Hi! So, taking the DAT is a bit of an overwhelming process, but you’re gonna do better than you expect!
First off, I recommend reading this forum to get an idea of what you’re getting yourself into. Read a couple of different forums about the DAT and see what you relate with/go from there.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/sample-dat-study-schedule.719365/
Then, after you have a general idea of what you need to do, get yourself your study resources.
O Chem and Chemistry:
I STRONGLY STRONGLY recommend getting Chad’s videos (coursesaver.com). Pretty much everything you’ll ever need to know about chemistry will be in these videos. I watched these through one time and took notes on everything. Your notes will be a good resource later when you’re going through practice problems and need to check back on something.
After you watch the videos, start doing practice problems in Destroyer (http://www.orgoman.com/datdestroyer.html). You probably just need the one main book, maybe get the Math destroyer too if you want extra practice, but the main book has a ton of questions to do already.
I would recommend doing the questions in sets of 30 (since the test is 30 questions of ochem and 30 questions of chem).
I would get through destroyer AT LEAST ONCE. I honestly struggled with chemistry so much until I started doing destroyer. It helps everything click.
Another thing I did was write out all the reactions and when I was going through each one, I looked back at my coursesaver notes and didn’t move on to the next reaction until I understood why everything happened in the reaction I was working on. It’ll get easier as you move on and you’ll actually start understanding ochem! It’s a pretty good feeling, haha. For gchem, do the destroyer questions and revisit your coursesaver notes if you're stuck on something. Qvault (http://datqvault.com/) was good for more practice questions (if you don't get enough from destroyer 😉)
Biology:
http://datbootcamp.com/feralis-biology-notes/
These notes are a indispensable resource. These notes combined with the Cliff AP bio notes (Amazon product ASIN 0470097647) are all you will ever need. I would go through the table of contents of Cliffs and identify your weak spots. Briefly review the chapters you feel you’re strong in and go over your weak spots in detail. Also, the bio DATqvault practice questions are great because you can practice each subject and see where your weak spots are. There is SO much bio and you’re never gonna know it all, but if you get the important stuff down you’ll crush the bio section. My first practice test I got a 14, so I was pretty discouraged. But I got a 22 on the real thing so don’t give up!
QR:
Read through this formula cheat sheet: http://datbootcamp.com/quantitative-reasoning-strategy/introductory-qr-formulas-cheat-sheet/ and start doing practice problems from Destroyer. As you go through the problems you’ll see what you need to work on and can go from there. DATqvault also has a pretty decent QR section. Also, the test has a lot of statistics/probability and algebra. I would just go online and google whatever you’re confused on to clear things up. Khan academy is a good resource for this.
RC:
For reading, I just read a few practice passages and figured out what method of going through the answers worked for me. Kaplan’s blue book might go through their method, which I ended up using. Pretty much you take quick notes on each paragraph and note keywords from each one. Another method people use is called search and destroy (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/rc-search-destroy-method.647512/) After you figure out your method, just do the passages from the bootcamp practice tests when you’re taking your full lengths (I’ll get into this later)
PAT:
Honestly, this section is stressful and tiring. But, if you get enough practice in you’ll be fine. I used Crack the DAT (https://crackdat.com/) which I though worked fine. I would search through youtube to find out what works for you. There are a ton of videos of people describing different tricks they’ve used. For angle ranking, it’s just training your eye to differentiate between the angles. Cube counting is pretty easy and I would just practice those on crack DAT as well as qVault. For pattern folding and keyhole, I would go through Crack the DAT for sure and also the ADA practice DAT (which I’ll also get into later).
After you’re done with your practicing and reviewing, start taking full lengths! I highly recommend DAT bootcamp (http://datbootcamp.com/) You should start taking your full lengths as you wind down from your review so you can see where you stand and what you need to review still.
Do a practice test each day for a week or so before your test day.
Bootcamp #1 (retook -I took two bootcamp tests before I was done reviewing to see how I was doing with studying)
Bootcamp #2 (retook)
Bootcamp #3
Bootcamp #4
ADA 2007 practice test (if you have time) (http://www.ada.org/~/media/ada/education and careers/files/dat_test_sampleitems.ashx)
Bootcamp #5
ADA 2009 practice test (you have to mail in an order form with a money order, so get this in advance since it takes a couple days to be mailed back to you) (http://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Education and Careers/Files/2014_dat_sample_test_order_form.ashx)
Review after each practice test and read through the answers to see what you did wrong. Don’t just read why you got a question right, read their explanation on why the other answer choices were wrong. Bootcamp doesn’t save your answers so save your practice tests as PDFs so you can go over them once you’re done!
If at any time you feel overwhelmed, reassess your study schedule and see if you need to push back your test day by a couple weeks. I did this twice cause I knew I had a lot more work to do in sciences. It’s better to wait a couple weeks rather than taking it and having to wait 3 months to sit again.
And please don’t feel like you need to follow everything I told you! If you think other resources or methods are beneficial to you, do it! You know your capabilities and your habits and what you can handle. Don’t get discouraged and keep studying! My first practice test I got a 15 AA and I ended up scoring a 20AA on the real thing. It’s possible to do well, you just have to dedicate yourself completely to studying for the next month or so. It’s hard, but you can do it.
And finally, make yourself a study schedule that is REALISTIC. You can say you’ll study 10 hours a day with no breaks, but it’s not likely, haha. Plan out each day and what you’ll cover during that day.
