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Hey SDN. I took my DAT earlier today, and I just thought I would share my experience with everyone. I used several posts like this to help me throughout the process. There is honestly nothing more helpful than learning from past test takers.
I studied for a total of 3 weeks (8am-8pm every day with Sundays off), which I thought was a perfect amount of time. My scores are as follows:
PAT: 25 (99.6%)
QR: 30 (100%)
RC: 23 (92.3%)
Bio: 23 (98.2%)
Gchem: 24 (95.5%)
Ochem: 24 (95%)
TS: 24 (99.4%)
AA: 25 (99.9%)
Proof is attached at bottom.
A little bit about me: I go to the University of Iowa and will be starting my 4th semester next week. I am trying to get to dental school one year early (the reason I took the DAT after only 3 semesters of college). My cumulative GPA is 4.06. My science GPA is 4.09. With this being said, I am by no means a “genius.” I just work really hard when I want something (thank you to my small-town Iowa roots). I would not have scored above average in any of the sections if I didn’t study.
I’ll start with the study materials I used and rate them. I will also give what I think could be improved.
DAT Bootcamp (11/10): Honestly you could take all of the Bootcamp practice tests, study the answers, and you could score 18+ in all sections. Ari really knows what the DAT is like. The only “cons” or weaknesses of Bootcamp (in quotations because I don’t even want to consider them cons, just things that could be improved) would be the unrealistic angle rankings and the inability to use a highlight feature in RC. I was so bad at angles on Bootcamp (I was lucky to get 9 out 15; on the actual test I only had trouble with one series). Note: you could also view this as a pro of Bootcamp. Harder practice makes the actual test seem like a breeze. To my knowledge, nobody provides a highlight feature for RC, so it’s not a big deal that Bootcamp doesn’t have it. Ari is already the GOAT, but I just figured he would appreciate a little constructive criticism (really I’m just nitpicking).
Bootcamp practice scores; 2 per day after 10 days of studying (Bio/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR):
Test 1: 22/24/19/23/17/24
Test 2: 21/22/20/22/18/30
Test 3: 21/21/19/22/22/30
Test 4: 20/24/23/21/25/21
Test 5: 22/21/22/20/21/30
PAT 6-10 (took first): 19/20/20/18/19
Averages:
Bio: 21
GC: 22
OC: 21
PAT: 20
RC: 20
QR: 27
2007 practice test: 24/30/30/24/19/24 (not worth your time)
2009 practice test: 22/21/20/23/19/21 (PAT seemed too easy & QR too hard)-- I made lots of silly mistakes.
Chad’s Videos for the chems and QR (10/10): Everyone already knows about the bald magician. I watched all of the videos on 1.6x speed. It took me 5 afternoons to get through gchem and 4 afternoons to get through ochem. I only have one semester of ochem under my belt, but I learned all the semester 2 topics and lab techniques in one day. Hopefully I’m one step ahead for orgo 2 this semester! Tip on how to take notes (not just limited to Chad’s): make 2 column notes!! Omg I can’t stress this enough. It made studying so much easier. I took very detailed notes, and I could locate things very quickly and flip through gchem or ochem in one hour each. Two column notes are easy on the eyes… Also, take the associated quizzes after each video and understand why each answer is the right one. I’m not going to post my quiz scores. They were all pretty decent and it’s not smart to judge how you’ll perform based on quizzes over material you learned 2 minutes ago. What could be improved? I had one reaction on my test today that wasn’t covered by Chad, but I will gladly take only 4 days of studying ochem and only having one problem I hadn’t seen.
Cliffs AP Bio 3rd edition (10/10): Look, this thing isn’t even intended for the DAT, but it’s amazing. It summarizes 90% of the material you need for the test. “Well if it only summarizes 90% of the info, why wouldn’t you give it a 9/10?” Because it is literally impossible to cover all of the possible subjects that could come up in bio. I went to Ferali’s notes for the most glaring gap in Cliffs (Chapter 11- looked at Ferali’s for bones, skin, eyes, ears). I ended up not having any questions on those topics anyways, but you easily could. They are important concepts. Other than that, I’d stay away from Ferali’s and make your own notes from Cliffs. Ferali’s was way too much for me. I think the creator got a 30 in bio, but that is more than just from those notes. I had 3 questions today that I know for a fact were not in Ferali’s or Cliffs. I also had 0 questions that were covered in Ferali’s, but not Cliffs. You get the point. With this being said, take caution. The question pool for bio is so vast. You never know what you’re going to get.
