DAT Breakdown:
AA: 25
TS: 24
I thought that I would share how I studied to help out others who might be having doubts like I had. I was really anxious when I first started studying for the exam. This was my first and only time taking the DAT. My major is not in science.
Studying process: I was taking two courses and working while studying for the DAT. That being said, it took me about 3.5 months to study for the DAT. For content review and studying I used Anki, textbooks, and some study sheets I found online. Personally, I prefer reading rather than watching videos. The first 2.5 months were spent reviewing content and reading Campbell (Biology textbook) to learn physiology since I didn’t have any background in physiology. In the last month I bought Booster and spent my time mostly doing practice problems. The questions were very similar to the questions on the real exam. Throughout the entire studying process, I did Anki for bio almost daily (mostly physiology).
BIO (22): Anki and Campbell (textbook) were the two main resources I used for this section. I won’t recommend reading a textbook if you have other good resources available – like study notes or DAT review sheets – because textbooks can be rather cumbersome and overkill for the DAT. I also referred to booster’s Anki study sheets while studying if I needed to quickly look up something I had forgotten. Looking back on my experience I wish I had not focused so much on studying for the physiology section and done more practice questions. Most of the questions were discrete and were not trying to trick you. I didn’t focus on cell and genetics since bio 1 was still fresh in my mind, but I wish I had done more practice sets for cell and genetics. I took five practice exams. Practice exams were usually 20ish.
GC (22): I had a pretty good grasp of general chemistry before studying so this section wasn’t a major concern. The key to doing well in general chemistry is understanding that each section in GC is somewhat related, and conceptually understanding the different equations. Once you have the foundational understanding, questions are easier to tackle. I just went over my lecture notes from my general chemistry course and did practice problems. I did most of the practice problem sets from Booster. I referred to my college textbook (Silberberg) for more questions in areas where I felt weakest. I took five practice exams. Practice exam scores were usually 21.
OC (30): My college course prepared me really well for this course ( I did not get an A or A-). To refresh my memory from Orgo I went through Kaplan orgo review notes that I received from a friend. This was the only time I used Kaplan. I used Kaplan because my orgo notes weren’t that good for the DAT, and because my college textbook is lengthy and too advanced. Having a good understanding of how and why a mechanism occurs helped a little with this section. If you understand mechanisms, you don’t really have to memorize most of the reactions. However, I did use a little bit of booster’s Anki deck and study sheets to familiarize myself with reactions that I wasn’t familiar with. For practice problems I did some of the question banks. I took five practice exams. Practice exam scores were usually 22.
RC (22): I thought the reading would be like the SAT, but DAT reading was much easier. I did two practice sets before my exam for this section. My strategy for tackling the reading section was reading the first-half of a passage well and skimming the second half. I feel this strategy helps you gain a good understanding of what's being said without wasting too much time and helps you know where most things are in the passage. Majority of the questions were recall questions. Reading was the only section that slightly surprised me during the real exam. One of the passages was rather difficult in the sense that there was a lot of advanced, similar terminology. I found that highlighting key words during the real exam helped because the questions tend to be related to key words in the passage. I took two practice reading sets before my exam.
QR (27): I did two practice sets before my exam to get a feel for the type of questions. My background is partially in statistics and mathematics so I wasn’t worried about this section. Regardless of my background, the questions only involved high school algebra and probability.
PAT (19): I didn’t really focus on this section, and I was satisfied with my score. I studied for two weeks using the PAT generators and the practice sets. Nothing surprised me on the day of the exam. However, if I had spent more time with booster on the PAT I definitely would have done better. Read up on the PAT strategies and adjust them to your preference. They really help with saving time!
AA: 25
TS: 24
I thought that I would share how I studied to help out others who might be having doubts like I had. I was really anxious when I first started studying for the exam. This was my first and only time taking the DAT. My major is not in science.
Studying process: I was taking two courses and working while studying for the DAT. That being said, it took me about 3.5 months to study for the DAT. For content review and studying I used Anki, textbooks, and some study sheets I found online. Personally, I prefer reading rather than watching videos. The first 2.5 months were spent reviewing content and reading Campbell (Biology textbook) to learn physiology since I didn’t have any background in physiology. In the last month I bought Booster and spent my time mostly doing practice problems. The questions were very similar to the questions on the real exam. Throughout the entire studying process, I did Anki for bio almost daily (mostly physiology).
BIO (22): Anki and Campbell (textbook) were the two main resources I used for this section. I won’t recommend reading a textbook if you have other good resources available – like study notes or DAT review sheets – because textbooks can be rather cumbersome and overkill for the DAT. I also referred to booster’s Anki study sheets while studying if I needed to quickly look up something I had forgotten. Looking back on my experience I wish I had not focused so much on studying for the physiology section and done more practice questions. Most of the questions were discrete and were not trying to trick you. I didn’t focus on cell and genetics since bio 1 was still fresh in my mind, but I wish I had done more practice sets for cell and genetics. I took five practice exams. Practice exams were usually 20ish.
GC (22): I had a pretty good grasp of general chemistry before studying so this section wasn’t a major concern. The key to doing well in general chemistry is understanding that each section in GC is somewhat related, and conceptually understanding the different equations. Once you have the foundational understanding, questions are easier to tackle. I just went over my lecture notes from my general chemistry course and did practice problems. I did most of the practice problem sets from Booster. I referred to my college textbook (Silberberg) for more questions in areas where I felt weakest. I took five practice exams. Practice exam scores were usually 21.
OC (30): My college course prepared me really well for this course ( I did not get an A or A-). To refresh my memory from Orgo I went through Kaplan orgo review notes that I received from a friend. This was the only time I used Kaplan. I used Kaplan because my orgo notes weren’t that good for the DAT, and because my college textbook is lengthy and too advanced. Having a good understanding of how and why a mechanism occurs helped a little with this section. If you understand mechanisms, you don’t really have to memorize most of the reactions. However, I did use a little bit of booster’s Anki deck and study sheets to familiarize myself with reactions that I wasn’t familiar with. For practice problems I did some of the question banks. I took five practice exams. Practice exam scores were usually 22.
RC (22): I thought the reading would be like the SAT, but DAT reading was much easier. I did two practice sets before my exam for this section. My strategy for tackling the reading section was reading the first-half of a passage well and skimming the second half. I feel this strategy helps you gain a good understanding of what's being said without wasting too much time and helps you know where most things are in the passage. Majority of the questions were recall questions. Reading was the only section that slightly surprised me during the real exam. One of the passages was rather difficult in the sense that there was a lot of advanced, similar terminology. I found that highlighting key words during the real exam helped because the questions tend to be related to key words in the passage. I took two practice reading sets before my exam.
QR (27): I did two practice sets before my exam to get a feel for the type of questions. My background is partially in statistics and mathematics so I wasn’t worried about this section. Regardless of my background, the questions only involved high school algebra and probability.
PAT (19): I didn’t really focus on this section, and I was satisfied with my score. I studied for two weeks using the PAT generators and the practice sets. Nothing surprised me on the day of the exam. However, if I had spent more time with booster on the PAT I definitely would have done better. Read up on the PAT strategies and adjust them to your preference. They really help with saving time!
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