DAT done 6/14/11

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Hey guys, just wanted to post my scores real quick...will be back later the update what I did and which materials I used.

PAT. 20
QR. 17 (ya not my strong point but oh well)
RC. 20
Bio. 23
Chem. 24
Ochem 22
TS. 23
AA. 21

Here's the link to my prinout for my scores/percentiles.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/albu...pictureid=3000

Awesome..Congrats and looking forward to your breakdown...

Originally Posted by txlotusboys37

Hey guys, just wanted to post my scores real quick...will be back later the update what I did and which materials I used.

PAT. 20
QR. 17 (ya not my strong point but oh well)
RC. 20
Bio. 23
Chem. 24
Ochem 22
NS. 23
AA. 21

how hard was RC?

Originally Posted by txlotusboys37

Hey guys, just wanted to post my scores real quick...will be back later the update what I did and which materials I used.

PAT. 20
QR. 17 (ya not my strong point but oh well)
RC. 20
Bio. 23
Chem. 24
Ochem 22
NS. 23
AA. 21

very nice man

Good job..I forward to hear what you used..I take my DAT in August

Good going.. Break down would be great!.. Good luck !

Hey, I hope that this is a help to everyone who is retaking the DAT, or will be taking it in the future.

Material I used:

1) CDP - very very helpful and well worth the money! I just bought the Ace edition I believe (PAT the cheapest one with 10 practice tests)...you don't need the more expensive ones.

2) DAT Destroyer (I used this for Gchem and Biology) - DAT destroyer is perfect for Gchem and good practice for Biology.

3) Ochem Odyssey - I used this instead of the DAT destroyer because you can focus on specific areas of weakness...i.e. rxns and info related to alcohols, spectroscopy, and etc.

4) Math Destroyer -very good practice on what you'll see on the real DAT but like I said, math isn't really my strong point. (as you can tell it was my lowest score)

5) Chad's video - I can't tell you enough how crucial his videos are for Gchem and Ochem. I learned and understood Gchem better than I ever did in college (I made C's in both of my Gchem classes) and I was able to relearn Ochem (I did however like ochem and made an a in both classes but as you can see i still did better in Gchem on the DAT) from chad, and the help of the Ochem odyssey.

6) cliff's biology - overall a very good book! the only thing I can think of is that the KBB does a better job at describing hormones. Other than that the book is more pretty sufficient for biology in my opinion.

7) Kaplan Blue Book (KBB) - Goes everything in a more general sense but it is good for initial exposure. Having said that, It does go over a couple of things better than cliff's (i.e. like hormones and probably a couple of other things that I can't think of right now).

This is the 1st part of my update. The computer I am on is a little slow so I'll probably be back on tomorrow to finish the update.

also, I will be selling my study materials within the next couple of days.

good **** breh

congrats

I'd be interested in your DAT destroyer material. Let me know how much you want for it and how quickly you would be able to get it shipped out!

Originally Posted by txlotusboys37

Hey, I hope that this is a help to everyone who is retaking the DAT, or will be taking it in the future.

Material I used:

1) CDP - very very helpful and well worth the money! I just bought the Ace edition I believe (PAT the cheapest one with 10 practice tests)...you don't need the more expensive ones.

2) DAT Destroyer (I used this for Gchem and Biology) - DAT destroyer is perfect for Gchem and good practice for Biology.

3) Ochem Odyssey - I used this instead of the DAT destroyer because you can focus on specific areas of weakness...i.e. rxns and info related to alcohols, spectroscopy, and etc.

4) Math Destroyer -very good practice on what you'll see on the real DAT but like I said, math isn't really my strong point. (as you can tell it was my lowest score)

5) Chad's video - I can't tell you enough how crucial his videos are for Gchem and Ochem. I learned and understood Gchem better than I ever did in college (I made C's in both of my Gchem classes) and I was able to relearn Ochem (I did however like ochem and made an a in both classes but as you can see i still did better in Gchem on the DAT) from chad, and the help of the Ochem odyssey.

