Stressing over the DAT...I feel lost. Please give me advice!

[virtualmaster999]

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Hey everyone

So I've been studying for the DAT since like the beginning of January, while in school. At first, it wasn't a big issue. But these past two months have been terrible. I feel like I haven't been living up to my expectations of doing a lot. I know I'm school but I've honestly made so many sacrifices and it still doesn't feel like enough. I finished all the content for all subjects (except diversity and plants for bio). Now the thing is, I'm taking my test June 30, and I get out Of school may 2, so I'll study from May 4-June 29, approximately 53 days. Within this time; I plan to do 15 hours a day (sounds crazy excessive but I got a lot to do still). With this, I will focus on having everything stick this time through (which seems impossible to do while taking classes). Since I already went through the material, I feel like it won't be as bad to go through everything again for a review. Now, I don't just wanna review I will do destroyer also. How should I split up my time for all of this (including practice exams and subject tests) if I plan to do three five hour blocks each day? I've made so many sacrifices to try to learn everything over the semester but is SOO hard to remember everything and keep rehearsing everything when you have classes and your time is limited (I even kept my class load small but it still didn't help!) I just feel disappointed because I feel like I wasted a lot of my time, since I forgot A LOT of everything. Do you all think it's possible for me to do well still if these 53 days go smooth? Do you have any suggestions or tips that could help me out? I REALLY want to be a dentist and I'll stop at nothing to get there. I'm just getting discouraged lately.. Can you guys help me out with all of this, and give me some advice about how to make my remaining study time the BEST possible? Can I still get a good score? I'm hoping that once school ends it will be easier to focus on the DAT which will help a lot.

I know there's a lot here, but anything helps.

Thank you to all as always!



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[alexis2010]

You are not alone. Sometimes I feel the same way. I postponed my test a few times. You have plenty of time left just keep studying. Look at the bright side not the dark one. Focus and you'll achieve your goals. Best of luck

 

[Chga]

I think you need to relax, take practice tests (whole thing at once). Find out what areas you're weak in and review those subjects. Seems like you're trying to go for 30 in every section, you can miss a few in every section and still come out with an amazing score.

Most topics that DAT covers are taught in class, that's where you learn it. Now its time to REVIEW it, go over DAT Destroyer and go over its explanations in detail. With all this hard work, you'll be fine.

 

[virtualmaster999]

I think you need to relax, take practice tests (whole thing at once). Find out what areas you're weak in and review those subjects. Seems like you're trying to go for 30 in every section, you can miss a few in every section and still come out with an amazing score.

Most topics that DAT covers are taught in class, that's where you learn it. Now its time to REVIEW it, go over DAT Destroyer and go over its explanations in detail. With all this hard work, you'll be fine.

Should I do destroyer right away once school ends? Any suggestions on how to allocate my time between destroyer, reviewing and practice tests?


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[bluesky12]

Remember, the worst case scenario is rewriting. That's it. Not to say you should rush things, but eventually you do need to dive in. Having a firm date will also motivate you.

 

[Chga]

Should I do destroyer right away once school ends? Any suggestions on how to allocate my time between destroyer, reviewing and practice tests?


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Thats up to you, just remember to FINISH and go over Destroyer 2-3 times. Understand each concept within Destroyer and also, simulate the real test environment with practice tests.

 

[virtualmaster999]

Remember, the worst case scenario is rewriting. That's it. Not to say you should rush things, but eventually you do need to dive in. Having a firm date will also motivate you.

Retesting would put me behind in the cycle because of how late in taking my test. I cannot afford to miss out on this cycle, especially due to financial reasons, which I why I'm doing everything in my power.


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[Incis0r]

Hey everyone

So I've been studying for the DAT since like the beginning of January, while in school. At first, it wasn't a big issue. But these past two months have been terrible. I feel like I haven't been living up to my expectations of doing a lot. I know I'm school but I've honestly made so many sacrifices and it still doesn't feel like enough. I finished all the content for all subjects (except diversity and plants for bio). Now the thing is, I'm taking my test June 30, and I get out Of school may 2, so I'll study from May 4-June 29, approximately 53 days. Within this time; I plan to do 15 hours a day (sounds crazy excessive but I got a lot to do still). With this, I will focus on having everything stick this time through (which seems impossible to do while taking classes). Since I already went through the material, I feel like it won't be as bad to go through everything again for a review. Now, I don't just wanna review I will do destroyer also. How should I split up my time for all of this (including practice exams and subject tests) if I plan to do three five hour blocks each day? I've made so many sacrifices to try to learn everything over the semester but is SOO hard to remember everything and keep rehearsing everything when you have classes and your time is limited (I even kept my class load small but it still didn't help!) I just feel disappointed because I feel like I wasted a lot of my time, since I forgot A LOT of everything. Do you all think it's possible for me to do well still if these 53 days go smooth? Do you have any suggestions or tips that could help me out? I REALLY want to be a dentist and I'll stop at nothing to get there. I'm just getting discouraged lately.. Can you guys help me out with all of this, and give me some advice about how to make my remaining study time the BEST possible? Can I still get a good score? I'm hoping that once school ends it will be easier to focus on the DAT which will help a lot.

