• Took the DAT 4 times (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016)
• Non-traditional
• Biology major
• 3.0 sGPA
• Studied the material “wrong way”: GRE Subject Test: Biology (2011)
• Studied the material “Right way”: CliffsAP, Bootcamp Bio Notes, DAT Destroyer, Bootcamp, etc. (2016)

1. Read CliffsAP Biology from cover to cover. Solve the problems at the end of the each chapter. You should have missed no more than 5 per chapter. Print out Bootcamp Bio Notes. Read from cover to cover. While you read, highlight, underline, and even draw your own figures on your notes. Read very carefully.

2. Know that successfully completing 40 practice questions a day is sufficient. But spend time on every question, looking over EVERY word on the question that you are not 100% sure about. Do not focus if you have chosen the correct answer or not. Care only to see if you are familiar with everything on that question.

Example: If the question states:
“Which statement regarding bacteria is false?”

You would ask creative questions and look up Google, Wiki, Bootcamp Bio Notes, CliffsAP to answer your own random questions:

3. Actively write down all that you have looked up on a separate notebook or text document.

4. Also read the back of the book explanations to learn additional facts.

5. Watch Khan’s academy videos, and add into your notebook of facts. Video sources will help you approach the topics that you are most afraid to tackle. For me, it was female ovarian cycle, hormones, and cell-mediated immunity, for example. I watched all the relevant videos and solved the questions on that website.

6. You should have gone over the Destroyer once in detail. You feel like you remember nothing.

7. Take DAT Bootcamp tests. After each test, you’d read over the answers, and do the same drill as how you approached the Destroyer: Look up every word and concept from the questions AND answer explanations. I wrote everything I looked up in a separate notebook that I reviewed each day.

8. Go into Prometric center most humbly, take the test, and get a 21.

1. Be sure to ONLY read through your Bio textbook. Highlight a few stuff, and look at figures. It will serve as refresher from what you’ve learned in your intro biology classes, seeing what you already know.

2. Feel good about what you already know and SKIP the parts you don’t understand. For example, I hated female ovarian cycle, hormones, and cell-mediated immunity. So I skipped it, and prayed that it would not show up on my real DAT. I used Kaplan GRE Subject Test: Biology. Do not go over any practice problems. Just read casually, because life is too short to be discouraged by questions that you do not know the answers to.

3. At the end of the DAT preparation, be proud of all the highlights and underlines that you’ve marked on your book.

4. Go into the Prometric center like a boss, take the test, and get a 16 in biology.

1. Read bunch of breakdowns from SDN, and get all pumped up after learning the power of DAT Destroyer, Topscore, DAT Achiever, DAT Qvault, DAT Bootcamp, Khan’s academy, and Bootcamp Bio Notes. You are very excited because you can’t wait to post your own breakdown of AA 25.

2. Read CliffsAP Biology from cover to cover. Solve the problems at the end of the each chapter. You should have missed no more than 5 per chapter.

3. Print out Bootcamp Bio notes. Read from cover to cover. While you read, highlight, underline, and even draw your own figures on your notes. Read very carefully. But do not take any notes or solve any questions. Just read the Bootcamp Bio Notes in detail.

4. After that, you should feel ready to destroy the DAT Destroyer. You go over the questions by reading the question, and selecting the correct answer. If you got it wrong, you flip over to the answer page and read. Just read the answer, nod your head, and move on to the next question. You are excited every time you see the question with answer choice “All of the Above”! These questions are dead giveaways and you don’t have to go over the answers, obviously, because you got it right. You tell yourself ‘Guessing is an important skill in DAT. ‘ Yay, one less question to wrestle with, right?

5. When the answer choices do not make sense, look for answers on Bootcamp Bio Notes. But if you can’t find the answer, just give up looking for it and tell yourself “I hope it’s not gonna be on the test.”

6. In the midst of these preparations, go hang out with friends on weekends. I went out to watch World Cups games with friends on weekdays when I didn’t feel like studying. Watch movies and go out to eat. After all, you are going through a stressful time and studying is hard, so you deserve all the “de-stressing.”

7. By this time, you should have ran out of time to go over other test banks. You originally planned to go over everything 3 times, but you tell yourself, “I’ll be okay. I read Bootcamp Bio Notes notes very carefully and went over the Destroyer once, so I feel like I know the stuff! Those SDNers who went over Destroyers three times weren’t as smart as me. I can produce same result with less effort.”

8. Go into Prometric center like a boss, take the test, and get a 17 in biology.

1. Are you afraid of learning certain concepts because it’s hard to understand or remember? Are you avoiding these areas? Are you hoping that you would get lucky and these topics would not show up on the real DAT?

2. Are you reading textbook/prep books passively? Does your reading consist only of highlighting/underlining? Are you not looking up other sources to look at it from different angle?

3. Are you completing the Destroyer by merely trying to select correct answers?

4. Are you making a schedule that is realistic? Are you falling behind often in your schedule?

5. Do you dream of getting a 25 , but you find yourself watching TV or on Facebook or SDN, more than an hour a day?

6. Are you predicting your score by adding a point to your DAT Bootcamp score, ADA 2009, Qvault, or Topscore? Not everyone falls into that trend, unfortunately. Assess your methods of acquiring knowledge, instead of focusing on your estimated scores.