What Amount Of Time Did You Put Into Preparing For The Dat ?

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probably like 6 weeks of studying each day ~7 hours a day. 4 weeks over winter break, a total of 1 week throughout jan& feb while I was back at school, and 1 week during spring break immediately before the test.
 
Biogirl361 said:
probably like 6 weeks of studying each day ~7 hours a day. 4 weeks over winter break, a total of 1 week throughout jan& feb while I was back at school, and 1 week during spring break immediately before the test.
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awesome.


that was my plan. didnt work. I was just too stressed out from the classes.
 
eddiescott said:
awesome.


that was my plan. didnt work. I was just too stressed out from the classes.
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yeah, i wouldn't be able to do it while in class. that's why i did it over breaks as much as possible and i know a lot of people take it over the summer. you can always submit your application in may and then do your dats in the summer if you want, the application won't arrive at schools until mid june anyway if you submit right away.
 
one summer of intense studying!!!!!!!!!!! Scary when you can visualize whats on page 68 of the Kaplan Book.... hahhahha
 
Um, wow, 4.2 months, definitely did not do that. In fact, I really tried to be low key about this test because in the past, when I've overstudied, I've done worse (on other standardized tests). I will say that I probably should have studied/practiced/refreshed my reading and math a bit more before the exam, but this was my schedule. I studied for the PAT for about a week and a half last summer and got a method down for each one. Then, I glossed over the types of gen chem and math questions given at Kaplan and I read through about 8 of the bio chapters. Then, I had a very stressful trimester at school and didn't study at all. I was nervous that I would never get all the studying done, but then I took three weeks during my break, studied about 1 week for bio, 1 week combined for orgo and gen chem, 1 week to brush up on the PAT, math, and reading...and then I took the exam. It worked out fine except for the math and reading which I was practicing well on so it confused me, but oh wells. 17 for math and 18 in rdg i can deal with. I got in the 99% for the sciences, go figure. I think it all boils down to feeling ready and this doesn't even mean you should have studied your brains out. Once you feel laid back, confident, and full of information, you're set. Also, it's one test and nothing is a guarentee. I still don't believe these tests are a true represenation of much. Your life does not depend on it, remember that.
 
AUG2UAG said:
well, if you want to do well on the DAT you should be able to follow this simple calculation:
(btw, i'm not a mythical troll w/ 4.00 gpa and high dat w/ only a week of studying- i consider myself an American by god! 👍 in other words, i scored well b/c i worked my @$$ off)
i reviewed the dat for 3 months at 8 quality hours per day. let's assume that 2 days during the week were not studied (which was not the case, i was @ kaplan everyday)... that makes:

(8 hours/day)(5 days/week)(4 weeks/month)(3 months) = 480 hours

my suggestion is to study roughly 300-500 hours for the DAT. you could:
1) take my advice, or
2) not take my advice
either way, good luck! you have a super high sci GPA, but i would reconsider slaking off at this point- $h*t hasn't even started for us.
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Sounds like a plan!

Thanks
 
I put in 3 months of studying, about 7 hours on work days and 3-4 hours on weekends. I was also out of college for 1 year before I started preparing for DAT. Being a chemistry major did help me a lot.
 
I studied about two and a half months, for a few hours a day. I figure around 300 hours. I took it while in school because a lot of my classes reinforced what I was reviewing (even if it was more advanced). Yeah it was tough (especially while taking Biochem) but I figured that was kind of what dental school would be like (studying all the time). 21 AA/ 20 TS/ 17 PAT. 👍
 
about 5 weeks really- took Kaplan...that's really the only time period I studied studied..otherwise, it's just a quick scan through the material.
 
AUG2UAG's advice of studying for 4.2 months is ok, if you are set on getting above a 25 and will absolutely not be able to live with yourself if you get anything below that.

but, if getting a 20 will suite you just fine, all you need is about 1 month of intense studying (7ish hours a day).

studying for 4 months, 7 hours a day, you will have the kaplan book memorized and earn you at least a 25. studying for 1 month, 7 hours a day, will get you extremely comfortable with the kaplan book and earn you at least a 20. it all depends on how stellar of a score you want--20 is already damn good and will get you into virtually any school; 25 is mind-blowing and will definitely get you into all schools. but how important to you is the other few months of extra studying hell? wouldn't you rather be out enjoying your summer? i chose the latter (studied for 3 weeks over x-mas) and enjoyed my entire summer.
 
Sweeti8286 said:
about 5 weeks really- took Kaplan...that's really the only time period I studied studied..otherwise, it's just a quick scan through the material.
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^^^basically the same for me too. but it def didn't help that i had to reschedule my test 3 times because 4 hurricanes were going to plow my house down and the testing centers would close down... aug and sept sucked :scared:
 
I studied seldomly during May, and then all of June and July began studying hard-core. (so about 2.5 months) I studied about 6 days a week. Usually, I'd sleep in and then study from like 10-1, then eat lunch, then study from 2-5. Then at night I would go to Barnes and Noble and study from 8-11. It sucked, but it paid off.
 
