formulas/trends. To prepare I used Chads videos and took my own notes alongside his “lectures”. His videos are in a classroom setting and he does a great job of explaining the concepts in a way that is easily digestible. After watching a topic I would go through the questions banks on Bootcamp and Booster to gain mastery of the subject. Make sure to review the solutions at the end. Not only the wrong ones but the right ones as well. This helps to reinforce your understanding and also ensures you have the right line of reasoning.
OC – I also used Chads videos for this section and found that they were more helpful than the video series on both Booster and Bootcamp for learning. However, as was the case with Gen Chem, I thought that both services did a great job of providing questions that were on par with what I saw on my real exam. While it’s not necessary to memorize mechanisms, I think it’s a useful exercise to look up some of the less obvious reaction mechanisms to see how they progress. It gives you an idea of what’s acting as a nucleophile/electrophile or why a seemingly random reagent is used in a reaction. That in turn will bolster your ability to remember the reactions. With that being said, I think Chad does a great job of including some key mechanism steps throughout his video series for various reactions. I was definitely a little worried about NMR and IR since I remember these being incredibly tough in my undergraduate Ochem classes. But the questions that I got on the real exam were very surface level and I think anything you see in the Booster practice questions will prepare you for the real test. Overall, I got a mixed bag of questions so don’t solely focus on memorizing reactions and make sure you know your acid base chemistry etc.
PAT- Start early on this section and don’t neglect it until the end like I did. Practice is the name of the game here. Between Booster and Bootcamp, I think Booster does a better job of preparing you for the exam. I say this because I think Booster trains you to see the subtle differences between objects, especially as it pertains to the TFE, Keyhole, and Pattern Folding sections. In conjunction with Booster, I also used a YouTube Channel called Mental Dental that appears to be Booster affiliated. I thought the strategies presented in those videos were very helpful and also a bit different than what was being presented in the Booster video series. I recommend watching those if you’re struggling and just need a fresh approach for certain problems. Overall, I found that Booster TFE and Keyholes were harder than my real exam. Pattern Folding and Hole Punch slightly harder. Angles and Cubes spot on.
RC- Highlighter is a must. But get good at only highlighting the important words (names, dates, etc). Most of my questions were search and destroy so you just want to be able to read the question and reference back to the correct paragraph quickly. If there’s too much highlighting going on, it does you no good. Didn’t prepare for this one other than picking a good strategy and doing a practice test. I used the straightforward approach. I read through the passage while highlighting and then went about answering the questions.
QR- If you’re running out of time on these practice sections, don’t freak out. I believe it was tests #6-9 that I had a hard time completing in 45 minutes. I think these are definitely meant to be harder than your actual exam so that you can learn how to manage your time more effectively. On this section, you’ve got to be able to pick and choose your battles. Skip the hard ones, get the easy ones. To prepare, I watched the video series to learn forgotten topics and then went through the question bank on Booster. The video series did a good job of providing baseline knowledge, but I did most of my learning through the question bank.
Test Day Tips:
- Eat a good breakfast – so important for your success on test day and throughout your prep.
- Stay Hydrated – I think I read somewhere that you want to start hydrating a day or two before the exam. Of course you should be hydrated all the time, but I’m the kind of person that forgets to have a glass of water throughout the day. So if you’re like me don’t neglect this.
- Use the bathroom right before the test and during your break.
- Take the tutorial period to breathe and calm your nerves.
- Bring a good snack for the break period. I didn’t do this and I wish I had. By the time I hit the QR section, my brain was mush. That little boost of energy may make the difference towards the end.
Hope this helps and best of luck to everyone!
