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How to study for the DAT ?
Started by hippoe
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When I started to study for DAT I got 16/14 for the practice DAT, but at the end of my studying I received 21/19. I studied the whole summer with a study partnered. A study partner can call your attention to areas that you are neglecting, but you also need time to focus you what you know is weakness.
I suggest doing Kaplan?s practice DAT first to see what you need to focus on.
Buy the Kaplan Blue Book, Top score DAT's, and any other DAT material.
Dust off your Organic Chemistry book, General chemistry, and most definitely Biology book and pre-calculus Math book.
Use the Kaplan as an indicator of what subject to study, not as your only preparation material. I personally feel the Kaplan Book is too shallow in covering the material, and it would be difficult to obtaining a confident grasp of the material just from the Kaplan book. Remember that you will need to know your $hit well, before entering the test. The last thing you want to be doing is during the test is trying to remember the vague explanation in the Kaplan Book.
As you study, take note of the concepts that are difficult to grasp, and explain them fully in using your college test. Compile these concepts and subject into a folder or on a word document so that you can periodically go back and touch up your knowledge. The DAT is concepts not Facts. Some of the concepts that gave me trouble were the stages of the zygote to an embryo, meiosis, the nephron, and immunology. All that junk.
Do all the practice problems that Kaplan and Top score gives for the PAT. BE PREPARED FOR THE ANGLES. Both are a bit misleading about the difficulty of the angles on the DAT.
The worst selection of Kaplan is the math preparation. You will need all the problems your pre-calculus math book has. I did the worst on this section; so don't underestimate it.
For the reading, I don't think one can improve that much for it. Either you read fast or don't. I feel the best thing to do is to do all the RC section of Kaplan and Top score under a time situation. I will help if you can sense the appropriate amount of time to spend per passage. This goes for the whole test. A rule I used was a minute per question and you will have plenty of time.
This is what I did, and I was happy with my results. Call me Crazy.
I suggest doing Kaplan?s practice DAT first to see what you need to focus on.
Buy the Kaplan Blue Book, Top score DAT's, and any other DAT material.
Dust off your Organic Chemistry book, General chemistry, and most definitely Biology book and pre-calculus Math book.
Use the Kaplan as an indicator of what subject to study, not as your only preparation material. I personally feel the Kaplan Book is too shallow in covering the material, and it would be difficult to obtaining a confident grasp of the material just from the Kaplan book. Remember that you will need to know your $hit well, before entering the test. The last thing you want to be doing is during the test is trying to remember the vague explanation in the Kaplan Book.
As you study, take note of the concepts that are difficult to grasp, and explain them fully in using your college test. Compile these concepts and subject into a folder or on a word document so that you can periodically go back and touch up your knowledge. The DAT is concepts not Facts. Some of the concepts that gave me trouble were the stages of the zygote to an embryo, meiosis, the nephron, and immunology. All that junk.
Do all the practice problems that Kaplan and Top score gives for the PAT. BE PREPARED FOR THE ANGLES. Both are a bit misleading about the difficulty of the angles on the DAT.
The worst selection of Kaplan is the math preparation. You will need all the problems your pre-calculus math book has. I did the worst on this section; so don't underestimate it.
For the reading, I don't think one can improve that much for it. Either you read fast or don't. I feel the best thing to do is to do all the RC section of Kaplan and Top score under a time situation. I will help if you can sense the appropriate amount of time to spend per passage. This goes for the whole test. A rule I used was a minute per question and you will have plenty of time.
This is what I did, and I was happy with my results. Call me Crazy.
have you checked the DAT discussion forum? a lot of people have taken the test there already and are giving really helpful tips on how to study and what to study.
get examkrackers for the sciences and barrons review for the pat. The reading comprehension on the dat is a piece of cake. the passages are not difficult, but they are kinda long. For math I would familiarize myself with word problems and use lippincott. Dont forget to use your textbooks in places you feel fuzzy with while you are reviewing kaplan or examkrackers. Also, the 1001 series that examkrackers offers is really beneficial. Dont spend a 1000 bucks (ie kaplan course) on information thats in your textbook.
