From Busy Senior to DAT Success: Zoe’s DAT Bootcamp Story

Hi! While I originally planned to take the DAT in my final semester of undergrad, I decided to take it after my fall semester of senior year, with the reasoning of having time for a retake before entering the application cycle. I didn’t know at the time what a great decision that was, because after prepping through my busy semester with DAT Bootcamp, I was able to take the DAT one and done! DAT Bootcamp gave me everything I needed to integrate studying while also taking challenging courses.

During the semester, I’d study for around 3 hours a day, but the real number varied depending on what else I had going on that day. Studying for the DAT filled all the gaps I had in my schedule. It became really important for me to have a solid setting for studying, and if I ever got overwhelm a change of scenery always helped. I took the DAT right before Christmas, which meant I had two weeks uninterrupted by the semester after finals to focus on studying during winter break. During this time, I would take a practice test every other day, sandwiching them by reviewing the topics I missed the most.

Biology

As a biology major, I considered biology to be my strongest section. Even still, it could feel overwhelming from the sheer volume of information covered. About a month into my studying, I switched from jotting notes directly onto the provided slides to writing down all the chapter information on blank copy paper. While they often looked insane, handwriting all of the biology information helped to solidify it into my brain and made content review much easier towards the end of my studying. I found that even if I hadn’t reviewed a specific chapter in a while, having my paper chapter notes helped it rush back to me. I also utilized the app to quickly run through question banks and the bio podcasts for long drives!

General Chemistry

I’d argue that Dr. Mike made learning chemistry way simpler than my experience in my courses. More than anything, redoing the question banks and understanding why the wrong answers were wrong was foundational to my understanding. Handwriting chapter notes and important formulas became essential for me as it did in Bio.

Organic Chemistry

After making my way through all of the video lessons, running through the reaction bites and question banks multiple times helped to sharpen my memory. Regarding all of the science subjects, I would go back and redo specific sections of the previous full-length tests that I’d taken a while ago. Seeing as the practice tests were most representative of the real DAT, I tried to redo as many of the science sections as I could to make sure I didn’t make the same mistakes.

PAT

The PAT did not come naturally to me, and early on, I didn’t consistently practice all the question types. My biggest piece of advice would be not to compromise on daily PAT practice. Once I became consistent in daily PAT, my strategy was to practice three question types a day and then alternate. In my practice PAT tests, I struggled with time management, so in my practice, I'd set a timer for an average amount of time I wanted to spend on each question type and try to complete 15 questions within it.

Reading Comprehension

My advice for the section would be to practice utilizing all the different techniques that Bootcamp offers. For a good portion of my initial practice, I would only start by fully reading the passage. It wasn’t until I practiced the search and destroy that my stuck scores began to improve, along with my pace in this section.

Quantitative Reasoning

For quantitative reasoning, I simply worked and reworked through the question banks. After working through multiple full-length tests, I specifically focused on the highlighted areas of improvement. Advice for the section would be to not neglect it, but to try to practice a couple of questions every day. My mistake was not being as consistent in practicing with this section while working through science content, and I found myself feeling like I had to cram in the days leading up to my exam.

Overall

Studying for the DAT is like a marathon and can very easily feel daunting and overwhelming. Utilize Bootcamp's organized calendar and take it day by day, knowing that they have all the resources you need to be prepared for test day. This scheduling tool helped to ease my anxiety that I wouldn't be able to fit it all in before test day. You can adjust the pace and easily move assignments, which was great for working around exams in my other courses.