DAT for beginners

[sandreic00]

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Hey whats up guys?
I just joined this site and I've read couple of the threads so far, mostly about the DATs. I'm a Pre-dental student and I plan on taking it in a little over a year, but I want to start studying for it now. The reason why is I don't really have a strong background in the sciences. I haven't taken bio or orgo yet, but i have completed gen chem 1 and 2 and physics 1 and 2 so far. My question is what can I start of with first? Do I jump in and buy the DAT destroyer? Or something else? I think my situation is a little more unique because I'm not relearning or going over this stuff, but I'm learning it right now, all this DAT stuff is new to me. Thank you and I look forward to your responses.

 

[Avery07]

Phyiscs isn't on the DAT so that isn't going to help you so much. I would skip the Destroyer for right now and purchase Cliff's AP Biology and maybe the flash cards to go with. If you shop for a deal on Amazon, you can get this for like $20 and it is arguably the best biology resource. You could also purchase Kaplan's study book which I believe is $80. This would cover everything and give you a broad range of things to learn. I would start out by focusing on the biology and getting it down to a T and then jump into chem 1 and 2 and finish strong with Destroyer for O chem.

 

[sandreic00]

Thanks alot Avery, good luck to you

 

[Herme]

I would recommend going all out the first time you take the DAT. If you can, I would recommend the Kaplan online DAT prep course or something like it. It's a little over $1K though. With the course, you'll get a comprehensive book that covers all the information on the DAT. Sure, you can spend tons of time learning all the minutia of each subject, but that can get overwhelming. The comprehensive books have more than enough. Plus, in addition to the material, there are tons of strategies that will help you. Oh-and the practice tests! There are tons! You cannot take too many practice tests. Good Luck!

 

[biggertooth]

I suggest getting a good foundation on all the bio topics because these questions are so random. The best bet is to take more bio courses (genetics, histology, cell biology, etc). I studied a solid 4 months for the DAT. I think this is probably the best way to do it. I studied may, june, july, then august i did my practice exams and just reviewed the concepts I had trouble with. Then I took the exam the beginning of September. This was fine for my application and was still able to get 4 interviews in before December 1st (I applied to 10 schools). Just make sure you put in your AADSAS the first or second week of June.

Good Luck!

If there is a will, there is a way 🙂

 

[uclaDDS101]

Hey whats up guys?
I just joined this site and I've read couple of the threads so far, mostly about the DATs. I'm a Pre-dental student and I plan on taking it in a little over a year, but I want to start studying for it now. The reason why is I don't really have a strong background in the sciences. I haven't taken bio or orgo yet, but i have completed gen chem 1 and 2 and physics 1 and 2 so far. My question is what can I start of with first? Do I jump in and buy the DAT destroyer? Or something else? I think my situation is a little more unique because I'm not relearning or going over this stuff, but I'm learning it right now, all this DAT stuff is new to me. Thank you and I look forward to your responses.

You can start by taking your general bio and ochem classes first. There's no need to get ahead of yourself. I did well on the dat because I built a strong science foundation from doing well in my classes. Focus on your classes first, then you can determine how much you need to study for the dat afterwards. It's not a hard test. Compared to college classes, the info covered on the dat is pretty basic.

 

[sandreic00]

Thanks a lot guys for everything, good luck to all of you

 

[MTD52]

I agree. Finish you bio classes so you'll have a much better idea of what they're talking about when you study. But when you do get to that point, Kaplan BB is a great overview as someone said, and Cliffs covers probably almost everything you'd encounter for bio. And the DAT Destroyer is is a must have IMO, once you get there

 

[sindiim]

I agree that u should complete Bio courses before taking DAT. Not having Orgo seems ok to me, but not Bio.

 

[DrDientes]

Like UCLADDS said, focus on those classes bio and ochem and do well in them. If you can get the material down from your classes you will be more than prepared for the DAT. I didn't get destroyer, but I hear its good. I got good grades in Ochem and had recently taken the class so it was fresh in my mind. I used Chad's videos for gen chem. Just make sure when you are ready to get as many practice tests as you can they are big help.