2/12/11 DAT done!

[Mtd0588]

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Just finished the DAT! I think I made out pretty well

PAT 23 96.4
QR 24 99.0
RC 21 76.7
Bio 21 92.3
GC 21 87.0
OC 20 79.9
TS 21 91.6
AA 21 93.4

Not too thrilled about OC and RC, but I think they're acceptable, ie. not worth retaking for the hopes of improvement. Tell me what you think 🙂

Here's my breakdown of each section:

Bio:
Bio wasn't too bad. I found the questions to be pretty straightforward. There were some random questions though. I used DAT destroyer (2009) textbooks, Cliff's AP bio (3rd ed). I would highly recommend each of these for bio. Basically, I read through Cliff's as a foundation, then answered the questions from Destroyer. From there, I got an idea of which topics I needed more in depth review in (pretty much all of them at that point) and read chapters from Campbell. I also looked through Kaplans blue book, but I found the information to be rather diluted, so I didn't really use it.

GC:
I started out with the ACS test book to first get into chem (after 2 years, I had forgotten a lot of concepts). I would highly recommend this. I learn better through self-teaching, this was definitely really good for that. Basically for each topic, it gives you an array of practice questions with very detailed answers (a great way to learn), then a bunch of practice questions. The only thing is the answers to the practice questions don't have solutions, so you kind of have to figure out yourself why you got them wrong (although this is arguably better).
I followed up with the DAT destroyer, which was really helpful also.

OC:
This was my weakest section, I was never too good at orgo, so I was relatively happy with this score. I probably could have studied more though. I prepared the same way as I did with GC; ACS, then Destroyer. Again, ACS is great for this section, as is Destroyer.

PAT:
I didn't really study for this section, aside from taking practice exams (topscore, scores below). I'm pretty good at this section anyway. I was kind of crunched for time, so my strategy was to spend more time on the sciences, so I didn't bother with CDP or anything like that.

RC:
Again, didn't use any sources to study, just the practice exams. If I had more time I probably would have done something like CDR to bring up my score. I hated this section, haha

QR:
Haha, I spent the least amount of time on this section. I didn't even learn trig, didn't do the math section in destroyer, and when taking the topscore exams, for 2 of them I gave up early and just ended the test (lazy, I know😳). I don't even consider myself good at math. Needless to say, I was surprised that this was my best section.

TOP SCORE:

1 2 3
BIO 17 16 17
GC 19 19 19
OC 15 17 18
PAT 18 21 22
RC 19 22 18
QR 16 12* 1*

*abandoned either during QR section, or right after RC😴

Overall, I think I could have studied more, but when does anyone ever feel like the studied enough for this epic test?

Tell me what you think, am I competetive with a 3.7 (sci and total) gpa?

 

[Kahr]

Yes, you're competitive.

Based on your breakdown, it doesn't sound like you were too worried beforehand, I'd like to know your strategy for anxiety?😉

Also, you QR comments made me happy. Good luck in the application cycle.

 

[sbdento]

Congrats, now you can relax and enjoy yourself!

What is wrong with oc and rc??? Those are all great scores and with that solid gpa, you'll be a verrrry competitive applicant.

Great job!

 

[farmville]

awesome scores, how long did u study for again?

 

[Jackson-Ave-Dental]

Very well rounded scores.

Great job dude! 👍

Give yourself a triple pat on your back.

Now go out and get wasted

 

[recyrb]

Very well rounded scores.

Great job dude! 👍

Give yourself a triple pat on your back.

Now go out and get wasted

Great job 👍

yessir, i like that idea, get wasted. Great scores!! I hope you are competitive because those are close to what I am aiming for! (with a lesser of a GPA)

Real quick, anyone know how to improve their application. I will have about 80 hours of shadowing is that good?

 

[Kahr]

Great job 👍

yessir, i like that idea, get wasted. Great scores!! I hope you are competitive because those are close to what I am aiming for! (with a lesser of a GPA)

Real quick, anyone know how to improve their application. I will have about 80 hours of shadowing is that good?

That amount of shadowing is fine. Typically 50-100 is recommended (this has been discussed, search about for it if you need reassurances).

If you want to improve your application outside numbers, perhaps do some volunteer work in something you are interested in (you could do something random, but I think if it's something you're at least somewhat interested in, if asked, you will sound more passionate and descriptive about it, and not totally generic).

 

[Mtd0588]

Thanks 🙂
I studied for about 3 months. The first couple of months my pace was rather slow, but then I really picked it up for about a month. During that time I studied pretty much every hour I could fit in, about 25 hours a week.

