5 year break from school... DAT...

[jthomp26]

Hey all,

I finished all of my pre-reqs for dental school 5 years ago, and then had an injury in the middle of my last semester that rendered my right hand useless for several years (nerve damage). My hand is better, and I'm again contemplating the pursuit of dentistry.

So, my question is, has anyone studied for, and taken, the DAT several years after their bio/chem courses? How did you re-learn the material? Would it make any sense to retake the bio/chem pre-reqs?

Thank you in advance for any replies!

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[Craig_Sherwood234]

what happened to your hand, if you don't mind me asking

 

[averageasian]

i barely remembered anything from gen chem and i had just taken it my freshman year (fall 14/spirng 15). chads videos helped me relearn everything and Dat destoyer helped me reinforce the important skills and concepts.

Chads videos is key for relearning stuff and DAT destroyer to practice it. good luck!

 

[minionphil]

i barely remembered anything from gen chem and i had just taken it my freshman year (fall 14/spirng 15). chads videos helped me relearn everything and Dat destoyer helped me reinforce the important skills and concepts.

Chads videos is key for relearning stuff and DAT destroyer to practice it. good luck!

I agree. Chad's videos cover the basics really well, and doing DAT Destroyer will reinforce those concepts (or make you realize how a seemingly abstract concept will show up in questions). A combination of those will be great preparation for the DAT. To be honest, I think half of the students taking the DAT don't remember what they learned in pre-req classes (of course, not backed up by stat...just my humble opinion). So I wouldn't sweat about it!

 

[Zesta]

I would recommend doing a practice test to see where you stand and then focus on your weaknesses. DATDestroyer and Chad's videos are both great resources. I would suggest using chad's videos to brush up on topics and DATdestroyer to practice chemistry

 

[HKSZYU]

I was in the same boat (non-traditional student, took DAT several years after being out of school.) Chad's Videos were great for gen chem for me. For someone as rusty as I was, the orgo videos went a bit too quickly, so what I did was use Chad's orgo vids as an outline, but also supplement it with Khan Academy videos, which would go a little more slowly and more in depth with mechanisms.

 

[Ari Rezaei]

For non-trad students, I've found the best success in actually studying in two phases. The first phase, you study and review all the sciences. You can use Cliffs AP biology, Chad's videos, Khan Academy, etc. This may take a month or two, and you should use a study schedule for this part to keep you on track. You can also begin practicing the PAT if you have time. After you're done doing this once, then you start a full DAT study schedule that goes through all the science review material again, do the practice questions, and practice tests. The reason for this is the first pass through you're trying to relearn the information again and create a 'map' in your mind of how the content is organized. Then when you start the real DAT study schedule, you'll be actually 'reviewing' the sciences instead of trying to relearn them, which are quite different.

 

[Zesta]

For non-trad students, I've found the best success in actually studying in two phases. The first phase, you study and review all the sciences. You can use Cliffs AP biology, Chad's videos, Khan Academy, etc. This may take a month or two, and you should use a study schedule for this part to keep you on track. You can also begin practicing the PAT if you have time. After you're done doing this once, then you start a full DAT study schedule that goes through all the science review material again, do the practice questions, and practice tests. The reason for this is the first pass through you're trying to relearn the information again and create a 'map' in your mind of how the content is organized. Then when you start the real DAT study schedule, you'll be actually 'reviewing' the sciences instead of trying to relearn them, which are quite different.

Good advice but study schedules do not work for everyone, especially with non-trad students who may have other commitments.
Also, full DAT study schedule and real DAT study schedule? Not quite sure what you mean here.

 

[Ari Rezaei]

Good advice but study schedules do not work for everyone, especially with non-trad students who may have other commitments.
Also, full DAT study schedule and real DAT study schedule? Not quite sure what you mean here.

Sorry for the confusion, those are the same thing. A study schedule is usually broken down into a review phase and a practice phase. For non-trad students, I recommend following a study schedule, but first doing the review phase twice, and then the practice phase.

No matter what stage you're in though, I think it's important to follow a schedule. You can tailor it to match your available time. There is such an immense amount of information you have to learn and practice that it needs to be broken up into smaller steps for you to be successful - just studying a little each day with no direction will not be as effective as having a daily plan of preparation.

 

[jhan17]

Hey all,

I finished all of my pre-reqs for dental school 5 years ago, and then had an injury in the middle of my last semester that rendered my right hand useless for several years (nerve damage). My hand is better, and I'm again contemplating the pursuit of dentistry.

So, my question is, has anyone studied for, and taken, the DAT several years after their bio/chem courses? How did you re-learn the material? Would it make any sense to retake the bio/chem pre-reqs?

Thank you in advance for any replies!

I was in the same boat for I was gone serving the country for two years, but trust me you will be fine! Watching Chad's video for the first time, you might be confused and not sure of a lot of things. When I took my GChem tests for the first time on DAT Boot camp I was getting, 16-18s and was very discouraged, but as you do more reviewing and practice questions on DAT Destroyer, you will understand the pattern and start to see things make more sense. I ended up getting 27 on DAT!

Getting started is the hardest part, but as long as you study throughly DAT Bootcamp, Chad's Video, Cliff's AP BIology, and DAT Destroyer, you will be golden!

 

[phillydon]

I agree with Ari. I was a nontraditional student (4 years away from classroom), and studied about 3 months. Most of my time early on was spent relearning all of the science material with AP Cliff's, chad's videos. AP cliffs was great for bio. Chad's was great for general chemistry, but I struggled with Chad's when it came to Orgo. Lucky for me, I was taking Orgo II while studying for the DAT so that helped me out big time. PM me if you have any questions