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If you aren't, how in the world are you capable of focusing for such a long time? Tell me your secret!
To the people who say they study 14hrs/day.. are you lying?
- Thread starter swindoll
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When studying for the DAT, there were many, many days leading up to to the exam where I put in 12-14 hour days studying. A lot of adrenaline, coffee, and energy drinks kept me going. I didn't want to leave anything to chance and that fueled me so I kept breaks to a minimum.
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whaaaaat. that's insane. mad respect for y'all.
During DAT time of my life, I was doing 5-8 hoursa day, but I always did intense 45 min - 60 min intense studying of one topic, followed by 10-15 min relaxing time. (youtube, playing with my dog, getting water, random activties).
During DAT time of my life, I was doing 5-8 hoursa day, but I always did intense 45 min - 60 min intense studying of one topic, followed by 10-15 min relaxing time. (youtube, playing with my dog, getting water, random activties).
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Careful with the YouTube. It's easy to get lose hours at a time on there.
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Because of school I was getting only 3 - 5 hours in on most days, but there were definitely a few saturdays and sundays where I went from 10 AM to 10 PM straight with only minimal breaks. Glad that that part of my life is over with haha..
No, I wasn't lying. I did it over the summer and I didnt work or take classes. I would typically stroll to the study room ~11am study till 3, lunch break for 45 min, also use that time to pack snacks for the evening. Get back to studying by 4pm and pull allnighters. Seriously... going until 2/3am. Sleep & repeat. It was tough, no I didn't use adderall or was strung out on caffeine like my friends studying for their accounting cpa board exam. It was 100% discipline. I knew I needed 20+ and I was only going to do the DAT/apply once. I wanted to give this my all. I made up my mind went balls to the wall. 12-14 hours days arent for eveyone. But it worked for me. I did the long days for 4 weeks and the two first weeks of studying were more relaxed 6-8 hours.
Moral of the story, I hope by know you know how you learn best. What ever that is.. DO IT. if you have to make dances to predict the orgo product, DO IT. Really, who desires to take the DAT more than once. Just sitting in the testing center for 4-5 hours is hell. Best wishes on your exam!
Moral of the story, I hope by know you know how you learn best. What ever that is.. DO IT. if you have to make dances to predict the orgo product, DO IT. Really, who desires to take the DAT more than once. Just sitting in the testing center for 4-5 hours is hell. Best wishes on your exam!
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I have a friend who studied 10-14 hrs a day for 3-4 weeks for the USMLE Step 1. I don't think that pulling extremely long study days is sustainable for much longer than that, to be honest.
For some people that sort of studying works well. After having read a lot of breakdowns, I think that most people on SDN study 4-8 hrs a day for 2 months for the DAT. I'm also going to put this out there--I think that for the vast majority people it's hard to stay intensely focused for much longer than a couple of hours at a time. People get tired and brains do need to rest. It helps consolidate information and keeps stamina up. Also remember that diminishing returns and burnout are two very real things that you want to avoid while studying for the DAT.
If you're gonna study for the DAT, I think you should do what works best for you. If you're not used to pulling super long study days, don't try to force yourself to do it. I think it's more likely you'll get a good score by catering to what works for you personally and not trying to follow someone else's plan.
The other thing is that realistically speaking the highest scorers I have seen on the DAT, such as @Glimmer1991 for example (sorry Glimmer, you just immediately came to mind!
), made sure to study intensely but did not try to overdo it, focused on their weaknesses, and catered to how they learn best.
For some people that sort of studying works well. After having read a lot of breakdowns, I think that most people on SDN study 4-8 hrs a day for 2 months for the DAT. I'm also going to put this out there--I think that for the vast majority people it's hard to stay intensely focused for much longer than a couple of hours at a time. People get tired and brains do need to rest. It helps consolidate information and keeps stamina up. Also remember that diminishing returns and burnout are two very real things that you want to avoid while studying for the DAT.
If you're gonna study for the DAT, I think you should do what works best for you. If you're not used to pulling super long study days, don't try to force yourself to do it. I think it's more likely you'll get a good score by catering to what works for you personally and not trying to follow someone else's plan.
The other thing is that realistically speaking the highest scorers I have seen on the DAT, such as @Glimmer1991 for example (sorry Glimmer, you just immediately came to mind!
), made sure to study intensely but did not try to overdo it, focused on their weaknesses, and catered to how they learn best.
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I agree with stomatology. I've actually written quite a few responses about this during my time on SDN.
I don't think that a person can possibly stay focused on DAT studying for much more than ~6 hours a day. You are literally cramming fact after fact after fact into your brain. It's not fun. It's stressful. It's difficult. We aren't cut out to learn SO much for SO long.
I think if a person has to consistently study 8+ hours a day over a span of months, they aren't studying very efficiently. The DAT is hard, but it ain't THAT hard.
For 3 months, I studied ~5 hours a day during the week and 2-3 hours a day on the weekends. I had some days where I studied less. During the final week of studying, I ramped up my study hours to about 7 a day and intensely reviewed everything. I know I couldn't have kept up that rate for much longer. Plus, looking back, I wish I had only studied for 2.5 months instead of three.
I could imagine a situation where a person was forced to cram and did 8-10 hours a day for 3 weeks or so. True, I guess I could have attacked the DAT in this manner... but it would have been terribly stressful! I stopped cramming after high school and prefer tackling things in manageable chunks. Plus, like stomatology mentioned, there is a law of diminishing returns... I don't know that for those last 3-4 hours, you'd actually be retaining anything. But hey, maybe so!
It's all about studying more efficiently... not necessarily longer (or even harder)!
