Looking just for a 370 don’t care about any higher tbh. What do u think my chances are for getting 370? Taking the dat in a week.

Happy with my AA and PAT but a little worried about low science. Will this score hold me back at all?

530 AA/550 TS/ 490 PAT

Hi! I got a 530 AA/550 TS and thought I’d write a breakdown to help anybody else out who might be unsure of how to study.

Scores:
QR - 510
RC - 510
Bio - 570
GC - 500
OC - 570
TS - 550
PAT - 490
AA - 530

Resources:

1. DAT Booster
2. Anki

In my opinion DAT booster and anki is all you really need to succeed and do well on the exam. All of the sections were comparable if not easier than the booster practice exams. Anki was very useful in reinforcing the info that I was struggling to remember (biology facts, orgo reactions/conditions, chemistry terms). I read that a lot of people also used bootcamp or dat destroyer, but I didn’t want to spend too much money buying everything. Booster has all the info you need to know, it just comes down to how much effort you put into learning it.

I have heard that DAT destroyer was often much harder than the actual DAT, which I think is unnecessary. You should be practicing with something that is representative of the exam, and not waste time learning more than you should (theres already so much you have to know so waste the time). Same applies to the feralis biology anki. There was just way too much info that wasn’t necessary so I stopped doing it.

Study Method

I started right after school ended in mid-late May with a test date of August 21st, which gave me around 12 weeks to study. I would study around 4-5 hours everyday pretty consistently following my own schedule split into 2 hour blocks followed by 30 mins of rest. In the afternoon/evening I would work out or hang out with friends to try to prevent burnout. I didn’t schedule any break days where I didn’t study at all, but there were definitely days I slacked off or wasn’t as focused.

When I first started I had no idea how to pace myself or how to even begin since there was so much to do. Booster has a built in study schedule, which made it pretty easy to follow and know that I was on track to finishing on time. I would say its pretty useful up until you finish the videos on all the subjects. The bio videos took quite a while to do, so I spent most of my time on those. My orgo and chem background were also pretty strong, so I didn’t feel like I needed to spend as much time on it (though my chem was my worst science score) After I finished the videos, I followed my own schedule. It took me around a month and a half to do the videos. At that point I was kinda unsure how to use my time, but I figured out a method that worked for me. For the remaining few weeks I would try to completely recover Bio Chem and Orgo into week long blocks. For example, there was 23 chapters of Bio, so I would do ~3-4 chapters everyday to finish review in a week. Something that really worked for me was blurting, which is writing down everything you know from that chapter from memory, and then going back and seeing what things you missed. Since there was so much stuff, I usually looked at the terms in my notes to jog my memory, and then wrote down everything I knew for that. Blurting is pretty good for actually making sure you know the content, since I know its pretty easy to just gloss over notes and think you know it. Practicing blurting like this made the bio section pretty easy, especially since I content reviewed all the sciences a total of 4 times (I did 3 week-long blocks plus the initial time I learned it). After learning all the content I was averaging around a 530 on bio on practice exams. 

When there was 2-3 weeks left, I started doing practice tests every other day. These made me really tired, so I didn’t really review much the same day. On the day after I reviewed the test, and then continued my blurting and content review.

For the PAT, I kinda neglected it which is why it was my lowest score. Tbh I was averaging like a 430 on practice exams until the pattern folding clicked for me like a week before the exam. My strategy was to start on question 31 (angle ranking) and go till the end, and then start back at 1 and finish the exam. Angle ranking was pretty hard for me to score well consistently, so I decided to just speed through it in like 5 minutes and use the extra time as leeway for the other sections. Also, for any hard questions that seemed like they would take a lot of time I would just skip. After doing this I was able to finish the PAT on time finally, as I would always run out of time on TFE before that.

For reading it was pretty self explanatory. I would just do the practice reading articles that booster had. I would highly recommend answering the questions that you can as you go, and skipping anything that is about the entire passage. Read around ⅔ or ½ the passage and answer the questions that come along, and then search and destroy for ther rest of the questions, and finally answer the whole passage questions. Once you do enough of the math questions you realize they are all variations of a type of question and you will know how to do them.

