How long did you study for the DAT? + other ?

[Msmouth]

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Would you/ could you study for it while finishing up the semester?
I plan to finish Pre-reqs May 2012. The school I want to go to starts accepting applications in May. Ideally if I had the DAT done and applications in, I would have a better chance than waiting a few months.
I'm leaning more towards, starting to study for the DAT after finals, taking it then applying. I fear it will be much later though.

Thoughts?

 

[sbdento]

It's tough to say. I think it depends on two factors-you and how you learn and how well you want to do.

I personally quit my assissting job, moved to Germany where rent is only 180/month vs the 800/ month I was paying and studied for a solid 3.5 months. I'd say that what I did was extremely drastic, but it worked out for me. (breakdown coming soon)

I have read many posts of guys/girls killing it while taking a semester, so there is no doubt that it's possible.
As I said, it also depends on how well you want to do. You mentioned that you will be just finished with all of you prereqs, so you will have it all fresh in your head. You probably will just have to do a bit of review and then start cranking on practice problems. So I think that you could do competitively with only a couple weeks of practice and probably do really well with a month or two of study.

 

[Jackson-Ave-Dental]

It took me about 3 months...

But I spent 1 month to read Cliffs... a chapter every day or at least tried to
Then I spent the next month and a half going through chem, ochem, pat, and math. The last 2 weeks were solely for exam taking 🙂

During those 3 months... I also spent about 1-4 days per week to visit/hang out with my gf. Everyone is always focused on being hardcore... but its just as equally important to not burn out your mind.

Nonetheless, I think the most important thing is to understand how your body and brain works. I typically find that I, myself do not work very well with cramming. For some strange reason, I find studying slowly 3 days prior to an exam will actually help me recall information better...

 

[Msmouth]

Thanks for all the info. I'm just afraid to study for the DAT and my finals at the same time but maybe if I just get started with practicing during the semester then take it mid June, I'll be fine.