I don't think that a person can possibly stay focused on DAT studying for much more than ~6 hours a day. You are literally cramming fact after fact after fact into your brain. It's not fun. It's stressful. It's difficult. We aren't cut out to learn SO much for SO long.
I think if a person has to consistently study 8+ hours a day over a span of months, they aren't studying very efficiently. The DAT is hard, but it ain't THAT hard.
For 3 months, I studied ~5 hours a day during the week and 2-3 hours a day on the weekends. I had some days where I studied less. During the final week of studying, I ramped up my study hours to about 7 a day and intensely reviewed everything. I know I couldn't have kept up that rate for much longer. Plus, looking back, I wish I had only studied for 2.5 months instead of three.
I could imagine a situation where a person was forced to cram and did 8-10 hours a day for 3 weeks or so. True, I guess I could have attacked the DAT in this manner... but it would have been terribly stressful! I stopped cramming after high school and prefer tackling things in manageable chunks.
Plus, like stomatology mentioned, there is a law of diminishing returns... I don't know that for those last 3-4 hours, you'd actually be retaining anything. But hey, maybe so!It's all about studying more efficiently... not necessarily longer (or even harder)!
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I took the DAT twice. First time I did 3 months studying for 4-5 hours a day. I got AA17 with two 16s.
Second time I studied two weeks at 12 hour days and I got a 19AA and improved on all other sections.
So pick your poison.
On another note I got accepted into my schools with my first score and not second. Take that as you will.
Second time I studied two weeks at 12 hour days and I got a 19AA and improved on all other sections.
So pick your poison.
On another note I got accepted into my schools with my first score and not second. Take that as you will.
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Time doesn't matter as long as you cover all your material.
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Just try it out. You will see how long it will take you for your brain to stop processing things.
However, many of the highest-scoring folks did the "months studying" thing, too.
SHOW ME YOUR DATA AND STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE!!!
Glimmer has the best point.
It's not about how long you study, it's about whether you're spending your time efficiently. If you're forcing yourself to do 12 hours, but you don't absorb anything, you might have just studied 15 minutes and gotten a concept down completely.
Personally, I had about 1 month to study. Luckily I had the entire day everyday to study, but the longest I studied productively was probably 4-6 hours (and that would be including a practice test). It's important to set objectives for yourself everytime you sit down to study. "I'm gonna nail E1, SN1, E2, SN2 today," or "Gonna memorize the names and chronological orders of the vertebrates" etc.. That way after you reach your goal, you know you've been productive, and after you complete your objective you feel justified in taking a break.
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SHOW ME YOUR DATA AND STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE!!!
The data is from the breakdown collection!!!
But statistics? Noooooooo! You can't make me!
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There are so many factors that go into how many hours one should study (i know that isn't your question). I'm sure people really do study for 14 hours a day...but honestly, is that sustainable? It would be reasonable to bet that 95% of the people who say that are the ones who get sidetracked every 20 minutes to go watch youtube videos for an hour and then tell everyone how much they studied. I studied for ~6 hours a day for 3 months, but that's just me. I get burnt out if i do anymore than that (nor is it desirable). People also learn at different paces and environments. Plus, if you already knew a lot about a certain topic, you could probably cut out a lot of studying time in a particular section.
One 2 week KAPLAN class ~2.5 hours a day plus 1 extra hour a day+3 practice exams over the month after-->22 AA. If you are learning/understanding the material in undergrad and not just cramming or memorizing, the DAT is a lot easier.
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This is somewhat sad, but I never truly realized this until this past semester. Not to brag, but I was so surprised because I studied less than I normally would have had to and my GPA was the highest it has ever been while taking upper level sciences. I actually felt bad because I was doing a lot better than my classmates who were putting in more work, but I was working more efficiently. It's up to everyone individually to figure out what works best for him/her, but I hope that my methods keep working for me.
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There are lots of similarities between studying for exams and practicing for juries (music). Frankly, there were people out there who practiced six to eight hours per day for years on end. Some of them are professionals now. Most are not. That said, there are others who practiced three or four hours a day for many years and some of them are also professionals now. The thing about practicing (and studying) is this. You're only really good for a few hours of actual concerted effort. At some point, you're either wasting your time without knowing it, or you're being extremely inefficient which is just a nice way to say you're wasting your time. The guys who practiced eight hours a day really only put in a good three or four hours of concerted effort. The rest was goofing off, playing fun stuff, being a part of an ensemble, and generally enjoying the instrument. The guys who went just as far in music but practiced half as much simply avoided the goofing off. They sat down, put in their solid and concerted three or four hours, then went home. There is a limit to how much you can assimilate, concentrate, and memorize in a single day.
There have been a few posters over the years who have gotten very high (99th percentile) scores on the DAT. I noticed a strong trend with many of them, which is the same as the one I observed in music. They often advised against studying too many hours, and said that three or four hours was plenty if you gave it a few months. Consistency is important, and concerted effort is essential. The few that I remember reading made a big deal about that last part: concerted effort is key!
There have been a few posters over the years who have gotten very high (99th percentile) scores on the DAT. I noticed a strong trend with many of them, which is the same as the one I observed in music. They often advised against studying too many hours, and said that three or four hours was plenty if you gave it a few months. Consistency is important, and concerted effort is essential. The few that I remember reading made a big deal about that last part: concerted effort is key!
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Learned that the hard way while studying for biology. I was spending up to 4 hours just on biology alone each day because I was writing notes in order to retain the information. Horrible way to study, especially when I had 3 other DAT subjects to deal with.
I've heard of people studying for 14 hours... I personally can't handle that, but if they can, more power to them. The most I had was 10 hours/day, and that was days before my exam. I averaged about 4-5 hours a day while studying for the DAT.