8) cliff's biology - overall a very good book! the only thing I can think of is that the KBB does a better job at describing hormones. Other than that the book is more pretty sufficient for biology in my opinion.

7) Kaplan Blue Book (KBB) - Goes everything in a more general sense but it is good for initial exposure. Having said that, It does go over a couple of things better than cliff's (i.e. like hormones and probably a couple of other things that I can't think of right now).

This is the 1st part of my update. The computer I am on is a little slow so I'll probably be back on tomorrow to finish the update.

also, I will be selling my study materials within the next couple of days.

What practice tests did you do and what were your scores?

How well did you understand Math Destroyer when you went through it? Just wondering because I'm no good at this math either (I normally get just over half right) and I'm hoping to get at least an 18 QR so it won't bring my AA down too much. What would you suggest/ how'd you manage the 17?

Congrats! Great score!

Here's what my practice scores were from my Kaplan practice tests. This should give any of you who are struggling or not feeling confident when you compare this to my actual DAT.

Order of tests (from left to right):

Diagnostic, Midterm, Final, Test #1, Test #2, Test #3

AA - 16, 17, 18, 19, 18, 18
PAT -19, 19, 20, 19, 21, 19
Bio - 15, 17, 18, 18, 18, 20
GC - 13, 17, 15, 17, 17, 17
OC - 14, 17, 19, 21, 16, 16
TS - 14, 17, 17, 19, 17, 18
RC - 20, 19, 18, 21, 20, 19
QR - 16, 16, 18, 20, 18, 17


update #3 will be a break down of my DAT

Originally Posted by CougarDental

How well did you understand Math Destroyer when you went through it? Just wondering because I'm no good at this math either (I normally get just over half right) and I'm hoping to get at least an 18 QR so it won't bring my AA down too much. What would you suggest/ how'd you manage the 17?

When I practiced the Math Destroyer I made sure that I would miss roughly no more than 12 questions on the Math Destroyer tests. Once I got to that point I knew that I would at least make an acceptable score on the real DAT. But, like I said, math isn't my strong point either and wanted a score that wouldn't make me retake the DAT. I knew that I could do better in my other sections.

Originally Posted by Potatochips

how hard was RC?

With reading comprehension I used the Search and Destroy method. I am not a super fast reader by any means, which is why I used the Search and Destroy method, and that method seemed to work out pretty well for me. I don't think it was overly difficult. There were a couple of questions that took a little more thought I suppose...for instance, like the passage may have said something like 1 in 5 ppl died from this occurance...a possible question then asked could be "what percentage of inhabitants died from the explosions".

Originally Posted by txlotusboys37

With reading comprehension I used the Search and Destroy method. I am not a super fast reader by any means, which is why I used the Search and Destroy method, and that method seemed to work out pretty well for me. I don't think it was overly difficult. There were a couple of questions that took a little more thought I suppose...for instance, like the passage may have said something like 1 in 5 ppl died from this occurance...a possible question then asked could be "what percentage of inhabitants died from the explosions".

did you feel that there were alot of inference/tone questions?

2 of the 3 passages were mostly me just finding the answer in the text. The other 1 passage definitely had a higher influence of inference/tone questions so be prepaired for that to happen. So, more search&destroy questions compared to inference/tone...on my DAT.

obviously your scores didn't match up that well to kaplan ha but did you think the test sections were sort of representative of the real dat or not at all? which ones were comparable to the real test?

Bio - I felt that most of the questions on the test weren't that overly hard. I am very glad that I read the cliff's bio book because that has most of the information that you will need to know for the DAT. I personally didn't feel that any of the questions were thaaat random while I was taking the test...some may disagree but In my opinion, and I think someone else on SDN said the same, that there's just such a large range of info and questions that can be pulled from that info. The questions that I probably missed were the ones that I more than likely "marked" on the exam...and, the one's I marked I remember reading over the related info but I guess it just didn't sink in as well.

