Is taking a week off bad??

[cinnaboncereal]

Hi,

I wanted to start studying for the DAT now, so I could take it late in March/beginning of April, BUT there's a volunteering trip I signed up for and this will occur the last week of March, and lasts that whole week. Then right after I begin school again for the spring quarter. I have no idea if this is a bad idea or not. Will taking a week off be detrimental to my preparation for the DAT? I'm using Ari's 10 week study guide from DAT bootcamp by the way.

Thanks in advance!

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[DAT Destroyer]

Hi,

I wanted to start studying for the DAT now, so I could take it late in March/beginning of April, BUT there's a volunteering trip I signed up for and this will occur the last week of March, and lasts that whole week. Then right after I begin school again for the spring quarter. I have no idea if this is a bad idea or not. Will taking a week off be detrimental to my preparation for the DAT? I'm using Ari's 10 week study guide from DAT bootcamp by the way.


Thanks in advance!

Hi cinnaboncereal,

This is not a question easily answered, depends on the student. But if one of my classroom students asked me this question, my response would be do not make any changes, take trips or change anything prior to taking the DAT. Obtaining the highest DAT score possible and avoiding a retake should be your main focus.

True story:
One of my past students who is now a dentist decided to take a trip to Las Vegas a week prior to his DAT exam, result was not good and he had to retake the DAT.

Just my 2 cents..

Wishing you the best

Nancy

 

[cinnaboncereal]

Hi cinnaboncereal,

This is not a question easily answered, depends on the student. But if one of my classroom students asked me this question, my response would be do not make any changes, take trips or change anything prior to taking the DAT. Obtaining the highest DAT score possible and avoiding a retake should be your main focus.

True story:
One of my past students who is now a dentist decided to take a trip to Las Vegas a week prior to his DAT exam, result was not good and he had to retake the DAT.

Just my 2 cents..

Wishing you the best

Nancy

Thank you for your input Nancy, especially with the little anecdote. Leaning more towards canceling the trip now, though it'll be a sad decision to make. I need the best score possible, after all. Thanks again!

 

[Charles_Darwin]

I had a similar thing planned during my DAT time: I was going to take 2 weeks off to work at a mentorship site for a job, I ended up canceling it so I could focus on the DAT

 

[averageasian]

as said above, i cannot advise taking more than a day off. I went on a volunteer trip in early june but had begun studying in late may. I had to restart when i got home.

 

[cinnaboncereal]

I had a similar thing planned during my DAT time: I was going to take 2 weeks off to work at a mentorship site for a job, I ended up canceling it so I could focus on the DAT

And I see it was worth taking that time off. Congratulations on your scores! Thank you also for providing a breakdown of your thoughts on the study material you used.

 

[cinnaboncereal]

as said above, i cannot advise taking more than a day off. I went on a volunteer trip in early june but had begun studying in late may. I had to restart when i got home.

Thank you for your input!

 

[WheatLom]

Taking a week off was the best thing I could have done. I took a week off and then had 8 days to finish studying for my exam. I was already fully studied for my exam. The week off helped me recharge my brain, rest my body, and relax. I went to a music festival, I did fine. the rest from taking time off could be more valuable than studying. Just my thoughts. IT helped give me a fresh brain with all the knowledge. I was much more snappy on my answers and quicker to accessing my memory.

 

[cinnaboncereal]

Taking a week off was the best thing I could have done. I took a week off and then had 8 days to finish studying for my exam. I was already fully studied for my exam. The week off helped me recharge my brain, rest my body, and relax. I went to a music festival, I did fine. the rest from taking time off could be more valuable than studying. Just my thoughts. IT helped give me a fresh brain with all the knowledge. I was much more snappy on my answers and quicker to accessing my memory.

May I ask how long you studied for your exam? And for the 8 days you studied after the week off, did you also study the day before the exam, or did you take a break on that day too? I'm thinking that perhaps if I do still end up committing to the trip, after the trip I'll take 3-4 weeks to resume studying for the DAT and take the exam mid-late April. It's nice to see a different perspective. Thank you!

 

[WheatLom]

May I ask how long you studied for your exam? And for the 8 days you studied after the week off, did you also study the day before the exam, or did you take a break on that day too? I'm thinking that perhaps if I do still end up committing to the trip, after the trip I'll take 3-4 weeks to resume studying for the DAT and take the exam mid-late April. It's nice to see a different perspective. Thank you!

I studied for about 7ish weeks. I also took 6 credit hours and finished those in 3 weeks read about 800 pages of text book.

So I was "done" when I took the break. I just did mostly pat and full length bootcamp exams. Ari's schedule wanted me to do each test individually and then retake the exams as a full length. I didn't see value in that. I took the first 2 of each exam as individuals, then in the last 8 days every other day was full length test. The other days were a full PAT and Math, with review of the full length exams as my studying and reviews.


I also during this time took the full lengths at the exact time I would have my real DAT. I wanted to train as if I took the real thing.

I ate very clean, ate breakfast everyday throughout the process. I did gain weight cause I needed the food and energy.

I'd say the foods I ate to get my sugars up were key. The brain BURNS it like no other. So in theory for the exam you should build it up so you have the energy to stay good for it.

The week off just made me feel sooo fresh. Like we don't realize how much we study and are drained going into exams.