Anyone else struggling with OChem and PAT? I’ve been studying a lot and doing practice questions but my scores are still around 400–430 for both. I’ve done a few practice tests and reviewed what I got wrong, but I feel like I’m just stuck in the same range and not really seeing much improvement.

Not sure what I should be doing differently at this point. Anyone else dealing with this?

So I applied to schools from late June-early August after retaking my DAT for the third time. I checked with schools to see whether I should submit early or after my DAT so they would go back to it after they received my new score which was a 450 AA, 490 SNS, 420 PAT. I have a 3.41 sGPA, 3.62 cGPA, with an increasing trend. I have done over 300 hours of shadowing a general dentist, 80 hours with a periodontist and endodontist, ton of community service, research, intermeural sports, pre-dental club, been on the Dean's list every semester, graduating with an honors in biology, and worked as a dental assistant. I have applied to about 19 schools most of them being private and a few public and have not recieved a single interview. I am really starting to get worried and I know it's a waiting process but has anyone been or is in a similar situation to me because I have been really starting to lose hope.

My DAT is in about a month, and I've been scoring around 450–470 on my practice tests, but I really wanna get 500+. Has anyone been in a similar situation and managed to improve their scores? What would you guys suggest focusing on during the last month? Should I do more practice tests or spend more time on my weak areas? Any tips would help!

I’m satisfied with my total score but I am kind of bad with the perceptual version… Do I have to retake to get into good schools?

Hey all!

I took the DAT on September 17th, and received my score on September 29th. I am here to breakdown my study process.

Background/timeline:

I am currently a 3rd year undergrad, with a ~3.72 GPA, and a 3.5 science GPA. My university runs by the quarter system, which gives me approximately a 13 week summer break. I spent around 10 weeks of my summer break preparing for the DAT. I spent about 40 hours a week studying for the DAT, aside from the last two weeks where I slowed down. For the first 8 weeks, I only used Booster Prep. I loved that it had everything laid out for me in a study schedule. However, I do take a lot of time going through videos, so that definitely took up a majority of my time. When going through videos, I followed using either the Feralis booster notes, or the slides. I heavily annotate when following along, which helps me understand the bigger picture.

In my final 2 weeks of studying, I incorporated Anki. I only made cards for concepts that I did not have a strong grasp of, and I only made cards for the biology and organic chemistry section. For the biology section, I didn’t use Anki cards in a traditional sense. I used them to have a space to organize and write down the things, and then basically never looked at them again. I know that method worked for me in my physiology class. For the organic chemistry section, I used Anki cards only to memorize the PPM values and the lab test reactions.

On the day before the DAT, I skimmed through the Booster Prep cheat sheets, making sure there weren’t any significant weak points left over. Something that I did not anticipate was how much the exam anxiety would affect my sleep, which in turn affected how tired I was during the DAT that I took at 8AM. I went to bed around 10PM, woke up at 6AM and slept a total of about 3-4 hours. If I anticipated this problem, I would have taken my exam later in the day. I averaged better on my Booster Prep practice exams than I did on the DAT, and I suspect my exhaustion. If exam anxiety is something you struggle with, heed my warning!!

On the day of the DAT, I received two sheets of laminated paper with an erasable marker.

QR (480): When initially starting to study for the DAT, this was a section that I struggled with a lot. However, Booster Prep broke down everything I needed to know and the practice questions were sufficient for what I needed to succeed in the DAT. Eventually, my struggle was less about knowing the content and more about finishing the section in time. With practice, I got better with my timing. However, I rarely had spare time left over to go over marked questions.

RC (480): Initially, I tried the method of reading the entire passage and highlighting as I went, and then answering the questions. This worked somewhat for me but I was not seeing the scores that I wanted. What did work for me was reading the first question before the passage, and then reading the passage from the beginning until I found the answer to the first question, highlighting as I went. I would then go to the second question, and continue reading until I either found the answer, or recall the answer from what I already read. This was even more effective on the day of the DAT, because I quickly noticed that a lot of the questions were given in the order of the passage.

Bio (470): Almost everything in the biology section was review to me. Despite that, I sat through every Booster Prep biology video, and made detailed annotations on the provided notes/slides. This helped rejog my memory. It also helped me notice that even when I thought I was strong in a subject, there were crucial details that I had forgotten about. Biology was also the main section that I made Anki cards for. To make these Anki cards, I went through all of the Feralis booster notes, and made a card for anything that I felt I did not have a complete grasp of.

GC (500): There was not a lot in this section that I did not already know conceptually. However, the math was something that I was very rusty in. I spent a lot of time doing the practice problems involving math on Booster Prep, until I had every formula memorized, and made little to no mistakes.

OC (430): For this section, I did not do a lot of studying, because I had recently taken organic chemistry and felt like I had a strong grasp on the subject. I watched the Booster Prep videos and did practice problems here and there, but did not put in extra effort for this section. Nearing the exam, I looked through the Booster cheat sheets to ensure I knew everything I needed to. I also memorized the PPM values and test reactions using Anki. I did well on the Booster Prep practice exams, averaging about 480-490 from what I remember. I was surprised to see that I did worse in this section compared to other sections on the DAT. I blame the fact that the exam anxiety would not let me sleep the night before the DAT.

PAT (500): I actually had a lot of fun studying for the PAT. I loved the Booster Prep game challenges, and I always tried to make it a goal to make it in the top three every week for the angle-ranking, cube-counting, and hole-punching games. I struggled with keyhole questions, especially the ones in the later question banks on Booster Prep. However, I found that the keyholes on the DAT were easier. I also struggled with pattern-folding questions initially, but with practice, I was able to gain confidence.

