r/Datprep

Hi everyone! My DAT is at the end of August. I just took my first full-length and scored a 350 AA. I know I still have a lot of time, but I’m wondering if I’m on track or if I should be worried. I’m trying to score high but I feel really discouraged.
My biggest issue isn’t learning new material, it’s remembering what I studied weeks ago. For example, I’ll review biology or QR that I felt confident in before, and suddenly I’ve forgotten a lot of it.
In undergrad, flashcards always worked well for me. But for the DAT, especially Bio, so many questions are conceptual or require applying information rather than just recalling definitions. Because of that, I’ve been spending more time doing Qbanks and reviewing every question thoroughly.
For those of you who have scored 500+, what helped your long-term retention the most?
Did you mainly grind Qbanks?
Did you consistently keep up with Anki/flashcards?
Or did you use a combination of both?
Also, if you started around a similar score on your first full-length, did you improve a lot by test day?
I appreciate any advice, and good luck to any other people studying!

I wrote the Canadian DAT on June 19. I studied for 2 months total. The main resources I used were booster and datrcmastery. I also had bootcamp but I just used them for practice test, not actual studying.

Bio (took me 1 month to study) - This section is all memorization and doing the booster practice tests. You can't only just watch the videos and expect to do well. How I studied was I watched the videos and on another monitor I had their detailed notes open, and I was following on the notes while watching the videos. After doing that, I would use boosters Anki to lock the material in. ANKI IS ESSENTIAL. if you dont do Anki you will not remember half the stuff. cheat sheets I didn't use once, only the notes and Anki. by the time you are done with bio, someone should be able to ask anything on those detailed notes and you should know it. Anki took me 2 hours a day maybe more some days so just lock in for those few months your studying you'll thank yourself later. On the test there were some questions I had never seen before on boosters notes at all like on specific bone names in the leg or something, a different one from the mini test one. on that note, do the mini tests too. was averaging around 25-26 on booster

chem (studied this for 10 days) - I watched boosters videos and went through their notes. after each section, id do all the question bank questions, making sure I understood every mistake. I made MY OWN Anki for this and id recommend you do the same. I knew my strengths in this section because I took gen chem in uni, and the stuff on the dat is so much more base level. go through ur mistakes for this section and understand conceptual stuff. dont memorize, understand. there were probably half half conceptual to calculation questions. was averaging around 25 on booster

note for rc and pat - I started doing questions for these sections lightly 5 months before my test, ie one passage and 30 min pat a day.

rc - A bit disappointed because I was scoring better on booster and datrcmastery; was averaging a 24 on both of those. bootcamps is way harder than the real thing. I had a hard passage on optic fibres for my first passage so maybe that brought down my score. the other 2 passages were easy. ive talked about my strategy a ton, so check my profile If you want to know more about it. biggest thing here is just practice, find your strategy and master it.

pat - as I said I started 5 months before, was probably doing about 30 min a day. my schedule was every morning do 20 angle ranking, and around 10 q's of all other sections. I used boosters generators and their qbanks. bootcamps pat qbanks are better though. The section clicked with practice, if you need tips just reply here happy to help. I was averaging like a 28 on booster and bootcamp for this section.

other stuff - lag didn't eat away from the time, the test centre was very nice at least for me. any questions let me know happy to help

Following the Booster schedule so far. Exam is 9/25. Should I change anything strategically?

Scores: 
QR - 440
RC- 420
Bio- 520
GC- 450
OC- 490
TS- 490
AA- 470

Background: 
Currently a first year Master’s student with a 4.0 GPA. My undergrad GPA was a ~3.5. 

Materials Used: 

1. DAT Booster- I would definitely recommend using this program! It was very representative of the exam and the only resource I used to study for the DAT. I ended up buying a discounted 3 month subscription from a black Friday deal and then froze my account until I needed it to start studying. The biology section was super representative with even some questions being word for word on my actual DAT. I ended up not needing to pay for the extra exams or the classes, they are not needed in my opinion. Booster offers cheat sheets for all the subjects which I thought were really helpful with focusing on what to memorize when I was reviewing my notes. 
2. ANKI- I read online that anki is what really helped them get a good score on the bio section but personally, it’s too much information. I think using it is a good resource but I ended up giving up on it two weeks in because there were so many cards to memorize. If using it is helpful for you, go for it!

 

Study Timeline:

I gave myself 3 months to study, from March 1st to June 1st. During that time, I was a full time master’s student (9 credits ) while also working ~10 hours per week at a dental office. 
 I made it harder for myself than I really needed to study but it was definitely doable! All I have to say is consistency over everything! I studied every single day for three months. Some days when I was feeling a bit burnt out I would still study for 30 mins to an hour. Generally, I followed the booster schedule and if I got behind I would spend my weekends trying to catch up.
The first month I watched all the content videos and learned the material, second month I completed all the subject specific practice problems, then the last month was reviewing and taking the full length practice exams. 

