Starting from Scratch

[rsiegel135]

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I am non-traditional student, Mechanical Engineering to Dentistry, and was wondering if anyone out there has studied for the DAT years after taking the classes. Took my last class Spring 2007 and have not looked at the material since. I did well in the classes, 3.89 BCP average. I am starting to study next week to apply this year and was looking for anyone's experience related to "starting from scratch". The material is so vast that I am having trouble formulating my overall strategy. One thought that I have is to blaze through each syllabus and cover like 3-4 classes a night, omitting stuff not on the test. That is how I learned it so well the first time so the thought feels comfortable. I have Kaplan and DAT Destroyer and am committed to the amount of time it is going to take. I work full time and will be studying 3-4 night, for as long as it takes, up to six months. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[jonishere5]

You should try chad's chemistry videos for general chemistry and organic chemistry portions. The videos will help refresh you on some of the general/organic chemistry material. Also do a lot of practice problems to see what areas you need to review.

Good Luck,

Jon

 

[rmm30]

CHAD. I agree 100%. I was skeptical of video lectures given the modest price tag but Chad is awesome. His videos contain almost no errors and they sync up really well with all the other prep materials. I was 4 years removed from Gen chem when I started to prep for this test. I didnt remember any of it. I figured the best thing to do was to go back through my texts and do the problems. I ended up reading the entire Ebbing text book cover to cover; the whole f'n thing! Did all the odd numbered problems. Went through half of my Vollhardt orgo text (an absolute monster of a book) before biting the bullet and giving Chads videos a shot. They are absolutely on point and cut out all the extraneous material (90% of which I have forgotten) from the text. This was the biggest mistake I made while studying for this exam.

Also try to get as much time as possible to study DAT only with no other obligations. I started studying last semester while taking classes. Im studying now while taking classes and doing research. It's awful because I don't enough time to put in that high speed flat out DAT burn required to score well. So I just do a little bit of DAT every day until summer comes. Im kind of just keeping DAT at a simmer trying to keep as much info fresh as possible. Its really annoying. Good luck.

 

[joshwake]

don't worry you will be fine. I took the DAT over 4 years ago and it has been more than 6 years since my last chem class. I did a masters in public health and have been working in a lab. I just started to get back to studying for the DAT and it is taking some time, but it is coming back.

examcrackers MCAT audio is helpful, I listen to it at work and i'm going through it for the 3rd time and I am starting to remember stuff. I am just getting geared up to start really studying, but at first I was really scared that I would need forever to get it all back, but it's coming and I am feeling much better now.

 

[rsiegel135]

Thanks for all the responses. After researching the Chad videos I am going to use them as well. I think the bottom line is the amount of quality time I are willing to invest studying. I work ~50hours a week so it will take till mid summer but I am excited. If you work in Corporate U.S.A. where you have to be 85% politician (a.k.a. kiss ***) and 15% competent to advance your career you should be willing to walk through fire to change careers and I am. This website is very helpful showing that the DAT is a great challenge but certainly achievable.

 

[mightyrat]

Thanks for all the responses. After researching the Chad videos I am going to use them as well. I think the bottom line is the amount of quality time I are willing to invest studying. I work ~50hours a week so it will take till mid summer but I am excited. If you work in Corporate U.S.A. where you have to be 85% politician (a.k.a. kiss ***) and 15% competent to advance your career you should be willing to walk through fire to change careers and I am. This website is very helpful showing that the DAT is a great challenge but certainly achievable.

use destroyer chems to supplement chad!! Destroyer has awesome practice problems 👍

 

[dentalWorks]

I am non-traditional student, Mechanical Engineering to Dentistry, and was wondering if anyone out there has studied for the DAT years after taking the classes. Took my last class Spring 2007 and have not looked at the material since. I did well in the classes, 3.89 BCP average. I am starting to study next week to apply this year and was looking for anyone's experience related to "starting from scratch". The material is so vast that I am having trouble formulating my overall strategy. One thought that I have is to blaze through each syllabus and cover like 3-4 classes a night, omitting stuff not on the test. That is how I learned it so well the first time so the thought feels comfortable. I have Kaplan and DAT Destroyer and am committed to the amount of time it is going to take. I work full time and will be studying 3-4 night, for as long as it takes, up to six months. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

We are similar, I am also non-traditional. My BCP is same as yours (3.88). I started studying for the DAT in Summer of 2009 and my last pre-req was about 1.5 years before that.

Chad's Chemistry videos will do the trick, or you can do kaplan blue book, both resources are good, I think the videos are a little better because.... well you don't have to do any reading, you just watch and learn.

However, you can't only relay on Chads or Kaplan's by themselves, you will need DAT destroyer, its ESPECIALLY helpful for the 2 chemistries.

As far as biology goes, Cliff's AP biology along with kaplan blue book seems to do the trick. It won't guarantee you a 25, but you should be able to land a respectable 19-20 with those resources

My only suggestion to you is, do all of your DAT preparation over a 3 month period max.... don't stretch it out longer as then you'll start to forget material you studied in the first few weeks.... that was one mistake I made and If I were to do it all over again, I would restudy and not take longer than 8-10 weeks.