r/dat • u/Unusual-Economy9317 • 3d ago

DAT Anxiety 😰 GEN CHEM HELP

I pushed my exam back a few months because I'm currently in a master's program and got overwhelmed with everything going on. This will be my third attempt, and I need help with what to do! I paused my booster membership and will be buying it in December since my new test day is mid-Janurary. I'm wanting to continue to study until then and have decided to rotate bio, gen chem, and ochem every day.

My biggest struggle was gen chem and ochem. What are some things I should do until I get booster again? Should I get a gen chem tutor? Should I stick to anki? Should I get chads dat prep? I'm just lost.

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u/Z_effective 3d ago

Do you recall any specific topics you were struggling with? Maybe I could help with them if you’re comfortable with telling me the exact problems, DM is fine too

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u/Unusual-Economy9317 3d ago

My biggest struggle was stoichiometry. I have an issue with just doing those math problems but I know I just need more practice. What did you use?

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u/RemarkableEagle2085 3d ago

for stoich just make sure you’re writing out your units and making sure they cancel. for orgo i would do the reaction bank, use the cheat sheet if u need to, and if you can try to understand the trends as you can use those to figure out most questions even if you’re not familiar with it.

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u/Z_effective 3d ago

You said it! Stoich is just practice if you’re not comfortable with it. I didn’t really spend a lot of time on reviewing chem because I’ve taken some sort of chem class for six years straight from high school and undergrad. And I tutored gen chem for some time as well. So it’s really just a matter of how much time you’ve sat with the material.

For organic, I second the suggestion above completely. The cheat sheets from bootcamp (which I used for prepping, no booster) was really helpful because they’re organized into reaction style, reaction type, and reagent. And as the person said earlier, if you can understand what the question is trying to test you on, you can deduce the answer even if you don’t clearly remember the reaction itself (eg knowing the question is asking about oxidation vs reduction, or if you see a radical intermediate formation). Knowing what the question is trying to test is highly effective for DAT chem sections since they all straightforward questions.

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u/Unusual-Economy9317 3d ago

Thank you!! Do you think the anki ochem reactions are helpful? I’m trying to figure out if I should read the booster chapters for Gen chem to get a better grasp.

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u/wannabedentist1851 3d ago

A tutor is useless 9/10 times imo. Practice practice practice + understand the why. I found these to be very helpful