How Amaar Used a Customized Study Schedule to Ace the DAT

Background

I'm a rising junior studying chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, and I also work in an inorganic chemistry laboratory within the school. I took organic chemistry, biochemistry, and a molecular biology & genetics course over this past academic year, which is the main reason I opted to take the DAT relatively early. Because of this I was able to get away with not studying for the OC section outside of just brushing up on missed practice exam questions.

The general chemistry curriculum I opted for in my freshman year was much more theoretical and generally avoided most of the traditional gen chem structure, focusing on derivations and general theory. This, coupled with the fact that my AP chemistry in high school was truncated due to COVID, meant that topics like acid-base buffers/titrations and electrochemistry were things that I'd probably only spent a sum total of a week or two on in my chemistry education. I think I lucked out for the most part though, as the derivation skills I'd gained and knowledge I'd picked up from researching in a chem lab gave me a good enough intuition to know how to do any problem I came across (except IUPAC naming). The biggest hurdle with GC was often just recognizing how the test writers wanted me to solve the problem, as the answers were often set up in a plug-and-chug way that favored a more regimented approach to chemistry I wasn't used to.

Since chemistry is my thing (I'm hoping to get an MS in chem!), I almost entirely focused on Bio when studying for the DAT. Going into the summer, I'd already scheduled August 5th as my test date wanting to get it out of the way before school started.

Studying Timeline

In the first few weeks of summer as I traveled with family, I read the first 3-4 chapters of the high yield notes which were mostly review given my recent coursework. When I started working on campus at the start of June though, my proper studying effort began. The biggest issue for me by far was managing my time; I've been averaging around 50hrs/wk in lab this summer, getting home by 7-8PM most nights. By the start of July I'd only made it through the first 5-6 of the 24 Bio video lectures (the primary learning resource I used).

At the start of July the test anxiety started to set in and I realized I needed to lock in, so I made a spreadsheet with a bunch of general analytics and a schedule of the final month of test prep. This was by far one of the most helpful resources for me. I structured this through looking at the total runtime of the Bio Video chapters and never assigning any day more than ~2.5 hrs of content, figuring my brain would only have about 90 min of real focus it can allot any day (2x speed since lecturers pretty much read directly from slides). Even though I didn't stick to it super well, finishing content a week late and leaving 6 practice tests untaken, I'm almost certain that I wouldn't have done as well as I did had I not assembled this to organize myself.

This schedule really helped me get into the rhythm of efficiently digesting the bio content without rushing -- I also largely stopped completing the Bio bites at this point as I realized they were far more specific than most exam questions would be. I was able to finish covering all of the content I needed to by July 27, about 10 days before test day. Over those final days I was only able to 3 more practice tests (5 hour tests are hard when you're home by 7); I would have obviously liked to take more, especially given that I paid for the 5 extra ones, but I found the quick study feature was my saving grace when it came to reviewing without getting burnt out from a full practice exam. It was perfect for lunch breaks or those awkward waiting-for-laundry periods.

For PAT and QR, I heavily relied on practice exams acting as the gauge for how I needed to work when it came to the real thing. The QR videos were really short and to the point which was helpful, as I really only needed to learn 2-3 topics, namely counting (probability) and data sufficiency. PAT was a section I largely neglected much more than I should have outside of practice tests; I think the most important process for me was learning how exactly to approach it with my strengths. After watching the PAT academy videos (which were invaluable in terms of little strategy nuggets!) and taking a few practice exams starting at question 1 and moving through to the end, I noticed I was never able to actually finish the section, often completely guessing on the last ~10 questions. I took a step back and thought about how each question type impacted my mental fatigue, as well as how much time was worth putting into each. The first alternative strategy I tried worked well and it was the one I ended up sticking with for exam day.

PAT Tips

At the start of the test I immediately jump to Q46 and move through hole-punching-- this is a section that can be definitively "solved," and thus its worth approaching with a fresh brain. Keeping in mind the first-fold symmetry rule (which inevitably gives you 2-3 freebies) and drawing out the more difficult questions on the provided grid paper, I was able to finish the first section with high confidence answers within the 10 minute time frame. Cube counting, which is the easiest section for me, came next and gave me time to recharge and make up some time for pattern folding. I found attacking each question head on took less brain power than the tally-table strategy. The key for PAT for me seemed to be optimizing my brain power economy. This meant giving less effort/time to easy/ambiguous questions like CubeCount/AngleRank and more effort/time to definitively solvable questions like HolePunch/PatternFold. Fatigue is the enemy, and I tried to allot it to problems I knew I was more likely to miss anyway. This is why I then went TFE > Angle > Keyhole, as the latter two sections were my worst anyways. Another trick I did on test day was drill ~15 keyhole questions while eating breakfast to prime my brain to those kinds of questions, and it seemed to actually work! I felt much more tuned in moving into those first (last) 15 questions than my mental fatigue would have had me otherwise, and was able to finish only guessing on 2-3 questions.

After the DAT

And that's pretty much how I studied for the DAT! In retrospect, I would have likely tried to lock in a bit sooner into the summer and give myself a bit more than just 10 days to polish the areas I was rusty. But I think given the amount of time I gave myself, how much I juggled on top of studying, and obviously how I did on the exam overall, I'm quite happy with how things turned out! Out of all the sections, RC was the one that got away-- I think I just never seemed to settle into a strategy that really worked for me, and I likely started overthinking the questions the more practice tests I saw. I wasn't surprised to see that it was my lowest section, but I am a bit disappointed I never found the time to really crack it.

Below are my unofficial scores with my Bootcamp average scores over 9 tests in parentheses.

QR: 24 (24)

RC: 23 (23)

BIO: 25 (20!)

GC: 27 (25)

OC: 27 (23)

PAT: 24 (20!)

TS: 26 (23)

AA: 25 (23)

Again, a HUGE thank you to everyone at Team Bootcamp, you all have put together an awesome product that has really set me up well for my future endeavors!

Cheers!