how i studied for the DAT

Welcome to my study tips! Just wanna say that studying for this test was extremely stressful and it's okay to not do great on your first try!

Study Period: Week after school ended - Sept 19 (3 months+)

• I pushed my test back around a week. I am so happy I did, don’t feel like you have to take your test on the date you originally scheduled it for.

• I did Anki & daily practice first and then moved on to whatever else I had to do. I recommend doing the things you don’t like first or else you won’t do it later.

• I didn't do anything else while I studied for the DAT (no classes, no shadowing, no job, only extracurriculars.) I don't recommend doing other things while studying so that you can focus your 100% into the exam.

Score Progression

Please note that I didn't take my OC subject tests in order. For OC I started with full lengths 6/7 and returned to the subject tests after. Also notice that I did not finish my Bio subject tests.... don't do this haha.

Study Materials

• I used only DAT Bootcamp and bought the plus version which I recommend! You get priority for questions getting answered, more practice questions, and an extended subscription.

• If you struggle with time management, I recommend writing what you plan to do each day for each hour so you can really see how little time you have.

• I used Notion to keep track of everything!

• Love Anki, I never used it before taking the DAT but it is such a great tool for memorization

Overall Study Guide

• Content Learning [month 1-2.5]:

  • For every subject, I made my own condensed notes!

• Content Review & Subject Tests [month 2.5-3]:

  • After learning the DAT material and before starting subject tests, I did a review of each subject & redid all the qbanks

  • This is a critical period for me & I wish I had spent more time doing content review. I am a big fan of content review before starting practice tests and I would personally prefer studying over doing practice questions.

• Full Lengths [last 2 weeks of month 3]

  • When you take full lengths, simulate the testing center environment! Only use the bathroom & drink water during the assigned break, wear a mask, take full lengths at your scheduled test time, eat the breakfast you plan to eat on your real test day.

    • This helps a lot especially if you’re someone that gets stressed a lot in testing environments

  • Make sure to review the questions you get wrong and also understand the underlying concept. Would you get this question wrong if it was phrased a different way? Or had slightly different answer choices?

Regrets

• Doing Bio Bites over Anki

  • I highly recommend sticking with Anki throughout the entire testing process. I got overwhelmed towards the end because I had so many cards to review which is why I switched to Bio Bites. But if you stick with Anki, I think you’ll truly memorize the information for Bio.

• Making my own Bio Anki cards

  • This is a waste of study time, I would recommend using the DAT Bootcamp Anki deck and adding cards for questions you get wrong or for concepts you don’t understand.

• Not staying on top of Ari’s schedule

  • Following Ari’s schedule is definitely doable for content learning. I wish I had done my content learning in sync with Ari’s schedule so that I had saved more time for content review & practice questions.

  • I deleted TikTok & set a time limit on my phone for apps I use a lot such as Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. I also set the downtime setting and only was allowed to use Instagram after 1am & before 10am. I did this around the end of month 2 but I wish I did this from the beginning.

  • Deliberate practice! I wish I made more time everyday to practice QR, PAT, OC reactions, & Bio Anki (this takes a good chunk of your day).

• If you are a UCD student, take BIS 101 along with the other classes HPA recommends that you take before the DAT. Also being an NPB major really helped with the physio sections of BIO studying. The more classes you take, the stronger background you'll have!

How I studied for Specific Subjects:

BIO [18]

• Took notes on top of the PDF of the condensed notes while adding information from the detailed Notion notes

  • Knowing the information on the condensed notes is so much more important than the detailed notes. I wouldn’t focus too much on the detailed notes unless you’re having a hard time with a concept

  • Learning funny/vulgar acronyms for different topics helps you retain information!

• Studied by taking notes, doing anki, bio bites, and then qbank.

• I watched the bio videos for subjects I was bad at

• I did the Bio Bites around 3x through but the information still didn’t completely stick

• This was my worst section, it’s so hard to memorize all the details

• I didn’t finish the bio subject tests because in my opinion it’s more important to review the information than the tests since anything can appear on your exam. Just because you do well on some subject tests doesn’t mean you’ll get similar questions on your real DAT

GC [28]

• I do not know how I ended up with such a high score and honestly think I got lucky

• I think I got really good at making educated guesses and also I think I understood all of the general concepts in GC that Dr. Mike went over

• The Bootcamp plus pack was so helpful!

• The Qbank for GC is much harder than the full lengths on Bootcamp in my opinion

• I made Anki cards of all the questions I got wrong

• I also made Anki cards for stuff you have to memorize like equations, concepts, etc

  • Ex: Which way on the periodic table does electronegativity increase

OC [20]

• Tried to do reaction bank every day (super helpful)

• Put questions I got wrong into anki

• OC plus pack really helped here too!

