Dear Dannon,
When are you planning to write the DAT ? If you are studying a few months ahead of time , you can break your study sessions over all those months. You have to decide which areas are your weaknesses and perhaps keep a log to monitor your progress. You can focus on a different topic each day and at the end of the week, review all the topics. Once you feel like you have reviewed sufficiently, try to get your hands on some old exams and give it a try to assess your progress.
If you are really unsure of yourself and need some guidance, you can enroll in one of those prep-test institutes such as Kaplan where you have an instructor who will give you a program to work with, motivate you and help you with old exam questions that perplex you. If you review like mad- over and over again- eventually it will get into that neural network! Be easy on yourself though...learning takes time! Try not so much to memorize as to understand.
I know what you are going through buddy ! I need to really review a lot too. I get distracted easily. Studies have shown that the human mind cannot fully concentrate for more than one full hour at a time (even less for me
) . So give yourself a break! Tell yourself that for every hour of study, you will take a few minutes break to do something fun like call a friend, listen to your favorite CD or munch on a favorite snack ( watch out for the latter as you don't want to gain too much weight!!!). After each week of studying, arrange to do something really fun to reward yourself. If you don't do this, you are going to have the high risks of having a burn out/breakdown and will have to check yourself in at some local hospital psychiatric department (dental school will also make some students go insane , but that's another story
)!!!!
Also, it would help if you exercise. I am a passionate swimmer (unfortunately not as much these days). I found that swimming really cleared my mind. Sometimes, I would visualize a certain goal in my mind and swim with that visualization and think of strategies about how I would attain it. All my anger, all my frustration, all my stress and all my worries dissipated with each lap of front crawl and breast stroke ... you will really feel fresh when you're out of the water. Exercise really gets all those endorphin levels high! I don't get this "high" or "revitalization" with other forms of exercise as I do with swimming. Whatever works for you...
Other ideas...if you know other people who are studying for the DAT , organize review sessions in which you could quiz each other, try old exams together and most importantly, motivate one another .
I have also found that keeping a diary/journal (for the past 15 years) really alleviates all the stress as well in difficult times in my life- it's a cathartic thing I suppose. I have always found that when I write about all the things that worry me, I feel much more alleviated. And if you're an artist/artistically inclined, take a break to paint or draw- that really relaxes me too.
Other ideas still? Don't just study for the DAT and read absolutely nothing else!!!! I love to read poetry from time to time- that really puts me into another frame of mind. I am an especially avid fan of Walt Whitman ( Leaves of Grass). If you really want to be inspired, read some spiritual literature or find yourself a "guru" or motivational speaker/writer. I personally love Dr Wayne Dyer and have nearly all his books including the latest " The Power of Intention". If you are too lazy to bother with reading, you can purchase the CD versions of some of these motivational books.
Sure you have to study hard for those prep-tests but don't let it consume you! Take time to smell the roses and see the sunlight of a summer's day!!!!
And remember, tests never test an individual's degree of intelligence nor do they indicate your potential as a human being. Tests are but a game you have to play to get certain things you want in life...we are merely players and like any game we win some and lose some but what differentiates a real winner from a loser is that the winner accepts his/her weaknesses and grows from the experience.
I am not a perfect "Miss Goody Two Shoes" . I am a a really bad preacher because I give all this advice and don't always follow it myself !
I try though...
Good luck!
xoxo Smilemaker
Laughter is the best medicine...so is smiling
"
Our greatness is not in how many times we rise but in how many times we rise after we fall" ,Confucius.
