Does anyone have regrets when they took the DAT?

[doc3232]

Considering most of us have classes when we take the DAT, was it a bad choice?
Would the summer before junior year have been a better time because we had just finished our prereqs and had the whole summer to study?

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[JOODiFF]

all my friends have told me that the one thing they regret is that they should have taken their DATs the summer before their junior year since all of the material was fresh in their brain so I am sticking to their advice. They said they had to restudy the material and it was a pain. Im planning to take it in the beginning of august. I think its a good idea because a lot of the topics that ppl talk about on this forum about ochem and bio are very fresh for me (since I just finished finals last week.) hope that helps!

 

[doc3232]

Is 2 months enough (thats all I have, its complicated) to study for the DAT.
I already took all my prereqs and it is fresh in my mind.
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[musl85]

i should have taken it in the summer of 2006. But i was still unsure of what career path. Like you guys said, would have made studying easier. I will say this though, taking the summer off and just studying was a great desicion. Plenty of time to go over all the resources out there, no excuse for doing bad.

 

[Kdubb]

I think the best time to take it is the year you actually apply using aadsas. You can start your application without entering your dat info. That is what I did, I studied for a month after my semester ended, then took the test and submitted my aadsas by mid june. That is still considered very early. What I did to study was take as many practice tests as possible as well as reading through the kaplan book. My best advice: take 1 practice test a day at least the week before you take the test. Good luck!

 

[Kdubb]

I think you should def. wait to take it if you haven't had Organic Chem I and II, as well as cell bio. and genetics.....Actually the General Chem stuff came back really quick if you go over the problems in the kaplan study book. I hadn't taken Gen Chem for over a year and ended up scoring highest in that subject.

 

[userah]

one advice i have for you; don't rely on the kaplan book for biology. get something else. kaplan is good for base understanding but it really skips out on a loooooot of information that you need to know for the real DAT exam. Kaplan totally screwed me over on that end; i was naive in thinking if I knew bio from there, I would be well prepared. I was gettin 20s across the board on practice exams for bio section from the kaplan exams and I got a 15 on the actual Dat. That was before I found the studentdoctor forums haha. Now I know better...

 

[hoss19]

one advice i have for you; don't rely on the kaplan book for biology. get something else. kaplan is good for base understanding but it really skips out on a loooooot of information that you need to know for the real DAT exam. Kaplan totally screwed me over on that end; i was naive in thinking if I knew bio from there, I would be well prepared. I was gettin 20s across the board on practice exams for bio section from the kaplan exams and I got a 15 on the actual Dat. That was before I found the studentdoctor forums haha. Now I know better...

just make sure you are 100% ready whenever you decide to go through with it. retakes are probably more nerve-racking than the initial exam!

 

[jay47]

I took mine over the summer, right after I had finished Ochem. I studied really hard for most of the summer, but totally slacked on the QR. I kicked a** on most of the sections but that one, and should have studied it more. Also, I should have done harder PAT stuff than just Topscore. I hear the Achiever is really good for PAT, although very difficult. Topscore is pretty good overall, but way to specific for questions.

For example, they don't really ask any thought-provoking questions, just kinda like, do you know this hormone and where it comes from? On the real test I could narrow down answer choices much more easily. Also on Gchem, it was WAY WAY too much math in TOPSCORE and Kaplan book. 90% of my questions were conceptual, like what is the 3-D structure of this molecule, or periodic trends, or what would an enzyme do to delta G....etc...
If I could take the test again, here are the 3 things I would do better...

1. Practice math way ahead of time, start practicing algebra again and going over probability and statistics. PRACTICE WITH A DRY ERASE BOARD A LOT!!!!!!!

2. Definitely do more conceptual understanding of Genchem

3. Look over different versions of PAT besides just TOPscore.
However, my other sections had pretty strong scores, so this is just what I would do. If your other scores need help start and work in the following order, because these are generally regarded as most important by admissions (I think)

1. Bio (read old bio books, I know it's boring and difficult, DO IT ANYWAYS!)

2. RC- Try and practice SAT type questions and learn to read quickly and efficiently.

3.OC

4. GC

5. QR

6. PAT

Schools where I am applying generally rank them in that order.