How well can you do on the DAT through self-studying and not relying on buying/studying through a whole bunch of studying materials?

You can do just fine on the DAT without taking any DAT courses offered by Kaplan, etc. However, I would recommend buying DAT specific books since they often help to focus your studying and make things a lot easier.

I'm planning on taking the Kaplan online course and studying with my textbooks for bio and chem. I just wanted to know if the DAT books that you've suggested are really necessary to do well.

you should be fine with that i think

I'm planning on taking the Kaplan online course and studying with my textbooks for bio and chem. I just wanted to know if the DAT books that you've suggested are really necessary to do well.

You should be fine with this approach. I just wouldn't recommend taking the DAT without using any sort of study guide or class. You need at least one book or a class to understand the format of the exam and questions so you are not surprised by the type of questions asked when you take the test, but you certainly don't need every piece of study material to do well. Anyway, good luck.

Thanks for everyone's input, really appreciate it!

Oh, I didn't know you were taking a course. You can do just fine without other input then, but as always, the more practice/repetition the better!

I'm planning on taking the Kaplan online course and studying with my textbooks for bio and chem. I just wanted to know if the DAT books that you've suggested are really necessary to do well.
I used Kaplan only and did very well. I think it would be worth it to use all the other DAT preps though too. A few more hundred dollars there could actually save you some application fees if it gives you good scores since you could apply to fewer schools. Only reason I didn't use destroyer, crack dat, etc, was b/c I hadn't heard of them (nor SDN). I tried to use my textbooks a bit too but found that the massive amounts of information in there was bogging me down. Mostly I just used the textbooks for reference purposes and to see better drawings. The Kaplan book in conjunction w/ all the practice tests/quizes prepared me very well, but there were still some suprises on the test that one of the other preps might have covered if I'd used it.

I did the online course. I think it was useful because of all the practice they give you...just keep in mind that Kaplan bio is somewhat lacking, so supplement this with something. And also make sure you get some computer based practice tests like topscore, achiever and go over ALL your tests with a fine tooth comb. GL

Ok, so I won't be taking organic chem until my junior year. Will I be okay taking the DAT in April not having quite finished O Chem 2 yet?

Ok, so I won't be taking organic chem until my junior year. Will I be okay taking the DAT in April not having quite finished O Chem 2 yet?
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