About to make a huge decision, please advise.

[UCSD1984]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Alright, so most of you know me by now, and most of you know that I've been studying for the DAT for a solid 7 weeks now. However, seeing myself get a 16-17 on the first Topscore and a 16 on the ADA 2009...with my test date being on Monday (the 26th), I'm seriously feeling terribly depressed and hopeless.

I start my informal post-bacc route today. This quarter, I'm only taking 3 science courses to get my feet wet since it's been over a year since I've taken any classes. This quarter I'm simply devoting to courses that I got a C- in which are Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Organismic/Evolutionary Biology. Honestly, I can easily get As in these classes with 15hrs of study time a week total, I was just lazy back then.

I am thinking of postponing my exam until the week after finals. I would have to juggle studying for these courses and reviewing ALL OVER again for the DAT. I would attempt to get through Destroyer as many times as possible, watch Chad's videos again, re-practice all the CDP exams, and re-do AP Cliff's twice with a huge emphasis on summarizing it with my own notes rather than just simply reading. After taking practice exams, I realized that I still haven't memorized all of Taxonomy nor do I recall really small easy details like which gland/organ releases which hormones.

What would you do in my situation? Do you think it's wise for me to postpone? If so, should I postpone for a date after the quarter ends? I would really have to study for the DAT at least 2-3 hours a day...but the bright side of studying so little is the fact that I know all of this stuff and I've seen it all before from studying these past 7 weeks...I just have to instill it into my head in a more concrete fashion. Not to mention, my courses will play a vital role in aiding me for the Bio section.

I've been shaking from nervousness these past 48 hours. I threw up last night and I broke down into tears this morning and refused to get out of bed until 10am. ANY help or ANY advice is appreciated.

 

[Gomsemari]

oh my, i can feel ur pain just by reading this 🙁
if u don't feel ready to take the test, I would postpone it, personally.
if u take it on monday and dont get the score u want, it will not only depress u even more but also mght affect ur school studying...
it's a tough decision, ,, if i were u, i would take the exam after this quarter.
just try to calm down now.. it's not good for u to be stressed out like that.
i'll be praying for u. dont worry

 

[Dusk]

Either way, know that you will finish the DAT sometime, and you will do fine, and your dream will come true with hard work and persistence, which you have both of clearly.

Personally, I would take it on monday. I know others who got around the same score as you, and did substantially better on the real dat, a 19+. Either way, even if you rescheduled, you would have to take it after your finals, which are a few months away. I don't know your school's time frame, but the 90 day wait period to retake will be over anyways by then right? It's a matter of saving 320 or not, but there is a risk.

You can take it and do fine on monday, or you can take it monday and have to retake it after your finals. Or you can reschedule and take it after your finals. In the end, it's just a matter of saving 320 bucks. I feel like you are working very hard, and practice tests are somewhat indicative of where you are, but it does not mean you will score the same. Take my advice with a grain of salt, b/c it all depends on you, and what you think you know.

But, it is also wise to reschedule til you are ready after your finals. You are not applying this cycle correct?, so there is no rush until the next apps open in June. Also, I know if I had to retake my dat, i would study better and faster since I had pretty much already gone through my material, and had everything ready for me to study. Again, either way, I think you are in a good situation, it is frustrating though cause I know you want to put the dat behind you already.

Keep your chin up, and I'll be praying for you man. Just think hard, and make a decision YOU feel is the best. You got this in the end👍

 

[UCSD1984]

oh my, i can feel ur pain just by reading this 🙁
if u don't feel ready to take the test, I would postpone it, personally.
if u take it on monday and dont get the score u want, it will not only depress u even more but also mght affect ur school studying...
it's a tough decision, ,, if i were u, i would take the exam after this quarter.
just try to calm down now.. it's not good for u to be stressed out like that.
i'll be praying for u. dont worry

Thank you Gomsemari, that means a lot to me. I'll be praying for you as well.

Either way, know that you will finish the DAT sometime, and you will do fine, and your dream will come true with hard work and persistence, which you have both of clearly.

Personally, I would take it on monday. I know others who got around the same score as you, and did substantially better on the real dat, a 19+. Either way, even if you rescheduled, you would have to take it after your finals, which are a few months away. I don't know your school's time frame, but the 90 day wait period to retake will be over anyways by then right? It's a matter of saving 320 or not, but there is a risk.

You can take it and do fine on monday, or you can take it monday and have to retake it after your finals. Or you can reschedule and take it after your finals. In the end, it's just a matter of saving 320 bucks. I feel like you are working very hard, and practice tests are somewhat indicative of where you are, but it does not mean you will score the same. Take my advice with a grain of salt, b/c it all depends on you, and what you think you know.

But, it is also wise to reschedule til you are ready after your finals. You are not applying this cycle correct?, so there is no rush until the next apps open in June. Also, I know if I had to retake my dat, i would study better and faster since I had pretty much already gone through my material, and had everything ready for me to study. Again, either way, I think you are in a good situation, it is frustrating though cause I know you want to put the dat behind you already.

