- Joined
- Jun 23, 2010
- Messages
- 495
- Reaction score
- 21
*Update*
Hmmmm update to those interested: Accepted to Penn, UCSF, UW, NYU, Buffalo...
Good luck to all and good luck reading the mass of text below!
*Commencing breakdown dun dun dun*
As William Wallace once said..
FREEEEDOOOOOMMM!!
Hallelujah!! (Warning: wall of text to come, I want to be as thorough and helpful as possible, so I apologize!)
My scores:
PAT: 25 (99.1%)
QR: 20 (95.1%)
RC: 23 (96.1%)
Bio: 21 (95.5%)
GC: 25 (98.9%)
OC: 28 (99.5%)
TS: 23 (99.3%)
AA: 23 (99.7%)
I've always dreamed of writing a breakdown. Can't believe my turn has come. I just want to say thank you so much to everyone. I mean it. Every one of you has helped. All the questions you answered and the jokes thrown around, it really has eased the stress. I want to help as many people succeed as I can. If any of you have any questions, however stupid or trivial you think it is or not, pm me or post here.
You can do this, and you will succeed.
Man what a crazy humbling experience studying for the DAT was. I am not a smart guy, I did poorly in my sciences my first 2 years in college, getting around a 2.8-3.3 in my core science classes. I'm now making it up doing better my last 2 years of college. I am not better than you or smarter than you in any way shape or form. I have doubted myself countless times. The way I deal with extreme stress, I start gagging and having upset stomach and the like lol. High five if you are like that too!!! Oh wait... But I have done those so many times these last three months. I doubted myself every second, before every practice test, I doubted my abilities. But I promise you if you devote your time, you will succeed, money back guaranteed.
I studied for almost 3 months, 5-6 hrs the first month, then 7-10 for the second month, and then 9-11 for the last few weeks. But I did not study on Sundays and certain Saturdays. I did neglect my friends, but not my family. We always had a barbeque every Sunday. After studying for the first month, I used a stopwatch to see how much I really studied and found I did only around 5 hrs. If you have trouble keeping a long attention span like me, use a stopwatch. It will help seriously. But I want to say I did not study as efficiently as I would have liked. If you can only manage to study 4-6 hrs because of work/family, don't stress it!!! That is plenty enough, just use your time very wisely and don't get distracted.
I don't even know where to begin writing a thorough breakdown. I hope this will suffice, and isn't just stupid nonsense. I'm exhausted, tired, overwhelmed, thankful, exhilarated, there are a huge range of motions going through me right now. I kind of feel like breaking down and crying. I'm just.... just ready to live again. My hands are still jittery. I intend to write a very long breakdown, I hope some of you will find it helpful. I want to thank DentalWorks for his schedule. I used it for the first month or so, then did my own thing. I would not have known how to get started conquering this beast. I researched and read countless breakdowns since a year or so ago. SDN is amazing, seriously amazing.. and we can all do this together! Nice to meet you all, my future dentists. I hope we will be classmates in the near future. I'll try to be as descriptive and informative as I can in my breakdown.
Practice Test Scores:
CDP: 21/21/24/23/23/26/25/28/25/28 Avg: 24.4
CDR: 20/19/18/22/19/20 Avg: 19.6
DatQv: 20/22/20/19/19/19/18/19/18/19 Avg: 19
MathD: 20/22/26/21/21/21/22/26/23 Avg: 22
PAT/QR/RC/Bio/GC/OC/TS/AA
Achiever 1: 20/20/17/18/19/19/19/19
Achiever 2: 21/17/17/16/17/18/17/17
Achiever 3: 21/18/16/17/19/25/19/19
Topscore 1: 25/20/29/20/19/25/21/23
Topscore 2: 28/20/22/21/21/30/23/23
Topscore 3: 25/22/21/19/23/28/22/23
ADA 2009: 25/20/18/19/20/23/20/20
ADA 2007: 28/22/20/21/28/30/25/24
What I used:
ChadI love this man. I wish I was his wife.
Destroyer 2011
Math D 2010
Campbells 8th Edition (Just get 7th edition for cheap)
KBB
Cliff's 3rd Edition
DatQVault
CDP
CDR (Get 6 test version)
Achiever (Get 3 test version)
Topscore
2009/2007 Ada
Allan's Notes
Campbells 19-21 notes
Now my testing experience:
PAT:
Real Test:
The angles were really easy! Only like 3-4 problems where the angles are around 3 degrees apart like CDP. The keyhole and T/F/E were harder than CDP, but just a little harder. People say holepunching is harder on real DAT, but mine was a breeze. CDP is way harder here. The pattern folding was comparable, slightly easier. All I can say is Achiever pat was nice only because it took size into account, which CDP doesn't do so well. But achiever pat is a lot harder. Overall I think the real pat was very similar to CDP, who would've thunk! I had around 17 min left to check over the stuff I marked.
