Hi guys! I have received a lot of help from breakdown posts that allowed me to devise my personal strategies to study for the DAT and I wish to give back to the community on what I found helpful.
Scores:
PAT – 23
QR – 27
RC – 25
Bio – 30
GC – 22
OC – 30
TS – 26
AA – 27
Background:
I am a junior majoring in biology, with a cGPA of 3.97, and have taken numerous biology courses that already gave me a solid foundation for the science section. This made studying significantly easier as I just needed to focus on recall and was not too overwhelmed with new information. I have recently decided to become a dentist, so I was not part of any dental clubs or knew any other pre-dental students that could have helped me through the process. I started my journey completely blind and relied heavily on the internet to help guide me through the process.
Studying Process:
I gave myself 10 weeks to prepare for the exam, with winter break as a time to really bunker down on studying. After searching through the web and comparing what people had to say about the resources they have used, I decided to choose Booster as my studying resource. It is the cheapest resource available, and it is the most representative as well. I loved the user-friendly design of the website, and the amount of material the site was able to provide gave me assurance that I can sufficiently prepare for the DAT using just Booster. I know a lot of people used multiple resources to study for the DAT, and it was my initial plan as well. However, money’s tight and Booster provided ample materials with 10 practice exams that I found to be enough.
I used Booster’s 8-week schedule even though I had 10 weeks because life gets in the way, and I wanted to prepare for that. Thankfully, I did, because life is a pain. I followed the first half of the schedule and, honestly, I do not know how helpful those four weeks were because I got an even LOWER score on my second practice test (TS –19) than my diagnostic test (TS - 20) that I took a week into my studying. On top of that, the schedule during the last four weeks revolved around the use of Anki, which I did not find too helpful because flashcards were never my thing. That is when I realized that I needed to change my strategy to fit something that is tailored to ME. Sadly, I am not a particularly good auditory learner as I felt it difficult to memorize information through listening, as opposed to reading. Thus, I completely abandoned the video contents and decided to study using the study notes and practice problems. During the last week following the exam, I got a practice exam score of TS – 22. My goal was 24 and I was panicking then. I decided to drop all my other responsibilities after explaining to everyone my situation and spent the most torturous week of my life studying non-stop for this DAT. Last practice test TS – 23. Depression.
Section Analysis:
Bio:
Feralis-Booster study notes. I just read and tried committing everything I read to memory. It is a slow and arduous process, but it reassured me that I know everything there is to know about a topic. I understand this strategy is not ideal for everyone and requires a lot of time memorizing low-yield information, but I wanted to cover all my bases. Looking back, it might have been excessive from me since 95% of the information covered on my exam could have been answered if I committed the Booster cheat sheet (condensed version) instead and focused more on GC, which I knew was my weakness.
GC:
Bane of my existence. I took GC during high school and completely forgot about it, besides the necessary amount needed for higher chemistry classes. Additionally, I focused heavily on the math aspects of GC, because it was the part that I had the most issue on in Booster practice test. That was a mistake. Concepts were more heavily tested on the actual exam with quite simple math. Therefore, please, focus more on concepts during your study and mistakes during math calculations are not the end of the world.
OC:
I took the lab portion of the class during the same semester, so a lot of things were fresh in my mind. I studied by repeatedly doing the practice problems on Booster. The study notes helped with understanding concepts, but most mechanisms were learned through repetition on the same problem.
PAT:
Actual was lower than practice (25), mainly because I forgot to bring my eye drops, which I frequently use, and got dried eyes half-way through the science section. Stamina and speed are key for this section. Bring an eye dropper with you and use it before the exam. As for studying, all practice was done under timed conditions. I prioritized the sections I should be strong in (expecting 100%) and lightly practiced my weak sections (can tolerate 50%). Priority: Hole-punching > Cube counting > Angle ranking > Pattern folding > TFE > Keyhole. Speed is key. Given the entire day, I can get a much better score than 23. But there is no time to analyze every answer choice, so I decided to cut down time on topics I was good at and give more time on topics I am horrible at during the exam. I skipped the first 30 questions (consisting of Keyhole and TFE) so that I can quickly breeze through the other section and give myself 30-35 minutes to take my sweet time on keyhole and TFE.
