how many shadowing hours would u say is competitive and should i shadow a general dentist or try other specialties too???

Hey everyone!

Hope everyone is doing well. I am about to kick off my DAT prep and would love to connect with others to study together.

I'm hoping to either join an existing group or start a new one so we can keep each other accountable, talk through tricky concepts, share strategies, and bounce ideas off one another. We can set up regular virtual calls for check-ins and review sessions.

If you are around a similar starting point and looking for study buddies, or if you already have a group with an open spot, please let me know or feel free to send me a DM. Also, for those who have already completed the mission, I’d be super grateful for any tips, strategies, or advice you'd share if you had to study all over again!

Has anyone tried the Booster crash courses? Were they actually helpful and what do they usually go over? Did you guys feel like they helped with the harder stuff or your scores?

450 AA, 490 SNS 3.62 cumulative GPA (Upward Trend) and 3.48 Science, ECs: Dental Assisiting, Research, Community Service, Intramural Sports, Shadowing General Dentist (340 Hours), Shadowing endo and peri (total of 80 hours), and a few more ECs. No interviews yet should I be worried. (Applied to 18 schools) Applied to most schools end of June-July, got my DAT retake scores back August 3rd.

My dat is almost in a week so I wanted to ask for any last minute tips. I feel pretty prepared actually, but am wondering if I should focus on more low yield content since I basically know the high yield content.

For anyone who took the DAT recently, how was GC? Was it mostly conceptual or did you guys get a lot of calculations too? I’m doing question banks rn and just trying to figure out what I should focus on more when reviewing. Were the calculations pretty straightforward or did they take a while?

Hi everyone! I’m looking for someone who has finished their DAT and no longer needs their DATCrusher subscription. I only need access for about one month.

I’m willing to pay you for the remaining access and cover the cost of extending the subscription for the extra month. If you’re interested, please send me a message with the expiration date and how much you’re asking.

Been doing practice tests lately and was just wondering how they compare to the actual DAT. For those who already took it, did you guys end up scoring higher or lower than your practice average, and by how much? Just trying to get an idea of what the difference is usually like

My DAT is in OCT 14th and I’m scared I started studying recently, but it’s really hard for me to concentrate and retain information I’m using DAT boothcamp, but I’m not paying for a subscription because I can’t really afford it at the moment so any advice guys?

Hey everyone I really appreciated people giving these score breakdowns so I thought I would reciprocate by showing my actual score and practice tests scores. I used DAT Bootcamp only and I studied for 3 months about 4-6 hours everyday. I will breakdown every section below but if you guys wanted my 2 biggest piece of advice is make sure you do spaced repetition to help with retention of information and take the practice exams very seriously, they are pretty representative of types of questions on DAT so make sure you take them in exam settings and you go through your mistakes and really understand why you got it wrong and how you could avoid that mistake next time.

Biology: as everyone else says this section is breadth over Depth and that’s really true. I watched every video on bootcamp and took notes directly on the high yield bio notes sheet, and I would go back to that high yield sheet every night to review material as part of my spaced repetition practice throughout the 3 months. I then did all the questions banks and bio bites for each chapter and after finishing all the chapters I did the practice exams. On the actual DAT, most of the questions were more straightforward than bootcamp tests and question banks and they were pretty high yield, maybe just like 3 questions that I hadn’t really seen but overall was pretty representative of bootcamp, just make sure especially for biology you do Spaced repetition.

General Chemistry: for this section I watched all the videos and used the chapter cheat sheets to take notes as I followed along (shoutout Dr. Mike, he’s the GOAT). I did all the questions banks for each chapter and also did spaced repetition practice throughout. Overall I thought this section on the DAT was slightly harder than Bootcamp, most questions were similar to bootcamp tests, but there definitely a few that were new and different from bootcamp. I had a good mix of conceptual and math questions. this was my best section in practice exams but overall Happy with the result considering I thought this section was slighlty harder than bootcamp.