How I studied: (Used KBB, CDP)
Trust me when I say this section is conquerable. All you really need is CDP. I didn't do any of those hills/laptop whatever methods, but I did do the rapid eye glance technique for angles. Trust me, you don't have time on angles to do the laptop/hill methods. Angles is like guessing, just do them really fast, take time on the harder sections. But if you need a place to begin, the hill/laptop methods might be a good place to start. I first started by getting familiarized with this weird section by going through KBB. Thought, okay, okay, not too bad. Started CDP 1, my head felt like exploding at the end, it was much harder than I thought. I waited 2-3 days, reviewed everything, not just the ones I got wrong. I did that for around tests 1-5. Saw a massive improvement. Then for tests 6-10, I just reviewed the ones I got wrong. It will click for you as many say. Trust me, you will start visualizing things and anticipating traps. I used to play with Legos like crazy when i was younger, so maybe that helped, but you can really master this with practice.
QR:
Real Test:
It was comparable to topscore and achiever. More to achiever. It was easier than math destroyer. I had some weird problems, and ran out of time as usual. I answered the "easy" ones first and came back to the "wtf" ones. Also the calculator wasn't laggy at all, and had the sqrt button and err'thang. It was exactly as presented from the ada website.
How I studied: (Used KBB/MathD/Chad)
I suck at math, I got an okay score, so don't know if I should be giving advice... I thought I was good at it in highschool, but enter college and I got raped in calculus. I started by going through KBB, realized I forgot everything in highschool. I felt so stupid, what are the internal angles of a square again? I did not do the QR portion of the regular DAT destroyer. I started the first test on Math Destroyer and ran around the house screaming bloody murder. Not really, but it was soooooo hard!!!! I got maybe 20% correct. It took me around 2 hrs to do the whole darn thing. I was so discouraged, I didn't know if I had it in me to continue. If you are feeling the same way, keep your head up. After that ordeal, I started chad's math vids when they were free because I needed a savior. I recommend the permutation/probability/age/trig/ and rate videos. The others are good, but those were essential for me, the others were a little too basic. So pretty much, till I finished test 11, I was getting around 25-40% correct and taking 1.5-2 hrs for each test. I then started doing them timed. I always skipped the probability and permutations problems. I cannot stress this enough, skip, skip, skip all the problems you know will take you awhile to solve. Once you go through the easy ones, and come back, you will think more clearly and do better.
RC:
Real Test:
I read my passage first, then answer questions. All my passages were on biology related stuff. No physics passage or anything. The first passage was pretty long, 18 paragraphs, and it was dense. It was hard to understand, it took me awhile to read, I was freaking out!! I answered the questions to the best of my ability but I think I felt like I was guessing on everything. The next two passages were considerably shorter, around 13-14 paragraphs and was interesting. Plus it was on stuff from my microbio class. I answered all those, had around 18 min left over, and redid the first passage. Try not to freak out, just keep marking those questions! Easier than 2009 ada. I also numbered 1-14 on my sheet and wrote 1-2 key words for each paragraph. It maybe saved me around 5 min at most, but totally not necessary to do.
How I studied: (Used CDR)
I guess you can't really study for this. But you can for sure get your timing and strategy down. I'm totally surprised I got this score. I'm not good at reading, I read books, but not as often as I would like. I read everything first, skim too technical and detailed stuff, and once I'm done, I S&D the questions. CDR was the most accurate as to the style of the questions and the inferences and tone. But achiever and topscore was similar only in that everything was biology related. I don't think it would be wise to do S&D, I had a lot of tone questions and such. Get your timing down on CDR, I usually take 6-9 min reading a passage.
BIO:
Real Test:
Way, way more simple. Easier than 2009 ada for sure. I didn't have any random questions except one or two I think. And I can't remember what it was about. I was super worried about this section as I did not do well in it in my practice scores. I seriously had a question that was almost word for word of a question on DatqVault… Score!! I used Datq to time myself, I usually finished after around 15-17 minutes. On the real dat I had around 30 min left to go back and check through my sciences, plenty of time honestly.. I was leisurely checking my answers, and thanking God for every second of it. But when I first started the sciences, I was a frantic madman. I want to stress this though, only spend around 15-20 min on this section. You want to invest your time in OC and GC.
How I studied: (Used Cliff's, KBB, Dat destroyer, Campbell's, DatQVault, and various notes from SDN)
I was worried about this section, GC, and RC the most. I've only taken general bio series and sucked at them. I pretty much started studying with little understanding of biology. I started off by reading KBB and Cliff's, along with 25 pages of Campbells everyday. I read campbell's until page 420, and realized I was wasting my life!! I forgot everything I read, it's not worth your time. Invest in GC and OC as everyone says, just study enough for bio to get solid scores. Just get Campbell's 7th edition, which is like 10 bucks, and read sections you're having a hard time with. KBB was kinda crappy, but I loved the endocrine section, I highly recommend you read that section at least. So all in all I read KBB once, cliff's I think 3 times. I always have to reread the plant/animal form/biodiversity/and reproduction section. I reread them the day before my test. I ALWAYS forget everything like 2 days later lol… so you're not alone if you can relate. I did dat destroyer bio 2 times, and the third time I just glanced at the answers and explanations as I was running out of time. I think overall destroyer bio was okay, but way too detailed (Which isn't bad I guess). The must have resource is Cliff's, and the must have practice test is DatQVault... Seriously, DatQvault is amazing. The structure of the site, the layout, the explanations, the results page, it is superb. Whoever made it did a great job. The questions were harder than real dat, but covered topics very well. I really, really, like that site, not much credit is given to them, but that site is an excellent resource. I also read Allan's and Ch. 19-21 notes 2x, they were okay, but not necessary. Pm me for the notes on Ch.19-21 and Allan's notes if you want them. I added some stuff on Allan's and corrected some stuff I saw fit.
