- Joined
- Feb 17, 2020
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 1
Hello! I spent a lot of time going over DAT breakdowns and felt like they helped me a lot, so I thought I would try to give back too.
Scores:
TS - 24
AA – 22
Bio - 24
GC - 23
OC – 23
PAT - 24
QR - 19
RC – 19
BACKGROUND:
Currently a rising senior with a 3.94 GPA.
MATERIALS:
DAT Booster – DAT Booster alone is completely sufficient to study all the sections.
It was very representative and cheaper than other alternatives. It is somewhat new, but they are continually adding new things. The Feralis Bio notes are top tier. I went through them once to learn everything and then again to review towards the end. If you like “Professor Dave Explains” from YouTube, Booster hired him to create videos for Gen Chem and OChem. My test scores were all higher than what I got on the subject tests there. Make sure you go through all the practice exams again and understand what questions you got wrong. Many of the Booster questions are very similar to those seen on the test.
Chad’s Videos on YouTube – great for topics you do not understand in Gen Chem and OChem, and they’re FREE! If I needed a more in-depth explanation that gets right to the chase, Chad had a video for it. Very well explained. I think he offers a premium membership with example questions, but I did not buy them.
ANKI/Quizlet – Great for remembering everything you have studied already.
Many people study over such a long period of time that it is very easy to forget what you have already studied. ANKI spaces out the information you know so you go over what you are more prone to forget. ANKI is confusing if it is the first time you are using it. DAT Booster has a section that explains how to use their ANKI deck. Basically, all off the flashcards are on one deck but they are in order. You can suspend and unsuspend cards to study all the cards that you need. I would use Booster’s Quizlet decks to study each section one at a time. Once I mastered the Quizlet, I would unsuspend those cards on ANKI, and the program added the new cards to my daily flashcard. Remember to keep ANKI in balance. At one point, I was studying ANKI more than learning new items and I had to cut back.
Pro tip: There’s no point in studying for a card that you will never forget. Delete the super easy ones that are just wasting your time.
DAT Destroyer – Great for sharpening up your skills and covering all the hard questions that may possibly come up on the exam. I was planning on using DAT Destroyer in the last couple of weeks, but I decided to spend more time reviewing the basics on Booster instead. I ended up finishing 300 Bio questions and 150 Gen Chem Questions. Overall, I thought this resource would have been great for taking your scores to the next level, but I just ran out of time. Destroyer is good for covering all the hard questions you might face but is not completely necessary. If you want scores better than mine, start with Booster and use Destroyer to sharpen your skills. Diving straight into Destroyer can be overwhelming and confusing. Destroyer is not organized into categories and all the questions are mixed together.
STUDY TIMELINE:
Finding a study timeline that works was hard for me. I tried studying during the school year, but I just didn’t have the time with schoolwork, work, extracurriculars, and having a social life. Ideally, I would have studied for 3 months with Booster, but ended up studying off and on for 1.5 months and then studied hard for 1.5 months. I ended up pushing back my test date 2 weeks to give me more time. If you go the untraditional route like me, use DAT Booster’s study guide as a rough schedule to see how you are shaping up. It’s hard to gauge how long something will take you to study just by looking at it.
December 2022: Researched DAT Study materials and comparisons on SDN/Reddit. Everyone has their own opinions (lol including me now) so take everything with a grain of salt. I ended up choosing DAT Booster and Destroyer based on these recommendations. I learned about PAT and started some practice. I think this was way too early to start practice PAT and I overestimated how much time it would take for me to get better in these sections. I wish I would have done more research on dental schools to apply to and done more prep work for my application during this time. Trying to fill out your application and study for the DAT is very stressful.
March 2020 – May 2020: Bought DAT Booster and Destroyer/Off and On Studying. Started following DAT Booster’s study schedule, but quickly fell behind with school even with a reduced course load. It might have been more manageable if I studied just 1-2 hours a day. I would plan to do most of your studying in the summer if you can. I didn’t even look at Destroyer during this time because I was planning on using that towards the end. By the time the end of the school year came around, I was insanely busy with finals, end of the year activities, and moving back home. I decided to push my DAT back two weeks and had to pay a fee. The fee depends on how close you are to your scheduled date.
May 2020- June2 weeks away: Hard studying with Booster. I studied 8 hours a day 7 days a week. My mindset was to treat this as a job and an investment. I knew I was going to lose money since I couldn’t have a job at the same time, but I thought it was necessary to get into dental school. It’s best to study each of the sciences every day, instead of only one section each day. I thought this kept me sharp on each section by continually reviewing. I printed out a calendar and set goals for myself for each day which helped me stay on track and get through everything. I would break down each
2 weeks away – Day Before the DAT
Day Before the DAT: Just reviewing my study
Pro Tip: Plan a handful of days to just work on your application. I would work on my application after I finished studying for the day, but June 1st snuck up on me. I ended up not studying for a couple of days to get this done.
