A wild breakdown appears! (AA23 TS23 PAT27)

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SDDDAT

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Just took the DAT recently and thought I'd do a quick breakdown to help others since I would've never gotten these scores if it weren't for all the great breakdowns I read on SDN.

My scores:
23AA 23TS 27Bio 22GC 24OC 22RC 27PAT 20QR

Like most others, I would say that Chad, Destroyer, Bootcamp are the three must-haves for doing well on the DAT. Chad for learning/reviewing the basics (probably 80% of the test), Destroyer for the more difficult problems (20% of the test), and Bootcamp for simulating the real test.

List of material used:
Chad's video (Both coursesaver and chadsvideos.com.) - The quizzes from coursersaver are helpful in that they cover some common tricky problems that may appear on the DAT.

Bootcamp - Make the PAT generators your best new friends! Practicing with the generators every day will definitely get you a 20+ in this section.

DAT Destroyer - Confidence-crushing material that will boost your scores above 20+ if you learn from it.

Math Destroyer - GREAT practice for QR. More below.

Kaplan Bluebook - Ehh, not worth buying it. A lot of important vocabs were missing in the bio section. I checked it out from the library for the diagnostics test:)

Feralis notes - I'd recommend going through these at least once including the excel sheet with taxonomy.

Cliff notes - Great for initial bio review, though need to be supplemented with Feralis or Destroyer.

Khan academy - The videos on human physiology are very well done. Easy to understand and concise. You can also speed up the videos to save time.

Craig Savage youtube videos - Very good videos for reviewing taxonomy and chordate evolution. Haven't seen too many people mention them but I'd highly recommend going through his videos on taxonomy if you'd rather watch than read.

I studied for about three months, 6-7 hours each day, but I think it was a bit too long for me. If I could do it again I'd definitely cut it down to two and a half or less. By the end of the third month I was starting to forget some stuff that I'd reviewed the first month:/ I didn't really follow a strict study plan but for the first four weeks I followed dentalWorks 4 week review using Chad's video and Cliff notes. Then I basically started going through Destroyer and Bootcamp for practice in each section.

BIO:
No idea how I got a 27 here... I must've marked at least 5-8 questions where the answer choices were very similar. I probably got lucky with my test, I had very few application-type questions. Bootcamp bio questions were similar in terms of the wording but a bit harder than the real ones.

GC:
I was surprised by the number of calculation problems I saw on my test. Luckily, most of the problems only wanted the numbers plugged into an equation. I was able to finish this section in about 20 min, unlike bootcamp GC which usually takes me the whole 30 min. A few of the destroyer problems showed up here!

OC:
Very basic compared to the problems I encountered when reviewing OC. Almost all the problems were covered in either Destroyer or bootcamp in one way or another. I would start by watching Chad's OC videos (only available on coursesaver at the moment), taking the quizzes for each video, and doing Destroyer problems to solidify what I learned. Bootcamp should be saved for last, after you've memorized most of the reactions including ones found in the Destroyer roadmaps.

PAT:
I never expected this high of a score when practicing with the bootcamp generators every day mainly because Id always miss about 5 angle problems in the practice tests. Fortunately, the angles were very easy compared to the ones from the generator. Be prepared to see inconsistency in the hole punch section of the test. Some of the pictures had clear lines like what you'd see in bootcamp, others had very pixelated lines which made it hard to tell where the holes were. Otherwise, they were a bit easier than the ones in bootcamp. TFE and pattern fold were both about the same difficulty as bootcamp problems but the keyholes....so much easier! I did get a few boulders but besides those, the rest were pretty easy to visualize. I didn't have to look for small differences between answer choices like in bootcamp.

RC:
I only used bootcamp to practice for the RC and the questions were pretty similar to the real ones. However, my passages were a lot shorter and easier to read in my opinion. For this section, it's hard to improve quickly over time. Just like the PAT, it's a skill that you need to practice often.

QR:
Math destroyer is probably the best practice for this section. Bootcamp QR was way too easy as you can see from my bootcamp average below. I regret not going over Math destroyer more than once as the questions are very similar to the ones I saw on my test. I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Romano was a test writer for the ADA:)


2009 DAT and Kaplan scores:

v9kSzTf.png



Bootcamp scores:

nzT5uj2.png


Like others have said, the 2009 DAT is the best predictor of your actual scores. I actually found the RC and QR section to be pretty representative of the real test. Definitely do the 2009 test last, maybe a day or two before your test date. I didn't do the 2007 DAT since most people seem to agree that it's way too easy compared to the real thing. Hopefully this will help someone out there struggling with getting started on beating the DAT.

