DAT Study Plan? HELP!

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vhouse3

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Ok... I am planning on taking the DAT in June. I have ALOT of study materials and now I feel overwhelmed... I don't even know where to begin...

I have Kaplan blue book and kaplan "white" lesson book and review notes from the class...
I have Destroyer, and Cliffs DAT Review
O-chem odyssey, Schaums Bio review, Schaums Organic Chem review book, Campbells bio text book, 2 diff general chem textbooks, organic textbooks, and Schaums quick outlines for general chem, organic chem, and bio.

Should I do a different subject every day? Study bio for a week then swap out?
Also do I need to get topscore or achiever or both? Do I need the royal flush version of Crack Dat Pat or is the Ace enough? Can I randomize the tests once I get through all of them on the Ace version?
What is good for QR?

I really do feel like I am gonna have a breakdown. :) Can you guys offer me some guidance... I have about 4-5 hours to devote to studying every evening... I feel like I need someone to tell me "Do Biology, then go through the Gen Chem, " etc...

Thanks guys, and please try not to ream me too hard... :)

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Take a test and start there. IF you are weak in an area start there. I hate biology so I did a straight week of reading the stuff twice and I have it down 80%ish now.

G chem are the basics and they will come around w/ o chem. Rules are Rules.

Ochem is memorization so that takes time. I would devote about a week going through this and review biology stuff at the same time. Make sure it's sticking.

QR, PAT and RC are too personal IMO. What I do might not work for you. I'm actually really good at perceptual ability (surprising) so it's nice to be good in at least one thing.

Make your own plan and stick to it. Maybe one week each subject. Forces you to motivate yourself and find time while it also exposes you to every subject. Get the plan written down and make checkpoints or use tests to check your progress then keep going.
 
Use your textbooks as a reference tool only. You will get quickly bogged down if you try covering entire chapters in those. I studied almost entirely from the Kaplan book (blue, white, or whatever; the one you get when you take their DAT course) and I feel that that in conjunction with the practice quizes, tests, and online workshops prepared me very well. Definately use all those other resources too (Topscore, destroyer, etc). I wish I had known about those before I tested. Just ensure you go through everything carefully. Don't skim to try to get through more stuff quickly. I read that Kaplan book front to back at least 4 times (except for the easiest chapters). On top of that I made notes from each chapter of things I had to have memorized cold. My biggest recommendation is to write things down as you study. That's the best way to remember all the details. Hopefully you're not in school now either b/c you'll need 2 solid months to go through all of that stuff. If your taking classes, I'd recommend pushing your test date back to the end of July and do nothing but DAT studying this summer. You'll be glad you did when you do well.
 
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I don't think he has the online workshops or the tests. Reading the original post it says he has review notes. I think a friend took the course and he got their material after the class was over.

I did the same thing. Had a friend give me their information. I would say to attempt the quizzes at the end of the chapters but try and do it without seeing your friend's answers if you did in fact get a friend's books.
 
its sounds like you are in the exact same position as me: you have two months (im scheduled for June 11) and we have nearly all the same review materials...

I scheduled a plan of what i wanted to finish and by what date, to ensure i covered all the materials.

im not gonna write down my entire calendar of dates and checkpoints, but what ive been doing is just alternative crack the dat math/PAT every other night and going over the ones i missed in detail right after the test. Ive become sooooo much more comfortable in both sections over the past month. For the rest of the sections, ive just been setting goals to finish destroyer 1 week, go over kaplan book the next week, then old text books, etc.

like its been said before, just set a plan and stay determined to stick to it. Also, dont just read through all the material in a hurry to get through it, take the time and go slowly to understand it, no just memorize it and write it down for later....

good luck,

bye the way, when are you scheduled to take the test?
 
When I was in my review phase I would study 2 subjects a day. Bio & Chem were one day and Orgo & another subject (QR, PAT, RC) were another day. During that time read your review books, do any problems you come across and reference those big fat text books only when something isn't clear (otherwise it's just too much).

The next phase for me was practice tests and destroyer on alternating days. I calculated how days I had and divided that by the number of tests to give me a rough schedule to go by. I suggest a calendar just for this purpose. GL
 
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