Crack DAT Science Review and Breakdown

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andrewhntran

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Hello everyone, I mainly want to post this thread to give out some helpful advices and most importantly, to review Crack DAT Science. We'll get to that later. So here's my score:

PAT: 20
QR : 22
RC : 19
Bio : 30
GC : 23
OC : 28
TS : 27
AA : 24

I took my DAT on June 11, but I've been working on my application so haven't had much time. Before start, I would like to give special thanks to Glimmer1991 for creating such a wonderful thread with a collection of the best breakdowns ever, that helped me tremendously. I also want to shout out to whoever created Ferralis' notes, it's awesome !

First of all, I am currently a senior majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry. I officially started studying for the DAT as soon as I was done with all the finals in May. I spent a total of 3 and a half weeks, about 12-16 hours a day.

Materials used:
Chad's Videos
DAT and Math Destroyer
2007 Free Test (AA:23, TS:25, PAT:22, QR:24, RC:19)
DAT Bootcamp Free Tests (Bio:24, GC:22, OC:22, QR:19)
Crack DAT Science, Math, Reading, and PAT
Kaplan Blue Book, Kaplan Flashcards
MCAT Audio Osmosis (Bio, GC, OC)
Ferralis' notes
Cliff's AP Biology
DAT Flashcards on Flashcardlet App.
Plenty of coffee and tylenol :laugh:

BIOLOGY: Cliff's was definitely the most helpful source to me. I would say 34 out of 40 bio questions can be found in the book if you know and understand it inside out. The rest is just random questions. There were 2 experimental questions from upper bio classes. Fortunately, I took both developmental biology and human physiology so I knew them. I read Cliff's only once, and then just looked at Ferralis' notes 2 more times. Kaplan Blue Book was aright I think, but It's not detail enough IMO. Destroyer bio was very very helpful, it had the most important concepts tested on the DAT. I went through Destroyer bio 3 times total, and I'm glad I did. I also mentioned MCAT audio osmosis, which was purchased by my best friend who is a pre-med. We started listening to it during our workouts 5 months before the test. I think I listened to everything like 3 or 4 times. I know it's lame working out listening to bio and chemistry, but this stuff is great, they try to be pretty funny too. Definitely get it if you drive everyday or spend a lot of time at the gym. In addition, I downloaded an app called Flashcardlet on my ipad and found several DAT flashcards that people created. I went over 3000 bio flashcards and marked whichever one I didn't know so I could look at it again later. As far as practice tests go, I thought Dat Bootcamp was the most similar to the real DAT. Wish I could say something about Qvault, but I spent too much money on prep material already so I didn't use it. I actually purchased Achiever, but after taking the first test, I quitted. It was a huge slap in my face, the questions were ridiculously hard. I was so aggravated with Crack DAT Science already, so I just could not stand doing another Achiever test. Talking about Crack DAT Science, It is ABSOLUTE CRAP. Please do not waste your time doing it. It is so so random and make you pull your hair out. I have heard people saying bad things about it, but No, I didn't listen. What a smart ass I was. I managed to get through 15 out of 20 tests because thinking about the money that I spent on it. Never got anything thing above a 19. My scores were 19/18/17/17/17/19/18/18/18/18/17/17/16/17/16, after getting a 16 on the 15th test, I gave up.

GENERAL CHEMISTRY: Chad's Videos and DAT Destroyer are certainly sufficient for this section. Of course I also listened to the MCAT audio osmosis as well. I did not have time to watch all the videos, so I only went over the ones that were conceptually difficult for me. Especially Electrochemistry, we didn't even get to this part when I took Gen Chem. The first time going over Destroyer, I was seriously depressed. I missed over half of the questions. Overall, I only went through Destroyer Gen. Chem. twice, the second time only going over the one that I missed the first time. I wished I had spent more time studying for this section, it wasn't too bad on the real DAT, I just wasn't well prepared as the other sections.

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY: Again, Chad's and Destroyer all the way. In fact, Destroyer is overkill for this section. I though this was the easiest section on my DAT. The questions were extremely basic. I didn't even get any of the more complicated reactions. just know the basics, you'll be fine.

