Brag about Chad here

[ajhalls]

If you found these videos helpful, post your DAT / MCAT scores here and perhaps a tip for how you made the most of the videos. Lets keep it to the topic, if you want to ask posters specific questions, please PM them to just keep this post tidy

We enjoy taking a moment now and then to survey the effectiveness of what we are doing and are seeing a trend over on the SDN website, Those who used these videos have MUCH higher scores in Chemistry and Organic Chemistry. We did a couple searches to be sure and found these posts

GC 30!!!, OC 22
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=721430
GC 23, OC 24
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=719725
GC 23, OC 22
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=713090
GC 24, OC 24
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=708825

We aren't picking and choosing only the best results, these are exactly the results you find when you do a search for Chad over on SDN in the DAT section.

This is for you MCAT folk out there.... You wonder why YOU don't hear about this over on SDN? It's pretty simple really, I am in dental school, and as I built the site and promoted it, I did so in the dental areas. I am sorry, but it is up to you to help spread the word, the material is here, it was designed for you too.

[darkwalk]

I cannot recommend Chad's videos enough. It was exciting for me to realize that everything makes perfect sense after I absorbed his videos. I definitely learned better from him than my undergraduate courses.

My strategy was to learn all the concepts from his videos, make personal notes in addition to his lecture notes, study that for approximately 5 months (10-30min a day), and take practice exams. At that point, I knew almost everything. I touched up on a few concepts by googling and I received great scores.

Academic average - 23
Perception - 25
Total science - 25
Biology - 24
Gen Chem - 23
Organic -28
Quantatative - 19
Reading comp. - 20

For the MCAT people, my academic average (average of everything except for perception) is in the 99.6% and my science average (avg of orgo, chem, and bio) is in the 99.9%.

Here is my breakdown if anyone is interested

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/show...97#post9560897

[lvtran]

Per Alan's request, I'm copying my DAT breakdown here. Thanks Chad and Alan for the wonderful videos.
Background: Graduated from undergrad in '07, went to med school for 1.5yrs, withdrew (I know, big "!", buy me a cup 'o coffee and I'll tell you the story, maybe ), did postbacc last Fall at alma mater, and now applying dent.

The good stuff: AA23/TS23/BIO21/GC29/OC25/RC22/QR20/PA21

Overall: Was supposed to start studying since August but with class and work, I kept procrastinating. Borrowed books from library but didn't study much. Took some upper level science classes at alma mater to boost GPA and get fresh req letters. I really hit the book starting in March. Huge bio/biochem background (major) plus 1.5 years worth of med school stuff, you'd think I'd knock Bio out of the park... didn't happen. All in all I'd say if you're still green (still in undergrad), do NOT take the route I took.

Materials used:
All right I just wanted to gloat that I spent $0.00 minus gas on this.
Cliff DAT '07: Borrowed from library, maybe not complete crap but pretty useless to me, had lots of errors, typos, etc.
Kaplan Blue Book '07-'08: Also borrowed from library, the only edition available as there was only 1 copy of the '08-'09 and someone had it . Pretty good for overall info but after taking the test I realize the bio section was too limited, as others have pointed out. Also contained errors and typos. The full sample test hasn't changed from a version I saw in '03 edition.
Barron's DAT: The ONLY DAT prep book I found at Borders/B&N, unbelievable! I studied in the bookstore for this . Sample material also OK, errors/typos. I liked its bio section better than Kaplan's, but probably inadequate too.
Chad's GC & Orgo Videos: I LOVE THIS GUY!! If I ever meet Chad I'd give him a BIG Asian hug and kiss his shiny cranium if he'd let me. My goodness, I didn't know how I was going to study Orgo before this since I was done with OChem in 2005 and studied it in 2006/'07 for MCAT. I signed up for OChem II last Fall and quickly dropped... it was all Greek to me . Though, I think DAT Orgo is a lot easier than MCAT, if I remember correctly, or it could just be that Chad's videos are awesomely awesome.

