Introduction
Hey everyone! My name is Thomas. I’m a non-traditional student and currently a senior at Boston University majoring in Health Sciences. I started undergrad at UMass Amherst in 2019, transferred to BU in 2022, and after two semesters took a leave of absence for about three years to reset and refocus. I recently returned to finish strong and pursue a career in dentistry.
I began studying for the DAT in Summer 2025 and took it in February 2026. For the full eight months, I used DAT Bootcamp exclusively. During the summer I studied 8 to 10 hours a day, five days a week, and during the semester I dedicated two to three full days each week.
Because of my long academic gap, I had forgotten most if not all of the material. I relied completely on Bootcamp’s curriculum to relearn the sciences from the ground up and rebuild my foundation.
Because my foundation was weak, I spent the first few months going through all of the videos and question banks for Biology, General Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry to rebuild from scratch while actively using the Anki decks provided. Also starting in Week 1, I immediately began to start studying for the PAT since that would be the hardest to learn. During the final three to four months, I shifted my focus to completing every single practice test. After each one, I went back to the related chapter bites and question banks to reinforce weak areas. For the final two weeks, I redid every practice test by subject to focus on the most high yield questions and ensure I truly understood the topics that were tested most frequently.
Biology
When I first started studying Biology, I was overwhelmed by how many chapters there were and felt like I had to master every single detail. What helped me most was first watching all of the videos to understand the depth expected for each topic.
After that, I used the DAT Bootcamp Anki decks consistently and focused on understanding concepts rather than memorizing definitions. What kept me from burning out was connecting topics to real world examples and reminding myself that these same concepts would show up again in dental school. That mindset made me want to actually learn the material, not just get through it.
On my actual DAT, a large portion of the Biology questions came from fundamentals, cells, and organelles. There were also some from systems, reproduction and development, and diversity of life and animal behavior. A few questions felt very niche and fact based, the kind where you either know it or you don’t. Because of that, I strongly encourage truly understanding each system instead of just memorizing key terms. Conceptual understanding makes those questions much easier to handle. I also used all of the recommended mnemonics and even created a few of my own. Whenever I saw a question related to one, I would immediately repeat it in my head, even if I did not fully need it, just to reinforce it and build automatic recall.
Note: The Anki decks were extremely helpful for me, but I recommend first watching the chapter videos, then using the high yield notes to guide which cards to keep. There are some cards that are not covered or are very low yield, and I removed those to keep my deck efficient and focused.
General Chemistry
The last time I had touched General Chemistry was a little over five years ago, so Dr. Mike’s videos were huge for me. They rebuilt my foundation and gave me practical shortcuts for solving problems efficiently.
Stoichiometry is the most important chapter to master because it becomes the backbone of almost every calculation based topic. I focused heavily on dimensional analysis, balancing equations, unit conversions, and truly understanding the periodic table. Periodic trends are also critical. If you understand how properties change across rows and down columns, they can guide you through tougher conceptual questions when you feel stuck.
For problem solving, repetition is everything. I would redo questions until I could consistently get them right or clearly explain every step without hesitation. With math based questions, the goal is to look at a problem and immediately know the approach instead of guessing which formula to use. I always wrote out the given variables and units on the side before starting so I would not lose track of what the question was actually asking.
To strengthen conceptual knowledge and formula recognition, I used the Bootcamp Anki decks. Some details, like polyatomic ions or VSEPR geometries, simply have to be memorized, so Anki helped me stay sharp on those. At the same time, I tried to logically understand periodic trends instead of blindly memorizing them. Mnemonics were also extremely helpful. If I saw something related to one, I would immediately repeat it in my head to lock it in and move forward confidently.
Organic Chemistry
Organic Chemistry was BY FAR the hardest section for me. I remembered absolutely nothing from five years ago, especially since I took it during COVID. I genuinely did not remember what an alkane or an alcohol group was.
I started by watching all of Dr. Mike’s Organic Chemistry videos, then I practically worshiped every single practice problem on the site. For me, pure memorization is difficult, especially with mechanisms because there are so many. So I forced myself to physically write out nearly every mechanism when solving problems, except for the extremely long multi step ones. I did this consistently up until the very last day of studying. Over time, when I saw similar reagents or starting materials, recognizing the correct reaction became much easier. Pattern recognition took a while to develop, but once it clicked, it was worth it.
I also used the Anki decks for memorizing things like H NMR and C NMR, but more importantly to understand why certain species act as nucleophiles or electrophiles. I did not memorize the SN1, SN2, E1, E2 chart. Instead, I focused on understanding the conceptual reasoning behind why a reaction follows a specific pathway. Once you truly understand the “why,” the answer choices become much easier to eliminate.
I would say that every chapter is fair game in Organic Chemistry, but the most prominent topics I saw on my exam were acids and bases, nomenclature, stereochemistry, spectroscopy, and electrophilic aromatic substitution. The Bootcamp practice tests were the most helpful resource for me during this section. They were extremely representative and very accurate compared to what I saw on the actual DAT.