Math Destroyer (10/10): I only did 2 practice tests in this about 1.5 weeks before my test, but it is very similar to the actual test. I’m not going to give it a lower rating because I didn’t use it much. It is a great source, and should be used (especially by those who struggle with math). I have always LOVED math. My parents tell me I was always demanding them to test me with math problems at a young age. It was honestly fun to be able to go back to the kind of math that I enjoy. Calculus kind of killed my passion for math. I was good at it, but I saw no application in the real world. I know many of you are science/math minded, so use the DAT as a chance to reminisce on the good ol’ days when math wasn’t about derivatives and integrals.
DAT Destroyer (9/10): Bio is probably the best section in this. I only did about 200 bio problems (I only got 22/40 correct in one of the sets of 40, but I ended up knowing that material better than anything by test day) and 60 in each of the chems. Some people talk about the roadmaps in the ochem section and how they memorized them perfectly. However, I strongly advise against that. The roadmaps are great tools, but don’t just memorize them. Use them to learn each individual reaction within the roadmaps. I am not saying to stay away from the roadmaps!! Use them, but use them constructively. Also, if you want to be one of those people that goes through this book 3 times, be my guest, but IMO you are wasting your time the 2nd and 3rd time through. Just study your mistakes? No need to go through 1,000+ problems more than once… What could be improved? I didn’t necessarily like the bio questions where one of the answer choices was something like “2 of the above.” It would be more beneficial to have the 2 specific choices (e.g. “A & B”). I also found simply studying gchem and ochem to be more productive than doing the problems. This varies from person to person though. It is a great resource overall. I recommend that everyone gets it and tries it out. However, don’t feel the need to do ALL the problems. It’s obviously beneficial if you do, but be able to understand how well you understand certain concepts and how much time you need to spend on each concept. This is more important than anything. Don’t waste your time going over the problems you could do in your sleep.
BarCharts, Inc. Quick Study Biology (8/10): I found this thing at a truck stop and it’s pretty handy. I’m pretty sure you can get this online, along with many other subjects. Don’t use it as a source of information, but as something to just glance over every now and then. It is basically a summarized version of Cliffs.
Now I’ll break it down by section.
Bio: You could study for 5,000 hours in bio and still see random questions on the DAT that you’ve never encountered before. Biology will take up the most time, but I strongly recommend not spending TOO much time on it that you start ignoring the other sections. You will run into new biology terms/concepts that you’ve never seen each and every day. Focus on taking note of the questions you miss on Bootcamp or in destroyer rather than looking too deep into the concepts. Remember it is a multiple-choice test. You only need to be able to recognize the correct answer. IMO if you have a good understanding of Cliffs (score above 85ish on the 2 MC practice tests), you will know 30 of the 40 questions you see on test day. I thought 20ish of the bio questions were “gimme” material, 15ish were medium-hard difficulty, I remembered 2 from my bio course this past semester, and the other 3ish were from way out of left field (so about 5 total that weren’t in Cliffs). I could have studied for 3 more months and would not have gotten these. I’m assuming I missed these 3 along with a HWE question that was really strange. Bio in short: have a good understanding of Cliffs and you should be at least in the 19-20+ range.
Gchem: Okay, I really want to know what I missed here. I was rolling through this section until I stumbled upon one really goofy question in my last 5-6 questions. I must have just made a silly mistake somewhere else. As far as you’re concerned though, just hammer Chad’s material into your head. I wouldn’t watch the videos more than once unless there’s a topic you are really struggling with. Just take really good notes and look over them when you have time. Like many others, I found the gen chem section to be much easier on the actual DAT than any of my study materials. Gchem in short: Chad and his shiny head are your best friends.
