m_spinelli2
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Hey guys! I just finished up the DAT last week and was super happy with my scores. I wanted to share a breakdown in case anyone was curious as to how I studied for the test. I know studying for this test can be super stressful and takes a lot out of you, so I wanted to give some tips that would’ve helped me prior to my study journey. I used DAT Bootcamp and can’t help but stress how helpful and great they are as a study service.
Scores:
PAT: 26
QR: 30
RC: 23
BIO: 20
GC: 26
OC: 26
TS: 23
AA: 25
Background:
Originally, I planned to take the test after my finals in Junior year in May. I started by just doing practice tests and really delaying my studying at the start. It wasn’t until I started taking those practice tests and seeing actual scores where I realized I needed to buckle down and start dedicating more time to studying (I don’t really remember the scores I was receiving, but I remember having to guess on a lot of science questions, which wasn’t a good feeling). This is when I started to investigate DAT study programs and found DAT Bootcamp. The biggest thing for me that made me choose DAT Bootcamp was the outlined day to day schedule they provided. The schedule went through 62-days of instructions for what content to go over, what question banks to answer, and when to take practice tests. The schedule even includes rest and review days. All the videos, question banks, and practice tests were provided and linked within the schedule.
However, I didn’t sign up for DAT Bootcamp until May and a 62-day schedule would have put me taking the test in mid-July, more than 2 months after I originally planned. So, I signed up for the test 42 days away and cut out EVERY review and rest day, also having to double up some of the days for studying. DO NOT DO THIS!! The only reason I am bringing this up is to stress that this is not a good way to go about studying. If I had to redo this whole process again, I would have started studying almost 90 days before I wanted to take the test. Condensing this schedule was only possible for me because I was not in school and had very little going on besides a few shadowing experiences. Even then, I still think I could’ve been more prepared by starting earlier.
By shortening this schedule, it was around 50 hours a week for around 6 weeks. This is totally nuts and was very stressful, so please learn from my mistake and take your time.
Note: The practice test scores listed in the parenthesis below were full length practice tests taken at the end of my studying, AFTER I went over all the content in DAT Bootcamp.
PAT 26 (Practice Test Scores - 21, 24, 22, 20, 21):
Mastering this section is all about practicing and finding what works best for you. Time is the biggest enemy on this part. DAT Bootcamp gave me great strategies to quickly find the correct answers. The most difficult sections of this exam for me were the keyhole section and the angle ranking.
The keyhole section was consistently the section I spent the most time on and scored lower compared to the other sections. The biggest piece of advice I have for this question is to really focus on the length of separation between features. When I was able to eliminate all choices but 2, the deciding factor between correct and incorrect was almost always separation between features.
The angle ranking section was difficult for me because it is the least concrete section. On almost all other sections I feel like I can stare at it long enough and figure it out, but not with angle ranking. This section is all about finding YOUR best strategy by seeing which strategy works best for you with practice.
Overall, the absolute best way to study for the PAT is through tons and tons of practice. DAT Bootcamp gives you more practice questions than you will ever need with their questions banks and question generators. Take advantage of whatever source of practice questions you can and find strategies that work the best for you.
Biology 20 (PT Scores – 18, 19, 19, 19, 19):
Personally, biology was the hardest section for me because of the amount of content. When I originally started my undergraduate career, I was a mechanical engineering major. I then switched to financial mathematics and computer science. It was only until my second semester of sophomore year where I looked into dentistry. By the time I was starting to study for this test, I did not take a single human or anatomy class and only took the bare minimum biology classes. With the lack of previous experience with any of this content and my rushed study schedule, it was very hard for me to score well on this section.
If I had to give advice on this section of the test, I would personally instruct to start studying this section as early as possible. A lot of the other sections come with a lot of practice and little to moderate amounts of content, while the biology is almost entirely content based. Take your time to really understand the overlying concepts. I made the mistake of rushing to all the specific little details to memorize that I didn’t take the time to deeply understand the connection and interactions between all the complexities in biology.
General Chemistry 26 (PT Scores – 21, 21, 22, 20, 26):
I seemed to always score lower than I hoped on this section until my last practice test and test day. Personally, I found it super useful to understand equations on the test for determining relationships. Most of the time I would write down equations to understand a question that was asking about a comparative characteristic. The most important piece of advice I have for this section is to make sure you know your periodic trends and keep up on EVERY exception (no matter how annoying they are). Compared to all other sections, I personally think this section was covered best by DAT Bootcamp. The structure of Dr. Mike’s videos with built-in video questions and explanations was exceptionally helpful.
