Best way to study DAT BIO?

[trypmo]

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I agree that this board needs some life breathed into it, so here's my puff of air:

What's the best way to study for the DAT BIO section?

Flash cards?

Review course books & notes?

Cliffs Notes?

Schaum's Outlines?

Audio?

Fervent prayer?

Are there any really USELESS ways of trying to prepare that you would advise ppl NOT to do?

 

[sxr71]

IMHO, the absolute best way to study for the Bio section on the DAT is to just pick up the Kaplan DAT ($65 at Borders) and read the entire Biology "lecture" section carefully it is about 220 pages and takes about 8 hours to read and comprehend. Just read it carefully beginning to end.

That's all you need to do. It covers every possible question on the DAT biology section. Just it read and understand it.

Test yourself using the Scholarware DAT preparation CD (amazon.com; scholarware.com) and see if you do well on the bio section. Don't worry if you get lower than expected since most people score anywhere from 2-5 points on the DAT compared to their Scholarware biology score.

In case you are not too happy with the number of questions you missed, review your test, look at your weak areas and just go back and read those topics in the Kaplan book. Repeat until satisfied. (Although I think that if you read it right the first time you won't even need to go back to Kaplan.)

The sky's the limit with this strategy.

 

[Jo23]

The Kaplan book doesn't cover every possible question.I had at least 4 questions on the real DAT that were not covered in the Kaplan book.
My advice is to review your college book.
Joanna

 

[sxr71]

Originally posted by Jo23
The Kaplan book doesn't cover every possible question.I had at least 4 questions on the real DAT that were not covered in the Kaplan book.
My advice is to review your college book.
Joanna

Do you remember which area they were in or maybe what questions were? I guess it might be hard to generalize as each of us gets a different set of questions.

 

[critterbug]

I have to agree with the Kaplan strategy. The Bio section in the Kaplan is sufficient IMO. I read through 2-3 times SLOWLY, making summarized note cards of most sections. Spent the last few weeks just memorizing those note cards.

However, I did not spend enough time on the Ecology and Classification. I would definetly spend more time on those sections. Do not underestimate those sections!!

 

[Jo23]

Hi,
I do remember the exact questions, but unfortunately I can't reproduce them and post them on this board.You're not supposed to do this 🙂
Anyway, I can tell you the area that they were from: 2 were from the circulatory system , one was a specific question about one kingdom that honestly I haven't found the answer yet, and one imunology question.Anyway, maybe I had a weird bio section...but I can assure you that if I had studied only the Kaplan book, I would be studying to retake the DAT now.
It is a matter of luck, some people have a difficult bio section and maybe an easier organic ...I don't know, I'm just guessing.
Still, I would take a look at the bio college book.But that is me.
Joanna

 

[DrNo2000]

Originally posted by Jo23
The Kaplan book doesn't cover every possible question.I had at least 4 questions on the real DAT that were not covered in the Kaplan book.
My advice is to review your college book.
Joanna

I had quastions that were not covered by Kaplan too. But, I don't recommend reviewing all your college books, b/c it's very time consuming. Kaplan covers the majority of what you will see on the actual test, and that could potentially get you a 20+.

 

[critterbug]

Originally posted by DrNo2000
I had quastions that were not covered by Kaplan too. But, I don't recommend reviewing all your college books, b/c it's very time consuming. Kaplan covers the majority of what you will see on the actual test, and that could potentially get you a 20+.

Exactly....

chances are, most people will miss the few obscure questions. Knowing the Kaplan Bio should get you 20+.

 

[waker433]

Kaplan BIO will work for 90 % of the questions on the DAT, the one area that the real DAT went into more detail than Kaplan was Classification. I think it would be a waste of time to try and memorize everything about Biology for this test, memorize every in Kaplan and you will score in the 20's.

Chris

 

[trypmo]

Sweet! Thanks guys! 🙂

 

[sxr71]

Yes, 20+ is easily possible using just Kaplan. I know for a fact that even 25+ is possible with that strategy (from my own experience) I promise that I didn't do anything but read the Kaplan bio section beginning to end. Maybe I remembered something from class, but I highly doubt it.

Again I really think the sky's the limit with this strategy just read well and read carefully. Even topics as that seem like straight memorization have like taxonomy have some basic rules that make it easy to remember. Don't go for straight memorization but read to understand.

However I still think everyone should consider that it may be possible to get a test that significantly goes out the boundaries covered in Kaplan as Jo23's experiences have shown.

 

[sxr71]

sorry accidental double post.

 

[natush]

I used the Kaplan book and can say that it is very good. Maybe it does not cover every possible question, but I am sure that if you go through it really thoroughly, you will not get less than 20.