About to begin DAT prep

[chi_town7]

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Hello,

So I am planning to take my DAT by the end of this summer -closer to august 2021 (planning to apply next cycle, not this one) and I was just wondering what advice you guys would have for the DAT studying journey. I purchased Bootcamp already and plan to get booster as well. Overall though, what are tips, tricks, and strategies/advice you all would have. Also ik everyone is dif, but whats usually a daily time commitment estimate- I plan on dedicated 3 month to study so lmk what helped you please!

Thanks 🙂

 

[artist2022]

Compilation - DAT Breakdown Collection! 2018-Present

In keeping up with changing things up around here, I thought it would be fitting to start a new breakdown thread! Reasons for this are 1) the DAT changed last year, specifically in the QR section (trig/geometry were removed, and QC was added), and 2) there have been tons of crazy new breakdowns...

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[RyuTatum]

Hello,

So I am planning to take my DAT by the end of this summer -closer to august 2021 (planning to apply next cycle, not this one) and I was just wondering what advice you guys would have for the DAT studying journey. I purchased Bootcamp already and plan to get booster as well. Overall though, what are tips, tricks, and strategies/advice you all would have. Also ik everyone is dif, but whats usually a daily time commitment estimate- I plan on dedicated 3 month to study so lmk what helped you please!

Thanks 🙂

If you dedicate a solid 3 months and study 6-8 hours/day, that should be more than enough.

For tips, studying for the DAT is like marathon. You have to find your own rhythm for studying consistently. My main takeaway advice is to aim for a really high score – go big or go home. So don’t take the test unless you’re ready.

 

[chi_town7]

@artist2022 thank you so much for linking that was very helpful to read through, and @RyuTatum thank you so much for your advice I definately agree that it it always better to aim high and I hope to be able to dedicate that time as well. Thank you!

 

[DAT Destroyer]

If you dedicate a solid 3 months and study 6-8 hours/day, that should be more than enough.

For tips, studying for the DAT is like marathon. You have to find your own rhythm for studying consistently. My main takeaway advice is to aim for a really high score – go big or go home. So don’t take the test unless you’re ready.

I like this, go big or go home, aka #think30

And as I have stated many times through the years in this forum. "The biggest mistake students make is taking the exam before fully prepared", this is not an exam you want to repeat. You should have no doubts before test day, you should feel ready to slay the DAT Beast.

Wishing you the best..Nancy, co/owner, DAT Destroyer

 

[Tyson_Brown]

It's all about putting in the time! Don't half ass it or take your foot off the pedal. If you've got the resources and time, then it's just up to you to execute and perform the best that you possibly can. Even though you always have a chance to retake, try to get yourself in the mindset that you are only going to be able to take this exam once. You don't want to have to go through another 2-3 months of studying if you can avoid it by killing the exam the first time!

You can skim through my breakdown linked in my signature and pull some advice/strategies from there if you find anything helpful. I didn't use bootcamp but I did use DAT Booster and the Destroyer books during my studies! Best of luck and let me know if you have any questions or concerns that come up along the way!

 

[moonhyunjong11]

1. Do as many questions as you can, and be STRICT time-wise. You want to familiarize yourself with the exam format and be relatively comfortable by the exam day.
2. What worked for my study schedule was to build up the hours almost like a workout routine: 4-6 hours per day the first month, 6-8 hours per day the second month, and then finally 10+ hours per day. This way, I personally felt that I was really making progress and didn't feel as burnt out (but where's the lie? I was so burnt out by month two).
3. I always tell myself: if you're going to get stuff wrong, do it as much as you can before the exam. Learn everything, and learn thoroughly. Get it wrong now, and then get it correct later when it actually matters
4. Never lose hope and believe in yourself. I did my first practice exams after month 1 of studying and doing questions...lo and behold got a 17. I felt like the most useless person and honestly wanted to quit. Learn to forgive yourself and be kind to yourself....this is not just a test of how much you know, but how well you can mentally train and discipline yourself. Take breaks if you need to. I took breaks on Sundays, took time off work, exercised, whatever I needed to do to not go crazy.
5. This is probably something you might not want to hear but, I'm going to be as blunt as I can be: It's just a standardized test, believe it or not, and you can retake the exam if you don't do well. If I learned anything in dental school, it's that you gotta learn how to pick up the pieces, reorganize, and keep moving forward. And fun fact, dental schools don't only look at your DAT score during admissions process and your DAT score alone won't be able to get you into schools. I still got rejections despite my score and GPA (yeah, imagine how much more hopeless I felt when letters of rejections came) Breathe, eat well and sleep well, and good luck 🙂​
6. My score: DAT AA 26, TS 28, QR 22 and GPA 3.94​