Ochem: Like I said earlier, there was only one mechanism that I didn’t see in Chad’s videos. Who knows, maybe it was covered and I just forgot it. I also had a brain fart on another mechanism that I know. I just couldn’t think of it at the time. These must have been the two I missed. Overall, I think this is very similar to gchem in terms of difficulty. However, I think the study material I used was pretty on par with the level of difficulty I saw on the test. I did have fewer semester 2 concepts today than I saw on most of my practice stuff though. That is probably just a matter of chance. A friend of mine told me she saw mainly semester 2 concepts. So be prepared for all of it. Ochem in short: Chad and his shiny head are your best friends once again (you could probably ignore day 6 about biomolecules though).
PAT: I was not expecting to get a 25 here. That was my goal going in based on practice tests, but wow did I struggle with keyhole and TFE today. TFE was one of my stronger areas, but I saw a lot of triangles and weirdly sloped shapes on the actual exam that I wasn’t prepared for. Keyhole was never a strong suit for me. I struggled on a good 10 of the first 30, but in the last 60 (angles, hole punching, cubes, and folding) there were probably only two or three I had to look hard at. IMO you should sweep hole punching and cube counting. Especially cube counting. I recommend going through cube counting in about 5 minutes-- after you do practice problems you won’t have to count sides, you will just be familiar with the look of cubes and what number they correspond to. At the end of the test if you still have time, go back through the cubes in about 3 minutes and make sure you get them all right. You cannot miss these (the bad thing is if you do slip up and miss one, you usually miss 2 or 3). Then, if you still have even more time, go back through the more complicated looking hole punches. You may wonder why I recommend going over the easier topics twice, but the explanation is this: you need ~69/90 to get a 20+ in this section. If you double check cube counting and hole punching you will hopefully get 30 points there (maybe you slip up and get a 29). Then, you just need ~40 of the last 60. I’m not saying 40/60 here is easy, but even if you get 30/60, you’re getting out with an 18. PAT in short: do Bootcamp generators if and when you have time, but don’t spend too much time here unless you are really struggling. Remember the angles on Bootcamp are killers compared to the real thing (I think this is the consensus throughout SDN). Ace cubes/hole punching.
RC: Wow, I am excited about this score! I knew going into the test today that this score was going to make or break my day. I really struggled to find a successful strategy through my practice. I never did, honestly. I made up my own method during the test (I’m sure it’s not “my own” method and other people have done the same), and just prayed that it would work. I started by reading the first five questions (not including the answers) and jotting down one or two keywords. Then, I read through the passage and wrote up to 3 details in each paragraph (make a numbered list during your break). I answered questions when I stumbled upon a keyword. After answering 3 questions, I read three more questions and jotted keywords down (now there’s 5 unanswered questions). Then, just rinse and repeat. Reason for doing 5 questions: they probably aren’t going to give you questions too out of order, but if they do, you’ll be prepared. Reason for jotting keywords from paragraphs: if you get to the last few questions and they happen to be from earlier on in the passage, you will be able to look quickly through your notes. I thought this worked outstanding for me. I was expecting higher than a 23 when I was done to be honest. I was flying through the passages and finished with 10 minutes left. This was a surprise as I always ran out of time on Bootcamp. I didn’t have a single question that was like “both of the statements are true, the statement is true, but the reasoning is false…”. So, if you’re missing a lot of these on Bootcamp, don’t sweat it too much. You may see some, but not as many as Bootcamp. RC in short: find a method that works for you; even if it isn’t until test day!
QR: Well, I was speechless when I saw this. I mean, I didn’t know real life human beings got 30s on anything. I studied for this section the least by far (apart from RC- you can’t really study that). I watched Chad’s videos and that’s about all I did for studying in this. Math is always one of those things that you either get or you don’t. So, if you’ve been decent at math in the past, watch Chad’s videos on 2x speed and just do a few practice tests. You should get 20+. If you struggle with math, think about how you want to prioritize things. Are you okay with scoring a 16-18 on QR if you make up for it in other areas? I have no clue how dental schools look at the DAT, but I would assume QR is probably the least important score if there is such a thing (good thing this was my best section, huh?). If you are not okay with scoring in that range, I would recommend pushing your test back one week. Focus hard for a full week on QR, and you should be able to get in the low 20 range. QR in short: a high score is probably going to be hard to achieve if you historically struggle with math. However, if you have been strong with math throughout your life, it will probably be the easiest section for you to score in the mid to high 20s.