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Wow, awesome scores. That 27 in PA is insane. Thanks for the detailed breakdown :)
 
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Congrats!! Totally inspired me to start studying more seriously. Questions, the angle generators on Bootcamp are destroying me, so were the angles easier to tell apart on the real DAT?

Thanks again for the great breakdown!
 
Just took the DAT recently and thought I'd do a quick breakdown to help others since I would've never gotten these scores if it weren't for all the great breakdowns I read on SDN.

My scores:
23AA 23TS 27Bio 22GC 24OC 22RC 27PAT 20QR

Like most others, I would say that Chad, Destroyer, Bootcamp are the three must-haves for doing well on the DAT. Chad for learning/reviewing the basics (probably 80% of the test), Destroyer for the more difficult problems (20% of the test), and Bootcamp for simulating the real test.

List of material used:
Chad's video (Both coursesaver and chadsvideos.com.) - The quizzes from coursersaver are helpful in that they cover some common tricky problems that may appear on the DAT.

Bootcamp - Make the PAT generators your best new friends! Practicing with the generators every day will definitely get you a 20+ in this section.

DAT Destroyer - Confidence-crushing material that will boost your scores above 20+ if you learn from it.

Math Destroyer - GREAT practice for QR. More below.

Kaplan Bluebook - Ehh, not worth buying it. A lot of important vocabs were missing in the bio section. I checked it out from the library for the diagnostics test:)

Feralis notes - I'd recommend going through these at least once including the excel sheet with taxonomy.

Cliff notes - Great for initial bio review, though need to be supplemented with Feralis or Destroyer.

Khan academy - The videos on human physiology are very well done. Easy to understand and concise. You can also speed up the videos to save time.

Craig Savage youtube videos - Very good videos for reviewing taxonomy and chordate evolution. Haven't seen too many people mention them but I'd highly recommend going through his videos on taxonomy if you'd rather watch than read.

I studied for about three months, 6-7 hours each day, but I think it was a bit too long for me. If I could do it again I'd definitely cut it down to two and a half or less. By the end of the third month I was starting to forget some stuff that I'd reviewed the first month:/ I didn't really follow a strict study plan but for the first four weeks I followed dentalWorks 4 week review using Chad's video and Cliff notes. Then I basically started going through Destroyer and Bootcamp for practice in each section.

BIO:
No idea how I got a 27 here... I must've marked at least 5-8 questions where the answer choices were very similar. I probably got lucky with my test, I had very few application-type questions. Bootcamp bio questions were similar in terms of the wording but a bit harder than the real ones.

GC:
I was surprised by the number of calculation problems I saw on my test. Luckily, most of the problems only wanted the numbers plugged into an equation. I was able to finish this section in about 20 min, unlike bootcamp GC which usually takes me the whole 30 min. A few of the destroyer problems showed up here!

OC:
Very basic compared to the problems I encountered when reviewing OC. Almost all the problems were covered in either Destroyer or bootcamp in one way or another. I would start by watching Chad's OC videos (only available on coursesaver at the moment), taking the quizzes for each video, and doing Destroyer problems to solidify what I learned. Bootcamp should be saved for last, after you've memorized most of the reactions including ones found in the Destroyer roadmaps.

PAT:
I never expected this high of a score when practicing with the bootcamp generators every day mainly because Id always miss about 5 angle problems in the practice tests. Fortunately, the angles were very easy compared to the ones from the generator. Be prepared to see inconsistency in the hole punch section of the test. Some of the pictures had clear lines like what you'd see in bootcamp, others had very pixelated lines which made it hard to tell where the holes were. Otherwise, they were a bit easier than the ones in bootcamp. TFE and pattern fold were both about the same difficulty as bootcamp problems but the keyholes....so much easier! I did get a few boulders but besides those, the rest were pretty easy to visualize. I didn't have to look for small differences between answer choices like in bootcamp.

RC:
I only used bootcamp to practice for the RC and the questions were pretty similar to the real ones. However, my passages were a lot shorter and easier to read in my opinion. For this section, it's hard to improve quickly over time. Just like the PAT, it's a skill that you need to practice often.

