DrewPreDental
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- Jun 1, 2023
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Hi Everyone, I took the DAT on May 27th 2023 and used DAT Bootcamp to help me prepare for it. I'd like to share with everyone how I studied and give a breakdown of each section so that other predental students can learn from my successes and mistakes. My individual section scores were:
PAT: 18
QR: 28
RC: 25
BIO: 24
GC: 24
OC: 23
I am a Biology major who just finished my junior year. I scheduled my test date right after I finished taking organic chemistry so that I would be fresh in my mind while studying for the DAT and I believe this helped me. Additionally, I only took 12 credit hours this past semester. My thought process with the lighter course load was that it would allow to have more free time to study for the DAT and it was a nice help. I began studying for the DAT in early March and took it in late May (~11 weeks) using DAT Bootcamp as my only resource for preparation. My original plan was to stay as strict as I could to Ari's Study Schedule, but I ended up falling behind rather quickly. I noticed that about the first 50% of the schedule is very content heavy and take a lot more time than the second half of the Bootcamp schedule which is much more focused on practice tests. I was able to catch back up to the study schedule by completing 2 days worth of material for almost the entire month of May once school was finished. In hindsight, I think this was a help to me because I had all the content and practice test fresh in my brain heading into the test, however, everyone studies different and this is just what worked for me.
PAT: I wish I had spent more time practicing with the PAT question bank. I also didn't use the PAT Generators they offer and I think it showed. At first I was very unconfident in myself for this section because it is so different to anything I've ever learned or studied for before, but with more practice you will learn how to work the questions. A strategy I used throughout the section was process of elimination to figure out which answer couldn't be correct. This made finding the right answer or guessing much easier. With the PAT section it is vital to do the practice tests to understand the pacing of the test. With only 60 minutes to complete 90 questions you have to work rather quickly.
QR: My best piece of advice is to complete all the question banks and figure out which areas you are solid in and which areas need studying. Any question I marked yellow or red while doing the question banks, I revisited at a later time to make sure I understood the types of questions what will be asked. Similar to the PAT section, you have to work rather quickly to make sure you can answer every question. I took 5 of the practice tests and focused on pacing so that I could answer every question. Any question I got wrong I would then review.
RC: This section was very straight forward for me. Almost every question asked can be found directly in the passage. My strategy for this section was to read the first half of the passage and answer all questions I could. Then, I would finish the passage and answer all remaining questions. Bootcamp has a lot of different strategies for you to try and this is what worked for me. While I was reading the passage I made mental notes and highlighted what the general topic of each paragraph was about. This allowed me to quickly find the paragraphs again once a question relating to them popped up. Another easy tip for this section is to highlight all statistics present is the passage. At least one question is bound to ask about them and this makes answering much faster and easier.
Bio: This section has a lot of content that could possibly be asked of you so it is important to throughly studying all the content before taking the practice tests. I watched every video and completed every question bank before I started doing the practice tests. I completed 7 of the practice tests and reviewed all my wrong answers after each test. The High-Yield Biology Notes were a great resource for quickly reviewing content. Some the practice test question were a lot harder than questions on the DAT so if you can do well on the bootcamp tests, you will do great on the actual DAT. I was averaging 19's on my practice tests and got a 24 on the real thing.
GC: I truly believe Dr. Mike's videos are a game changer for DAT preparation! He explains things so well, and it is very easy to follow along with him. I watched all his videos and did all the question banks before taking any practice tests. I ended up taking 6 practice tests before I felt confident I could do well on the section. The best advice here is to figure out what you know and what you don't know so that you can spend more time on your weaker areas.
OC: My preparation here was identical to the GC section. I watched all of Dr. Mike's videos and did the question banks before I did 6 practice tests. The OC reactions cheat sheet was a great resource for quickly reviewing reactions I got wrong on my practice tests.
General Advice: The best thing I can say is to find a study plan that works for you and stick to it. Doing majority of my studying in the 4 weeks leading up to the test was very taxing and is definitely not for everyone. I didn't take any days off during this time and it was very difficult. It was almost daily where I would get burnt out from studying and would take a break away from all screens for a while before returning to studying later that day. This helped me reset myself and is similar to the break you get halfway through the actual DAT. My next piece of advice is to figure out your strategies on each section and identify your weaknesses so that you can spend more time improving those areas. My final and most important piece of advice is to complete the practice tests! Bootcamp does a tremendous job adding questions that are very similar to the actual DAT. Additionally, practice tests allow you to get a feel for the pacing of the test and how much time you'll have to answer each question of each section. Studying for the DAT is hard work, but the effort you put in reflects on how well you will do on the actual DAT.
