DAT to study for? need advice

[buckleman]

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Hello,

I have a question to ask you guys about Kaplan. I've heard a mix bag about Kaplan and their material, what do you guys personally think about the Kaplan book as a study guide?

I have my exam in 1.5 months and I need to make sure I'm covering my bases before taking the DAT.

I would appreciate your response.

Thanks.

 

[rewJW]

The consensus among SDNers seems to be that the Kaplan book is a good start, but is not enough. I personally found the online coursework from the classroom to be excellent for its practice tests, and the book useful to get started studying, but you definitely shouldn't limit yourself to one study source. I also used my Campbell's biology and my Gen Chem and Organic textbooks, and took all of the TopScore practice tests.

 

[Act0fgod]

Hello,

I have a question to ask you guys about Kaplan. I've heard a mix bag about Kaplan and their material, what do you guys personally think about the Kaplan book as a study guide?

I have my exam in 1.5 months and I need to make sure I'm covering my bases before taking the DAT.

I would appreciate your response.

Thanks.

The only book I used was a large kaplan study book from 2002 (I also used a friend of mines MCAT bio flash cards which I thought were pretty helpful). It obviously left me where I didn't know a number of the questions but I also hadn't taken bio in 4 years or gen chem in 6 years. I also only had about a month and work full time so given time constraints it was perfect.

 

[JamesOSU]

Hard to ever get enough information on biology. Kaplan's blue book is a good place to start, they have all the basics covered. Good for chemistry and o chem. PAT is a bit easier on Kaplan than the real thing, but all practice is good. Practice tests are a real plus to actually sit down and take it in 4 hours

 

[Chesnok]

I liked that book for gen chen -concise and right to the point emphasizing problem that you really need for DAT; for bio I studied Campbell's Bio Study Guide if you studied bio recently ... so it's very concise and right to the point, just concentrate reading that; for Orgo chem, I used my great lecture notes. All that I did b/c I had to study for 1.5 mths... just wanted to be done with DAT. If you have more time, you can use more materials which is never a bad thing just study what you need for DAT, don't study extra.
GL.

 

[Runnin Doc]

I felt that the Kaplan book was strong in some aspects and lacking in others. The Biology was okay, but like someone else posted before me, you can never get enough study material for Biology. Gen chem was descent, and organic chem was also descent. If I were you, I would buy the DAT Destroyer for extra practice questions in each of the subjects. The destroyer also has a VERY GOOD and VERY HELPFUL set of pathways that you WILL need to know in the organic section of the DAT. I felt the $150 that it costs to buy the destroyer was definitely worth it. As for the PAT section, the Kaplan online course (that you get if you take the actual Kaplan DAT course at a local Kaplan center) is the best and the only thing that I used to study. I could not find any other materials to use for the PAT that you do not have to pay a lot for. Good Luck!

 

[peterngu]

I felt that the Kaplan book was strong in some aspects and lacking in others. The Biology was okay, but like someone else posted before me, you can never get enough study material for Biology. Gen chem was descent, and organic chem was also descent. If I were you, I would buy the DAT Destroyer for extra practice questions in each of the subjects. The destroyer also has a VERY GOOD and VERY HELPFUL set of pathways that you WILL need to know in the organic section of the DAT. I felt the $150 that it costs to buy the destroyer was definitely worth it. As for the PAT section, the Kaplan online course (that you get if you take the actual Kaplan DAT course at a local Kaplan center) is the best and the only thing that I used to study. I could not find any other materials to use for the PAT that you do not have to pay a lot for. Good Luck!

I'd have to recommend DAT Achiever once you finish studying too. Their practice tests were a little bit harder than the real thing (except for QR) and getting your butt kicked will motivate you to hit the books harder. The Kaplan tests are good to spot some deficiencies in your knowledge but every subject needs to be supplemented outside of the Kaplan material.