the difference between MCAT and DAT

[csudental]

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so i will be a junior next fall and i will study for the DAT most of the courses are expensive and far from me but my college offer a MCAT course and a lot of people told me it helps them when they apply for medical school but i'm interesting to become a dentist. So i want to ask you guys what is the difference between MCAT and DAT can i take the MCAT course and then take the DAT and does this course will cover most of the DAT materiel ?
Thank you

 

[Rambunctious]

Please use google

 

[dauntless123]

Umm no I wouldn't take the MCAT course if I were you. MCAT also cover stuff that won't be on the DAT like physics. I would just buy books and see how other people have studied for the dat. Read some DAT breakdowns and research what you need to do to study for the DAT. MCAT course might be a waste of time and money while you can just study the material on your own and at your own pace.

 

[Gold Standard Multimedia]

An MCAT course should give you a reasonable review of the natural sciences (NS) for the DAT which is, of course, just 1 of the 4 DAT sections. During your MCAT course, you should ignore physics.

Here is what your MCAT course will not provide:
1. DAT NS: your MCAT course will not (actually should not) cover the following topics but they are definitely DAT material: inorganic chem lab techniques/glassware, alkene/alkyne/ether/aromatic chemistry (MCAT 2015 with re-introduce aromatics but it is not required for the current MCAT), multi-step organic syntheses, photosynthesis and plant biology (not the hottest DAT topic but it depends what score you are aiming for), cladistics, genetic technology (coming for MCAT 2015), animal behavior and learning (MCAT 2015), population and community ecology, ecosystems, etc.
2. DAT PAT
3. DAT QR
4. DAT RC: MCAT verbal reasoning is a non-specific prep for DAT RC.

Also, keep in mind that the question types between the two exams have some overlap, but they are generally different (although the 2015 DAT will begin introducing more problem centered biology questions, i.e. less rote knowledge).