futuretoothfairy33
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I have taken the DAT twice so I thought it might be helpful to share my experience and how I studied!
The first time I took the DAT I got an 18 AA, 18 PAT, and 16 TS. I used DAT Booster and mainly focused on question banks and notes. I did maybe three practice tests and studied from mid-December until I took the test on February 4th. I knew I would have to retake so I decided to try again in the summer that way I could still apply for the Fall 2024 cycle.
The second time I did much better:
PAT: 20
QR: 21
RC: 27
BIO: 22
GC: 20
OC: 19
TS: 20
AA: 22
So here's what I did differently the second time. I switched to Bootcamp and let me just say, wow. I did the 3 month subscription to Bootcamp but there ended up being a gap between my subscription ending and my test. I messaged them about it and they extended my subscription within a few hours. The Bootcamp team was really easy to communicate with and always willing to help. I studied from mid-May up until my test on July 22nd. Every day I would start around 8, take an hour break for lunch between 12 & 1, then I would work out around 6 and eat dinner and usually do another hour or so of studying and get ready for bed around 9. This is what most days looked like but I would take breaks every once in a while. If you're planning to take the test try and give yourself one day a week to relax and do something fun, it helps to prevent burnout. I studied for just under three months in total. I followed Dr. Ari's study schedule except with a few tweaks because I was a little shorter on time than the study schedule accounted for. Most importantly, I made sure to do every single practice test. I did the first five tests individually and went through every single question whether I got it right or wrong. I went through why the right answer was right and why the rest were wrong. It was really tedious and sometimes pretty boring but it helped to pinpoint weak areas and learn the most from each question. I also made sure to tag each question so later I could focus on the ones I needed to without wasting time on things I knew well. Bootcamp has a feature that shows you what categories in each section are your weak points, once I got closer to my test I focused solely on those areas. I also did a lot of the crash courses that Bootcamp has. They give great test-taking tips and they're taught by dental students who have taken the DAT before and have made perfect scores in their prospective sections. They really care about wanting to help you and give great advice for each section.
Here is a breakdown of what I did for each section specifically:
BIO:
I am a bio major but it was still kind of a difficult section for me. The breadth of this section overwhelmed me, but I watched all of the bio academy videos and took notes with the provided powerpoint slides. After each video section I would do the accompanying bio bites questions and then the next day I would do the question bank questions. For weaker topics, I would do the question banks a few times and I used anki flashcards. The crash courses for bio were super helpful for the test-taking tips and ways to remember things. The mnemonics from Bootcamp were the best thing ever. It helped me so much.
GEN CHEM:
I took gen chem my freshman year of college which at this point was four years ago so this section was hard for me. Dr. Mike's videos were SO GOOD. I watched all of them and took notes with the provided materials. I watched some of them twice, and honestly should've watched them more. The best thing I did for myself in this section was Bootcamp's Crash courses and practice practice practice. I raised my score by 5 points!
OCHEM:
Ugh. This topic was my hardest. I hated organic in college and really struggled to grasp this topic. Dr. Mike's videos were again amazing. He really breaks things down for easy understanding and gives you just the info you need to know for the DAT, nothing else. My best advice is to memorize ALL the reactions. I struggled to do this so by the time I took my test I maybe had half truly memorized and the other half kind of memorized. The Bootcamp reaction sheets and Anki deck will be your best friend. Doing the practice tests also helped me SO much in this section. The video explanations with each question are so helpful. I also did the crash courses for ochem and they were extremely helpful.
PAT:
For this section practice is key. I found this section hard to practice for especially in sections where it wasn't as easy for me like the TFE and Keyhole. I watched the videos and they were really helpful but practice is key to this. I tried to do 10 minutes per section a day, but that was kind of hard to keep up. I ended up changing this and just tried to do the ones I struggled with every day. If you want to do really well in this section repetition and practice are key. Bootcamp also has a PAT trainer game and if you're just starting out then it's really helpful to get used to what the PAT section is asking for.
QR:
This section was wishy-washy for me. Sometimes I would do great others not so much. Speed was my greatest challenge with the QR section. I really focused on the sciences so for this section, I just did the Bootcamp practice tests. I did some of the question banks for extra practice in topics I struggled with as well as watched a few of the videos as a refresher. I generally didn't put a ton of emphasis on this section but if you wanted to score really high then practice and speed are essential.
RC:
This was always a really easy topic for me, I read a lot as a kid and have always been a fast reader. So I just did the practice tests and that helped. The videos are really good if you struggle with this topic and they have different approaches to conquer this part. I used the "search and destroy" method but the videos go over all of the different ones they suggest to try.
TLDR
Bootcamp is amazing. Practice tests are essential!!! Practice, practice, practice chem and qr problems. Give yourself plenty of time for quality studying so you don't have to retake it like me
Feel free to comment any questions and I will answer them!
