DAT Prep

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sabrina85

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I'm planning on taking the DATs towards the end of summer, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to approach studying. I figured I'd take a Kaplan class and just stay really focused on my studying this summer, but after looking at some of the threads I'm not really sure about this anymore. I've taken all my sciences except for Bio 2, so what do you guys think is the best way to prepare for the DATs?

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in the early stages, i set a specific interval to study. i promised myself i would study 25 pages a day out of the kaplan every day. i didn't want the interval to be in units of time cause i know i'd cheat myself and get distracted by breaks. so i used pages instead. so it took a little less than a month to finish the entire kaplan book. after that i went through it one more time but bumped it up to 50 pages and made flash cards of the science sections. then i ordered the infamous dat destroyer (google it) and did 70 problems a day. and right now i'm going over it a second time but in 20 problem sets, making sure i understand the concepts. its gonna sound weird but studying for the dat is addicting. i feel odd if i dont study every day. its like a meal. a bad tasting one :p . i plan on taking mine on march 16 so i have about a month to go. you have a lot of time so just pace yourself and develop a routine. everyone's different. good luck.
 
in the early stages, i set a specific interval to study. i promised myself i would study 25 pages a day out of the kaplan every day. i didn't want the interval to be in units of time cause i know i'd cheat myself and get distracted by breaks. so i used pages instead. so it took a little less than a month to finish the entire kaplan book. after that i went through it one more time but bumped it up to 50 pages and made flash cards of the science sections. then i ordered the infamous dat destroyer (google it) and did 70 problems a day. and right now i'm going over it a second time but in 20 problem sets, making sure i understand the concepts. its gonna sound weird but studying for the dat is addicting. i feel odd if i dont study every day. its like a meal. a bad tasting one :p . i plan on taking mine on march 16 so i have about a month to go. you have a lot of time so just pace yourself and develop a routine. everyone's different. good luck.

haha yea, I know what you mean about studying being addictive. Whenever I'm really focused, it kind of consumes me. That's really good advice. Thanks and good luck to you too!!

The only thing is that everyone I've talked to taking PCATs and MCATs has said that Kaplan was really beneficial and I should definitely do it.
 
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I think Kaplan courses are waste of money. I paid $1000 and took the online course and only got 18AA. Learn from my mistakes. You can only spend about $250 - 300 for the DAT studying materials(Kaplan bluebook, DAT DESTROYER, Topscore, Achiever) and do so much better.

Like everyone says here. Buy the Kaplan bluebook that costs like $45 at a bookstore or Amazon.com and study that for a while. After you understand everything in there, buy DAT DESTROYER (google it). DAT Destroyer will give you a strong foundation in science section and you can call the author if you have questions. Then, buy TOPSCORE or DAT Achiever (google it) for $50 each. They have 3 sets of entire DAT sample tests each. Do the problems over and over again until you understand them.

Good luck with studying!
 
I think Kaplan courses are waste of money. I paid $1000 and took the online course and only got 18AA. Learn from my mistakes. You can only spend about $250 - 300 for the DAT studying materials(Kaplan bluebook, DAT DESTROYER, Topscore, Achiever) and do so much better.

Like everyone says here. Buy the Kaplan bluebook that costs like $45 at a bookstore or Amazon.com and study that for a while. After you understand everything in there, buy DAT DESTROYER (google it). DAT Destroyer will give you a strong foundation in science section and you can call the author if you have questions. Then, buy TOPSCORE or DAT Achiever (google it) for $50 each. They have 3 sets of entire DAT sample tests each. Do the problems over and over again until you understand them.

Good luck with studying!

Thanks so much!! I can call the author? That's pretty amazing haha
 
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