All in all, I would say that all of the materials I mentioned above are perfect for studying for the DAT. I don’t think you want to use anything more than the listed resources, and I don’t think you should use anything less. Thank you to the SDN community for sharing these resources with everyone. I researched on SDN for days before deciding which materials would be best. While different people have different ways of learning things, I believe these resources fit any learning style. You get visual learning through Chad’s videos and Bootcamp and their solution explanations, you get diagrams in Cliffs/orgo destroyer, you get a plethora of practice problems in the destroyer books, and text descriptions in all of the above. I would strongly advise against using too many more resources than these. While breadth is important, it is better to nail down fewer resources. Being an expert in one thing is better than being mediocre at many, remember that.
Lastly, I want to make a desperate plea to the pre-dent community. YOU DO NOT NEED TO STUDY FOR 3-5 MONTHS TO CONQUER THE DAT. Some people take longer than others, but nobody needs THAT long. I would have gone insane. It pains me to see how stressed out some people get over this. I have seen things on here about broken relationships and lost friendships because people would totally abandon their social lives to study?! No! Do not do that. I very strongly encourage you to study long and hard for no more than one month. After that, you will begin to forget things. By only studying for 3 weeks, I benefited in several ways: 1) I kept my sanity 2) I could literally hear Chad’s voice in my head during the exam because it was still fresh in my mind 3) I remembered everything that I missed in my practice problems 4) I got a high score- I truly believe that I would have scored far lower if I spent another 2 months on this.
Important note: everybody’s testing experience varies. I shared with you SDNers how I would advise a good friend to prepare for the DAT.
I am open to anyone’s questions, and I would be more than happy to help you. If my study schedule is a popular demand, I will share that at a later date.
I studied for a total of 3 weeks (8am-8pm every day with Sundays off), which I thought was a perfect amount of time. My scores are as follows:
PAT: 25 (99.6%)
QR: 30 (100%)
RC: 23 (92.3%)
Bio: 23 (98.2%)
Gchem: 24 (95.5%)
Ochem: 24 (95%)
TS: 24 (99.4%)
AA: 25 (99.9%)
Proof is attached at bottom.
A little bit about me: I go to the University of Iowa and will be starting my 4th semester next week. I am trying to get to dental school one year early (the reason I took the DAT after only 3 semesters of college). My cumulative GPA is 4.06. My science GPA is 4.09. With this being said, I am by no means a “genius.” I just work really hard when I want something (thank you to my small-town Iowa roots). I would not have scored above average in any of the sections if I didn’t study.
I’ll start with the study materials I used and rate them. I will also give what I think could be improved.
DAT Bootcamp (11/10): Honestly you could take all of the Bootcamp practice tests, study the answers, and you could score 18+ in all sections. Ari really knows what the DAT is like. The only “cons” or weaknesses of Bootcamp (in quotations because I don’t even want to consider them cons, just things that could be improved) would be the unrealistic angle rankings and the inability to use a highlight feature in RC. I was so bad at angles on Bootcamp (I was lucky to get 9 out 15; on the actual test I only had trouble with one series). Note: you could also view this as a pro of Bootcamp. Harder practice makes the actual test seem like a breeze. To my knowledge, nobody provides a highlight feature for RC, so it’s not a big deal that Bootcamp doesn’t have it. Ari is already the GOAT, but I just figured he would appreciate a little constructive criticism (really I’m just nitpicking).