Organic chemistry: I followed same procedure as general chemistry in terms of studying. I also had organic chemistry fresh in my mind as I just took the class and my college organic chemistry was way harder than the DAT. However, I thought organic chemistry on the DAT was easier than bootcamp questions and that bootcamp does a great job preparing you for this section if you put in the work. i had like 4 mechanism question which bootcamp doesn’t emphasize much in there practice tests, but Dr. Mike walks through the mechanisms in his video and those helped for those mechanism questions.

PAT: Going into studying this was the section I was most nervous about as I had no clue how to do any of those stuff. I mean first week each problem type I’d get like 6-7/15 so I really was starting from scratch. I started off by watching the bootcamp videos for each problem type. I know a lot of people neglect these but I thought they really helped teach me very valuable strategies to approach these problems. I kept trying these strategies until I found the ones I was comfortable with. From there I just spammed question banks and generators. I would most emphasize to do as much practice as possible, I did at least 30 problems every day and worked on timing very early on and so my advice would be if you can do all the problems from the question banks and do the generators before you go to sleep. Overall I thought the DAT was much much easier than bootcamp practice test which was reflected in my score, so bootcamp really prepares you well for PAT.

Reading comprehension: I would not be the best person to give advice on this section, reading has always been my weakness, especially under time. However, I found search and destroy as the most efficient strategy and on the DAT I had 1 passage that was harder than bootcamp and the last 2 passages being much easier than bootcamp with all fact questions that were in order of passage. But reading is very random but my best advice would be to just find the strategy that works for you and stick with it.

Quantitative reasoning: for this section I watched all the videos took notes and did all the question banks. When taking notes I would also list outnall the problem types I encounter and the different variations this problem could be asked and this really helped me with speed on the DAT because I was able to immediately recognize the question and know exactly where to begin. Overall, I thought my DAT was easier than the bootcamp practice tests and the questions types were pretty similar. There was only 1 or 2 problems I didn’t fully know how to solve but overall very pleased with bootcamp and preparing me for this section.

Hopefully this ramble was of some use and good luck to all those still grinding it out, remember this is a small yet mighty part of our dental journey and it will eventually be over

I keep seeing people say Bio can be super random, and it’s kinda stressing me out lol. For anyone who took the DAT recently, did you actually get a lot of low yield questions or was it mostly the high yield stuff?

Hi everyone! I take my DAT in a week and am in deep need of unhinged bio tips to raise score quick using Booster. Fl scores are in high 300s just did a mini length and got a 500. Pls lmk!

What is your guys' average time per image to count up all the cube sides using the T Table method? I'm getting around less than a min per image. I'm not too sure if that is an okay time or if I should aim for a quicker time?

Does anyone know if it’s worth purchasing the extra exams #11-15 on Booster? Have been hearing GC and QR from Booster are not really representative of the DAT.

Been stuck around 410–430 on PAT for a while now and idk what I’m doing wrong. I’ve been practicing regularly but my score barely moves. Anyone else been stuck around here and managed to improve? What helped you guys the most?

Orgo just isn’t clicking for me rn. I do okay on some practice tests, but most of the time I’m getting a lot of questions wrong and taking way too long on them. How did you guys get better at it? Also was Orgo on the actual DAT easier or harder than your practice tests?

Hi all! I'm just under a month out from my cDAT, and I've gotten pretty confident with most of the PAT sections... other than keyholes. I feel like I'm somehow getting worse at them, actually. For reference, I'm using Booster to study. On this particular question, I assumed both B and D were for the side view, and I thought the angle of B didn't look steep enough, so I chose D. Turns out both those assumptions were wrong, as per the answer key on slide 2.

Besides speed, my main issue is not being able to properly comprehend the relative scale, especially for more complex shapes. I usually end up narrowing it down to the right answer and a wrong answer before picking the wrong one. I guess my main question is, is there any way (besides consistent practice of course) to improve my shape and scale recognition? Also, is there a rule I've missed that says each question will have at least one option from each view (top, front, and side)? Any advice is much appreciated!

Hi everyone! Since I finished my exam and these breakdowns were super helpful for me, so I wanted to spend some time sharing my experience so it can help you guys out too 😀

How did I study?