~12 Hours a day for 1 month. Wake up 7am, eat breakfast and go workout at the gym. Study from 8:30am to 12pm. Ate lunch, and then from 12:30pm to 5:30pm study time again. Dinner and tv from 5:30 until 7pm. Study from 7pm to 11pm. Tv and in bed by 12am. Start it all over again. 6 days a week. I think it paid off, 19/18. I prefer studying more a day during a shorter time period, compared to 6hours a day for 2 months. I feel like 1 month is the optimum period of freshness and sharpness of studied knowledge. good luck :luck:
 
eddiescott said:
How long did you prepare?
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Approximately 2 solid weeks. Just used the big Kaplan book that you can get at any bookstore. Probably should have paid more attention to the PAT section but oh well...
 
eddiescott said:
How long did you prepare?
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Six eight-hour days. Made a 20 AA, 22 PAT.

I'd taken the MCAT a couple of years earlier (with a 32 total score) so I'm sure that counts as some preparation.
 
datu said:
Six eight-hour days. Made a 20 AA, 22 PAT.

I'd taken the MCAT a couple of years earlier (with a 32 total score) so I'm sure that counts as some preparation.
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Yea I would def. say so!!!

MCAT looks to be much more difficult, course I really hate physics !
 
eddiescott said:
Yea I would def. say so!!!

MCAT looks to be much more difficult, course I really hate physics !
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Not really. It's just a much longer version of the DAT. With physics, a little writing, and no PAT of course. Heck, some of the questions were identical!
 
AUG2UAG said:
eddiescott this is how much time i put in to study for the DAT

i think it would be wise to begin studying now if you plan to take the test once (early May) and hopefully not have to retake it
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Just out of curiosity, what were stats for your DAT? You don't have to tell if you don't want to. Also, have you already been accepted to dental school or are you applying for the 2006 cycle?
 
AUG2UAG said:
23/24/20 and i've already been accepted, hence the big signature below... i thought it was pretty self-explanatory but then again i studied 3 months for the DAT, i must be ******ed or something since i could've done it in 15 minutes!!
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live and learn
 
2 months with the Kaplan Books and old textbooks, about 3 hours a day. Then, one month with the computer tests from Kaplan and Topscore and my texts, about 5 hours a day.

hona
19AA/20PAT
 
10 days, 12 hours a day. From December 24th till January 2nd. I took the Dat on Jan 3rd.

AA/TS/PAT: 22/19/17
 
During Spring quarter I started just glancing over the Kaplan book - about 4 chapters a week and looked at the PAT. My real studying was during June and July, but I took some major breaks due to already planned vacations. So after the quarter was over I did the following: 1 week, 5 hours/day then a week off in Costa Rica, then another week of studying and a week in Alaska, then I buckled down and did just under 3 weeks of solid studying every day for 6-7 hours.

This plan worked out for me 23/20, but I most likely could have shaved off a week if I hadn't gone on those vacations. I didn't study at all on my vacations and just tried to relax. I usually don't put many hours into studying - it's more about quality studying.
 
2 weeks- 7-8 hours a day
 
I studied for about six weeks, seven days a week, and I think I averaged around 10 hours a day (some days it was longer and some days I had to cut my study time). I waited until I was done with school and then hit the books as I felt I couldn't split my time between the DAT and school and do due service to both. My scores: 20AA/20SCI/18PAT
 
i just studied less than a month or so. just the science and PAT part. only about 2 hours a day 4 times a week. its not a big deal, whatever. laters
 
Total, about 3 1/2 months. I started the Kaplan class in May, recorded the lectures and listened to them at odd times during the day (while working, driving, etc.).

For the first month, I'd put in about 1-2 hours a day studying out of the Kaplan book.

The second month was a little more . . . probably around 3-4 hours a day.

For the third month, anywhere from 5-8 hours a day. This included studying the Kaplan book, flashcards, notebooks I had written out, taking practice tests, and reviewing solutions/explanations.

For the last two weeks, I busted a gut. Some days around 10 hours; other days even more.

The day before, I studied until around 2 PM, then played Xbox the rest of the day. 🙂

I suppose I reached a point where the law of diminishing returns kicked in, but I needed a great DAT score to make up for my GPA. A month of two of hard studying (depending on your science background) can definitely get you a very competitive score, though.
 
Holy cow, I can't believe the hours some of you put into the DAT. If I'd spent more than a couple hours the two or three nights leading up to the exam, I wonder how much better I'd have done, especially on the PAT. Good thing a 21/17 was good enough. 😉
 
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