Organic Chemistry 26 (PT Scores – 21, 22, 22, 21, 20):
Memorize your reactions. Mechanisms are a very minimal part of the DAT, but make sure you know every reactant and product that is covered. A lot of functional group interactions and stabilities are tested, as well. I found this section much easier on the real test than from Bootcamp, but that is likely because they wanted to cover even the little chance of a difficult question appearing on the test.
Reading Comp. 23 (PT Scores – 21, 24, 22, 21, 21)
I always struggle with time on this section. DAT Bootcamp outlines many strategies that I didn’t have much time to test out. Personally, I read through the paragraph fully and then answer the questions after. However, I know there are strategies out there that can help save time and studying for this section is all about applying the best strategy for you.
Quantitative Reasoning 30 (PT Scores – 22, 21, 30, 30, 30):
I generally found this section to be my best/easiest. Math had always been my favorite and strongest subject, and DAT Bootcamp did a great job at picking out very difficult questions as practice to make sure I would get them right on the test. Overall, I think the best way to study for this test is pure practice, as most of the content review comes with reviewing your incorrect answers. The hardest questions on this test for me were questions about 2 statements and whether the 1st, 2nd, both, or neither statements were sufficient to answer the question. For this part, make sure you do not overthink and try and solve the problems when it is not needed. ALWAYS keep the overlying question at the forefront of your attention, as sometimes the statements can be caught up with all the focus and can distract from the original question.
Conclusion:
The DAT is a very difficult test and I think the hardest part is the timing. When you plan to study for this test, please give yourself enough time to go over ALL the material without having to rush. I would recommend AT LEAST 60 days of prior studying to thoroughly go over all the material but would argue for closer to 90 days of lighter studying hours.
As I believe timing is the more difficult part of this exam, I think the best way to study is by taking practice tests (and A LOT of them)! DAT Bootcamp offers 10 full length practice tests, and I took every single one. I even took the official ADA DAT Practice Test and would have taken more if I had time. I think practice tests are the best way to familiarize yourself with the exam. If you are running short on time, take the time to prioritize the practice tests over everything else.
DAT Bootcamp for me was the only source of studying that I used, and it covered everything you need to know for the test by not overcomplicating with any extra details. Bootcamp is also all online, which lets you move at whatever pace is the best for you while keeping the video explanations and a chat-help box that I used often to answer any extra questions I had.
If you have any other questions about my study process, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Scores:
PAT: 26
QR: 30
RC: 23
BIO: 20
GC: 26
OC: 26
TS: 23
AA: 25
Background:
Originally, I planned to take the test after my finals in Junior year in May. I started by just doing practice tests and really delaying my studying at the start. It wasn’t until I started taking those practice tests and seeing actual scores where I realized I needed to buckle down and start dedicating more time to studying (I don’t really remember the scores I was receiving, but I remember having to guess on a lot of science questions, which wasn’t a good feeling). This is when I started to investigate DAT study programs and found DAT Bootcamp. The biggest thing for me that made me choose DAT Bootcamp was the outlined day to day schedule they provided. The schedule went through 62-days of instructions for what content to go over, what question banks to answer, and when to take practice tests. The schedule even includes rest and review days. All the videos, question banks, and practice tests were provided and linked within the schedule.
However, I didn’t sign up for DAT Bootcamp until May and a 62-day schedule would have put me taking the test in mid-July, more than 2 months after I originally planned. So, I signed up for the test 42 days away and cut out EVERY review and rest day, also having to double up some of the days for studying. DO NOT DO THIS!! The only reason I am bringing this up is to stress that this is not a good way to go about studying. If I had to redo this whole process again, I would have started studying almost 90 days before I wanted to take the test. Condensing this schedule was only possible for me because I was not in school and had very little going on besides a few shadowing experiences. Even then, I still think I could’ve been more prepared by starting earlier.
By shortening this schedule, it was around 50 hours a week for around 6 weeks. This is totally nuts and was very stressful, so please learn from my mistake and take your time.
Note: The practice test scores listed in the parenthesis below were full length practice tests taken at the end of my studying, AFTER I went over all the content in DAT Bootcamp.
PAT 26 (Practice Test Scores - 21, 24, 22, 20, 21):
Mastering this section is all about practicing and finding what works best for you. Time is the biggest enemy on this part. DAT Bootcamp gave me great strategies to quickly find the correct answers. The most difficult sections of this exam for me were the keyhole section and the angle ranking.