QR:
Math destroyer is probably the best practice for this section. Bootcamp QR was way too easy as you can see from my bootcamp average below. I regret not going over Math destroyer more than once as the questions are very similar to the ones I saw on my test. I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Romano was a test writer for the ADA:)


2009 DAT and Kaplan scores:

v9kSzTf.png



Bootcamp scores:

nzT5uj2.png


Like others have said, the 2009 DAT is the best predictor of your actual scores. I actually found the RC and QR section to be pretty representative of the real test. Definitely do the 2009 test last, maybe a day or two before your test date. I didn't do the 2007 DAT since most people seem to agree that it's way too easy compared to the real thing. Hopefully this will help someone out there struggling with getting started on beating the DAT.
Congratulations on your score. You did a great job. How long have you been studying for the DAT? Can you give us a little insight about your study schedule?
 
If your score were 27Bio 22GC 24OC, then why is your TS only 23? Shouldn't that be higher?
 
Does this mean that GC is worth more than bio and OC since TS is closer to GC? OR does it differ for everyone?

TS is graded on its on scale (SNS- "Survey of Natural Sciences"). It has nothing to do with the individual sections.

You take the total number of all science questions you got right (out of 90), divide that number by 90, find your raw score, and then convert that to the scaled score under the SNS column provided on the score conversion chart.

See the 2009 Practice ADA DAT score conversion tables for details.
 
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@Incis0r
It's not the DAT I'm worried about haha but it's definitely going to make up for other weaknesses in my app.

@alasra
Yes! Angles were easier than the bootcamp generators. I was never able to get 15/15 with the generators even after doing them every day for two months straight. The angles in 2009 DAT are pretty similar to the ones I got. However, the DAT can vary and you may get harder angles on your version so id still recommend practicing with the bootcamp generators.

@One Piece
I studied for about three months straight, 6hrs each day and maybe 8 on weekends. I didn't follow a strict schedule so sometimes I'd review bio the whole day, then GC the next day. However, I'd always start studying by doing Pat generators first (15 problems for each section), which helped get my mind ready. If you're just getting started, start by reviewing bio with cliff notes and OC and GC with Chad's videos. If you feel confident in the sciences, skip straight to destroyer problems and feralis notes to cut down on the study time. I took GC and Bio three years ago so id forgotten most of the material when I started studying for the DAT :|
 
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Just took the DAT recently and thought I'd do a quick breakdown to help others since I would've never gotten these scores if it weren't for all the great breakdowns I read on SDN.

My scores:
23AA 23TS 27Bio 22GC 24OC 22RC 27PAT 20QR

Like most others, I would say that Chad, Destroyer, Bootcamp are the three must-haves for doing well on the DAT. Chad for learning/reviewing the basics (probably 80% of the test), Destroyer for the more difficult problems (20% of the test), and Bootcamp for simulating the real test.

List of material used:
Chad's video (Both coursesaver and chadsvideos.com.) - The quizzes from coursersaver are helpful in that they cover some common tricky problems that may appear on the DAT.

Bootcamp - Make the PAT generators your best new friends! Practicing with the generators every day will definitely get you a 20+ in this section.

DAT Destroyer - Confidence-crushing material that will boost your scores above 20+ if you learn from it.

Math Destroyer - GREAT practice for QR. More below.

Kaplan Bluebook - Ehh, not worth buying it. A lot of important vocabs were missing in the bio section. I checked it out from the library for the diagnostics test:)

Feralis notes - I'd recommend going through these at least once including the excel sheet with taxonomy.

Cliff notes - Great for initial bio review, though need to be supplemented with Feralis or Destroyer.

Khan academy - The videos on human physiology are very well done. Easy to understand and concise. You can also speed up the videos to save time.

Craig Savage youtube videos - Very good videos for reviewing taxonomy and chordate evolution. Haven't seen too many people mention them but I'd highly recommend going through his videos on taxonomy if you'd rather watch than read.

I studied for about three months, 6-7 hours each day, but I think it was a bit too long for me. If I could do it again I'd definitely cut it down to two and a half or less. By the end of the third month I was starting to forget some stuff that I'd reviewed the first month:/ I didn't really follow a strict study plan but for the first four weeks I followed dentalWorks 4 week review using Chad's video and Cliff notes. Then I basically started going through Destroyer and Bootcamp for practice in each section.

BIO:
No idea how I got a 27 here... I must've marked at least 5-8 questions where the answer choices were very similar. I probably got lucky with my test, I had very few application-type questions. Bootcamp bio questions were similar in terms of the wording but a bit harder than the real ones.

