2026 DAT BREAKDOWN (480AA, 520TS, 420PAT)
Scores:
QR: 390
RC: 450
BIO: 470
GC: 600
OC: 490
TS: 520
AA: 480
Background: Graduated 1 month ago with a GPA of 3.85 and science GPA of roughly 3.75. This was a retake. On my first attempt, which I took during the Spring of my junior year, I got a 20AA, 20TS, 20PAT.
Materials Used: DATBooster ONLY
Study Timeline:
For reference, I had applied and received 3 interviews with my first DAT score. I did not get in anywhere and never got off the waitlists. I was holding on to hope during March/April, but knew that I would need to start studying for a retake soon if I wanted to apply on time for the next cycle. I wanted to take the DAT around mid-May so I could apply on time. Holding on to hope, I started doing some Anki flashcards in late February. No study sessions or formal studying, just simply biology Anki flashcards and some occasional PAT practice during class breaks. I did this until late April. I could not bring myself to start formally studying because of that hope I would get off a waitlist. Starting late April, I started having actual study sessions around 2-3 hours a day, excluding weekends. During this time, I did simple things such as more bio flashcards, bio bits, ochem reaction question banks, etc. The simpler stuff. Come mid may (delayed DAT to early June), I finally realized I needed to lock in. I started having longer study sessions, usually from around 11am-5pm. I added weekends as well. I started focusing on practices tests mainly. No videos, nothing else. Just practice tests for 6 hours. For my 6 hour study sessions, I would only take one 30-minute break. Two-weeks away from my exam (June 11), I extended my study sessions from 11am-7pm, continuing to focus on practice tests, while adding some question banks. I only took 3 full length exams, all within 2 weeks of the exam.
Exam Day and Comments on DATBooster
BIO (470): Biology felt really easy. Booster was extremely representative of the actual exam. I had several questions that were identical to the practice tests on booster. For this section of the DAT, I used booster's cheat sheets and made an Anki deck with everything on the cheat sheets. As I would go through the practice tests, I would find topics I struggled on and add cards based on those questions to my deck. I would pull questions from Booster's Anki deck (which is way too long) and transfer them to my own deck on those harder topics. It ended up being around 1300 cards total. I occasionally did Bio Bits, but it was just when I was bored of studying the actual tests. My main advice for this section is to redo each exam several times, memorize the answers, and then understand why it's the answer. The reason I got a higher score on this section compared to my first DAT (410 bio) was because i took the time to read the explanation below each answer thoroughly. I did not watch any videos, they are a waste of time imo. Also ChatGPT is a great resource to ask questions to better understand topics. Also, on a side note, I was full on expecting a 500+ on this section after the exam. I felt confident on all of my answers pretty much.
GC (600): Um what? 600? How? I got a B+ and B- in gen chem.... For this section, I used Booster's practice tests and THAT'S IT. Absolutely NOTHING else. The dude in the practice test video explanations is amazing. Dumbs down all the topics so you can actually understand them. Also keep in mind I never scored above 420 on the practice tests.... This has always been my toughest section so the fact I got a 600 is a miracle. I will say, the questions on the actual DAT are much simpler than Boosters. There was only one funky calculation that I had trouble with, which I had to make an educated guess on. It was something like 0.05/200, something like that. Seems easy to others maybe, but take a look at my QR score and go figure. One lewis structure question, which is most polar question too.
OC (490): Not gonna lie ochem was always much easier to understand for me. If there's no numbers involved, I can do it great. I focused on Booster's practice tests as usual, and the video explanations are great here too. I also did all the Booster question banks just to hammer down all the reactions. The question banks are great for repetition. The exam was a bit funky, however. It threw me off, but I'm not sure how to explain it. It was topics that you should know, but framed in a way where you had to dig out the information from your brain. It was a bit different from the Booster tests, but I would still study the same way if I could go back. Only 1 NMR question, a simple IR question (OH peak), one acidity question, one which is a valid resonance structure question. Idk this section was weird. Hard, yet easy at the same time.
PAT (420): Same exact score as my first DAT. I gotta say, Booster did great on pretty much everything, but I do not see the hype about their PAT section. I personally think their PAT is way too easy, especially the question banks. The best PAT practice they have is their practice tests, but even then those feel easy compared to the actual test. The questions banks are actually way too easy though. I would recommend using them for warm ups only not actual practice. The actual exam PAT was RIDICULOUS. Shapes you didn't even know were possible, angles extremely close together, even HOLE PUNCHING was really difficult and I was always getting 15/15 on booster's hole punching. I walked out of the exam thinking I would be lucky if I even got a 380 on this section. Grateful for a 420 because of how hard it was.
Reading (450): I mean, how much can we really practice this. In my opinion, this is a section where u gotta get lucky by being a quicker reader. I only practice this when I did the Booster full lengths and an occasional question bank. I've always been a fast reader so this section didn't worry me as much. I will say, the actual exam reading was pathetic. It was ridiculously easy. All questions were in order of the paragraphs, so they were easy to find. I usually use search and destroy, but because this section was so easy, I did not have to do any searching or destroying. I already knew where the next answer was gonna be before I even read the question. The fact I didn't get a 600 here is kinda surprising tbh. I thought I killed it. An occasional tricky question. Booster was good for this though from what I did use.
QR (390): Alright, come on. I'm bad at math but seriously? I dropped from 410 on my first exam to 390? Really? I was scoring 480 on Booster's practice tests.... like every single one of them.... I am actually really disappointed in Booster's QR. The LOWEST i scored on the tests was 450... I think the issue here is that Booster's tests are too short. What I mean by this is that booster will throw in questions that you can answer in 10 seconds. The actual DAT didn't have that. I think Booster needs to work on the timing. As for the actual problem solving, only tests 1-5 were good. 6-10 were eh. Focus on tests 1-5 for the types of questions you will actually see.
Closing Comments:
I am really happy with DATBooster. I used them for my first DAT as well. I was only disappointed with their PAT and QR sections. Everything else was great, I would still recommend it. And it's cheap too, so.
For my actual studying, I honestly just focused more on what i felt like doing. No set schedule, nothing. "hmm i feel like i should focus on gen chem more" so I would do that. Feel free to message me with any questions, I am always happy to help.