SirInteresting
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2022 DAT Breakdown (24AA/23TS/23PAT)
Hello everyone, I want to share my experience learning for the DAT. Hopefully my study plan will help you improve. Since I mainly used DAT Booster, this guide will mostly be useful to those using this program (or even DAT Bootcamp since they are very similar).
Scores:
PA - 23
QR - 23
RC - 24
Bio - 27
GC – 20
OC - 26
TS - 23
AA - 24
Background:
Currently a biology major senior with a ~4.0 GPA. I am a permanent resident so English is not my first language. I did all the questions at DAT Booster (according to the website that is +6200 questions) and completed everything there (videos, study notes etc.) in 3 months (during summer break). I could have spent 200-400 hours of studying during these 3 months.
Practical advice (since I have written a lot of information):
I mainly used DAT Booster to study and highly recommend it. I was reluctant to use programs like DAT Booster at first since I didn’t want to spend money and was planning to use prep books that I would get from the public library, but I am extremely happy to have bought the subscription. Buying a program like DAT Booster (or DAT Bootcamp) will be one of the best investments of your life. Usually, college pre dental clubs have a discount code for you to use so definitely contact them. Since I wanted to save as much money as possible, I bought this program at the end of April (code: aprilshowers) when they had the biggest discount going on at that time. However, I started studying by mid-May since I had to finish the Spring semester at my college.
I followed the 8-week study guide provided at DAT Booster. I somehow followed the first 20 days, then things fell apart and I stopped using it. The Biology Feralis-Notes were the reason I couldn’t keep up with the schedule since they had too much information to digest. Afterwards, I began setting up daily goals such as today I will do 100 bio questions, or I will see all the quantitative reasoning videos. I would highly recommend you follow the study guide schedule provided or set up daily goals.
Biology
When I started to study for the DAT, I had 2 major weaknesses: Biology and Reading Comprehension (I was scoring in the 17-20 range in the Bio section and 16-17 in the Reading Comprehension). I placed a lot of effort into learning Biology. I went through the Feralis Notes and created a doc document where I would write all the information I couldn’t remember and tried to review it regularly. I listened to the biology videos numerous times and I found them quite helpful. I did all the extra questions on the biology section and marked the ones I got wrong to review regularly (by the end of my study I had accumulated 458 bio questions). The cheat and taxonomy study sheets were extremely helpful, and I highly recommend them.
Reading Comprehension
I was always subconsciously trying to avoid the reading comprehension practice since I performed very bad at this section. Having English as a second language didn’t help either. However, I forced myself into going through all the 22 extra practice passages (some twice) and practice test passages (total of ~60 passages). I used a mixture of reading strategies, but I found myself relying on search and destroy (for 2 passages during my exam) and key mapping (for 1 passage during my exam). Try all reading strategies to see which works for you but use the +2 seconds delay feature which adds a short pause when you switch between questions similar to the actual DAT exam. Also, always choose an answer choice after marking the question since you might run out of time at the end. I only saw the time when I was done with a passage since seeing the time run out gave me anxiety and disrupted my concentration. A great advice I wish I had followed was doing at least one passage every day.
General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry
I went through all the General Chemistry and then Organic Chemistry Videos. Did all the extra questions at these sections. Wrote down all the reactions from the Organic chemistry cheat sheet (roughly 3 pages long) and reviewed these reactions a lot during the last 2 weeks preceding the exam.
Perceptual Ability
I did 15 questions of every section (keyhole, top front end etc.) almost every day for one month. Then started placing more emphasis on studying keyhole and top front-end questions. I marked all the top front-end questions (~60 questions) I did wrong and went through them roughly 3-5 times.
Quantitative Reasoning
This was the section I practiced the least. Did all the extra questions and marked the ones I did wrong. I would recommend reviewing the cheat sheets and going through the questions you did wrong (try to understand which concepts you are struggling with). I have the impression that this section has the least number of concepts to learn.
Other sources:
I skimmed through a Princeton Review and a Barron prep book midway through my study. They were awful and would not recommend them to you. It didn’t feel as if they tried to write for the DAT. For example, they had information about the names and polarity of amino acids which never come up on the DAT. I only had them as a backup source of additional practice exams (which I never used). Please note that I used the 2018 editions of the prep books, so maybe they have updated and improved them.
This my unofficial DAT score report
Hello everyone, I want to share my experience learning for the DAT. Hopefully my study plan will help you improve. Since I mainly used DAT Booster, this guide will mostly be useful to those using this program (or even DAT Bootcamp since they are very similar).
Scores:
PA - 23
QR - 23
RC - 24
Bio - 27
GC – 20
OC - 26
TS - 23
AA - 24
Background:
Currently a biology major senior with a ~4.0 GPA. I am a permanent resident so English is not my first language. I did all the questions at DAT Booster (according to the website that is +6200 questions) and completed everything there (videos, study notes etc.) in 3 months (during summer break). I could have spent 200-400 hours of studying during these 3 months.