Chem - now these are the classes that I made 2 C's in when I took them college (probably b/c I hadn't gotten my act together at the time mostly but even still, I wasn't lookin forward to having to relearn it). I felt that my practice tests were harder than the Real DAT. For instance, on the practice test you would have to calculate everthing out. On the DAT it was just setting up the calculations; however; questions related to nuclear chemistry (ex. 1/2 life - which I had a couple on the real exam) had to be calculated out completely. You definitely need to understand the concepts/theories because there's more of those types of questions than there are questions that require you calculate an answer (ex. polarity of a molecule, solubility, which way does the rxn shift when something is done to it). DAT Destroyer is a big, and I repeat, a very very big help... it is harder than the real exam but it'll teach you pretty much everything that you need to know about chemistry questions types and concepts tested on the real DAT...that is if you make sure you don't let the concepts in the DD chem pass you by. There's only so many ways that they can ask a type of question in Gchem. I must have done the DD Chem a good 5-6 times. I would do 50 questions in Gchem everyday once i started doing just practice problems.

Ochem - I didn't study for this as much as I did for Gchem. I've always liked ochem and did well in my college ochem classes so I knew that I could bring myself up to speed on the info easier and faster than Gchem. I Probably would have made a higher score in this section if I wasn't so worried about Gchem but, as you can tell it paid off in the long run anways. Most of the questions on the Real DAT where complete the rxn type questions but only 1 or 2 step rxns. (on Ochem Odyssey you have rxns with 4-5 steps...very good practice though...you'll know it after having to do that enough times). I didn't have any spectroscopy graphs or anything of that sort but did have a couple of questions about spectroscopy (ex. what shift is represented by an aldehyde on NMR, which is 9-10...those sort of questions). You are going to get questions types that ask about thing like acidity of protons and electron withdrawing groups vs. electron donating groups, polarity, solubility, lab techniques. As I said upabove in the materials I used...Ochem Odyssey if your best friend for the Ochem section. I think it's great because you can focus on specific areas of weakness, thereby maximizing your study efforts..at least once you've already been doing a little bit of practice and have taken a practice test or two. Make notes from the questions that you miss...I would literally go over every individual question, especially then ones that I missed. With the questions I missed, I wrote down the rxns and info in a notebook. I would then go through my rxn notes once everyday so that they would stay fresh on my mind.

PAT -
Keyholes - I felt that the keywholes were more "funky" compareed to CD PAT and Kaplan. I got some shapes with non-linear edges and odd looking shapes but probably no more than 5 of those.
For everything else...CD PAT was amazing!!!! CD PAT was very representative to the real DAT for everything, other than that I felt the keywholes weren't as funky on the CD PAT as they were on the real DAT. If you can do the CD PAT and make 20's and above on it...you'll do fine.

RC - I honestly didn't study RC at all. The only time that I did RC was on the practice test when I was being timed. I originally tried the Kaplan method in trying to make 1 or 2 lines summary notes per paragraph on each passage but I found that I just ended up wasting too much time. That's me pesonally though...I'm not a fast reader so, I found that Search and Destroy worked best for me. Some of you guys may be able to read the whole passge quickly and have more than enough time to answer questions..not the case for me. And yes, you can do S&D for RC. That's what I did and I made a 20 on the real DAT (21 was the highest I made on the Kaplan practice test). on my DAT, I felt that most of the questions were just a matter of finding the answer in the passage. 1 of the passages however was definitely more inference/tone based, when compared to the other two passages. But, even on the other 2 passages, that were "find the answer in the passsage" type, did have at least a couple of inference/tone questions.

QR - ugh, my lowest score and the only score that I didn't make a 20 or above but oh well! Math, not really my strong point. When you have 45 mins to do 40 questions, and they throw in word problems...headache for me lol. Having said that, you have to be able to know when to skip a question and keep going...there WILL be easier questions as you continue through the section. No sense in losing points on those easy questions. If math is a worry for you then I would suggest do the questions that you can do easily as you go through this section. If you can't think of how to do a problem within the first 10 or so seconds when you first look at the question, pick an answer choice & "mark" it (so that you know to come back to it). If you have time at the end, go back through the questions that you marked. Math Destoryer is a very big help and is on par with the level of difficultly that you will encounter on the real DAT.