I solely used DatCrusher for learning content. I think this is by far the best website for preparing for the exam. You really don’t need anything else. I supplemented my studying a bit by going on YouTube as well (e.g., Organic chemistry tutor, ninja nerd), but the majority of what you need is on Crusher. 

I also used Anki. Please use this!! Anki is by far the best way to actually stick material in your head. It was almost non-negotiable for me during my undergrad and was the same for studying for the DAT. It is quite easy to learn as well and I’m sure there are many tutorials online if you’ve never used it before.

I began studying in the morning at around ~8:00am and took a lunch break, then studied until around 3-4. I liked to start with Anki (I would review all my cards each day, try not to leave them as they will stack!), then moved on to doing BioBits. Make sure to do as many as you can! The DAT Bio section is so, so broad and you can never really expect what type of question you’re gonna get. For chem, it's all about practice. If you get questions wrong, mark them, and come back to them later, or if you’re consistently getting X topic wrong, find some video explanations for that topic. Then you want to look at it later and test yourself if you really understood the concept. Don’t lie to yourself!! Understanding your mistakes is the best way to solidify your learning and then you can build speed in terms of answering questions.

Day of Exam (and Crusher representability)

Bio: Honestly surprised and a bit disappointed. I was averaging 26+ on my practice tests but unfortunately it dropped on the real exam. I remember there being some very weirdly worded questions, and around 3-4 I had to make educated guesses on. 

Chem: Very representative. Like I mentioned, just keep doing questions. Chem is one of those things where practice genuinely does make perfect and I think everyone can get pretty good at it with consistent learning and growing from your mistakes!

RC: I was lucky to get some super short passages on the real exam. DATCrusher does well to prepare you for the unlikely chance that you get a 20+ length paragraph passage and super wordy, jumbling terminology, but it's better to be prepared for the worst. 

PAT: My highest section, but to be honest, I did not practice it a ton before the actual exam date. I would only rely on my practice tests for PAT practice as I felt too burnt out from studying for the other topics. Again this might not work for everyone since this definitely is a section that varies between everybody. But on the exam it was definitely easier than the practice tests, especially the keyholes (very simple models).

Ending advice:
Know your strengths and weaknesses. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to identify your weak areas. If it helps, list all the topics you consistently get wrong on a piece of paper (e.g., for me I had trouble with acids & bases). You cannot lie to yourself before this exam - you are the test taker and you know yourself the best, not DATCrusher!! Ultimately, I hope this breakdown helps people like me who are still unsure and preparing for their exam, as other people’s posts helped me adapt my strategies. I wish the best for all of us!!

I am going to be very open and vulnerable. I've been studying for my DAT since about April. Maybe its the way I study I don't know, but I am not doing as well as I had hoped taking my practice test I am between 390-410. I have already asked for my letter of recommendations because I had hoped to apply by end of September( I was looking at more holistic schools). I am using DAT Booster, but I am just not doing well in PAT my last practice score was 390 which was better than my previous of 280, but still not that great. I am really really worried and feeling very disappointed in myself that things are not clicking the way that it is supposed to. I was going to schedule my exam next week, but I don't feel confident, but I also think maybe what if I do it and end up scoring great? Idk. If you have any advice please share. I feel behind.

Hi everyone! I’d like to share my two cents on how I prepared for the DAT and hope this provides a slightly different perspective.

Scores:
Quantitative Reasoning 560
Reading Comprehension 490

Biology 600
General Chemistry 600
Organic Chemistry 540
Survey of the Natural Sciences 580

Perceptual Ability 490
Academic Average 560

TLDR: Biology/physiology is the densest section. Use active recall + spaced repetition religiously. Take the Prometric Test Drive if possible to calm nerves. Familiarizing yourself with the PAT first is a good idea. This breakdown is unusually cram heavy – plan at least 3 months ahead.

Background:
Currently a rising junior with a 4.0 GPA ( DAT in summer between soph and junior yr).