Day of Exam
Bio – 24
DAT Booster was more than sufficient. Cover all your bases but don’t worry too too much about memorizing EVERYTHING. I studied the most for this section just because of the volume. Try to mix studying for stuff you already know and things you have never seen before. Ex. Cell bio and developmental bio. When you first get started, the practice tests will be overwhelming, and it seems like you need to know everything about biology and life. In actuality, Booster is testing a limited amount of information from their notes, so don’t get too overwhelmed by the depth. I would read my scheduled section of Bio Notes and then learn using the corresponding Booster Quizlet. After I mastered the quizlet, I would unsuspend those same cards on the ANKI deck and move onto the next section.
GC – 23
Booster was great. There are not as many calculations on the actual DAT, but it’s still good practice to learn the trends. I had a strong background in Gen Chem, so I did not have much trouble with this section. It was more of a review. That being said there are still new topics that I had never learned before so make sure you do all the problems and go through all the notes.
Booster’s ANKI Deck to keep everything fresh.
Chad’s Videos on YouTube are great to fill in any gaps
OC – 23
Booster was SUPER representative. Acid rankings, Radical stability, Mechanisms, Reactions. Booster’s OChem Reaction sheet and Anki deck were great. I would suggest starting this ANKI deck early to give you enough time to memorize everything.
Chad’s Videos were great to go over mechanisms and trends in detail if I didn’t understand.
PAT – 24
Booster’s PAT section (especially the practice exams) was harder than the actual PAT. I would get good at Process of Elimination with TFE, Keyhole, and Pattern folding. Some of the answers on the actual DAT were blatantly wrong and could easily be eliminated. Cube counting and hole punching should be 15/15 with the Booster strategies. Angle Ranking comes with time. I would create strategies for each type of angle (obtuse, acute, right angle). For some reason, if I attached emotions to the strategies, they seemed to work better. For instance, if I imagined an obtuse angle as the side of a house and the angle of the roof, I could more easily see the answer. If it was an acute angle, I would imagine sledding down the slope and imagine which slope I would go faster on. Kinda weird but hey this sections kinda weird to begin with.
QR – 19
I’m not sure what happened in this section. I thought the questions were easier than Booster’s QR section but with similar question types. Timing was struggle, so get good at coming up with a solution process quickly and knowing when to skip.
RC – 19
Honestly, I’ve never been good at reading comprehension tests, but Booster was good to work out timing and a strategy. If I could do it again, I would try to modify a strategy like search and destroy. I tried reading the entire passage and then finding the answer, but always ran out of time. Be very careful to determine exactly what the question is asking. Most of the answers are true but do not answer the question.
General Advice:
I studied for this test more than I’ve studied anything else. It’s going to be overwhelming, but you will find a way! After this, you’re one more step closer to your dream of becoming a dentist!
Study for the test and the information you don’t know. Take practice test early on and think about the type of questions they are asking and the depth. If there are questions on booster that you keep missing, you will most likely miss it on the real exam. There is no point in wasting your time watching a video lesson that you already know! Ex. I already knew Hess’s Law, so I didn’t waste the 5 minutes watching Chad’s video on it. Your time is valuable so use it wisely.
Know when to understand and when to memorize. Silly mnemonics work great for me in certain situations, but other times its better to understand the concept. Ex. Galvanic cells. I memorized An(ode) Ox(idation) and Red(uction) Cat(Cathode)/ OIL RIG, but I also understood the concepts behind what was happening and could apply that knowledge.
Prioritize sleep and stay healthy
Do things that make you happy. Studying for this test is so daunting. Keeping a positive attitude is just as important as choosing studying materials.
Take breaks throughout and take longer breaks whenever you need them. There were multiple times when I got overwhelmed and went on a walk with a friend instead of studying for an extra hour. Keep yourself from getting burnout, and you will be better off in the long run.
Use your support systems (friends, family, religion, philosophy, etc). Have something to lean on when it gets tough.
Finally, find your own way and roll with it. Lol I know that’s bad advice, but it’s true! I’ve read countless breakdowns, everyone thinks differently. Find what works for you and go for it. If you find a better way down the road, you can adapt.
TLDR:
Booster is enough to get you a high score if you put in the effort and master what they offer.
Destroyer is good if you want very high scores, but the questions are very hard. Plan at least 2-3 weeks to go through all questions, take notes, and review.
Chad’s Videos are the GOAT and can explain anything in Gen Chem or OChem.
ANKI is great for remembering everything you already studied. Check out Booster for a tutorial on how to use their deck.
Quizlet for learning new material. Booster and bootcamp already have quizlets that go along with their Bio and Gen Chem Notes.
