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- May 11, 2014
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Hi guys,
I started studying around last week of May, and I took the DAT today (7/30/16). (~10 weeks)
My score:
AA/TS/Bio/Gchem/Ochem/RC/QR/PAT
26/28/30/25/29/22/23/27
Materials used:
1) Chad's: Everyone knows by now that this is a must for the chems.
2) Destroyer 2016 (+ Math Destroyer): This is also a must if you plan to get 21+. Go through it twice at least I would say.
3) Bootcamp: I think bootcamp was the most accurate to my actual exam. If not just slightly harder. PAT was similar (yes, I got 4 rock keyhole questions. Did those by paying attention to minute details and process of elimination). QR was harder on the actual exam. But bootcamp is a must as well, since their PAT generators can do wonders. For sections I thought I was weak on in PAT, I did a ton of generator problems and tried to develop my own techniques especially for angle ranking because there were so many different cases (obtuse, acute, parallel orientation, arbitrary orientation, dissimilar segment lengths, etc). Different techniques work differently for people. I think its best to keep experimenting on your own until you find your own technique.
4) Feralis: Very detailed. Its very long and hard to read, so I think it is useful as a reference material for things you think you need more supplementation. I read Feralis about 2 times.
5) Cliff's 4th edition: Or 3rd edition. 4th edition is great, but has too much detail on certain chapters that aren't tested much by DAT, and has little in plants. Go through it once as a starting point for bio.
6) Qvault Bio: I found this to be slightly harder than BC. I think for bio, utilizing various study resources is the way to go. There is just too much information and you its best you are exposed to more topics than depth. That's why I got just bio for Qvault.
7) Kaplan Blue Book: Only used it for the full test. The content on this is pretty basic, and should be used only as a starter, if at all.
8) DAT genius (the first free full test): The bio section here is pretty hard. The rest are ok. I think DAT genius can be just as good as Bootcamp, except for the PAT. Bio is harder than BC.
9) 2009 ADA test: So I don't recommend doing this exam unless you have the updated version. I just found a pdf online and found a ton of errors. And the QR on this is unnecessarily hard, and not worth the time and energy.
I studied Cliff's for the first 3 weeks. Doing about a chapter or two a day. Did only multiple choice problems not the free answers. Took notes so I can come back to it later to review. I reviewed everything I studied at the end of each week.
I then found a Cliff's pdf for 3rd edition, and read some more on plants.
For chem and orgo I watched Chad's, 1 set of videos per day during the first 3 weeks. (I would do 1 day bio and chem, one day bio and orgo...etc. Mix it up.) Took notes, took his quizzes.
During 4th week I just reviewed everything, reading through my notes, trying fill holes here and there for what additional information I might be missing by just looking them up, or reading through Feralis on specific parts.
During 5th week, I started destroyer, did about 60 bio, 40 chem, 30 orgo questions per day. Finished it in about 2 weeks, and on the 7th week I went through it one more time, 100 bio, 60 chem, and 50 orgo questions per day. During the whole time I made flashcards for bio for things I got wrong. (about 95% of them, not all of them. Certain easy ones or mistakes I didn't make flashcards). I looked up things if I thought I needed more knowledge in particular areas while doing destroyer.
During 8th and 9th week, I did everything in bootcamp except for Math.
I averaged around
Bio: 24.5
Ochem: 27.5
Gchem: 24.5
PAT: 23 first time, 25 second time
Reading: 20
During the last 2 weeks, I read more Feralis notes to supplement places where I thought I was not as proficient, did about ~7 Math Destroyer Tests (averaged 37/40~40/40), ~7 Bootcamp QR tests (averaged around 26), did the one DAT genius Full Length Free test (The bio section was a bit harder than Qvault/BC imo), got Qvault bio and did those (I got 22 most of the times with a few 25). I also sometimes read through my flashcards. But I only read through my flashcards about 5 times or so because I felt like I knew them well by then, and I thought time would be better spent on Feralis. Basically just doing things here and there to supplement where I felt I lacked, while doing more math. I also re-did a couple PAT exams and scored around 25s second time doing them.