PAT: 18
QR: 28
RC: 25
BIO: 24
GC: 24
OC: 23
I am a Biology major who just finished my junior year. I scheduled my test date right after I finished taking organic chemistry so that I would be fresh in my mind while studying for the DAT and I believe this helped me. Additionally, I only took 12 credit hours this past semester. My thought process with the lighter course load was that it would allow to have more free time to study for the DAT and it was a nice help. I began studying for the DAT in early March and took it in late May (~11 weeks) using DAT Bootcamp as my only resource for preparation. My original plan was to stay as strict as I could to Ari's Study Schedule, but I ended up falling behind rather quickly. I noticed that about the first 50% of the schedule is very content heavy and take a lot more time than the second half of the Bootcamp schedule which is much more focused on practice tests. I was able to catch back up to the study schedule by completing 2 days worth of material for almost the entire month of May once school was finished. In hindsight, I think this was a help to me because I had all the content and practice test fresh in my brain heading into the test, however, everyone studies different and this is just what worked for me.
PAT: I wish I had spent more time practicing with the PAT question bank. I also didn't use the PAT Generators they offer and I think it showed. At first I was very unconfident in myself for this section because it is so different to anything I've ever learned or studied for before, but with more practice you will learn how to work the questions. A strategy I used throughout the section was process of elimination to figure out which answer couldn't be correct. This made finding the right answer or guessing much easier. With the PAT section it is vital to do the practice tests to understand the pacing of the test. With only 60 minutes to complete 90 questions you have to work rather quickly.
QR: My best piece of advice is to complete all the question banks and figure out which areas you are solid in and which areas need studying. Any question I marked yellow or red while doing the question banks, I revisited at a later time to make sure I understood the types of questions what will be asked. Similar to the PAT section, you have to work rather quickly to make sure you can answer every question. I took 5 of the practice tests and focused on pacing so that I could answer every question. Any question I got wrong I would then review.
RC: This section was very straight forward for me. Almost every question asked can be found directly in the passage. My strategy for this section was to read the first half of the passage and answer all questions I could. Then, I would finish the passage and answer all remaining questions. Bootcamp has a lot of different strategies for you to try and this is what worked for me. While I was reading the passage I made mental notes and highlighted what the general topic of each paragraph was about. This allowed me to quickly find the paragraphs again once a question relating to them popped up. Another easy tip for this section is to highlight all statistics present is the passage. At least one question is bound to ask about them and this makes answering much faster and easier.
Bio: This section has a lot of content that could possibly be asked of you so it is important to throughly studying all the content before taking the practice tests. I watched every video and completed every question bank before I started doing the practice tests. I completed 7 of the practice tests and reviewed all my wrong answers after each test. The High-Yield Biology Notes were a great resource for quickly reviewing content. Some the practice test question were a lot harder than questions on the DAT so if you can do well on the bootcamp tests, you will do great on the actual DAT. I was averaging 19's on my practice tests and got a 24 on the real thing.
GC: I truly believe Dr. Mike's videos are a game changer for DAT preparation! He explains things so well, and it is very easy to follow along with him. I watched all his videos and did all the question banks before taking any practice tests. I ended up taking 6 practice tests before I felt confident I could do well on the section. The best advice here is to figure out what you know and what you don't know so that you can spend more time on your weaker areas.
OC: My preparation here was identical to the GC section. I watched all of Dr. Mike's videos and did the question banks before I did 6 practice tests. The OC reactions cheat sheet was a great resource for quickly reviewing reactions I got wrong on my practice tests.
General Advice: The best thing I can say is to find a study plan that works for you and stick to it. Doing majority of my studying in the 4 weeks leading up to the test was very taxing and is definitely not for everyone. I didn't take any days off during this time and it was very difficult. It was almost daily where I would get burnt out from studying and would take a break away from all screens for a while before returning to studying later that day. This helped me reset myself and is similar to the break you get halfway through the actual DAT. My next piece of advice is to figure out your strategies on each section and identify your weaknesses so that you can spend more time improving those areas. My final and most important piece of advice is to complete the practice tests! Bootcamp does a tremendous job adding questions that are very similar to the actual DAT. Additionally, practice tests allow you to get a feel for the pacing of the test and how much time you'll have to answer each question of each section. Studying for the DAT is hard work, but the effort you put in reflects on how well you will do on the actual DAT.