The keyhole section was consistently the section I spent the most time on and scored lower compared to the other sections. The biggest piece of advice I have for this question is to really focus on the length of separation between features. When I was able to eliminate all choices but 2, the deciding factor between correct and incorrect was almost always separation between features.
The angle ranking section was difficult for me because it is the least concrete section. On almost all other sections I feel like I can stare at it long enough and figure it out, but not with angle ranking. This section is all about finding YOUR best strategy by seeing which strategy works best for you with practice.
Overall, the absolute best way to study for the PAT is through tons and tons of practice. DAT Bootcamp gives you more practice questions than you will ever need with their questions banks and question generators. Take advantage of whatever source of practice questions you can and find strategies that work the best for you.
Biology 20 (PT Scores – 18, 19, 19, 19, 19):
Personally, biology was the hardest section for me because of the amount of content. When I originally started my undergraduate career, I was a mechanical engineering major. I then switched to financial mathematics and computer science. It was only until my second semester of sophomore year where I looked into dentistry. By the time I was starting to study for this test, I did not take a single human or anatomy class and only took the bare minimum biology classes. With the lack of previous experience with any of this content and my rushed study schedule, it was very hard for me to score well on this section.
If I had to give advice on this section of the test, I would personally instruct to start studying this section as early as possible. A lot of the other sections come with a lot of practice and little to moderate amounts of content, while the biology is almost entirely content based. Take your time to really understand the overlying concepts. I made the mistake of rushing to all the specific little details to memorize that I didn’t take the time to deeply understand the connection and interactions between all the complexities in biology.
General Chemistry 26 (PT Scores – 21, 21, 22, 20, 26):
I seemed to always score lower than I hoped on this section until my last practice test and test day. Personally, I found it super useful to understand equations on the test for determining relationships. Most of the time I would write down equations to understand a question that was asking about a comparative characteristic. The most important piece of advice I have for this section is to make sure you know your periodic trends and keep up on EVERY exception (no matter how annoying they are). Compared to all other sections, I personally think this section was covered best by DAT Bootcamp. The structure of Dr. Mike’s videos with built-in video questions and explanations was exceptionally helpful.
Organic Chemistry 26 (PT Scores – 21, 22, 22, 21, 20):
Memorize your reactions. Mechanisms are a very minimal part of the DAT, but make sure you know every reactant and product that is covered. A lot of functional group interactions and stabilities are tested, as well. I found this section much easier on the real test than from Bootcamp, but that is likely because they wanted to cover even the little chance of a difficult question appearing on the test.
Reading Comp. 23 (PT Scores – 21, 24, 22, 21, 21)
I always struggle with time on this section. DAT Bootcamp outlines many strategies that I didn’t have much time to test out. Personally, I read through the paragraph fully and then answer the questions after. However, I know there are strategies out there that can help save time and studying for this section is all about applying the best strategy for you.
Quantitative Reasoning 30 (PT Scores – 22, 21, 30, 30, 30):
I generally found this section to be my best/easiest. Math had always been my favorite and strongest subject, and DAT Bootcamp did a great job at picking out very difficult questions as practice to make sure I would get them right on the test. Overall, I think the best way to study for this test is pure practice, as most of the content review comes with reviewing your incorrect answers. The hardest questions on this test for me were questions about 2 statements and whether the 1st, 2nd, both, or neither statements were sufficient to answer the question. For this part, make sure you do not overthink and try and solve the problems when it is not needed. ALWAYS keep the overlying question at the forefront of your attention, as sometimes the statements can be caught up with all the focus and can distract from the original question.
Conclusion:
The DAT is a very difficult test and I think the hardest part is the timing. When you plan to study for this test, please give yourself enough time to go over ALL the material without having to rush. I would recommend AT LEAST 60 days of prior studying to thoroughly go over all the material but would argue for closer to 90 days of lighter studying hours.
As I believe timing is the more difficult part of this exam, I think the best way to study is by taking practice tests (and A LOT of them)! DAT Bootcamp offers 10 full length practice tests, and I took every single one. I even took the official ADA DAT Practice Test and would have taken more if I had time. I think practice tests are the best way to familiarize yourself with the exam. If you are running short on time, take the time to prioritize the practice tests over everything else.
DAT Bootcamp for me was the only source of studying that I used, and it covered everything you need to know for the test by not overcomplicating with any extra details. Bootcamp is also all online, which lets you move at whatever pace is the best for you while keeping the video explanations and a chat-help box that I used often to answer any extra questions I had.
If you have any other questions about my study process, please don’t hesitate to ask!
