Hello,
I am planning(trying) to go to dental school for cycle 2009 or 2010. I will be start taking Biology/org chem over the summer because I didin't take it while I was in school (Engineering Major). I just ordered DAT prep books but I had an impression that if I don't know the basic, it would be better for me to wait until I finish with the classes. Is the DAT covers beyond from what we learn from basic chem/bio/org chem classes? May I have some suggestions regarding how to start prep for DAT?
Thank you,

"Basic" ochem covers a wide range of topics.

A class experience really benefits you in the long run, because the basics become engraved into your skull instead of just being memorized for the test (in other words, you probably won't randomly blank any of the basic information out in the middle of the test).

For example, I know the Kaplan book simply tells you that radicals and cations are best stabilized on tertiary carbons as opposed to secondary or primary. They really treat it like it's any other fact, and you should just memorize it.

If you took a class, you would conceptually know why charges are stabilized there, and you could probably freestyle more new problems than you could by memorizing a fact and having no idea where to apply it.

I also think that there are a few concepts that you have to learn through a class because they are simply not like anything you've done in any other class (ex. hybrids, MO's, stereochem).

Bio is easy to study and you can study it any time. Gen Chem is also not too bad. O-chem will be tough, very tough for you. The concepts take at least like 3 months (in class) to start understanding. So just study the other 2 topics for science. Leave O-chem for later if you don't want to waste your time.