United States · Admission testPut in your DAT date and the planner spreads all 33 lessons across the days you have, from cell respiration and Hardy-Weinberg to SN2 reactions, reading for inference and absolute value inequalities. Two days before the test it sets our 20-question practice set and a redo of what you missed. It has no Perceptual Ability lessons, so add ADA’s free PAT instructions and a few timed PAT sets yourself.
Pick the date of your test and how long you can study each day. You’ll get a plan that takes you right up to the test.
How should you prepare for the DAT?
ADA doesn’t publish a study plan, but its DAT pages and Candidate Guide give these steps, in this order:
- Finish the courses first. ADA says to take the DAT after the coursework it covers, especially organic chemistry.
- Read the Candidate Guide’s content lists, so you know every topic that can come up in each section.
- Read ADA’s Perceptual Ability instructions. The Candidate Guide strongly encourages it, because the six question types have their own rules.
- Use the reference texts ADA’s question writers rely on to fill gaps, such as Campbell and Reece for biology.
- Try practice questions to learn the question styles. ADA says its practice questions don’t predict your score, and warns against studying only from practice questions.
How long should you study for the DAT?
ADA doesn’t give a number of weeks or hours. What it does give is timing for the test itself: take it in the spring of your junior year or the summer after, and once ADA processes your application, you have six months to sit it.
Work backward from that date. Scores take three to four weeks to reach schools, and a retake means waiting at least 60 days, so leave room for both.
What should your DAT study schedule add?
Our lessons don’t cover Perceptual Ability, and it’s 90 of the 280 questions. Put a short PAT session into most study days once you’ve read ADA’s instructions. In the last few weeks, take at least one timed run through all four sections, since the real appointment is over five hours with one 30-minute break.