So, I started out doing the planned out study program listed on this forum, in conjunction with my Kaplan Course. I went day by day using this outline planned for reviewing. I initially used to the KBB to review everything. This I felt was a big mistake when I started doing practice problems...especially with chemistry and math. So after the 1st week of doing practice problems I knew that I needed to review someone. One of my good friends, who is starting at San Antonio in a couple of weeks, said that I should review Ochem and Gchem using Chad's Videos...(and OMG was he right!!! I cannot tell you how well worth the money and time that those videos are for relearning you chemistry!! There's a reason why everyone suggests Chad's videos..that because it works and he amazing! BUT, you have to do your part in making detailed notes!). So, I went through Gchem in 7 days and the Ochem in 6 days...just how he has it planned out on the website. The only video I did not watch as the nomenclature on because I already knew enough from the KBB to do nomenclature. In essence, I had to review for an extra 2 weeks before I restarted my "practice problems" phase again.

After the "reviewing phase" I jumped into "practice problems" phase and things got better! Chemstry now made sense haha...or more than it did. I actually did more problems per day than the study guide from SDN said because that's what I need, personally. I think that in the first week I may have followed the schedule but the last 3 weeks I did more problems than the schedule said. I obviously had to modify the schedule to fit in the Ochem Odyssey...when I went through it for the 1st time, I did 2 chapters a day, and made notes from the questions that I missed. Then I did 3 chapters a day (which some days turned out to be a 100 or so questions for the remaining time.

I studied Mon-Fri and logged, on avg, about 8-10 hours a day. I would focus on Gchem and Math on saturdays (after I go off of work) and I did a practice tests every sunday until my exam. I ended up taking my last practice test 2 days before the real DAT.

So, what does on do the day before the DAT?! Well, what I did was played Black Ops and had a couple of mixed drinks (whiskey and coke)!!! ...I didn't get drunk though...I don't suggest over drinking the day before the exam but if you're going to drink...do it modestly haha

Side note: I do not recommend doing the course. It's a waste of money and time... 3hrs sitting in a room just to hear someone read of the notes that you basically already have, because all you're doing is filling in the blanks, is a total waste of time in my opinion. I didn't feel that I was learning anything after having attended the class 3 or 4 times, so I stopped going! I figured that those 3hrs would be better spent in the library studying!!! The only thing I can say is that the practice were good in preparing you for timing and taking the real DAT (other than in the PAT section...angles and hole punching is hader on the real DAT...this is where CD PAT steps in to help!!!!)

Oh, and another thing... I was originally supposed to take my DAT during the last week on April but after the first week of the "practice problems" phase I resheduled and gave myself an extra 6 weeks (2 weeks for reviewing and 4 weeks for practice problems)...that date ended up being June 14th...it was the best deicision I made. I felt frustrated after the 1 week of practice problems but I buckled down and kept going. It's a hard and long road but in the end its worth it!

Thanks for the detailed breakdown, it is very helpful. How many days before the DAT di you take the last Kaplan test?

Originally Posted by Tyrangiel

Thanks for the detailed breakdown, it is very helpful. How many days before the DAT di you take the last Kaplan test?

2 days before the real DAT. (I took the practice test on a sunday and took my real DAT on a tuesday)

congrats and thanks for the break down...

Oh, and FYI

My DAT Destroyers are the 2011 editions! So, now I'm selling them...

what is "NS" ????

Thanks for the detailed summary bro. Really helpful!

Originally Posted by wthareuserious

what is "NS" ????

NS - natural science

I agree with your breakdown (except S&D isnt my preferred RC method, but no big). Good post for all still taking.

thanks for the complements and help SDN...it's been truely helpful!

