Meet Rameen Vafa, a happy DAT Bootcamp customer who recently conquered the DAT. I’ve asked Rameen to share his DAT experience with us as the featured student of June.

What is one piece of advice you would give to another student preparing to take the DAT?

When studying for the DAT it is important to stay focused. If you are studying with classes or something similar in the back of your mind, you are not devoting yourself entirely to the exam, and you are not using your time efficiently. I recommend clearing your head before you study, and if you are having trouble with this, then daily yoga, exercise, or meditation will greatly benefit you. Another key aspect is to increase your mental endurance because the DAT is a long exam. I recommend what I did myself – studying six or more hours per day, so that by the time you are in the exam room the test feels short, you perform optimally, and you remain calm.

If you are able to stay focused and increase your mental stamina while sticking to your study plan, I recommend blocking off no more than a month to study. During this month you should focus solely on the DAT. I would also recommend having one small notebook for each section of the exam and to write down all problems you were unsure of or got wrong, no exceptions. When going back and reviewing material, it is critical to heavily emphasize these topics and take detailed notes on them.

How did you use DAT Bootcamp to prepare for the DAT?

After taking the DAT, I feel taking practice exams were an essential part of my study plan. They are equally as important as studying the content itself. I spent two weeks studying general content and two weeks taking practice exams on DAT Bootcamp (while studying topics I made mistakes in) before I took the DAT. Studying topics that I constantly made mistakes in allowed me to improve significantly instead of blindly reading a textbook, and DAT Bootcamp provides very elegant and easy to understand solutions. The types of questions that DAT Bootcamp provided were spot on compared to the actual exam. In fact, I feel that the actual exam is slightly easier, which increased my confidence and testing speed on test day, both of which were critical to my performance. I set up the DAT Bootcamp practice tests just like the actual DAT. I put each practice exam in a new window and took them chronologically with a 15 minute break in the middle. I also never looked at my score from one section when I moved onto the next. Instead, I looked at all my scores at the end, which is also when I reviewed the solutions. DAT Bootcamp is the only source I used to study for Reading Comprehension, which was also my strongest section on the actual DAT.

What would you do differently to prepare for the DAT?

If I could go back and do something differently, I would study for the Quantitative Reasoning section. I got so caught up in studying for my weaknesses that I ignored my strengths (I’m an engineer). Don’t forget to cover all your bases and to study material you think you already know!

My score breakdown: 24 AA, 23 TS, 22 OC, 22 GC, 25 BIO, 23 QR, 27 RC, 21 PAT

If you have any questions or would like to know what my specific study plan was, please do not hesitate to contact me on SDN. SDN username: rvafa.

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