studying for DAT

[nhitb]

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[civiapt]

It really depends on how well you already know the material, how well you retain stuff, your study habits, etc..

If it were me, I would cram 6-8 hours for 2-3 weeks. To me 2hours a day is just not enough and 11 weeks is way to long. I wouldn't retain anything from weeks 1-5!

 

[Avery07]

It really depends on how well you already know the material, how well you retain stuff, your study habits, etc..

If it were me, I would cram 6-8 hours for 2-3 weeks. To me 2hours a day is just not enough and 11 weeks is way to long. I wouldn't retain anything from weeks 1-5!

👍

 

[Baylor2011]

I'd say 6-8 hours a day for 6-9 weeks. 2 hours a day for 11 weeks...for one, i don't think you'll get that much done in 2 hours - for example, if you're LEARNING cellular respiration or photosynthesis/C3/C4/CAM that stuff takes some concentration, and time to learn it completely. Second, you're going to forget stuff you studied during the first week when you're on the 9-11th weeks.

 

[takedailyfiber]

I think 11 weeks is way too long, at least personally. There's no way I would remember things I learned earlier. Things like bio facts need to be refreshed, because of the crazy names cells and processes involve.

Hours a day should depend on you. Don't read things like "I studied 8 hours a day for 2 months!" and assume that you should spending this time will net you a certain score. At the same time, don't assume you that absolutely need the same amount of time to get that certain score either.

If you really want to know how much time you should spend, find a practice test and take it, then allocate time as needed to what you need to work on.

One of my friends (now an entering D3) studied 2 weeks by reading through a Kaplan book, and nailed the DATs. Needless to say, he had a strong science background. Another person I know hit the library with a group of pre-dents and went over sections for 6-8 hours a day for 2 months, and he nailed the DAT too (D2 now).

 

[nhitb]

thanks guys for all the replies, the problem is that i will be doing SMDEP next week for 6 weeks and they give school work as well, so i will be studying for the smdep program those 6 weeks and i can't dedicate that many hours a day to study for the DAT alone, so i thought if i study a little everyday then maybe i'll be on schedule but you guys are right, i will forget everything from the beginning of those 11 weeks. I am SOOOOO lost. 🙁 and i am also not the kinda person that can study for 8 hours straight.

 

[pinetar321]

read my blog in the July 2009 section. I put all my tips and strategies there in the link below

 

[takedailyfiber]

thanks guys for all the replies, the problem is that i will be doing SMDEP next week for 6 weeks and they give school work as well, so i will be studying for the smdep program those 6 weeks and i can't dedicate that many hours a day to study for the DAT alone, so i thought if i study a little everyday then maybe i'll be on schedule but you guys are right, i will forget everything from the beginning of those 11 weeks. I am SOOOOO lost. 🙁 and i am also not the kinda person that can study for 8 hours straight.

Hey, don't panic yet. If you're taking the DAT at the end of August, and your program lasts 6 weeks, you still get 1-1.5 free months to study. And I believe that there are some things you can still study for short periods of time effectively, which you can do in the next 6 weeks. How about types of math problems from the chem section? PAT section practice? Things like these are easier to retain, as opposed to chemistry rules, reactions and biology names and diagrams.

You should really take a practice test though, to know where you stand.

I'm not the type to study 8 hours straight either.

 

[nhitb]

thanks a lot, that's a brilliant idea. I will study for PAT, quantitative reasoning, and reading comp sections while i am at the program. And once i am done, i'll do another 6 weeks for bio, che, and orgo, in addition to my summer class. But where do you get the practice exams from?? I want to take on as soon as possible 🙂

 

[takedailyfiber]

thanks a lot, that's a brilliant idea. I will study for PAT, quantitative reasoning, and reading comp sections while i am at the program. And once i am done, i'll do another 6 weeks for bio, che, and orgo, in addition to my summer class. But where do you get the practice exams from?? I want to take on as soon as possible 🙂

You'll probably want to ask other people where they got their practice exams... I did the Kaplan program, which gave exams online. I believe the Kaplan book comes with 1 or 2. There are lots of other resources though, I'm just not familiar with them.

Yeah, you could also study chem problems - there's a lot on the DAT dealing with kinetics, titrations, balancing, heat reactions, all that gross stuff. But it's all stuff you can actually do on paper instead of just reading and memorizing from a book. Things are always easier to retain when they can be practiced, and there's something to solve for, in my opinion. If you can work through these during your time, you will save a lot of time later.

 

[dentiist2be]

thanks a lot, that's a brilliant idea. I will study for PAT, quantitative reasoning, and reading comp sections while i am at the program. And once i am done, i'll do another 6 weeks for bio, che, and orgo, in addition to my summer class. But where do you get the practice exams from?? I want to take on as soon as possible 🙂

You can get TopScore or Achiever.both programs have 3 practice exams i believe. Also there is one practice exam on the ADA website.

Good luck

 

[Baylor2011]

Don't bother w/ the ADA exam, it's far too easy.

No reason to pick between top score and destroyer...I did, and I'm going to end up purchasing Destroyer as well for extra practice. Might as well, it's cheap enough.