I took my DAT yesterday and since seeing so many of the other breakdowns helped me in my preparation, I thought I would post my own. Here are my scores:



Biology: 28

General Chemistry: 26

Organic Chemistry: 30

PAT: 22

Reading Comprehension: 25

Quantitative Reasoning: 18

Total Science: 28

Academic Average: 25



Background: I graduated last May from a Cal State where I majored in biology and minored in chemistry. I finished with a 3.96 GPA, so I had a really strong foundation in the sciences.



As far as studying goes, I largely followed Ari's 10-week study program but extended it to about 12 weeks since I knew I wouldn't get much studying done during the holidays. His study program was perfect for me, especially since it helped me get organized and into a daily study routine. I used the following materials in my preparation:



-DAT Bootcamp

-Chad's Video's

-Cliff's AP Bio

-DAT Qvault

-Ferralis Bio Notes

-DAT Destroyer

-Math Destroyer

-Woodgear's Eye Balling Game

-Scientific American

-2007 and 2009 ADA Tests



Biology(28):

This is the section I probably spent the least amount of time studying for. I read through Cliff's AP Bio once and skimmed through the Ferralis bio notes and felt this prepared me well enough. I spent the rest of time just going through Destroyer and taking practice tests on Bootcamp and Qvault. Bootcamp was definitely the most representative of the actual test. The way the questions are worded and the topics covered were spot on. I averaged around a 25 on the 5 Bootcamp tests. Destroyer was also a great resource because it exposes you to a wide variety of questions, most of which are much more difficult than anything you'll actually see on test day. As far as Qvault is concerned, I felt the questions were a bit out of scope as far as the topics you will see on actual test. I scored anywhere from an 18 to a 30 on the 10 Qvault tests, so they were definitely extremely random, and many of them had errors. Looking back I definitely regret purchasing the Qvault tests.



General Chemistry (26):

Hands down the best resource for this was Chad's Videos. I went through all of his videos once, and his quizzes twice. There isn't a topic you'll see on the test that he doesn't cover. Besides his videos, I went through Destroyer twice and Bootcamp twice. Destroyer was great for practicing every possible type of calculation question you might see on the test. I found Bootcamp to definitely be the most representative of the actual test. The majority of the questions you'll see on the test are conceptual type questions, not calculation questions, and Bootcamp does a great job at presenting the test in this way. I averaged around a 22 my first time taking the five bootcamp tests.



Organic Chemistry (30)

Once again, the best resource for this was Chad's Videos. I went through all the videos twice and the quizzes three times. He covers everything you need to know for the test. I went through Destroyer twice and Bootcamp twice. Destroyer was definitely a lot harder than the actual test, and frankly many of the reactions covered were way out of scope from anything you'll see test day. I recommend just sticking to the reactions covered by Chad, and not overwhelming yourself with the other reactions covered in Destroyer. Bootcamp, once again, was the most representative of the real thing. My first time through I averaged around a 23 on the five tests. As a side note, I recommend definitely spending a little extra time on NMR, as this was a heavily tested topic on my actual test.



Perceptual Ability Test (22)

Hands down the best resource here is DAT Bootcamp. It's the most representative as far as level of difficulty and format to the real thing. The generators are also fantastic, and allow you master the angles, hole punching, cube counting, and pattern folding. This especially helped me because I sucked at the keyhole section. On the ten bootcamp tests I averaged around 20. Tests 1-5 were around the same level of difficulty as the real thing, but tests 6-10 were WAY harder, especially on the angle ranking section. If you do all ten tests and the generators everyday, you should be more than prepared for this section. I also found the Woodgear's Eyeballing game to be very helpful, especially for the angle ranking section.



Reading Comprehension (25)

Nothing too special here. I love to read and have always been good at these sort of tests. I read several Scientific American articles a day, and felt they were pretty representative of the style of articles you will see on the test. As far as strategy is concerned, I just simply read the articles and answered the questions. I took the five bootcamp tests the week before my actual exam and averaged around a 22 on them. They were definitely WAY harder than the actual test. I had very few inference and true/false questions on the real thing, so don't let the Bootcamp tests freak you out.



Quantitative Reasoning (18)

This was obviously my worst section, and I knew it would be going into my preparation for the test. I have never been great at math and hadn't done any of the sort of math that is on the DAT since high school. Unfortunately, I found Chad's Videos to be very unhelpful for this section. His quizzes are way too easy, and he doesn't cover the material at the level of difficulty that you will see on the test. Math Destroyer was definitely the best resource I used to get me prepared for this section. It's style of questions were very representative of the actual test, and it was a bit harder than the real thing. I actually found Qvault to be most representative for this section as far as level of difficulty is concerned, but I think their scoring system was inflated (I averaged around a 22 on the 10 Qvault tests). DAT Bootcamp's tests felt WAY harder than the actual thing, but also I think their scoring was a bit inflated for these tests as well (I averaged around a 20 on the 5 tests). Additionally, by the time this section came around on test day I was kind of over it and very anxious to be done, so I think this may have affected my score.



ADA Practice Tests

I took these the Monday and Tuesday before my exam. I found both of these tests to be fairly representative of the actual thing, although the errors on the 2009 test were very annoying and there were definitely some WTF type of questions in the Ochem section. That being said though, I got a 24AA on both of them, so they were definitely around the same level of difficulty as the real thing.



Test day advice:



The best piece of advice I could give you is don't study the day before the test. I just spent the day relaxing and went on a hike with my buddy to clear my head. At this point you either know the material or you don't and any last minute studying will only stress you out and cause you to get less sleep.



Arrive to the testing center early. My test was scheduled for 9am and arrived at about 8am. The people were very nice, and I was able to start my test around 30 minutes early. Also, bring FOAM EAR PLUGS!! I did and it was the best decision ever. The testing center is very loud because everyone there is taking all different types of tests that are all on different time schedules, so people are constantly shuffling in and out. They offer noise canceling headphones, but I overheard several of the other test takers say they didn't work very well. Also, plan on your break only being 5 minutes instead of 15, since you have to sign out, sign in and then go through the metal detector before you can get back into the testing room. I just went to the bathroom, quickly ate an apple, and then immediately went right back in.