DAT Breakdown
General Tips:
- Prioritize: an exceptional score on this test takes an exceptional effort. This is why dental schools place such an emphasis on the score. If you are looking for advice on “How to score well in 30 days or less,” you’ve come to the wrong breakdown. My wife and I added up the number of review questions that I did, and realized that excluding PAT practice, I did no less than 10,000 review questions. For me to score like I did, I said “no” to literally everything. No trips, no weekend plans, no Netflix binges, no Social Media. My schedule looked like this:
- 2 AM: wakeup and exercise (30 minutes)
- 3 AM: Sit down and begin studying what I planned the SUNDAY evening before. That’s right- I planned my ENTIRE week on Sunday.
- 8 AM: Go to work (depending on whether I was flying, sometimes I would study in my hotel room or on the plane)
- 6 PM: Arrive home from work, eat dinner, watch Chad’s video on topic that interested me (unplanned)
- 7 PM: Go to sleep
*
This was not a long-term schedule for me, nor do most students have to have such a crazy schedule, but I am a morning person and I wanted to give my best hours to my future instead of trying to refocus after a long day at work.*
2. Plan: I planned out my entire week every Sunday night. A mistake that I’ve made in the past is believing, “If I follow this guide, then I will succeed at xyz.” There is some truth to that, but I think set me apart in this process was my ability to honestly re-evaluate my progress on a weekly basis and progress on a time-line that meant I was actually absorbing material effectively. I recommend buying a notebook and listing out everything you have going on that week (eg. Do you need to go to the grocery store – put it on the list, Do you need to clean your apartment – put it on the list). The moral of the story is, take ownership of this process, make a plan, stick to your plan, re-evaluate your plan (repeat).
*I did all of my bootcamp practice tests on a laminated sheet of grid paper with dry erase Expo markers. This was incredibly helpful because I felt like the actual DAT was no different than my practice. I can't emphasize how important this was for me.*
3. Identify your advocates and set expectations appropriately: This is something that I still actively work on. I still don’t tell people, “I’m going to dental school.” Why? I haven’t been accepted. ****, I haven’t even finished my pre-reqs. If you set expectations for people that you are working hard to do well on a test, but that neither you nor anyone else knows how well you will do, it will take an enormous pressure off of you. If you don’t score like you want, you’ll still maintain credibility with yourself and others. Also, develop relationships with people that will encourage and protect you throughout the DAT process (for me that was my wife, parents, and a few close friends), put your blinders on and work.
Enough of that, on to the breakdown…
- Biology Resources (Content Review):
- Cliff’s 3rd Edition AP Bio (Essential)
- I watched at least 1 video per chapter from:
- Coursesaver: Cell Molec videos
- Crash Course: A&P
- Handwritten Tutorials: A&P (only the overview videos!)
- Khan: Overview videos of different systems
- Feralis Notes (Nice to have)
- Every question that had from Destroyer I put my own notes into Feralis. Whenever I would miss a question, I would re-read a portion of Feralis which would include my note. Over time, this became second nature.
- I recommend using Feralis as your repository for information. Any questions you miss or fact you come across, log it in Feralis notes.
2.
Biology Review (Questions)
- DAT Destroyer
- Completed 3x, reviewed every missed question in an excel document 1x/week.
- DAT Bootcamp
- Completed every quiz 1x and read through each answer. Took notes in Feralis on anything that I picked up from the answers. Breath over depth.
3.
Chemistry Review (Content)
- Chad's Reviews (necessary) I've used Chad’s Reviews for all Gen Chem, O Chem, and Physics since fall 2015. When I started with Chad, I hadn't taken a science class in 10 years and felt completely overwhelmed at the thought of being thrust back into classes that I thought would be impossible . I think Chad is the best for one reason; he gives you the “why” answer behind all of science. Chad isn't going to show you how to plug in values into molarity and molality formulas, he's going to help you understand at a practical level what the concepts are, what they are not, and how to conceptualize them on test day. I often feel like Chad answers the questions that I have before I can even ask them myself. Finally, Chad is a wizard with word pictures and you really feel like you can conceptualize these chemistry concepts (eg. I bet anyone who has used his course can remember these questions, “does anyone know how much a mole of basketball’s weighs?” “Does anyone know what my wife’s favorite color is?”). The point is, understanding the material, mentally filing the material, and accessing the material, is the key
** If you do not use Chad for O Chem review you are making a mistake **
- Mike’s Reviews (Good. I think Mike is a great teacher, I connected with Chad so I stuck with what made sense. Mike did review a few topics that Chad didn’t and I could watch it at 2x speed which was fantastic)
4. Chemistry Review (Questions)
- DAT Destroyer: 3x
- I reviewed Destroyer thoroughly every time, but the third time that I completed it anything that I got wrong, I put into a excel document and reviewed those answers at least once weekly (and the morning of my DAT)
- Coursesaver questions: 1x
- DAT Bootcamp: 2x
- These questions are great indicators of real DAT questions and the best thing is that Bootcamp puts you in a simulated environment. After mastering the Gen Chem clock, the real DAT was a breeze.