RC:
Strategy matters. DO NOT just practice repeatedly. I feel that the biggest mistake everyone suggests for this section is that practice matters. It does not, to some extent. It allows you to become more comfortable with your strategy and fine tunes it, but if the strategy does not fit you, you will see very minimal progress for your labor. I was getting 18s and 20s doing strategies that Booster videos were suggesting. It was not until I tried the balanced approach strategy that I saw progress and consistently got 25. I spent only around 10 hours practicing for this section and never looked at it again.
QR:
A sizable portion of this section just came naturally to me. The main problem with this section is the lack of time, so your score is dependent on how quickly you can answer a question. The problems are easy if you have time, which you have little of. Thus, practice is key here. Get used to how each problem is solved; the rest will just be slight variations of the same problem. Not a lot of formulas need to be memorized, but permutation/computation is an important one.
Last thoughts:
Everyone studies differently. I understand that my method of study is a lot different than what most people would suggest. However, it worked for me, and it might for some. What matters is that you identify an ideal plan of study on how you are going to tackle each section. If the strategy is not working out, change it, and find something else. You ideally find a strategy during the first few weeks so that you do not waste time getting minimal value from your work. I do not know about other resources, but the most valuable part of Booster is in their last three practice problems for Bio, OC, and GC. These problems were pulled from previous DAT exams, and you will encounter some of them on your actual exam. I remember seeing around six similar problems. Also, plan for emergencies. The world is not perfect, and neither are you. There were days that I planned my study time, expecting to be able to study, only to either lose motivation or deal with other issues in my life. Lastly, do not beat yourself up. I was constantly anxious and depressed seeing how others got such high scores while I was studying my heart out, only to fall below my goal. The consolation I found was the fact that people said the actual DAT was easier than the ones created by practice companies. I can confidently say that they are correct. Whatever score you have during your practice, there is a high likelihood that you are better than that.
I want to thank Booster for offering their comprehensive resource on the DAT at a very favorable price. The cost of the pre-dental process is high, and it is only going to get higher after. You would only need one prep company for material review, and I found Booster to be sufficient. I have considered purchasing other resources to help me study, but only for more practice exams. However, ten practice exams in Booster was enough for me and there were also thousands of practice problems available when I ran out of exams. Overall, I am glad of the choices I have made, and I hope my breakdown was able to help any of you on your DAT prep. Never lose hope and good luck!
Scores:
PAT – 23
QR – 27
RC – 25
Bio – 30
GC – 22
OC – 30
TS – 26
AA – 27
Background:
I am a junior majoring in biology, with a cGPA of 3.97, and have taken numerous biology courses that already gave me a solid foundation for the science section. This made studying significantly easier as I just needed to focus on recall and was not too overwhelmed with new information. I have recently decided to become a dentist, so I was not part of any dental clubs or knew any other pre-dental students that could have helped me through the process. I started my journey completely blind and relied heavily on the internet to help guide me through the process.
Studying Process:
I gave myself 10 weeks to prepare for the exam, with winter break as a time to really bunker down on studying. After searching through the web and comparing what people had to say about the resources they have used, I decided to choose Booster as my studying resource. It is the cheapest resource available, and it is the most representative as well. I loved the user-friendly design of the website, and the amount of material the site was able to provide gave me assurance that I can sufficiently prepare for the DAT using just Booster. I know a lot of people used multiple resources to study for the DAT, and it was my initial plan as well. However, money’s tight and Booster provided ample materials with 10 practice exams that I found to be enough.
I used Booster’s 8-week schedule even though I had 10 weeks because life gets in the way, and I wanted to prepare for that. Thankfully, I did, because life is a pain. I followed the first half of the schedule and, honestly, I do not know how helpful those four weeks were because I got an even LOWER score on my second practice test (TS –19) than my diagnostic test (TS - 20) that I took a week into my studying. On top of that, the schedule during the last four weeks revolved around the use of Anki, which I did not find too helpful because flashcards were never my thing. That is when I realized that I needed to change my strategy to fit something that is tailored to ME. Sadly, I am not a particularly good auditory learner as I felt it difficult to memorize information through listening, as opposed to reading. Thus, I completely abandoned the video contents and decided to study using the study notes and practice problems. During the last week following the exam, I got a practice exam score of TS – 22. My goal was 24 and I was panicking then. I decided to drop all my other responsibilities after explaining to everyone my situation and spent the most torturous week of my life studying non-stop for this DAT. Last practice test TS – 23. Depression.