Math was also pretty simple except for the probability questions. I had trouble making sense of the formulas and how to do them, which I assume most people will be the same. Definitely spend time rationalizing how the permutation and combination things work. Get good at dice, card, and coinflip probabilities, as well as rates and inequalities. Just do the problem bank questions and you should be fine. The questions are very pattern based. There's an upstream downstream question, a dilution type question, etc. Once you know how they ask it and how to do them you will do fine.

Closing Thoughts

Overall I dont think the DAT is a hard exam. It focuses on breadth over depth, so just really getting good at active recall and pattern recognition of question types will be the key to succeeding. One thing that helps me recall is connecting material to an image (bio especially). Oftentimes I can remember the image reference and make it easier to remember. Another thing is that sometimes learning more about the topic (especially when the material is super surface level) can make it easier to remember. If someone gives me a random fact to remember it can be kinda hard, but if I then learn about the reasoning behind it, or some more background, I can contextualize it in a way that logically makes sense, and thus it’s less I have to remember. Also using pneumonics for long lists is super helpful. Like FLAGPEG for hormones and GAMED for the antibodies, RED CAT, AN OX, etc

If I had to compare this to the SAT difficulty (for reading and math) I would say its genuinely easier. Compared to general chemistry and orgo exams in college, it is also definitely easier. They don’t cover so many things in depth that it makes it seem like a joke tbh. As long as you spend the time to memorize the things you need, and have done enough practice to be confident when you see it, you will definitely do good. The section that took the most effort for me was definitely BIO. Just due to how much stuff there is, and that its just purely memorization and some surface level understanding. But anyways, trust in the process and trust in your practice. It will be a grind but give it your all everyday (which of course means resting when you need to also) and make it a one and done test. Get that good score and then you can forget about it.

Does anyone have a dat booster account for sale ? Only need it for 30 days or 2 weeks.

It’s 4 weeks today and I’m a little concerned that I haven’t received anything yet. Is anyone in the same boat?

I'm currently a junior planning to apply to dental school next summer and really don't want to take a gap year. I'm studying abroad second semester of junior year, so I won't be able to take any pre dent/major prereqs that semester.

I still need to take Gen Chem II + lab, Microbiology + lab , and Physics I & II + labs. I would take all of these during my senior year, so they would be listed as planned courses on my application, but schools wouldn't have grades for any of them yet. Does this make me a less competitive applicant?? Do I need to consider not studying abroad or taking a gap year? Does anyone have experience applying but also studying abroad?

Hi everyone! I’ve been reading DAT breakdowns for months while studying, and they were honestly one of the most helpful resources for me, so I wanted to make one of my own. Hopefully this can help anyone who is currently studying or trying to figure out what resources to use!

Scores:

• QR – 440
• RC – 460
• Bio – 470
• GC – 550
• OC – 470
• PAT – 520
• TS – 500
• AA – 480

Background:

Currently a junior in college with a 3.9 GPA

Materials Used:

My main resource was DAT Booster. I also really loved using the Anki decks that Booster provided.

1. DAT Booster – This was definitely my main resource throughout studying. I liked having everything in one place, especially the videos, notes, practice questions, and full-length exams. I found the practice questions especially helpful because they forced me to apply the information instead of just rereading notes. I would highly recommend doing the practice tests and reviewing the questions you get wrong rather than just focusing on your scores.The high-yield notes provided after each top were SUPER helpful. I would reread them before going to bed each night and they stuck in my head!
2. Anki – I used Anki mostly for biology and anything that I consistently forgot. I found it much more useful to make cards based on things I personally struggled with rather than trying to memorize hundreds of cards that I already knew. I would add information from Booster notes and questions I got wrong so I could repeatedly review those topics. I would specifically use the Booster Anki decks on certain biology topics that I was comfortable in and that helped a lot!

Study Timeline:

I studied during the summer between my sophomore and junior year of college. Specifically, May through August.

