Feeling severely demotivated to study for the DAT

[StudentDentistsRock]

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Hey everyone,

As the title states, I don't feel motivated at all to study for the DAT. I took my last final on May 8th, took a week to chill and lay in bed all day, but don't feel up for the DAT (which I have scheduled for the 27th of June).

I was thinking of combining every two days into one study day from Ari's guide. I studied for the first day yesterday and was dragging myself through. Every time I open cliff's bio and see all the content, I get too overwhelmed (I spent an hour trying to memorize two pages) Then I think about all the PAT, orgo, gen chem and what not that is yet to come. My head gets heavy, I heat up, and drop what I'm doing. I study the first chapter of cliffs, move onto the second the next day, saw words in the second chapter that appeared in the first but forgot what they were about (issue retaining info).

It stresses me out more that everyday I spend like this is a day to waste and is only gonna make my future study days more torturous.

I just don't know what to do. I feel that I'm not gonna do well because I don't have the motivation to go through this. I understand that mentality is important for doing well on this test, it's just recently i haven't been feeling as up for the DAT as I was during the semester.

Any advice?

 

[Faefly]

Me and you on the same boat. I finished on May the 9th.

I don't feel ready yet. I have to travel out of state multiple times with my parents, so I can't commit until 27ths of June to start studying really for the DAT. Bummer I was planning to start on May the 20th, but luck has it another way.


I think you should go on a small vacation for a week, then come back fresh and ready.

 

[Stanelz]

Goals are never achieved unless you spend time reminding yourself why they are important.

No one wants to spends 8 hours staring at a DAT destroyer book wondering why they are spending their life looking at bendy lines. But when I think about how great it will be to own my practice and afford whatever I want, those bendy lines start to look a bit more appealing.

 

[Faefly]

Goals are never achieved unless you spend time reminding yourself why they are important.

No one wants to spends 8 hours staring at a DAT destroyer book wondering why they are spending their life looking at bendy lines. But when I think about how great it will be to own my practice and afford whatever I want, those bendy lines start to look a bit more appealing.

Yeah like yesterday, how crappy the dental assistant treated me. ( the dentist is nice)
and I was saying to myself this is why I need a reliable job, so at least nobody treats me so poorly when I am working.
Also, this is why I need to get out of this state as soon as possible, I need to get good grades to go to my dream places and dream schools.
Waiting around won't cut it!
Staying in place you don't like and when most people are racist or not inclusive hurt you badly.

 

[I-hate-alginate]

For biology, I would read the cliff notes instead of the book and then start with destroyer and bootcamp for bio. I understand you have problems with memorizing all the material bio throws at you but you have to put more effort. 3 weeks before my exam, I used to wake up at 4am to review my bio notes. From 4am to 7am just bio.... yay! It paid off at the end that's for sure. If I were you, I would start skimming the cliff notes, watch Chad. In 2 weeks, you have to be done with Chad and cliff notes, a month before your exam, you start doing the chemistrys in destroyer. Lots and lots of fun here. The main advice is, destroyer is not an overkill. Don't believe this myth, the exam is similar to destroyer. For PAT, do generators everyday for 45 mins and 10 days before your exam, you can start doing the pat exams. And like you said, a strong mindset is a must for this exam. And always remember, the cycle starts on June 1st and it doesn't wait for anybody.

 

[deleted696582]

How motivated are you to get into dental school? The DAT makes or breaks a lot of applications. You want to make sure you've studied enough, so don't rush your studying or slack off.

Why not take a day or two to regain your composure and not think about the DAT whatsoever? Go do something fun instead of laying in bed for a week like you said you did (I'm hoping you did a little more than that though). Then, reevaluate whether you can commit to studying. If not, maybe you should reschedule the test. If rescheduling isn't an option, then you need to start thinking of DAT studying as studying to get into dental school.

