Breaking Down the DAT

Woooooooh I'm finally done. After over a month of studying I'm so glad to be over and done with the DAT. If you're about to take the test, I feel yah. I remember reading a ton of these breakdowns to try and distract myself from studying. Don't get discouraged, take the ADA practice test a week before to gauge how you're doing and you'll be fine. Ok ok, on to the scores.

I know my scores aren't the best on the block, but I'm proud all the same. Anyways, I'll get to the meat and potatoes.

Bio: 18
I just finished up a bio major, so I thought I was pretty safe here. With that said, it was a very tricky section - I must've marked 20 of the first 40 questions the first time though. Just keep swimming and you'll come out ok. It's worth knowing all of the little terms like deuterstome or arthropod because you can rule out a lot of the answer choices by knowing which one's are NOT correct. As for studying, I did Cliffs and DAT Destroyer once - the breadth of the destroyer definitely matched MY DAT. Either way, I'm just glad I made up for it in my other sections.

Gen Chem: 19
I felt really strong in this section and was actually surprised that I didn't get above a 20. There's a lot a conceptual questions; Chad's Videos and DAT Bootcamp hit the nail on the head with this section.

Ochem: 30
Whaaaaaaaaat. I'll start by saying I got a C in Ochem so I really studied my patootie off for this section. I used Chad's as my main resource, but I went over the Destroyer once (but it was overkill for MY SPECIFIC TEST). Biggest tip I can give you here is find a way to honestly teach yourself the material. There's so many more questions that deal with basic stuff like stereochemistry and Sn1/Sn2/E1/E2 compared to some weird Tollens' Test reaction. For this section and Gen Chem I would go over all of this stuff in front of a whiteboard and act like I was teaching a class - sure it's kinda awkward but it worked.

PAT: 23
I did 8 Bootcamp tests and never scored over a 21. Bootcamp gets your timing down; my personal method was to skip right to hole punching and cubes to just snatch up the easy points, then worry about folding, angles, TFE, and keyholes in that order. I honestly thought I was bombing this section - just push though it and remember that if you're having a hard time with a question guess and move on. It's not worth it in the section to spend >1 min on a question.

RC: 22
I did 3 Bootcamp tests and never scored over a 19. I only practiced the Kaplin method (AKA number paragraphs and note-take as you're reading), but at the start of my second passaged I decided to go for Search and Destroy. For MY SPECIFIC DAT the questions were very straight-to-the-point. I'd recommend you practice both reading the passage straight though then answering the questions AND using S&D.

QR: 19
Fight though it. I kept telling myself that this section is what separated the men from the boys (or women from the girls). Just like the PAT, if a questions going to take your more than a minute to solve guess and move on. This test is all about efficiency and speed. Oh also, my test center let me use the keyboard to type in calculations - if there was one improvement I could make on DAT Bootcamp it would bet to add in this function.

Here's the blog where I recorded all of my practice scores and material. Special thanks to Ari and the rest of the DAT Bootcamp Team. Dr. Christiansen is a total dweeb (kidding) and an awesome teacher. In one sentence, use Chad's as a base point, Bootcamp as a way a find out what you don't know, and Destroyer to get 30's. And if you're like I was, neverously reading breakdowns in between study sessions, try not to overly stress about it - you'll 't kill it!