I took my DAT last week and thought it fitting to post my breakdown about it.
Scores:
PAT - 18
QR - 18
RC - 17
BIO - 24
GC - 23
OC - 22
TS - 23
AA - 21
Background:
Rising Senior with a 3.61 ~ GPA
Material Used (from most helpful to least helpful):
BIO (24): Very straightforward. I think the practice test was representative of the questions that I saw on the exam DAT. I went through this section and finished it in 10 mins so I have about 90 minutes left for GC and OC. Also, closer to my exam I did not look at the feralis notes at all and just focused on the crash course material and the bio cheat sheets. For the actual content on the test, I did not get a lot of questions about structures and functions or diversity of life but I did get a lot of questions about developmental biology and embryology. Maybe that was only for my exam. I honestly wouldn’t know lol.
GC (23): I was most worried about this section because of the calculations but I got literally 1 calculation and it was super easy. I am honestly very grateful that I started to focus more on conceptual material closer to my exam because that is mostly what I got. Super straightforward question.
OC (22): Within all the sciences, this was the section that I was least worried about but maybe I should have worried more because it is my lowest science score lmao. But little to no reaction questions. Sn1/Sn2/E1/E2, spectroscopy, and super easy mechanisms were the bulk of my questions.
PAT (18): Was never really strong at this section and didn’t focus too much on it. If you are not a super high achiever, I think in this section you are better off focusing only on the things you know you can get right. If you suck at keyholes and can’t figure them out after weeks of studying, I don’t think it's the best idea to waste time trying to learn how to do them when there are other more important/less bs sections to focus on. That was my problem.
RC (17): I never practiced this section other than the practice test. I was honestly not expecting this score and am quite disappointed with my performance. This section was much harder on the real DAT than the practice exams and the 2 of my passages were pretty long. One of my passages had graphs and charts and it threw me off completely. I think if I could go back, I would practice my reading skills more.
QR (18): Once again, never practiced this section other than the practice test. I was scoring decently on this section during my practice test but I never reviewed what I got wrong because I was just focusing on my sciences. If I could go back/had more time to study, I think I would just review what I got wrong and write down anything I did not know.
Ending Advice:
I think the thing that helped me the most when studying for my DAT is sticking to the way I study for everything else in my undergrad. Never in my life had I ever really used anki but everybody recommended it so I tried it and honestly felt like I wasted a lot of my time with it. With that being said, figure out what works for you and stick with it.
Another thing. you might get discouraged, you might get tired and you might want to take breaks but just make sure you stick with it. My practice exams AAs were around 15-16 when I started and now I got a decent score by just sticking with it. Anybody can do this. Good luck.
Scores:
PAT - 18
QR - 18
RC - 17
BIO - 24
GC - 23
OC - 22
TS - 23
AA - 21
Background:
Rising Senior with a 3.61 ~ GPA
Material Used (from most helpful to least helpful):
- DAT Booster (9/10): The best resource and my favorite honestly. I think to be successful on this exam DAT booster is the only source that you truly need. The practice test was very representative of the DAT and I even saw maybe 1 or 2 EXACT questions and a handful of similar questions on my real DAT. further, due to the practice test being really representative I went back and took each test twice and sometimes 3 times to help me with understanding the information. They have a great team and are great with responding to you if you need any help with the website or anything like that. Each question had an explanation and even explained why the other answers' choices were wrong. This really helped me learn the information for the real exam.
- DAT BOOSTER BIO CRASH COURSE 1-3 (8/10): I genuinely want to credit this to my bio score. I have never been good at bio and I took Bio 1 and Bio 2 during the pandemic and I think that altogether hindered any of the information staying with me for the DAT. On my first 3 practice tests, I scored a 13 in bio. It was by far my lowest section and I SICK because I couldn't even really understand what I was doing wrong. It wasn’t until I took the bio crash course that my scores skyrocketed. The bio crash course did not provide any new information that was not already in the feralis notes or cheat sheets; however, I do think it provided the information the exact way you needed to know it for the real exam. If Bio is a struggle for you and you are somewhat lost, I would recommend the bio crash course.
- Anki (5/10): Honestly, I think my biggest problem with Anki is that it is not the way I learn and retain information. I utilized Booster’s bio, gen chem, ochem, and QR anki deck and I think the only one that was slightly helpful was gen chem. A lot of the information in the bio anki was way too specific and ultimately very low yield. I wish I stopped using it sooner honestly because for a few weeks, I focused my time on Anki and I saw little to no improvement in my scores.
- The Booster Study Guide (5/10): The booster study guide is a resource that basically gives you a timeline on when/what you need to do for each day you are studying (it even includes breaks). The reason I ranked this so low is because I do not think it is going to be helpful for everybody as the study guide is pretty broad and just makes sure you get through all the information. At some point during my studying, it started to feel more like a checklist and less like a study guide.
BIO (24): Very straightforward. I think the practice test was representative of the questions that I saw on the exam DAT. I went through this section and finished it in 10 mins so I have about 90 minutes left for GC and OC. Also, closer to my exam I did not look at the feralis notes at all and just focused on the crash course material and the bio cheat sheets. For the actual content on the test, I did not get a lot of questions about structures and functions or diversity of life but I did get a lot of questions about developmental biology and embryology. Maybe that was only for my exam. I honestly wouldn’t know lol.
GC (23): I was most worried about this section because of the calculations but I got literally 1 calculation and it was super easy. I am honestly very grateful that I started to focus more on conceptual material closer to my exam because that is mostly what I got. Super straightforward question.
OC (22): Within all the sciences, this was the section that I was least worried about but maybe I should have worried more because it is my lowest science score lmao. But little to no reaction questions. Sn1/Sn2/E1/E2, spectroscopy, and super easy mechanisms were the bulk of my questions.
PAT (18): Was never really strong at this section and didn’t focus too much on it. If you are not a super high achiever, I think in this section you are better off focusing only on the things you know you can get right. If you suck at keyholes and can’t figure them out after weeks of studying, I don’t think it's the best idea to waste time trying to learn how to do them when there are other more important/less bs sections to focus on. That was my problem.
RC (17): I never practiced this section other than the practice test. I was honestly not expecting this score and am quite disappointed with my performance. This section was much harder on the real DAT than the practice exams and the 2 of my passages were pretty long. One of my passages had graphs and charts and it threw me off completely. I think if I could go back, I would practice my reading skills more.
QR (18): Once again, never practiced this section other than the practice test. I was scoring decently on this section during my practice test but I never reviewed what I got wrong because I was just focusing on my sciences. If I could go back/had more time to study, I think I would just review what I got wrong and write down anything I did not know.
Ending Advice:
I think the thing that helped me the most when studying for my DAT is sticking to the way I study for everything else in my undergrad. Never in my life had I ever really used anki but everybody recommended it so I tried it and honestly felt like I wasted a lot of my time with it. With that being said, figure out what works for you and stick with it.
Another thing. you might get discouraged, you might get tired and you might want to take breaks but just make sure you stick with it. My practice exams AAs were around 15-16 when I started and now I got a decent score by just sticking with it. Anybody can do this. Good luck.