I know there's a lot here, but anything helps.

Thank you to all as always!



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One thing you should keep in mind....have a "review" block in your daily schedule.

 

[virtualmaster999]

One thing you should keep in mind....have a "review" block in your daily schedule. What do I mean by this?

Well, I'm planning on taking the DAT this summer too (following Ari Rezai's 10 week study plan). I will have my day set up like this:

6am: Wakeup, Ready for the day, morning run, breakfast, drive to library
8am-12noon = DAT Study Session 1 (Stuff scheduled by Ari for the day)
12noon-1pm= Quick run/Lunch
1pm-3pm= Finish the DAT subjects scheduled for the day
3:15-6:15pm = *AUXILIARY*

The key ingredient for me is AUXILIARY. What does this mean? Well, for starters, it means spending some time going over everything I learned that day, focusing on the big picture (so that the concepts stay in my mind). For example, if I studied the digestive system that day, but I want to review the cardiac cycle, I'd spend 30 minutes drawing out the different steps, when systole occurs, etc. etc. Then I might move on to other PAT problems. But, I will also review things I learned in previous days. Repeated exposure to the material is key. I'll also go over problems I got wrong one week, two weeks, three weeks, etc. ago.

My guess is that you don't have something like the AUXILIARY in your study schedule...you're exposing yourself to each thing once and moving on...no wonder why it's not staying in your brain.

I see what you mean! I will definitely include one of these auxiliary blocks into my studying! Do you think I can still pull a good score off with my time frame if I follow a condensed schedule of the 10 week? I'll have roughly 8 weeks with 15 hours a day anyhow. Also, I've tried to do what you said about keep reviewing but I haven't been able to do it as much because of classes :/


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[WutzUpDoc]

Yes yes yes! You can still get a great score. Don't worry.

That all sounds stressful, but I think once you get rid of your school studies, you will find that you retain material better.

What I use to do is make sheets/flash cards of things that I found particularly difficult, new, or simply if I predicted that I would forget it. Sometimes this information came from Destroyer tests, other times it just came from reading... it could be from anything. At the end of the day, I would review this material and/or material from previous days. Don't have to review it all in one day, but it's good to browse through the pile casually.

With my Destroyer booklets, I would highlight questions that I got wrong (on the answer pages). I would review these when I could or retest myself on those particular ones.

The key is to gauge what is most difficult for you, keep notes of it somewhere and review/practice every once it a while. You will accumulate a lot of it like I did, but I found it helpful.

Keep up the hard work!

 

[510586]

One thing you should keep in mind....have a "review" block in your daily schedule. What do I mean by this?

Well, I'm planning on taking the DAT this summer too (following Ari Rezai's 10 week study plan). I will have my day set up like this:

6am: Wakeup, Ready for the day, morning run, breakfast, drive to library
8am-12noon = DAT Study Session 1 (Stuff scheduled by Ari for the day)
12noon-1pm= Quick run/Lunch
1pm-3pm= Finish the DAT subjects scheduled for the day
3:15-6:15pm = *AUXILIARY*

The key ingredient for me is AUXILIARY. What does this mean? Well, for starters, it means spending some time going over everything I learned that day, focusing on the big picture (so that the concepts stay in my mind). For example, if I studied the digestive system that day, but I want to review the cardiac cycle, I'd spend 30 minutes drawing out the different steps, when systole occurs, etc. etc. Then I might move on to other PAT problems. But, I will also review things I learned in previous days. Repeated exposure to the material is key. I'll also go over problems I got wrong one week, two weeks, three weeks, etc. ago.

My guess is that you don't have something like the AUXILIARY in your study schedule...you're exposing yourself to each thing once and moving on...no wonder why it's not staying in your brain.

This is an awesome schedule.. do you take breaks during the 4 hour block? How long do you plan on studying for?

 

[lucensdentium]

Hm, the auxillary thing sounds really good. However, I'm also short on time. I only started studying for the beginning of this month, and my advice is just to practice, practice, practice. DO the practice problems. It'll stick better to do practice problems and you learn better that way, because as you screw up your formula or mechanism, or anything, you can definitely flip back and think, "how did I do this wrong?" And I'll repeat that problem over and over again. Also, practice your estimation skills!!!!

