Study Schedule For Dat + Recommended Study Materials????

[dent12]

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Hey Everyone---
I am going to start studying for the dat in the summer from June 10 to Sept 10th and was wondering if anyone could give me a breakdown of the sections of the DAT and the appropriate study materials for each section. I am willing to sacrifice and spend any amount of money to buy books and study materials that will help me succeed. I obviously see it as an investment into my furture. I know books can be costly, but I would rather put my best foot forward.

First I was going to Study the hell out of my Bio-Inorganic-Organic textbooks before I looked at any supplemental material like the DAT Destroyer...Would that be a good idea????

Inorganic--DAT Destroyer??
Organic---DAT Destroyer??
Biology Kaplan AP Addition???
QR---DAT Destoyer???

I really need help with the other sections of the DAT and the proper study materials.....Also, if someone could help me with a three month study schedule that would be awesome. Would that be enought time to prepare???

Thanks so much for taking on this question....I think it could really help me put my best foot forward.

 

[TheWiredNerv]

Studying the hell out of your text books will probably yield very good results especially if you use Destroyer and Achiever and or topscore as practice for the test. If you are really hardcore about the test then you'll do every single problem in your biology text book. I really don't think it is necessary to study your gen chem or organic chem text books as some problems in them (especially g chem) are way above the scope of the test. I suggest Kaplan for those two sections. If you are having difficulty grasping a general chem concept then refer to the text book for that but don't do the problems.

Also don't underestimate reading comprehension or PAT. I'd use Crack DAT PAT and Achiever to practice perceptual and just keep practicing RC section on practice tests for that section.

3 months is more than enough time. Depending on your constutition I think you should put in about 5 hours at first and increase this time as you get closer to the DAT. Best of Luck.

 

[gogiantsss]

I think it's great that you're willing to devote 3 months time to studying for the DAT but I have heard too many "I studied for 5 months, 16 hours a day but I still got a 15" posts. The cautionary tale here is to really pinpoint what areas you are weak at. I would first take a practice test and see where you are at in terms of the sciences. Then hit the books hard and review all your basic materials. Retake that same test and see how you do. From that point on, I would try to focus on your weak areas. Studying what you already know wont help you one bit.

The key is found out what studying method works best for you. I could only study in 3-4 hour blocks and that seemed to work best for me. As you go along, find out what method works best for you. I'm not saying slack off like crazy. By all means, put in the time! But the key is to work smarter not harder. Hope that helped

 

[Kotik]

I would do TopScore and Achiever first than do the "hunting season" with Destroyer. The more questions you do the more prepared you'll be.

 

[NoFear66]

A lot of people on her always ask how people study for the test, but I think the best way to study for it is to study for the DAT just like you have studied for all of you hard classes in college, except for longer and a little more intense. For example, I am big on textbooks, I always read them, so I studied from textbooks a lot to prepare. I hate flashcards so just cause someone on here said it helped for them doesn't mean it will help me.

It is all about quality not quantity. There are also a lot of people on here who ask the most ridiculous biology questions, stuff that you would only have learned in an upper level biochemistry class, like some reaction pathway and all the intermediates. I don't know what these people are thinking. For my test genetics and enzymes and cell biology was of most importance.

One last thing, DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE QR AND RC. If you do you will only be hurting yourself. The difficulty of the sections goes, in my opinion, form hardest to easiest, Biology, RC/QR, GC, PAT, OC. RC and QR are tied for second. The more you do of QR and RC the better you get at it. Do a little of each every day or every other day.

Hope this helps...

 

[wizzies47]

Kaplan and everything else is good as a base but if you want to take it to the next level get DAT Destroyer...especially for orgo! Those Roadmaps are amazing!!!

 

[okdr]

I would review Kaplan blue book and Cliffs AP Bio to get a good foundation. You should also test yourself with Topscore and Achiver. And finally, use Destroyer! Do all the questions (especially in Orgo and Gen chem) and review the ones you get wrong. THat should do the trick.

 

[yafdental]

The best way you can study for the science section of the DAT is through the Destroyer book. It has a bunch of questions that will gear you closer to doing well on the DAT.

 

[Kkae]

The key is practice practice practice! Resources such as the Destroyer, Achiever, TopScore, and Kaplan have proven to be big help to DAT takers. Of, course to brush up before starting to go thru these problems you may need to use your notes from school...Cliffs and Barrons books are also really good.
You can check ou some helpful resources here:
http://sites.google.com/site/studentdocdds/my-reading-list

 

[Brostie]

Personally I found doing tons of practice questions to be most helpful. Programs like TopScore are very helpful to get the feel of the exam.

Material like Kaplans blueblook is great to cover your basic sciences but if you are looking to do a bunch of question i would recommend the DAT decoder. It has tons of questions with varying difficulty.

 

[DAT12]

Dat destroyer
Crack pat
Math destroyer
Reading? Some mcat stuff

 

[Dgeorg6]

For biology..
Cliffs ap biology
Barrons ap biology

For chemistry
Chads videos

For PAT
Crack Dat Pat

For reading
Crack dat reading

For QR
Math Destroyer
Chads videos


Other materials for testing and questions
Achiever
TopScore
dqvault(just do the free tests for biology)
DAT Destroyer



You're good to go!

Now on how to study.. Look at the top of this subforum and read the 8 week dat study schedule and edit it to your liking and add 4 weeks

TADAH!

 

[menouski]

DAT destroyer is the way to go for OC, GC, and Bio in my opinion. It had TONS of biology questions, which is good because there's tons of material. Crack the DAT is an absolute must for PAT, especially if this if your first time taking it. I was going to do without it and got scared 4 days before the test and bought it, that $100 literally saved me from a retake.

Somewhere above me someone mentioned pin pointing what you need work on, this is great advice. If you find a questions you have no idea about, grab an old text book off the shelf and brush up.

Good luck this summer!

 

[ushaseos]

I hate to be a party pooper people, but seeing how the post is from 2007, I am sure the OP had his/her question answered adequately and might have even graduated from Dental school.

Your suggestions are very good though!