QUANTITATIVE REASONING: I used Crack DAT Math and Math Destroyer. They were both great. I wish I didn't ignore some of the more difficult stuff in Math Destroyer which for sure showed up on my DAT, dang it. Like I said, I hated Crack DAT Science, but Crack DAT Math is wonderful. I can't recommend it high enough. It is definitely not easy, but your score will improve with practice. The only thing I have to complain is that every time you watch an explanation video, the guy always started with "If you set the right variable, the problem practically solves itself". At first it was funny, but kinda bothered me overtime lol. I took all 20 tests, here are my scores: 16/18/19/16/20/20/19/18/17/20/25/24/20/22/28/23/22/22/24/25/23/24/22/22/20. As you can tell, they got better overtime. QR is all about time management, and this software helped me with just that. For Destroyer, please do not ignore more difficult questions like I did. For example, p-value type problems, law of sine/cosine...etc. Make sure you know them all, anything could show up. I highly recommend creating templates for both GC and QR, you basically write a short description of the formula and leave a blank next to it. Make several copies and fill out the formula templates many times before the DAT. I filled out 15 to 20 of them.

READING COMPREHENSION: this is my worst section, but I am extremely happy with the score I got. I was honestly praying and praying to get a 18. Before walking into the DAT, I expected that I would have to retake my DAT and apply again next year just because of this section, I even looked into Master Programs and everything. As you can tell from my last name, English is not my first language. But this is a pathetic excuse, I should've read more. I hate reading, I've read no more than 20 books my whole life, which is why I suck at it. Fortunately, the real DAT had all science passages, and I was very familiar with them. I actually answered a lot of the questions without even reading the passage because I knew the answer from taking upper level classes. I guess I was super lucky. So here are my Crack DAT Reading scores if you must know: 15/16/17/17/17/18/16/19/21

PERCEPTUAL ABILITY: When I took the first Crack PAT test, I thought that I would never become a dentist because of this section. Seriously, I got a 17, and half of it was just lucky guesses. I literally texted everyone how frustrated I was. I ended up staying up until 6 in the morning trying to figure out how to get better with PAT. Thanks to several posts and breakdowns here on SDN, my score got better and better with practice and different methods. Big thanks to everyone here on SDN, couldn't have done without you guys' help. There was one particular video on youtube that taught the symmetry line method for hole punch, it's priceless. I got 15 out 15 right on every test after watching this video. As others have mentioned, there were funky folds on the real DAT that really confused me because I'd never seen it before. I really though everything was more difficult on the real DAT except for cube counting and hole punch. Angle ranking was just as hard, I always miss the most questions on angle ranking anyway. Pattern folding on my DAT was ridiculous, crack DAT PF was easy compared to it. Line counting method didn't work on the TFE portion, they were all very similar. And key hole was also harder, Idk, I guess PAT is just not my strength. Here's my practice score, I did all 10 tests, twice each.
First time: 17/17/16/17/20/22/19/18/22/23
Second time: 21/23/22/21/23/23/22/21/25/23
I wished I used Achiever for PAT. From reading several breakdowns, I noticed that most people who did well on PAT used Achiever. Oh well !!!

RAMDOM TIPS:
- Call different test centers before you make an appointment to find out if you can take notes during the tutorial and during the break. They have different policies. I drove 6 hours to a prometric test center because when I called, they said I could do whatever I want, they don't care lol
- Time yourself when you do ALL the practice tests
- Draw out the PAT stuff during tutorial, if you have time left, write down some chemistry formulas, spontaneity or not with different signs of S and H....stuff like that
- During the break, number from 1 to 50 for RC if you use that method. Write down trig functions, trig unit circle, special triangles, dice rolling probability, conversions, Pascal's triangle....
- Use the mouse with your left hand, I was proficient with this after 3 weeks of practice, you can too. It is gonna come very handy for PAT (when you have to do the hole punch and cube counting), QR, RC, OC, GC. Basically you can use your right hand with the marker all the time without having to put the marker down to use the mouse. It saved me a lot of time.
- Take some sleeping pills if you get nervous the night before, I only slept 3 hours :eek: I was in a hotel the night before, so I didn't have any melatonin with me. During the DAT, I swear my eyes were burning due to the lack of sleep. Before coming into the test, I was very nervous. I dont remember being so nervous like that before in the life, my heart was seriously beating like crazy, I had to push my hands on the chest to calm myself down. During the test, I had a habit of picking the blackhead on my nose when I get nervous. The lady saw me doing that on camera from above so she though I was looking at something written on my hand. I almost had a heart attack when she came over and asked to see my hands :laugh:

That's all I can think of right now. I'll update if I remember anything else. Gotta get some sleep now :sleep:
Good luck guys, feel free to ask me any questions, I wish you all the best !!!
And DO NOT USE CRACK DAT SCIENCE, such a waste of time

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Holy crap man. Awesome break down. Great job on the scores. Thank you for a detailed break down. Hope you get into your school choice. Thank you for sharing.
 
Congrats!!! Awesome scores!!! Thank you for such a great and thorough breakdown and super helpful tips!!! So appreciate it!!

How long did it take you to go through the Destroyer sciences? Would you flip between the questions/answers on your first time to going through it faster or did you do them in chunks? For Bio and G-chem did you encounter any obscure topics? There is just so much in bio and gchem...

Your breakdown is by far one of the best in the recent weeks! Thank you for taking the time to share it with us and provide us with more insight into the DAT!!! I pray you get into your top choice because you deserve it!!! Thanks again for your awesome breakdown!! :)
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Congrats!!! Awesome scores!!! Thank you for such a great and thorough breakdown and super helpful tips!!! So appreciate it!!

How long did it take you to go through the Destroyer sciences? Would you flip between the questions/answers on your first time to going through it faster or did you do them in chunks? For Bio and G-chem did you encounter any obscure topics? There is just so much in bio and gchem...

Your breakdown is by far one of the best in the recent weeks! Thank you for taking the time to share it with us and provide us with more insight into the DAT!!! I pray you get into your top choice because you deserve it!!! Thanks again for your awesome breakdown!! :)

I did the questions in blocks of 40, then I would go back and see what I missed. I basically downloaded the destroyer Worksheet in Glimmers' thread and timed myself accordingly. I still remember having 1 weird questions in GC that I had no idea what they wanted me to do. They gave me a bunch of data that I didn't understand. I just skipped it and didn't have time to go back. It wasn't a rate order type of problem, something else. Definitely got me on that one. Ochem was very basic, didn't have any IR questions, only NMR asking how many peaks. Thanks and good luck :thumbup:
 
Congrats! I am going through destroyer GC first time and am also getting 15-17 out of 30 correct :((( from what you said you were in the same shoes... Do you have any advice for me? How to improve? I am planning to go over destroyer at least a second time but I am just wondering how I can get better... Thanks in advance ;)
 
thanks a lot, for GC I went over the questions twice, with the second round focusing only on the ones I missed. I mostly reviewed concepts of the questions I didn't get rather than knowing how to do all of them. The way they asked questions on the DAT were more straight forward in my opinion, it's not as tricky as destroyer. As long you understand the concepts well, you'll do great on the DAT. I'm not advising you to "not know" how to do them, definitely try to know them all if you have time. I was running out of time so I just focused more on concepts, Good luck !
 
Hello everyone, I mainly want to post this thread to give out some helpful advices and most importantly, to review Crack DAT Science. We'll get to that later. So here's my score:

PAT: 20
QR : 22
RC : 19
Bio : 30
GC : 23
OC : 28
TS : 27
AA : 24

I took my DAT on June 11, but I've been working on my application so haven't had much time. Before start, I would like to give special thanks to Glimmer1991 for creating such a wonderful thread with a collection of the best breakdowns ever, that helped me tremendously. I also want to shout out to whoever created Ferralis' notes, it's awesome !

First of all, I am currently a senior majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry. I officially started studying for the DAT as soon as I was done with all the finals in May. I spent a total of 3 and a half weeks, about 12-16 hours a day.

