Anyone who just took the Basic Sciences, what was you DAT like?

[Randy822]

I am planning on taking the DAT next summer after my soph year. I took gen chem last year and am currently taking calc 2, ochem, and gen bio.

For those who have only these classes, what was your DAT like?

[sketo43]

I took the DAT after just the basic sciences (2 semesters each of bio, chem, and ochem). The breakdown of my DAT is here:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=644493

I'm taking biochem and anatomy now, but I had not taken them when I took the DAT last summer

[Randy822]

did you feel that you had to learn a lot of concepts for the DAT since you only took gen bio?

[Flipper405]

It's been a while for me, but basically I had some major problems with the bio section because of this. I definitely wish I had taken some more upper level biology courses, but maybe it'll be different for you. The information you need to know is in the study materials like kaplan etc. - it's just a matter of having to learn it for the first time or not.

[Uwyodent]

I took the DAT after my sophomore year as well with just the basic sciences. You'll cover everything you need for both the chemistry's, I got 24 on o-chem and 21 on Gen-Chem. I felt like that a lot of the bio stuff was not covered in the General Biology courses, I only got a 16 on bio, but that might just be me.

[Flipper405]

Originally Posted by Uwyodent

I took the DAT after my sophomore year as well with just the basic sciences. You'll cover everything you need for both the chemistry's, I got 24 on o-chem and 21 on Gen-Chem. I felt like that a lot of the bio stuff was not covered in the General Biology courses, I only got a 16 on bio, but that might just be me.

Very similar results to mine... I got 23 ochem, 20 gc, and 17 bio.

I think we can conclude you need to spend more time studying bio if you have only taken the basics.

[hajibandeh]

i only took the basic sciences before my DAT as well. here's my timeline:

GChem I: Fall 03 (i'm a postbacc, this was during my undergrad)
GChem II: Spring 06
Biol I: Spring 09
Biol II: Spring 09
Ochem I: Sping 09
Ochem II: Summer 09

DAT: August 23 (1 week after Ochem II finished)

BIO: 26
GChem: 20
Ochem: 26

honestly, if you pay attention and absorb as much as you can in these classes, you'll be fine.

[sketo43]

For the most part, my bio class did a good job preparing me for the DAT. My class covered a lot of biochem, genetics, and physiology. But we only briefly covered plants, and did not cover any other species at all. So I had to try to learn about the different kingdoms, phyla, etc on my own.

[Randy822]

General Biology only covers so much, did you just pick everything up off of DAT materials (Kaplan, Destroyer, Cliffs, etc)?

Since I wont have that much biology under my belt, what materials would you recommend?

[sketo43]

Originally Posted by Randy822

General Biology only covers so much, did you just pick everything up off of DAT materials (Kaplan, Destroyer, Cliffs, etc)?

Since I wont have that much biology under my belt, what materials would you recommend?

Yeah, I just used DAT test prep materials - I didn't read more of my textbook or anything like that. For me, DAT destroyer was the single most helpful book in studying for bio. I made flashcards for everything I got wrong in DAT destroyer, and the flashcards were really helpful. The Kaplan book was also kind of useful. And doing lots of practice tests helps (topscore, kaplan, anything else you can find)