DAT Studying Timeframe

[HatInTheCat]

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Hello!

I'm planning to apply next June for the 2017 cycle, and I am a career changer student.

I teach high school English full time, and I take my courses during the evenings.

That being said, I wanted to take the DAT in February and study for it right when the college semester ends early December. K-12 doesn't start break until the 20th.

I was thinking that if I need to take off spring semester from taking courses and do the preparation, then I'll be fine with picking back up the rest of my three classes summer and fall (A&P II, Biochem, and Physics II).

However, if preparation takes only a couple of months where I can study after work in the evenings and full time during the holiday break when work and school are both on hiatus, then I'll take my chances with taking two classes in the spring.

Does anyone have advice to this that's worked in the past? Thanks!

 

[Typical Average Student]

I've seen it done but you need to plan out everything and be very proactive and not slack off.
I recommend using DAT Bootcamp, DAT Destroyer, and coursesaver.com (Chad's Videos).
I took 2 months to study for the DAT but I did slack off a lot, I really started hitting the nail on the head 1 month before my exam where I was spending 10-12 hours in the library everyday. So overall, if you're not a slacker, go for it!

 

[pgex2t]

My 2nd retake, I studied religiously for about 1 week (24AA). I basically only used DAT bootcamp, destroyer for math and sciences, Ferali's notes, and Chad's notes (no video); I can highly recommend all 4 resources. I cannot, however, recommend my timeframe.

 

[bsal1]

What I found helpful was to buy all the material beforehand and make a schedule of when and what to study each day. I based my schedule off of this:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/sample-dat-study-schedule.719365/

I did all of my studying in 3 weeks but it really depends on how you prefer to spread the material out. Just make sure to leave yourself time to take practice exams and go over your weakest topics and you should be set!

 

[Typical Average Student]

To start off, you should skim over Ferali's notes now until December, it's a very comprehensive review of biology.

 

[ClosetNerd828]

I followed all of these same resources and I studied 3 months.. took a day off when I needed to

 

[480640]

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[ajj70]

Personally, working full time, I would take 2nd semester off from classes, study in the evenings, take the DAT when you are ready, but preferably before May, then take the rest of your classes next year as needed. Do you have a spring break at your school? Maybe plan your schedule out to take the test the last day of break (weekday) so you can hit the books hard for the final push?

 

[HatInTheCat]

Personally, working full time, I would take 2nd semester off from classes, study in the evenings, take the DAT when you are ready, but preferably before May, then take the rest of your classes next year as needed. Do you have a spring break at your school? Maybe plan your schedule out to take the test the last day of break (weekday) so you can hit the books hard for the final push?

I was thinking to do something similar to what you have proposed. This idea seems to be sensible. Thanks!

If you've taken the DAT yet, then do you have a personal list of study aid favorites?

 

[Soleus715]

I think you can definitely do it with the right mindset. You'll have to make sacrifices but it'll pay off in the long run.

Here's my preference of study materials:

Chad's videos and Feralis notes to cover all of bio, gc ,oc.

Math can be studied online or with a textbook. (Khan's academy)

PAT I used crack dat PAT and bootcamp.

RC I think you don't need any help with that haha.

Bootcamp for practice tests.

 

[SXCoronado]

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[ajj70]

I can only speak to the efficacy of my own methods.. I took about 6 weeks of studying weekdays, saturdays and a few sundays off (you need a break mentally to let stuff digest).

I think 4-6 weeks of full time study is the best, but that's just me

I agree, study too long and you forget what you first studied. There is a lot of material to cover but if you use some of the schedules posted on the DAT forum here, it will give you a template to go through the material efficiently.

 

[suzlee]

I agree, study too long and you forget what you first studied. There is a lot of material to cover but if you use some of the schedules posted on the DAT forum here, it will give you a template to go through the material efficiently.

mehhhhh, I'm not sure about that. As long as you keep it up, the more times you review, the better. Obviously conditional on keeping up your intensity

 

[onepik]

To start off, you should skim over Ferali's notes now until December, it's a very comprehensive review of biology.

Ya, just do some light reviewing at the beginning (like ferralis notes) and then slowly ramp it up