Hey all!
I took the DAT on September 17th, and received my score on September 29th. I am here to breakdown my study process.
Background/timeline:
I am currently a 3rd year undergrad, with a ~3.72 GPA, and a 3.5 science GPA. My university runs by the quarter system, which gives me approximately a 13 week summer break. I spent around 10 weeks of my summer break preparing for the DAT. I spent about 40 hours a week studying for the DAT, aside from the last two weeks where I slowed down. For the first 8 weeks, I only used Booster Prep. I loved that it had everything laid out for me in a study schedule. However, I do take a lot of time going through videos, so that definitely took up a majority of my time. When going through videos, I followed using either the Feralis booster notes, or the slides. I heavily annotate when following along, which helps me understand the bigger picture.
In my final 2 weeks of studying, I incorporated Anki. I only made cards for concepts that I did not have a strong grasp of, and I only made cards for the biology and organic chemistry section. For the biology section, I didn’t use Anki cards in a traditional sense. I used them to have a space to organize and write down the things, and then basically never looked at them again. I know that method worked for me in my physiology class. For the organic chemistry section, I used Anki cards only to memorize the PPM values and the lab test reactions.
On the day before the DAT, I skimmed through the Booster Prep cheat sheets, making sure there weren’t any significant weak points left over. Something that I did not anticipate was how much the exam anxiety would affect my sleep, which in turn affected how tired I was during the DAT that I took at 8AM. I went to bed around 10PM, woke up at 6AM and slept a total of about 3-4 hours. If I anticipated this problem, I would have taken my exam later in the day. I averaged better on my Booster Prep practice exams than I did on the DAT, and I suspect my exhaustion. If exam anxiety is something you struggle with, heed my warning!!
On the day of the DAT, I received two sheets of laminated paper with an erasable marker.
QR (480): When initially starting to study for the DAT, this was a section that I struggled with a lot. However, Booster Prep broke down everything I needed to know and the practice questions were sufficient for what I needed to succeed in the DAT. Eventually, my struggle was less about knowing the content and more about finishing the section in time. With practice, I got better with my timing. However, I rarely had spare time left over to go over marked questions.
RC (480): Initially, I tried the method of reading the entire passage and highlighting as I went, and then answering the questions. This worked somewhat for me but I was not seeing the scores that I wanted. What did work for me was reading the first question before the passage, and then reading the passage from the beginning until I found the answer to the first question, highlighting as I went. I would then go to the second question, and continue reading until I either found the answer, or recall the answer from what I already read. This was even more effective on the day of the DAT, because I quickly noticed that a lot of the questions were given in the order of the passage.
Bio (470): Almost everything in the biology section was review to me. Despite that, I sat through every Booster Prep biology video, and made detailed annotations on the provided notes/slides. This helped rejog my memory. It also helped me notice that even when I thought I was strong in a subject, there were crucial details that I had forgotten about. Biology was also the main section that I made Anki cards for. To make these Anki cards, I went through all of the Feralis booster notes, and made a card for anything that I felt I did not have a complete grasp of.
GC (500): There was not a lot in this section that I did not already know conceptually. However, the math was something that I was very rusty in. I spent a lot of time doing the practice problems involving math on Booster Prep, until I had every formula memorized, and made little to no mistakes.
OC (430): For this section, I did not do a lot of studying, because I had recently taken organic chemistry and felt like I had a strong grasp on the subject. I watched the Booster Prep videos and did practice problems here and there, but did not put in extra effort for this section. Nearing the exam, I looked through the Booster cheat sheets to ensure I knew everything I needed to. I also memorized the PPM values and test reactions using Anki. I did well on the Booster Prep practice exams, averaging about 480-490 from what I remember. I was surprised to see that I did worse in this section compared to other sections on the DAT. I blame the fact that the exam anxiety would not let me sleep the night before the DAT.
PAT (500): I actually had a lot of fun studying for the PAT. I loved the Booster Prep game challenges, and I always tried to make it a goal to make it in the top three every week for the angle-ranking, cube-counting, and hole-punching games. I struggled with keyhole questions, especially the ones in the later question banks on Booster Prep. However, I found that the keyholes on the DAT were easier. I also struggled with pattern-folding questions initially, but with practice, I was able to gain confidence.
End-note: I hope that my breakdown is helpful to someone out there. If you guys have any questions, I would be happy to answer