As far as stress goes, I basically just kept it in the back of my mind that I could always retake the exam in three months and do better, if it didn't go my way today. That way I never felt like there was too much riding on it this time, so stress levels were generally low (although there were a few stressful moments). My motivation came the burning desire to just be over and done with it. If I did well enough, I'll be able to take spring break off and maybe go somewhere😀; if not, I'd chain myself to my DAT books.

Also, test day, I did everything I knew would keep me calm while giving me the greatest advantage. I took the day before the exam off, and just relaxed (although I did do a few problems and reading, couldn't help myself). I woke up an extra hour early to have a nice slow paced morning. I made sure to drink my coffee half an hour before the test time (got over the coffee jitters, yet still had caffeine energy). Also, (probably most important) told myself that I was going to do great (and ignored the doubts)

Hope this breakdown helps, good luck to anyone about to take it, you'll do great!

 

[magdi1989]

Thanks 🙂
I studied for about 3 months. The first couple of months my pace was rather slow, but then I really picked it up for about a month. During that time I studied pretty much every hour I could fit in, about 25 hours a week.

As far as stress goes, I basically just kept it in the back of my mind that I could always retake the exam in three months and do better, if it didn't go my way today. That way I never felt like there was too much riding on it this time, so stress levels were generally low (although there were a few stressful moments). My motivation came the burning desire to just be over and done with it. If I did well enough, I'll be able to take spring break off and maybe go somewhere😀; if not, I'd chain myself to my DAT books.

Also, test day, I did everything I knew would keep me calm while giving me the greatest advantage. I took the day before the exam off, and just relaxed (although I did do a few problems and reading, couldn't help myself). I woke up an extra hour early to have a nice slow paced morning. I made sure to drink my coffee half an hour before the test time (got over the coffee jitters, yet still had caffeine energy). Also, (probably most important) told myself that I was going to do great (and ignored the doubts)

Hope this breakdown helps, good luck to anyone about to take it, you'll do great!

HEY... CONGRATS... i just wanted to ask you...how hard did you study the GC & OC Destroyer sections? & how many times did you do destroyer? and finally was the dat like destroyer gc and oc sections?

Thanks

 

[Mtd0588]

For GC, destroyer was very similar. Understanding each question in the destroyer will IMO give you a solid ability in this section. I went through the ACS book, then the destroyer once with GC. I always kinda clicked with GC, so I figured I didn't need to spend as great a time on it, as say, bio or oc.


For OC in my experience, the dat seemed to have a greater emphasis on the physical properties of molecules (e.g. bp, mp, acidic properties, resonance and its effects, etc.) so make double sure you're understanding the concepts behind the activities and physical properties of molecules. Nevertheless, the destroyer taught me a lot of useful reactions (there are so many to chose from!). I went through the destroyer twice. The first time for gaining a thorough understanding of the concepts, then a second time to more thoroughly remember, and more or less memorize all the necessary stuff.

 

[magdi1989]

For GC, destroyer was very similar. Understanding each question in the destroyer will IMO give you a solid ability in this section. I went through the ACS book, then the destroyer once with GC. I always kinda clicked with GC, so I figured I didn't need to spend as great a time on it, as say, bio or oc.


For OC in my experience, the dat seemed to have a greater emphasis on the physical properties of molecules (e.g. bp, mp, acidic properties, resonance and its effects, etc.) so make double sure you're understanding the concepts behind the activities and physical properties of molecules. Nevertheless, the destroyer taught me a lot of useful reactions (there are so many to chose from!). I went through the destroyer twice. The first time for gaining a thorough understanding of the concepts, then a second time to more thoroughly remember, and more or less memorize all the necessary stuff.

Thanks! Im using only Dat Destroyer for GC & OC and i know you said and emphasized concepts....but do you know if destroyer covers all of these concepts? thanks

 

[angelnyc89]

OP, good job! Very competitive! Can you post a link to get the ASC test book?! TIA

 

[Mtd0588]

Thanks! Im using only Dat Destroyer for GC & OC and i know you said and emphasized concepts....but do you know if destroyer covers all of these concepts? thanks

Yeah, I think the destroyer covers everything you need to know. My point was to just not get so caught up in memorizing reactions that you forget about the concepts. The ACS orgo study guide has a really good chapter on acids and bases; it really tests your knowledge on the acidic and basic properties of an array of organic molecules. Of course there are other good useful sections in the book, but that's just one that comes to mind.