GC:
Real Test:
It was so freaking simple. I could not believe it. It was just like 2007 ada, 2009 was pretty close too. Topscore is comparable and Achiever and most of all destroyer is way harder. Be prepared to do some calculations though. Memorize simple fractions so it's easier, like 1/7 = .142. I'm so glad I memorized these because I used them for a calculation I needed. Also for decimals, just convert to scientific notion, it'll save your life. But the calculations were not too difficult, so don't worry about it! I think this section took me around 20-30 min to complete. All my practice tests I usually spent around 45 min on this section.
How I studied: (Chad, Dat destroyer)
This was the hardest section for me to master. Of course, I started off by watching Chad, and man he is simply, stunningly, wonderfully handsome!!! No homo? I love his pauses and his "cools." But seriously, he is the best. I took extensive notes, a 30 minute video took me 1.5-2 hrs to complete. I forgot everything from college, so I had to resort to this. Once I was done with that, throughout the course of 3 months I read through my notes 3-4 times. It took me 2 days to read all of GC and OC… After Chad, I went to the oh so loved Destroyer. This was the point in time where I really wanted to be watching Chad again. At least Chad had some humor!!! Although it tended to be dry haha. But I went through destroyer 4x. I got around 30-40% correct the first time. Around 85% correct the second. Around 95% correct the third, and 100% correct the 4th. If you really master destroyer, you'll be totally prepared. I did not believe others, but it is true, the real DAT is much more simplistic.
OC:
Real Test:
It was even more freaking simpler than GC. OH MY GOODNESS. I expected to get 30 b/c I thought I got everything correct, but I guess not. It was on par with 2007 ada and easier than 2009. I had nothing on SN2 which I was disappointed with. The electrophilic aromatic substitutions were soooo simple. Everything was soooo easy. I was like WTFreezepops? after I finished. It took me around 20-30 minutes to complete this section. I wasted my time trying to read more into a question because they seemed too simplistic to me. Spend around 20-30 minute on this section, because GC will take the most time (at least for me). But make sure you're thorough, because this section can really boost your score!
How I studied: (Chad, Dat destroyer)
Pretty much exactly the same as how I studied GC. OC was always my favorite to study for the dat. Dat destroyer and Chad will prepare you very, very well. Don't worry. The synthesis problems are multistep in destroyer… They are 1-2 step in real dat. No oddball questions. All of the problems I've seen in one way, shape or form b/c of destroyer and practice tests. Seriously, prepare for this section very well because it will boost your TS!!! But don't stress about this section, you'll be totally ready.
What I wish people wrote more about:
My usual study habits:
I was very blessed to have the opportunity to just study at home for 3 months. My parents are very understanding. I know some people don't have this opportunity, but I really believe 5-6 hrs consistently will give you success. You do not have to study 10 hrs everyday. Just study very smart.
So I get up around 6:15 each morning. At 6:30 I start studying. I study ochem first because it's the easiest for me and I'm freaking half asleep and about to pass out. So it helps. At 9 or 9:30 I eat. Then I study again at 10 or 10:30. I take mini breaks every hr or 2 hrs. I sometimes work out or play with my dog for a bit. At around 6 I eat dinner and study off and on again til 11. Then I wash up and pass out. Repeat. But again, I did not study on Sundays, and lightly on Saturdays, and a few off days.
What I did for fun:
I totally neglected my friends. I just had to… I'm sorry to them! I did however spend time with fam, as they are the most important to me. And I always went to church on Sundays. As pathetic as it sounds, I usually spent my free time on youtube. I also worked out, but stopped lifting around 1 month into studying. I'm not a big guy, but I used to rep 175 on bench. Now I can barely do 135 once. I also played the guitar/piano, or took a mini nap around 30 min. YES naps were very fun!! I also worked on my jeep, but not too much.
What I did before test day:
I studied 4-5 hrs in the morning, reviewing formulas, reviewing the roadmaps, reviewing GC and OC probs I had trouble on Destroyer, and skimming the chapters on cliff's I despised. I then laid around the house doing nothing. I spent time with fam, watched some baseball, but not too much computer or tv. I did not want to stress my eyes too much. Just make sure you relax!! I also went out and bought bananas, gatorade and an odwalla bar to take to test day. I also started feeling sick, so I started to freak out and ate some cold meds before I went to bed. Make sure you get a good nights sleep. I slept 10 hrs lol. I slept rather quickly surprisingly.. I think I was just exhausted from all the studying. Also at least 1 week before your testing day, do NOT go visit SDN. I'm so glad I chose to do this, as all the breakdowns were freaking me out. The week before my test I just wanted a 19. I would be totally content with a 19. Super happy with a 20. Just set your mind like that, you will come out winning either way.
