Uncertainty over resources.

My fellow peers,

I have been getting numerous massages and concerns over the best resources that students should be investing in, for the upcoming DAT. I am here to assure you this is a peer-based blog, we are students just like you. I, myself, Mahsa, attended university of Toronto, majoring in life sciences, and graduated in 2019. This is a non-profit organization directed by students just like you and your friends, so there will be no discrepancy in terms of profits for expressing our truest opinions. I will be quoting three of my fellow peers on their experience on the DAT exam, and the resources they used for optimal results.

Number 1: AA 27 main source used DAT bootcamp, DAT destroyer, and Khan Academy

Number 2: AA 25 main source used DAT bootcamp, Khan academy, Kaplan

Number 3: AA 22 Main source used DAT bootcamp, Princeton, DAT destroyer, Khan Academy, Chad's videos.

Upon doing a little digging to find out the best resources for students to be using for the best results, I asked my top three candidates with the highest academic averages that I knew of. They all told me that based on their own research and preference for doing both Canadian DAT and American DAT they decided to invest in Bootcamp. In all honesty, DAT bootcamp, is very challenging in three key aspects, Biology, Reading Comprehension, and Perceptual ability. However, if you have access to printable versions of perceptual ability tests with similar level of difficulty as DAT bootcamps, I would 100% recommend that over practicing on the computer. As you might not be familiar with actually doing the DAT exam, practicing on the computer versus doing it on paper, are whole lot different, which for me proved counter productive, and for my second time around when I did my DAT

I had prepared a booklet for myself containing PAT practice test that allowed me to improve my score from 17 to 22, in the span of a month. Next, for Reading comprehension, DAT bootcamp, is much harder and more complicated than what you will be given on the actual DAT exam, I have prepared some articles that I best thought representative of the content of CDAT on my blog, and I would recommend you taking a look at those, since the RC tests for bootcamp are much harder, and actually not useful since you will not be doing it on a computer, so preparing with that might be somewhat cumbersome and not very efficient. Next, for biology I would recommend studyingDAT bootcamp biology notes which are actually available free of charge for the public, and also further studying each chapter with KHAN academy. Khan Academy proved most useful to me, as sometimes studying DAT became so dreadful and tiring, that just sitting and watching the video helped me get more studying done. Nevertheless, the videos are incredible in terms of explaining hard concepts such as chromosome segregation and Hardy Weinberg equilibrium questions. So, if you want to study better always add a Khan academy video supplementing the biology chapters you studied. For chemistry I would recommend studying and practicing questions from DAT bootcamp, I studied all the DAT bootcamp chapters of general chemistry but for practice I mainly did DAT destroyer questions, as they were more representative of the content that I had encountered on the DAT. However, for content and learning I mostly focused on bootcamp, and Khan Academy videos for some of the more difficult concepts. In general, I would stir clear of DAT crusher, it is not at all representative of the content of the cDAT in my experience. The RC is a joke, and the PAT is disappointing.The Biology notes are worthless and same goes for chemistry. If you have the money go for bootcamp as you will get the most out of it. Crusher was a disappointment in terms of what they advertised and what they made available to us. The Top-Front-End tutorial was not even prepared when I was about to do my November DAT, and when I asked them why they don't have it, when they so claimed that we are the primary resource for scoring high on the cDAT, they told me that they had never mentioned anything about TFE being a part of the claim, which is ridiculous cause it's a part of PAT. So, in my experience I would recommend to not invest in Crusher.

All in all, I feel like the resource that you will get most out of your money's worth is Bootcamp, it is challenging, interactive, and has a complete set of notes that you can devise a schedule off. disappointingly, there is no other resource available on the market that is better for now. We have to make due with what we have for now. Next, for practice questions, best resources is DAT destroyer, Kaplan, and Princeton. I would say the RC for Kaplan, and Princeton were most similar to the CDAT in my opinion, so if you have the money do invest in one, I know they can be a bit pricy for just a book. I feel like DAT destroyer has questions that are irrelevant, but I kid you not, on my February DAT we had the most ridiculous and irrelevant questions I had ever encountered, especially for biology. Hence I feel like if you just practice with that you can brace yourself on the actual exam. Don't forget, we are human, we make mistakes, so if you do poorly once, there is always a next time. The important thing is to prepare wisely. The best thing for you to improve your score is to devise a strategy for each part of the exam, if you do that, and stick with it, you can better control your nerves, and overall do much better than most of other students who have just focused on content. This test is not mostly about knowledge, it is to test your ability to choose a correct response under a time crunch and an immense amount of pressure. So, you should have a strategy to best tackle challenging questions, and parts of the DAT. Remember, we are here to help you do better, reach out if you have questions, and if you want to know more.