Bootcamp practice scores; 2 per day after 10 days of studying (Bio/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR):
Test 1: 22/24/19/23/17/24
Test 2: 21/22/20/22/18/30
Test 3: 21/21/19/22/22/30
Test 4: 20/24/23/21/25/21
Test 5: 22/21/22/20/21/30
PAT 6-10 (took first): 19/20/20/18/19
Averages:
Bio: 21
GC: 22
OC: 21
PAT: 20
RC: 20
QR: 27
2007 practice test: 24/30/30/24/19/24 (not worth your time)
2009 practice test: 22/21/20/23/19/21 (PAT seemed too easy & QR too hard)-- I made lots of silly mistakes.
Chad’s Videos for the chems and QR (10/10): Everyone already knows about the bald magician. I watched all of the videos on 1.6x speed. It took me 5 afternoons to get through gchem and 4 afternoons to get through ochem. I only have one semester of ochem under my belt, but I learned all the semester 2 topics and lab techniques in one day. Hopefully I’m one step ahead for orgo 2 this semester! Tip on how to take notes (not just limited to Chad’s): make 2 column notes!! Omg I can’t stress this enough. It made studying so much easier. I took very detailed notes, and I could locate things very quickly and flip through gchem or ochem in one hour each. Two column notes are easy on the eyes… Also, take the associated quizzes after each video and understand why each answer is the right one. I’m not going to post my quiz scores. They were all pretty decent and it’s not smart to judge how you’ll perform based on quizzes over material you learned 2 minutes ago. What could be improved? I had one reaction on my test today that wasn’t covered by Chad, but I will gladly take only 4 days of studying ochem and only having one problem I hadn’t seen.
Cliffs AP Bio 3rd edition (10/10): Look, this thing isn’t even intended for the DAT, but it’s amazing. It summarizes 90% of the material you need for the test. “Well if it only summarizes 90% of the info, why wouldn’t you give it a 9/10?” Because it is literally impossible to cover all of the possible subjects that could come up in bio. I went to Ferali’s notes for the most glaring gap in Cliffs (Chapter 11- looked at Ferali’s for bones, skin, eyes, ears). I ended up not having any questions on those topics anyways, but you easily could. They are important concepts. Other than that, I’d stay away from Ferali’s and make your own notes from Cliffs. Ferali’s was way too much for me. I think the creator got a 30 in bio, but that is more than just from those notes. I had 3 questions today that I know for a fact were not in Ferali’s or Cliffs. I also had 0 questions that were covered in Ferali’s, but not Cliffs. You get the point. With this being said, take caution. The question pool for bio is so vast. You never know what you’re going to get.
Math Destroyer (10/10): I only did 2 practice tests in this about 1.5 weeks before my test, but it is very similar to the actual test. I’m not going to give it a lower rating because I didn’t use it much. It is a great source, and should be used (especially by those who struggle with math). I have always LOVED math. My parents tell me I was always demanding them to test me with math problems at a young age. It was honestly fun to be able to go back to the kind of math that I enjoy. Calculus kind of killed my passion for math. I was good at it, but I saw no application in the real world. I know many of you are science/math minded, so use the DAT as a chance to reminisce on the good ol’ days when math wasn’t about derivatives and integrals.
DAT Destroyer (9/10): Bio is probably the best section in this. I only did about 200 bio problems (I only got 22/40 correct in one of the sets of 40, but I ended up knowing that material better than anything by test day) and 60 in each of the chems. Some people talk about the roadmaps in the ochem section and how they memorized them perfectly. However, I strongly advise against that. The roadmaps are great tools, but don’t just memorize them. Use them to learn each individual reaction within the roadmaps. I am not saying to stay away from the roadmaps!! Use them, but use them constructively. Also, if you want to be one of those people that goes through this book 3 times, be my guest, but IMO you are wasting your time the 2nd and 3rd time through. Just study your mistakes? No need to go through 1,000+ problems more than once… What could be improved? I didn’t necessarily like the bio questions where one of the answer choices was something like “2 of the above.” It would be more beneficial to have the 2 specific choices (e.g. “A & B”). I also found simply studying gchem and ochem to be more productive than doing the problems. This varies from person to person though. It is a great resource overall. I recommend that everyone gets it and tries it out. However, don’t feel the need to do ALL the problems. It’s obviously beneficial if you do, but be able to understand how well you understand certain concepts and how much time you need to spend on each concept. This is more important than anything. Don’t waste your time going over the problems you could do in your sleep.
