The 88 Day DAT Study Plan

[Smiley J]

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Required Materials:

Kaplan Blue Book (KBB)
Barron's DAT
DAT Destroyer
Crack the DAT PAT
Cliff's AP Biology
TopScore (3 Tests)
88 Days

 

[vicsin]

I like the general idea of the plan but I feel like this is way too spread out. Did you do this plan or you are just thinking about it? I don't want to bash but I feel like you can't just be doing 1 small task each day. You will not retain enough that way. I am currently studying and I have been getting through the entire DAT Destroyer in 3 days. You need to do these questions more than just once especially. I think you should revise some of this unless you already did it and it worked. Then, that's great ;D.

 

[Kahr]

I like the general idea of the plan but I feel like this is way too spread out. Did you do this plan or you are just thinking about it? I don't want to bash but I feel like you can't just be doing 1 small task each day. You will not retain enough that way. I am currently studying and I have been getting through the entire DAT Destroyer in 3 days. You need to do these questions more than just once especially. I think you should revise some of this unless you already did it and it worked. Then, that's great ;D.

I don't think the tasks are terribly small here, but they could be ramped up a bit by sprinkling in some of other topics on top of the main focus; ex: gen chem (majority of day, e.g. a chapter, 3-5 Chad videos, etc), bio (20-40 questions in destroyer), pat (a single test). And another thing, reviews on topics already completely covered need reviewing throughout, which could act as those sprinkles. 88 days does seem like a good amount of time though, so I can't argue with that.

But, I could never do something like destroyer in 3 days.

I keep reading about people studying 8-10 hours a day, but that sounds crazy to me. Maybe doing that works for some people, but I often think its done because people are simply setting themselves up with a minimum amount of time (e.g. 6-8 weeks). Another factor to consider is how recent the relevant science courses were taken, you can't expect someone who took chemistry a few years prior to just whoosh through it all in a few days.

 

[vicsin]

I don't think the tasks are terribly small here, but they could be ramped up a bit by sprinkling in some of other topics on top of the main focus; ex: gen chem (majority of day, e.g. a chapter, 3-5 Chad videos, etc), bio (20-40 questions in destroyer), pat (a single test). And another thing, reviews on topics already completely covered need reviewing throughout, which could act as those sprinkles. 88 days does seem like a good amount of time though, so I can't argue with that.

But, I could never do something like destroyer in 3 days.

I keep reading about people studying 8-10 hours a day, but that sounds crazy to me. Maybe doing that works for some people, but I often think its done because people are simply setting themselves up with a minimum amount of time (e.g. 6-8 weeks). Another factor to consider is how recent the relevant science courses were taken, you can't expect someone who took chemistry a few years prior to just whoosh through it all in a few days.

haha I mean I don't expect anyone to be as crazy I am being with this stuff right now. But with destroyer you should take a week and a half tops. The thing is 88 days is a lot of time. And in that schedule the OP uses a lot of good sources but the schedule lacks repetition and REPETITION is KEY. I don't know about you but that's how things work for me when I study. If i do it once and review answers, I will probably forget them. You must do the questions and do them again and again. Not with Kaplan or any of the other sources. But, Destroyer, definitely requires repetition. Also, once you're on your 2nd/3rd round you get faster at going through it. I think it is a waste of time to spread it out so much. You have to at least crank things up for the last week or two. Double up on the hours and the reviewing and the practicing. Just my advice 🙂.

 

[Benman44]

haha I mean I don't expect anyone to be as crazy I am being with this stuff right now. But with destroyer you should take a week and a half tops. The thing is 88 days is a lot of time. And in that schedule the OP uses a lot of good sources but the schedule lacks repetition and REPETITION is KEY. I don't know about you but that's how things work for me when I study. If i do it once and review answers, I will probably forget them. You must do the questions and do them again and again. Not with Kaplan or any of the other sources. But, Destroyer, definitely requires repetition. Also, once you're on your 2nd/3rd round you get faster at going through it. I think it is a waste of time to spread it out so much. You have to at least crank things up for the last week or two. Double up on the hours and the reviewing and the practicing. Just my advice 🙂.

yea man i feel you here im doing the chads 8 week posted here on SDN but condensed it down to 6 . The first 2 weeks are 10 hour days but every day is the same and yes i just came out of taking my sciences. But reading and re reading 2 chapters a day, watching a days worth of Chad videos and 1 math chapter is a really nice repetition. I study great knowing im getting certain portions done each day and knowing im "closer" to my goal!

 

[Smiley J]

I appreciate your feedback and agree that my plan lacks repetition. Please review my new modifications.

The reason why I spaced out this plan over 88 days is because I wanted to set a more realistic goal. I wanted a plan that is more doable.

I feel that the most difficult part of the DAT is organization and structure in a study plan. Mine is organized so that things that don't require memory are seen first, and things that require the most memory are seen last.

 

[vicsin]

The revised version looks much better to me. Repeating the Destroyer q's like that will definitely help you although they can be discouraging at first cause they are tough 🙁.
One thing though, the Destroyer QR is kind of easier than I think it should be. I got Math Destroyer and it's a lot more difficult and it might be a good idea to get that instead of doing so much of the QR in Destroyer alone.

Also, in the beginning of your studies you may find that some of those KBB chapters are really short and won't take long at all so I would throw in some extra practice those days.

Anyway, best of luck 🙂!

 

[Kahr]

The revised version looks much better to me. Repeating the Destroyer q's like that will definitely help you although they can be discouraging at first cause they are tough 🙁.
One thing though, the Destroyer QR is kind of easier than I think it should be. I got Math Destroyer and it's a lot more difficult and it might be a good idea to get that instead of doing so much of the QR in Destroyer alone.

Also, in the beginning of your studies you may find that some of those KBB chapters are really short and won't take long at all so I would throw in some extra practice those days.

Anyway, best of luck 🙂!

I haven't started QR studying yet myself (leaving it for after I've finished the sciences), and I'm very weak in math. I've got KBB, destroyer, and math destroyer, and I've heard Khan academy is good for QR too. Do you think KBB will be good enough by itself for me to learn the concepts to answer the QR questions in destroyer (both regular and the math destroyer)? Any other advice is welcome.

 

[vicsin]

I haven't started QR studying yet myself (leaving it for after I've finished the sciences), and I'm very weak in math. I've got KBB, destroyer, and math destroyer, and I've heard Khan academy is good for QR too. Do you think KBB will be good enough by itself for me to learn the concepts to answer the QR questions in destroyer (both regular and the math destroyer)? Any other advice is welcome.

Well I did KBB first to learn the math concepts. I briefly read over the formulas and did the questions at the end. They were surprisingly hard (especially the inscribed circle stuff). I would check that stuff out briefly and then start doing QR in Destroyer and then get to Math Destroyer. I'm pretty good in Math though I haven't done it in years and QR is kind of difficult for me still. The questions are doable and many are really easy, I'm just worried about timing. But, I think if you keep going through the Math Destroyer it will eventually click.