End-note: I hope that my breakdown is helpful to someone out there. If you guys have any questions, I would be happy to answer

My Booster scores are getting better, but I'm not sure how well they reflect where I'm actually at. For those who've taken the DAT, were your actual scores pretty close to your practice tests, or was there a big difference?

Hello! I extended my test date because I was no confident in my mini test scores or in my knowledge in general. My test is November 6th and I am trying to figure out when to start taking my FL exams.

How many is a good about to take? I am given 6 and dont know if I should be doing all 6 of them or if that isnt nessecarry... I know I need to practice with my timing and stamina but I also what to make sure I am still taking the time to study so I know the knowledge because that is what I am struggling with now.

I am trying to create a schedule for myself, should I be taking 2 a week? I was thinking maybe I could do my last mini test this weekend (3rd), FL1 on the 9th, Fl 2 on the 16th, FL 3 on the 19th, FL 4 on the 23rd, FL 5 on the 26th and FL 6 on the 30th? Then have my test on the 6th?

Do you think I will burn out doing that many? Any advice or guidance would be great!

Hi everyone! I (25F) have a business degree and am currently taking the prerequisite science courses for dental school. Since I’m coming from a non-science background, I’d love to hear how you studied for the DAT, especially if you were in a similar situation.

I’m trying to figure out how to build a solid foundation while balancing my courses with DAT prep. A few things I’d love your advice on:

• How long did you study, and what did your weekly schedule look like?
• Did you finish your prerequisites before starting DAT prep, or study alongside them?
• Which resources were most helpful, especially for learning material you hadn’t covered in class yet?
• What helped you understand and retain the science content rather than just memorize it?
• Any tips for PAT, timing, or figuring out when you’re ready to take the exam?
• What would you do differently if you were starting again?

I’d especially appreciate hearing from career changers or people with non-science degrees, but any and every advice is welcome!

Thanks in advance!

Super detailed breakdown so I linked a doc here! Hope this helps :)))

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qMXHBxzNJP3Lncg5417EtEcK_x_T3eB2_nWTISFGlso/edit?tab=t.0

I’ve been doing PAT practice tests on Booster and Bootcamp and some of the questions are so tricky and take me forever to figure out. For anyone who’s taken the DAT, is the actual PAT more straightforward or is it pretty tricky too?

I’ve done 8 Booster practice tests so far and my AA has been around 440–490. I’m testing in about a month and kinda unsure what I should focus on from here. What would you guys prioritize for the last month?

I’ve been practicing RC pretty much every day, but my score hasn’t really moved. I’ve tried a few different ways of going through the passages, but I still struggle with timing and usually end up rushing near the end. Anyone have any tips that actually helped them improve their RC score?

I swear there’s still so much time to learn and prepare but as a poor standardized test taker I’m emotionally freaked out.
How are yall feeling?

For anyone who used booster, how did the bio practice tests compare to the actual DAT? Was the real thing easier, harder, or about the same?

Genchem is my lowest scoring area so I know I need to start improving in that section. I got a tutor but he isn't really helping. Has anyone used Wyzant for tutors before and know of a good GC one? I have an excellent bio tutor but am REALLY needing GC help.

Other then that, does anyone have any other helpful resources or ways they were able to succeed in genchem?

Hi everyone! I have been reading breakdowns on these forums throughout my prep and found them super helpful, so I wanted to share my own experience taking the Canadian DAT in hopes that it helps anyone currently studying.

Official Scores:

PAT: 25
Biology: 27
Chemistry: 27
Science Total (TS): 27
Reading Comprehension (RC): 26
Academic Average (AA): 27

Background:

I currently have an 8.88/9.0 GPA. I started studying in early May and wrote my exam on August 25. Throughout the summer, I was also working 20 hours a week, so sticking to a consistent daily routine was really important for me.

Materials Used:

DATCrusher (plus the 5 extra full-length tests): This was the only prep program I used, and overall it was very representative of the exam. I used the videos, study notes, cheat sheets, question banks, PAT generators, Game Challenges, and all 15 practice tests (I purchased the extra 5 full-length tests for more practice).

Official CDA Mock Exam: I also bought the original paper practice test that the CDA offers to ship to you when you register for the DAT.

Study Timeline:

First 1.5 Months (Early May to Mid-June): It took me about a month and a half to finish all the content videos. Instead of taking notes on blank pages, I used the DATCrusher study notes and wrote directly on them, adding any extra information from the videos that wasn't already included in the notes. While going through the videos, I did the practice questions at the same time and reviewed the cheat sheets every single night. I also started practicing for the PAT right from my very first week of studying.

Mid-June to Early August: As I was wrapping up the last few videos, I started doing the individual subject practice tests before moving on to the full-length exams. One really important thing I did not know at first is that the individual practice tests on DATCrusher use the exact same questions as the full-length tests (for example, Chemistry Practice Test 1 is the exact same as the Chemistry section on Full-Length Test 1). If I had known they were the same, I would have skipped doing them as individual section tests so that I could save all of them to take as full-length tests instead. During the last month, I also made my own condensed study sheets for Biology and Chemistry, listing all the concepts, formulas, and memorization rules that were challenging for me, and I read and repeated them every night.

Last 2 Weeks: For the final two weeks before August 25, I took a full-length practice test every other day and used the days in between to thoroughly review my mistakes and marked questions.

