How to study for DAT?

[noshnosh]

Hello guys,I'm new here though I've been reading your threads for awhile now.I 've been studying for DAT since last year on and off and never seriously focused on it.Now,I'm getting sometimes off from my full time job(about 2.5 month) to focus on it and get over with this piece of ....
I really need your advise to how to study,how to divide my days to get the most out of it and etc.
I have to mention that I've read Kaplan book once twice already,somewhat comfortable with bio,awful with G chem,somewhat ok with Ochem,awful with math and ok with PAT.Please help me to plan my studying.Thank you

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[quikag1]

As I am sure you have read by now, there are a couple of essentials. I definitely agree with your choice to read the Kaplan book over. Its great to see what you are comfortable with and where you feel you need some more help. In those sections that you are weak in, I would suggest to go back to your textbook and make sure to get down the major concepts well. Especially if your problem is the general chemistry-make sure to know your concepts really well bc I, like almost everyone else I have seen post on this board, have found that the GC section is very heavily weighted with concepts and very scarcely scattered with math problems. For the Bio I would definitely read the Cliffs AP Bio book, its concise yet filled with a nice amount of detail. I would suggest for Orgo to go through the same procedure as GC but focusing on the reactions. When you feel comfortable with your material I would definitely reccomend the Destroyer. I cannot tell you how valuable it was to me when I took my exam. The Bio is filled with great info in the explained answers, the orgo is packed with a great review and test of your major reactions and the Gen Chem is really solid, touching upon all of the really important concepts. In case you are wondering I got:
23 OC
23 Bio
19 GC
For the rest of the exam, I would definitely advise you to not ignore it. For the math I found purplemath.com helpful for word problems, and used the Barrons AP IC book for some review of the other sections. For PAT, crackthepat was very good, but dont be discouraged I found it much harder than the actual PAT. For RC I dont really know what to tell you, that was my downfall, other than watch your time and try to practice some tone type questions.
I would definitely also reccomend Topscore as a gameday prep to make sure you are managing your time properly.

Good luck and I hope this helps

 

[dentaldentist]

I think for chem and organic chem if you really know the kaplan book you will do well. The kaplan book is only okay for biology so you will want something like Cliff's AP biology or Schaum's outline of biology. The biology section on the real exam is more in depth than what you will get out of kaplan so definitly get one of those books to complete your studying. If you are struggling with math, I think the kaplan GRE math book is pretty good in helping out with that section. Also, I definitly recommend you get either Topscore or DAT Achiever to get some good practice tests in. Either of these are better than the practice tests you get out of kaplan.

Good luck!

Schaum's outline of biology
Cliff's AP Bio
Topscore DAT
DAT Achiever

 

[noshnosh]

Thank you guys for your fast and also sincere replies.
Would you kindly tell me how you started to study,as far as dividing a day,what did you start your day with and basically how was your daily schedule while you were studying for DAT?

Thanks.

 

[zriceman]

I have a quick question. Can i replace kaplan bio with Cliffs AP Bio? Or must i go thru Kaplan bio first and then cliffs ap bio...

 

[quikag1]

Daily scedules definitely varied. I personally spent time on each science section until i felt confident, then i moved on to other sections. as to how much time to spend on each section, its really dependent on the person and how well he/she feels they know their material. The only thing i can really tell you is to make sure that you leave time at the end for a quick review for each section ( i made review sheets and went over them at the end). As for hours a day, the more the better especially now that you are no longer working. The only other real advice i can give you is to make sure that you get a good nights sleep every nite bc although you may be worried that you are losing an hour or two by pressing the snooze button, you will definitely make up that time with the speed at which your brain will process the info and the time it takes to remember it.
good luck