DAT tips / advice from my experience - Studying for and taking the exam

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

cagewalker

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
May 10, 2012
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
I took the DAT two days ago. What a relief to be finished! Don't worry, before you know it you will be saying the same thing. It is so worth all the time and energy you are putting in to prepare for the exam. It will pay off when you see those awesome scores! I would like to thank SDN for all the wonderful threads that helped me gain insight and knowledge about the DAT. This forum was very helpful for me and I am sure it it will continue to be.

There was no secret formula for me when it came to preparing for the DAT: study + practice = success. Both were of equal importance. From my experience, I truly believe anyone that really sets his/her mind to it can achieve a 20+ on this exam. He/she must be willing to sacrifice in order to do so.

My Background

I majored in business and graduated in 2005. I decided to go back to school in late 2009 and started taking the pre-dental courses at a community college in Spring 2010. The only science background I had was from high school many years ago. I had the drive and determination this time around, however, that was lacking when I attended the U of MN - Duluth. I took Bio I & II, GChem I & II, OChem I & II, Microbiology and A&P I (other courses not related to the DAT). I didn't take A&P II, and in hindsight wish that I did. It would have helped me quite a bit when it came to studying the body systems not covered in first semester. I took the Kaplan course to prepare for the DAT. I will comment on this later.

DAT Scores

My goal upon starting my DAT review was to score 20 or above on all sections. I am very pleased with my scores.

PAT 21
QR 19
RC 22
Bio 21
GChem 20
Org 21
TS 21
AA 21

Review
I used the Kaplan Review Book from my course as well as Cliffs AP Biology for study materials. The Kaplan Course also had a ton of online material that I found very useful. I used Chad's Video's to review GChem and a few concepts in QR. These two subjects were a bit hazy for me as it had been a couple years since I had taken the courses. I had just finished OChem prior to the DAT and thus it was pretty fresh in my mind. I used my class notes and the Kaplan Review Book. I only used Kaplan's review book and the practice materials for QR, with the exception of few of Chad's Videos. I only used Kaplan's material for PAT and RC.

Advice for the DAT

I spent countless hours studying for the DAT. In hindsight, the idea of "breadth instead of depth" seem to ring true. I covered all the topics that were fair game for the DAT yet I did not go into detail on any one topic. I am glad I did not get caught up minor details (like in Bio) and instead focused on the big picture. Know all the concepts well!

Practice was key for me. This is a no-brainer, right? It made all the difference in the world. I practiced problems and I took practice exams. Both are important. I would recommend practicing problems in all the sciences, PAT and QR before taking a practice exam. Don't worry about moving through problems quickly initially. Just get some practice in. That is what will get the material, especially GChem and QR, to stick in your head. It did for me. Practice problems are essential. Knowing the concepts is a must, but it won't do much if you haven't followed up with practice.

Taking practice exams helped me to identify my weak areas and work on my timing. The latter was crucial. The DAT is difficult due to its time constraints. I went back over concepts that I needed work on and practiced more problems. For me, embryology, anatomy, and endocrinology were examples of where I needed work, as well as trigonometry. With study and practice, I believe anyone who has the desire will improve on his/her weaknesses. Most importantly, my timing improved with each practice exam/section I took. This is so important. You have to get comfortable with how much time you have in each section and how to allot time to problems. This can only come with taking practice exams. I was actively working on this each time. By the time I took my last practice exam I would finish all science questions with about 25 - 30 minutes left, PAT with about 20 minutes, RC with about 10 - 15 minutes, and QR with about 8 minutes. I obviously used this time to go over marked problems. When I took my first exam I so much slower! I got better with practice. I cannot emphasis how important this was to my success!

I had a general strategy for each section of DAT. For the sciences, I would plow through biology right away. It seemed to me you either know these questions or you don't. No need to waste any extra time here. I marked those I wasn't 100% sure about and moved on. Next, I worked through GChem giving myself a little more time on questions that required it. GChem was my hardest subject for some reason. I really liked GChem, but I struggled with it all through my prep. I know that I could have stood to do even more practice problems. Anyway, if I didn't known how to do a question right away, I skipped and then came back to it later. No need to waste time on a problem I couldn't figure right away when there were many others I could. OChem was a strong subject for me and I would move through this section pretty fast, too. I used the extra time to work the problems I skipped, and then go over others I wasn't entirely sure about.

The thing I found nice about the DAT and the practice exams was that it seems you could always eliminate answers. At the very least, I found I could guess after having eliminated something, and sometimes it was a 50/50 guess. As much I would try to find the right answer I would also try to find wrong answers. It seems pretty obvious, but it was important in maximizing my chances on making a correct guess on those handful that I was stumped on.

PAT strategy for me was to hit the key holes first, skip the TFE and go straight to angle ranking and finish through, going back to the TFE last. TFE was the hardest for me and I wanted to make sure I had a good crack at the other sections where I knew I get a lot of points. I made sure to allot some time to go over marked problems as I found many times simply looking at a problem a second time would get me to the right answer. Hole punching was a strong suit of mine and was able to always move through that section rather quickly. Same with cube counting. I would count all the cubes and make tallies for each type of cube. Although this did take a little bit of time, it was worth it because they were easy points. Pattern folding took a little more time but I was strong here. I looked for answers that could be eliminated right away as there was usually at least one that stuck out. Oh, angle ranking. I never bothered to use more than about 20 seconds on any one problem. There were some tough ones on the actual DAT and I thought it best to answer and move on. I could reason out other problems on the PAT. I couldn't reason with angles. For PAT, like any section, timing is key. The way you improve with PAT is practice, practice and more practice. There are some strategies out there that one can try to use, but I found that practice and elimination earned me my 21 on PAT. You have to exercise your brain for PAT.

