First off, I recommend taking the DAT the summer after you
complete organic chemistry II, which if you are on schedule should be the summer
after your sophomore year. This is earlier than most pre-dental students take
the DAT, but at this point you have completed all the coursework that it covers
and will have the entire summer to dedicate to studying. I scheduled my
DAT on August 12th and began studying on June 2nd, after studying
abroad in Greece (a great break).
The DAT as of 2019 is comprised of four sections: Survey of
Natural Sciences, Perceptual Ability (PAT), Quantitative Reasoning, and Reading
Comprehension. To prepare I utilized several resources but opted out of any
online or in person class because they are extremely expensive and a waste of
time if you are reviewing material as a class that you personally understand. After
scheduling a date bought a large calendar and planned each day of studying up
until the exam - you will fall off track and maybe do more/less each day but
this will help give you a guideline of where you are in prep. You can find a
lot of sample schedules on Student Doctor Network that you can modify.
Resources
·
Cliff’s AP Biology Notes
- good general overview, don’t read more than once like some kids, complete
waste of time
·
Chad’s Videos for
general and organic chemistry - I attribute my success on the general chemistry
section to these videos. They are short and Chad does a great job of providing
quick tricks to help save valuable time
·
DAT Destroyer & Math
Destroyer - I worked these problems thru twice, going over each question/answer
whether I got it right or wrong. The chemistry problems in this book are
extremely difficult compared to what is on the exam, but each problem
demonstrates the basic concepts.
·
DAT Bootcamp - by far
the most expensive resource I used, but essential for the perceptual ability
section
- Survey of Natural Sciences
- My
approach to this section was to do a review of all the material in the
first month of my studying, then work practice exams/problems the next
month
- Biology
- review Cliff’s Notes first month, then begin DAT Destroyer problems
(work thru twice) & Bootcamp practice exams
- Chemistry
- review Chad’s Videos first month, then move on to Destroyer &
Bootcamp practice exams
- Reading Comprehension
- This
is the hardest section to improve on simply because it requires natural
ability
- I
worked through a couple practice exams on DAT Bootcamp to get timing
down, but that’s about it
- Perceptual Ability (PAT)
- This
was a total mind fuck the first time I looked at it
- The
best thing you can do for this is to practice EVERYDAY
- I
developed an approach to each type of problem (cube counting, angle
ranking, keyholes, top-front-end)
- It
is key that you find a way to approach each problem and stick to it… it
saves time and also keeps you from worrying if you get caught up on a problem
- Bootcamp
was my most valuable resource for this
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Chad
also has QR videos if you need additional resources
- Math
Destroyer was pretty on par with the problems on the actual exam
- The
big issue with this section is time - but Chad gives more tips to save
time
- The
less you can use the calculator the better - its an on screen calculator
that you have to use the mouse for so it takes up a lot of time
- Practice Exams
- I
worked through all 10 practice exams on Bootcamp, but only did tests 6-10
as full length tests
- After
working thru each test I went over the questions/answers to all problems
- My
scores on Bootcamp were significantly lower than the real DAT - it is
harder so don’t worry if you get a couple 18s/17s
My last piece of advice is for the day before your test. Go have some fun, watch a movie, do anything to take your mind off of it. There is a very slim chance that anything you could learn the day before this test will help you. I personally went fishing and then came home, had a couple glasses of wine, then went to bed at a reasonable hour. All the hard work is done, now just go execute!