Practical advice (since I have written a lot of information):
- Do all 10 practice exams on DAT Booster. If you need more practice exams, do the one that is free at DAT Bootcamp and/or go to your local public library and see if they have DAT prep books with links and codes for online practice exams.
- Mark all questions you did wrong and review them constantly. Read the small prompts of information below the question and understand why the other choices are wrong. Try to understand which concepts you are struggling with.
- Do at least one passage of Reading Comprehension every day with the +2-delay feature turned on.
- Follow the study guide schedule that is posted on DAT Booster or set up daily goals. A little work every day is the best way to success.
- Know that in the end you will do well on the exam. I got a lower score at my second practice exam than at my first practice exam which demotivated me to the point of not studying for 5 days straight. Try to find motivation from completing your daily goals rather than from the score you get during practice exams.
- Try to review the cheat/study sheets (which are 1 or 2 pages long) every day.
- Do not take the day before the exam off. This might be controversial, but I always do a general review of all the concepts I have struggled with and the cheat sheets the day before the exam. For example, the day before my DAT I studied for roughly 12 hours. However, I made sure I slept 8 hours. In fact, if you need to choose between studying or sleep, always choose sleep.
I mainly used DAT Booster to study and highly recommend it. I was reluctant to use programs like DAT Booster at first since I didn’t want to spend money and was planning to use prep books that I would get from the public library, but I am extremely happy to have bought the subscription. Buying a program like DAT Booster (or DAT Bootcamp) will be one of the best investments of your life. Usually, college pre dental clubs have a discount code for you to use so definitely contact them. Since I wanted to save as much money as possible, I bought this program at the end of April (code: aprilshowers) when they had the biggest discount going on at that time. However, I started studying by mid-May since I had to finish the Spring semester at my college.
I followed the 8-week study guide provided at DAT Booster. I somehow followed the first 20 days, then things fell apart and I stopped using it. The Biology Feralis-Notes were the reason I couldn’t keep up with the schedule since they had too much information to digest. Afterwards, I began setting up daily goals such as today I will do 100 bio questions, or I will see all the quantitative reasoning videos. I would highly recommend you follow the study guide schedule provided or set up daily goals.
Biology
When I started to study for the DAT, I had 2 major weaknesses: Biology and Reading Comprehension (I was scoring in the 17-20 range in the Bio section and 16-17 in the Reading Comprehension). I placed a lot of effort into learning Biology. I went through the Feralis Notes and created a doc document where I would write all the information I couldn’t remember and tried to review it regularly. I listened to the biology videos numerous times and I found them quite helpful. I did all the extra questions on the biology section and marked the ones I got wrong to review regularly (by the end of my study I had accumulated 458 bio questions). The cheat and taxonomy study sheets were extremely helpful, and I highly recommend them.
Reading Comprehension
I was always subconsciously trying to avoid the reading comprehension practice since I performed very bad at this section. Having English as a second language didn’t help either. However, I forced myself into going through all the 22 extra practice passages (some twice) and practice test passages (total of ~60 passages). I used a mixture of reading strategies, but I found myself relying on search and destroy (for 2 passages during my exam) and key mapping (for 1 passage during my exam). Try all reading strategies to see which works for you but use the +2 seconds delay feature which adds a short pause when you switch between questions similar to the actual DAT exam. Also, always choose an answer choice after marking the question since you might run out of time at the end. I only saw the time when I was done with a passage since seeing the time run out gave me anxiety and disrupted my concentration. A great advice I wish I had followed was doing at least one passage every day.
General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry
I went through all the General Chemistry and then Organic Chemistry Videos. Did all the extra questions at these sections. Wrote down all the reactions from the Organic chemistry cheat sheet (roughly 3 pages long) and reviewed these reactions a lot during the last 2 weeks preceding the exam.
Perceptual Ability
I did 15 questions of every section (keyhole, top front end etc.) almost every day for one month. Then started placing more emphasis on studying keyhole and top front-end questions. I marked all the top front-end questions (~60 questions) I did wrong and went through them roughly 3-5 times.
Quantitative Reasoning
This was the section I practiced the least. Did all the extra questions and marked the ones I did wrong. I would recommend reviewing the cheat sheets and going through the questions you did wrong (try to understand which concepts you are struggling with). I have the impression that this section has the least number of concepts to learn.
Other sources:
I skimmed through a Princeton Review and a Barron prep book midway through my study. They were awful and would not recommend them to you. It didn’t feel as if they tried to write for the DAT. For example, they had information about the names and polarity of amino acids which never come up on the DAT. I only had them as a backup source of additional practice exams (which I never used). Please note that I used the 2018 editions of the prep books, so maybe they have updated and improved them.
This my unofficial DAT score report