For RC I used the search and destroy method as I found that to work the best for me. RC is a section where you have to find what works best for you through practice. Again, any problems I couldn't find right away I skipped and moved on. I tried using Kaplan's method of creating an outline and then going to the questions, but like many on this forum, it took me way too much time and I couldn't make it through the section without having to guess on many questions. Search and destroy requires practice and a little luck. I practiced it and found I had what seemed to be a ton of time for each section. The drawback was getting tone/inference questions. I just skipped those as soon as I read them. There were easier questions out there. On the actual DAT, I nailed the RC section. I did not have but one or two (easy) tone/inference questions. My articles were straightforward and laid out nicely. However, I was prepared and took advantage of what was given to me.

QR really is about reasoning. You have to be sharp on all your algebra, geometry, trigonometry etc. I studied the formulas, the rules, the identities and so one, and did many practice problems. I used Kaplan's online materials for all my practice. I found the actual DAT to be easier than what I practiced. Again, timing is so important! None of the questions I had on the actual DAT were very difficult, but the time constraint made it so I had to work quickly. That is why this section is so difficult. TIP: Use the time on your 15 break to write down formulas, identities, etc. on your note board for the QR section. That's what I did and it help immensely. I wrote down all the trig identities and values (a chart I memorized) and some right triangle stuff. It helped so much. You can use reasoning on the QR to eliminate choices on every question. Practice this when preparing. Speed is key here, and the only way to get speed in to practice.

Study hard and practice a ton! Work on your timing for every section. Find out the areas you are weak and improve upon them. Know your strong suits, but don't neglect them. By this I mean continue to go over the concepts you know well so they don't get rusty. Eliminate alternatives. Develop strategies that work for you on the RC section.

Review of Kaplan and my study materials

My experience with Kaplan was good. I had a great instructor who was very enthusiastic and helpful. I found the materials to be very beneficial and good study aids. However, I am glad I didn't rely only on Kaplan.

I found the biology review to pretty good. I used Cliffs AP Biology as well. Kaplan Review Book was not terribly detailed. On the flip side, I thought Cliffs AP Biology got very detailed in some areas (like plants). Cliffs did not go into detail on endocrinology to the extent Kaplan Review Book did. I found the questions on the actual DAT to pretty simple for biology, and after taking the exam feel these two resources were sufficient in preparing.

Kaplan's GChem review in the text was good, but I didn't use it as my only source. I watched all of Chad's Videos and took all the quizzes. The quiz questions were about on par with the actual DAT. I thought Chad's Videos were and excellent resource. I would recommend them. I used Kaplan's online materials to practice GChem and found their problems to be more difficult than the actual DAT.

I used Kaplan Review Book for OChem and my class notes. My class notes were way too detailed. I tried to just stick to the main concepts with the notes. Kaplan's online practice problems and tests were similar to the DAT in my experience.

Kaplan's PAT practice exams and section tests were very helpful for me. Without a doubt, the angle ranking on the actual DAT was much harder than Kaplan's. I found the hole punching to be roughly the same, with the exception of a few problems. I thought the rest of the sections were about equal in difficulty. I was scoring 20 for the PAT practice exams using Kaplan and scored 21 on the actual DAT.

RC was essentially the same level of difficulty. I think many others would agree who have used Kaplan.

I found Kaplan's QR to be more difficult than the actual DAT. The practice problem sets were incredibly difficult and consisted mainly of word problems. I quit doing them after two (of seven) because I found it to be a waste of my time. I focused on the section tests and the practice exams and found those to be more representative of the DAT and slightly harder. My timing improved a ton from the first to the last practice QR I took.

Overall, Kaplan was very helpful for me. The problem is the cost. It was really expensive. In learning about all the other materials that are out there to prepare for the DAT, one could get a lot of great things to prep for a lot less money. Also, although I did get something out of the classroom portion, my time probably would have been better spent studying on my own. Personally, I would not take a Kaplan course simply due to the cost. However, I must say that you do get a lot of other great insight on applying, interviewing, dental schools etc. The cost is just killer! I believe I could have found a bunch of great materials for every section of the DAT and for much less. Kaplan was a great review source for me. The online material was incredibly useful. Yeah, I am a little torn on this one. I found the actual DAT, overall, to be one level easier than the Kaplan practice exams I took.

I hope you found this long entry to be helpful in some fashion. If you are putting a lot of time and effort into preparing for the DAT, you will do well. The review course was several months long, but I didn't really start digging deep into reviewing, studying, and practicing until a month before my DAT. Had I went after the DAT with the same tenacity for three months as I did for the one month I studied, I think my scores might be slightly higher. But nevertheless, I exceeded my goal. Do not take this exam lightly! Your hard work will pay off. Please ask me any questions you may have!! Thank you!!

Members don't see this ad.
 
hey cage, thanks for this detailed review. it has really given me a look into what i'll be facing this summer (i'll be starting the kaplan dat course next week). did you take the mondays and sometimes wednesdays course plan?

which resources would you suggest to supplement kaplan? people on these forums rate other materials like cliffs bio, crack dat pat, dat destroyer alot higher than kaplan.

finally, any tips for studying the dat with kaplan? what was your schedule like on a weekly basis?

sorry for the barrage of questions!
 
Top