Perceptual Ability Test (PAT)
I would highly recommend for everyone to immediately start practicing the PAT since this will be new for every single person and it is one of the slowest to master. I began by practicing 15 of every single type and always timed myself and logged in a template that I have created, so I can see my strengths and weaknesses and see my patterns on how I’m doing and what I need to improve on, and what I need more time on or less time, and balance my time according to whether or not I’m doing better or worse. Everybody will have their strengths and weaknesses on certain parts, and some will come easier than for others, but it can always be mastered or close to it! Since I did receive a 600 (30) on this section, I will go very in-depth for this section so I can help out as much as I can!
Keyholes: For Keyholes, I never started with the shape. I started with the answer choices. I would immediately scan the five options and group together the ones that were showing the same orientation, then pinpoint the small differences between them.
After grouping them, I would look at the 3D object and determine which set of options represented the front, top, or back view. Once that was clear, I compared the subtle differences within each group to the actual shape.
At that point, elimination becomes much easier. If I could not fully decide between two similar options, the goal was at least to eliminate one and move on. For example, if B and E were both top views and very similar, eliminating even one of them was progress. I would then leave the remaining option open and shift my focus to another view, such as the front view options, and continue narrowing it down.
The key is to avoid getting stuck and overthinking one pair. Keep eliminating strategically until you bring it down to two strong contenders, then make your final decision and move on.
This strategy should help cut down the time to some of the easier ones that pop up to 25-30 seconds per question and gives more space for the harder keyholes, so I would say on average I would aim to hit between 45-50 seconds per question.
Top-Front-End (TFE): At first, this section can feel confusing, but once you understand the true meaning of the solid and dashed lines, it becomes one of the easiest sections to handle.
Similar to my Keyhole strategy, I would first look at all of the answer choices and group them based on their main differences. Once the options were grouped, I would focus on only one of the two given views and try to solve the question from that perspective.
It is important to remember that a solid line indicates a visible change in elevation, while a dashed line means something is happening “behind the scenes”. Because of this, I try not to overcomplicate that idea and I mainly focus on one view and only look at the second view if I absolutely need it or if the options are too similar to distinguish. Looking at both views immediately can become confusing because your eyes move back and forth too much and it is easy to lose track of what you are comparing.
Once you get better with grouping and looking for the problem instead of looking for the 1:1 replica, each question should take around 40 to 45 seconds.
Angle Ranking: Angle Ranking was very irritating and often felt like a coin flip. I would first look at the answer choices and see how many options repeated the same angle as the largest or the smallest. If there were two or three choices that shared the same extreme angle, I would focus only on comparing those angles first. Usually I could eliminate at least two options quickly that way.
Instead of trying to compare all four angles at once, I would bounce my eyes back and forth between just two angles until a difference started to appear. Another trick I used was imagining an extra line that would extend the angle toward 180° or 90°. Sometimes looking at the “imaginary” angle makes it easier to tell which one is actually larger or smaller.
Like most people recommend, I kept this section very fast. About 20 seconds per question and then go with your instinct. Even though it can feel random at times, I still strongly recommend practicing Angle Ranking regularly so you train your eyes to work faster rather than trying to chase perfect accuracy.
Hole Punching: Hole Punching should be one of the fastest and highest scoring sections, usually around 20 to 25 seconds per question. I strongly recommend drawing out the 4×4 template and practicing it every day to build both speed and accuracy.
My strategy was to start from the final step, the hole punch, and work backwards through the folds. Before marking the holes on my template, I would quickly check folds 1 through 3 to see if paper was actually present at that location. If paper existed there the whole time, I would mark it with an X and treat it as a real hole punch. If at any step the location had no paper, I would mark it with an E for empty, meaning the hole would not always exist.
Then I would move backward through the folds, starting with fold 3 and continuing back. Instead of drawing the fold lines on the grid, I would move my pen back and forth across the template to visualize where the X or E would reflect after each fold.
I avoided drawing the fold lines themselves because that can get confusing quickly. I focused only on tracking where the X’s and E’s move after each reflection, which made the process much cleaner and faster.
Cube Counting: Cube Counting is another section that should be easy points if you focus on speed and accuracy. I recommend spending about 1 minute per cube set, which is roughly 20 to 25 seconds per question. I always made it a habit to draw a tally table to track how many cubes had 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 exposed faces.
I would start by choosing one side of the structure and stay consistent, finishing all the cubes in that row before moving to the next. After that, I would quickly count how many rows of cubes there were so I would not miss any hidden cubes or exposed faces that might be easy to overlook.
While counting, I would mentally track the number of exposed faces for each cube while also moving my pen in the direction of the face I was counting. This helped me stay focused and prevented me from losing track. Once I got more comfortable, I would count two or three cubes at a time before marking them down on my table.