Breakdown:
BIO: I got a lot of genetics related questions, and a few on plant and evolution that were fuzzy. I wish I'd hit the AP Bio books (which I had at home, DOH!) I don't know how I got a 21, I thought it'd be lower, unsure of a lot of stuff.
GC: Thank you again Mr. Chad! Calculations were pretty simple and straightforward, only a few of the concept questions required a little extra thinking (like left shift vs right shift, acid/base, G H S, and redox).
OC: Chad is all you need, all you need is Chad . Pay attention to Chad and I'd guarantee a 20+. (I play Chad's videos at 1.5x, helps alot).
Had a few minutes to spare to go over marked questions, took up whole time, whew!
PAT: I don't know what the heck happened here. Key-hole was pretty easy and so was 2D projections and cube counting, but the angles were CRAZY, the hole-punch was HORRIBLE (multidiagonal-folds), and half of the folding was eh. I thought I'd nail this section . I ran out of time and some of the questions weren't even answered. I did get cautious and spent more time on the first couple of sections than I did during practice, and had to rush through the last section. Also, practice tests only have 1-5 max in the cube counting answer choices, on the actual test it was just everywhere. By the time 30 minutes passed, I still had 50 questions left to answer...! The Kaplan sample test and the one from ADA were wholly inadequate to prepare you for the real angle ranking and hole-punching. A 21 meant I probably missed ~25 questions.

Here I should note a few things I had going against me for the first 2 sections: Though I had a good 7 hours of sleep the night before, I only had a light breakfast and DID NOT EAT LUNCH . I drank some milk and ate some homemade pancakes w/ honey. My test was at 1:30 and so I looked over stuff in the morning. I guess the fight to calm my anxiety made me not hungry, and I drank a lot of water. Next, I didn't think of bringing a snack, DOH. Third, toward the end of OC I needed to go relieve "that pressure" really badly (thanks nephrons) but guess what, no breaks. It was really tough to scrutinize those angles with that pressure in your pelvis. Fourth, I had the luck of picking 2 markers that both ran out in the middle of taking the GC, one marker had 1 side of the tip that worked and the other side would "erase". During the optional break I could really tell that my sugar level was getting low, like my gas tank, and mr. stomach was groaning. Yay me .

Part deux
RC: I was pretty comfortable with this section. Search and destroy is probably the best strategy, and pacing was not a problem. A few tone and feeling questions, which I think are dumb. I'm surprised I didn't get a better score, but can't complain. The three passages I got were on the aging process, gene therapy, and telomerase as anti-cancer drug target. The aging one was probably the hardest for me as I'm more familiar with the other two that I could answer some questions without even reading the passage. I probably read the aging passage like 5 times. In all there were about 2-3 tone questions, plus 2-3 about what would be the best sentence to add to the X paragraph. Those you'd have to read the paragraph a bit more carefully. For the rest, skimming would do the trick but don't go too fast you miss the key words. Maybe it's a good idea to jot down pp # and topic, i.e. "(9) telomeres + cancer". I don't think you can study for this section except get used to skimming for info (and eye exercise?). Don't rush, and eat something before you take the dern thing .
QR: Alright, home stretch. DOH, forgot to review conversions, confound the US system! I spent 2-3 min trying to convert F to C, playing with 5/9 and 32, and kept getting it backward. Other conversions weren't so bad. The onscreen calculator is crap, so slow, and clicking the = sign doesn't reset the next operation (gotta click C to clear). I got a LOT of trig problems: sin, cos, periods (had no clue), had to reason unit circle out. LEARN THE UNIT CIRCLE and trig/radian stuff. It also doesn't help that by this time I'm running on just air.

I skipped the stupid survey, I hope it was really optional. Seeing the scores made my jaws dropped, I just didn't have the strength to celebrate. It was about 6PM when I got out of there, probably the last person out. Anyway, thanks for reading through my rant. Good luck to everyone applying and who are going to take the DAT. Don't stress too much, trust yourself, get a good night's sleep, and EAT BREAKFAST/LUNCH/BRUNCH!

[sonofastunna]

Chad is god
General Chem --> 26
Organic Chem --> 24

The best $20 I have spent in my life

[rlow04]

I was also requested to post my breakdown here by Alan, which I'm more than happy to do:

I'm super happy with my scores because I averaged around a 19-20 on my topscore sciences, so I didn't expect to do this well. I checked SDN compulsively throughout the whole process (3 weeks studying 5-8 hrs/day and 3 weeks of studying 8-12 hrs/day) and the advice here on SDN helped a ton.