OP, good job! Very competitive! Can you post a link to get the ASC test book?! TIA

Sure thing:
http://chemexams.chem.iastate.edu/guides/details_guides.cfm?ID=163
They're the GC and OC studyguides

 

[magdi1989]

thanks! one more question...lol

i know you did 3 topscore exams. my exam is coming up really soon and i was thinking about not even taking and practice. im not worried about timing because i was using destroyer.

so my question is.... other than just timing is it worth doing a practice test? thanks

 

[theskibumjohnso]

Just finished the DAT! I think I made out pretty well

PAT 23 96.4
QR 24 99.0
RC 21 76.7
Bio 21 92.3
GC 21 87.0
OC 20 79.9
TS 21 91.6
AA 21 93.4

Not too thrilled about OC and RC, but I think they're acceptable, ie. not worth retaking for the hopes of improvement. Tell me what you think 🙂

Here's my breakdown of each section:

Bio:
Bio wasn't too bad. I found the questions to be pretty straightforward. There were some random questions though. I used DAT destroyer (2009) textbooks, Cliff's AP bio (3rd ed). I would highly recommend each of these for bio. Basically, I read through Cliff's as a foundation, then answered the questions from Destroyer. From there, I got an idea of which topics I needed more in depth review in (pretty much all of them at that point) and read chapters from Campbell. I also looked through Kaplans blue book, but I found the information to be rather diluted, so I didn't really use it.

GC:
I started out with the ACS test book to first get into chem (after 2 years, I had forgotten a lot of concepts). I would highly recommend this. I learn better through self-teaching, this was definitely really good for that. Basically for each topic, it gives you an array of practice questions with very detailed answers (a great way to learn), then a bunch of practice questions. The only thing is the answers to the practice questions don't have solutions, so you kind of have to figure out yourself why you got them wrong (although this is arguably better).
I followed up with the DAT destroyer, which was really helpful also.

OC:
This was my weakest section, I was never too good at orgo, so I was relatively happy with this score. I probably could have studied more though. I prepared the same way as I did with GC; ACS, then Destroyer. Again, ACS is great for this section, as is Destroyer.

PAT:
I didn't really study for this section, aside from taking practice exams (topscore, scores below). I'm pretty good at this section anyway. I was kind of crunched for time, so my strategy was to spend more time on the sciences, so I didn't bother with CDP or anything like that.

RC:
Again, didn't use any sources to study, just the practice exams. If I had more time I probably would have done something like CDR to bring up my score. I hated this section, haha

QR:
Haha, I spent the least amount of time on this section. I didn't even learn trig, didn't do the math section in destroyer, and when taking the topscore exams, for 2 of them I gave up early and just ended the test (lazy, I know😳). I don't even consider myself good at math. Needless to say, I was surprised that this was my best section.

TOP SCORE:

1 2 3
BIO 17 16 17
GC 19 19 19
OC 15 17 18
PAT 18 21 22
RC 19 22 18
QR 16 12* 1*

*abandoned either during QR section, or right after RC😴

Overall, I think I could have studied more, but when does anyone ever feel like the studied enough for this epic test?

Tell me what you think, am I competetive with a 3.7 (sci and total) gpa?

I am not so sure you could apply with those scores. Not to mention the lower GPA (3.7 does not equal a 4.0) I guess it all depends if you are instate or out of state (because instate is less competitive than out of state) if you want to apply this year or next. If I were you I would wait and may be retake the DAT (really bump up those scores), get a few more dental hours under your belt, and may be even consider dental research or volunteering hours. This will also give you time to bring the 3.7 to a possible 3.9-3.8 ish. Good luck

 

[amalgamgrillz]

21=76%ile for reading comp?
wow..

 

[angelnyc89]

Sure thing:
http://chemexams.chem.iastate.edu/guides/details_guides.cfm?ID=163
They're the GC and OC studyguides

Thank you! Just picked up GC!

I am not so sure you could apply with those scores. Not to mention the lower GPA (3.7 does not equal a 4.0) I guess it all depends if you are instate or out of state (because instate is less competitive than out of state) if you want to apply this year or next. If I were you I would wait and may be retake the DAT (really bump up those scores), get a few more dental hours under your belt, and may be even consider dental research or volunteering hours. This will also give you time to bring the 3.7 to a possible 3.9-3.8 ish. Good luck

Please tell me your being sarcastic 🙄

 

[Mtd0588]

thanks! one more question...lol

i know you did 3 topscore exams. my exam is coming up really soon and i was thinking about not even taking and practice. im not worried about timing because i was using destroyer.

so my question is.... other than just timing is it worth doing a practice test? thanks

How do you know you're fine on timing? It might help to do at least one practice test just to make sure. Also, it'll get you used to the whole format of it, taking it on the computer, getting used to the periodic table, and whatnot. If anything it'll calm your nerves having had a run through. But content wise, you should be fine with destroyer IMO. Although the topscore exams are really helpful for this, they don't really have anything that wouldn't be in destroyer.

