I procrastinated studying for the DAT, because I was so overwhelmed and didn’t know where to begin. I didn’t follow any of the study plans I found on the online forums because they all required certain study materials that I didn’t have and didn’t want to buy. As a result, I ended up creating my own study schedule to prepare for the DAT which I think you’ll find very useful.

After going through the rigors of dental school and passing the NBDE Part 1 & Part 2 Boards, I have gained a much better idea of how to study effectively. My goal is to provide you with a general study schedule and some valuable tips that will help you study more efficiently and score well on the Dental Admission Test.

I don’t think it is beneficial to lay out a detailed plan with specific materials in preparing for the DAT because everyone is different in how they prefer to learn and what they already know. Some of you are chemistry nerds, while others like me, are not. Everyone is coming from a different background and is at a different place in their studies. So I would rather put together a general study schedule that anyone can take and modify according to their needs.

I have chosen an 8-week study schedule because I think this is enough time for the average pre-dental student to properly study and score competitively on the DAT. If you have a strong science background or a weak one then I would recommend either decreasing or increasing the length of your schedule, but I would keep it to less than 12 weeks max and at a minimum of 4 weeks

I would have considered myself as an average pre-dental student as I spent 10 weeks preparing for the DAT.  However, If I would have known the information that I’m about to explain, I would have only spent 8 weeks or less in preparing for the DAT.

I received my Bachelor’s of Science in Biology degree, which seems to be one of the more common pre-dental majors for undergrad. I felt more comfortable with Biology, but I always struggled more with General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry. Therefore, I spent more time on those subjects and less time on Biology. You should adapt your studies according to your strengths and weaknesses like I did.

I’m going to outline some key points to consider when setting up your study schedule so that you can create your own personal schedule that meet your needs.

I recommend putting in around 40 hours of studying per week, but if you can’t do that much then do what you can. You might have days where you feel like you need more time so you spend 8+ hours per day and there might be days that you spend less than 8 hours. However, don’t take a multi-day break during the middle of your studies. You’ll digress more than you think and it will be hard to get back in the study groove again. I had a family emergency during my third week of studying and had to take a week off. Once I returned to studying I felt like I was starting all over again.

Adjust your studying and the length of your studying based off of these. Skim the material that you know well and study the material you don’t know. If you have a very weak science background then lengthen your schedule to 8+ weeks and spend more time learning the sciences. If you are weak in Biology then spend more time on Biology and less time on areas that you’re strong in.

I’ve seen many pre-dental students, as well as dental students, try to prepare for the DAT or board exams with every possible prep material on the market. You will stretch yourself thin by doing this and not perform as well as you could. Keep it simple and try to stick with three or less study resources that fit your needs.

Learn about each resource on the market and pick those that will meet your needs and learning style. Click here to read my reviews of the various DAT review courses.

I found myself wanting to just focus on one subject and then move on to another one after I finished. When I took practice tests on subjects I was no longer studying, my scores dropped big time. You need to keep things fresh and study a variety of topics each day.

This is vital in order to succeed and score well. You should be doing practice questions every single day. You will learn the most in your studies by doing practice questions! Your practice test scores are not the most important thing. It’s all about what you learn from the questions you got wrong on the practice tests. Your scores are only important once you actually take the DAT. Every question you get wrong you should figure out why you got it wrong and learn from it. After you take a test, take note of the areas that you struggled in and study them more. Look up the information, take notes, and make that weak area one of your strengths.

Stay active, exercise, be social, eat healthy, and get enough sleep. You don’t have to sacrifice your life or put it on hold. Your brain needs to rest as well as your body so use your evenings and weekends to relax and rest physically. You will score much higher on the DAT if you are physically healthy.

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Now, to outline a general study schedule that you can modify according to your personal needs. The purpose of this is to provide you with a template that you can take and make your own.

I listed subjects to study according to the amount and difficulty of the material on each subject. For each subject I have listed on the schedule, you should start with one section under that subject and work on each one until you complete it (i.e., General Chemistry – Acids and Bases). Once you complete a subject, go through it again and focus on the sections that you are weak in.

I would make sure that you have done a complete overview of all the material on the DAT by the end of week six. I would spend the last two weeks focused on taking practice tests and doing practice questions and reviewing material that you are still deficient in. I would take at least three full-length practice tests before taking the DAT; the more the better! I made this schedule to accommodate six full-length practice tests. Kaplan and The Gold Standard have the most practice tests with 5, so this schedule allows enough time for all of those plus any others you may find helpful.

