I Just Aced The Dat!!!!

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rajmahal1980

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Ok so I didn't get every question right, but close! Here are my scores:

Academic Average: 26
PAT: 24
Total Science: 25
Biology: 24
Gchem: 25
Ochem:29
Reading Comp: 25
Quant. Reasoning: 29


Ok so here is my story, I made a career change from finance last year but applied too late in the cycle and didn't get in anywhere. I got a 22 the first time I took the test but since I was not a science major I knew I could do better after taking more science courses (I had never taken ochem when I took the DAT the 1st time).

Also I really want to go to UOP and they want all 20s and above. I think they will be happy with my 24s and above 🙂.

Anyway feel free to ask me any questions. I know some people don't like to help each other out but I know first hand how stressfull dental admissions is and would be happy to answer any questions.

To tell you the truth I am a bit stunned right now and will be drinking myself silly tonight.

Oh and by the way, YES the sea urchin question was on the test! And NO I wouldn't have got it right if I hadn't read about it on here and read those pages in my Campbell's Biology book.

So thanks to all of you!!
 
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rajmahal2004 said:
Ok so I didn't get every question right, but close! Here are my scores:

Academic Average: 26
PAT: 24
Total Science: 25
Biology: 24
Gchem: 25
Ochem:29
Reading Comp: 25
Quant. Reasoning: 29


Ok so here is my story, I made a career change from finance last year but applied too late in the cycle and didn't get in anywhere. I got a 22 the first time I took the test but since I was not a science major I knew I could do better after taking more science courses (I had never taken ochem when I took the DAT the 1st time).

Also I really want to go to UOP and they want all 20s and above. I think they will be happy with my 24s and above 🙂.

Anyway feel free to ask me any questions. I know some people don't like to help each other out but I know first hand how stressfull dental admissions is and would be happy to answer any questions.

To tell you the truth I am a bit stunned right now and will be drinking myself silly tonight.

Oh and by the way, YES the sea urchin question was on the test! And NO I wouldn't have got it right if I hadn't read about it on here and read those pages in my Campbell's Biology book.

So thanks to all of you!!
Click to expand...

what was the sea urchin???

goooooooooood job though.. wow.. how much did you study and what did you study??? i wish i could do that well.... i am sure you worked hard though... gooooooooooood luck and hope you get into uop...

what was the RC on??? planets and stuff?
 
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rajmahal2004 said:
Ok so I didn't get every question right, but close! Here are my scores:

Academic Average: 26
PAT: 24
Total Science: 25
Biology: 24
Gchem: 25
Ochem:29
Reading Comp: 25
Quant. Reasoning: 29


Ok so here is my story, I made a career change from finance last year but applied too late in the cycle and didn't get in anywhere. I got a 22 the first time I took the test but since I was not a science major I knew I could do better after taking more science courses (I had never taken ochem when I took the DAT the 1st time).

Also I really want to go to UOP and they want all 20s and above. I think they will be happy with my 24s and above 🙂.

Anyway feel free to ask me any questions. I know some people don't like to help each other out but I know first hand how stressfull dental admissions is and would be happy to answer any questions.

To tell you the truth I am a bit stunned right now and will be drinking myself silly tonight.

Oh and by the way, YES the sea urchin question was on the test! And NO I wouldn't have got it right if I hadn't read about it on here and read those pages in my Campbell's Biology book.

So thanks to all of you!!
Click to expand...

Whoa, congratz. I never knew those scores were possible. How often did you study? You must be freakin smart though. I don't know if I can pull off those scores even if I really tried.
 
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Damn :wow: Yup, I'd say UOP will think those scores are alright. I'm starting to wonder why even sent my app fee there. :laugh:

Go drink yourself silly...you might have the highest scores in the country. :horns:
 
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Wow, That is AMAZING!

Congratulations...

I'm sure they'll love to have you.

Please tell us how you studied and what tools/techniques you used when you get a chance. Any/all info would be much appreciated by all of us studying for it, I'm sure.

BRAVO!
 
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Damn those are some sick scores!!! Nice job and I am sure UOP will be more then pleased with those scores. 😀 😀
 
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damn dude. lookin at people's scores like yours make me think to get a 20 is no big deal at all. kinda deminishes my hopes. anyways.... whats the sea urchin question? what other questions do you wanna help inform me of?? 🙂 I take my test on August 4th!!
 
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You should apply to Harvard too. If your GPA is 3.7 or above and you have good extracurriculars, you have a decent/good chance of getting in (just look at the Harvard Dental School's website).
 
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rajmahal2004 said:
Ok so I didn't get every question right, but close! Here are my scores:

Academic Average: 26
PAT: 24
Total Science: 25
Biology: 24
Gchem: 25
Ochem:29
Reading Comp: 25
Quant. Reasoning: 29


Ok so here is my story, I made a career change from finance last year but applied too late in the cycle and didn't get in anywhere. I got a 22 the first time I took the test but since I was not a science major I knew I could do better after taking more science courses (I had never taken ochem when I took the DAT the 1st time).

So thanks to all of you!!
Click to expand...


getting 22 without taking OChem is already sick enough...-_-;
 
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rajmahal2004 said:
I got a 22 the first time I took the test but since I was not a science major I knew I could do better after taking more science courses (I had never taken ochem when I took the DAT the 1st time).
Click to expand...

congrats. good job. When did you apply last year?
 
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Wow.. You're a punk.. The day the nerd with the highest DAT scores I've ever seen anywhere decides to take his DAT is the same day that I take mine. I solely blame you for breaking the curve and me not getting .1% higher on all my scores. 😉 Great job on some amazing scores!
 