I am not so sure you could apply with those scores. Not to mention the lower GPA (3.7 does not equal a 4.0) I guess it all depends if you are instate or out of state (because instate is less competitive than out of state) if you want to apply this year or next. If I were you I would wait and may be retake the DAT (really bump up those scores), get a few more dental hours under your belt, and may be even consider dental research or volunteering hours. This will also give you time to bring the 3.7 to a possible 3.9-3.8 ish. Good luck

Not sure if you're serious (your tone is indeed very urgent) but thanks for the encouragement

 

[theskibumjohnso]

Thank you! Just picked up GC!



Please tell me your being sarcastic 🙄

Nope I am serious, nobody wants a douche like this in their class. Hey, look at my 99% on the last test we took, do you think I did alright? I am not sure it is high enough. How many hours did you study? I only studied a few min, just a quick review before the test, I didn't even try and look at what I got.
Let's hope he decides dentistry is above him, so we don't have to deal with him as professionals, or he decides research is his thing because he has zero social skills. I bet he is studying right now. It sounds like he has no job because who has weeks to study? There is no way someone that has a job can take all those practices test only to stop before the end and sleep.
I just checked, scratch that weeks to months, What a looser.

We want the guy that posted on working hard and average scores, the "look how I did, you can do it also" story. He moved, went to school, worked, and was accepted. What a cool dude.

 

[Mtd0588]

Nope I am serious, nobody wants a douche like this in their class. Hey, look at my 99% on the last test we took, do you think I did alright? I am not sure it is high enough. How many hours did you study? I only studied a few min, just a quick review before the test, I didn't even try and look at what I got.
Let's hope he decides dentistry is above him, so we don't have to deal with him as professionals, or he decides research is his thing because he has zero social skills. I bet he is studying right now. It sounds like he has no job because who has weeks to study? There is no way someone that has a job can take all those practices test only to stop before the end and sleep.
I just checked, scratch that weeks to months, What a looser.

We want the guy that posted on working hard and average scores, the "look how I did, you can do it also" story. He moved, went to school, worked, and was accepted. What a cool dude.

Hey, I've been working on my social skills! it's a work in progress😳

 

[theskibumjohnso]

Hey, I've been working on my social skills! it's a work in progress😳

It must be hard to work on your social skills living and mooching off your parents. Go read your dungeons and dragon book.😳

 

[iamgosu]

It must be hard to work on your social skills living and mooching off your parents. Go read your dungeons and dragon book.😳

haters gonna hate
unless u're joking, but still, haters gonna hate!

 

[321931]

I am not so sure you could apply with those scores. Not to mention the lower GPA (3.7 does not equal a 4.0) I guess it all depends if you are instate or out of state (because instate is less competitive than out of state) if you want to apply this year or next. If I were you I would wait and may be retake the DAT (really bump up those scores), get a few more dental hours under your belt, and may be even consider dental research or volunteering hours. This will also give you time to bring the 3.7 to a possible 3.9-3.8 ish. Good luck

Wrong.

<---predents 🙂

GJ OP. Apply early and hope for the best

 

[yappy]

For these ACS study guides... what comes with them?

Does it come with a list of topics to know?
Does it present information for you to learn/study?
Does it come with practice questions?

Thanks.

 

[Kahr]

For these ACS study guides... what comes with them?

Does it come with a list of topics to know?
Does it present information for you to learn/study?
Does it come with practice questions?

Thanks.

The ACS guide I had for ochem was sectionalized. It was exactly like it sounds, a study guide, it presented information on each topic then practice problems. Your question regarding a "list of topics to know" would apply only to the ACS exam, which is what the guides are for, not the DAT, so I don't think even if it came with a list it would be helpful for the DAT. The material overall is presented well, so as a general study resource it is good.

 

[Mtd0588]

For these ACS study guides... what comes with them?

Does it come with a list of topics to know?
Does it present information for you to learn/study?
Does it come with practice questions?

Thanks.

The ACS guides are explicitly for the ACS exam, not really the dat, but topic wise, they cover everything you would need to learn for the DAT. I suggest using them as tools to initially relearn gen chem and orgo. For me, I had forgotten most of everything from gc and oc, so the ACS guides were really helpful. I understand chad's videos is also good for learning all this, but going through the ACS guides requires more active learning, which in my opinion, is more effective.

The format of the ACS guides (to answer your questions more specifically):

They're broken up into around 10 chapters, by general topics. Your standard topics, typically the same way a textbook would break up the subject.

Each chapter/topic, begins with several (5-10 if I remember correctly) "sample questions". These are typically very involved, and require knowledge of a lot of concepts. For each of these questions, a very detailed solution is given (much more detailed than say, destroyer solutions). After these sample questions, is a practice test of about 30 questions. So to answer your question, there is no information presented (so to speak), but the solutions do explain an awful lot about each topic

My general disclaimer is that the ACS questions are not geared for the DAT, but they're a great learning tool.

 

[Lane138]

Congrats on being done! it's a great feeling to know that you can sell all your books and clear your desk now. PARTAY!