Materials used:
Chad's Videos
DAT and Math Destroyer
2007 Free Test (AA:23, TS:25, PAT:22, QR:24, RC:19)
DAT Bootcamp Free Tests (Bio:24, GC:22, OC:22, QR:19)
Crack DAT Science, Math, Reading, and PAT
Kaplan Blue Book, Kaplan Flashcards
MCAT Audio Osmosis (Bio, GC, OC)
Ferralis' notes
Cliff's AP Biology
DAT Flashcards on Flashcardlet App.
Plenty of coffee and tylenol :laugh:

BIOLOGY: Cliff's was definitely the most helpful source to me. I would say 34 out of 40 bio questions can be found in the book if you know and understand it inside out. The rest is just random questions. There were 2 experimental questions from upper bio classes. Fortunately, I took both developmental biology and human physiology so I knew them. I read Cliff's only once, and then just looked at Ferralis' notes 2 more times. Kaplan Blue Book was aright I think, but It's not detail enough IMO. Destroyer bio was very very helpful, it had the most important concepts tested on the DAT. I went through Destroyer bio 3 times total, and I'm glad I did. I also mentioned MCAT audio osmosis, which was purchased by my best friend who is a pre-med. We started listening to it during our workouts 5 months before the test. I think I listened to everything like 3 or 4 times. I know it's lame working out listening to bio and chemistry, but this stuff is great, they try to be pretty funny too. Definitely get it if you drive everyday or spend a lot of time at the gym. In addition, I downloaded an app called Flashcardlet on my ipad and found several DAT flashcards that people created. I went over 3000 bio flashcards and marked whichever one I didn't know so I could look at it again later. As far as practice tests go, I thought Dat Bootcamp was the most similar to the real DAT. Wish I could say something about Qvault, but I spent too much money on prep material already so I didn't use it. I actually purchased Achiever, but after taking the first test, I quitted. It was a huge slap in my face, the questions were ridiculously hard. I was so aggravated with Crack DAT Science already, so I just could not stand doing another Achiever test. Talking about Crack DAT Science, It is ABSOLUTE CRAP. Please do not waste your time doing it. It is so so random and make you pull your hair out. I have heard people saying bad things about it, but No, I didn't listen. What a smart ass I was. I managed to get through 15 out of 20 tests because thinking about the money that I spent on it. Never got anything thing above a 19. My scores were 19/18/17/17/17/19/18/18/18/18/17/17/16/17/16, after getting a 16 on the 15th test, I gave up.

GENERAL CHEMISTRY: Chad's Videos and DAT Destroyer are certainly sufficient for this section. Of course I also listened to the MCAT audio osmosis as well. I did not have time to watch all the videos, so I only went over the ones that were conceptually difficult for me. Especially Electrochemistry, we didn't even get to this part when I took Gen Chem. The first time going over Destroyer, I was seriously depressed. I missed over half of the questions. Overall, I only went through Destroyer Gen. Chem. twice, the second time only going over the one that I missed the first time. I wished I had spent more time studying for this section, it wasn't too bad on the real DAT, I just wasn't well prepared as the other sections.

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY: Again, Chad's and Destroyer all the way. In fact, Destroyer is overkill for this section. I though this was the easiest section on my DAT. The questions were extremely basic. I didn't even get any of the more complicated reactions. just know the basics, you'll be fine.

QUANTITATIVE REASONING: I used Crack DAT Math and Math Destroyer. They were both great. I wish I didn't ignore some of the more difficult stuff in Math Destroyer which for sure showed up on my DAT, dang it. Like I said, I hated Crack DAT Science, but Crack DAT Math is wonderful. I can't recommend it high enough. It is definitely not easy, but your score will improve with practice. The only thing I have to complain is that every time you watch an explanation video, the guy always started with "If you set the right variable, the problem practically solves itself". At first it was funny, but kinda bothered me overtime lol. I took all 20 tests, here are my scores: 16/18/19/16/20/20/19/18/17/20/25/24/20/22/28/23/22/22/24/25/23/24/22/22/20. As you can tell, they got better overtime. QR is all about time management, and this software helped me with just that. For Destroyer, please do not ignore more difficult questions like I did. For example, p-value type problems, law of sine/cosine...etc. Make sure you know them all, anything could show up. I highly recommend creating templates for both GC and QR, you basically write a short description of the formula and leave a blank next to it. Make several copies and fill out the formula templates many times before the DAT. I filled out 15 to 20 of them.

