drdentaldds
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- Jul 2, 2025
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Hello! I’ve spent countless hours and sleepless nights perusing the forums and reading about other people’s DAT breakdown, and now that I’ve finished my exam I figured it’s time to post one of my own:
QR - 460
RC - 440
Bio - 430
GC - 420
OC - 420
SNS - 420
PAT - 530
AA - 430
Background:
Graduating class of 2025 with ~3.6 GPA
Materials Used:
Study Timeline:
My study timeline was all over the place. At the time I started ~Feb 2024 I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted to go into dentistry, and I was dealing with a lot of issues as far as my courseload and expected graduation date etc. I began studying very on and off, I wasn’t following any study schedule and was going at my own pace. Long story short this is method did not work out very well for me, and I couldn’t score anything above a 380 (converted from old scale). I couldn’t find motivation, I felt lost and I gave up on it for a few months. Around September 2024 I decided that I genuinely wanted to pursue dentistry after finding a mentor that was willing to help me through the process. Fast forward to around February 2025 and I began studying for this exam again. I started on DAT Booster’s 8 week study schedule and working it around my classes/shadowing/work, and adjusted my studying accordingly based on my areas of strength/weakness. Being a very methodical person myself I found that following DAT Booster’s 8 week pre-planned schedule was better off than doing it on my own, as it significantly helped to keep me planted and to know that I was moving at the right place in the right direction to cover all the necessary content for the exam. Once I finished the 8 week schedule I took 3 weeks to complete practice tests and improve on what I was getting wrong, and then I took the real exam in April 2025.
Day of exam:
Bio - There wasn’t anything too unexpected in this section. DAT Booster had provided very representative practice questions to what was on the actual exam. Biggest takeaway would be to not underestimate the diversity of life section. It’s big, there’s a lot of content, but once you learn it it’s easy points on this section. Another big one would be to prioritize structure and function of systems and make sure your information is up to date and detailed on it. Anki helps a lot with that, and it’ll pay off on exam day.
GC - More of the same, nothing unexpected. This section had a handful more questions about plugging in and solving for equations than I was expecting, but it isn’t much trouble when it comes to conceptual problems. Definitely be sure to brush up on the equations for that section before your exam.
OC - I scored higher in this section than I did on any of my previous practice tests. In my experience, on exam day the problems tended to lean towards conceptual problems and simpler reaction mechanisms than the practice tests, which was a welcome surprise. Best thing to do for this section would be to just review all the reactions and make sure you know their corresponding mechanisms.
Final Advice:
The DAT exam is no joke. It’s essential that you take it seriously and commit yourself to whatever study method you decide is best for you. The best score you can get can only be achieved as a product of your devotion to the process. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, and most importantly learn from those mistakes and strive to do better in the future. The worst thing you could do is not devote enough effort, take the exam and wish you could have put in more hours effectively studying. At the end of the day this exam is just a number they use to get you into dental school, not a representation of you as a person. Do your best, and the rest will follow.
QR - 460
RC - 440
Bio - 430
GC - 420
OC - 420
SNS - 420
PAT - 530
AA - 430
Background:
Graduating class of 2025 with ~3.6 GPA
Materials Used:
- DAT Booster - Hands down my favorite resource to use during exam prep, it made studying the content on this exam actually manageable between juggling classes/shadowing hours/work etc. I followed the 8 week study program as best as my schedule allowed, and on the days I missed I would just push back the rest of the study schedule to accommodate. As I’d go through the sections I would complete the corresponding question banks and do anki card review etc. The study notes helped me a lot especially before doing the anki cards, and it helped to give a bigger picture than the videos alone.
- Anki - I can’t explain how essential anki was to my scores. Without being constantly tested on the content I would have never gotten it to stick past a week. I pulled the anki decks straight off of DAT Booster and started doing every section for Bio as I was completing the videos and notes for the topics. For GC and OC I started my anki card review after I completed the complete topics to test my knowledge and retention.
- Mometrix Test Prep - I started off using this book before I learned about DAT Booster, and while the content aligns well with what’s on the DAT, I found that the majority of questions and practice tests were not representative of the real DAT. I’d skip this book entirely and just go with DAT Booster.
Study Timeline:
My study timeline was all over the place. At the time I started ~Feb 2024 I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted to go into dentistry, and I was dealing with a lot of issues as far as my courseload and expected graduation date etc. I began studying very on and off, I wasn’t following any study schedule and was going at my own pace. Long story short this is method did not work out very well for me, and I couldn’t score anything above a 380 (converted from old scale). I couldn’t find motivation, I felt lost and I gave up on it for a few months. Around September 2024 I decided that I genuinely wanted to pursue dentistry after finding a mentor that was willing to help me through the process. Fast forward to around February 2025 and I began studying for this exam again. I started on DAT Booster’s 8 week study schedule and working it around my classes/shadowing/work, and adjusted my studying accordingly based on my areas of strength/weakness. Being a very methodical person myself I found that following DAT Booster’s 8 week pre-planned schedule was better off than doing it on my own, as it significantly helped to keep me planted and to know that I was moving at the right place in the right direction to cover all the necessary content for the exam. Once I finished the 8 week schedule I took 3 weeks to complete practice tests and improve on what I was getting wrong, and then I took the real exam in April 2025.
Day of exam:
Bio - There wasn’t anything too unexpected in this section. DAT Booster had provided very representative practice questions to what was on the actual exam. Biggest takeaway would be to not underestimate the diversity of life section. It’s big, there’s a lot of content, but once you learn it it’s easy points on this section. Another big one would be to prioritize structure and function of systems and make sure your information is up to date and detailed on it. Anki helps a lot with that, and it’ll pay off on exam day.
GC - More of the same, nothing unexpected. This section had a handful more questions about plugging in and solving for equations than I was expecting, but it isn’t much trouble when it comes to conceptual problems. Definitely be sure to brush up on the equations for that section before your exam.
OC - I scored higher in this section than I did on any of my previous practice tests. In my experience, on exam day the problems tended to lean towards conceptual problems and simpler reaction mechanisms than the practice tests, which was a welcome surprise. Best thing to do for this section would be to just review all the reactions and make sure you know their corresponding mechanisms.
Final Advice:
The DAT exam is no joke. It’s essential that you take it seriously and commit yourself to whatever study method you decide is best for you. The best score you can get can only be achieved as a product of your devotion to the process. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, and most importantly learn from those mistakes and strive to do better in the future. The worst thing you could do is not devote enough effort, take the exam and wish you could have put in more hours effectively studying. At the end of the day this exam is just a number they use to get you into dental school, not a representation of you as a person. Do your best, and the rest will follow.