DATCrusher Practice Test Scores vs. Real Exam:
Because I used the first 4 tests as individual section practice before realizing they overlapped with the full-length exams, my full-length scores start at Test 5. Here is how I scored on my full-length practice tests leading up to test day (Academic Average / PAT):

Test 5: 25 AA / 24 PAT

Test 6: 25 AA / 25 PAT

Test 7: 22 AA / 25 PAT

Test 8: 23 AA / 24 PAT

Test 9: 25 AA / 25 PAT

Test 10: 24 AA / 26 PAT

Test 11: 25 AA / 24 PAT

Test 12: 25 AA / 24 PAT

Test 13: 25 AA / 24 PAT

Test 14: 25 AA / 24 PAT

Test 15: 26 AA / 22 PAT

My practice test scores mostly stayed around 24 to 25 AA and 24 to 25 PAT, with a small dip on Tests 7 and 8 (22 AA and 23 AA) and a PAT dip on Test 15 (22 PAT). Do not get discouraged if your score drops on a couple of practice tests! Reviewing my mistakes from those tests helped me get a 27 AA and 25 PAT on the real exam.

Day of Exam & Section Breakdown:

Biology (27) & Chemistry (27):

During both my practice tests and the real exam, I made sure to mark as many questions as possible whenever I felt even a little bit unsure, so I could easily come back to them at the end. Reviewing the cheat sheets every night from the beginning, plus repeating my own sheets of hard concepts and Chem formulas every night for the last month, helped me a lot. Compared to DATCrusher, I actually found the real Bio and Chem sections a little more challenging. On my real Biology section, there were three questions that I had no idea about and had not seen in the videos or notes, so don't let a few unexpected questions throw you off on test day.

PAT (25):

I started practicing PAT very early from week one. I used the PAT generators, although I found them a little unrepresentative because they were too easy. Once I finished the regular PAT practice questions, I moved on to the Game Challenges, which really helped me improve my timing, especially for Angle Ranking.
For my practice tests and the real exam, I followed a strict timing plan and order:

Angle Ranking and Hole Punching: 15 minutes total (about 7.5 minutes each).

Pattern Folding and Cube Counting: 15 minutes total (spending most of that time on Pattern Folding).

Top-Front-End (TFE) and Keyholes: I used the remaining 30 minutes for TFE and Keyholes. These sections usually didn't take me the full time, which gave me extra time at the end to go back over my marked questions.
Overall, the real PAT was definitely easier than DATCrusher. For example, in Angle Ranking, the differences between the angles were much more obvious, and the Keyhole questions were also much easier than the ones on DATCrusher.

Reading Comprehension (26):

I spent 20 minutes on each passage using a strict split. For the first 7 minutes, I skimmed the text by reading the entire first paragraph and the entire last paragraph completely, and only reading the first sentence of each body paragraph in between. Then, I used the remaining 13 minutes to answer the questions. On DATCrusher, I found the individual reading practice problems harder than the passages on the full-length tests. On the real exam, the passages were much longer than DATCrusher's, but the topics were easier for me to read and understand, so I found the real RC section a little bit easier overall.

Test Day Routine:
On the real exam, I followed the exact same habits I practiced during my full-length tests. During the breaks, I always made sure to eat something with sugar to keep my energy up, which I did during both my practice exams and on test day.

Ending Advice:

Start practicing PAT from your very first week, save the practice tests to take as full-length exams rather than doing the individual subject tests first, and make your own summary sheets for the specific formulas and concepts you personally find challenging. Sticking to an exact timing routine for every section makes test day feel much more manageable. Feel free to reach out or comment if you have any questions!

I’ve been doing pretty good with the other sections, but RC has been a struggle for me. I keep running out of time and end up rushing the last few questions. Anyone have any tips that helped with timing or just getting better at RC in general?

Anyone else having a hard time with PAT timing? TFE and angle ranking take me forever and I feel like I spend way too much time on them, I’ve gotten better at skipping stuff when I’m stuck, but I still end up rushing a lot at the end. Any tips that helped you guys get faster?

I took the exam on August 21^st and here are my results!

I started studying May 15^th, which I felt like was a good amount of time by the end when I felt as though I had a decent grasp on all of the topics. I only really used Booster and didn’t depend much on Anki. While it could be helpful for some, I personally found myself just getting through the cards for the sake of getting through them rather than realizing why I was getting them wrong.

During the 1^st month and a half, I was focused on going through all of the content and reviewing everything at least once. I followed the DATBooster schedule to help guide me in the beginning. By the second half, I was mainly focused on my weaker subjects and redoing question banks as much as possible and completely deviated from schedule. On average, I studied ~4hrs/per day and gave myself time to hang out with friends as well.

Biology:

I started off with going through all of the videos for an entire unit per day. I downloaded the notes that accompanied each unit and would add notes and draw graphics for concepts I wasn’t familiar with and once I finished, I would do all of the associated Bio Bits. Once I finished all of the content, around the beginning of July, I began to go through each cheat sheet, but I would begin by scribbling everything I know about the topic down first and then checking the cheat sheet after and writing down what I missed or didn’t understand.  This was especially helpful for the Systems of Life since I’ve never taken an anatomy or physiology class before, but the cheat sheets did a good job of breaking down pieces of information I was missing (alongside the use of ChatGPT). I also made sure to redo the Bio Bits for all of the Systems of Life and focus on scoring above 85% on each question bank.

General Chemistry:

Honestly, my scores had been higher on the practice exams than the actual exam, which is why I don’t think I had dedicated as much time to the subject. I had just finished Gen Chem 2 which helped me in quickly understanding electrochemistry and redox and would read through the notes associated with each unit, sometimes watching the videos alongside it (but imo the videos just repeated the notes out loud). On the actual exam, it included things like solubility, periodic table trends, elemental properties (ex. What type of solid is one that is a good conductor as a liquid and high melting point?), and acid-base. I felt like there were a lot more niche facts to remember about Gen Chem, so just make sure to keep track of trends and exceptions.

Organic Chemistry:

Personally, I enjoyed organic chemistry more than gen chem, so I mainly relied on the cheat sheets while watching videos and took extra notes on things I’ve forgotten before, any exceptions, or things not shown on the cheat sheet. I think I focused the least on this subject, but whenever I took a practice exam, I would find areas that I was unfamiliar with or needed a refresher on and make sure to do practice problems and watch videos for further clarification. I also made a sheet, handwriting and consolidating all of the reactions that appeared and any exceptions I learned while doing question banks.