GC:
I was surprised by the number of calculation problems I saw on my test. Luckily, most of the problems only wanted the numbers plugged into an equation. I was able to finish this section in about 20 min, unlike bootcamp GC which usually takes me the whole 30 min. A few of the destroyer problems showed up here!

OC:
Very basic compared to the problems I encountered when reviewing OC. Almost all the problems were covered in either Destroyer or bootcamp in one way or another. I would start by watching Chad's OC videos (only available on coursesaver at the moment), taking the quizzes for each video, and doing Destroyer problems to solidify what I learned. Bootcamp should be saved for last, after you've memorized most of the reactions including ones found in the Destroyer roadmaps.

PAT:
I never expected this high of a score when practicing with the bootcamp generators every day mainly because Id always miss about 5 angle problems in the practice tests. Fortunately, the angles were very easy compared to the ones from the generator. Be prepared to see inconsistency in the hole punch section of the test. Some of the pictures had clear lines like what you'd see in bootcamp, others had very pixelated lines which made it hard to tell where the holes were. Otherwise, they were a bit easier than the ones in bootcamp. TFE and pattern fold were both about the same difficulty as bootcamp problems but the keyholes....so much easier! I did get a few boulders but besides those, the rest were pretty easy to visualize. I didn't have to look for small differences between answer choices like in bootcamp.

RC:
I only used bootcamp to practice for the RC and the questions were pretty similar to the real ones. However, my passages were a lot shorter and easier to read in my opinion. For this section, it's hard to improve quickly over time. Just like the PAT, it's a skill that you need to practice often.

QR:
Math destroyer is probably the best practice for this section. Bootcamp QR was way too easy as you can see from my bootcamp average below. I regret not going over Math destroyer more than once as the questions are very similar to the ones I saw on my test. I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Romano was a test writer for the ADA:)


2009 DAT and Kaplan scores:

v9kSzTf.png



Bootcamp scores:

nzT5uj2.png


Like others have said, the 2009 DAT is the best predictor of your actual scores. I actually found the RC and QR section to be pretty representative of the real test. Definitely do the 2009 test last, maybe a day or two before your test date. I didn't do the 2007 DAT since most people seem to agree that it's way too easy compared to the real thing. Hopefully this will help someone out there struggling with getting started on beating the DAT.
 
Wow SDDDAT!:clap::clap:



Sorry the delayed response, been rather busy with students the last few days.

You Destroyed it! The DAT Beast was no match for you and he will have to find a less prepared opponent. Thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed breakdown. Let me quote you "DAT Destroyer - Confidence-crushing material that will boost your scores above 20+ if you learn from it." This is very true and you understood the importance of rising to the challenge of the DAT Destroyer. Dr. Romano has not written any problems for the ADA but we have wondered if they are using our problems..o_O

Your hard work paid off and many interviews will be in your future.

Wishing you the best in your journey to becoming a dentist!

Nancy and Dr. Romano
 
Very nice scores, you killed it. I have a question. I won't be able to go full speed studying until May after my finals. I have already been working on the PAT and Math Destroyer sections. I have put together a study schedule for myself. In the beginning of my schedule, I have four days scheduled for Organic Chemistry review and five days scheduled for General Chemistry review. During theses days, I plan to go through all of Chad's videos and associated quizzes and work through all of the Destroyer questions for each subject. For these days, I will work on those subjects only during their respective days. Is this a realistic plan or am I being too optimistic? I plan to study up to 12 hours per day if needed.
 
DAT Student throws a master ball.

Breakdown has been ..... mastered!
 
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@HUNKDENTIST
If you can study nonstop for 12 hours a day, I think it's possible. For me, 6-7 hours of DAT studying was already a lot in addition to my school work and that's including time I spent on breaks. That's why it took me a month just to review the basics with Chads videos. My gen chem was especially weak so I had to rewatch Chads GC videos in my third month of studying. But if you have the endurance and motivation, ten days dedicated to GC and OC should be doable.

@Tonya
Nope! Most breakdowns I read mentioned that Kaplan courses weren't useful so I didn't even consider signing up for one.
 
Thanks for the reply. I know it will be rough the first couple of weeks, but I will be out of school then. The DAT will be my sole purpose in life, other than helping raise my son. I have one day a week off scheduled so if I get behind, I can use that day to catch up. Good luck with all of your interviews I know they are coming.
 
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