You should be doing practice questions and quizzes throughout your studies though. At the end of each two-hour block you should conclude that block by doing practice questions about the material that you studied during the block. During your last two weeks of studying, you can spend the entire block doing practice questions for each subject, or review sections that you are deficient in. Learn from those practice questions, make sure you can answer them and if you can’t then go back and figure it out before you move on.

The Perceptual Ability Test, Reading Comprehension Test, and Quantitative Reasoning (QR) Test are not as dense as the sciences and therefore don’t need as much preparation. Although these tests don’t require as much studying as the sciences it is necessary to have experience with these types of questions. It is also important to learn the tips and tricks for performing well on these tests which I discuss in other posts.

The Perceptual Ability Test requires a lot of practice and experience doing these types of problems. Spend time doing practice problems and you will get the hang of it. The Reading Comprehension Test also requires practicing in order to get your time management down and become effective at pulling out the necessary information to answer the questions. An effective strategy for this part will greatly help you achieve a higher score. The Quantitative Reasoning Test will require some studying and lots of practice problems also in order to help you get the score that you are aiming for on this test.

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
8-10 AM	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology
Break
10-12 PM	Gen Chem	Biology	Gen Chem	Biology	Gen Chem	Gen Chem
Lunch
1-3 PM	O Chem	Gen Chem	O Chem	Gen Chem	O Chem
Break
3-5 PM	PAT	O Chem	PAT	O Chem	PAT

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
8-10 AM	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology
Break
10-12 PM	Gen Chem	Biology	Gen Chem	Biology	Gen Chem	Gen Chem
Lunch
1-3 PM	O Chem	Gen Chem	O Chem	Gen Chem	O Chem
Break
3-5 PM	QR	O Chem	QR	O Chem	QR

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
8-10 AM	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology	Practice Test
Break
10-12 PM	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Practice Test
Lunch
1-3 PM	O Chem	Gen Chem	O Chem	Gen Chem	O Chem
Break
3-5 PM	PAT	O Chem	PAT	O Chem	PAT

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
8-10 AM	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology
Break
10-12 PM	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem
Lunch
1-3 PM	O Chem	Gen Chem	O Chem	Gen Chem	O Chem
Break
3-5 PM	QR	O Chem	QR	O Chem	QR

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
8-10 AM	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology
Break
10-12 PM	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem
Lunch
1-3 PM	O Chem	O Chem	O Chem	O Chem	O Chem
Break
3-5 PM	PAT	O Chem	PAT	O Chem	PAT

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
8-10 AM	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology	Biology	Practice Test
Break
10-12 PM	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Gen Chem	Practice Test
Lunch
1-3 PM	O Chem	O Chem	O Chem	O Chem	O Chem
Break
3-5 PM	QR	O Chem	QR	O Chem	QR

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
8-10 AM	Biology	Practice Test	Biology	Practice Test	Biology	Biology
Break
10-12 PM	Gen Chem	Practice Test	Gen Chem	Practice Test	Gen Chem	Gen Chem
Lunch
1-3 PM	O Chem	Review	O Chem	Review	O Chem
Break
3-5 PM	PAT	Review	QR	Review	PAT

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
8-10 AM	Biology	Practice Test	Biology	Practice Test	Light Review	DAT
Break
10-12 PM	Gen Chem	Practice Test	Gen Chem	Practice Test	Light Review	DAT
Lunch
1-3 PM	O Chem	Review	O Chem	Review	Relax	Celebrate!
Break
3-5 PM	QR	Review	PAT	Review	Relax	Celebrate!

 

Following this basic study schedule, here is a breakdown of how many hours you will spend on each subject:

Subject	Time (Hours)
Biology	88
General Chemistry	88
Organic Chemistry	78
Perceptual Ability Test	24
Reading Comprehension Test	0
Quantitative Reasoning Test	22
Full-Length Practice Tests (6)	24

That’s my basic study schedule for the DAT. You should personalize it and use it as a template to help you successfully prepare for your exam.

I would recommend taking Sundays off every week, but still try to get a few hours of studying in on Saturdays if possible. If you don’t want to study on Saturdays then don’t do it. However, I would plan on spending around 8 hours of studying per day from Monday through Friday. I would take an hour lunch break and short 5-10 minute breaks after each two-hour block of studying.  Again, adjust your time spent studying according to your needs and your strengths.

As with everything though, what you put into it is what you get out of it. Hopefully, this will be beneficial to you as you prepare to take the DAT! If you have any specific questions I’d love to help, please leave them in the comments section below. Also, feel free to add your own advice or thoughts about studying for the DAT that you think might be beneficial to others!

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