Best DAT Self-Review Materials

[TheLoveMD]

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ok so i am planning on taking my DAT at the end of this summer so I can have a good idea of where I stand when applying next year (for 2012 matriculation). I would like to hear some opinions on what yalls best/favorite review materials have been. I am the type of person who learns by doing and learns by explanations to problems, and it seems that is what kaplan does so keep that in mind. id also like more than just book reviews and practice tests...maybe if there are like some cd type things out there or videos...because that would keep me from burning out; im dropping summer classes to spend all of my excess time until the end of the summer (id say probably 10-20 hours a week, which is ALOT for me, i rarely study more than 10 hours a week unless i have 3+ exams) so with all that said, hit me up with some opinions and u can even go ahead and criticize my run on sentence...yes its ballin i know.😀

 

[seifall5]

ok so i am planning on taking my DAT at the end of this summer so I can have a good idea of where I stand when applying next year (for 2012 matriculation). I would like to hear some opinions on what yalls best/favorite review materials have been. I am the type of person who learns by doing and learns by explanations to problems, and it seems that is what kaplan does so keep that in mind. id also like more than just book reviews and practice tests...maybe if there are like some cd type things out there or videos...because that would keep me from burning out; im dropping summer classes to spend all of my excess time until the end of the summer (id say probably 10-20 hours a week, which is ALOT for me, i rarely study more than 10 hours a week unless i have 3+ exams) so with all that said, hit me up with some opinions and u can even go ahead and criticize my run on sentence...yes its ballin i know.😀

This should be on the DAT subforum, but here are my recommendations:

Cliffs AP Biology
Barron's AP Biology
DAT Destroyer
Organic Chemistry Odyssey
Kaplan Review Book (for Chemistry and Organic Chemistry)
Chad's Chem/Orgo Videos
Crack DAT PAT
Math Destroyer - for extra practice if you need more questions, but don't rely on it too much

*Kaplan course is a waste of money, but the extra questions are great. I just wished they sold the QBank separately from the course.

 

[TheLoveMD]

This should be on the DAT subforum, but here are my recommendations:

Cliffs AP Biology
Barron's AP Biology
DAT Destroyer
Organic Chemistry Odyssey
Kaplan Review Book (for Chemistry and Organic Chemistry)
Chad's Chem/Orgo Videos
Crack DAT PAT
Math Destroyer - for extra practice if you need more questions, but don't rely on it too much

*Kaplan course is a waste of money, but the extra questions are great. I just wished they sold the QBank separately from the course.

i read through alot of the subforum stuff and it seems opinions are really varying...and im trying to get a good comprehensive list without buying the class...this seems like a good set up..ill go ahead and book mark it and buy everyones olod DAT review stuff once they all take their dats this may/june/july haha

 

[DelToro06]

pretty much what the person above me said is what you need. i also think that the kaplan class is a big waste of money, you can get more study materials for less than half that money.

I used Cliffs AP Bio, Kaplan Blue Book, DAT Destroyer(its good if you like lots of problems and you said you study well by doing questions so the destroyer is good for that), DAT Achiever and TopScore DAT (each of those have 3 full length exams so its good practice. I also got Crack DAT PAT and Crack DAT MATH (the PAT is no as hard on the real exam and the math is good for practice and for you to get your timing right on the real exam b/c the math time seems like it goes by so fast but practicing my math with Crack DAT MATH over and over was the best way to prepare for that section.

Hope this helps.

 

[dentalWorks]

Well, with regards to reading, in my opinion, since you only have about 4-6 months till you take it, start working on the reading part now. If your reading is strong as-is, then don't worry too much about it.

with regards to MATH, I though DAT destoyer wasn't all that helpful but the MATH Destroyer was spot on. The MATH destroyer is a different book than DAT Destroyer, the MATH one has 10 math tests, each with 40 questions, if you master those 400 questions inside and out, your going to rock the math section of the DAT cause those questions from destroyer are, I swear Im gonna say 70-80% of them will show up with the same style just different numbers.

At this poing, you should buy DAT Destroyer, its very good for chemistry and orgo, Biology is pretty good too for some random facts that wouln't be covered in Kaplan Blue book nor Cliff's AP biology

with regards to biology, yehhhhhh this section sucks cause its SOOOO BROAD. But, I started with Kaplan blue book, and found it very poorly organized for biology. It lacked alot of details, however, it was still good as an introductory biology.
-Start with Kaplan blue book
-Read all of Cliff's AP biology (anywhere from 1-3 times)
-Supplement Cliff's AP bilogy + KBB with your biology test... I personally loved Biology by raven, I thought it was 100 times better than Cambell
-Finally do the biology section of DAT Destroyer atleast 2-3 times, take notes / highlight stuff

with regards to general chem, yeh nothing beats Kaplan blue book, spot on. Perfect review guide. When your done with Kaplan Blue book, go on and hit DAT Destroyer atleast 1-3 times for this section.

with regards to orgo, kaplan blue book is pretty good, but DAT Destroyer is key here. Master DAT Destroyer orgo section and you'll be hitting 20+ on the orgo section of the DAT