3 months is the golden rule for studying but adapt to your situation.
Keep everything in perspective.
Scores:
TS - 24
AA – 22
Bio - 24
GC - 23
OC – 23
PAT - 24
QR - 19
RC – 19
BACKGROUND:
Currently a rising senior with a 3.94 GPA.
MATERIALS:
DAT Booster – DAT Booster alone is completely sufficient to study all the sections.
It was very representative and cheaper than other alternatives. It is somewhat new, but they are continually adding new things. The Feralis Bio notes are top tier. I went through them once to learn everything and then again to review towards the end. If you like “Professor Dave Explains” from YouTube, Booster hired him to create videos for Gen Chem and OChem. My test scores were all higher than what I got on the subject tests there. Make sure you go through all the practice exams again and understand what questions you got wrong. Many of the Booster questions are very similar to those seen on the test.
Chad’s Videos on YouTube – great for topics you do not understand in Gen Chem and OChem, and they’re FREE! If I needed a more in-depth explanation that gets right to the chase, Chad had a video for it. Very well explained. I think he offers a premium membership with example questions, but I did not buy them.
ANKI/Quizlet – Great for remembering everything you have studied already.
Many people study over such a long period of time that it is very easy to forget what you have already studied. ANKI spaces out the information you know so you go over what you are more prone to forget. ANKI is confusing if it is the first time you are using it. DAT Booster has a section that explains how to use their ANKI deck. Basically, all off the flashcards are on one deck but they are in order. You can suspend and unsuspend cards to study all the cards that you need. I would use Booster’s Quizlet decks to study each section one at a time. Once I mastered the Quizlet, I would unsuspend those cards on ANKI, and the program added the new cards to my daily flashcard. Remember to keep ANKI in balance. At one point, I was studying ANKI more than learning new items and I had to cut back.
Pro tip: There’s no point in studying for a card that you will never forget. Delete the super easy ones that are just wasting your time.
DAT Destroyer – Great for sharpening up your skills and covering all the hard questions that may possibly come up on the exam. I was planning on using DAT Destroyer in the last couple of weeks, but I decided to spend more time reviewing the basics on Booster instead. I ended up finishing 300 Bio questions and 150 Gen Chem Questions. Overall, I thought this resource would have been great for taking your scores to the next level, but I just ran out of time. Destroyer is good for covering all the hard questions you might face but is not completely necessary. If you want scores better than mine, start with Booster and use Destroyer to sharpen your skills. Diving straight into Destroyer can be overwhelming and confusing. Destroyer is not organized into categories and all the questions are mixed together.
STUDY TIMELINE:
Finding a study timeline that works was hard for me. I tried studying during the school year, but I just didn’t have the time with schoolwork, work, extracurriculars, and having a social life. Ideally, I would have studied for 3 months with Booster, but ended up studying off and on for 1.5 months and then studied hard for 1.5 months. I ended up pushing back my test date 2 weeks to give me more time. If you go the untraditional route like me, use DAT Booster’s study guide as a rough schedule to see how you are shaping up. It’s hard to gauge how long something will take you to study just by looking at it.
December 2022: Researched DAT Study materials and comparisons on SDN/Reddit. Everyone has their own opinions (lol including me now) so take everything with a grain of salt. I ended up choosing DAT Booster and Destroyer based on these recommendations. I learned about PAT and started some practice. I think this was way too early to start practice PAT and I overestimated how much time it would take for me to get better in these sections. I wish I would have done more research on dental schools to apply to and done more prep work for my application during this time. Trying to fill out your application and study for the DAT is very stressful.
March 2020 – May 2020: Bought DAT Booster and Destroyer/Off and On Studying. Started following DAT Booster’s study schedule, but quickly fell behind with school even with a reduced course load. It might have been more manageable if I studied just 1-2 hours a day. I would plan to do most of your studying in the summer if you can. I didn’t even look at Destroyer during this time because I was planning on using that towards the end. By the time the end of the school year came around, I was insanely busy with finals, end of the year activities, and moving back home. I decided to push my DAT back two weeks and had to pay a fee. The fee depends on how close you are to your scheduled date.
May 2020- June2 weeks away: Hard studying with Booster. I studied 8 hours a day 7 days a week. My mindset was to treat this as a job and an investment. I knew I was going to lose money since I couldn’t have a job at the same time, but I thought it was necessary to get into dental school. It’s best to study each of the sciences every day, instead of only one section each day. I thought this kept me sharp on each section by continually reviewing. I printed out a calendar and set goals for myself for each day which helped me stay on track and get through everything. I would break down each
2 weeks away – Day Before the DAT
Day Before the DAT: Just reviewing my study
Pro Tip: Plan a handful of days to just work on your application. I would work on my application after I finished studying for the day, but June 1st snuck up on me. I ended up not studying for a couple of days to get this done.
