DAT prep with free practice tests

Three kinds of practice, three jobs

Know the clock for each section

Every drill should eventually run at the real pace, so learn it first. Each section has its own guide on how it is built, what it tests and how to practise it.

A week-by-week shape

This is a shape, not a prescription. Stretch it if you are working or the science courses were a while ago, compress it if not, but keep the order: diagnose, learn, drill, then full-lengths.

1. Week 1Find your starting pointFree diagnostic, then one timed section of each type. Read each section guide once.
2. Weeks 2-4Content review: Biology and General Chemistry firstUntimed drills on each topic as you finish it. Daily short PAT sessions, one subtest at a time.
3. Weeks 5-7Content review: Organic Chemistry, QR math, RC methodDrills move to the real pace. One timed RC passage set and one QR set a week.
4. Weeks 8-9Full-length phaseA full-length every week, reviewed the next day. Drills only on what the review turns up.
5. Weeks 10-11Final two weeksOne or two last full-lengths at your appointment time, then light review of your error log.

Start the PAT and Reading Comprehension early even while science review is the main job. Neither has content to learn from a book, so they only improve with time spent practising them.

How to review a full-length

Leave at least as long for the review as you spent taking the test, and do it before you take the next one.

1. 01Go through every question, including the ones you got right by guessing. A lucky right answer is a miss you have not found yet.
2. 02For each miss, read the worked explanation and the reason your choice was wrong, then sort it: did not know it, misread it, ran out of time, or changed a right answer.
3. 03Log it with the section, topic and reason. One line each is enough.
4. 04Turn the log into next week's plan. Content gaps go back to review, misreads and timing go to timed drills, and a subtest that keeps appearing gets a daily slot.
5. 05Look at the clock, not only the score. Where in each section did you fall behind, and which questions took twice the average?

Read the score as a range, and compare first attempts only. Two sittings 20 points apart may be the same performance. To see what a raw score turns into, use the DAT score calculator.

The last two weeks

• Sit your last full-length about a week before test day, at the same time of day as your appointment, with the break taken where the real test allows it.
• Save at least one unseen full-length for these two weeks. A form you have already seen gives a score you cannot trust.
• Stop adding new content in the last few days. Re-read your error log and your notes on each PAT method instead.
• Keep PAT practice short and daily right up to the end; the procedures fade faster than content does.
• Confirm the logistics: your Prometric appointment, the ID you will bring, how long it takes to get there.
• Sleep the night before. A tired brain loses more on the PAT and Reading Comprehension than any last-minute review gains.