BarCharts, Inc. Quick Study Biology (8/10): I found this thing at a truck stop and it’s pretty handy. I’m pretty sure you can get this online, along with many other subjects. Don’t use it as a source of information, but as something to just glance over every now and then. It is basically a summarized version of Cliffs.
Now I’ll break it down by section.
Bio: You could study for 5,000 hours in bio and still see random questions on the DAT that you’ve never encountered before. Biology will take up the most time, but I strongly recommend not spending TOO much time on it that you start ignoring the other sections. You will run into new biology terms/concepts that you’ve never seen each and every day. Focus on taking note of the questions you miss on Bootcamp or in destroyer rather than looking too deep into the concepts. Remember it is a multiple-choice test. You only need to be able to recognize the correct answer. IMO if you have a good understanding of Cliffs (score above 85ish on the 2 MC practice tests), you will know 30 of the 40 questions you see on test day. I thought 20ish of the bio questions were “gimme” material, 15ish were medium-hard difficulty, I remembered 2 from my bio course this past semester, and the other 3ish were from way out of left field (so about 5 total that weren’t in Cliffs). I could have studied for 3 more months and would not have gotten these. I’m assuming I missed these 3 along with a HWE question that was really strange. Bio in short: have a good understanding of Cliffs and you should be at least in the 19-20+ range.
Gchem: Okay, I really want to know what I missed here. I was rolling through this section until I stumbled upon one really goofy question in my last 5-6 questions. I must have just made a silly mistake somewhere else. As far as you’re concerned though, just hammer Chad’s material into your head. I wouldn’t watch the videos more than once unless there’s a topic you are really struggling with. Just take really good notes and look over them when you have time. Like many others, I found the gen chem section to be much easier on the actual DAT than any of my study materials. Gchem in short: Chad and his shiny head are your best friends.
Ochem: Like I said earlier, there was only one mechanism that I didn’t see in Chad’s videos. Who knows, maybe it was covered and I just forgot it. I also had a brain fart on another mechanism that I know. I just couldn’t think of it at the time. These must have been the two I missed. Overall, I think this is very similar to gchem in terms of difficulty. However, I think the study material I used was pretty on par with the level of difficulty I saw on the test. I did have fewer semester 2 concepts today than I saw on most of my practice stuff though. That is probably just a matter of chance. A friend of mine told me she saw mainly semester 2 concepts. So be prepared for all of it. Ochem in short: Chad and his shiny head are your best friends once again (you could probably ignore day 6 about biomolecules though).
PAT: I was not expecting to get a 25 here. That was my goal going in based on practice tests, but wow did I struggle with keyhole and TFE today. TFE was one of my stronger areas, but I saw a lot of triangles and weirdly sloped shapes on the actual exam that I wasn’t prepared for. Keyhole was never a strong suit for me. I struggled on a good 10 of the first 30, but in the last 60 (angles, hole punching, cubes, and folding) there were probably only two or three I had to look hard at. IMO you should sweep hole punching and cube counting. Especially cube counting. I recommend going through cube counting in about 5 minutes-- after you do practice problems you won’t have to count sides, you will just be familiar with the look of cubes and what number they correspond to. At the end of the test if you still have time, go back through the cubes in about 3 minutes and make sure you get them all right. You cannot miss these (the bad thing is if you do slip up and miss one, you usually miss 2 or 3). Then, if you still have even more time, go back through the more complicated looking hole punches. You may wonder why I recommend going over the easier topics twice, but the explanation is this: you need ~69/90 to get a 20+ in this section. If you double check cube counting and hole punching you will hopefully get 30 points there (maybe you slip up and get a 29). Then, you just need ~40 of the last 60. I’m not saying 40/60 here is easy, but even if you get 30/60, you’re getting out with an 18. PAT in short: do Bootcamp generators if and when you have time, but don’t spend too much time here unless you are really struggling. Remember the angles on Bootcamp are killers compared to the real thing (I think this is the consensus throughout SDN). Ace cubes/hole punching.
