Best DAT Prep Courses for 2023 Reviewed

Studying for the DAT can be a nerve-wracking period for any student, and choosing the best DAT course shouldn’t add to that pressure.

But with so many options in the market, how do you decide which course is the right one for you?

Don’t worry, though.

We went and analyzed all the popular DAT courses so that you don’t have to.

Which DAT Test Prep Program Is Right For You?

Best DAT Study Materials: Comparison

Best DAT Prep Courses In 2023

1. DAT Bootcamp Review

The best thing about DAT Bootcamp is its comprehensive DAT study materials. This course provides students with a mountain of resources, walking them through common topics, questions, and themes that appear on the Dental Admission Test.

The prep materials include over 8,800 practice questions, 3,500 video lessons, 60 practice tests, and 10 full-length tests. Suitably named, the material in this program is guaranteed to help you ace the DAT.

Besides the premium content, DAT Bootcamp offers some free prep material, including that you can access every first test in all subjects for free before you have to pay to access the rest. At the same time, this course is famed for having an excellent user interface that makes it easy for the student to go through the program.

One particular aspect students love about DAT Bootcamp is Dr. Mike’s general and organic Chemistry video lessons. These are presented in a clear, concise way so that students can quickly grasp the main concepts.

Besides the video lessons, this course is particularly excellent for Organic Chemistry. The OChem practice questions are very representative, and you will find that they have a similar level of difficulty to what you will encounter on the actual DAT.

Bootcamp DAT additionally has an excellent Reading Comprehension section, which many students find helped them work on their timing for this section.

DAT Bootcamp offers two options as far as subscription goes: Bootcamp Pro and Bootcamp Plus. The key difference between either option is the amount of time students have access to the course’s study materials. Bootcamp Pro goes for $497 and gives you 90 days of access, whereas Bootcamp Plus costs $1,197 and gives you 180 days of access to the prep materials. (see latest DAT Bootcamp coupon codes here)

And in case you need it, DAT Bootcamp also offer support for the admissions process to the dental school as well as DAT private tutors in case you are struggling with something during your DAT preparation.

1. Princeton Review

The Princeton Review DAT prep program is available in three options: Fundamentals, DAT 20+, and Private Tutoring, whereby DAT 20+ is by far the most popular choice amongst pre-dental students.

This is because the DAT 20+ program guarantees learners a score higher than 20 on the actual DAT as long as you use their prep course. Should you fail to attain this score, the Princeton Review team guarantees to refund your tuition fee.

Princeton Review DAT can be pretty expensive compared to other DAT prep courses. Their Fundamentals program goes for $1,199, the DAT 20+ goes for $1,999, and the Private Tutoring will cost you $167 per hour.

Yes, it’s expensive, but this is where the DAT 20+ guarantee comes in handy because you are assured of passing the DAT exam exceedingly well, earning yourself a spot in a top-tier dental school.

The DAT 20+ is a live online course offering 55 hours of live online instruction. The program has over 4,600 practice questions, 4 full length practice exams, and supplemental chemistry video lessons to give you some extra content.

You additionally get a comprehensive 880-page textbook, a 180-page in-class compendium, and a 3D practice kit for the PAT section.

3. Kaplan DAT Review

The best part about the Kaplan DAT prep course is that it gives students the flexibility to choose their desired learning style.

On the one hand, you have the self-paced course that lets you prep on your own but with teacher support, should you need it. This option will cost you $899 for 4 months of online access.

On the other hand, you have the live online classes with a whole team of teachers at your disposal. This option will cost you $1,199 for 36 hours of live online instruction.

Both the self-paced course and the live online classes provide you with the option of upgrading to PLUS, which simply includes one-on-one tutoring and a math problems foundation section.

Either course option comes with 7 full-length DAT practice tests, over 1500 practice questions, 40 interactive workshops, 120 hours of online lessons and practice, and a DAT lesson book.

Like Princeton Review, Kaplan DAT prep course also offers a high score guarantee whereby you get your money back if you don’t reach your desired score on the actual DAT.

This program covers the DAT curriculum in-depth, supplementing the video lessons with robust coursework and top-notch study materials.

At the same time, their high-quality video lessons are pretty engaging and have been designed effectively to teach you all you need to know in 36 intense hours. Of course, however, the study schedule is designed to help you go through this material slowly, taking in the content bit by bit so you can firmly grasp the core idea.

4. DAT Booster Review

DAT Booster is perhaps the cheapest complete DAT prep course in the market, but it is an impressive self-paced program.

To begin with, this course will cost you $299 (unless you use our coupon code “testpreppal” for 15% off) for 90-day access to all the study material. This is simply a price you cannot beat.

The study material includes over 60 full length practice exams, 6,200 practice questions, 1,000 video lessons, and 20 chapter notes. One-on-one online tutoring is included in this cost, whereby you may have specific questions answered directly by a knowledgeable tutor.

The other impressive bit is that DAT Booster fully integrates PAT Booster, which has come to be accepted as an invaluable resource when studying for the PAT section. The advanced PAT generators will provide you with unlimited PAT questions to master visualizing 3D objects in a 2D space.

The practice tests and questions within DAT Booster are much more challenging than the actual DAT. As such, you are guaranteed to get rigorous practice to sufficiently boost your confidence come test day.

This course boasts of having updated content. You will find that the Biology section, in particular, is very representative of the actual DAT in terms of how the questions are written.

Just as well, DAT Booster uses advanced software analytics to track your performance over time. Using these analytics, you can see how others scored in different sections compared to you, better helping you analyze your performance and identify your weak areas. You can read my full review about the DAT Booster here. 