• Put conceptual questions & non-rxn information into anki

  • Ex: EWGS increase acidity

• Don’t focus too much on reactions because there’s more to OC than just reactions

PAT [20]

• I struggled with PAT a lot & I regret not practicing more every day. Speed is so important & doing everything quickly is the key to success!

• I started at #30 on the PAT section & then went from there.

• Remember that each point is equal! So doing well in sections you're good at can cancel out the ones you're bad in.

• I focused more on angles/hole punching/cube counting/pattern folding & guessed a lot on TFE/keyholes. I think I could have gotten good at TFE/keyholes if I had practiced more

• For pattern folding don’t try to rotate the image in your head, that’s so hard & it’s much easier looking for distinct shapes/patterns next to certain shapes to find the correct pattern.

• My strategy for cube counting was writing the number of painted sides of the cubes along with the table counting method. Drawing the cubes out is good in case you make a mistake because you won’t need to completely start over. It also helps to count the cubes first and then finding the sides.

RC [22]

• Did all the RC qbank (harder than practice tests in my opinion)

• My strategy was to read and answer questions as I go & mark the ones I didn’t know. I used the highlighting tool which I recommend! I aimed to spend around 20 minutes on each passage.

• I did really well in RC Bootcamp subject tests but I had a harder time on full lengths because stamina & focus is hard to maintain for 5 hours

• My advice for RC is to test out strategies and find one that works for you. You can also combine different strategies and use multiple different methods on your test. Also learn the different types of questions asked on RC.

QR [22]

• I did all the question banks for each chapter & watched the videos for topics I was bad at (like statistics)

• Tried to do 15 QR questions a day & redid practice tests. Practice is key to getting fast!

• I think my favorite subject in school is math and I have a pretty strong background in it. But speed is super important and I struggled with it a lot.

• This section is extremely quick so you need to skip questions you aren’t confident in and go back to it later.

• I didn’t Anki QR but I had notes for QR that I looked at every day

Day before the test/Day of the test- Pep Talk

• At this point, it feels like you don't know anything. But you spent months studying and put in your best effort! Trust the process and know that the work you put in will pay off.

• Treat the DAT like another practice exam! Don't get too stressed/overwhelmed.

• Eat a nice meal the day before, get lots of rest, and do some light review.

• Get your things ready! 2 ID's, water, snack, etc.

• Check the location of your DAT and make sure you set your alarm to wake up on time.

• It's also okay to retake the test! On your 2nd try you know you'll do better since you have a study advantage. Realizing this lessened the pressure/stress I had on myself and made me feel calm when I was taking my actual DAT.

• YOU GOT THIS!!! IT'll ALL BE OKAY & OVER SOON :)

Final Advice

• You need to make the right decisions when studying! You know yourself best & if you think you aren’t ready to do the practice tests, you should review the content first. But if you learn best from practice questions, do questions first!

• It’s impossible to know everything on the DAT. Part of studying is learning how to make educated guesses! And don’t try to memorize everything, you really do need to understand concepts to do well. There are also so many exceptions to concepts & just try to at least get the general idea down.

• If you feel like you did badly on one section, don’t let it affect you in other sections. Sometimes you think you did bad but end up doing good! Keep pushing through!

• I didn’t see improvement until I started taking tests & content reviewing every day. Be patient with yourself and the study process!

• You are never going to feel 100% ready to take the DAT. But realize that you know more than you think you do!

  • Note: had a breakdown 2 weeks before my test, was not happy with my scores and felt really overwhelmed. I actually felt like giving up on becoming a dentist & felt like if I were to retake it I wouldn't know when and everything was falling apart. But my scores only started improving when I started full lengths. So be patient with yourself & it’s okay to cry sometimes!

  • If you are somewhat satisfied with the full length scores you are getting, you should be okay!

• I am not the smartest person & I feel like I have a hard time with learning information quickly. At UCD I really struggled with Organic Chemistry (I got my first C in this class) and got straight B’s in General Chemistry but I was able to do well in DAT OC & GC. So don’t feel like you are going to do badly in a subject because you didn’t do well in college.

• Don’t get caught up in questions that take a long time. Guess, skip, & come back to it later

• The Bootcamp tutors are so helpful! I love this feature.

• Don't stress, believe in yourself, and trust the process!! Remember that if you want above average scores, you need to be studying more than the average person.

• Life happens and problems may arise when you're studying. People talk about having family/relationship problems, illnesses/COVID, and other personal problems while studying. Sometimes you need to mentally overcome these problems to continue studying but in other situations you need to take time off studying to focus on your personal life. Make the decision and refocus your attention to DAT studying when you can! It's okay to push your test back. Take the test when you feel your best.

To my pre-dents that aren't planning on taking the DAT for a year or 2:

• PAT is a section that gets easier with practice! I would recommend starting to learn this section and practicing even before you plan on taking your DAT. It'll definitely help!

Good luck to all of my future dentists! You can do this and I believe in you all :)