Typically on weekdays, I would get back home from work around 7 pm, make dinner, and study until 11pm or midnight. Weekends are where I did most of my studying and I treated it like a full time job, studying from 9am-5pm. 

Subject Breakdown 

1. Bio (520) - Probably the best resource you can study with is booster. I watched all the videos while reviewing the notes. I’m a bit traditional so I printed all of the cheat sheets while I was in my reviewing phase and would write down mnemonics or extra notes on the sheet so I could look them over before going to bed. During my final month everyday I would spend about 30 minutes reviewing a cheat sheet, flip it over, and then write down everything I could remember on a whiteboard. I would do this for ALL 27 or so cheat sheet topics multiple times. On the actual exam, it was super straightforward. It’s either you know it or you don't type of situation. Remember you don’t need to know every single detail about every subject. I would focus on cell/organelles, prokaryotic vs eukaryotic, Bacteria vs Archaea vs eukarya, topics related to the cell and DNA!  
2. GC (450)- I found that the cheat sheets and notes were more useful than the videos themselves. Most of my learning came from repeatedly reviewing the notes, annotating them, and revisiting any difficult concepts. On the actual exam, there were a lot of conceptual questions rather than math problems.  
3. OC (490)- the booster videos focused heavily on reaction mechanisms and reaction memorization, but I found the actual DAT to be less reaction heavy than expected. If I were to study again, I would spend more time on topics like acidity/basicity, stability trends, ranking questions, lab techniques. Make sure to understand the reasoning rather than memorizing every reaction.
4. PAT (440)- I started practicing PAT from day one! Daily repetition makes a huge difference since this subject is not something you can memorize. Every morning, I did 5 practice problems from  each section on my phone then later in the day, I spent an additional 20 mins working through the booster generators. I would say the full length practice exams were representative of the actual DAT. 
5. QR (450) - For QR, I memorized the booster formula sheet and practiced all the math problems they offered, multiple times. Similar to my bio review strat, I would study the formula sheet for a few mins, flip it over, then rewrite as many formulas as possible from memory. The key here is to practice as many math problems you can so you understand what kind of formula they’re asking from you. On the actual DAT, I found that they asked a lot of absolute value equation questions and the quantity A vs quantity B type questions. 
6. RC (420)- I mostly followed the Booster schedule. The practice passages and full length exams were very representative of the real DAT. Since I’m naturally a slower reader, my strategy was to read around half of the passage first while highlighting important dates, names, and numbers. Then I would answer the corresponding questions before returning to finish the passage.

 

Full practice exam Review : 
My practice exam scores generally predicted an AA around 440. 
Whenever I took a full length exam, I tried to replicate actual testing conditions as close as I could. I arrived at the library before my scheduled start time, took the full 5 hours and even scheduled out my break. I think the most important part of the full length practice exams is to review your mistakes! The day after each exam, I reviewed every wrong answer. I would write down on my notebook 

1. Why I got it wrong

2. The concept being tested 

3. How I could avoid making the same mistake again 
   Then I would spend time reviewing that concept in detail.

 

Final advice: The DAT is not a measure of your intelligence!!!! It’s honestly just a measure of your preparation, consistency, and commitment. Please don’t compare your scores, timeline, or journey to anyone else’s. And remember studying for the DAT is a marathon, not a sprint! I am not someone who considers myself naturally smart at standardized tests. So to achieve my score I had to fully commit to studying for three months. That meant making sacrifices like skipping family vacations, turning down graduation events, and missing out on social outings. Although that might not work for everyone, it helped me to stay on track with my schedule.  Keep showing up for yourself every day and trust the process, just remember that scores are not a measure of your worth, it’s just one portion of your application!

For those who already took the DAT, how similar were the Mini Length Tests to the real exam?

Scores:

QR: 390

RC: 450

BIO: 470

GC: 600

OC: 490

TS: 520

AA: 480

Background: Graduated 1 month ago with a GPA of 3.85 and science GPA of roughly 3.75. This was a retake. On my first attempt, which I took during the Spring of my junior year, I got a 20AA, 20TS, 20PAT.

Materials Used: DATBooster ONLY

Study Timeline:

For reference, I had applied and received 3 interviews with my first DAT score. I did not get in anywhere and never got off the waitlists. I was holding on to hope during March/April, but knew that I would need to start studying for a retake soon if I wanted to apply on time for the next cycle. I wanted to take the DAT around mid-May so I could apply on time. Holding on to hope, I started doing some Anki flashcards in late February. No study sessions or formal studying, just simply biology Anki flashcards and some occasional PAT practice during class breaks. I did this until late April. I could not bring myself to start formally studying because of that hope I would get off a waitlist. Starting late April, I started having actual study sessions around 2-3 hours a day, excluding weekends. During this time, I did simple things such as more bio flashcards, bio bits, ochem reaction question banks, etc. The simpler stuff. Come mid may (delayed DAT to early June), I finally realized I needed to lock in. I started having longer study sessions, usually from around 11am-5pm. I added weekends as well. I started focusing on practices tests mainly. No videos, nothing else. Just practice tests for 6 hours. For my 6 hour study sessions, I would only take one 30-minute break. Two-weeks away from my exam (June 11), I extended my study sessions from 11am-7pm, continuing to focus on practice tests, while adding some question banks. I only took 3 full length exams, all within 2 weeks of the exam.