5. iPrepDental Review

For $1,700, iPrepDental offers 3-month access to their study material. This is actually plenty of time to prepare for the DAT considering the course is actually 8-weeks long, so that leaves you with a month to polish up on any content review.

This detailed, structured online course provides students with a daily schedule to help maximize the 8-week study period. However, be prepared for the rigorous nature of this course. You will be required to dedicate between 6-10 hours of study every day, seven days a week.

Besides that, the program also provides a progress monitor, comparing your scores to those of other test-takers within the course, thereby helping to highlight your areas of weakness.

Although detailed, the contents of this course have been broken down, thereby simplifying complex concepts for the student so they can study faster and more effectively.

This prep program has hundreds of practice questions, 18 full-length practice tests, detailed study notes, and over 50 hours of video lessons. You also get one-on-one support with instructors if you need some concepts explained to you in greater detail.

In iPrepDental, all concepts have been simplified and explained in a straightforward way to understand and remember. At the same time, this course is packed with test-taking strategies to help you answer questions fast and effectively so you can score over 20 on the DAT.

Once you register, you are added to a group chat with fellow students who started the course the same month as you. This group chat is also where the expert instructors will give detailed answers to all your questions. So you are learning not only from your queries but other students’ queries as well.

6. DAT Cracker Review

If you happen to be strapped for cash, then DAT Cracker will be an excellent option to go for. This extremely cheap course costs just $199 for a 6-month subscription period. Quite generous, wouldn’t you agree?

The 6-month unlimited access provides you with 55 DAT practice tests, 1,400 practice questions, and 24/7 support.

The program gives you a score analysis report that compares your performance with other test-takers at the end of a test. By comparing your score with others, you can best identify your weaknesses, and you can look up detailed explanations to see precisely where you went wrong.

The program allows you to take a free diagnostic exam, but you will have to upgrade your membership to access more practice tests.

Conveniently, DAT Cracker has a mobile app for both Android and iOS. This way, you can access practice tests on the go, taking them as many times as you wish.

You will find that the DAT practice tests in this course are relatively similar to the real DAT exam in terms of their format and difficulty level. Thereby they do a great job at simulating the actual exam, and the more times you take these tests, the more confident and prepared you will feel to face the real test.

What To Look For In A DAT Prep Courses?

Price

DAT prep courses can vary widely in price, some costing as much as $1,500. Now it’s true that you cannot put a price on a good education, and a higher DAT score guarantees you a spot in an excellent dental school.

However, you need to be sure that the course you take guarantees you value for your money. The most expensive options aren’t necessarily the best DAT prep courses and vice versa.

Subscription Length

Some DAT preparation sources provide a content access period of 90 days, while others give you as much as a year.

Carefully consider the subscription length because whatever period you choose should be based on how much practice you need to do and how long you have to prepare for the DAT exam.

Comprehensive Coverage

Does the course offer DAT study materials in different formats, i.e., video, notes, practice tests, flashcards etc.?

How detailed is the content? Also, has it been presented in a simple format that will allow you to go through the course in a short period?

Have the explanations to answers been given in-depth to help you grasp the core concept?

Does the course comprehensively cover every subject and DAT section, or is it biased toward one angle?

Key Strengths

Some courses tend to have a reputation for being excellent for certain subjects, offering more in-depth prep material than other courses.

For instance, DAT Booster is known for being excellent for Biology, whereas DAT Bootcamp is known to have top-notch organic chemistry video lectures.

Also, if you have been struggling with Biology, it would make sense to choose DAT Booster while someone struggling with chemistry might be better off with DAT Bootcamp.

Video Library

All DAT courses typically include videos as part of their DAT study material. The difference comes in the quality of the videos and their content.

DAT Destroyer is an exception because it does not come with videos.

The best DAT prep courses have engaging videos designed to effectively feed you with the necessary information in as short a time as possible.

The content should be substantive, with an excellent delivery format to help you grasp the main concept under discussion.

Another thing to consider is the qualification of the instructors. Ideally, you want to learn from knowledgeable professionals who have an excellent delivery method.

Practice Tests & Questions

The more practice questions a course offers, the better off you will be.

Ideally, the best DAT courses will have up-to-date material with representative questions. This is an important thing to consider because the DAT test is constantly changing and evolving, and you want to settle for a program that is as representative of the current DAT as possible.

Aside from the practice questions, you should also focus on the full-length practice tests inside the program.

Just as the name suggests, these are essentially tests that simulate the actual DAT exam and are meant to give you a realistic DAT testing experience before you sit for the actual exam.

When tackling each question, don’t just focus on getting the correct answer. Instead, take time to understand why the other answers are wrong, and this will give you a deeper grasp of the content you are learning.

Perceptual Ability Section

The Perceptual Ability Test section on the real DAT exam is often the most challenging bit for most pre-dental students.

This is because the perceptual ability is not necessarily something you can learn. Instead, it is based on whether you can visualize it or not.

As such, it is always important to go for a DAT course that provides sufficient realistic practice questions for the PAT section to help you better prepare for the actual DAT.

Extra Features

Some DAT courses come with a mobile app that will conveniently allow you to continue learning when you are on the go.

Other online courses offer advanced analytics, which provides you with a detailed report of your score. This may break down your performance in each section, highlight your weaknesses, show you how you scored compared to other test-takers, etc.

Best Dat Prep Course FAQs

Conclusion

Facing the Dental Admissions Test can feel highly intimidating, but it doesn’t have to.

Picking the right DAT preparation course can help you sufficiently prepare for the actual test. However, to guarantee you excellent scores, you need to put in the work and efficiently utilize the course’s study materials.

Besides polishing up on your test-taking strategies, remember to maintain balance in your life, even during your DAT study period. Work out, eat right, get sufficient sleep and simply breathe – you’ll do just fine.

Best of luck to you!