PAT: 25 (99.7%)
QR : 22 (95.7%)
RC : 30 (100%)
Bio: 29 (99.9%)
GC: 24 (95.2%) (my first GChem practice test was a 13 - thank you Chad!!!)
OC: 30 (100%)
TS: 28 (99.9%)
AA: 27 (100%)

A lot of what I studied is similar to what everyone does (KBB, Cliffs AP Bio, Chad's videos, Topscore, Achiever, Destroyer, Math Destroyer), but I did find some new resources that I'm excited to share.


OChem and Gen Chem:
Chad is the man. If you don't know who Chad is, stop reading this post, go and pay the $20 (per month) to see his videos. It's worth it. Just search sdn for Chad if you don't believe me. Doing the supplemental material with the videos was so helpful to cement the concepts in my mind, I can tell Chad has put a lot of time into this.

I followed Chad up with Destroyer. Don't do it in the reverse order, it will just make you depressed.

PAT: I used Crack the DAT PAT and did 5 of my ten tests, I was scoring from 22-24 on average. Angles were a little easier on the real DAT and patterns were like complex origami.


QR: Eerily similar to Math Destroyer. I'm not one of those people who push Destroyer, but I've got a conspiracy theory about Dr. Romano extracting test questions from people who've taken the DAT...

Khan Academy:
If you struggle with any particular section of math (trig, geometry, probability, statistics, ellipses, etc.) go to this website and look up some free videos on that topic:
http://www.khanacademy.org/

Don't be intimidated by the volume of videos, just ctrl-f and search for a topic.

He also has some good videos on biology and chemistry, but I like the Thinkwell course and Chad's videos more (see below).


RC: I don't like search and destroy, so used this strategy I found from Vicviper here on SDN (Vicviper's RC Strategy):

I read all the questions first and try to remember a key word from each question (I don't write anything down). Then I read the passage one paragraph at a time, making sure I answer all questions related to that paragraph. If I can't remember what the questions are, I scan through all of them again. Any questions I missed I go back to that part of the passage and reread it and answer that question.

My first practice test with Topscore I used search and destroy and got a 22. I switched to this method and got a 29 on the two remaining topscore tests. On the actual test each passage took me about 16 min, giving me about 10 min to go back and re-read all the questions (I fixed two that I did wrong the first time around). With search and destroy I felt like I was wasting so much time scanning and not actually reading. With this method

I end up reading the whole passage once, paragraph at a time, and saving time to go back and check my answers.

*Edit: Also, during my 15 min break I wrote the numbers 1-50 on my whiteboard. When I answered a question I erased that number so I would know which questions I had left.

If you're still confused, read Vicviper's post.


Biology: This was the section I was most worried about because it is so broad and I haven't taken classes on taxonomy, evolution, plants, or ecology. I read through KBB, Cliffs AP Bio, and did destroyer. Those were good, but I still lacked a basic knowledge of Taxonomy etc. Two resources that really helped me:

Thinkwell Bio

This biology course by Thinkwell:
http://www.thinkwell.com/student/product/biology
has videos, quizzes, and additional content. But it costs $150.

Fortunately, all the same videos are posted for free on two different websites:
http://www.5min.com/Tag/George%20wol...l?CategoryID=0
http://www.mefeedia.com/feeds/92219/...-videos/oldest

I've posted this before, but the guy that teaches these videos is really good. He is cheesy and normally a high school teacher, so I can understand if you don't like his style.

His videos on plants (alternation of generations), diversity of life (taxonomy and evolution), embryology, and respiration/photosynthesis are golden.

I don't recommend that anyone watch all of the movies, it would take too much time. Go the first link, look for something you're not comfortable with, and then look up the title of that video on one of the second two links.

TTC Biology: The Science of Life

I don't recommend this for anyone who has less than a month before the DAT, but there's an 72 chapter audiobook (30 min each) called Biology: the Science of Life by The Teaching Company. I got it on sale for $80, so don't pay full price for it if you can avoid it. Basically it's a professor teaching a comprehensive biology course, subject by subject. I didn't listen to the whole thing, but I probably listened to at least 20 hours of it. I would listen to it when I went running in the mornings and while I worked in my lab. If you've got a lot of time, big commutes, or a long road trip, I highly recommend it.