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Well I wouldn't say NERDY! If I was nerdy I wouldn't have got a 2.8 GPA in college in the first place and have been forced to ace the DAT. Ok well I have been nerdy for the past 2 months, I'll give you that!

Anyway I got a bunch of emails from people along with questions on here so I'll just write down my overall opinions of each section:

BIOLOGY:
Ok the sea urchin question is really not about sea urchins but really about the fertilization membrane that blocks polyspermy. Basically it asks what is the purpose of the fertilization membrane and the answer is it prevents polyspermy, which basically means after one sperm enters the egg, others sperm are prevented from entering.
Most of the bio questions were straight foward and I way overstudied! On some practice tests there were very specific classification questions but I didn't really find any on the actual test.


GCHEM:
This was the big one for me. I got an 18 the first time and the main reason I resat the test was to get all 20s so I actually skipped all the bio questions and went straight to the gchem section. I found it recidulously easy. Again just do a lot of the available practice questions whether they be from Kaplan, topscore, dat acheiver, etc. Lots and lots and lots of dilution questions (you know that M1V1=M2P2 ones). The only other thing I can say is make sure you have enough time to go back over these ones cause as some of you know the most silly mistakes you will make are in gchem.

OCHEM:
lots of SN1, SN2, E1, E2 stuff. You MUST know all the characteristics of these, and if you do these questions are a breeze. Do lots of problems from your ochem book which ask you to select the best mechanism. Little differences can change the mechanism. For example know that with E1 and SN1 you have a carbocation so rearrangement to produce a more stable carbocation will generally always occer. However this isnt always the case with E2. Yes E2 reactions usually produce more substituted double bonds but if you have a sterically hindered base or other steric issues you can have least substitued (hoffman) products. Feel free to message me if you need more help with this type of stuff.

OVERALL STRATEGY FOR SCIENCES:
From taking lots of practice tests I realized that most of the questions I missed were really silly mistakes like not reading the question correctly, or small calculation errors in gchem. So I went into the test with the strategy of working quickly and having enough time to go over every question. As it turned out I had enough time to review all 100 questions at least once and some questions even 3 times. Everyone has there own test strategy but I suggest working quickly and skipping hard questions. You never know how your mind can work 20-30 minutes later, you might re-read the question and find it easy then.

Ok I'll stop now before I put you all to sleep. I'll post the reading, QR and PAT comments later tonight.

Real quick, what other schools do you think I should apply to? I only sent my app to 5 schools (UOP, NYU, USC, UCSF, and Boston). Someone had mentioned Harvard but I don't think they'd bother with my low GPA (2.8 overall, 3.0 science)
 
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rajmahal2004 said:
Well I wouldn't say NERDY! If I was nerdy I wouldn't have got a 2.8 GPA in college in the first place and have been forced to ace the DAT. Ok well I have been nerdy for the past 2 months, I'll give you that!

Anyway I got a bunch of emails from people along with questions on here so I'll just write down my overall opinions of each section:

BIOLOGY:
Ok the sea urchin question is really not about sea urchins but really about the fertilization membrane that blocks polyspermy. Basically it asks what is the purpose of the fertilization membrane and the answer is it prevents polyspermy, which basically means after one sperm enters the egg, others sperm are prevented from entering.
Most of the bio questions were straight foward and I way overstudied! On some practice tests there were very specific classification questions but I didn't really find any on the actual test.


GCHEM:
This was the big one for me. I got an 18 the first time and the main reason I resat the test was to get all 20s so I actually skipped all the bio questions and went straight to the gchem section. I found it recidulously easy. Again just do a lot of the available practice questions whether they be from Kaplan, topscore, dat acheiver, etc. Lots and lots and lots of dilution questions (you know that M1V1=M2P2 ones). The only other thing I can say is make sure you have enough time to go back over these ones cause as some of you know the most silly mistakes you will make are in gchem.

OCHEM:
lots of SN1, SN2, E1, E2 stuff. You MUST know all the characteristics of these, and if you do these questions are a breeze. Do lots of problems from your ochem book which ask you to select the best mechanism. Little differences can change the mechanism. For example know that with E1 and SN1 you have a carbocation so rearrangement to produce a more stable carbocation will generally always occer. However this isnt always the case with E2. Yes E2 reactions usually produce more substituted double bonds but if you have a sterically hindered base or other steric issues you can have least substitued (hoffman) products. Feel free to message me if you need more help with this type of stuff.

OVERALL STRATEGY FOR SCIENCES:
From taking lots of practice tests I realized that most of the questions I missed were really silly mistakes like not reading the question correctly, or small calculation errors in gchem. So I went into the test with the strategy of working quickly and having enough time to go over every question. As it turned out I had enough time to review all 100 questions at least once and some questions even 3 times. Everyone has there own test strategy but I suggest working quickly and skipping hard questions. You never know how your mind can work 20-30 minutes later, you might re-read the question and find it easy then.

Ok I'll stop now before I put you all to sleep. I'll post the reading, QR and PAT comments later tonight.

Real quick, what other schools do you think I should apply to? I only sent my app to 5 schools (UOP, NYU, USC, UCSF, and Boston). Someone had mentioned Harvard but I don't think they'd bother with my low GPA (2.8 overall, 3.0 science)
Click to expand...

Screw USC. Take a good look at Washington, UCLA (if you are a resident), tufts and Nova. All really great schools in really great locations.
 
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Congratulations! Those scores are amazing! Hopefully this will motivate me into studying more! What did you use for review? Did you take a lot of full lengths?
 
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I would just like to add my "damn". It seems to be the most popular expression for this thread!
 
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