Nidhi recently got a 23 AA while busy balancing classes and a teaching assistant role. We reached out to ask her how she did it and here's what she shared with us:
During the spring 2022 semester, I printed out all the follow along notes for bio/chem/Ochem. I learned and tried my best to memorize as much as I could.
Once I bought a subscription with Bootcamp, I watched most videos and worked all question banks as my goal was to gain conceptual knowledge. In my last month, I focused on completing practice tests in a timely manner. Here's a breakdown of how I studied for each subject:
Biology
The bio bites really helped instill facts in my brain. It was an excellent way to test your knowledge. Memorizing the academy notes is absolutely necessary. I would come back to the chapters I was weak at every now and then.
Chemistry
Practice is important here. I practiced from test banks and watched all videos. Dr. Mike has amazing tips on how to do math here without a calculator. (Approximation, moving decimal places etc).
Reading Comprehension
I did the best in this section without using search and destroy. I would read half the passage, answer as many questions as I could and then read the next half and answer the rest. I highlighted key terms, people, dates and etc. To be honest, I practiced this section the least but with the strategy that works for you, you can definitely finish in time. I noticed in practice tests, while reading, you should definitely highlight any numbers written in word form as it’s often a question asked later.
Perceptual Ability
I recommend to practice as early as possible. I split the types of questions and learned keyholes, angles and hole punching first and then worked on other sections. However, I recommend practicing each type of question daily if possible. Process of elimination is best method here.
Quantitative Reasoning
The videos and question banks helped me learn the variety of problems. If I could go back, I would work on solving questions quicker as speed is important.
Overall
Practice makes perfect. I did learn a lot from practice exams. I believe the questions did represent the real DAT questions. I am happy with my score.
Some thing I would do differently would be to focus on time management along with learning the material- especially for PAT and QR. I would also practice those sections more consistently over a longer period of time. I heavily focused on the sciences and while that was helpful- it took time and energy away from other areas. It’s really important to practice each section consistently! Bootcamp has more than enough resources to practice with so it is best to take advantage.
I am also happy with the Bootcamp experience overall. The staff was able to pause my subscription when I caught the flu which I appreciated.
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