Finally, PAT, Crack DAT PAT is the king. Master those 10 tests and you should easily score 20+ on the PAT. by the way, the scores you get on the Crack DAT PAT (esspecially toward the last ones) will be a very good indicator of how you'll do on the real test

 

[spud daddy]

Amen on the Crack DAT PAT! I went from a 17 to a 21 because of that resource! I also think the DAT Destroyer was crucial on the ochem part of the DAT. I thought the Kaplan book was fine for the general chemistry. Biology was tough like the above person posted because it really was super broad. I am a strong reader and didn't study a minute for the RC and pulled out a 25, just skip reading the passage and go to the questions and then quickly scan for key words from the questions. My math score was HORRIBLE! I didn't take it seriously and briefly looked over the math questions in the DAT Destroyer and I ended up getting a 14 which brought my AA down to a 20. The schools I have interviewed at said that a 14 wasn't a big deal because it was just math but the math is still important because it effects your AA. Learn from my mistake and put some time into that section and good luck!

 

[TheLoveMD]

Well, with regards to reading, in my opinion, since you only have about 4-6 months till you take it, start working on the reading part now. If your reading is strong as-is, then don't worry too much about it.

with regards to MATH, I though DAT destoyer wasn't all that helpful but the MATH Destroyer was spot on. The MATH destroyer is a different book than DAT Destroyer, the MATH one has 10 math tests, each with 40 questions, if you master those 400 questions inside and out, your going to rock the math section of the DAT cause those questions from destroyer are, I swear Im gonna say 70-80% of them will show up with the same style just different numbers.

At this poing, you should buy DAT Destroyer, its very good for chemistry and orgo, Biology is pretty good too for some random facts that wouln't be covered in Kaplan Blue book nor Cliff's AP biology

with regards to biology, yehhhhhh this section sucks cause its SOOOO BROAD. But, I started with Kaplan blue book, and found it very poorly organized for biology. It lacked alot of details, however, it was still good as an introductory biology.
-Start with Kaplan blue book
-Read all of Cliff's AP biology (anywhere from 1-3 times)
-Supplement Cliff's AP bilogy + KBB with your biology test... I personally loved Biology by raven, I thought it was 100 times better than Cambell
-Finally do the biology section of DAT Destroyer atleast 2-3 times, take notes / highlight stuff

with regards to general chem, yeh nothing beats Kaplan blue book, spot on. Perfect review guide. When your done with Kaplan Blue book, go on and hit DAT Destroyer atleast 1-3 times for this section.

with regards to orgo, kaplan blue book is pretty good, but DAT Destroyer is key here. Master DAT Destroyer orgo section and you'll be hitting 20+ on the orgo section of the DAT

Finally, PAT, Crack DAT PAT is the king. Master those 10 tests and you should easily score 20+ on the PAT. by the way, the scores you get on the Crack DAT PAT (esspecially toward the last ones) will be a very good indicator of how you'll do on the real test

great advice...i dont really see myself studying for the reading section too much...what type of format do they use...similar to act/sat type stuff?

 

[dentalWorks]

great advice...i dont really see myself studying for the reading section too much...what type of format do they use...similar to act/sat type stuff?

Well, the reading is my most hated section. You will get 3 articles, each one approx 1500 words long. And between the 3 articles, you will have 50 questions (so 17-18ish per article). Im gonna say 70% of the questions are just facts directly from the articles but the other 30% are "tone" type questions.... However, when I said 70% are factual type quesitons, it sounds easy but its not too easy cause sometimes, the answers can be described over multiple paragraphs. If you have only read some of the paragraphs (but not all), you might pick the answer that you read. Hard to explain over SND lol

There is a sample DAT test here, It has a reading section with just 17 questions, see how you do in it. First time I did this, I think I got a 14 haha
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=Sample+DAT+test&aq=f&aqi=g3&oq=

 

[TheLoveMD]

Well, the reading is my most hated section. You will get 3 articles, each one approx 1500 words long. And between the 3 articles, you will have 50 questions (so 17-18ish per article). Im gonna say 70% of the questions are just facts directly from the articles but the other 30% are "tone" type questions.... However, when I said 70% are factual type quesitons, it sounds easy but its not too easy cause sometimes, the answers can be described over multiple paragraphs. If you have only read some of the paragraphs (but not all), you might pick the answer that you read. Hard to explain over SND lol

There is a sample DAT test here, It has a reading section with just 17 questions, see how you do in it. First time I did this, I think I got a 14 haha
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=Sample+DAT+test&aq=f&aqi=g3&oq=

lol this is a link to a google searh...which link did u use? haha

 

[TheLoveMD]

ok i took the practice one...article was a lot longer than i thought...i got 13/17...not terrible but i guess ill supplement this section too...i dont mind workin twice as hard just to bring my score up in this section...i mean i feel like this is a section u should b able to master with only a few days of self disciplined studying/test taking

 

[dentalWorks]

Actually, I was never able to master the reading section, the only thing I learned about it is that reading is a skill u either have or u don't. If ur a poor reader (aka u never read a lot as a kid) then ur not gonna master power/compreh reading in just a few months. U'll need years for that.

However, I do believe u can develope an "attack" plan for the articles on the DAT, most people do that before the test. I didn't, which prolly explains why I got 19 on the reading