Test day:
I got up at 9:30. Having slept 10 hrs, I did not feel refreshed at all. I wanted to sleep more. But I got up and got ready. My test was in the afternoon, so I studied only around 1-2 hrs, reviewing only formulas. I ate a light breakfast, not heavy. I think lighter will be better, too heavy can lead to a stomach ache or brain farts, and both result in rectal dysfunction, so just avoid a heavy breakfast. Then I walked around the house. Surprisingly I wasn't THAT nervous. Although I was still nervous, not as much as I thought I'd be. I think I was just sick of the DAT at this point. I also prayed a lot. Not just this day, but throughout my study period…
Anywhoozles I then realized you need 2 signature IDs!! Not just one. So I started freaking the Fudgecakes out until I realized my passport does indeed have a signature…….fml. But I took my license and passport with me. I got to the test center 30 min b4 my testing time, and the lady there was freaking nice. And beautiful. But having been pretty much locked up in the house, everyone looked beautiful to me at this point. She let me start right away after peeing. I had 2 laminated sheets of paper, and 2 fine tipped markers. No eraser. I wore a long sleeve and tested it out before I started my test and couldn't erase the pen marks either. But during the test I never ran out of room on the laminated papers. You can write front and back, plenty of space. You will be fine, don't worry about it. I'm glad I got the materials that I did than a board and a marker. I also brought two earplugs, but they had the noise cancelling headphones as well. I used both lol. But the headphones were pretty heavy, but did some serious noise cancelling.
But I could feel my pulse on my head throughout the whole test which was kinda gross. And distracting because it was beating really fast… I mean really fast, i was kind of getting worried. During the middle of the sciences, my stomach started to growl like none other. It was kind of distracting, but just remember everyone is wearing a headphone! And those who are not can just put one on!!! During the break I shoved a banana down my throat and ate half of the odwalla bar. I wanted to eat the whole thing but I started gagging from lack of water. I only took a sip of the gatorate afterwards b/c I didn't want to wet my pants. I used the restroom and came back and had 5 min left on the timer. This was when I started putting math formula's on one of my sheets. I put trig crap and conversions. I hardly used them on the QR though. Also, wear a long sleeve at least. It was so cold in there, I thought my family jewels were gonna disappear forever.
After I was done with QR I was so freaking nervous. Surprisingly I wasn't nervous during the test really, you just don't have time or energy for that. But at this point, my hands started shaking, and I was still SO freaking cold!! I looked at my scores and almost passed out. I thanked God, I thanked the lady outside, which transfigured to a not so pretty lady, but I digress. When she handed me my print out, I wrinkled it too much to my liking b/c my hands were shaking so badly, but I was pumped!!! I drove topless (a jeep remember) and road off into the sunset!! But then I came home and celebrated and here I am drinking wine and boring you all to death.
Thoughts about practice tests:
I bought the 5 test Achiever and the 10 test CDR. Please don't do this. Just buy the 3 test Achiever and the 6 test CDR. You can't really study for reading, and by test 4-6 you will have found your timing and strategy. After that, it's just wasting time. Also for Achiever, test 4 and 5 are wayyy harder than test 1-3 or the real dat for that matter. Don't hurt your moral further. If you're going to do achiever at all, do it as I did.
Do achievers first. If you score poorly, no biggy, you can gain your confidence from Topscores. After topscore do 2009 ADA first, not 2007 ada. Save 2007 ada last because it will boost your confidence!! I took 2009 ada and got 20AA.. And was pretty bummed. But 2007 ada will save you and it is was more similar to the my real dat than the 2009 ada. Overall, 2007 ada was the most similar, then 2009 and topscores were comparable, and lastly Achiever.
What I wish I did differently:
Do not read Campbell's as stated before. I was too ambitious when I started, but I could've spent so much time doing other much more productive stuff. Buy a stopwatch when you first start studying. Believe in yourself. Also, ask deep conceptual questions on Chad's forums!! He takes around a day or two to respond, and is so thorough and helpful, it is really amazing. Ask any questions you have, from destroyer or whatever. He is one beautiful human being.
Conclusion:
I hope this breakdown can be of some help to even a minute minority of you. If one person benefits, my work is done. If you read all of this…. Thank you for experiencing to some extent the journey that I went through. I know the DAT is not THAT big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but this has got to be one of the most stressful 3 months of my life. I was so nervous that if I failed, I would have wasted 3 months of my life and my family's honor!! Not really, but I wanted to make my parents proud to some extent. And Wow…. I cannot believe this is all over with now. I am left so much more humbled. I understand the pain you are going through, the doubt, the hurt, the anxiety, the fear, the sleepiness, the hunger for a decent score, and most of all the dream to become a dentist. Hold my hand, you can do this, we can do this, we will do this. Can't wait to meet you in my future class, friend.
Sorry if this is flappin' cheesy, I'm feeling emotional reflecting on these past few months. And this wine is really heavy for some reason and getting to me. I really do believe in each and every one of you. If I can do it, my God, you can do it. Thank you everyone on SDN again. I am truly grateful.. Also, I plan to apply next cycle, so I'll have a gap year to loll around! Again ask any questions, or clarifications, I am more than happy to answer to the best of my ability.