RC: Wow, I am excited about this score! I knew going into the test today that this score was going to make or break my day. I really struggled to find a successful strategy through my practice. I never did, honestly. I made up my own method during the test (I’m sure it’s not “my own” method and other people have done the same), and just prayed that it would work. I started by reading the first five questions (not including the answers) and jotting down one or two keywords. Then, I read through the passage and wrote up to 3 details in each paragraph (make a numbered list during your break). I answered questions when I stumbled upon a keyword. After answering 3 questions, I read three more questions and jotted keywords down (now there’s 5 unanswered questions). Then, just rinse and repeat. Reason for doing 5 questions: they probably aren’t going to give you questions too out of order, but if they do, you’ll be prepared. Reason for jotting keywords from paragraphs: if you get to the last few questions and they happen to be from earlier on in the passage, you will be able to look quickly through your notes. I thought this worked outstanding for me. I was expecting higher than a 23 when I was done to be honest. I was flying through the passages and finished with 10 minutes left. This was a surprise as I always ran out of time on Bootcamp. I didn’t have a single question that was like “both of the statements are true, the statement is true, but the reasoning is false…”. So, if you’re missing a lot of these on Bootcamp, don’t sweat it too much. You may see some, but not as many as Bootcamp. RC in short: find a method that works for you; even if it isn’t until test day!
QR: Well, I was speechless when I saw this. I mean, I didn’t know real life human beings got 30s on anything. I studied for this section the least by far (apart from RC- you can’t really study that). I watched Chad’s videos and that’s about all I did for studying in this. Math is always one of those things that you either get or you don’t. So, if you’ve been decent at math in the past, watch Chad’s videos on 2x speed and just do a few practice tests. You should get 20+. If you struggle with math, think about how you want to prioritize things. Are you okay with scoring a 16-18 on QR if you make up for it in other areas? I have no clue how dental schools look at the DAT, but I would assume QR is probably the least important score if there is such a thing (good thing this was my best section, huh?). If you are not okay with scoring in that range, I would recommend pushing your test back one week. Focus hard for a full week on QR, and you should be able to get in the low 20 range. QR in short: a high score is probably going to be hard to achieve if you historically struggle with math. However, if you have been strong with math throughout your life, it will probably be the easiest section for you to score in the mid to high 20s.
All in all, I would say that all of the materials I mentioned above are perfect for studying for the DAT. I don’t think you want to use anything more than the listed resources, and I don’t think you should use anything less. Thank you to the SDN community for sharing these resources with everyone. I researched on SDN for days before deciding which materials would be best. While different people have different ways of learning things, I believe these resources fit any learning style. You get visual learning through Chad’s videos and Bootcamp and their solution explanations, you get diagrams in Cliffs/orgo destroyer, you get a plethora of practice problems in the destroyer books, and text descriptions in all of the above. I would strongly advise against using too many more resources than these. While breadth is important, it is better to nail down fewer resources. Being an expert in one thing is better than being mediocre at many, remember that.
Lastly, I want to make a desperate plea to the pre-dent community. YOU DO NOT NEED TO STUDY FOR 3-5 MONTHS TO CONQUER THE DAT. Some people take longer than others, but nobody needs THAT long. I would have gone insane. It pains me to see how stressed out some people get over this. I have seen things on here about broken relationships and lost friendships because people would totally abandon their social lives to study?! No! Do not do that. I very strongly encourage you to study long and hard for no more than one month. After that, you will begin to forget things. By only studying for 3 weeks, I benefited in several ways: 1) I kept my sanity 2) I could literally hear Chad’s voice in my head during the exam because it was still fresh in my mind 3) I remembered everything that I missed in my practice problems 4) I got a high score- I truly believe that I would have scored far lower if I spent another 2 months on this.
Important note: everybody’s testing experience varies. I shared with you SDNers how I would advise a good friend to prepare for the DAT.
I am open to anyone’s questions, and I would be more than happy to help you. If my study schedule is a popular demand, I will share that at a later date.
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