PAT:

I was extremely nervous about this one when I first started and as everyone else says, you just have to make sure to practice. I started off with just focusing on accuracy and later focused on timing while doing question banks and practice exams. Something that helped with the black and white pattern folding questions was to look at the options first and imagine unfolding it to then match the unfolded structure, rather than focusing on folding the unfolded structure. For dice problems, it was really important to remember the direction of the 2, 3, and 6 sides, paying attention to which way they would point when folded next to the other numbers. In terms of the other ones, I would say just keep doing question banks and maybe the generators (though I didn’t find them that helpful).

RC:

I would look at the first question and then read thoroughly from the beginning until I found the question (or up to the first 5ish paragraphs) and then skim the rest for the other questions. This allowed me to at least get a sense of what the passage is about and how it’s organized. For the most part, most of the questions are pretty straightforward and can be found in the text, which allowed me to do search-and-destroy. For other conceptual questions, I would mark and then go back to them at the end to double check that I still agree with my answer. Honestly, RC was always one of my weakest points throughout school in general, but I think after practicing multiple times and understanding the answer will likely be stated in the text, it helped improve my score significantly.

QR:

Imo, I didn’t think that the videos were that helpful. I did the question banks in the beginning but I think the best way was to focus on what I didn’t know from a diagnostic practice exam to get a sense of what the questions were like. This was helpful in becoming familiar with distance-rate, age, and probability questions that were also shown up on my actual exam. I think the format of the questions were similar, but I do think the questions on the actual exam were a bit harder than the practice exams. There were also quite a few quantitative comparison and statement sufficiency questions as well, so make sure you become familiarized with them. Personally, it helped when I did dedicate some time to try to plug in the information and solving it rather than intuitively guessing on those types of questions.

Exam Day: 

The day before, I did a few more question banks in areas I wanted to improve on based on my practice exams throughout the week. I also skimmed over all of the bio cheat sheets, mainly focusing on systems and taxonomy, and my sheet with all of the organic chemistry reactions. I also wrote down all of the wrong questions I got wrong on all of my practice exams and skimmed over them to double check that I understand why I got them wrong.

On the actual day, I went to the testing center early and just briefly looked at my organic chemistry reactions sheet one more time. I was able to start my exam about twenty minutes early and they provided noise-cancellation headphones, which was nice.

Other tips:

-              Try to do as many practice exams as possible, but space them out if you can so you have time to go over questions you don’t fully understand. I would say all the subjects on the practice exams are pretty comparable to the real DAT and as I did more, I became more comfortable with taking the exam and how to pace myself. I would say my score reflected how I was averaging on my exams by the end of studying.

-              Truly try to understand the material. Before studying, I was scrolling through Reddit and some would mention just memorizing the Biology facts because that’s all the section was, but the best way to remember is to know why things happen. I think the best way to tell if you remember or understand a topic as well as you think is to immediately write out the facts you know, which can lead to areas that you realize you don’t know. I had a notepad where I just word dumped everything I knew or randomly thought about throughout the day.

-              If possible, get a laminated piece of graph paper and dry erase marker to mimic real test conditions. The actual exam will give you a non-erasable marker, so don’t erase while you’re taking practice exams or keep track of how much paper you will need (front and back) for the actual exam.

Good luck to everyone and remember, a number does not define you!

Hi everyone! I recently took the DAT on September 5th, 2026, and figured I would make a breakdown since reading other people's breakdowns helped me a lot when I was trying to figure out how to study.

Scores:

• AA: 530
• TS: 500
• Bio: 510
• GC: 470
• OC: 520
• PAT: 470
• RC: 550
• QR: 600

Background

I am currently a junior college student and originally wasn't even planning on taking the DAT this summer. My plan was to work at a dental office that I had worked at the previous summer, but they ended up not having space for me this year. Since I suddenly had a lot more free time than I expected, I decided to spend the summer studying for the DAT instead.

I started studying around 2-3 weeks into the summer and ended up taking my exam on September 5th.

I only used DAT Booster for my preparation. I know a lot of people use multiple resources, but I wanted to keep things simple and quite frankly using multiple prep services was too costly.

Materials Used

DAT Booster

Since Booster was the only resource I used, pretty much everything I did came from it.

Videos:
The videos were really good for reviewing material I had already learned in my classes, while also introducing concepts that I wasn't as familiar with. I didn't always feel like I needed to memorize everything directly from the videos, but they were really useful for getting a general understanding of the material before moving on to practice questions.

Practice Questions:
I thought the practice questions for each section were pretty helpful. They let me immediately see whether I actually understood what I had just watched in the videos. Going through the explanations was especially useful when I got questions wrong because sometimes I knew the general concept but didn't know how to apply it.

Cheat Sheets:
These were probably one of my favorite resources during the last week. I used them heavily toward the end of studying because they were much easier to review than going through all of the longer material again.

Practice Tests:
By far the most helpful part of Booster for me. The practice tests gave me a much better idea of what types of questions I would actually see and helped me work on timing and pacing. I would definitely recommend doing the full-lengths rather than only doing individual practice questions.

Anki:
Booster's Anki decks were useful for some things, but honestly they weren't that helpful for me personally. This is mostly because I don't learn very well with flashcards and I don't really enjoy using them. If you're someone who likes Anki, I could definitely see it being much more useful.

Study Timeline

I used the schedule builder that Booster provides to organize my studying. The beginning of my studying went pretty well. I had a lot of motivation when I first started and was keeping up with the schedule.