Reading was my worst section. I was never really good at it and Korean is my first language. BC reading is pretty hard. Other study materials were around similar, and the actual exam was around the same as those. I used the mapping method.
I think it also helps to study QR in more depth. Although I am generally pretty good at math, during the real exam I felt pretty rushed. I haven't taken a single math course other than stats in college and I've really lost a lot of momentum in maths. I think this might be an issue for a lot of others as well. I think the reason is that more often than not a lot of people kind of underestimate QR and study it mostly from just practice tests and cheat sheets. But this is basically studying how to do certain types of problems, instead of really learning them again from the core concepts. However, I think QR can be best conquered by studying it like the sciences, more in depth with each chapter/topic. Math Destroyer and Bootcamp were great preparations, but to get close to a 30, you need to be able to apply concepts in a variety of ways. You only see a limited number of types of problems in destroyer and Bootcamp. I kind of regret underestimating QR and studying towards the end, so if I could go back, I would revisit algebra 2, precalculus, and geometry a bit more in depth.
Lastly, I think its really important to go over wrong answers in depth, and even some correct answers if you weren't 100% for every single choice of the question. I found that to help me as well. A lot of times we think we know something just because we got it right, but sometimes that can be a false sense of security. Make sure you know every single problem 110%.
The day before exam I went to barnes and nobles and did one full exam from Barron's. Other than that I didn't do much. Try to stay positive and rest up. Do not get so inside your head about all the bad scenarios. As long you are scoring around how you want to score, you will do well. I know its tempting to review more material, but its just an irrational sense of insecurity most of the times by that point. Its better to rest up completely, if not majority of the day before, and stay positive!
DAT is half a mental game and half studying efficiently. I felt I could not go on without a bit of destressing here and there and hanging out with my friends.
Good luck everybody!
P.S. Shout out to Nancy, Dr. Romano, Ari, Feralis for preparing me for this short journey!
I started studying around last week of May, and I took the DAT today (7/30/16). (~10 weeks)
My score:
AA/TS/Bio/Gchem/Ochem/RC/QR/PAT
26/28/30/25/29/22/23/27
Materials used:
1) Chad's: Everyone knows by now that this is a must for the chems.
2) Destroyer 2016 (+ Math Destroyer): This is also a must if you plan to get 21+. Go through it twice at least I would say.
3) Bootcamp: I think bootcamp was the most accurate to my actual exam. If not just slightly harder. PAT was similar (yes, I got 4 rock keyhole questions. Did those by paying attention to minute details and process of elimination). QR was harder on the actual exam. But bootcamp is a must as well, since their PAT generators can do wonders. For sections I thought I was weak on in PAT, I did a ton of generator problems and tried to develop my own techniques especially for angle ranking because there were so many different cases (obtuse, acute, parallel orientation, arbitrary orientation, dissimilar segment lengths, etc). Different techniques work differently for people. I think its best to keep experimenting on your own until you find your own technique.
4) Feralis: Very detailed. Its very long and hard to read, so I think it is useful as a reference material for things you think you need more supplementation. I read Feralis about 2 times.
5) Cliff's 4th edition: Or 3rd edition. 4th edition is great, but has too much detail on certain chapters that aren't tested much by DAT, and has little in plants. Go through it once as a starting point for bio.
6) Qvault Bio: I found this to be slightly harder than BC. I think for bio, utilizing various study resources is the way to go. There is just too much information and you its best you are exposed to more topics than depth. That's why I got just bio for Qvault.
7) Kaplan Blue Book: Only used it for the full test. The content on this is pretty basic, and should be used only as a starter, if at all.
8) DAT genius (the first free full test): The bio section here is pretty hard. The rest are ok. I think DAT genius can be just as good as Bootcamp, except for the PAT. Bio is harder than BC.
9) 2009 ADA test: So I don't recommend doing this exam unless you have the updated version. I just found a pdf online and found a ton of errors. And the QR on this is unnecessarily hard, and not worth the time and energy.
