Poor Class Curriculum

[Symphonies]

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Hey everyone, I was planning to take the DAT this summer, but as I'm going through all the core sciences at my uni, I'm starting to think that I should push it back a year.

I'm feeling a bit shaky mainly because I'm pretty uncertain of the curriculum in my classes so far-- in my GC class, they spent a ton of time on preparing us for organic chemistry and skipped A TON of important topics like acid base reactions, titrations, nuclear chemistry, etc.

Currently in my bio class, the professor is doing a really poor job teaching (we've only really covered the central dogma, basic genetics, and will cover photosynthesis/cellular respiration soon even though the semester is almost over)

I know it's pretty premature, but has anyone been able to self study well without help from their classes? Any opinions on whether Feralis, Chad's and other tools have been enough to supplement a fairly weak science base?

Thanks!

 

[TopDog]

This is my personal opinion:

As far as Bio is concerned, almost all of it (with the exception of genetics, which isn't insanely difficult to learn) is just learning facts. I DID have a pretty strong foundation in bio, but by the time i took the DAT, i pretty much had to relearn everything. My personal opinion is that between Cliffs and Feralis (along with questions from resources like Bootcamp and Destroyer), you will be fine. On the flip side, this is easier said than done. I think most people who have taken the DAT will agree with me that Bio is the most time-consuming section to study for. But i do think you can do well on this section from sheer practice and effort.

As for gen chem, I think its more important to have a strong foundation. HOWEVER, almost all of us who took the DAT did so more than a year after taking gen chem, so its not like we remembered everything. Again, most of us had to restudy everything. I do believe that Chad's videos can give you a pretty solid foundation, even without help from your undergrad classes. The only difference for you is that you'll probably need to put more effort into studying.

If you do decide to take your DAT this summer, then maybe consider adding 2 extra weeks to your studying. Feel free to message me with any more questions. I hope I was able to help out a little 🙂

 

[FeralisExtremum]

I think a strong foundation from coursework would make studying for the DAT a lot easier, but it isn't absolutely necessary. I took the DAT so many years after my undergrad courses that I had forgotten almost everything and had to re-learn it from scratch. I stuck primarily to DAT review sources for re-learning the material (including the one's mentioned above) and it was more than sufficient. As @TopDog said, it will be important to set aside extra time for additional content review in order to strengthen your foundation before jumping into practice questions. But you can definitely self study the material for the DAT sufficiently enough to do very well on the exam.

Let us know if you have any other questions!

 

[Pearl E. White]

Self studied much of Bio and did well here! Give yourself extra time and effort and you'll be fine

 

[Symphonies]

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I feel a lot better and I'll change my summer scheduling for sure!

 

[themuffinman11]

Utilize youtube videos for Bio (khan academy, Ray Cinti, crash course etc.)! I found that reading through books alone wasn't as efficient for me. I had to relearn stuff from couple years ago and found that once I started to incorporate videos, I retained key information and saw the big picture ideas for concepts.

 

[ThirdMolarz]

Did well on the DAT without the GPA going in (aka same thing as a weak curriculum in your case). Takes more effort I'd think, but self-study is definitely an efficient way to do well on the DAT in your case.