I did the sections on evolution (Hardy-Weinberg eq., etc), development, the origin of life, and random other sections. It was great.

If you're a biology major and have already learned this stuff, you might be bored out of your mind.

Follow BiomajorPreDent's advice:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=652091

Basically he says to read Ch: 19-21 in Campbell's 7th edition Biology. If you have the 8th edition it's pretty much the same, but the front of the book explains where they've changed those chapters in the 8th edition. I highly recommend it, especially if you haven't had molecular bio. There were a couple of questions on the DAT that came directly from those chapters.

Anki: It will raise your score and save you time. Use it
I'm too tired to give it the attention it deserves, but in short it's a free flashcard program that uses spaced repetition to help you memorize more in less time. Check out KarateTooth's amazing post about it. I really started using it 2 weeks before the DAT, but I wished I had used it sooner. Also, don't use someone else's flashcards, make your own based on what you miss on practice tests, it will be much more helpful.

Other than that, I had a friend who I studied with. Having a DAT study-buddy is awesome because you motivate each other, stay focused longer, and share useful resources. I highly recommend it.

Oh, and running in the mornings helped a lot as well. Once you're done with the DAT check out this book about the effects of running on the brain:
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

I'm applying to UoP, Indiana, Creighton, UNLV, Ohio State, Case Western, Marquette, Louisville, Tufts, Nova, Midwestern, and a few others.

I hope my breakdown helps someone. I've learned a lot from everyone else's advice here, so I want to give back. Thanks!

[darkraven089]

I just wrote my MCATS yesterday, and these videos really helped me boost my score..i went from a 19 to a 29 on my mcats. Chad is my savior. If i had to invest $2000, i def. would, instead of kaplan. This guy is simply amazing at teaching. He has a gift. He makes science fun. He has all these crazy ways of teaching and making learning FUN!

Chad for President 2013!

[map142]

Organic: 22
General: 22
These videos are a steal at 20$, they tell you everything you need to know for the DAT chemistry sections. Subscribe already!
Breakdown:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=739171

[pinksprklybarefoot]

I am a PCAT person, and I have not gotten my score yet. But I would have been lost without Chad's videos. I haven't had gen chem or o chem in ten years, but was able to take the chem section of the PCAT today and I feel pretty good about it. The man is awesome. He has a gift, and he is sharing it with the pre-health world. Using these videos, i was able to relearn two years of chem. One of the best investments I made for this PCAT endeavor.

Edit: I received my scores, and they were great! 92 composite, 88 in chem! I spent one month watching Chad's videos and working practice problems. These videos were the single most helpful thing I purchased by a mile. Thanks Chad and Alan!

[glueisntedible]

Hey I would just like to take the time to say THANK YOU CHAD. My scores aren't ridiculous like some other people here who have posted, but my scores are reflective of the content on this site and the excellence of Chad's videos and teaching skills. My first practice test I was scoreing 16-17 in ochem and chem and on the real thing i got a 22ochem and 24gchem. I could NOT have done it without Chad! Now I am excited and so greatful that Chad has helped me achieve a competitive DAT score. THANK YOU CHAD. My full breakdown can be seen here:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=742772

once again thank you chad!

[shiftypoptart]

21 total science, 22 in organic chem and 20 in gen chem all thx to chad. Thanks chad you condensed basically everything you need to know for the dat and nothing else in your videos, should have saved my money from buying the kaplan online course and the crack dat... You really are a master at what you do!

[mprs]

21AA. I only used chad for Ochem, and some Gchem, but it really helped. I'll post my breakdown here I guess for these 2 sections

Gchem (23): This was my strongest section. I didn't really study much for this. I pretty much just went over the Kaplan BB and Chad's for anything I wanted to review.
Ochem (21): I read through Kaplan BB once. Then went through every one of Chad's videos and reviewed the BB once more. I wasn't exactly the best in my Ochem class, and I certainly didn't remember much (2 years ago). If you took Orgo in University, honestly Chad's does a very good job of refreshing everything you need to know. +1 to Chad.

