19 AA , 19 science breakdown & what are my chances?

[yoolo1234]

should I retake it? by the time Im allowed to retake it (90 day rule) all the deadlines will pass.

I studied with destroyer and DAT Bootcamp and was doing really well on all the sections except QR

My avg DAT BC scores were the following:

ORG: around 23
Gen CHem: around 20-21
Reading : 21-23
PAT: 18-20
QR: 19-20
Bio: 20-22
I was hoping that since most people say BC underreport your score that I would get at least a 22 AA

Unfortunately, I did worse on every single section than I was used to. Plus the actual testing experience was terrible. my screen froze a few times and on the PAT the pens ran out of ink while I was doing hole punching so i had to wait at least 1 minute to get a replacement and that really stressed me out.

The science section was kinda weird as they were very little conceptual questions. I think the science section was on the "easy" end so missing 1 or 2 questions had a big impact on one's score.

In addition, the TFE and keyhole portion was impossible. BC PAT did not prepare me with that at all. I advise you to all get the other PAT study guide thats harder than BC and CD because all the hours i spend honing on improving my TFE and keyhole scores were useless. The angle ranking was a piece of cake though (much easier than BC). Unfortunately, i could not gage the difficulty of the hoel punching because i was under so much stressed since my pens ran out of ink at that moment and had to go forward and backwards to find the questions i skipped since i had to go all the way forward to the next set of questions where a pen was not needed.

The QR section was similar to BC. there were a few difficult questions that I skipped (about 3) that i completely guessed on. A lot of very basic. I think BC was a little bit harder. I think the test makers put a lot of calculation problems (like adding 5 different set of fractions together) to make students waste their time.

The reading was super easy which again confuses me because i got an 18 on that section but did very well on BC.


One thing to note is that i am a post bacc student who never took a science class while studying finance and econ made a lot of sacrifices just to be able to take the DAT and apply to dental school. My science GPA is around 3.6-3.7 and my undergrad gpa is 3.5 so i hope that admission people will like that im a post bacc whos more mature and dedicated.

Do you guys think I'll be able to get into a school? Im based in NY so ideally I'd like to stay in the Northeast.


Here are some tips for the test:
ask for new markers everytime cause they run out quickly
make sure to complain if something goes wrong. My testing center filed a report about the pen thing to the DAT folks.

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[ngskf1838]

your scores and stats are really good I wouldn’t be worried about applying at all! what do you think went wrong for the science potions of the test since you were scoring pretty good on BC? did you complete the destroyer for all the sciences? And also were these BC scores after your first time completing the practice tests or after multiple times? I’m only asking because I decided to push my test back after scoring consistent 18s and wanted to strengthen my scores during that time

 

[yoolo1234]

Thanks for the reply. I actually suffer from anxiety when big events happen to me (first day of school, big exams, life changing events). they dont happen often (like once a year) but when they do its a terrible feeling.

My scores on BC Bio was 20 (sometimes higher). I did all the bio destroyers and studied biology the following way:

Please note that since i am a post bacc student I ONLY EVER TOOK 2 BIO CLASSES (so compared to a student who took 6 bio classes im at a big disadvantage)

I downloaded the BC bio section, read each part and made flashcards of everything on Anki ( i also used ferralis and bio but mostly BC Bio pdf they provide). Then i did the bio destroyer and everything i did not know (even if i got the question right I added to Anki). I reviewed anki everyday for about 2.5 months. I took the practice tests ( i never did the full 5 hours BC tests because the questions they use are the same as the practice tests. however, i timed myself for every practice test)

I felt the Bio questions were a little bit different from the BC questions. On my test there were very few "complex questions".. it was very straightforward questions and on that day it was hard to choose between 2 answers. There was nothing that i never seen before , just the answer choices were difficult to tell apart.

Im very good at orgo cause my class was all synthesis (multi step synthesis that take 30 minutes to do, and we had to memorize everything plus additional "named reaction" ... so naturally i thought that the orgo was easy.

Although I practiced a lot and reviewed a lot, in the end, its TIME that will hurt you. I think the anxiety, the fact that i went back to school as a postbacc. made a lot of sacrifices just prevented me from doing as well as i should have.

My feeling on pushing back tests is this:

if you studied for 2-3 months, took it seriously, studied intelligently... if you feel you were disciplined throughout the whole process and want to get an idea how well you will really do , then get a different set of practice exams to score because you will obviously do better in Bio if you retake the same exact practice questions.

I dont think that your score will differ that much from your practice tests unless you are really unlucky or very lucky.

Unfortunately, every DAT taker has different opinions on the exam. A friend of mine had the exact scores as me on the BC practice tests and his score went up from an avg of 20-21 on BC to 25-27 on DAT . he told me he felt really lucky and God was with him that day.

So if you feel you can do better, study more. if you feel you reached close to your best then studying more will only put more pressure on you. Remember, some people are less intelligent than others. We are not all equal. Some have much higher IQ's (they were born with it), others are better test takers. Whats important is to do YOUR BEST and relax. It was very difficult for me to accept that maybe im not good enough than i thought, but it is what it is. Also, im not an expert on the application process, but its better to apply as early as possible so i dont know how taking the exam so close to the deadline date will affect your application

 

[yoolo1234]

Questions:
1) What's your section-by-section breakdown?
2) Did you already apply this cycle?
3) Did you already take all the required pre-reqs before you took the test?

1: 19 QR, 18 PAT, 20 chem, 20 orgo, 18 reading, 18 bio, 19AA, 19 science
2. i applied in late july
3: i took the DAT 3 months after finishing my last pre reqs in the spring,
4. the testing center did write a comment or complaint to the DAT people saying i lost precious time due to their mistake

i studied very well. im very disciplined and have a 3.5 gpa, 3.67 science gpa. It is what it is,

 

[DAT Destroyer]

Congratulations! You did it! Your scores are very consistent and nothing low. As you said you are a very disciplined student with a great science GPA. You scored 20 in the Chem's very nice! Make sure you have a strong personal statement, that is the door opener to an interview and I feel you have an excellent chance at several schools in the NE.

Wishing you the best..Nancy

 

[DAT Destroyer]

I'd say to see how this cycle goes, but you may have to be prepared to retake for next cycle. Since you just took your DAT, your scores might not be official until the end of the month, which is kinda late. Since you've already applied, be sure to input these scores into your app and also email the schools asking if they'll accept your unofficial score report. Good luck

I agree with you, but would like to add a lot of schools in the NE end of August is not too late. I work with students applying in the NYC area that don't take the DAT until mid-August and they get interviews and acceptances this cycle.

 

[yoolo1234]

Congratulations! You did it! Your scores are very consistent and nothing low. As you said you are a very disciplined student with a great science GPA. You scored 20 in the Chem's very nice! Make sure you have a strong personal statement, that is the door opener to an interview and I feel you have an excellent chance at several schools in the NE.

Wishing you the best..Nancy

thanks for the encouragement! Ive just been down a lot because i expected to do much better (especially in orgo and reading) .. I think my personal statement is very strong because it is much different from other people because of my post bacc status so I basically wrote about what was the catalyst for that change, why dental school specifically (so they cant think that i should go to med school) , and how my academic and professional background is an advantage