Originally Posted by txlotusboys37

So, I started out doing the planned out study program listed on this forum, in conjunction with my Kaplan Course. I went day by day using this outline planned for reviewing. I initially used to the KBB to review everything. This I felt was a big mistake when I started doing practice problems...especially with chemistry and math. So after the 1st week of doing practice problems I knew that I needed to review someone. One of my good friends, who is starting at San Antonio in a couple of weeks, said that I should review Ochem and Gchem using Chad's Videos...(and OMG was he right!!! I cannot tell you how well worth the money and time that those videos are for relearning you chemistry!! There's a reason why everyone suggests Chad's videos..that because it works and he amazing! BUT, you have to do your part in making detailed notes!). So, I went through Gchem in 7 days and the Ochem in 6 days...just how he has it planned out on the website. The only video I did not watch as the nomenclature on because I already knew enough from the KBB to do nomenclature. In essence, I had to review for an extra 2 weeks before I restarted my "practice problems" phase again.

After the "reviewing phase" I jumped into "practice problems" phase and things got better! Chemstry now made sense haha...or more than it did. I actually did more problems per day than the study guide from SDN said because that's what I need, personally. I think that in the first week I may have followed the schedule but the last 3 weeks I did more problems than the schedule said. I obviously had to modify the schedule to fit in the Ochem Odyssey...when I went through it for the 1st time, I did 2 chapters a day, and made notes from the questions that I missed. Then I did 3 chapters a day (which some days turned out to be a 100 or so questions for the remaining time.

I studied Mon-Fri and logged, on avg, about 8-10 hours a day. I would focus on Gchem and Math on saturdays (after I go off of work) and I did a practice tests every sunday until my exam. I ended up taking my last practice test 2 days before the real DAT.

So, what does on do the day before the DAT?! Well, what I did was played Black Ops and had a couple of mixed drinks (whiskey and coke)!!! ...I didn't get drunk though...I don't suggest over drinking the day before the exam but if you're going to drink...do it modestly haha

Side note: I do not recommend doing the course. It's a waste of money and time... 3hrs sitting in a room just to hear someone read of the notes that you basically already have, because all you're doing is filling in the blanks, is a total waste of time in my opinion. I didn't feel that I was learning anything after having attended the class 3 or 4 times, so I stopped going! I figured that those 3hrs would be better spent in the library studying!!! The only thing I can say is that the practice were good in preparing you for timing and taking the real DAT (other than in the PAT section...angles and hole punching is hader on the real DAT...this is where CD PAT steps in to help!!!!)

Oh, and another thing... I was originally suppoed to take my DAT during the last week on April but after the first week of the "practice problems" phase I resheduled to give myself and extra 6 weeks (2 weeks for reviewing and 4 weeks for practice problems)...that date ended up being June 14th...it was the best deicision I made. The reason I mention this is to give hope and support to anyone who is struggling. I felt horrible and frustrated after the 1 week of practice problems but I buckled down and kept going. It's a hard and long road but in the end its worth it!

hey txlotousboys37, you said "this i felt was abig mistake...." which part were you referring to?
As for the planned study guide, are you referring to dentalworks's sticky? http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=719365

Thanks for the help

Oh, and also, did you actually use the flashcards that came with the Kaplan course? Thanks again.

so did you think the kaplan tests were harder in general or the sciences or just more specific and different than questions asked on the real exam?

I was referring to using the KBB as my source of review material. I didn't feel like it was a good study tool for me, but that's just me personally

Originally Posted by riceguy042

hey txlotousboys37, you said "this i felt was abig mistake...." which part were you referring to?
As for the planned study guide, are you referring to dentalworks's sticky? http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=719365

Thanks for the help

I looked over the biology flash cards some, and the math only like twice or so. Didn't really use the flash cards...

Originally Posted by riceguy042

Oh, and also, did you actually use the flashcards that came with the Kaplan course? Thanks again.

thought that t'd bump for any of you who are taking the DAT anytime soon...may give you some insight and hope.

secondly, I've been accepted to 2 of the 3 texas dental schools so far but I've gotten into the one I wanted all along...UTHSC-SA!

Congratulations, you did fine. I like what you did on the fay before the exam. This, I bet, took a lot of stress away and made you think clearly during the exam. How are Texas Dental schools ranked among all U.S. Dental Schools?

