-
Bring your 2026 application questions to our open office hours with Emil Chuck, PhD, Director of Advising Services for HPSA, and get them answered live. Personal statements, secondaries, interview prep, school list strategy. Sunday, May 17 at 9 p.m. Eastern. -
Scholarship Access: Becoming a Student Doctor course
Free access to comprehensive medical school prep. Eligible students include AAMC FAP recipients and HS graduates from underserved areas. Apply today.
How to study for DAT Reading Comprehension
Started by ToothHurty32
Literally only did the Bootcamp practice tests and got a 22. Pick a strategy and stick with it
The trick to reading IMO is to be able to quickly comprehend what is presented in front of you, and write a few words about each paragraph. Read a bit each day and you should be good to go. I got a 23 on the RC, for reference.
Bootcamp's suggestion of reading articles from Scientific American each day is great. It gets you into the mode of being presented something you (probably) don't want to read, and forces you to quickly go through it and see if you can maintain the main points in your head. Trick yourself into being interested in the content. It's significantly easier to retain information if you are interested in the topic.
As far as actual strategies for the section go, I'd look through these boards (in the DAT section), to see common strategies. Figure out what works best for you. Similar to ACT reading prep, different strategies work better for different people. I did "search and destroy", but wouldn't necessarily recommend that for everyone.
Bootcamp's suggestion of reading articles from Scientific American each day is great. It gets you into the mode of being presented something you (probably) don't want to read, and forces you to quickly go through it and see if you can maintain the main points in your head. Trick yourself into being interested in the content. It's significantly easier to retain information if you are interested in the topic.
As far as actual strategies for the section go, I'd look through these boards (in the DAT section), to see common strategies. Figure out what works best for you. Similar to ACT reading prep, different strategies work better for different people. I did "search and destroy", but wouldn't necessarily recommend that for everyone.
I probably only dude 5 practice tests and I tried the method where you write down a sentence for each paragraph or somthing.... anyways I ended up just glancing over the first few questions and then reading until I could answer them and then glance over the next few questions and repeat until done. Ended up getting a 26. I was always bad on reading sections (SAT, GRE) but this was very straight forward so good luck!!
i read 1-2 articles per day every day i studied aside break days. also, i used the DAT bootcamp exams and reviewed these to understand what type of information was being pulled. for reference i got a 21 my first DAT and 25 my second DAT. utilize the highlighting feature on the newer exams it was big league for me
I say first do a practice test, and try out the "search and destroy" method while keeping the tone questions for the very end. See how it works out for you. If it isn't working, I say keep adjusting until you find a fool-proof method that works for you. I did something similar to @jttzz112, and looked at about 5 questions or so at a time. It also worked pretty well for me - I got a 25. While I was on the first question, if I saw any key terms from the other questions, I would highlight them so I know where to come back and look. Yeah, don't forget about the new highlighting function! It's pretty useful
I did like 2 bootcamp tests when I first started studying for the DAT just to be sure I was good in that section... that was it. Got a 26 in RC.
To be fair, I read for fun regularly. I’m sure that may have helped some.
Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
To be fair, I read for fun regularly. I’m sure that may have helped some.
Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Like others mentioned above, find a strategy that works for you. When I switched my strategy of reading 1-2 paragraphs and writing key words to Search and Destroy I saw my RC score go up from a 17 to a 21. But of course that worked with me and isn’t guaranteed to work for everyone.
Fwiw, I’ve always dreaded reading and standardized tests that included reading passages but Search and Destroy made it extremely manageable for me.
Fwiw, I’ve always dreaded reading and standardized tests that included reading passages but Search and Destroy made it extremely manageable for me.
