Meet Haley Neal, a happy DAT Bootcamp customer who recently conquered the DAT. Haley first started studying for the DAT using a commercial prep course, but wasn’t satisfied with the progress she was making. Haley then found DAT Bootcamp, and is now our featured student of February! I’ve asked Haley to share her DAT experience with us.

How did you begin preparing for the DAT?

I started studying at the beginning of May, after my classes had ended. I decided to use a test prep course first, then was going to use Bootcamp as needed to tie up any loose ends. I structured my test prep course schedule so that I would finish at the beginning of July, then have about 2-3 weeks to review using the Bootcamp practice tests.

Why did you feel under-prepared after finishing the test prep course?

After finishing the prep course, although I had studied all of the material in-depth, I didn’t feel confident about applying that knowledge to the actual questions that would be presented on the test. This lack of confidence led me to change my schedule to give a few more weeks so that I could utilize the resources that Bootcamp had to offer to build my confidence.

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

I wanted to take the exam before fall classes started, so I only had about 5 weeks to use Bootcamp. Looking at how the 10-week schedule was structured, I made a rough schedule for myself. I started by completing a bunch of practice problems, doing about 50-75 problems from each section a day, about 10 a day for the math section. After finishing those, I did all 10 of the practice tests for Biology, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and QR as these were the sections that I wanted to build confidence in. Throughout this, I used the practice exams from the test prep course to gauge what areas needed more attention. I took all of the section tests a second time, taking notes on what I didn’t understand/got incorrect. From there, I was about a week from my test date, so I took a practice test each day for 3 days: one from the test prep course, the next day I did the 2007, and the next day I did the 2009. I reviewed these exams and made a list of any weak spots I still had and reviewed them. By the day before the test, I was nervous but felt prepared to tackle the exam.

If I could’ve done anything differently, I wouldn’t have spent the money on the test prep course and just used the 10-week plan. Using the test prep course was not a good use of my time or resources, because a lot of the material/questions come from the MCAT prep, whereas Bootcamp tests you only on what you need to know, and nothing you don’t.

• Biology22
• General Chemistry26
• Organic Chemistry24
• Reading Comprehension23
• Perceptual Ability21
• Quantitative Reasoning22
• Academic Average23

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