If I had extra time or felt uncertain about a count, I would quickly recount the structure from a different perspective and make a second tally table to cross check my answers. This helped catch small mistakes and made the section much more reliable.
Pattern Folding: Pattern Folding was actually my weakest PAT section and took me the longest to improve because it requires a lot of mental visualization. Because of that, the strategies I used may be helpful for anyone who struggles with visualizing the folds like I did.
There are several different styles of Pattern Folding questions. Some are simple dice or shapes with shaded faces, while others involve very unusual 3D shapes with many sides that must align correctly, or patterns with partial shading that must match exactly. On my actual DAT, most of the questions involved the more complex shapes, so that is what I focused my strategy around.
I would first look at the four answer choices and group them based on their similarities and differences, similar to how I approached Keyholes and TFE. Then I would compare those grouped options to the unfolded shape and look for obvious inconsistencies to eliminate incorrect choices.
Usually I could eliminate two options fairly quickly. The remaining two often looked almost identical but differed in orientation or had one face placed in a different position. If I reached that point and could not confidently decide, I would make a best guess and move on to avoid wasting time.
Another thing to watch for is orientation. Sometimes the unfolded pattern is effectively upside down relative to the answer choices, so mentally “flipping” the pattern can make it easier to match the correct option. It is also important to remember that the folds move away from you, into the screen, rather than toward you.
If the unfolded image felt too complex to visualize, my last-ditch strategy was to simply trace the edges and see which faces were directly connected to each other.
For timing, I aimed for about 45 to 50 seconds per question to stay on pace.
The key thing to remember about PAT is to train yourself to look for what is wrong in the answer choices rather than trying to confirm the entire correct option. Eliminating mistakes is often much faster than proving something is completely correct.
I also found it helpful during practice tests and on the actual DAT to occasionally close my eyes for a couple seconds and take a quick breath. That short reset helped me refocus and approach the question with a fresh perspective.
Reading Comprehension
This section was difficult for me because I rarely read books and had very little experience reading research papers during undergrad. I am naturally a slow reader, and even after trying many of the strategies suggested on Bootcamp, my scores were still very low.
Because it took me too long to carefully read and fully understand the passages, I eventually used a hybrid approach. I would spend about 7 to 10 minutes speed reading the passage while minimizing highlighting. I only highlighted key ideas in each paragraph, usually focusing on the first and last sentences. After finishing the passage, I would switch to a search and destroy strategy using those highlighted keywords.
I highly recommend using every Reading Comprehension practice passage on Bootcamp. Over time, I realized the section is not really about deeply understanding every detail in the passage. It is more about recognizing the patterns in the types of questions they ask. Once I started recognizing what the exam was looking for, I became much better at highlighting the information they would likely test. That prevented me from getting stuck for two or more minutes on a single question.
On my actual DAT, many of the questions were fact based, so this strategy worked very well since I had already highlighted the key areas that the questions were asking about.
Quantitative Reasoning
For my math background, this initially felt like the least challenging section. However, the practice tests showed that most of the questions were word problems, which ended up being where I made the most mistakes.
The best advice I can give is the same advice I gave for General Chemistry: repetition. Keep doing problems over and over until you become familiar with the types of word problems that appear on the exam. Pattern recognition makes a huge difference here.
At times, the QR section felt more like a grammar test than a math test because of how the questions are worded. Carefully understanding what the question is actually asking is often the hardest part, and by being able to conquer that first step, you’ll be able to handle every question thrown at you.
On my exam, the section was heavily focused on probability, statistics, and word problems. Going through the Bootcamp question sets and repeating them at least one more time helped a lot with recognizing those patterns and improving speed.
Overall
I studied for the DAT for eight months with very little background knowledge in several sections, so my biggest advice is to take your time and avoid rushing into the exam. Do not compare yourself to others who may study for only two or three months. Everyone learns at a different pace, and you should keep studying until you feel comfortable with the material.
At the same time, it is normal to feel anxious and somewhat underprepared before the exam. A little anxiety is actually helpful. For me, the moment I felt tired of studying and just wanted to get the exam over with was when I realized I was probably close to ready.
When I walked into the test, I still felt overwhelmed because I knew I had not mastered every topic. That is why I strongly emphasize using every practice question that DAT Bootcamp offers. The repetition builds confidence and pattern recognition.
During the final two to three weeks, after I had gone through the entire question bank at least once, I locked in and repeated every science question again by chapter. At the same time, I reviewed Anki decks for the chapters where I knew my weaknesses were. This final round of repetition helped solidify the material and refresh the concepts up until test day.
Note: I also created a template to track PAT scores, question bank progress, and practice test results, and I would be happy to share it as well!
To emphasize once more, DAT Bootcamp is the only method and program I used to study for the DAT, and it fully prepared me for it. Good luck studying!
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