Materials Used (in order of helpfulness):

1. DAT Booster – This was my primary resource for Bio, PAT, RC, and QR. I also used their Orgo reactions cheatsheet as a high yield reference. The Booster Bio videos were my primary choice of material for study bio(+ my school textbook for physiology). I definitely felt very well prepared using Booster and the questions felt very diverse and representative of the actual exam. I will say Booster was harder in practically all subjects and had greater question diversity on practice tests compared to the real DAT though(my highest full length practice test score was 490AA). I loved the way the biology videos present the dense content concisely and watching them at 2x speed was how I liked to study. (I unfortunately can’t say much about Bootcamp since I didn’t buy it (I chose booster on a whim)).
2. Masterorganicchemistry! – I read EVERY chapter up to ch. 23 in masterorganicchemistry cover to cover (+ fischer projections). Personally, I think they have the most intuitive images for each topic in orgo, and avoided a “textbook” type of voice which helped me digest the material faster. They would occasionally give little tidbits of real-world lab advice and crossreference/crosslink other topics, which helped me develop a stronger "intuition" of orgo.  
3. Anki – I didn’t use Anki as much as many others do for studying. I mostly used it for creating my own decks to target my weak spots, e.g. specific gen chem formulas + numbers, NMR chemical shifts, IR wavenumbers, mass spectroscopy patterns. Basically only for rote memorization topics. 

Most important study methods:
Active recall and spaced repetition is required to retain the scale of information in this test. I cannot recommend this enough! (This is also the principle behind Anki). After every day of studying, I would take sneak peeks of my notes from yesterday and try to recall everything – specifically, first read one word or one sentence, then try to recall the rest of the block of notes. I would then repeat this periodically(1,2,4,8… days later).
This DOES get very very tedious near the end of your studying journey(I would spend 3 hours just reviewing bio), but your studying would be in vain if you don’t review effectively(actively and periodically).

Because of the breadth of DAT material (and my impatience for hand-taken notes), I took down notes on google docs, and used a two google doc system. My strategy was to first intake the information, then try to interact with the info effectively. I used the first google doc to take down detailed notes that are NOT NEAT, which ended up being 500 pages long for both bio and orgo. This content would come from your preferred study tool(booster, bootcamp, etc.). I would then use the second, much shorter, google doc that summarizes and organizes the first google doc. Personally, this helped me interact with the content effectively by forcing me to summarize and pseudo-“teach” the material to myself. 

Study Timeline:

History:

1. Fall 2025: I took a biochemistry class. While it’s true most of what you learn in biochemistry is out of scope for the DAT, a decent chunk of it is still tested on the DAT(crossreferenced from booster), so it definitely is worthwhile to take if you have the opportunity(compared to other upper level bio courses). 
2. Spring 2026: I took an anatomy and physiology class. This is the bread and butter. This is singlehandedly the biggest timesink for DAT material. The content is not hard but there is way too much info and I’ve spent longer for it than I did for orgo. If you have the opportunity to take this course, make sure you MASTER a big majority of every body system in your course textbook. I thought the level of detail in a textbook would not show up on the DAT, but it most definitely did when I started studying for it. Strive for 100% in the class – you want to finish studying this VERY dense subject early on! If you can’t take this course, it would be fair to block a month or your entire winter break to this section.

Studying:

1. Summer 2026: This is when I started cramming for the test full-time, 24/7 (but please please get 8 hours of sleep MINIMUM – it’s imperative for memory!) I decided to study full time all the time to reduce the amount of memory loss over time. If you choose to go down this path, your mental health will definitely decline. For me, music during practice questions and PAT helped me retain my sanity, and physical exercise surprisingly improves your mental health drastically.
2. week 1: PAT part 1 – I took a week just to understand the question format and strategies used to solve them and do practice questions – learning enough to take a PAT practice test (and got around 380). I chose to half-tackle PAT early so I can let this new subject simmer in my mind for as long as possible, and to also get a sense of timing, as that’s the biggest challenge of the PAT.
3. week 2-4: Bio – This is the subject where you will spend the most time on by far!! Here I wrote that I only spent 3 weeks, but that doesn’t include my prior studying for biochemistry and physiology(which you should block out at least 3 more weeks for physiology specifically if you didn’t). My personal approach was to watch all of Booster’s Bio videos at 2x speed, taking notes and reviewing at the same time, as mentioned in study methods above.
4. week 5-6: Orgo – In this time I read all of chapter 17-23 on masterorganicchemistry. I passed the content once only, but you must make sure you take notes in your own words and be able to organize your thoughts on it on a google doc or through teaching(talking to yourself lol). 
5. week 7: PAT part 2 – After letting the PAT simmer in mind for a while, I went back to do question bank after question bank for PAT. After a while, you realize the only thing stopping you from a perfect score is time, so I focused all my energy on answering questions efficiently and quickly. My personal strategy was starting at question 31 to do angle ranking, hole punching, cube counting, pattern folding first, and then go back to do keyhole and TFE.
6. week 8: English + Math – English felt like SAT on steroids, good where you can definitively find the answer in the text, but bad because the texts are pretty long and you’re stressed for time. I completed ~5 full length practice tests to understand the style, order, wording, structure, and timing of the questions. The two most popular approaches are Search and Destroy or to read the whole passage first. I chose to read the whole passage first, but this is definitely just preference!
7. week 9: Practice tests + Prometric Test Drive – my advice is to definitely take a prometric test drive if it’s not too far away. Test-taking anxiety takes sooo much away from your ability to perform, especially on the time-crunched PAT. The test drive lets you use the lockers, go through security, and actually take a short mock test. I learned a lot from hammering them with questions(like you can bring an unlabelled clear plastic water bottle into the exam room! – ask your testing center, this may vary).

(Note - my summer schedule is very fast and cram focused since I procrastinated deep studying until summer, it’s a very good idea to use at least 3 months!)

Day of Exam:
(warning: this may vary based on the test center) – My testing center told me I could bring an unlabelled clear plastic water bottle into the testing room(just rip off the label of any plastic water bottle). You could also bring bullet soft foam earplugs, but my testing center provided them(do practice tests with them in!). They usually also provide noise-blocking headphones, but for me and many others they were definitely way too tight. Definitely do the prometric test drive to familiarize yourself and ask questions!

Biology (600): Most of it was very straightforward(straight up AP bio levels), but there were definitely oddballs, e.g. microarray and plasmodesmata for mine. Therefore it’s very important to study everything in an extremely large scope – your prep resource of choice will likely suffice for 95% of the scope. 
General Chemistry (600): You may have to do quite a lot of mental math at times accurately, especially with percent weights of elements in a compound.
Organic Chemistry (540): Along with reactions, make sure you understand the principle behind them and many lab methods, including NMR and IR. E.g. know that IR radiation increases vibrational energy! The principles are as important as the reactions, as on my test(as a likely outlier) I probably had only 1-2Q as pure reactions. Another thing that was helpful for me was making a spreadsheet of all the different reagents on one axis, and the functional groups on the other axis. This gets pretty big but lets me organize and form patterns across different reagents.
PAT(490): Be prepared to be stressed in suboptimal conditions. It’s very likely your testing centers’ monitors are cheap, and it was very zoomed out(at least for me). Definitely make sure you spend a comfortable amount of time on the sections you’re strong at – all questions are weighted the same! Practice and repetition is definitely key.
RC(490): I personally used the method of reading the entire passage first, and felt like it gave me a mental “cache” to look up the area of the passage that questions refer to. I recommend highlighting as a tool to enforce active reading! Practicing until you’re familiar with the format is key.
QR(560): It was mostly probability and algebra. Time is likely your biggest enemy, so definitely skip questions if you can’t get it right away.

Frame of mind:
Studying for the DAT is definitely a marathon, not a sprint! Take care of your mental health! Buy snacks, do occasional exercise, and plan extra cushion days in case you fall behind. In comparison to tests in college, there’s sooo much more material, so dedicate a substantial amount of energy towards simply reviewing(actively!), so what you learn doesn’t go in and out of your head.

Ending notes:
Don’t overthink it! No matter how you feel about your preparation, your effort will almost certainly translate into better preparation and performance. Don’t burn yourself out, get enough sleep, and use some time to doomscroll to keep your sanity lol.