(copied from my SDN breakdown: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=741139)

Chad did a good job of going over the most important concepts (pretty much everything that appeared on the DAT). He also went over the most important (and apparently high yield) reagents used. There were some he didn't go over, but I knew from my Ochem class and my review. But that was probably 1-2 questions (and you can't really expect him to give you every single reagent possible lol). If you took Ochem in Uni, I would recommend using chad + Kaplan's bluebook as a refresher and review. Chad has great explanations for all the concepts. The kaplan bluebook and can act as a glorified reagent list

[quillow]

Chad is awesome! I'm so glad I heard about him from SDN! I probably would've been lost without him.

I'm a non-traditional student and it's been five years since I graduated, so I really needed to relearn my stuff. Chad made everything super easy and his videos are great! My boyfriend made fun of me and my "dates" with Chad!

After a month of studying, these were my DAT scores: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=748783
PA - 23
QR - 27
RC - 21
BI - 21
GC - 24
OC - 22
TS - 22
AA - 23

Pretty good for someone who's been out of school for five years, right?? Seriously, for GC and OC, a subscription to Chad's videos beats Kaplan's and Barron's DAT prep material (and it's cheaper!). Supplement with DAT Destroyer and you're good to go. I just wish Chad did biology too!

[cjw7475]

I took 2nd DAT yesterday.

1st -> 2nd
GC 18 27 (99.0%) (haha I guess I missed one)
OC 20 30 (100%)

Thanks Chad! you are awesome!!!

[CANgnome]

Chad is awesome!

I took the DAT the first time and got:
GC - 23
OC - 27

Could not have done this without Chad's videos.

[Simple Jack]

Chad should never have to pay for dental care, he should get free dental for life.
Many thanks to Alan for making available all these videos.

I like watching them at 1.5x speed.

GC: 20
OC: 27

Breakdown on SDN

[crichdavis]

Chad is awesome. I watched all of the Gen Chem, Organic, and Physics videos to study for the MCAT. I was very happy with the scores I got yesterday. Physical Sciences 11, and Biological Sciences 10. All of the videos really helped.

[klboehm]

I took the DAT this morning (7/22/10)

Chad's videos really gave me the extra boost I needed in the GC and OC sections. I struggled slightly with my gen chem courses. Chad's GC videos really made general chemistry easy to understand. I did very well in my organic chem courses, but I took a different route. I took the combined orgo I/orgo II class. This class covered all the topics in one semester. It was very fast and didn't get into much detail. I then went back and took orgo I. Needless to say, I did not have a good background of orgo II. Chad's OC video's were just what I needed to learn some of the orgo II fundamentals. Using Chad's videos properly def. gives you a shot of a 20+ score in OC and GC.

I took a week to watch all of the OC videos. I then watched all of the GC videos the next week. While doing this I took notes on the supplemental outline, and then I would take the quiz twice. A week before my DAT I watched all of the GC videos again in fast play, and I watched a select few OC videos. I also used DAT destroyer, but I must give a lot of credit to Chad's videos for my great OC and GC scores.

My actual DAT scores really show how much Chad's videos helped me!

OC 24 (95.2)
GC 26 (98.4)
BIO 22(95.7)
QR 21 (93.3)
RC 20 (72.4)
PAT 18 (61.1)
TS 23 (98.2)
AA 23 (98.3)

[meristem]

i got a 29 in gen chem b/c of chad! i only used his gen chem videos and after watching those, i simply read thru KBB gen chem (which was a breeze after watching chad). i went thru all 242 destroyer problems for gen chem and then did about 10 ACS problems for each gen chem topic thanks chad! i couldn't have done it w/o you!!!

[tennischimp]

WOW i don't even know where to begin. Chad is quite possibly the smartest awesomest person ever! I've never ever been able to legitimately understand anything going on in chemistry, especially organic chemistry, regardless of how many UCLA classes i've taken. But everything Chad taught was explained sooooo well that I didn't even have questions afterward and I kept thinking OHH that's what I never learned while i was in college! I seriously wish Chad had taught all of my classes, be them chemistry or not, in high school and college because I would have come away with so much more, but I'm so happy and thankful to have found these videos in time! And i think it's so nice and generous of him to even consider posting all of this information online for everyone to see. Thanks for everything Chad and Alan, you guys are the greatest!!!! =D

[sp2388]

I definitely agree with tennischimp here, I think hes such a good teacher that I passively have taken in 2x more information that actively listening to any other teacher.

