Taking the DAT

[mascue]

I know there are like millions of threads asking about the DAT, but I'm genuinely wondering how long I should study for this exam. The consensus seems to be somewhere between 2~4 months, but I'm getting different opinions on how long I should be studying per day. Like, some say 4~5 hours per day is fine, while some are grinding it out 8am~8pm. I am planning on starting studying over the summer, but I'm not sure if I should take it by the end of the summer or keep on practicing until next winter break. Any thoughts?


Current pre-reqs taken: genbio 1/2, genbio lab 1 (taking genbiolab 2 right now), genchem 1/2 & lab 1/2, calc 1, stats, orgo 1

Current gpa: 3.98 (sGPA is like 3.95), so I am hoping to get a DAT score that is reasonable for a person that has this gpa. I am pretty confident in general chemistry, but I cannot say I retained much of organic chemistry 1 so far just because I didn't study to learn but I studied to get a good grade

edit: I am a spring semester sophomore right now and I hope to take my DAT before next summer, because I don't want to be juggling the DAT and writing my PS at the same time.

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[1942]

Lol. This is like asking how long and how many hours should I work out a day to get ripped. Nobody knows besides you. It highly depends on your ability to absorb/retain material, your baseline knowledge, how much free time you have/if you work, how committed you are, and your current competency levels.

someone who didn’t pay attention in school and needs to relearn everything is much different than someone who just completed the ochem series. Their studying schedule will be vastly different. If somebody has to maintain a part time or even full time job and balance school, their schedule will be different than someone in a gap year.

anyways figure it out as you go. Make a schedule and you’ll make adjustments as you go. Maybe you need more time. Or less. Nobody knows

 

[0Mik3cho]

I was very flexible with my schedule. It's fine to adjust on the fly. It's fine to postpone the DAT when you're not ready. If you identify areas of weaknesses, focus on that even if your schedule is saying to devote an entire day to something you have demonstrably mastered. Even while studying, you can experiment with different study schedules to see what works for you. Studying does not need to be a 9-5 job. You have the freedom to define your schedule as you see fit so take advantage of that.

 

[dnz2]

it's hard to say because everyone is different and learns differently. When studying for the DAT you will have to adjust based on yourself. For me personally I tried following the schedules provided online where you would study each section for 2 hours/day. I noticed that it didn't work for me and in turn decided to just focus on one subject/day, if this is your first time writing it will probably take a solid 2 weeks to adjust and understand what methods and schedules are best for you.

But overall I'd say I good estimate is 2 months if you are studying 8 hours a day. If you have extra curricular activities that will only allow you to study 4-6 hours a day then push it for 3-4 months. I think that is a solid rule of thumb to follow. Best of luck