Meet Aliceson, a happy DAT Bootcamp customer who recently conquered the DAT. I’ve asked Aliceson to share her DAT experience with us as the Featured Student of December.
What is one piece of advice you would give to another student preparing to take the DAT?
I created a daily routine that I would be able to complete in about 20 to 30 minutes, so that every day, even if it was extremely busy, I felt better knowing I had made a conscious effort to study. My routine included doing the Daily Warmup Questions, 5 questions from each section in the PAT, 10 Organic Chemistry Flashcards, and 5 Biology or QR questions. It is important to know that some days you will feel behind in your studies and other days you’ll feel like you’re conquering the world. You may study 2 hours one day and 7 hours the next!
How did you use DAT Bootcamp to prepare for the DAT?
DAT Bootcamp was my only source of study for the DAT. I initially thought that Ari’s 10-week study schedule would perfectly fit into my life, but after a few days, I realized that I needed to adjust his study schedule to fit my study time. I eventually decided to make weekly studying goals for the work I needed to complete each week to feel confident in my progress. My studying was broken down into 3 phases: active reading and taking notes, flashcards and active reviewing, and practice tests/full-length tests.
I used the “Mastering”, “Reviewing”, and “Learning” buttons on all questions to monitor my progress throughout each section. Even though I am a Biology major, I found the 500-page notes better for studying than the 120-page notes along with completing all of the BioBites questions. I highly recommend taking the DAT after you have completed Organic Chemistry from your college, and found that it provided me an advantage when I was studying so that I was able to focus more on General Chemistry topics I had taken during my freshman year.
For the PAT, I believed the generators were the best way to increase my speed and accuracy. I was able to view the PAT sections more like games or breaks I could take in between intense biology or chemistry study sessions. This allowed me to not dread the generators, but instead get excited about them! The reading comprehension and quantitive reasoning sections I focused the lightest amount of review on, although I tried to do many QR questions every day leading up to the practice tests for about 6 weeks.
I used almost all of the tools, practice problems, and tests that DAT Bootcamp had to offer. I believe the best tool was the Full-Length Tests provided. The last full-length test that I took was quite similar to the AA and PAT scores I got on my actual DAT exam, and I think it is important for students to remember that how you are performing close to your exam date is probably how you will perform on the day of the exam!
What would you do differently to prepare for the DAT?
I wish I would have had about 2 extra weeks before my DAT to solidify the biology and general chemistry concepts. Those two sections I found to require the most active learning and review and I believe if I had some more time I could have felt more confident in some of my answer choices when it was time for the DAT exam. Although I think it is important to remember on your journey over to the testing center to NOT be thinking about the “what if’s” but be thinking about “the what did’s”. You have prepared yourself to take this exam and you should be confident when you walk through the doors!
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