One thing I like to do is make lists. During school I make a list of items to study, and I erase items from the list as I go along. Once I finish all of my items for the day, I go do stuff I actually want to do. Studying sucks, and I'm not the type of person that can lie to myself and say that it's fun, so I need rewards like a bike ride or a run to look forward to. And the ultimate reward is getting A's and finishing a degree. Studying is a means to an end, but the things you enjoy on the way to the end are what make the process worth it.

 

[toothdoctor123]

Presumably you did well enough in your prerequisite science courses, yes? You probably already know 95% of the material in those books; you're not going to need to memorize every page like that. And fortunately, you don't have to study for the PAT. That's just about learning a few simple strategies and taking practice tests. There's no good reason to feel overwhelmed yet!

Maybe you should consider buying one of those online Kaplan courses. I personally found that it requires much less willpower to watch 10 minutes of a video than it is to read a chapter in a review book. Plus, the online quizzes and shortened practice tests feel more like games than study sessions. The key to studying with low motivation is to pretend that you're not studying.

 

[WaveRace]

Something that helped me when I wasn't motivated (worked for the DAT and for classes), was to take life a day at a time. What things do you want to accomplish just today? Taking it a step further, if you want to get 6 hours of studying done, break it into 3 hour sessions. It's much easier to wake up and think "cool, I've only got 3 hours to study, then I can get coffee with my friend". Then go about your day, and do 3 more hours later on. For me, making it into a massive "ahh.. gotta spend 8 hours hating my life today" was overwhelming. Make sure to maintain things you normally do to stay healthy (working out, hiking, cooking, etc). Throwing them out the window for an extra 2 hours per day will hurt you, I guarantee it.


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[StudentDentistsRock]

Something that helped me when I wasn't motivated (worked for the DAT and for classes), was to take life a day at a time. What things do you want to accomplish just today? Taking it a step further, if you want to get 6 hours of studying done, break it into 3 hour sessions. It's much easier to wake up and think "cool, I've only got 3 hours to study, then I can get coffee with my friend". Then go about your day, and do 3 more hours later on. For me, making it into a massive "ahh.. gotta spend 8 hours hating my life today" was overwhelming. Make sure to maintain things you normally do to stay healthy (working out, hiking, cooking, etc). Throwing them out the window for an extra 2 hours per day will hurt you, I guarantee it.


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This is great advice and I'll be sure to take this seriously.

Aside from this, maybe typing up a schedule and crossing things off as suggested could also help out.

Edit: one thing I do love doing is chemistry research. However, Campus is an hour away from home. By the time I go to campus and come back as well, I'm exhausted. Otherwise, doing some studying and research in the same day probably isn't a good idea. Maybe I can dedicate my one day off the week to research?

 

[setdoc7]

When you are a dentist, you will have bad days. That is not the fault of the patients on your schedule, and they are expecting you to do your best work. And by the way, dentistry is a life of testing and compliance, something you not only must be good at, but ready to do all the time. If you are not up to taking the first test of many, many to come, think about what you are getting into.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Invest 2 months of your time and be able to attain an amazing career for a lifetime. Nobody here is going to help you get off your a** and prevent you from being lazy. Sit around and play video games and drink all summer, it won't affect us. Once you get past the first two weeks of studying, sitting down and reviewing becomes second nature. I also recommend planning a fun vacation or some event with friends shortly after your DAT. It will keep you motivated with something to look forward to. You can do it, I believe in you

 

[BK165]

Take a break now. You know yourself better than anyone, and when you don't have the motivation to study,you won't put your time to good use. Postpone the DAT by a month. If you are applying this cycle, get everything else in on June 1st when the application opens (grades, LORs, transcripts, personal statement, experience, etc.). Begin studying on June 1st, so you would give yourself some time to have a break. Then on June 1st, begin a very regimented DAT study schedule and take the DAT last week in July. I followed this outline last year and received plenty of interviews and acceptances. If you BS the DAT because you aren't motivated, then you just wasted time, money, and energy. Do it right once and you won't look back.

 

[Craig_Sherwood234]

You want motivation?