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Originally Posted by Dotoday

Congratulations, you did fine. I like what you did on the fay before the exam. This, I bet, took a lot of stress away and made you think clearly during the exam. How are Texas Dental schools ranked among all U.S. Dental Schools?

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yes, the day before I didn't do any studying. My mind was already fried and I actually looked forward to the day before my test. It was a great day... some of my friends and their gf's thought I was crazy for drinking some on that day but I still did well haha.

They're pretty good and honestly, they're all good schools, and the cost is a steal compared to the other dental schools in the U.S. The texas dental schools are in the top 5 for cheapest dschools to attend. I'm starting at SA this summer and the cost of tuition/fees is around $90,000 total for the 4yrs.

If you look at the rankings, and it really depends on which webites you look at and who's ranking then. S.A. is near the top. if you notice in the link belwo, "in last ranking of US News & World Report (1996), [UTHSC San Antonio] was ranked #1.

http://toptennation.blogspot.com/201...in-us-and.html

Wow, congratulations dude. You are right. The cost is a steal compared to other schools and the rankings are high. Yes it depends on who is ranking, but if it is close to the top in all evaluations and students are happy, then it is the best you have hoped for. Were you able to speak to the students.of S.A.?

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Originally Posted by Dotoday

Wow, congratulations dude. You are right. The cost is a steal compared to other schools and the rankings are high. Yes it depends on who is ranking, but if it is close to the top in all evaluations and students are happy, then it is the best you have hoped for. Were you able to speak to the students.of S.A.?

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Ya, some of them. All of the students that I talked to loved going to school at SA. But, I think that's true for most dental students...they really enjoy the school they're going at. Personally, I'm happy just to be going to dschool.

The other thing to note is that i'm in-state for tuition.

I understand. Do they help you with job placement?

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Thanks for the detailed breakdown. Congratulations on your score! Really impressed by that chem score.

Originally Posted by Dotoday

I understand. Do they help you with job placement?

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That I'm not really aware of...I'll have to ask and get back with you on that.

Originally Posted by Helms99

Thanks for the detailed breakdown. Congratulations on your score! Really impressed by that chem score.

Thanks...I was jumping out of my seat when I got my score...yes! I don't have to take this exam again. "1 and done, son!". lol What's funny, but was actually scary at the time b/c I was "oh ****, I only have 5mins left," is there were 2 nuclear decay like questions and b/c I was worrying about time I wasn't thinking as clearly but then it clicked. Thank goodness.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to pm. I can give you some advice about the 3 texas school with how my inteviews went and etc.: I interveiwed at all 3...was accepted to UTHSC-Houston and UTHSC-SA.

goody goody gum drops

congrats bud! good luck in dschool =)

One question, does the bio section contain questions on taxonomy? I was a biochem major so didn't have to take classes on taxonomy. Questions regarding the kingdoms and phylums etc?

Originally Posted by ttpharm

One question, does the bio section contain questions on taxonomy? I was a biochem major so didn't have to take classes on taxonomy. Questions regarding the kingdoms and phylums etc?

Yes, you will need to review taxonomy. Cliff's bio has a good summary at the back of it's taxonomy chapter that is really good - I memorized that "spreadsheet"

*

Originally Posted by njohns24

I don't get it. How did you jump so much from practice tests to real thing? Did you say you did practice tests weekly up until 2 days prior? Were you just making a lot of careless errors? Or did the dat just ask you everthing you were solid od

There are so many factors that can affect practice test scores. For one, you don't have the adrenaline rush taking a practice test that you probably will have taking the real thing.

Also, you could get lucky and as you stated get asked about topics you are very strong in.

Can't speak for him, but my actual scores were higher than my practice test scores.
I attribute the difference to a combination of me being more lax when taking practice tests and the adrenaline rush of test day.

One thing's for sure, put your time in to study and learn the material and you will do great!
Especially if with awesome prep materials like CDP and the Destroyers!
Good luck!