Also, I'm willing to donate any of my materials if you live near the Seattle area... But I need to check up with a couple friends who might need. Pm me
Hmmmm update to those interested: Accepted to Penn, UCSF, UW, NYU, Buffalo...
Good luck to all and good luck reading the mass of text below!
*Commencing breakdown dun dun dun*
As William Wallace once said..
FREEEEDOOOOOMMM!!
Hallelujah!! (Warning: wall of text to come, I want to be as thorough and helpful as possible, so I apologize!)
My scores:
PAT: 25 (99.1%)
QR: 20 (95.1%)
RC: 23 (96.1%)
Bio: 21 (95.5%)
GC: 25 (98.9%)
OC: 28 (99.5%)
TS: 23 (99.3%)
AA: 23 (99.7%)
I've always dreamed of writing a breakdown. Can't believe my turn has come. I just want to say thank you so much to everyone. I mean it. Every one of you has helped. All the questions you answered and the jokes thrown around, it really has eased the stress. I want to help as many people succeed as I can. If any of you have any questions, however stupid or trivial you think it is or not, pm me or post here.
You can do this, and you will succeed.
Man what a crazy humbling experience studying for the DAT was. I am not a smart guy, I did poorly in my sciences my first 2 years in college, getting around a 2.8-3.3 in my core science classes. I'm now making it up doing better my last 2 years of college. I am not better than you or smarter than you in any way shape or form. I have doubted myself countless times. The way I deal with extreme stress, I start gagging and having upset stomach and the like lol. High five if you are like that too!!! Oh wait... But I have done those so many times these last three months
. I doubted myself every second, before every practice test, I doubted my abilities. But I promise you if you devote your time, you will succeed, money back guaranteed.I studied for almost 3 months, 5-6 hrs the first month, then 7-10 for the second month, and then 9-11 for the last few weeks. But I did not study on Sundays and certain Saturdays. I did neglect my friends, but not my family. We always had a barbeque every Sunday. After studying for the first month, I used a stopwatch to see how much I really studied and found I did only around 5 hrs. If you have trouble keeping a long attention span like me, use a stopwatch. It will help seriously. But I want to say I did not study as efficiently as I would have liked. If you can only manage to study 4-6 hrs because of work/family, don't stress it!!! That is plenty enough, just use your time very wisely and don't get distracted.
I don't even know where to begin writing a thorough breakdown. I hope this will suffice, and isn't just stupid nonsense. I'm exhausted, tired, overwhelmed, thankful, exhilarated, there are a huge range of motions going through me right now. I kind of feel like breaking down and crying. I'm just.... just ready to live again. My hands are still jittery. I intend to write a very long breakdown, I hope some of you will find it helpful. I want to thank DentalWorks for his schedule. I used it for the first month or so, then did my own thing. I would not have known how to get started conquering this beast. I researched and read countless breakdowns since a year or so ago. SDN is amazing, seriously amazing.. and we can all do this together! Nice to meet you all, my future dentists. I hope we will be classmates in the near future. I'll try to be as descriptive and informative as I can in my breakdown.
Practice Test Scores:
CDP: 21/21/24/23/23/26/25/28/25/28 Avg: 24.4
CDR: 20/19/18/22/19/20 Avg: 19.6
DatQv: 20/22/20/19/19/19/18/19/18/19 Avg: 19
MathD: 20/22/26/21/21/21/22/26/23 Avg: 22
PAT/QR/RC/Bio/GC/OC/TS/AA
Achiever 1: 20/20/17/18/19/19/19/19
Achiever 2: 21/17/17/16/17/18/17/17
Achiever 3: 21/18/16/17/19/25/19/19
Topscore 1: 25/20/29/20/19/25/21/23
Topscore 2: 28/20/22/21/21/30/23/23
Topscore 3: 25/22/21/19/23/28/22/23
ADA 2009: 25/20/18/19/20/23/20/20
ADA 2007: 28/22/20/21/28/30/25/24
What I used:
Chad
I love this man. I wish I was his wife.Destroyer 2011
Math D 2010
Campbells 8th Edition (Just get 7th edition for cheap)
KBB
Cliff's 3rd Edition
DatQVault
CDP
CDR (Get 6 test version)
Achiever (Get 3 test version)
Topscore
2009/2007 Ada
Allan's Notes
Campbells 19-21 notes
Now my testing experience:
PAT:
Real Test:
The angles were really easy! Only like 3-4 problems where the angles are around 3 degrees apart like CDP. The keyhole and T/F/E were harder than CDP, but just a little harder. People say holepunching is harder on real DAT, but mine was a breeze. CDP is way harder here. The pattern folding was comparable, slightly easier. All I can say is Achiever pat was nice only because it took size into account, which CDP doesn't do so well. But achiever pat is a lot harder. Overall I think the real pat was very similar to CDP, who would've thunk! I had around 17 min left to check over the stuff I marked.