Section Analysis:
Bio:
Feralis-Booster study notes. I just read and tried committing everything I read to memory. It is a slow and arduous process, but it reassured me that I know everything there is to know about a topic. I understand this strategy is not ideal for everyone and requires a lot of time memorizing low-yield information, but I wanted to cover all my bases. Looking back, it might have been excessive from me since 95% of the information covered on my exam could have been answered if I committed the Booster cheat sheet (condensed version) instead and focused more on GC, which I knew was my weakness.
GC:
Bane of my existence. I took GC during high school and completely forgot about it, besides the necessary amount needed for higher chemistry classes. Additionally, I focused heavily on the math aspects of GC, because it was the part that I had the most issue on in Booster practice test. That was a mistake. Concepts were more heavily tested on the actual exam with quite simple math. Therefore, please, focus more on concepts during your study and mistakes during math calculations are not the end of the world.
OC:
I took the lab portion of the class during the same semester, so a lot of things were fresh in my mind. I studied by repeatedly doing the practice problems on Booster. The study notes helped with understanding concepts, but most mechanisms were learned through repetition on the same problem.
PAT:
Actual was lower than practice (25), mainly because I forgot to bring my eye drops, which I frequently use, and got dried eyes half-way through the science section. Stamina and speed are key for this section. Bring an eye dropper with you and use it before the exam. As for studying, all practice was done under timed conditions. I prioritized the sections I should be strong in (expecting 100%) and lightly practiced my weak sections (can tolerate 50%). Priority: Hole-punching > Cube counting > Angle ranking > Pattern folding > TFE > Keyhole. Speed is key. Given the entire day, I can get a much better score than 23. But there is no time to analyze every answer choice, so I decided to cut down time on topics I was good at and give more time on topics I am horrible at during the exam. I skipped the first 30 questions (consisting of Keyhole and TFE) so that I can quickly breeze through the other section and give myself 30-35 minutes to take my sweet time on keyhole and TFE.
RC:
Strategy matters. DO NOT just practice repeatedly. I feel that the biggest mistake everyone suggests for this section is that practice matters. It does not, to some extent. It allows you to become more comfortable with your strategy and fine tunes it, but if the strategy does not fit you, you will see very minimal progress for your labor. I was getting 18s and 20s doing strategies that Booster videos were suggesting. It was not until I tried the balanced approach strategy that I saw progress and consistently got 25. I spent only around 10 hours practicing for this section and never looked at it again.
QR:
A sizable portion of this section just came naturally to me. The main problem with this section is the lack of time, so your score is dependent on how quickly you can answer a question. The problems are easy if you have time, which you have little of. Thus, practice is key here. Get used to how each problem is solved; the rest will just be slight variations of the same problem. Not a lot of formulas need to be memorized, but permutation/computation is an important one.
Last thoughts:
Everyone studies differently. I understand that my method of study is a lot different than what most people would suggest. However, it worked for me, and it might for some. What matters is that you identify an ideal plan of study on how you are going to tackle each section. If the strategy is not working out, change it, and find something else. You ideally find a strategy during the first few weeks so that you do not waste time getting minimal value from your work. I do not know about other resources, but the most valuable part of Booster is in their last three practice problems for Bio, OC, and GC. These problems were pulled from previous DAT exams, and you will encounter some of them on your actual exam. I remember seeing around six similar problems. Also, plan for emergencies. The world is not perfect, and neither are you. There were days that I planned my study time, expecting to be able to study, only to either lose motivation or deal with other issues in my life. Lastly, do not beat yourself up. I was constantly anxious and depressed seeing how others got such high scores while I was studying my heart out, only to fall below my goal. The consolation I found was the fact that people said the actual DAT was easier than the ones created by practice companies. I can confidently say that they are correct. Whatever score you have during your practice, there is a high likelihood that you are better than that.
I want to thank Booster for offering their comprehensive resource on the DAT at a very favorable price. The cost of the pre-dental process is high, and it is only going to get higher after. You would only need one prep company for material review, and I found Booster to be sufficient. I have considered purchasing other resources to help me study, but only for more practice exams. However, ten practice exams in Booster was enough for me and there were also thousands of practice problems available when I ran out of exams. Overall, I am glad of the choices I have made, and I hope my breakdown was able to help any of you on your DAT prep. Never lose hope and good luck!
I am concerned mostly about bio cuz of the workload, I have about 2 months left and I do not have strong science background so Im sticking with bootcamp high yield notes, ANKI, and Booster practice tests (for bio). Do you think just studying bio cheat sheet from booster is enough? since you mentioned majority of the questions are covered from that?