So I'm about to become a junior after this semester. I had planned on starting to study for the DAT and taking it this summer between my 2 junior semesters. Being that I transferred my status will change between next fall and spring semester from a junior to a senior. I really don't know when I should start studying for the DAT or what to use. I dont take biology until the spring semester of this year and i took chemistry last semester. I'm not sure if I should wait until after I take 2 semesters of bio to start studying for the DAT or if I should go ahead and try without the second semester. Also I wanted to know what study materials people have found helpful. Topscore, DAT destroyer, Kaplan classes? please help and tia!
here is my sugestion.
i just took DAT today and got decent scores
bio 20
gc 25
oc 21
pat 25
rc 18
qr 22
TS 22
AA 21
i took all my prereq at least 3 yrs ago and did not remember anything from it, so it might not apply to you.
for bio section ----- if you are taking DAT not soon just review all your class notes and exams---- i did not have the luxury and only had a month to study everything- i read schaum- the questions are not very useful in the secction but it helps understanding basics (it is the only book i looked and i found it very helpful, don't need to memorize everything- but to review and understand)--- and i watched specific biological process (ex glycolysis..etc) on khanuniversity.com
for g-chem, it's not alot of info- it took about 1 day of reviewing kaplan- just skimming through. Solving destroyer was THE BEST method and i found very similar and same questions on the DAT. DESTROYER does it! and there are not many questions to go over - 250 questions- probably takes you 2-3days to go over
for ochem, DESTROYER!!! again!! i did not do anything but destroyer i know i did not do so well on Ochem but i usually pulled 25 above on the practice run - i blame my bad time management during DAT for low score on Ochem, not DESTROYER.
for PAT, CrackDAT -- do 5 of them and you would become expert!
(crackdat is same exact format, but it has better and finer representation/resolution of subject than real DAT, figure of real DAT wasn't was definite quality- meaning have to go with best answers on some questions)
RC, i can't recommend since i dont' know what i am doing and i only did a few practice for last two days and got VERY LOW on it - did not have time for it, and i knew iwould be bad so i neglected it.
another thing i did was, solving problems and going over wrongs.
achiever, topscore(i did not like it so much, but i found one or two bio questions from it), CrackDAT (only PAT and RC), princeton, destroyer (QR, GC, OC)
REminder- don't be discouraged if you get low on the first practice
10 days ago i could not finish one part of DAT on time. got 11-15 on all section. i think bio was 15 and everything was 11 or 12.
Last practice (yesterday) i was able to get BIO 20 OC 28 GC 25 PAT 29 RC 16 (haha no joke right?) well, my point is bio section is very hard to raise your score unless you prepared for it for a long time but PAT GC OC QR you just need less than 2 weeks of cramping to get what i got!
OC and GC was harder than i expected and RC was easier than i expected (still did not do well but it was easier than what i practiced-- it was very similar structure to CrackDAT RC, somewhat not scientific magazine type i expected)
i hope this helps!