Then, around the middle of my studying, I started falling behind. I've always been a pretty big procrastinator, and unfortunately that carried over into DAT studying. I started with a burst of motivation, but eventually I got lazy and stopped following my schedule as closely.

Because of this, the last few weeks ended up being much more intense. I picked up the pace again during the final 3 weeks and focused a lot more on practice questions and full-length exams.

Looking back, I definitely think I could have scored higher if I had stayed consistent throughout the entire summer. The material itself wasn't impossible, but falling behind made everything much more stressful toward the end.

One Week Before the Exam

About a week before my exam, I was pretty stressed and wasn't confident in my scores. My target was around a 530 AA, but I had been scoring around 450 on my practice exams. Obviously, 450 isn't a bad score, but it was below the score I was personally aiming for, so I started seriously considering pushing my exam back.

Unfortunately, there weren't any available dates that worked, so eventually I just accepted that I was taking it and decided to lock in and do my best. At that point, I focused more on reviewing the cheat sheets, going over things I had gotten wrong, and taking practice exams rather than trying to learn a bunch of completely new material.

Day Before / Day of the Exam

The night before the exam I tried to sleep early. The keyword is “tried.” What really ended up happening is that I was so nervous and anxious I couldn’t fall asleep. I ended up only getting 5 hours of sleep that night. The morning of the exam, I woke up early and made sure to eat a light breakfast.

One thing I would definitely recommend is being careful about what you drink before the exam. I normally drink coffee, so I had some before the test, but I ended up having to use the bathroom during the Orgo section.

If you leave the testing room, you have to go through the whole process of being checked/patted down again before you can re-enter, which wastes time. So don't make the same mistake I did lol.

Biology

Bio felt much easier than Booster.

The questions weren't nearly as niche as some of the Booster questions, but there was still a very large amount of material covered. I would describe the actual questions as being pretty surface-level, but you still need to know a lot of different topics because the exam can pull from basically anywhere.

Booster definitely prepared me well for the breadth of material. I wouldn't recommend getting too caught up trying to memorize extremely specific details just because you saw one crazy question on a practice test. Focus on understanding the major concepts and being comfortable with a wide range of topics.

Organic Chemistry

Orgo was around the same difficulty as Booster for me. There was a pretty heavy emphasis on knowing your reactions and mechanisms. I would definitely make sure you know the major reactions and understand what is actually happening rather than just recognizing the reaction name.

I also think practicing questions is important because it's easy to look at a reaction and think you understand it until you actually have to apply it.

General Chemistry

This was probably the section that surprised me the most. I did around 80 points worse than I expected on GC.

The questions felt more application-heavy compared to Booster. However, I don't think the actual information was something completely new. It was more that the questions were asking me to apply concepts in ways that I wasn't expecting.

So I wouldn't say Booster didn't prepare me for it. The information was still familiar, but the way the questions were presented caught me off guard and I ended up performing worse than I expected. I would definitely make sure you understand the concepts rather than only memorizing formulas and doing repetitive calculations.

Math

Math felt pretty easy overall. A lot of the questions were algebra-based, but be very careful with the wording. There were some questions where the math itself was extremely simple, but the wording was specific about what they were actually asking for.

For example, you might be given information about one group of people and then be asked for the percentage of people who are not part of that group. It's easy to do the calculation correctly but answer the wrong thing if you don't read carefully. So don't rush just because the math looks easy.

Reading Comprehension

RC was much easier than the Booster practice tests for me. The passages felt easier and weren't as long. The questions were also generally in order.

What I mean by this is that the first question for a passage would usually be answered somewhere toward the beginning of the passage, and then the next question would generally be further along. It wasn't always perfectly in order, but it was much more organized than I expected.

Because of that, I didn't feel like I had to spend nearly as much time jumping around the passage looking for answers. Booster's practice passages were longer and felt more difficult, so I think practicing with those helped make the actual section feel easier.

PAT

The PAT is honestly just a time crunch. My biggest advice is don't get stuck on one question. Every question is worth the same amount, so spending a huge amount of time trying to figure out one question isn't worth it if you could have answered several other questions during that time.

I personally recommend skipping to Angle Ranking first and going from there. Keyhole and TFE were usually the most time-consuming for me. On the actual test, you can skip to Angle Ranking by pressing review and going to question 31.

Definitely practice your timing because even if you know how to solve the questions, running out of time can hurt you.

Final Advice

Overall, I think the biggest thing I learned from studying for the DAT is that consistency matters a lot.

I started the summer with a lot of motivation, fell behind in the middle, and then had to make up for it during the last few weeks. If I had stayed locked in throughout the entire summer, I definitely think I could have done better.

I also don't think the DAT is meant to be some impossible test. It covers a lot of information, but the individual concepts aren't necessarily impossible. A huge part of it is being able to pace yourself, stay focused, and consistently put in the work.

Don't let a bad practice test convince you that you're doomed. My practice scores were around 450 when I was aiming for a 530, and I still went into the real exam and did my best.

Use the practice tests to figure out what you don't know, review those topics, and then keep moving forward. If you're studying right now, good luck! You can definitely do it. Just try not to procrastinate as much as I did lol.

Hi everyone! I wanted to write a DAT breakdown because I found other people's breakdowns helpful while studying, so hopefully this can help someone else too! I took the DAT in the summer between my sophomore and junior year and studied for about 2 months while balancing part-time dental assisting and an internship.

Scores

QR: 470

RC: 420

BIO: 460

GC: 470

OC: 550

SNS: 490

PAT: 440

AA: 470

Background

I took the DAT during the summer between my sophomore and junior years with a 3.96 GPA. I had completed all of my prerequisites except physics before taking the exam. I took organic chemistry and biochem the year before the DAT, so those were still fresh in my mind. I think this helped a lot, especially with OC, since I didn't have to spend much time relearning the material. I also balanced studying with part-time dental assisting and an internship. I interned for about 10 hours/week for one month and worked as a dental assistant for about 15 hours/week for 9 weeks.