How I studied: (Used KBB, CDP)
Trust me when I say this section is conquerable. All you really need is CDP. I didn't do any of those hills/laptop whatever methods, but I did do the rapid eye glance technique for angles. Trust me, you don't have time on angles to do the laptop/hill methods. Angles is like guessing, just do them really fast, take time on the harder sections. But if you need a place to begin, the hill/laptop methods might be a good place to start. I first started by getting familiarized with this weird section by going through KBB. Thought, okay, okay, not too bad. Started CDP 1, my head felt like exploding at the end, it was much harder than I thought. I waited 2-3 days, reviewed everything, not just the ones I got wrong. I did that for around tests 1-5. Saw a massive improvement. Then for tests 6-10, I just reviewed the ones I got wrong. It will click for you as many say. Trust me, you will start visualizing things and anticipating traps. I used to play with Legos like crazy when i was younger, so maybe that helped, but you can really master this with practice.
QR:
Real Test:
It was comparable to topscore and achiever. More to achiever. It was easier than math destroyer. I had some weird problems, and ran out of time as usual. I answered the "easy" ones first and came back to the "wtf" ones. Also the calculator wasn't laggy at all, and had the sqrt button and err'thang. It was exactly as presented from the ada website.
How I studied: (Used KBB/MathD/Chad)
I suck at math, I got an okay score, so don't know if I should be giving advice... I thought I was good at it in highschool, but enter college and I got raped in calculus. I started by going through KBB, realized I forgot everything in highschool. I felt so stupid, what are the internal angles of a square again? I did not do the QR portion of the regular DAT destroyer. I started the first test on Math Destroyer and ran around the house screaming bloody murder. Not really, but it was soooooo hard!!!! I got maybe 20% correct. It took me around 2 hrs to do the whole darn thing. I was so discouraged, I didn't know if I had it in me to continue. If you are feeling the same way, keep your head up. After that ordeal, I started chad's math vids when they were free because I needed a savior. I recommend the permutation/probability/age/trig/ and rate videos. The others are good, but those were essential for me, the others were a little too basic. So pretty much, till I finished test 11, I was getting around 25-40% correct and taking 1.5-2 hrs for each test. I then started doing them timed. I always skipped the probability and permutations problems. I cannot stress this enough, skip, skip, skip all the problems you know will take you awhile to solve. Once you go through the easy ones, and come back, you will think more clearly and do better.
RC:
Real Test:
I read my passage first, then answer questions. All my passages were on biology related stuff. No physics passage or anything. The first passage was pretty long, 18 paragraphs, and it was dense. It was hard to understand, it took me awhile to read, I was freaking out!! I answered the questions to the best of my ability but I think I felt like I was guessing on everything. The next two passages were considerably shorter, around 13-14 paragraphs and was interesting. Plus it was on stuff from my microbio class. I answered all those, had around 18 min left over, and redid the first passage. Try not to freak out, just keep marking those questions! Easier than 2009 ada. I also numbered 1-14 on my sheet and wrote 1-2 key words for each paragraph. It maybe saved me around 5 min at most, but totally not necessary to do.
How I studied: (Used CDR)
I guess you can't really study for this. But you can for sure get your timing and strategy down. I'm totally surprised I got this score. I'm not good at reading, I read books, but not as often as I would like. I read everything first, skim too technical and detailed stuff, and once I'm done, I S&D the questions. CDR was the most accurate as to the style of the questions and the inferences and tone. But achiever and topscore was similar only in that everything was biology related. I don't think it would be wise to do S&D, I had a lot of tone questions and such. Get your timing down on CDR, I usually take 6-9 min reading a passage.
BIO:
Real Test:
Way, way more simple. Easier than 2009 ada for sure. I didn't have any random questions except one or two I think. And I can't remember what it was about. I was super worried about this section as I did not do well in it in my practice scores. I seriously had a question that was almost word for word of a question on DatqVault… Score!! I used Datq to time myself, I usually finished after around 15-17 minutes. On the real dat I had around 30 min left to go back and check through my sciences, plenty of time honestly.. I was leisurely checking my answers, and thanking God for every second of it. But when I first started the sciences, I was a frantic madman. I want to stress this though, only spend around 15-20 min on this section. You want to invest your time in OC and GC.
How I studied: (Used Cliff's, KBB, Dat destroyer, Campbell's, DatQVault, and various notes from SDN)
I was worried about this section, GC, and RC the most. I've only taken general bio series and sucked at them. I pretty much started studying with little understanding of biology. I started off by reading KBB and Cliff's, along with 25 pages of Campbells everyday. I read campbell's until page 420, and realized I was wasting my life!! I forgot everything I read, it's not worth your time. Invest in GC and OC as everyone says, just study enough for bio to get solid scores. Just get Campbell's 7th edition, which is like 10 bucks, and read sections you're having a hard time with. KBB was kinda crappy, but I loved the endocrine section, I highly recommend you read that section at least. So all in all I read KBB once, cliff's I think 3 times. I always have to reread the plant/animal form/biodiversity/and reproduction section. I reread them the day before my test. I ALWAYS forget everything like 2 days later lol… so you're not alone if you can relate. I did dat destroyer bio 2 times, and the third time I just glanced at the answers and explanations as I was running out of time. I think overall destroyer bio was okay, but way too detailed (Which isn't bad I guess). The must have resource is Cliff's, and the must have practice test is DatQVault... Seriously, DatQvault is amazing. The structure of the site, the layout, the explanations, the results page, it is superb. Whoever made it did a great job. The questions were harder than real dat, but covered topics very well. I really, really, like that site, not much credit is given to them, but that site is an excellent resource. I also read Allan's and Ch. 19-21 notes 2x, they were okay, but not necessary. Pm me for the notes on Ch.19-21 and Allan's notes if you want them. I added some stuff on Allan's and corrected some stuff I saw fit.