Good luck!!!!
First off, I recommend reading this forum to get an idea of what you’re getting yourself into. Read a couple of different forums about the DAT and see what you relate with/go from there.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/sample-dat-study-schedule.719365/
Then, after you have a general idea of what you need to do, get yourself your study resources.
O Chem and Chemistry:
I STRONGLY STRONGLY recommend getting Chad’s videos (coursesaver.com). Pretty much everything you’ll ever need to know about chemistry will be in these videos. I watched these through one time and took notes on everything. Your notes will be a good resource later when you’re going through practice problems and need to check back on something.
After you watch the videos, start doing practice problems in Destroyer (http://www.orgoman.com/datdestroyer.html). You probably just need the one main book, maybe get the Math destroyer too if you want extra practice, but the main book has a ton of questions to do already.
I would recommend doing the questions in sets of 30 (since the test is 30 questions of ochem and 30 questions of chem).
I would get through destroyer AT LEAST ONCE. I honestly struggled with chemistry so much until I started doing destroyer. It helps everything click.
Another thing I did was write out all the reactions and when I was going through each one, I looked back at my coursesaver notes and didn’t move on to the next reaction until I understood why everything happened in the reaction I was working on. It’ll get easier as you move on and you’ll actually start understanding ochem! It’s a pretty good feeling, haha. For gchem, do the destroyer questions and revisit your coursesaver notes if you're stuck on something. Qvault (http://datqvault.com/) was good for more practice questions (if you don't get enough from destroyer 😉)
Biology:
http://datbootcamp.com/feralis-biology-notes/
These notes are a indispensable resource. These notes combined with the Cliff AP bio notes (Amazon product ASIN 0470097647) are all you will ever need. I would go through the table of contents of Cliffs and identify your weak spots. Briefly review the chapters you feel you’re strong in and go over your weak spots in detail. Also, the bio DATqvault practice questions are great because you can practice each subject and see where your weak spots are. There is SO much bio and you’re never gonna know it all, but if you get the important stuff down you’ll crush the bio section. My first practice test I got a 14, so I was pretty discouraged. But I got a 22 on the real thing so don’t give up!
QR:
Read through this formula cheat sheet: http://datbootcamp.com/quantitative-reasoning-strategy/introductory-qr-formulas-cheat-sheet/ and start doing practice problems from Destroyer. As you go through the problems you’ll see what you need to work on and can go from there. DATqvault also has a pretty decent QR section. Also, the test has a lot of statistics/probability and algebra. I would just go online and google whatever you’re confused on to clear things up. Khan academy is a good resource for this.
RC:
For reading, I just read a few practice passages and figured out what method of going through the answers worked for me. Kaplan’s blue book might go through their method, which I ended up using. Pretty much you take quick notes on each paragraph and note keywords from each one. Another method people use is called search and destroy (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/rc-search-destroy-method.647512/) After you figure out your method, just do the passages from the bootcamp practice tests when you’re taking your full lengths (I’ll get into this later)
PAT:
Honestly, this section is stressful and tiring. But, if you get enough practice in you’ll be fine. I used Crack the DAT (https://crackdat.com/) which I though worked fine. I would search through youtube to find out what works for you. There are a ton of videos of people describing different tricks they’ve used. For angle ranking, it’s just training your eye to differentiate between the angles. Cube counting is pretty easy and I would just practice those on crack DAT as well as qVault. For pattern folding and keyhole, I would go through Crack the DAT for sure and also the ADA practice DAT (which I’ll also get into later).
After you’re done with your practicing and reviewing, start taking full lengths! I highly recommend DAT bootcamp (http://datbootcamp.com/) You should start taking your full lengths as you wind down from your review so you can see where you stand and what you need to review still.
Do a practice test each day for a week or so before your test day.
Bootcamp #1 (retook -I took two bootcamp tests before I was done reviewing to see how I was doing with studying)
Bootcamp #2 (retook)
Bootcamp #3
Bootcamp #4
ADA 2007 practice test (if you have time) (http://www.ada.org/~/media/ada/education and careers/files/dat_test_sampleitems.ashx)
Bootcamp #5
ADA 2009 practice test (you have to mail in an order form with a money order, so get this in advance since it takes a couple days to be mailed back to you) (http://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Education and Careers/Files/2014_dat_sample_test_order_form.ashx)
Review after each practice test and read through the answers to see what you did wrong. Don’t just read why you got a question right, read their explanation on why the other answer choices were wrong. Bootcamp doesn’t save your answers so save your practice tests as PDFs so you can go over them once you’re done!
If at any time you feel overwhelmed, reassess your study schedule and see if you need to push back your test day by a couple weeks. I did this twice cause I knew I had a lot more work to do in sciences. It’s better to wait a couple weeks rather than taking it and having to wait 3 months to sit again.
And please don’t feel like you need to follow everything I told you! If you think other resources or methods are beneficial to you, do it! You know your capabilities and your habits and what you can handle. Don’t get discouraged and keep studying! My first practice test I got a 15 AA and I ended up scoring a 20AA on the real thing. It’s possible to do well, you just have to dedicate yourself completely to studying for the next month or so. It’s hard, but you can do it.
And finally, make yourself a study schedule that is REALISTIC. You can say you’ll study 10 hours a day with no breaks, but it’s not likely, haha. Plan out each day and what you’ll cover during that day.
Good luck!!!!
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