afuturedentist
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- Jan 7, 2022
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Reading others’ breakdowns motivated me and gave me hope during my studying, so I hope this is helpful to someone out there!
For background, I graduated with a degree in biology and then switched career paths to dental. For DAT prep, I studied full-time for 11 weeks (8-9 hours/day, 6ish days/week) and really only used Bootcamp. I feel that Bootcamp prepared me really well. I followed Ari’s study schedule strictly for the first half, but when I started getting burnt out, I adjusted my schedule. I took more days to take breaks, review my weak spots, and delay the schedule’s tasks. I’d feel guilty taking breaks, but they’re so important! When reviewing practice tests, I’d go through each question to make sure I knew why the correct answer was correct but also why the incorrect answers were incorrect. The day before the test, I did some light review because not doing anything would make me feel too lax and not have a sense of urgency. Generally, I’d say Bootcamp’s practice tests are harder than the actual DAT, and I had time at the end of each section to review some answers. My biggest piece of advice is to work hard and trust the process. You got this!!!
27 AA / 28 TS / 26 PAT
Bio (30) - I found that the questions were broader, so I’d agree with the notion of breadth over depth. I read Bio Academy while annotating the Bio Notes and went through Bio Bites the day after. I did some Anki towards the latter half of my studying but not that much since I’d be too tired. I spent some days solely reviewing bio topics by writing my own notes and diagrams. At first, I resisted using the silly mnemonics, but don’t resist them. They do work!
GC (24) - I annotated the lesson outline while watching Dr. Mike’s videos, studied the lab techniques sheet, and became familiar with the equation sheet.
OC (30) - I basically relearned everything through Dr. Mike’s videos. Writing my own study guide and list of reaction mechanisms was useful for my memorization. There’s no way around the memorization for individual reactions, but truly understanding acids/bases and resonance is crucial.
PAT (26) - Keyholes and TFE (the worst) were easier than Bootcamp. Angle ranking, hole punching, and pattern folding were about the same difficulty. Cube counting was on the tricky side, but nothing you can’t handle after Bootcamp. I would emphasize daily practice for this! I stopped practicing in the middle of my studying to focus on other topics, and I significantly slowed down and kinda forgot how to do keyholes and TFE. I tried to do PAT trainer daily and practice keyholes, pattern folding, and TFE with the question banks and generators.
RC (26) - I’m a slow reader, but after watching the RC Academy videos, I knew the BYU4U method would work for me. This section was more straightforward than Bootcamp passages in terms of topics and the way it was written. My mouse scroller was deactivated as noted in the tutorial, so I had to manually drag the slider bar.
QR (27) - This section surprisingly wasn’t as painful as I had expected. The comparison/sufficiency questions were simpler. I watched all the QR Academy videos as a math refresher and memorized the equation sheet.
Good luck!!!
For background, I graduated with a degree in biology and then switched career paths to dental. For DAT prep, I studied full-time for 11 weeks (8-9 hours/day, 6ish days/week) and really only used Bootcamp. I feel that Bootcamp prepared me really well. I followed Ari’s study schedule strictly for the first half, but when I started getting burnt out, I adjusted my schedule. I took more days to take breaks, review my weak spots, and delay the schedule’s tasks. I’d feel guilty taking breaks, but they’re so important! When reviewing practice tests, I’d go through each question to make sure I knew why the correct answer was correct but also why the incorrect answers were incorrect. The day before the test, I did some light review because not doing anything would make me feel too lax and not have a sense of urgency. Generally, I’d say Bootcamp’s practice tests are harder than the actual DAT, and I had time at the end of each section to review some answers. My biggest piece of advice is to work hard and trust the process. You got this!!!
27 AA / 28 TS / 26 PAT
Bio (30) - I found that the questions were broader, so I’d agree with the notion of breadth over depth. I read Bio Academy while annotating the Bio Notes and went through Bio Bites the day after. I did some Anki towards the latter half of my studying but not that much since I’d be too tired. I spent some days solely reviewing bio topics by writing my own notes and diagrams. At first, I resisted using the silly mnemonics, but don’t resist them. They do work!
GC (24) - I annotated the lesson outline while watching Dr. Mike’s videos, studied the lab techniques sheet, and became familiar with the equation sheet.
OC (30) - I basically relearned everything through Dr. Mike’s videos. Writing my own study guide and list of reaction mechanisms was useful for my memorization. There’s no way around the memorization for individual reactions, but truly understanding acids/bases and resonance is crucial.
PAT (26) - Keyholes and TFE (the worst) were easier than Bootcamp. Angle ranking, hole punching, and pattern folding were about the same difficulty. Cube counting was on the tricky side, but nothing you can’t handle after Bootcamp. I would emphasize daily practice for this! I stopped practicing in the middle of my studying to focus on other topics, and I significantly slowed down and kinda forgot how to do keyholes and TFE. I tried to do PAT trainer daily and practice keyholes, pattern folding, and TFE with the question banks and generators.
RC (26) - I’m a slow reader, but after watching the RC Academy videos, I knew the BYU4U method would work for me. This section was more straightforward than Bootcamp passages in terms of topics and the way it was written. My mouse scroller was deactivated as noted in the tutorial, so I had to manually drag the slider bar.
QR (27) - This section surprisingly wasn’t as painful as I had expected. The comparison/sufficiency questions were simpler. I watched all the QR Academy videos as a math refresher and memorized the equation sheet.
Good luck!!!