GC:
Real Test:
It was so freaking simple. I could not believe it. It was just like 2007 ada, 2009 was pretty close too. Topscore is comparable and Achiever and most of all destroyer is way harder. Be prepared to do some calculations though. Memorize simple fractions so it's easier, like 1/7 = .142. I'm so glad I memorized these because I used them for a calculation I needed. Also for decimals, just convert to scientific notion, it'll save your life. But the calculations were not too difficult, so don't worry about it! I think this section took me around 20-30 min to complete. All my practice tests I usually spent around 45 min on this section.
How I studied: (Chad, Dat destroyer)
This was the hardest section for me to master. Of course, I started off by watching Chad, and man he is simply, stunningly, wonderfully handsome!!! No homo? I love his pauses and his "cools." But seriously, he is the best. I took extensive notes, a 30 minute video took me 1.5-2 hrs to complete. I forgot everything from college, so I had to resort to this. Once I was done with that, throughout the course of 3 months I read through my notes 3-4 times. It took me 2 days to read all of GC and OC… After Chad, I went to the oh so loved Destroyer. This was the point in time where I really wanted to be watching Chad again. At least Chad had some humor!!! Although it tended to be dry haha. But I went through destroyer 4x. I got around 30-40% correct the first time. Around 85% correct the second. Around 95% correct the third, and 100% correct the 4th. If you really master destroyer, you'll be totally prepared. I did not believe others, but it is true, the real DAT is much more simplistic.
OC:
Real Test:
It was even more freaking simpler than GC. OH MY GOODNESS. I expected to get 30 b/c I thought I got everything correct, but I guess not. It was on par with 2007 ada and easier than 2009. I had nothing on SN2 which I was disappointed with. The electrophilic aromatic substitutions were soooo simple. Everything was soooo easy. I was like WTFreezepops? after I finished. It took me around 20-30 minutes to complete this section. I wasted my time trying to read more into a question because they seemed too simplistic to me. Spend around 20-30 minute on this section, because GC will take the most time (at least for me). But make sure you're thorough, because this section can really boost your score!
How I studied: (Chad, Dat destroyer)
Pretty much exactly the same as how I studied GC. OC was always my favorite to study for the dat. Dat destroyer and Chad will prepare you very, very well. Don't worry. The synthesis problems are multistep in destroyer… They are 1-2 step in real dat. No oddball questions. All of the problems I've seen in one way, shape or form b/c of destroyer and practice tests. Seriously, prepare for this section very well because it will boost your TS!!! But don't stress about this section, you'll be totally ready.
What I wish people wrote more about:
My usual study habits:
I was very blessed to have the opportunity to just study at home for 3 months. My parents are very understanding. I know some people don't have this opportunity, but I really believe 5-6 hrs consistently will give you success. You do not have to study 10 hrs everyday. Just study very smart.
So I get up around 6:15 each morning. At 6:30 I start studying. I study ochem first because it's the easiest for me and I'm freaking half asleep and about to pass out. So it helps. At 9 or 9:30 I eat. Then I study again at 10 or 10:30. I take mini breaks every hr or 2 hrs. I sometimes work out or play with my dog for a bit. At around 6 I eat dinner and study off and on again til 11. Then I wash up and pass out. Repeat. But again, I did not study on Sundays, and lightly on Saturdays, and a few off days.
What I did for fun:
I totally neglected my friends. I just had to… I'm sorry to them! I did however spend time with fam, as they are the most important to me. And I always went to church on Sundays. As pathetic as it sounds, I usually spent my free time on youtube. I also worked out, but stopped lifting around 1 month into studying. I'm not a big guy, but I used to rep 175 on bench. Now I can barely do 135 once. I also played the guitar/piano, or took a mini nap around 30 min. YES naps were very fun!! I also worked on my jeep, but not too much.
What I did before test day:
I studied 4-5 hrs in the morning, reviewing formulas, reviewing the roadmaps, reviewing GC and OC probs I had trouble on Destroyer, and skimming the chapters on cliff's I despised. I then laid around the house doing nothing. I spent time with fam, watched some baseball, but not too much computer or tv. I did not want to stress my eyes too much. Just make sure you relax!! I also went out and bought bananas, gatorade and an odwalla bar to take to test day. I also started feeling sick, so I started to freak out and ate some cold meds before I went to bed. Make sure you get a good nights sleep. I slept 10 hrs lol. I slept rather quickly surprisingly.. I think I was just exhausted from all the studying. Also at least 1 week before your testing day, do NOT go visit SDN. I'm so glad I chose to do this, as all the breakdowns were freaking me out. The week before my test I just wanted a 19. I would be totally content with a 19. Super happy with a 20. Just set your mind like that, you will come out winning either way.
