Is one month of cramming enough to score well?

[Dr. Konfetka]

hey guys,

I plan to cram for the DAT all through May in hopes of taking it in June since doing school work and studying for it isn't working out too well for me. Has anyone done this in the past and excelled? My practice test scores are all in the teens, and I know I need tons of practice for the PAT.

Thanks for the input.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[philicity]

everyone's different, depending on how familiar they are with the material prior to formally studying for the test. i know someone who crammed for 3 days and scored a 22. so to answer your question: yes, it can be done....if you're lucky.

 

[amartins02]

Dude, I studied for four days because. I was going to hold off until2007 because I got caught up in a few things. All of a sudden Tuft's wanted an interview. So, I took it in four days. Well, I got like an 18 in org and chem, 16 in rc, 20 in pat, and a13 on math. Math really hurt me. I came from a crappy ass high school who didn't care whether you wanted to go to college or not. Plus my parents aren't from the US so they couldn't advise me, therefore I didn't know. Long story short, I have never taken geometry or trig, I have taken pre calc and physics without those math courses. I am going to have to brush up I guess.

If you have a good memory and retained info from school then maybe you will be fine. Just nail that book to your face for the next month.

 

[coral2005]

I started studying for the DAT in mid-May...and studied until June 28th -- the day I took the DAT.

I didn't submit my aadsas until July 30th...I procrastinated on writing my personal statement.

I did fine with my applications, but would recommend submitting aadsas on the earliest possible date even if you haven't taken the DAT yet. If you need more than a month to study, go ahead and take it. As long as you take it before the end of the summer, i think you should be fine. Just submit AADSAS without the DAT scores on the earliest possible date. Your DAT scores will be forwarded to d-schools relatively quickly compared to the time it will take AADSAS to verify your transcripts, calculate your GPA, print out a copy of your application, and send it to schools. They take up to a month or 2 to do all this...while your scores will be available to schools within like 2 weeks.

 

[angeeeeee]

I think if you learned the material well when you took the class you should be more than fine. If you crammed and dont remember anything from your classes, you'll be ok but it will be a lot of work. Good luck to you!

 

[mellowt]

I took the Kaplan class in the summer of 2004 and found it to really suck due to the teacher and the crappy workbook that really didnt help at all. Fast forward to the summer of 2005 (August) and I planned to study hardcore everyday for 4 to 6 hrs for 4 weeks but found that after 3 weeks of intense studying I burnt out and took the last week to rest before the DAT. My scores were above avg and good enough for interviews if not acceptances yet... 21 AA/ 20 TS/ 23 PAT.

What helped ME:
1. Used an old version of the DAT/OAT workbook by Princeton that I got from my brother. Helped me to get a 22 on the Quantiative Reasoning because the problems were broken down to specific types of questions like probability, etc. To my surprise the types of questions and even the questions were similar (99%).
2. For the Reading Comprehenson, I didnt study at all and I'm not a very big reader (1 book per year excluding textbooks ) but I got a 24 on it using the kaplan cd they give you. It wasnt really the material but rather for me getting used to the two screen format of the section (one window for the reading and one window for the questions). For ME I schemed through the reading to get an overall idea and then read the questions and simply looked for the answers where I remember them to be. Takes a lot of time if you cant find the right section but found it effective for ME. ALthough I almost ran out of time for the last 4 to 5 questions so I skipped the reading and simply looked for the answers and that worked too.
3. For the sciences.... study, study, study with flash cards, books, old notes from class, etc. Too bad I didnt do that and didnt do as well. And well I dont like bio too much .
4. Rest a few days before and just do mild reviews if needed. Oh and bring energy food like a energy bar or nuts and maybe soda to give you a little sugar and caffeine rush but not too much to make you tremble and get nervous.

Honestly hope that helps someone. Goodluck.

 

[Dr. Parm]

Although the kaplan class can suck if you have a bad teacher, I tell my students (just as I was told by MY instructor when I took the Kaplan course) that the lessons are going to be only 1% of your prep work. 99% of it is going to be on your own. Whether you use Kaplan resourses (which I highly recommend only because they help simulate test environment) or not, plan on spending atleast 3 weeks doing JUST DATs and nothing else after the course ends.

 

[kew]

I know tons of people that studied for only a few weeks and did well. Unfortunately, this didn't work for me. I studied for the whole summer two years ago and got rocked by the DAT with a 16/17/18. I restudied for it for about another six months with a pretty high intensity level and ended up with an 18/19/22. I don't know why my scores look the same as people that studied a month, but that's the way it goes. Like others have said, it depends on how well you know the info. I really struggled with the info the first time around and did crappy and felt a lot better the second time and did a lot better. It just depends on how you feel about the info. Good luck.

 

[STARCITY]

hey guys,

I plan to cram for the DAT all through May in hopes of taking it in June since doing school work and studying for it isn't working out too well for me. Has anyone done this in the past and excelled? My practice test scores are all in the teens, and I know I need tons of practice for the PAT.

Thanks for the input.

nope

 

[kiggar4l2000]

hey guys,

I plan to cram for the DAT all through May in hopes of taking it in June since doing school work and studying for it isn't working out too well for me. Has anyone done this in the past and excelled? My practice test scores are all in the teens, and I know I need tons of practice for the PAT.

Thanks for the input.

yup.

 

[burton117]

View Poll Results: For those who scored 19+ (AA) - How long did you study for the DAT?