Studying for DAT??

[saltlake007]

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So I have been studying for 4 months...and averaged 4-5hours a day..5-7days a week. I went over Biol..Chemistry...and beginning Ochem. Am I studying too slow??
I feel like I understand Bio and Chem well but..am starting to forget the little details since I am doing Ochem now and it's been a month since I looked at Biol. Has anyone been in this situation?? Should I study faster and not fully understand the complete subjects??? Or Should I just take all the practice tests I have (Kaplan online...Destroyer and TS.) and just learn all those questions concepts. I have moved my test date back a few times. Please help me...I plan on applying for the 2009 cycle. I am not taking anyclasses...just working part time. Please any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

 

[rose786]

Honestly, I think this is a question that only you yourself can answer. Over the course of your undergrad work you must have gotten a feel for how you study best? I myself am a very visual learner and like to map things out and color code my notes. My friend is very auditory and she will study, shut the book for a second, and say outloud what the concepts are.

Another thing is I think that you have to develop a "killer instinct" while studying. Tell yourself that you are going to destroy this test so you don't have to retake. If you read on the USMLE or NBDE boards you'll see that when medical/dental students sit for their respective exams, they do so with this intense killer instinct for a condensed period of time. I think that's the main difference between them and undergrads. Just my 2 cents.

 

[bigstix808]

i tell you what works for me, and i even do this for my college classes too, i go through the material once and get a pretty good understanding on what's going on without getting any major details - you know, key concepts, ideas, the "meat & potatos" ya know. while doing this, i have notepads for each subject and i just jot down questions to my self for later for things i don't quite "get". i try to make this initial process rather breezy.

after i've gone through each section once, i will go back and start over again. this time, i will answer my "jotted down" questions written prior, and will do extra problems for the sections i still don't "get". but i still don't harp on one section too long. again, i'm writing down things that i'm going to have to go over again.

i will repeat this process until until test day. i try and organize my time as to which subjects i will study and for how many days and i stick to it. that way i will have seen ALL the material 3-4 times before the actual test day.

psychologist have known for quite some time that repetition of "material" is the fundemental process of cognitive learning (conditioning is associated with behavior not cognitive learning). with this method, i see ALL the material multiple times, and everytime i read it over, old concepts become more concrete, and the new material becomes more associated with those concepts which will further enhance your mental ability to retain that information for future use.

and FTR, i don't claim to have any kind of formal psychological training with the exception of my undergraduate coursework (21 hrs) and the 8000 level PSYCH class i'm in now titled "Learning Development" 🙂 - so no flamming please.

 

[saltlake007]

Hey thanks a lot guys. It's just dissappointing because I know I am a very slow learner. It takes me longer to get the concepts down than a most. But once I get it down it sticks. However, I also heard...from the MCAT forum...that you should spend a maximum of 3-4months to study because this helps you retain the material better...anytime longer than that; you tend to forget...I hope this is not true.

 

[rose786]

Hey thanks a lot guys. It's just dissappointing because I know I am a very slow learner. It takes me longer to get the concepts down than a most. But once I get it down it sticks. However, I also heard...from the MCAT forum...that you should spend a maximum of 3-4months to study because this helps you retain the material better...anytime longer than that; you tend to forget...I hope this is not true.

That's only true if you avoid repetition. The key is to beat the info into your brain over and over. When you think you've learned it, the brain has only just begun to assimilate it. So look over your books, notes, until your sick of it. That's what I plan on doing anyways.