Studying for DAT

Hi you all,

I'm planning to take DAT this June but I'm currently super busy with school so I cannot concentrate on studying for DAT yet 🙁. I am just curious how long do you guys spend on studying for DAT to do well on the test? 🙂

Thanks in advance

I had taken orgo over the summer right before taking my DATs which left me with 3 solid weeks to study. I basically locked myself in my room and studied from morning to night with a few quick breaks. Suprisingly this actually worked well for me, but different people require different methods and amounts of time to study. I wish you the best of luck on your DATs!!!

I'm not going to leave my house at all for two months straight. I will probably gain 20 lbs..but eventually, it will be worth it.

40 hr/wk job and studied nights for 3-4 weeks.

CountinCavities said:

I'm not going to leave my house at all for two months straight. I will probably gain 20 lbs..but eventually, it will be worth it.

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Exercising will make your studying more productive and efficent.

DrReo said:

Exercising will make your studying more productive and efficent.

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You are right 🙂

2.5 weeks you're GOOD! Leave out the unimportant stuff

I studied about 6 months for the test, but that was also during the time I did dental research and a co-op internship. The only times I could study were at night and I really suck at standardized tests, so I wanted to make sure that I knew everything cold, before taking the exam. My averages for the practice tests were 17-18, but on the real test, I got 20AA, 21 TS, 22 PAT. It depends how fast you study, but for me, I wanted to only take the test once because you only get 3 total attempts, and if you retake, you have to wait 3 months before you have another shot.

I currently really don't have much time for studying, but i found a good way to at least keep some things fresh in my mind. I downloaded a program on my iphone and it lets me choose and listen to any subject from Bio to chem. I found this program very useful. It does not really go into deep detail but it still gives me a much better understanding. I bet it will be a lot easier to study later on. So instead of listening to music in the car or in college i just turn on this 'audi learn for DAT' and listen. I guess this only applies to people with an iphone and to those who are really busy with school work.

6 days a week for 3 hours a day +/- some depending on how efficient i was at the time. study effectively and you can probably cut down the time, but make sure to compensate for the forgetting curve

Wow. This is my first post and I've recieved tons of helpful and sincere replies from you guys 😍. I guess because we all have the same interest and have to go through the same tough times (regarding for dental admissions). I'm trying to memorize everything in the review book (Kaplan) 🙁 because I heard that the questions on the test is pretty straightforward. Any advice? 🙂

Thank you so much.

i used Kaplan online for my studying. i'll share some quick feelings now, but if you want more check out my DAT breakdown...

BIO - 75% of the questions were easy/moderate and covered. the remainder were very random and not covered. i feel like there wouldnt be a guide for those.

GC/OC - Kaplan is awesome

PAT - more similar to Kaplan than CDP

RC - used topic sentences and keywords (a Kaplan idea)

QR - Kaplan did not go into the detail necessary

Use study material other than Kaplan. DAT destroyer to me was like the bible for dental school...going thru it 3-4 times made my scores go up by 3 points in almost every section. Also get DAT achiever, topscore for more practice and Crack the DAT PAT to get a really good PAT score.

How long is the average study time? I plan on reading, studying, and doing all the practice tests, Kaplan, Achiever, Destroyer during the month of August and September and take the DAT on like September 23rd.

2PacClone23 said:

How long is the average study time? I plan on reading, studying, and doing all the practice tests, Kaplan, Achiever, Destroyer during the month of August and September and take the DAT on like September 23rd.

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That's actually exactly what I did (unintentionally). I originally planned to study from June to August, and take the DATs late August while doing research in school. But I was unlucky with my timing, since my PI pushed for my research project to be submitted for publication by the first week of August. I ended up not starting to study until the 2nd week of August, and I took my DATs mid September.

I didn't use anything aside from Kaplan to study for the DAT. I decided not to take the Kaplan course and bought the Kaplan online package instead. The Kaplan online package comes with the Kaplan book and 3 month access to their online lectures, workships, practice problems, and Mock DATs. I scored a 21AA/22TS/20PAT.

I wouldn't recommend only studying for such a short amount of time. But, if you ever end up in this kind of situation... here's what I did:
I had around 6 weeks to study. I divided up each section of the DAT text book in two halfs. I would dedicate 2 days to completing half of a section. For example, if I was studying for the Bio section, I would spend those two days reading half of the bio section of the Kaplan DAT book and completing the relevant practice problems. Then, instead of spending the next two days to complete the other half of bio, I would move on to completing half of another section, like Ochem. I rotated through all the subjects at least once first, and then came back to finish the other halves. I think the Kaplan package came with around 7 practice DATs, so I took one for each weekend, and took w/e was extra on the last weekend before my exam date.

Lastly, somethings that I wish someone would have told me beforehand: I haven't used any other study material, so I can only speak about how I felt about Kaplan. Personally, I thought that the bio section of Kaplan put too much emphasis on plant biology. I don't remember seeing any plant biology questions on my test. I felt like I wasted a lot of time trying to look over the plant stuff. The Kaplan book was generally pretty useful. You won't get a "perfect" score by just looking at the Kaplan book, but I think it will at least help you get a decent score.

Hope this helps!

caremkn said:

Hi you all,

I'm planning to take DAT this June but I'm currently super busy with school so I cannot concentrate on studying for DAT yet 🙁. I am just curious how long do you guys spend on studying for DAT to do well on the test? 🙂

Thanks in advance

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why not take it in July and give yourself an extra month. I am going to send in my application in May but I am going to take my DAT in late July. I figure once I send in my application there is no way I am going to embarrass myself with a poor DAT score that will be sent directly to the school. Most testing centers let you take it on many dates during each month, at least where I live they do.

Are you taking Kaplan?

How much do you study for DAT?

PrivateJoker said:

why not take it in July and give yourself an extra month. I am going to send in my application in May but I am going to take my DAT in late July. I figure once I send in my application there is no way I am going to embarrass myself with a poor DAT score that will be sent directly to the school. Most testing centers let you take it on many dates during each month, at least where I live they do.

Are you taking Kaplan?

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Because I'll graduate this May and plan to have a job right away. I know if I push taking the DAT back to July then I will delay more. I want to set a date and study hard for it. Somehow time constraint is a motivation for me 😕. Another reason would be that I want to finish my application as soon as possible so that I won't be going through all the stress 🙂. And also, I don't have a solid GPA (3.3) so do you think if I do well on the test early, there will be more chance that the admission committee will look at both and not throw it to the trash ?