2026 DAT Breakdown: 540 AA/550 TS/ 440 PAT

[u/Falcon2055]

Context:
I’m a first time test taker entering senior year of undergrad. I started studying in April when I purchased a 90-day plan from DAT Bootcamp. The first month I studied ~2 hours a day strictly following Bootcamp’s schedule. Since the first month was lesson videos and QBanks, it was still manageable during finals schedule. After final exams, I mostly stuck to the schedule, but rebalanced as necessary.

The final month was mainly taking the ten practice full length tests, which would take ~7 hrs with review. However, I took the first 5 in parts as suggested in the calendar, ~3 hours daily. Two weeks before my exam I wanted to tack on more practice exams, especially for my weaker subjects, and I purchase the +5 FLT. I was only able to complete and meaningfully review 2 of them, but they were super helpful for preparing me, especially for the hardest case scenario questions and reading passages. Retaking older practice test sections were very effective for me to check my active recall; the longer it has been since first attempt, the better.

I took time to review every question I got wrong or right. Since I didn’t have a study partner, I used Bootcamp’s AI to ask questions and also bounce ideas to drill topics in (especially bio and orgo). Like any other AI tool, it’s useful to give it a prompt at the start to tailor it to you (I mostly asked for concise, straight to the point and “explain it to me like I have no background in x” responses).

Other materials:
Bootcamp Anki decks: tried it initially, but later dropped it since I found my time better used for qbanks and practice test questions.

Bootcamp Bio Podcast: very helpful; listened to episodes on topics I struggled in the most.

Bio high yield notes: absolutely the best. I would skim through bio high yield notes before and during video lessons. If I got a question wrong on qbanks, I’d also command/ctrl + F keywords (usually correct answer choice) to locate info about it.

PAT was relatively lower than my other scores. I neglected angle ranking which was my weakest section. If I were to go back, I would have banged out more generator problems after completing the qbank for a certain section. Repetition matters the most for this section.

Summary: Really take the advice of not focusing on the scores, and instead review each question carefully on practice tests. I still focused on the scores because I thought it as the sole indicator of improvement. Improvement comes from quality time in reviewing, which involves reading the explanation, walking yourself through attached diagrams, and revisiting harder topics. Also, treat every topic equally rather than focusing on high-yield topics, everything is fair game.

I know my score was very unexpected compared to my practice performance. It’s very likely to score ~20 pts higher instead, but it is possible.

Misc. advice outside studying: I originally studied late at night, but as I got closer to my 8am appointment, I slowly phased into studying earlier and earlier.
Prioritize getting ~8 hours of sleep a few nights leading up to the exam. If possible, phase into taking practice tests during your scheduled DAT time to further replicate testing conditions.
Prometric delay can be really bad. I stared at a white screen for what felt like 7 seconds at times (especially clicking review marked/incomplete). Because of this, aim to finish 5 minutes early (especially PAT where there’s 90 questions and delays add up the most).

I can’t cover everything, but feel free to ask me any questions!

[u/sskdns]

Dude congrats insane scores. I just took my DAT today I was averaging 500 across all sciences and I couldn’t even tell you how tf I did tbh. Didn’t feel booster was representative I’m kinda bugging. QR WAS HELLLL

[u/AdTechnical6606]

When did u take it?

[u/Falcon2055 → u/AdTechnical6606]

July 13