READING COMPREHENSION: this is my worst section, but I am extremely happy with the score I got. I was honestly praying and praying to get a 18. Before walking into the DAT, I expected that I would have to retake my DAT and apply again next year just because of this section, I even looked into Master Programs and everything. As you can tell from my last name, English is not my first language. But this is a pathetic excuse, I should've read more. I hate reading, I've read no more than 20 books my whole life, which is why I suck at it. Fortunately, the real DAT had all science passages, and I was very familiar with them. I actually answered a lot of the questions without even reading the passage because I knew the answer from taking upper level classes. I guess I was super lucky. So here are my Crack DAT Reading scores if you must know: 15/16/17/17/17/18/16/19/21

PERCEPTUAL ABILITY: When I took the first Crack PAT test, I thought that I would never become a dentist because of this section. Seriously, I got a 17, and half of it was just lucky guesses. I literally texted everyone how frustrated I was. I ended up staying up until 6 in the morning trying to figure out how to get better with PAT. Thanks to several posts and breakdowns here on SDN, my score got better and better with practice and different methods. Big thanks to everyone here on SDN, couldn't have done without you guys' help. There was one particular video on youtube that taught the symmetry line method for hole punch, it's priceless. I got 15 out 15 right on every test after watching this video. As others have mentioned, there were funky folds on the real DAT that really confused me because I'd never seen it before. I really though everything was more difficult on the real DAT except for cube counting and hole punch. Angle ranking was just as hard, I always miss the most questions on angle ranking anyway. Pattern folding on my DAT was ridiculous, crack DAT PF was easy compared to it. Line counting method didn't work on the TFE portion, they were all very similar. And key hole was also harder, Idk, I guess PAT is just not my strength. Here's my practice score, I did all 10 tests, twice each.
First time: 17/17/16/17/20/22/19/18/22/23
Second time: 21/23/22/21/23/23/22/21/25/23
I wished I used Achiever for PAT. From reading several breakdowns, I noticed that most people who did well on PAT used Achiever. Oh well !!!

RAMDOM TIPS:
- Call different test centers before you make an appointment to find out if you can take notes during the tutorial and during the break. They have different policies. I drove 6 hours to a prometric test center because when I called, they said I could do whatever I want, they don't care lol
- Time yourself when you do ALL the practice tests
- Draw out the PAT stuff during tutorial, if you have time left, write down some chemistry formulas, spontaneity or not with different signs of S and H....stuff like that
- During the break, number from 1 to 50 for RC if you use that method. Write down trig functions, trig unit circle, special triangles, dice rolling probability, conversions, Pascal's triangle....
- Use the mouse with your left hand, I was proficient with this after 3 weeks of practice, you can too. It is gonna come very handy for PAT (when you have to do the hole punch and cube counting), QR, RC, OC, GC. Basically you can use your right hand with the marker all the time without having to put the marker down to use the mouse. It saved me a lot of time.
- Take some sleeping pills if you get nervous the night before, I only slept 3 hours :eek: I was in a hotel the night before, so I didn't have any melatonin with me. During the DAT, I swear my eyes were burning due to the lack of sleep. Before coming into the test, I was very nervous. I dont remember being so nervous like that before in the life, my heart was seriously beating like crazy, I had to push my hands on the chest to calm myself down. During the test, I had a habit of picking the blackhead on my nose when I get nervous. The lady saw me doing that on camera from above so she though I was looking at something written on my hand. I almost had a heart attack when she came over and asked to see my hands :laugh:

That's all I can think of right now. I'll update if I remember anything else. Gotta get some sleep now :sleep:
Good luck guys, feel free to ask me any questions, I wish you all the best !!!
And DO NOT USE CRACK DAT SCIENCE, such a waste of time
Awesome scores, congrats. Can you please post link of the video of hole punching?
 
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