1 month to prepare for the DATs: what do you recommend

[hinduluv]

My lil sis has one month to prepare for the DATs. She was on the premed track but after heading my advice i convinced her that dentistry is better. Im a third year med student. She has already taken the MCAT and did decent on it (2 months ago) so she has the basic science down. I am guessing she would still be late in the game in terms of application status.

My question is:

Is there one single good review book that people with a short amount of time use?

I know ideally these type of tests require more time but this is the situation right now.

Thank you for any help
hluv.

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[Mila]

If she just took the MCAT 2 months ago, 1 month should be enough. She should get a DAT review book - maybe Kaplan, or maybe someone else can recommend a good one? - and briefly go over the sciences. For bio, there are a few topics covered on the DAT that were not covered on MCAT; I think mainly photosynthesis and somehting else having to do with plants. She can figure it out by flipping through the biology section of the review book. She should be aware that the DAT RC has a different appraoch to it than the MCAT VR and that the answers are found straight in the passage.
I think the most important thing for her to do is take many many practice questions in all the subjects to ensure that she is used to the DAT question types and that she can finish QR and the PAT in the time allowed.

 

[will9631]

Don't forget about the perceptual ability test either, which is unique to the DAT. I personally recommend Kaplan materials, though I've heard topscore and score destroyer are both good too. If she has her sciences down though I'd focus on the PAT because it tends to take alot of practice, the key to it is to go through as many questions as possible before the exam.

good luck!
~Will

p.s. its great to hear a med student endorsing dental school, though I do hope your medical career goes well. My father is a surgeon and is getting increasingly frustrated by the erosion of the medical profession in this country, I hope for your sake that the negative trends (malpractice, insurance companies, general beaurocracy) don't continue.

 

[rose786]

The others have given good advice. I think the big blue Kaplan book is a good starting point, however the actual DAT needs more in depth knowledge than what's in that book, so she might want to look into getting the destroyer. After reviewing, I would advise her to get used to the actual format. For this, she can use Topscore and Achiever. Good luck to her.

 

[alltheway]

If she still has all the sciences fresh in her head then I would truly recommend getting the destroyer because it has questions that will truly test her knowledge on all the sciences and gives you mini lectures in the solutions section. There is a PAT section on the DAT for that I would just recommend doing practice with Crack the Pat. For math I still have no idea how to nail that one. Good luck.

 

[Mila]

If she still has all the sciences fresh in her head then I would truly recommend getting the destroyer because it has questions that will truly test her knowledge on all the sciences and gives you mini lectures in the solutions section. There is a PAT section on the DAT for that I would just recommend doing practice with Crack the Pat. For math I still have no idea how to nail that one. Good luck.

Good advice!

For math your sister should just do plenty of practice problems to increase speed. She'll notice that she'll keep seeing many of the same problems over and over, and it becomes easier and faster to solve these problems with more exposure.