[jia]

Chad, you're awesome! Never thought i would get such scores in chemistry! I understood the material really well because of you and i am probably going to remember it for a long time. Thank you so much for all your help!

GC 27
OC 30

[ajhalls]

We have a new feedback area built, please continue to post here, but also enter your info into the following page so we can start to build averages, trends, and a short and simple set of statements for how Chad or the material here helped.
http://www.coursesaver.com/feedbackform.php

[Jake]

I am a pre-med student, not dental, and still taking the prereqs. Actually taking my second of the eight prereqs right now, general chemistry II. I just signed up and Chad's videos look great. I'm watching the one on molecular geometry and VESPR theory right now because I had no clue what my professor was talking about last week and I need to learn it. Chad helps explain it a lot better! He's so funny and more entertaining to watch than any teacher I've ever had. Looking forward to watching the others and the o-chem videos as well because I'll need those starting in September. Sorry if this was the wrong thread to post this in!

[Sarah]

Well, my scores are not as high as some other posters' scores, but look at this ridiculous improvement thanks to Chad:

Before the videos--

(Varying practice tests)

General Chemistry: ~12 average
Organic Chemistry: ~12 average

After the videos--

(Actual DAT)

General Chemistry: 21
Organic Chemistry: 21

Chemistry is NOT my subject, (as you could probably tell), so I can confidently recommend the Chad videos to anyone! I'm pre-dental, but I think that anyone else who might be preparing for the MCAT, PCAT, OAT, etc. would surely benefit from the videos, too. I just went through each video twice, taking detailed notes and completing the quizzes. (An actual question on the real DAT was almost verbatim from an acid/base quiz!!)

Good luck to everyone preparing to take their tests! And thank you so much, Chad! (Alan, too!)

[whitenup11]

Just wanted to say thank you chad and alan for your time with coursesaver. This is truly an amazing site and will definitely make a huge impact on your scores. I first took my DAT in 2008 and got a 16. I used chads videos for three months and my 2nd DAT was a 21 AA and 23TS. I raised my orgo 7 points and GC 5 points. I couldnt be more pleased. Thanks again guys, coursesaver is GREAT!!!!!!

Here is my breakdown on SDN: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=750115

[sullivmt]

Just wanted to thank and recommend Chad to anyone who is preparing for the DAT. I received B's in all my chemistry classes in college so I was very concerned about the DAT. My first top score practice test I scored a 14 in o-chem and 18 in g-chem...then I found Chad's videos and studied them for six weeks straight. Best $30 I ever spent! I took the DAT last Thursday and got a 22 o-chem and 24 g-chem for a 24 TS, 22 AA....I can not thank you guys enough as these scores would not have been possible without the vidoes. I was able to understand concepts easily that I did not understand at all in my college courses. Good luck to everyone with this application cycle!

[JWHairr]

HAHA my turn. Chad is simply put, da(t) man. I scored a 24 in OC and 22 in GC, and I gotta owe it to his gift of teaching the Lord gave him. The only thing he can't do is fly (that I'm aware of).

Chad,
Now you need to learn biology so you can teach it as well. J/K.
Thanks again for everything.

Sincere Regards,

Jonathan

[anonymuz]

25 gchem
25 ochem

chad u the man.

[toothbrushpjs]

To whom this may concern,
I would just like to thank chad from the bottom of my heart. I took the DAT last week and owe my GC and OCHEM scores to chad. I studied for over 6 months and had a really hard time with ochem and gen from the very start. I struggled in Ochem in college and hated even looking at it. That all changed when I "met" chad. I WANTED to watch chads videos. The way he teaches is better than that of any professor I had at school. I started with a 16 GC and 14 ochem and couldn't get those numbers to budge until I started using chad. There was an improvement right away. I have told every person I know about how great this site is!
I ended having ochem be my best section on the sciences!
GC 20
Ochem22!!!!
Thanks chad!

[igober]

Gchem 26
Ochem 20

Chad is the best!! awesome videos!