How Brian Improved his Chemistry Score For his Retake

Meet Brian Pak, a happy DAT Bootcamp customer who recently conquered the DAT. I’ve asked Brian to share his DAT experience with us as the featured student of March.

What is one piece of advice you would give to another student preparing to take the DAT?

To be successful achieving high scores on the DAT, I would say two factors helped me significantly improve my scores the second time. I stuck to what needed to be accomplished every day and DAT Bootcamp was part of my everyday study. Secondly, you should definitely balance studying material versus doing practice problems. The ability to do practice problems helps you quickly recognize not only your weaknesses, but what formulas or concepts that should immediately come into your mind. You can memorize all the information you want, but if you can’t apply it in a problem, there is an issue. Thus, do as many practice questions as you can!

How did you use Mike Video’s to prepare for the DAT?

Mike’s Videos covered all aspects on both general and organic chemistry. These videos and practice tests are all you need. I would recommend taking your time writing in a notebook, using post-it’s, and print out useful charts that will help you easily memorize bulk information like salt solubility. I’ve used Chad’s Videos and the Kaplan Blue Book. I made extensive study notes on these other sources, but at the end, I did not give these resources another look. DAT Bootcamp and Mike’s quiz problems are literally a cheat sheet to performing well. On my first DAT attempt, I scored a 15 and 19 in general and organic chemistry, respectively. On my second attempt, I scored a 21 and 23 respectively. Chemistry has always been a weak point, but this program made me feel extremely confident in my understanding.

What was your favorite feature of Mike’s Videos?

I had multiple favorite features of these videos. My favorite feature of Mike’s Videos include pre-written outlines. This takes the stress off of just focusing on writing notes. In addition, these videos can be sped up to 1.5-2X speed, thus allowing for students to not linger on topics they have already mastered. Lastly, I love it how these videos always ended a segment of lecture with problems. As stated previously, doing and understanding problems is so essential for studying!