Since we have some members who are using DAT Bootcamp to prepare for the Canadian DAT, I thought it would be great to feature a student who used Bootcamp to ace the CDAT. Meet Solomon Chan, a happy DAT Bootcamp customer who recently conquered the Canadian DAT. I’ve asked Solomon to share his DAT experience with us as the featured student of February.
What is one piece of advice you would give to another student preparing to take the DAT?
Preparing for the DAT is not an easy journey, especially when it comes to time and material management. I would strongly suggest studying for the PAT as early as possible. For soap carving, you’ll want to order around 24 soaps; I found myself running out of soaps to practice with frequently and having to wait for them to arrive in the mail. I also ended up with very little time to study for the academic portions of the exam because I was so focused on soap carving and PAT section. DAT Bootcamp provides an excellent amount practice for the CDAT and even has a PAT practice generator which I did not find on other sites. I would use the generators whenever I had some idle time because they were a great way to get in some quick PAT practice without having to take a whole practice test.
It’s important to have a disciplined schedule for studying so you’re not burning yourself out before the exam by cramming. Remember to take breaks and spend time with family and friends. The psychological benefits of relaxation and social interaction infinitely outweigh the benefits you get from encumbering your brain with knowledge.
How did you use DAT Bootcamp to prepare for the DAT?
DAT Bootcamp was my go to place for quick reading comprehension practice or PAT practice. When I found a tedious portion of knowledge difficult to memorize, Ari would usually have memory aids posted in the strategy section. The difficulty of the academic practice tests and the reading comprehension on DAT Bootcamp was surprisingly accurate to the CDAT, if not a little more difficult. I felt that I was very well prepared for the exam after writing it. Ari is also very active on the site and answers any questions he can help with within a day or two.
What would you do differently to prepare for the DAT?
Even though I am quite satisfied with my results for writing the CDAT for the first time, there is still room for improvement. I would have started a few weeks earlier in my studies and done research in advance to find out what materials I needed to get. It is quintessential that you practice under time constraints because one of the greatest challenges of the DAT is to complete everything in time. I began carving my soap without a time limit which is fine, but I only started timing myself in the last two weeks and realized I would take 45 – 50 minutes to complete a carving which has a time limit of 30 minutes. So what I had to do was to streamline my procedure in soap carving and practice over and over again until it was muscle memory. In hindsight it would have been beneficial to time myself at the beginning and practice under pressure.
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