- Joined
- Sep 18, 2007
- Messages
- 36
- Reaction score
- 0
Hi all,
Well, I just took the DATs yesterday and I wanted to see what others in the group thought. As you'll see, I have a lot of variation with my scores - keep in mind I'm self taught in Organic Chem and Biology. Scores are...
PAT: 24
QR: 19
RC: 17
BIO: 17
GC: 29
OC: 15
TS: 18
AA: 19
This academic year, I'm taking biology and organic chem. As I'm a nontraditional candidate, I'm being aggressive and will apply for a Fall 2008 start. I graduated with an engineering degree in 2004 (3.8 gpa) and worked on the financial end of healthcare before switching gears to dentistry full-time this spring/summer.
What do people think? Am I nuts or what?
Also, I wanted to share my opinion of study materials. I used the Kaplan blue book as an outline, which I supplemented with Schaum's Outline for Biology, Organic Chem for Dummies, and subject specific textbooks (intro level). I also used MIT's online free lectures for additional instruction, exams, problem sets.
BIO - Like others on the message board, I was surprised with some of the questions asked. I felt I knew the Kaplan material inside and out, as well as more detail through my supplemental materials. Lesson learned is to spend more time outside of Kaplan's content. I tried this using the ADA's DAT Specifications outline, but apparently not very well.
Chem - Here I felt Kaplan did a sufficient job (I suppose my score indicates this as well). Regardless, I recommend supplemental materials/problem sets to ensure your understanding.
OChem - This section wasn't very nice. Going into the test, I felt okay about the area but quickly realized that I simply didn't have everything down that I needed. I felt the Kaplan testing materials were "easier" than the real test, but there were also other testing factors to take into consideration.
PAT - In addition to Kaplan, I used Baron's to get more practice sets. I felt the Barron's PATs were much more challenging than both the actual test and Kaplan practice sets.
Well, I just took the DATs yesterday and I wanted to see what others in the group thought. As you'll see, I have a lot of variation with my scores - keep in mind I'm self taught in Organic Chem and Biology. Scores are...
PAT: 24
QR: 19
RC: 17
BIO: 17
GC: 29
OC: 15
TS: 18
AA: 19
This academic year, I'm taking biology and organic chem. As I'm a nontraditional candidate, I'm being aggressive and will apply for a Fall 2008 start. I graduated with an engineering degree in 2004 (3.8 gpa) and worked on the financial end of healthcare before switching gears to dentistry full-time this spring/summer.
What do people think? Am I nuts or what?
Also, I wanted to share my opinion of study materials. I used the Kaplan blue book as an outline, which I supplemented with Schaum's Outline for Biology, Organic Chem for Dummies, and subject specific textbooks (intro level). I also used MIT's online free lectures for additional instruction, exams, problem sets.
BIO - Like others on the message board, I was surprised with some of the questions asked. I felt I knew the Kaplan material inside and out, as well as more detail through my supplemental materials. Lesson learned is to spend more time outside of Kaplan's content. I tried this using the ADA's DAT Specifications outline, but apparently not very well.
Chem - Here I felt Kaplan did a sufficient job (I suppose my score indicates this as well). Regardless, I recommend supplemental materials/problem sets to ensure your understanding.
OChem - This section wasn't very nice. Going into the test, I felt okay about the area but quickly realized that I simply didn't have everything down that I needed. I felt the Kaplan testing materials were "easier" than the real test, but there were also other testing factors to take into consideration.
PAT - In addition to Kaplan, I used Baron's to get more practice sets. I felt the Barron's PATs were much more challenging than both the actual test and Kaplan practice sets.
