South Carolina ASDA
The DAT is one of the most important factors in your application at certain schools. The DAT’s structure is largely memory based rather than problem solving; however, some DAT sections, particularly biology, cover a broad range of topics. It has been recommended to set aside two months to study for the test.
If you struggle with memory, it may be beneficial to start studying certain sections early. The most important thing is to know how you learn. Find out how you study best and stick to that method. You have had three years under your belt to figure that out, so use that knowledge to your advantage! If you are a great memorizer, some of the resources below would definitely be overkill for you, but other students will need to plug away, put in the time, and use as many resources as they can.
Helpful Hints
First, it could be an advantage for you get an account with studentdoctornetwork (SDN). There you can view many helpful discussions that other students have made regarding the breakdown of the DAT and also resources that helped them prepare for the standardized tests (http://studentdoctor.net/). Before you begin studying for the DAT, it may be helpful for you to take a diagnostic DAT or one practice test so that you know which areas you really need to study. You can request a free practice DAT from the American Dental Association.
Below is a very helpful link giving you an exact breakdown in each of the DAT sections. It tells you exactly how many questions will be asked from specific topics in the natural science section. http://predds.net/dat-guide/
Repetition is the key to success for many students. The tricky part is not wasting time on reviewing things that you already know. You can find downloadable flashcard programs to be extremely helpful and free! One example is Anki flash cards (http://ankisrs.net/), but there are many other sites that have these programs, such as CueCard.
A resource that can help you on sections such as Quantitative Reasoning, General Chemistry, etc. is Khan Academy. This free site has instructional videos on a wide range of subjects. So, for example, if you are struggling with probability, look at some example problems that they work out for you. (http://www.khanacademy.org/).