I studied Cliff's for the first 3 weeks. Doing about a chapter or two a day. Did only multiple choice problems not the free answers. Took notes so I can come back to it later to review. I reviewed everything I studied at the end of each week.
I then found a Cliff's pdf for 3rd edition, and read some more on plants.
For chem and orgo I watched Chad's, 1 set of videos per day during the first 3 weeks. (I would do 1 day bio and chem, one day bio and orgo...etc. Mix it up.) Took notes, took his quizzes.
During 4th week I just reviewed everything, reading through my notes, trying fill holes here and there for what additional information I might be missing by just looking them up, or reading through Feralis on specific parts.
During 5th week, I started destroyer, did about 60 bio, 40 chem, 30 orgo questions per day. Finished it in about 2 weeks, and on the 7th week I went through it one more time, 100 bio, 60 chem, and 50 orgo questions per day. During the whole time I made flashcards for bio for things I got wrong. (about 95% of them, not all of them. Certain easy ones or mistakes I didn't make flashcards). I looked up things if I thought I needed more knowledge in particular areas while doing destroyer.
During 8th and 9th week, I did everything in bootcamp except for Math.
I averaged around
Bio: 24.5
Ochem: 27.5
Gchem: 24.5
PAT: 23 first time, 25 second time
Reading: 20
During the last 2 weeks, I read more Feralis notes to supplement places where I thought I was not as proficient, did about ~7 Math Destroyer Tests (averaged 37/40~40/40), ~7 Bootcamp QR tests (averaged around 26), did the one DAT genius Full Length Free test (The bio section was a bit harder than Qvault/BC imo), got Qvault bio and did those (I got 22 most of the times with a few 25). I also sometimes read through my flashcards. But I only read through my flashcards about 5 times or so because I felt like I knew them well by then, and I thought time would be better spent on Feralis. Basically just doing things here and there to supplement where I felt I lacked, while doing more math. I also re-did a couple PAT exams and scored around 25s second time doing them.
Reading was my worst section. I was never really good at it and Korean is my first language. BC reading is pretty hard. Other study materials were around similar, and the actual exam was around the same as those. I used the mapping method.
I think it also helps to study QR in more depth. Although I am generally pretty good at math, during the real exam I felt pretty rushed. I haven't taken a single math course other than stats in college and I've really lost a lot of momentum in maths. I think this might be an issue for a lot of others as well. I think the reason is that more often than not a lot of people kind of underestimate QR and study it mostly from just practice tests and cheat sheets. But this is basically studying how to do certain types of problems, instead of really learning them again from the core concepts. However, I think QR can be best conquered by studying it like the sciences, more in depth with each chapter/topic. Math Destroyer and Bootcamp were great preparations, but to get close to a 30, you need to be able to apply concepts in a variety of ways. You only see a limited number of types of problems in destroyer and Bootcamp. I kind of regret underestimating QR and studying towards the end, so if I could go back, I would revisit algebra 2, precalculus, and geometry a bit more in depth.
Lastly, I think its really important to go over wrong answers in depth, and even some correct answers if you weren't 100% for every single choice of the question. I found that to help me as well. A lot of times we think we know something just because we got it right, but sometimes that can be a false sense of security. Make sure you know every single problem 110%.
The day before exam I went to barnes and nobles and did one full exam from Barron's. Other than that I didn't do much. Try to stay positive and rest up. Do not get so inside your head about all the bad scenarios. As long you are scoring around how you want to score, you will do well. I know its tempting to review more material, but its just an irrational sense of insecurity most of the times by that point. Its better to rest up completely, if not majority of the day before, and stay positive!
DAT is half a mental game and half studying efficiently. I felt I could not go on without a bit of destressing here and there and hanging out with my friends.
Good luck everybody!
P.S. Shout out to Nancy, Dr. Romano, Ari, Feralis for preparing me for this short journey!
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. Unfortunately you didn't avenge me in math xD