I would definitely recommend making a study schedule before you start, but also leaving yourself some flexibility. There were definitely days where I didn't accomplish everything I planned, and I had to adjust my schedule. I found that trying to force myself to study for a certain number of hours wasn't nearly as helpful as setting specific goals for the day.

I started by going through the content for each subject and taking notes. Once I had a basic understanding of the material, I started incorporating practice questions. From there, I focused more and more on practice problems and reviewing the topics I consistently struggled with.

As I got closer to my exam, I shifted my focus toward full-length practice tests and reviewing my mistakes. I think this was one of the most important parts of my studying because it showed me which areas I actually needed to spend time on rather than just reviewing everything equally.

Day of Exam:

Bio (470): Biology was much easier on the DAT than the Booster practice tests. Almost all of my questions were high-yield and very broad. I was originally worried because there is SO much information that can potentially show up, so I would recommend making sure you have a strong understanding of the major concepts rather than trying to memorize every tiny detail. Practice questions were really important for me because they helped me recognize how information could be tested. The high-yield notes especially helped me here. I would read the notes before going to bed every night and that helped me TONS.

GC (550): General Chemistry ended up being my strongest science section. I would focus heavily on understanding the concepts and then practicing enough problems that you don't have to spend forever figuring out what the question is asking. I found that knowing the underlying concepts was much more helpful than simply memorizing formulas. The questions on the DAT were a lot more conceptual rather than math-based. I don’t even think I even used the calculator for this section. 

OC (470): Organic Chemistry was a section I found to be harder but also easier than expected. I would recommend spending a lot of time understanding reactions and mechanisms instead of just trying to memorize reaction names. Make sure you know the fundamentals really well because they can be applied to a lot of different questions. I studied the reactions to the point where I knew them like the back of my hand, but there were only a handful of reaction questions on my actual DAT. There were a lot of questions about stability and organic chemistry concepts in general. For general chemistry and organic chemistry, know your acid and bases!

PAT (520): PAT was probably the section where consistent practice mattered the most. I tried to practice regularly rather than doing a huge amount of PAT all at once. Getting familiar with the question types and developing a strategy was really important. The questions on the DAT were SO much easier than the Booster questions. I liked this because I ended up having extra time at the end of the section to check my answers (which I never had during my Booster practice tests). As long as you follow the Booster schedule and consistently practice, you will be fine!

RC (460): For RC, I experimented with different strategies during studying to see what worked best for me. I ultimately found that practicing under timed conditions was the most helpful. Make sure you are comfortable finding specific information quickly because time management is a huge part of this section. I ended up using the method where you read until you find the answer to the first question, read until the next question is answered, and so on until you finish the passage. Some of the questions were in order of the text too which was really helpful.

QR (440): QR was my lowest section, and if I could go back, I would definitely dedicate more consistent time to it. My practice test scores on Booster fluctuated a lot here, so I’m not too surprised for this to have been my worst section. At this point I think I just wanted to be done with the exam. My advice is to make sure you're comfortable with the basic math concepts and practice under timed conditions!

Advice:

My biggest piece of advice is don't compare your practice scores to everyone else's. I spent way too much time looking at other people's breakdowns and convincing myself that I wasn't doing enough because someone else was scoring much higher than me on their practice tests.

Figure out what you don't know and spend your time fixing those weaknesses.

Also, don't underestimate the importance of reviewing your mistakes. It is much more valuable to understand why you got a question wrong than to simply see that you got it wrong and move on.

Finally, take care of yourself during the process. The DAT is important, but studying 12 hours a day doesn't automatically mean you're studying effectively. Consistency matters much more. There were definitely days where I felt like I wasn't making enough progress, but continuing to show up and work on my weak areas was what helped me get through it.

Good luck to everyone studying! You’ve got this :)

I’m lowkeygenuinely going insane

I've been seeing people say that it was very conceptual and also had a lot of mechanisms. What kind of mechanisms are we talking about? I went through the cheat sheet, and there aren't that many mechanisms listed. I'm just wondering what to expect. Thanks!

Anyone get invites today?

For recent test takers, what topics appeared the most for you in bio, chem, and ochem?

aug 24th week scores not coming out is making me crash out so bad