- I reviewed each of these tests a second time about a month after taking them and made sure that I was solid on the content. About 3 weeks before my test, I realized that I was weak in Stoichiometry, Bootcamp allowed me to really hone in on those weaknesses and maximize my score.
5. PAT
- To give a litmus test at how much of a “natural” I am at the PAT. I took a Kaplan (easy) PAT right when I started studying and made a 13.
- I sacrificed my lunch break at work every day to spend 15 minutes on each of the PAT simulators from DAT Bootcamp. If this was the only resource you received for from Bootcamp, it would be worth the full subscription price!
- About a month before the test, I re completed all of my DAT Bootcamp practice PAT’s. I think this was the key to my strong PAT score. By the time I got to my DAT, TFE and Pattern Folding were second nature. Not to mention, I created a strategy that was perfect for me:
- How to time your PAT
- With 5 minutes left on the science section I drew out my grids for hole punch and cube counting
- Right when the PAT started, I skipped through the first 45 questions
- Do hole punch, cube counting, and pattern folding
- Hole punch was easy for me, and cube counting is a matter of focus. Pattern folding got to be second nature after Bootcamp
- Click “Review” after completing question 46-90
- Go to question 16 and complete TFE and angle rank
- Click “Review” after completing question 45
- Complete keyhole questions
- Keyhole is the hardest section to master and a total time-suck. I think that it is put there to stress students out early on and tank their scores. I highly recommend my strategy for students struggling with time-management
- RC
- This was my the hardest section to master. Do Bootcamp’s RC tests and develop a strategy. My was this
- Read through all question and notice key words. Alot of the time, there are really easy questions at the end of the passage
- Begin reading from paragraph 1 and highlight/answer any questions that you remember as you go.
- After about paragraph 5, I started doing search and destroy
- For the hard science articles, I feel that search and destroy was most effective. For soft sciences I found reading through the passage most effective
- Again, RC is all about strategy. You must develop a strategy that works for you and the only way to do that is through practice.
** If you read the questions before hand you can realize if the DAT is going to ask you more regurgitation questions or application questions. The more complicated the article, the more straightforward the questions **
- QR
- This was my weakest section going into the DAT. While I was a math minor in my college days (think 2007-2011), I have always struggled with logic based problem solving (which is totally the DAT)
- I did all Destroyer tests (18), I worked tests 1-12 2x and I reviewed each test thoroughly.
- DAT Bootcamp’s QR is the best for QC questions and time management.
- The key to my success is that I learned to recognize questions that I was good at (algebra) and questions that I wasn’t (any geometry or trig). When I saw a time consuming trig question, I moved on and made sure that the entire 40 questions were completed. Then I went back and worked on any of the questions that I thought I could actually get right with more time. The others… I guessed intelligently
- Pick the low hanging fruit. A 20 second question is just as valuable as a 2 minute question
- In general, I’ve notice that the DAT QR section is structured like this
- First ~10 questions (easy) with a hard one scattered in
- Next 10 questions (hard) these questions are designed to frustrate you and suck your time. If you can’t figure out how to solve it, don’t waste your time. Be on the lookout for questions with lots of calculations. Instead of getting frustrated, congratulate yourself for not wasting your time on a question that is designed to hurt your score. Move on and get easy points
- Next 10 questions (mixed bag)
- Final 10 questions (easiest) this is the reason that you have to manage your time well. Make sure you complete the entire QR section before spending 2 minutes on a complicated question that you’ll likely get wrong anyhow.
I hope this was helpful. Please feel free to PM me with any additional questions and I'd be glad to answer them for you.