Day of Exam
Bio – 24
DAT Booster was more than sufficient. Cover all your bases but don’t worry too too much about memorizing EVERYTHING. I studied the most for this section just because of the volume. Try to mix studying for stuff you already know and things you have never seen before. Ex. Cell bio and developmental bio. When you first get started, the practice tests will be overwhelming, and it seems like you need to know everything about biology and life. In actuality, Booster is testing a limited amount of information from their notes, so don’t get too overwhelmed by the depth. I would read my scheduled section of Bio Notes and then learn using the corresponding Booster Quizlet. After I mastered the quizlet, I would unsuspend those same cards on the ANKI deck and move onto the next section.
GC – 23
Booster was great. There are not as many calculations on the actual DAT, but it’s still good practice to learn the trends. I had a strong background in Gen Chem, so I did not have much trouble with this section. It was more of a review. That being said there are still new topics that I had never learned before so make sure you do all the problems and go through all the notes.
Booster’s ANKI Deck to keep everything fresh.
Chad’s Videos on YouTube are great to fill in any gaps
OC – 23
Booster was SUPER representative. Acid rankings, Radical stability, Mechanisms, Reactions. Booster’s OChem Reaction sheet and Anki deck were great. I would suggest starting this ANKI deck early to give you enough time to memorize everything.
Chad’s Videos were great to go over mechanisms and trends in detail if I didn’t understand.
PAT – 24
Booster’s PAT section (especially the practice exams) was harder than the actual PAT. I would get good at Process of Elimination with TFE, Keyhole, and Pattern folding. Some of the answers on the actual DAT were blatantly wrong and could easily be eliminated. Cube counting and hole punching should be 15/15 with the Booster strategies. Angle Ranking comes with time. I would create strategies for each type of angle (obtuse, acute, right angle). For some reason, if I attached emotions to the strategies, they seemed to work better. For instance, if I imagined an obtuse angle as the side of a house and the angle of the roof, I could more easily see the answer. If it was an acute angle, I would imagine sledding down the slope and imagine which slope I would go faster on. Kinda weird but hey this sections kinda weird to begin with.
QR – 19
I’m not sure what happened in this section. I thought the questions were easier than Booster’s QR section but with similar question types. Timing was struggle, so get good at coming up with a solution process quickly and knowing when to skip.
RC – 19
Honestly, I’ve never been good at reading comprehension tests, but Booster was good to work out timing and a strategy. If I could do it again, I would try to modify a strategy like search and destroy. I tried reading the entire passage and then finding the answer, but always ran out of time. Be very careful to determine exactly what the question is asking. Most of the answers are true but do not answer the question.
General Advice:
I studied for this test more than I’ve studied anything else. It’s going to be overwhelming, but you will find a way! After this, you’re one more step closer to your dream of becoming a dentist!
Study for the test and the information you don’t know. Take practice test early on and think about the type of questions they are asking and the depth. If there are questions on booster that you keep missing, you will most likely miss it on the real exam. There is no point in wasting your time watching a video lesson that you already know! Ex. I already knew Hess’s Law, so I didn’t waste the 5 minutes watching Chad’s video on it. Your time is valuable so use it wisely.
Know when to understand and when to memorize. Silly mnemonics work great for me in certain situations, but other times its better to understand the concept. Ex. Galvanic cells. I memorized An(ode) Ox(idation) and Red(uction) Cat(Cathode)/ OIL RIG, but I also understood the concepts behind what was happening and could apply that knowledge.
Prioritize sleep and stay healthy
Do things that make you happy. Studying for this test is so daunting. Keeping a positive attitude is just as important as choosing studying materials.
Take breaks throughout and take longer breaks whenever you need them. There were multiple times when I got overwhelmed and went on a walk with a friend instead of studying for an extra hour. Keep yourself from getting burnout, and you will be better off in the long run.
Use your support systems (friends, family, religion, philosophy, etc). Have something to lean on when it gets tough.
Finally, find your own way and roll with it. Lol I know that’s bad advice, but it’s true! I’ve read countless breakdowns, everyone thinks differently. Find what works for you and go for it. If you find a better way down the road, you can adapt.
TLDR:
Booster is enough to get you a high score if you put in the effort and master what they offer.
Destroyer is good if you want very high scores, but the questions are very hard. Plan at least 2-3 weeks to go through all questions, take notes, and review.
Chad’s Videos are the GOAT and can explain anything in Gen Chem or OChem.
ANKI is great for remembering everything you already studied. Check out Booster for a tutorial on how to use their deck.
Quizlet for learning new material. Booster and bootcamp already have quizlets that go along with their Bio and Gen Chem Notes.
3 months is the golden rule for studying but adapt to your situation.
Keep everything in perspective.