The first time I took the DAT I got an 18 AA, 18 PAT, and 16 TS. I used DAT Booster and mainly focused on question banks and notes. I did maybe three practice tests and studied from mid-December until I took the test on February 4th. I knew I would have to retake so I decided to try again in the summer that way I could still apply for the Fall 2024 cycle.
The second time I did much better:
PAT: 20
QR: 21
RC: 27
BIO: 22
GC: 20
OC: 19
TS: 20
AA: 22
So here's what I did differently the second time. I switched to Bootcamp and let me just say, wow. I did the 3 month subscription to Bootcamp but there ended up being a gap between my subscription ending and my test. I messaged them about it and they extended my subscription within a few hours. The Bootcamp team was really easy to communicate with and always willing to help. I studied from mid-May up until my test on July 22nd. Every day I would start around 8, take an hour break for lunch between 12 & 1, then I would work out around 6 and eat dinner and usually do another hour or so of studying and get ready for bed around 9. This is what most days looked like but I would take breaks every once in a while. If you're planning to take the test try and give yourself one day a week to relax and do something fun, it helps to prevent burnout. I studied for just under three months in total. I followed Dr. Ari's study schedule except with a few tweaks because I was a little shorter on time than the study schedule accounted for. Most importantly, I made sure to do every single practice test. I did the first five tests individually and went through every single question whether I got it right or wrong. I went through why the right answer was right and why the rest were wrong. It was really tedious and sometimes pretty boring but it helped to pinpoint weak areas and learn the most from each question. I also made sure to tag each question so later I could focus on the ones I needed to without wasting time on things I knew well. Bootcamp has a feature that shows you what categories in each section are your weak points, once I got closer to my test I focused solely on those areas. I also did a lot of the crash courses that Bootcamp has. They give great test-taking tips and they're taught by dental students who have taken the DAT before and have made perfect scores in their prospective sections. They really care about wanting to help you and give great advice for each section.
Here is a breakdown of what I did for each section specifically:
BIO:
I am a bio major but it was still kind of a difficult section for me. The breadth of this section overwhelmed me, but I watched all of the bio academy videos and took notes with the provided powerpoint slides. After each video section I would do the accompanying bio bites questions and then the next day I would do the question bank questions. For weaker topics, I would do the question banks a few times and I used anki flashcards. The crash courses for bio were super helpful for the test-taking tips and ways to remember things. The mnemonics from Bootcamp were the best thing ever. It helped me so much.
GEN CHEM:
I took gen chem my freshman year of college which at this point was four years ago so this section was hard for me. Dr. Mike's videos were SO GOOD. I watched all of them and took notes with the provided materials. I watched some of them twice, and honestly should've watched them more. The best thing I did for myself in this section was Bootcamp's Crash courses and practice practice practice. I raised my score by 5 points!
OCHEM:
Ugh. This topic was my hardest. I hated organic in college and really struggled to grasp this topic. Dr. Mike's videos were again amazing. He really breaks things down for easy understanding and gives you just the info you need to know for the DAT, nothing else. My best advice is to memorize ALL the reactions. I struggled to do this so by the time I took my test I maybe had half truly memorized and the other half kind of memorized. The Bootcamp reaction sheets and Anki deck will be your best friend. Doing the practice tests also helped me SO much in this section. The video explanations with each question are so helpful. I also did the crash courses for ochem and they were extremely helpful.
PAT:
For this section practice is key. I found this section hard to practice for especially in sections where it wasn't as easy for me like the TFE and Keyhole. I watched the videos and they were really helpful but practice is key to this. I tried to do 10 minutes per section a day, but that was kind of hard to keep up. I ended up changing this and just tried to do the ones I struggled with every day. If you want to do really well in this section repetition and practice are key. Bootcamp also has a PAT trainer game and if you're just starting out then it's really helpful to get used to what the PAT section is asking for.
QR:
This section was wishy-washy for me. Sometimes I would do great others not so much. Speed was my greatest challenge with the QR section. I really focused on the sciences so for this section, I just did the Bootcamp practice tests. I did some of the question banks for extra practice in topics I struggled with as well as watched a few of the videos as a refresher. I generally didn't put a ton of emphasis on this section but if you wanted to score really high then practice and speed are essential.
RC:
This was always a really easy topic for me, I read a lot as a kid and have always been a fast reader. So I just did the practice tests and that helped. The videos are really good if you struggle with this topic and they have different approaches to conquer this part. I used the "search and destroy" method but the videos go over all of the different ones they suggest to try.
TLDR
Bootcamp is amazing. Practice tests are essential!!! Practice, practice, practice chem and qr problems. Give yourself plenty of time for quality studying so you don't have to retake it like me
Feel free to comment any questions and I will answer them!