You asked for it.

 

[Medin2017]

Hey everyone,

As the title states, I don't feel motivated at all to study for the DAT. I took my last final on May 8th, took a week to chill and lay in bed all day, but don't feel up for the DAT (which I have scheduled for the 27th of June).

I was thinking of combining every two days into one study day from Ari's guide. I studied for the first day yesterday and was dragging myself through. Every time I open cliff's bio and see all the content, I get too overwhelmed (I spent an hour trying to memorize two pages) Then I think about all the PAT, orgo, gen chem and what not that is yet to come. My head gets heavy, I heat up, and drop what I'm doing. I study the first chapter of cliffs, move onto the second the next day, saw words in the second chapter that appeared in the first but forgot what they were about (issue retaining info).

It stresses me out more that everyday I spend like this is a day to waste and is only gonna make my future study days more torturous.

I just don't know what to do. I feel that I'm not gonna do well because I don't have the motivation to go through this. I understand that mentality is important for doing well on this test, it's just recently i haven't been feeling as up for the DAT as I was during the semester.

Any advice?

pretend the DAT is a reflection on your intelligence. If you work hard and still can't be average/above average, you may not be smart. Sounds unhealthy and is likely NOT true, but that's the way I motivated myself when studying.

 

[Chip Otle]

Seeing my low practice score were enough motivation for me to really buckle down. Although, low practice scores down necessarily equate to a low DAT score, it was enough to freak me out.

 

[Medin2017]

Seeing my low practice score were enough motivation for me to really buckle down. Although, low practice scores down necessarily equate to a low DAT score, it was enough to freak me out.

practice scores (in MY opinion) will give you an estimate of +/-2 points on most exams. Once you study hard enough to where your practice scores are about 2 points above your goal score I think you should be ready to take the test. But I've had a friend with 17-18 avg BC scores score a 22 on the test somehow, and another with like 25+ avg BC scores score a 21. There are some REALLY easy tests out there and some freakishly hard ones. The whole "scaling" I feel is not very accurate.

^this does not apply if you set your goal score at an extremely high score since just 1 or 2 careless errors or a few questions that are out of the blue can severely affect you if you're going for like 25+.

 

[rk1229]

For biology, I would read the cliff notes instead of the book and then start with destroyer and bootcamp for bio. I understand you have problems with memorizing all the material bio throws at you but you have to put more effort. 3 weeks before my exam, I used to wake up at 4am to review my bio notes. From 4am to 7am just bio.... yay! It paid off at the end that's for sure. If I were you, I would start skimming the cliff notes, watch Chad. In 2 weeks, you have to be done with Chad and cliff notes, a month before your exam, you start doing the chemistrys in destroyer. Lots and lots of fun here. The main advice is, destroyer is not an overkill. Don't believe this myth, the exam is similar to destroyer. For PAT, do generators everyday for 45 mins and 10 days before your exam, you can start doing the pat exams. And like you said, a strong mindset is a must for this exam. And always remember, the cycle starts on June 1st and it doesn't wait for anybody.

Can I ask what you did to study bio in the mornings? I'm doing the same thing but there is so much information I'm going crazy.. how'd you do on bootcamp/destroyer compared to the real test? My bio BC scores suck..


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[wengerout]

Seeing my low practice score were enough motivation for me to really buckle down. Although, low practice scores down necessarily equate to a low DAT score, it was enough to freak me out.

I second this, practice scores got my butt in gear.

 

[Kurk]

Get er done. Fear is the best motivator; fear of not getting into dental school with a crappy DAT.

 

[EntrepreneurialDentist]

If you're following Ari's schedule, you can try starting your day with Chad's videos as they aren't as intense. Or you could watch 1 video, go through 5 pages of Cliffs, next video... You could also try studying around other people like at a library or coffee shop to have some environmental stimulation.

 

[S_Diamond_DDS]

The application cycle is painfully long and expensive. Save yourself the trouble of having to do it twice and do well on the DAT.