What's the best way to study for the DAT?

[Anita1010]

Hello,

I'm going to be writing the Canadian DAT this year and I'm a bit confused on how to study. The study guide that the Canadian Dental Association sent wasn't that useful. So, the way I've been studying so far is just going through the first year chem and bio textbooks and reading everything and doing all the questions. Is this the way you guys studied? Is getting a DAT prep book a better use of my time? I know my question is a bit subjective so I apologize for that. Any advice would help. Thank you!

[arkragon]

All I did was read the Kaplan DAT book, but I also did the MCAT so I studied from those books too.

[themuffinman11]

search these forums and check studentdoctornetwork too

[Ravenjats]

I personally used DAT Bootcamp and their recommendations. It was somewhere in the range of $250, but I figured it was worth it compared to most other options. Biology was covered using AP Cliff's Biology 3rd edition (Free PDF) and Feralis' notes (Free). Chemistry, RC, and PAT were all covered by DAT Bootcamp fairly well. 

Overall, I had a great experience using their service. They had a 10-week schedule you could use that specified exactly what you needed to cover. Whenever you got a question wrong, they would have a detailed explanation available to explain why their answer is correct, and in most cases, will also explain why the others were wrong. This was especially helpful for PAT. 

I also used DAT Destroyer since my friend let me borrow their copy of it. 

[MolarPower]

Personally I only used the Kaplan book the first time around and only scored a 20AA and then I used DAT Bootcamp as well as DAT Destroyer and it helped raised my scores. As the other poster said I believe DAT Bootcamp was worth the money for me and had wished I had used it the first time around. 

[Starburst]

On 9/23/2018 at 10:50 PM, Ravenjats said:

I personally used DAT Bootcamp and their recommendations. It was somewhere in the range of $250, but I figured it was worth it compared to most other options. Biology was covered using AP Cliff's Biology 3rd edition (Free PDF) and Feralis' notes (Free). Chemistry, RC, and PAT were all covered by DAT Bootcamp fairly well. 

Overall, I had a great experience using their service. They had a 10-week schedule you could use that specified exactly what you needed to cover. Whenever you got a question wrong, they would have a detailed explanation available to explain why their answer is correct, and in most cases, will also explain why the others were wrong. This was especially helpful for PAT. 

I also used DAT Destroyer since my friend let me borrow their copy of it. 

 

 

I would say the content on DATCrusher is much better than bootcamp, especially because crusher is meant for the Canadian DAT and has printable PAT generators which are significantly better than bootcamp’s generators. lol In fact I had 7-8 biol and chem questions on the real DAT that were from Crusher. Besides Crusher, there's also DATDestroyer which is an amazing learning tool that truly helped me master the chemistry section..

@Anita1010 Most of the resources out there are meant for the American DAT so I would be careful with what you choose since there are differences between the American and Canadian DAT. And I would recommend gooing on CDA's website and checking out the list of topics that will show up on the Canadian DAT and then do content review on those topics regardless of the resource that you use. Once you've done your main content review, I would recommend doing practice tests every 1-2 weeks leading up to the Canadia  DAT. Best of luck!