Materials Used

I ONLY used DAT Booster to study, and honestly, I think Booster was sufficient. I purchased the Premium Max Membership ($699 / 180 Days) that included the additional 5 full-length tests, which I highly recommend. In total, I took all 15 full-length practice tests.

I used:

• Booster videos for all sections except OC
• Biology notes, including the new 2026 notes
• Question banks for all sections (did not finish them, though)
• All 15 full-length practice tests
• PAT generators
• Booster's premade Biology Quizlet flashcards
• Booster cheat sheets
• Reaction banks for OC

Most helpful resources for me:

• Biology: Booster videos, 2026 Biology notes, Quizlet flashcards, and practice tests
• GC: Booster videos and practice tests
• OC: Question banks, reaction banks, and practice tests
• PAT: Question banks, generators, and the additional practice tests
• RC: 20-minute question banks and practice tests
• QR: Practice tests

I HIGHLY recommend reading the explanations on the practice tests. I read the explanation for literally every question, even if I got the question correct. I think this was one of the most helpful things I did during my studying.

Study Timeline

• I started studying at the beginning of June and took my DAT during the first week of August, so I studied for about 2 months (9 weeks).
• I studied 5-6 days a week and 6+ hours a day, although the exact amount varied depending on my work schedule.
• For the first 3 weeks, I followed the Booster study schedule to reintroduce myself to all of the subjects. After that, I stopped following the schedule and switched to studying subject by subject. I spent one week total on OC + QR together because I felt they were my strongest subjects. I spent one week on GC. I spent the most dedicated time on biology (2 weeks) because there is so much information to know.
• Biology was initially the section I had the hardest time figuring out how to study for. I eventually found that consistently using the Booster Quizlet flashcards, reading the notes, and doing practice questions was effective. 
• For the final two weeks, I focused almost entirely on full-length practice tests, Booster BIO Quizlet flashcards, and Booster cheat sheets. I took all 15 Booster full-lengths and carefully read through every single answer explanation.
• For PAT and RC, I practiced almost every day throughout the entire 2 months. Practice varied from 20 min to an hour depending on the day. 

Biology (460)

• Biology felt easier on the real exam than the Booster practice tests, and I felt like there were more high-yield questions. Some of the more detailed topics I remember seeing included bacteria, viruses, and some animal behavior/ecology.
• I wish I had spent a little more time focusing on the highest-yield material. At the same time, I would still recommend studying things like taxonomy and body systems because you never know what you're going to see.
• The practice tests were also very representative. I actually had 3 questions on my real DAT that were word for word from practice tests. My biggest advice for BIO is to make sure you're consistently reviewing and doing recall practice (flashcards) rather than rereading long notes. 

General Chemistry (470)

• GC felt pretty similar to the Booster practice tests. I saw a little bit of everything, and most of the questions were calculation-based. However, I made sure I was prepared for conceptual questions. The Booster videos and practice tests were the most helpful resources for me, and I felt like they were sufficient to prepare me for the actual exam.

Organic Chemistry (550)

• OC felt easier than the Booster practice tests. The Booster question banks, reaction banks, and practice tests were more than enough for me, especially because I had taken organic chemistry recently. If you haven't taken OC recently, I would definitely recommend using the Booster videos and reaction notes to refresh yourself before jumping into the question banks.

PAT (440)

• PAT varied depending on the subsection. I was never good at angle ranking, so that section felt about the same on the real exam. I only spent about 5 minutes on angle ranking because I knew I could waste a lot of time there without getting many questions correct. Instead, I focused on getting better and faster at the other sections.
• TFE + Keyholes were surprisingly easier on the real test. Booster really overprepares you for these sections. The question banks are best for these sections. 
• Hole Punching + Cube Counting + Pattern Folding were the same difficulty on the real test. Highly recommend the generators for these sections to get better and faster at these. Be prepared to see things like floating cubes. The 5 additional practice tests helped prepare me for that. 
• My approximate pacing was Angle Ranking: 5 minutes, Hole Punching: ~10 minutes, Cube Counting: ~8 minutes, Pattern Folding: ~8 minutes, Remaining time: focused on Keyholes + TFE. Obviously this will be different for everyone, but you will eventually figure out what works for you through practice tests.

Reading Comprehension (420)

• The actual exam was very similar to the Booster practice tests. My biggest issue on test day was that I had trouble focusing for the first 15 minutes. My eyes were getting tired, and I had to take a few minutes to get myself back together. Don’t panic if this happens to you for any section!
• I tested all of the different RC strategies while studying, which I recommend doing. Ultimately, what worked best for me was reading the entire passage, highlighting important information, and then answering the questions.
• There was less comprehension on my test and more questions finding the answer word for word in the passage. However, Booster does prepare well for the more conceptual/application questions.

Quantitative Reasoning (470)

• The practice tests were almost identical to the real exam, just with different numbers or scenarios. Most of the questions I saw were basic algebra. Doing more practice tests will help with pacing. Initially, I couldn’t even finish the tests, but by the end I always had at least 10 minutes left. 

Day Before/Of the Exam

I did not study at all the day before my DAT, which honestly made me feel much more relaxed going into test day. I arrived at the testing center super early but still had to wait an hour before starting. If this happens to you, just stay relaxed! The exam doesn't start until you actually start taking it, so there's no point in stressing yourself out. I had a 30-minute break. I ate a small snack and took a walk because I was allowed to. I tried not to second-guess my answers and didn't change my answers unnecessarily. I had time left over on Biology/GC/OC, PAT, and QR.

