Hello, I am new to this forum and to DAT studying. I am planning to take it next summer and I am studying this summer.
My GPA is not competitive so doing well on the DAT is a must (along with other things). I bought the Kaplan blue book recently and I am planning to finish it soon. I also thought about purchasing the Crack the DAT ace bundle but then I saw many people only purchased the PAT one and used other resources in place of the other Crack DAT sections so I am confused about what to purchase. I also heard DAT destroyer is quite good. Since those study resources are quite pricy, I wanted to buy the right ones.
Can someone suggest me a list of good study materials? Thanks.
First of all, welcome to SDN! I hope you find that this forum is useful
🙂. For the DAT, there are a lot of resources out there, and it does seem a bit daunting when trying to come up with the resources right for you.
However, much of the study material that most SDN-ers use on this site have been tested by DAT takers in past years, so you can be sure that they are helpful in getting a high score on the DAT.
For me personally, I can break down what I used per section. Before doing other reading or using software specific to the section, I recommend finishing Kaplan Blue Book to familiarize yourself with the DAT and build a foundation to work off of. After studying each section thoroughly, then I would move to the practice tests to build speed and simulate the testing environment.
In addition to the Kaplan Blue Book (KBB), I used the following:
Practice Tests: TopScore and DAT Achiever (I prefer TopScore over Achiever)
Biology: DAT Destroyer, DAT qVault, Cliff's AP Bio (Cliff's AP Bio was the most comprehensive resource to study the material, the other two were sets of practice questions)
General Chemistry: Destroyer, Chad's Videos (Videos are on course saver (dot) com - you can Google it; the videos served as a review of the material)
Organic Chemistry: Destroyer, Chad's Videos (same as General Chemistry)
Quantitative Reasoning: Math Destroyer, Chad's Videos (Math Destroyer is separate from the regular DAT Destroyer, but sold from the same company; the videos served as a comprehensive review)
Reading Comprehension: Crack DAT Reading
PAT: Crack DAT PAT (HIGHLY recommend!)
A new feature for this year is the expansion of DAT qVault. They now have test questions for all sections of the DAT. When I used it last year, they only had qVault Biology. I have heard that the whole suite of QVault is very helpful. Basically in a nutshell, Biology will come from Cliff's, GC and OC will be through Chad's Videos, and your practicing of the science sections will be from Destroyer. QR will mostly be practicing of Math Destroyer, and PAT from Crack DAT PAT. If you also want a full review of how these resources compared to the real DAT, feel free to read my DAT Breakdown as linked in my signature.
