Need help please!! how to prepare for the DAT if you've been out of school??

[rock73]

Hi everyone!
any feedback or advice would be much appreciated!

It's been a while since I've been out of school..more than 2 years.
I forgot everything that I've learned in biology and I'm hoping to take the canadian DAT in November this year.

I was wondering how about should I go about studying for it?
Can I just enroll in the Kaplan DAT prep class without knowing too much of the material? or do we still need to know the basics before enrolling in a class as such to absorb the material?

in addition, how long do you think a person like me would take to be prepared? starting from scratch re: dat material??

thanks!!!

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[10sneone]

I was also ~1.5 years out of school when I took the DAT (AA20/TS20/PAT21). I'm no expert, but I can relate to your situation and I recieved an acceptance to UMDNJ in December where I plan on matriculating in the fall. The first thing I did BEFORE I began studying was take a practice test...there are plenty available out there. Of course each will have a varying degree of difficulty, but at least you will know right off the bat which subjects you seriously need to dig into. You may be pleasantly surprised and find that others are not so terrible. I did not take a Kaplan course and chose instead to use a few study guides and the outline for the DAT itself which I believe is provided for you in the ADEA manual. Try not to take all of your available tests in the beginning of your studies because you'll be left without anything to gauge yourself in the end. Otherwise...start now and study your butt off!

 

[rock73]

Thanks for your advice!!
I think what I'll do is to do a little bit of biology everyday from the kaplan blue book and at least immerse myself in the info there..and see how much I pick up! I think I reall yhave forgotten everything re: bio..so I'll definitely start from scratch..hopefully it won't take me too long to start from scratch!!

I was also ~1.5 years out of school when I took the DAT (AA20/TS20/PAT21). I'm no expert, but I can relate to your situation and I recieved an acceptance to UMDNJ in December where I plan on matriculating in the fall. The first thing I did BEFORE I began studying was take a practice test...there are plenty available out there. Of course each will have a varying degree of difficulty, but at least you will know right off the bat which subjects you seriously need to dig into. You may be pleasantly surprised and find that others are not so terrible. I did not take a Kaplan course and chose instead to use a few study guides and the outline for the DAT itself which I believe is provided for you in the ADEA manual. Try not to take all of your available tests in the beginning of your studies because you'll be left without anything to gauge yourself in the end. Otherwise...start now and study your butt off!

 

[dentalWorks]

Hi everyone!
any feedback or advice would be much appreciated!

It's been a while since I've been out of school..more than 2 years.
I forgot everything that I've learned in biology and I'm hoping to take the canadian DAT in November this year.

I was wondering how about should I go about studying for it?
Can I just enroll in the Kaplan DAT prep class without knowing too much of the material? or do we still need to know the basics before enrolling in a class as such to absorb the material?

in addition, how long do you think a person like me would take to be prepared? starting from scratch re: dat material??

thanks!!!

every person prepares differently. But are you willing to throw-up $1500 for kaplan class? Some folks around here who have taken the online course and worked very hard with thier online practice exams/questions have come up with astronomical numbers on the DAT (Im talking 23AA+)

And other have done self-study. But you need to be very good at self-learning / self-motivation.... If you lack this, maybe kaplan course is your best option

 

[Atticus]

Hey,
I was out of school for over two years when I took the DAT. I was working full time, so cramming and studying 8 hours a day for a month was simply out of the question. I studied 3 nights a week for 3 hours, then on Saturdays for 4-5 hours... for four months. This is probably a lot more than others had to study, but it atleast paid off. I ended up scoring AA20/TS21/PAT21, which ranged in percentile from 90-94%.
In terms of materials, I used the Kaplan White Book (borrowed it from someone who took the class) and made flash cards from each of the sections, as I learn really quickly off of flash cards. For PAT I used crackdatpat, which in my opinion is the only reliable PAT source (not even Kaplan is reliable for PAT). Then, I purchased online examinations (were they called acethedat? I don't remember) that worked really well. Anyway, I hope this helps.
Atticus

 

[The Anhedonia]

take a Kaplan class. the online stuff is really helpful. i was out of school for a couple of years and just jumped right in and ended up doing alright.

as you'll hear, Kaplan isn't perfect, but at least it provides a framework with which you can structure your studies.

good luck.

 

[dmitriyivanov]

take a Kaplan class. the online stuff is really helpful. i was out of school for a couple of years and just jumped right in and ended up doing alright.

as you'll hear, Kaplan isn't perfect, but at least it provides a framework with which you can structure your studies.

good luck.

Kaplan class is a waste of time!!! and Money, buy books and study efficiently.....
To OP you need to visit DAT forum, search for a breakdowns and you will have plenty of "how to study for DAT"

 

[SuperTank]

I had been out of school for about 4 years when I took the DAT. I had taken it when I was in school and done fairly well (20 TS 21 AA 23 PAT), but it was over three years old and I couldn't use it in applying. I was out of the country until June of '09 without any opportunities to study (no internet/books) so I had about a month between when I got back and when I took the DAT. I got married three days after I took the test, so I had a lot of things that I still needed to do other than studying. With the free time I did have, I took practice tests to prepare for the PAT. I didn't study for the RC or QR section. I bought cliff's notes and AP Biology review books to help with Bio. Bio was by far the hardest part, and that's where I devoted most of my time studying. It's also the section I did the worst on (17). I used my college textbooks to study chemistry, just reviewing the basics. I wasn't too surprised that my scores dropped from the first DAT, but they were still enough to get in (18 TS 20 AA 25 PAT). I think that if you figure out where you need to study and focus on those areas, you should be good. You may not do as well as you would have right out of school, but you will do well enough to get accepted, which is your ultimate goal.

 

[pauly11235]

Hey this is some serious advice. Buy a couple of review books like the kaplan blue book, review the mateirlas. Read up on everything becuase the DAT is completely random....THEN, when you are all ready to take on some challenging problems, you buy the new DAt destroyer! You solve every problem in the book, memorize it, understand it!


You will get nothing less than a 20AA!!!!

 

[JPGator3]

I was 4 years removed from any of the science courses when I took the DAT (23/23/24). I think that all you need is a KAPLAN prep book and as many practice tests as you need to feel comfortable with the format. Don't waste money on a class.

All of the course material that you need is in the KAPLAN book, so there's no need to over-study. Spend the extra time taking practice tests and timing yourself to make sure that you won't be caught off guard on test day.

 

[rock73]

thanks everyone for all your input!! I definitely have a better idea at tackling the dat now!! thanks again!!