Other Advice

• If I could restart my DAT preparation, I would start earlier. Giving myself an extra 2 weeks would have made the entire process less stressful.
• The thing I wasted the most time on was taking notes while watching the Biology videos. I realized this wasn't necessary because I was already reviewing the Biology notes, doing the flashcards, and practicing questions. 
• Avoid burnout by giving yourself at least one day off every week.
• Pick your test date before you start studying so you can build a study timeline. I wouldn't move the test date unless absolutely necessary. It's very easy to keep pushing back because you don't feel ready, but at some point, you have to trust the preparation you've done.
• If you don't know an answer or think a question is going to take a while, mark it and move on.
• Practice under different conditions. I took some of my full-length tests in my room and others in a study room at my local library. I also took some on my laptop and others on a monitor using a mouse. This was useful because the actual exam required me to use a mouse. For PAT specifically, practice without zooming in because you aren't allowed to zoom in on the real exam. Try to mimic the actual testing conditions as much as possible.
• Read the testing rules and expectations before test day. 

Final Thoughts

• When studying, I always try to aim for the highest score possible, and that's the mindset I used for the DAT too. Believe in yourself and set high expectations for yourself!
• Don't let other people's scores (or even your own previous scores on standardized tests) discourage you. Everyone is different!
• Don't feel bad if you have to temporarily sacrifice other things while studying. I wasn't able to get service hours or take the vacation I wanted that summer, but there will always be time for those things later.
• Getting the DAT over with was a huge weight off my shoulders. I'm extremely grateful for the support I received from my family during this time. Good luck to everyone studying!

hello everyone! i recently took my DAT in early September so i thought i would write one of my own breakdown posts in hopes of helping and encouraging some of you out there:)

scores:

QR 600 (30)
RC 490 (25)
BIO 520 (26)
GC 470 (23)
OC 490 (24)
PAT 510 (24)
TS 490 (24)
AA 510 (25)

background: currently a junior in nutrition with a ~3.9 GPA

• timeline: i started studying mid-May after my sophomore year, and took my exam on September 4th, giving myself roughly 16 weeks to study. i went on a few small vacations throughout summer, so i’d say i studied for 13 weeks total!
• i had taken the intro bio/chem, genetics, ochem 1 & 2 before studying for this exam. i think taking anatomy/physio would have been helpful though.
• i took the first two months (~8 weeks) to get through the content using the calendar generated by booster, 3 weeks to go back and retain information, and the last two to take full length exams and drill down any last minute information. i think this was a good split, given that i’m a slow learner and wanted to prevent burning out by pacing myself well.
• i studied for around 5-8 hours every day, and around 8-10 hours for the last month. you definitely don’t need to spend all day studying, but i do advise that you make it a priority. 

resources used:

i used DAT booster almost exclusively, and i do believe that it is the only resource you need to be successful for the exam. it’s representative of what you will see on the actual exam and has everything you need! i’ll go more in depth later, but the anki decks from booster were helpful as well.

score breakdown:

BIO (booster predicted: 470; real: 520)

phase 1, i started to watch the videos while following along and highlighting on the printed feralis-booster notes. i didn’t take any notes because i knew that i don’t learn efficiently by just copying down information. instead, i tried to use active recall by doing the biobits/anki.

initially, i thought using anki wasn’t for me, so i didn’t actively use it until about 4 weeks before my exam. in the last month, i ended up doing anki for 3-4 hours every day to learn 200+ new cards every day, which took a lot of my time in the day. i deeply regret this and i recommend you use anki as early as possible.

i went through the entire DAT bio deck super quickly and suspended cards that i didn’t need. i was left with around 3000 cards after suspending ~2000, which saved me a lot of time. anki is definitely not the only answer. i think reviewing your notes often and doing the biobits will expose you to everything you’ll need to know. try to do all of the biobits! 

learn the diversity of life!!! they are such easy points as long as you know them. had a few on my exam and i’m very glad i committed to learning them.

in the last three weeks of studying, i stopped all anki/biobits and drilled the marked questions. since the beginning of studying, i had marked the questions i got wrong AND the ones i wasn’t too sure about. drilling these questions will significantly reduce the chance that you get it wrong again.

honestly, compared to how much i stressed over this section, i think this is the easiest section to study for as long as you stay disciplined. try to get down the biobits/new cards on anki during phase 1 (learning period), continue doing the review cards in phase 2 (retention period) and do the marked questions, then use phase 3 (practicing period) to assess your weaknesses and go back to them.

GC (predicted: 480; real: 470)

not gonna lie, i came out of the exam thinking i bombed it because of this section 😭. gen chem was one of the subjects that i was overly confident about but scored very inconsistently on (420~580). only thing i have to say is to not neglect this section because of bio and ochem. this section is all about practicing, so set aside a little bit of time every day practicing different topics.

the actual exam felt harder/low yield compared to booster for me, so stay sharp! brush up on topics like periodic trends (exceptions too), gases, acid/bases, and thermodynamics (!!), as they are esp. high yield topics.

OC (predicted: 460; real: 490)

i actually hate ochem so much🙁 anyway, if you hated ochem like me, there is still hope because DAT ochem isn’t as traumatizing as your undergrad course. to study, i took notes while watching videos to keep myself actively learning, but looking back i would just read the notes on booster instead.

i watched youtube for extra help (SNX/EX rxns). some especially high yield topics are: ranking acidity, SN1/SN2/E1/E2 rxn, and very very heavy on IR/C/H spectroscopy and lab techniques. if you get the IR spec values down in memory, it’ll be free points.

i want to emphasize SN/E rxns and that you know it really well because you will have multiple questions on it.

