Chemistry resources

The chemistry for cDAT is basic first year university level chemistry. There is nothing that complicated about chemistry. There are usually a bunch of questions that are always repeated to test the basic knowledge of general chemistry, followed by more complicated questions. So, the first thing I noticed after doing the CDAT twice, is that the first 4 questions on the chemistry section for both exams were identical. These fours questions tested the same content but in different ways. These four questions are usually molecular mass, empirical formula, mass percent and molar mass/ identify the atom type questions. If you familiarize yourself with these types of questions and how to find the answer quickly, it will help you out so much because these questions are time sinks. They formulate the questions in a way that you are not sure as to what they are looking for and you automatically begin calculating moles which will take twice as long and you will lose time. The best strategy is to prepare a solution for these types of questions which will allow you to quickly solve for moles or molar mass, and find the empirical empirical formula or mass percent. What personally worked for me was doing questions specifically on these topics over and over again. Then memorizing the formulas and writing them down on my DAT periodic table, that they will hand to you first, as quickly as I could after being handed one. I would also quickly write what each formula meant and how I was supposed to use it in solving for the question. Thus, as I was doing my exam and my stress running high I would not forget how to use the formula or which formula to use. Honestly, it is mainly strategy and planning that will help you score higher. So, with practice and devising strategies for solving questions you are guaranteed to score better. Next, I want to talk about the recurring questions that you are bound to encounter, acid/base and pH questions, redox questions, and colligative properties. These three topics will no doubt be on your next chemistry exam so be sure to familiarize yourself with all sorts of questions pertaining to these topics. I will go into more detail on how I handle these questions on coming blog posts for more clarity.

Lastly, there is an online resource that is free of charge for chemistry content, on the website Hippocampus. This website collects all types of videos for general chemistry and organic chemistry (if you're doing American DAT), in one thread, so you can navigate your way from chapter 1 to 12 covering the general chemistry section on the DAT. I mainly focused on DAT Bootcamp for content for my first DAT attempt. My second attempt I mainly focused on problem solving since i realized that it is not so much content that is important on the cDAT it is how you do the questions and how fast you get it done. There are shortcuts and formulas that you can use to cut that time in half especially for acid/base problems. The most content heavy questions are focused around gases and gas laws. There will also be one question or two on nuclear reactions, one will be to identify the type of reactions, and the other to predict the products or reactant in the nuclear reaction. In all honesty, the general chemistry for DAT crusher was helpful however it is very repetitive. If you do the questions once then you do not need to do them again, look for more questions to do. DAT destroyer is a great source for hard and heavy questions. It is not meant to be tested or timed, it is meant to be learned. I will go into more detail in the next blog posts on types of questions and how to tackle a problem with shortcuts. I will add the content that I felt were neglected on many of the resources and online platforms available for your reference. So you will ACE your DAT.