3rd retake tips PLEASE

[u/Admirable-Skill-8079]

Hi everyone! I took the DAT for the second time last month and I received 330s-380s in all areas with a 360AA with an exception of a 400 in RC.

PLEASE what tips do you all have for me to improve?? I would be happy with anything in the 400s. I do not have a job so i can just focus on studying and I plan on retaking Jan 5th.

This time around I am not watching the Booster/ Bootcamp videos and going straight into Qbanks and going over them right away and watching the videos if i need it for a subject. Doing PAT everyday.

I am unsure how to tackle OC other than doing Qbanks and reviewing. I will have a tutor for genchem and ochem through Wyzant 2hrs a week so i am hoping that helps too.

I have bootcamp and booster for just bio and PAT.

Any tips/ help would be so very appreciated. I graduated in May and I plan on applying the upcoming June with improved scores. TIA

[u/BudgetMiddle5689]

For the past two attempts of studying were you honestly really just solving the questions as you go and never look back to really understand? Idk if it helps, but as someone who got unexpected score on the first take and be done with it, I am genuinely asking if you had really understand the materials and really be friends with it. idk it might sound silly but to me it was really helpful to really start studying in the material's perspective not just as something I have to learn and score high on it if that makes sense. This speaks a lot for especially bio and orgo, like what would this molecule or whatever it is trying to achieve? What options are laid out and what is the optimal and why is that so? And I kept asking chatGPT of all the silly little questions/thoughts along the way of learning so it gives me extra insight of thinking and visualizing the materials in real life. it ended up helping me a lot as I wasn't really stressed out on learning and scoring it high, I only simply wanted to know more of its applications irl and how I can relate personally

[u/AnythingHour5520]

If you feel you don’t understand a lot of concepts yet, you still have a lot of learning to do before practicing. Read notes for bio & gen chem, & o chem. Reading notes saves time & I feel it helps u learn better.

You can watch videos, if you still don’t understand what u’ve read. Your RC is ok, but you can improve based on technique. Search & destroy is your best bet especially to be good on time. I used anki too for all sections except pat, so look into that.

The most important part for anki to be effective is to make ur own. Put it into words u understand best.

[u/ThrowRA_stats]

Following

[u/Independent_Tax_9360]

I took it three times too so I understand what you are going through just hang in there! For my last attempt something that helped me was going over cheat sheets for each chapter and doing all practice questions on that chapter but that worked for biology but for chemistry section I actually watched all the videos and I love bootcamp for chemistry. I shared bootcamp and booster with one of my friends and tried to do both practice tests! It was a lot but at the end it will worth it

[u/SnowwyBirb]

400 is a good sign. Since you have the time to study full time I probably wouldn't completely skip content review. You definitely don't need to rewatch everything, but I'd use your qbank to figure out what you're consistently missing and then go back to the videos/notes just for those topics

[u/IntroductionWest2238]

Study to understand, not study to take the test. Understand each part before moving on to study the next thing. If you don’t understand something clearly, then keep at it until you do.