Test day:
I got up at 9:30. Having slept 10 hrs, I did not feel refreshed at all. I wanted to sleep more. But I got up and got ready. My test was in the afternoon, so I studied only around 1-2 hrs, reviewing only formulas. I ate a light breakfast, not heavy. I think lighter will be better, too heavy can lead to a stomach ache or brain farts, and both result in rectal dysfunction, so just avoid a heavy breakfast. Then I walked around the house. Surprisingly I wasn't THAT nervous. Although I was still nervous, not as much as I thought I'd be. I think I was just sick of the DAT at this point. I also prayed a lot. Not just this day, but throughout my study period…
Anywhoozles I then realized you need 2 signature IDs!! Not just one. So I started freaking the Fudgecakes out until I realized my passport does indeed have a signature…….fml. But I took my license and passport with me. I got to the test center 30 min b4 my testing time, and the lady there was freaking nice. And beautiful. But having been pretty much locked up in the house, everyone looked beautiful to me at this point. She let me start right away after peeing. I had 2 laminated sheets of paper, and 2 fine tipped markers. No eraser. I wore a long sleeve and tested it out before I started my test and couldn't erase the pen marks either. But during the test I never ran out of room on the laminated papers. You can write front and back, plenty of space. You will be fine, don't worry about it. I'm glad I got the materials that I did than a board and a marker. I also brought two earplugs, but they had the noise cancelling headphones as well. I used both lol. But the headphones were pretty heavy, but did some serious noise cancelling.
But I could feel my pulse on my head throughout the whole test which was kinda gross. And distracting because it was beating really fast… I mean really fast, i was kind of getting worried. During the middle of the sciences, my stomach started to growl like none other. It was kind of distracting, but just remember everyone is wearing a headphone! And those who are not can just put one on!!! During the break I shoved a banana down my throat and ate half of the odwalla bar. I wanted to eat the whole thing but I started gagging from lack of water. I only took a sip of the gatorate afterwards b/c I didn't want to wet my pants. I used the restroom and came back and had 5 min left on the timer. This was when I started putting math formula's on one of my sheets. I put trig crap and conversions. I hardly used them on the QR though. Also, wear a long sleeve at least. It was so cold in there, I thought my family jewels were gonna disappear forever.
After I was done with QR I was so freaking nervous. Surprisingly I wasn't nervous during the test really, you just don't have time or energy for that. But at this point, my hands started shaking, and I was still SO freaking cold!! I looked at my scores and almost passed out. I thanked God, I thanked the lady outside, which transfigured to a not so pretty lady, but I digress. When she handed me my print out, I wrinkled it too much to my liking b/c my hands were shaking so badly, but I was pumped!!! I drove topless (a jeep remember) and road off into the sunset!! But then I came home and celebrated and here I am drinking wine and boring you all to death.
Thoughts about practice tests:
I bought the 5 test Achiever and the 10 test CDR. Please don't do this. Just buy the 3 test Achiever and the 6 test CDR. You can't really study for reading, and by test 4-6 you will have found your timing and strategy. After that, it's just wasting time. Also for Achiever, test 4 and 5 are wayyy harder than test 1-3 or the real dat for that matter. Don't hurt your moral further. If you're going to do achiever at all, do it as I did.
Do achievers first. If you score poorly, no biggy, you can gain your confidence from Topscores. After topscore do 2009 ADA first, not 2007 ada. Save 2007 ada last because it will boost your confidence!! I took 2009 ada and got 20AA.. And was pretty bummed. But 2007 ada will save you and it is was more similar to the my real dat than the 2009 ada. Overall, 2007 ada was the most similar, then 2009 and topscores were comparable, and lastly Achiever.
What I wish I did differently:
Do not read Campbell's as stated before. I was too ambitious when I started, but I could've spent so much time doing other much more productive stuff. Buy a stopwatch when you first start studying. Believe in yourself. Also, ask deep conceptual questions on Chad's forums!! He takes around a day or two to respond, and is so thorough and helpful, it is really amazing. Ask any questions you have, from destroyer or whatever. He is one beautiful human being.
Conclusion:
I hope this breakdown can be of some help to even a minute minority of you. If one person benefits, my work is done. If you read all of this…. Thank you for experiencing to some extent the journey that I went through. I know the DAT is not THAT big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but this has got to be one of the most stressful 3 months of my life. I was so nervous that if I failed, I would have wasted 3 months of my life and my family's honor!! Not really, but I wanted to make my parents proud to some extent. And Wow…. I cannot believe this is all over with now. I am left so much more humbled. I understand the pain you are going through, the doubt, the hurt, the anxiety, the fear, the sleepiness, the hunger for a decent score, and most of all the dream to become a dentist. Hold my hand, you can do this, we can do this, we will do this. Can't wait to meet you in my future class, friend.
Sorry if this is flappin' cheesy, I'm feeling emotional reflecting on these past few months. And this wine is really heavy for some reason and getting to me. I really do believe in each and every one of you. If I can do it, my God, you can do it. Thank you everyone on SDN again. I am truly grateful.. Also, I plan to apply next cycle, so I'll have a gap year to loll around! Again ask any questions, or clarifications, I am more than happy to answer to the best of my ability.
Also, I'm willing to donate any of my materials if you live near the Seattle area... But I need to check up with a couple friends who might need. Pm me
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