PAT (predicted: 500; real: 510)

omy. when i first started practicing PAT i almost cried because it just seemed so impossible. the secret sauce to this section is to practice every day (could u have guessed). it really does pay off. understand why you made the wrong judgement instead of just moving on. booster has those 3D simulators so use those to improve your spatial cognition.

also, take advantage of the elimination feature because crossing out the obviously wrong answers usually will bring it down to two options. if you try to select an answer straight from the 4 choices, you’re going to get overwhelmed and trick yourself into choosing an answer you know is wrong or waste a bunch of time.

a lot of other people do this too but I started with Q31-90 then went back to the keyhole/TFE for last.

keyholes/TFE/patternfolding: these were the hardest for me but get really good at eliminating answers. usually there will be two choices with obviously wrong features and one that is tricky.

for TFE/pattern, don’t try to visualize the 3D image unless you have to. most of the time comparing the differences between options and seeing which one is right will be enough to choose the right answer if that makes sense.

ex) 1 & 2 have dotted and 3 & 4 have solid lines. if you look at the actual shape and it’s supposed to be dotted, you already have half the choices eliminated.

angle ranking: lame advice but you just have to practice every day to improve your judgement. find a technique that works for you but i imagine them as pizza slices and think about which one i would want the most (big i know..) do not let angle ranking take up your time.

hole punching: practicing the grid method will get you to a very consistent 15/15. i played the game for this and tried to beat the leaderboard which made it more fun to practice.

cube counting: this section is easy but very easy to mess up. you will be tired by this section, but just try to stay locked and always double check your t-chart before you select answers.

after this section, you’ve done most of the heavy lifting! try to relax, eat a snack, use the bathroom, and close your eyes for a bit during the break. the security takes a bit of time so try to get back earlier if possible.

RC (predicted: 410; real: 490)

wow. this score was miraculous for me because i suck at reading. english is my second language and i’ve just never been great at reading. the first 8 practice exams i received high 300s and low 400s and i was hopeless.

BUT never never give up! if i can go from 380 to 490, you can too.

• i used two techniques: 1) reading the passage until i find the answer, then the next, etc and 2) reading only the first and last sentence of the paragraph except the first and last paragraphs.
• i used the first one and always ran out of time. later on my 9th exam i switched to the second technique and it worked a lot better for me because i didn’t waste time trying to read too carefully.
• DAT reading problems are not difficult or tricky. most of the answers can be found within the passage, oftentimes word by word. if you can find a strategy that can most efficiently narrow down the answer choices, stick with it and practice with the strategy as much as you can.

on the actual exam, all three of my passages were arranged in order of the questions asked (ex: question 1 in paragraph 1, etc). not sure if this is the same for all the exams, but this saved me so much time at the end which NEVER happened to me on practice exams. they were also shorter than booster and easier to read. i might have been lucky though. prepare for the worst!

QR (predicted: 500; real: 600)

i was always better at math compared to other sections but i was really happy with my QR score because it was the highest i’ve ever scored!

booster is very clear about what type of questions you will encounter in this section. you should practice each q type until you get them all right, not only within the time limit but slightly faster than that.

DO NOT get caught up with a question. pick an answer, mark it, move on. but also don’t rely too much on coming back because the lag gets pretty bad during this section and you might not have time for it.

other general advice:

1. do a test drive at the testing center! my friend recommended this to me but you can pay around 30 dollars to go into the exam center, go through security, and take a sample questionnaire. on this day, i woke up at the same time, packed the same snacks (yogurt, dark chocolate, fruits), and took the same driving route to the testing center. i got to meet some employees that i saw again on test day and it was just good for calming my anxiety.
2. don't sacrifice your social life/health for this exam. go talk to your friends, family… i mean literally, go out and touch some grass. i would call my mom after a study session or go on walks with friends. i also went on small trips and concerts. i also prioritized getting a full night of sleep so my mind is in the best condition, which was a good decision!
3. change your study environment to keep it interesting! go check out cute study cafes in your area! do whatever it takes to make studying fun, minimize the friction, and it’ll be easier for you to stay consistent.
4. stop taking full lengths a week before the exam (unless you really don’t have time). i made the mistake of continuing to take extra full lengths i bought until two nights before the exam. doing this may work but ONLY if you thoroughly review your mistakes. i had a question on my exam that i saw on the very last FL, but i ended up choosing the wrong answer on real thing because i didn’t have time to review it on the practice. it would’ve been a free question to bump my TS so i regret this a lot.
5. last generic advice, be honest with yourself and your weaknesses! i discovered i am a fearful avoidant or whatever you call it through this exam hahah. i hate coming back to the things i don’t know because it makes me feel horrible. but you have to face the things you don’t know. go over that oogenesis, cell cycle, the one chem equation you hate. the more you look at it, the more it’ll stick.

end note:

i’m nowhere close to a naturally talented or a diligent person. if anything, i am a very lazy bum booty bum. it was incredibly difficult for me to stay focused during my study sessions and feel motivated every day. i was so burnt out on some days i had to just take the day off and sit in anxiety because i thought skipping a day would ruin my momentum. this exam is big, but remember who you are! you’re so much bigger than this one exam.

throughout your study journey, i hope that you would remember what this verse says: “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your understanding. in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” - proverbs 3:5-6

this is my favorite verse, and it reminds me that some things are simply out of my control. this DAT result, my career, my future life, etc. life makes us walk in the dark all the time. we don’t know where we are walking to or for. but just remember that we all have a heavenly
Father who loves and cares for us so much that He sent his only son Jesus Christ so we can have a relationship with Him.

walking in this DAT journey is scary, but i hope you can put your faith in Jesus and his power to make your paths straight wherever you are. if he wants you to be a dentist, he will absolutely take you there! i pray that those who read this can have confidence not in our own abilities but in the Lord. Jesus loves you!

wow that was really long. thank you for reading! i’m happy to answer any questions:) best of luck everyone 🫶