Exam Day and Comments on DATBooster

BIO (470): Biology felt really easy. Booster was extremely representative of the actual exam. I had several questions that were identical to the practice tests on booster. For this section of the DAT, I used booster's cheat sheets and made an Anki deck with everything on the cheat sheets. As I would go through the practice tests, I would find topics I struggled on and add cards based on those questions to my deck. I would pull questions from Booster's Anki deck (which is way too long) and transfer them to my own deck on those harder topics. It ended up being around 1300 cards total. I occasionally did Bio Bits, but it was just when I was bored of studying the actual tests. My main advice for this section is to redo each exam several times, memorize the answers, and then understand why it's the answer. The reason I got a higher score on this section compared to my first DAT (410 bio) was because i took the time to read the explanation below each answer thoroughly. I did not watch any videos, they are a waste of time imo. Also ChatGPT is a great resource to ask questions to better understand topics. Also, on a side note, I was full on expecting a 500+ on this section after the exam. I felt confident on all of my answers pretty much.

GC (600): Um what? 600? How? I got a B+ and B- in gen chem.... For this section, I used Booster's practice tests and THAT'S IT. Absolutely NOTHING else. The dude in the practice test video explanations is amazing. Dumbs down all the topics so you can actually understand them. Also keep in mind I never scored above 420 on the practice tests.... This has always been my toughest section so the fact I got a 600 is a miracle. I will say, the questions on the actual DAT are much simpler than Boosters. There was only one funky calculation that I had trouble with, which I had to make an educated guess on. It was something like 0.05/200, something like that. Seems easy to others maybe, but take a look at my QR score and go figure. One lewis structure question, which is most polar question too.

OC (490): Not gonna lie ochem was always much easier to understand for me. If there's no numbers involved, I can do it great. I focused on Booster's practice tests as usual, and the video explanations are great here too. I also did all the Booster question banks just to hammer down all the reactions. The question banks are great for repetition. The exam was a bit funky, however. It threw me off, but I'm not sure how to explain it. It was topics that you should know, but framed in a way where you had to dig out the information from your brain. It was a bit different from the Booster tests, but I would still study the same way if I could go back. Only 1 NMR question, a simple IR question (OH peak), one acidity question, one which is a valid resonance structure question. Idk this section was weird. Hard, yet easy at the same time.

PAT (420): Same exact score as my first DAT. I gotta say, Booster did great on pretty much everything, but I do not see the hype about their PAT section. I personally think their PAT is way too easy, especially the question banks. The best PAT practice they have is their practice tests, but even then those feel easy compared to the actual test. The questions banks are actually way too easy though. I would recommend using them for warm ups only not actual practice. The actual exam PAT was RIDICULOUS. Shapes you didn't even know were possible, angles extremely close together, even HOLE PUNCHING was really difficult and I was always getting 15/15 on booster's hole punching. I walked out of the exam thinking I would be lucky if I even got a 380 on this section. Grateful for a 420 because of how hard it was.

Reading (450): I mean, how much can we really practice this. In my opinion, this is a section where u gotta get lucky by being a quicker reader. I only practice this when I did the Booster full lengths and an occasional question bank. I've always been a fast reader so this section didn't worry me as much. I will say, the actual exam reading was pathetic. It was ridiculously easy. All questions were in order of the paragraphs, so they were easy to find. I usually use search and destroy, but because this section was so easy, I did not have to do any searching or destroying. I already knew where the next answer was gonna be before I even read the question. The fact I didn't get a 600 here is kinda surprising tbh. I thought I killed it. An occasional tricky question. Booster was good for this though from what I did use.

QR (390): Alright, come on. I'm bad at math but seriously? I dropped from 410 on my first exam to 390? Really? I was scoring 480 on Booster's practice tests.... like every single one of them.... I am actually really disappointed in Booster's QR. The LOWEST i scored on the tests was 450... I think the issue here is that Booster's tests are too short. What I mean by this is that booster will throw in questions that you can answer in 10 seconds. The actual DAT didn't have that. I think Booster needs to work on the timing. As for the actual problem solving, only tests 1-5 were good. 6-10 were eh. Focus on tests 1-5 for the types of questions you will actually see.

Closing Comments:

I am really happy with DATBooster. I used them for my first DAT as well. I was only disappointed with their PAT and QR sections. Everything else was great, I would still recommend it. And it's cheap too, so.

For my actual studying, I honestly just focused more on what i felt like doing. No set schedule, nothing. "hmm i feel like i should focus on gen chem more" so I would do that. Feel free to message me with any questions, I am always happy to help.