Practice, practice, practice. I have a friend that took the MCAT and didn't do so hot. His advice to me was to do practice problems. I'm reviewing as I practice myself. It's been half a month and I went from 13's and 15's on my sections to 23's and 24's. Grind it out and grind it hard, but get some sleep! Try to learn in your sleep. Read something before you sleep and just let it all sink in. My sister told me she studied for her boards in her sleep. Sleep will help you retain things better. Good luck!

 

[510586]

Hm, the auxillary thing sounds really good. However, I'm also short on time. I only started studying for the beginning of this month, and my advice is just to practice, practice, practice. DO the practice problems. It'll stick better to do practice problems and you learn better that way, because as you screw up your formula or mechanism, or anything, you can definitely flip back and think, "how did I do this wrong?" And I'll repeat that problem over and over again. Also, practice your estimation skills!!!!

Practice, practice, practice. I have a friend that took the MCAT and didn't do so hot. His advice to me was to do practice problems. I'm reviewing as I practice myself. It's been half a month and I went from 13's and 15's on my sections to 23's and 24's. Grind it out and grind it hard, but get some sleep! Try to learn in your sleep. Read something before you sleep and just let it all sink in. My sister told me she studied for her boards in her sleep. Sleep will help you retain things better. Good luck!

Yea I feel like this is the best way to study once you are familiar with everything. Just like kids who review math/physics by doing a huge amount of practice problems score better than kids who read over problems or read math textbooks or look at how the teacher does it. Practice problems are good at showing you what you are not as good at. It's most likely the fastest way to study too.

 

[Incis0r]

DAT preparation, to me at least, is a marathon. Keep your morale high and play the long game, and you will see great success. I plan to study for 10 weeks, with about 4 weeks left in reserve IF I need to push the exam back (just an emergency measure).

 

[virtualmaster999]

Thank you everyone for the advice! It means a lot!


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[virtualmaster999]

You absolutely can! Remember, the 10-week is just Ari's Bootcamp pacing- you can adapt it to your needs and do more in less time...a "super bootcamp" if you will 🙂. 8 weeks is PLENTY of time. One thing I would advise is not to push 15 hours a day....I would easily get burned out if I studied that much. I'm doing 6-7 hours of new content review + 3 hours of AUXILIARY. Good luck, I'm sure I'll be reading your breakdown and seeing your awesome scores someday soon.




Of course- I don't know about you, but I cannot stay still and give my 100% for more than 90 consecutive minutes. I will probably take a short 10 minute break after each major "task," so after finishing the bio reading for the day, then after finishing the PAT for the day.

DAT preparation, to me at least, is a marathon. Keep your morale high and play the long game, and you will see great success. I plan to study for 10 weeks, with about 4 weeks left in reserve IF I need to push the exam back (just an emergency measure). I'm a sophomore right now so I don't have the pressure of time on me to get this done by June/July.

When are you planning to take your exam? And you're applying this cycle right?


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[Incis0r]

When are you planning to take your exam? And you're applying this cycle right?


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Taking my exam end of this coming July.
Good luck to you and your applications though! Keep me posted!

 

[matardug]

Try to relax, listen to some calming music!...I know it's easy for me to say it now. But I was in your shoes two times, and the good news is that the DAT is a beatable test! All of us here can give you advice on how much time to study for things, but ultimately you know what subjects need more review than others. For me it was biology because there is just so much information. For you it might be something else!

I do however think its a little crazy to study for 15 hours a day (I'd get burnt out) but everyone is different. The key is efficiently using your studying time for the things that need it. If you're studying subjects you know well already, its a waste of time.

Go through destroyer as many times as you can. Make flash cards and do whatever it takes to retain the information from it!

 

[virtualmaster999]

Try to relax, listen to some calming music!...I know it's easy for me to say it now. But I was in your shoes two times, and the good news is that the DAT is a beatable test! All of us here can give you advice on how much time to study for things, but ultimately you know what subjects need more review than others. For me it was biology because there is just so much information. For you it might be something else!

I do however think its a little crazy to study for 15 hours a day (I'd get burnt out) but everyone is different. The key is efficiently using your studying time for the things that need it. If you're studying subjects you know well already, its a waste of time.

Go through destroyer as many times as you can. Make flash cards and do whatever it takes to retain the information from it!

I know that you made a huge improvement when retaking. How would you recommend I allocate my time efficiently if I want to include a "semi quick" review of the material"?


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