I just took my DAT today and these are my scores along with the study materials I used/ I found helpful.
Biology: 17
General Chemistry: 29
Organic Chemistry: 21
Reading Comprehension: 19
Quantitative Reasoning: 28
PAT: 22
TS: 20
AA: 23
Biology:
Clearly I struggle with biology as it was my lowest score, also i didn't stop shaking until like the last 5 questions... However, part of this was due to me being confident that I could score high in the other categories. I viewed this section as I could study a bunch and still only get a 20 where if I study gen chem I can score high. However, this section is possible to get a high score on! My best advice for this section would be to read Baron's AP Biology 3rd edition and make TONS of flashcards. Also Bozeman Science videos were pretty good as well. Bio questions were very similar to bio questions asked in DAT bootcamp.
General Chemistry:
Okay first off, I want to say that I put most of my effort into general chemistry because at the beginning of my studying it was my weakest section... apparently I went a little overboard and scored through the roof. I watch Chad's videos for gen chem and that provided an excellent foundation. Then I used DAT destroyer (UNTIMED!!). Destroyer will bring your confidence down but if you can score around 50-60% correct you should do fine. Finally I used DAT bootcamp for the rest... It honestly doesn't get better than bootcamp in terms of what the questions are most similar to. Bootcamp arguably helped me the most.
Organic Chemistry:
I did not study much for this section as I am fresh out of organic chemistry and my organic chem professor was a wizard. However, I found that DAT destroyer was really good for orgo. DO NOT IGNORE NMR AND IR they will show up. Other than that, questions were very similar to Bootcamp like gen chem.
Perceptual ability:
DAT bootcamp is absolutely phenomenal for this section. There really isn't much more to say. PAT on the real thing was quite a bit easier than bootcamp.
Reading Comprehension:
I would highly advise studying for this section. Again, use bootcamp because it is the best resource to gauge where you are. Studying for this pertains to finding the best reading strategy that suits you. I was scoring 16's on bootcamp until i utilized search and destroy. Once i adopted this method my practice test scores were 20's. One piece of advice, don't bank on all of the article being the same length.. my first one was extremely short and the next two were definitely longer so I had terrible pace (plus had a solid 2 minute leg cramp and almost freaked out in the testing center).
Quantitative Reasoning:
Reason I scored so high on this section is because I'm a math tutor... honestly this section was a breeze to me because I teach 80% of the material to students that I tutor. However, do not take this section lightly especially if you are not a math wiz.. Bootcamp and Math Destroyer are hands down best materials for this section.
Summary:
Bootcamp is 100% the best investment I could have possible made. I am not some sort of genius (clearly by my bio score), I had to work really hard to get these scores and I truly dedicated myself to studying. Also, I did not feel ready for this until the day before. For whatever reason, call it hindsight bias if you want, but I seriously kept dreaming and envisioning myself scoring a 23 AA. I could visualize the screen showing a 23 and somehow I knew I would get this score one way or another. Best of luck to all of you that still need to take the DAT and for those that are also applying to dental school this cycle.
I'm not great about checking messages on this but if any of you have questions feel free to post a comment or PM me, I'd be happy to talk!
Biology: 17
General Chemistry: 29
Organic Chemistry: 21
Reading Comprehension: 19
Quantitative Reasoning: 28
PAT: 22
TS: 20
AA: 23
Biology:
Clearly I struggle with biology as it was my lowest score, also i didn't stop shaking until like the last 5 questions... However, part of this was due to me being confident that I could score high in the other categories. I viewed this section as I could study a bunch and still only get a 20 where if I study gen chem I can score high. However, this section is possible to get a high score on! My best advice for this section would be to read Baron's AP Biology 3rd edition and make TONS of flashcards. Also Bozeman Science videos were pretty good as well. Bio questions were very similar to bio questions asked in DAT bootcamp.
General Chemistry:
Okay first off, I want to say that I put most of my effort into general chemistry because at the beginning of my studying it was my weakest section... apparently I went a little overboard and scored through the roof. I watch Chad's videos for gen chem and that provided an excellent foundation. Then I used DAT destroyer (UNTIMED!!). Destroyer will bring your confidence down but if you can score around 50-60% correct you should do fine. Finally I used DAT bootcamp for the rest... It honestly doesn't get better than bootcamp in terms of what the questions are most similar to. Bootcamp arguably helped me the most.
Organic Chemistry:
I did not study much for this section as I am fresh out of organic chemistry and my organic chem professor was a wizard. However, I found that DAT destroyer was really good for orgo. DO NOT IGNORE NMR AND IR they will show up. Other than that, questions were very similar to Bootcamp like gen chem.
Perceptual ability:
DAT bootcamp is absolutely phenomenal for this section. There really isn't much more to say. PAT on the real thing was quite a bit easier than bootcamp.
Reading Comprehension:
I would highly advise studying for this section. Again, use bootcamp because it is the best resource to gauge where you are. Studying for this pertains to finding the best reading strategy that suits you. I was scoring 16's on bootcamp until i utilized search and destroy. Once i adopted this method my practice test scores were 20's. One piece of advice, don't bank on all of the article being the same length.. my first one was extremely short and the next two were definitely longer so I had terrible pace (plus had a solid 2 minute leg cramp and almost freaked out in the testing center).
Quantitative Reasoning:
Reason I scored so high on this section is because I'm a math tutor... honestly this section was a breeze to me because I teach 80% of the material to students that I tutor. However, do not take this section lightly especially if you are not a math wiz.. Bootcamp and Math Destroyer are hands down best materials for this section.
Summary:
Bootcamp is 100% the best investment I could have possible made. I am not some sort of genius (clearly by my bio score), I had to work really hard to get these scores and I truly dedicated myself to studying. Also, I did not feel ready for this until the day before. For whatever reason, call it hindsight bias if you want, but I seriously kept dreaming and envisioning myself scoring a 23 AA. I could visualize the screen showing a 23 and somehow I knew I would get this score one way or another. Best of luck to all of you that still need to take the DAT and for those that are also applying to dental school this cycle.
I'm not great about checking messages on this but if any of you have questions feel free to post a comment or PM me, I'd be happy to talk!