Keep your chin up, and I'll be praying for you man. Just think hard, and make a decision YOU feel is the best. You got this in the end👍

I appreciate the response, Dusk. It's always nice seeing what you have to say. I suppose the only thing I'm frightened about is attempting to juggle 12 units of upper div. courses along with intense review for the DAT. The only bright side I see here is that these classes will teach me things that can potentially show up on the Bio section.

In response to what you said about taking it on Monday, it's not the money I'd be worried about, but rather the feeling of depression that may affect my studies this quarter in a negative way. If I feel this down after horrid scores on practice exams, then only God knows how devastated I'd be if I scored this poorly or thereabouts on the real thing. Especially when my quarter just started today. Knowing myself, I'd probably feel like giving up on school altogether.

I'm still unsure at this point. I look forward to hearing more input because I truly value everyone's opinion on this site. This community is really amazing. Thank you again for the responses.

 

[journeybegins]

.

 

[UCSD1984]

I'm telling you advice from what I should have done. =/

Studying for the DAT has really psyched me out. Standardized tests scare me because I was never good at it. I have been postponing the test forever, when I should have taken it earlier. AND I'M APPLYING TOO! -__- But I will be taking it shortly this month and just hoping for the best.

I realize that all those times that I have been postponing it, I should have taken it back in June or something, even if I wasn't fully ready. I wish I kind of knew what the DAT was actually like instead of psyching myself out. I was just scared of the 90 day wait policy and being late in the applying. But it ended up that way =/. At least, if I had taken it in June, I could still be re-taking it now. And 3 months later, I'm still here and still haven't taken the DATs without actually knowing what that the test is actually like.


So...my take is, since you aren't even applying and have the time, I would actually not wait until December to take it. I would take it soon because December is a long time, and you need to focus on your classes soon. Juggling classes and DAT is really hard when you BOTH feel they are equally important, and you also tend to forget things along the way with time if you don't keep refreshing. Boosting GPA is more important, at least for now.


Here's what I would do. Think of the day that you would take it after fall quarter is over. Is it the end of December? The beginning of January?

Then postpone it 90 days before that day. Maybe you can postpone it to the end of the first week of October. That should be enough time. Then if you need to retake it again at the beginning of January, do so.

At least you know what it's like and know what to focus on the next time instead of psyching yourself out like me! 🙁

I appreciate the response, but I'm one of those students who has to kick-butt in every aspect to be even an average applicant. My overall and science GPA are sub-3, and I would hate for the AdComs to see that I did poorly on the DAT the first time around as well...just as I did with my GPA the first time around. So, I'm torn...

 

[Dusk]

I totally understand where you're coming from UCSD. But try to remember the DAT is totally conquerable, you can always, always retake it and do better. I know that feeling of giving up, and depression all too well. But try to dwell on the positive, I know, way easier said than done. In the end, you will look back at this time and think, wow! What a time thaaat was.

If you do reschedule it or take it after your finals, make sure you study more for your GPA. You do not want to do poorly in classes, the DAT is a relatively "quick fix." You will be fine, have you looked at the mistakes you've made? I've found that in my practice tests I make very stupid mistakes, and are the calculations in GC bringing your score down? The real dat calcs are not that complex. I just want you to know that you really do have this in the bag. One way or another, you will come out winning. And that my friend is a state function. Sorry, bad time for jokes, but truly, I believe in you and many others who are struggling.

 

[Dusk]

I appreciate the response, but I'm one of those students who has to kick-butt in every aspect to be even an average applicant. My overall and science GPA are sub-3, and I would hate for the AdComs to see that I did poorly on the DAT the first time around as well...just as I did with my GPA the first time around. So, I'm torn...

Really, from what I've read and researched, adcoms don't care if you took the dat once, twice, or 3+ times. As long as you do well in the end, it shows persistence.

 

[limonada]

First, I understand, but there's no reason to be depressed about postponing the exam. I had to postpone my test date twice and it made me feel like a failure, but you do what you have to to put yourself in the best possible position.

Are you applying this cycle or next cycle? Do you get a winter break after this semester? The reason I'm asking is if it's for next cycle, you can postpone the DAT until the week before the spring semester starts. Spend this semester reviewing for however many hours you can while still giving your post-bac the appropriate effort, then reserve the first part of your winter break for intense studying. If you can, schedule in some time to decompress between the DAT and your next semester.

I have to throw in though, sometimes practice tests are not very good indicators. But if you're uncomfortable taking the exam and feel you could benefit from additional review/absorption time, then delay it.

 

[journeybegins]

I would research to see how schools view first time DAT and second time DAT.

I always had the assumption that as long as you get a score that is competitive, it doesn't matter how many times you took it, as long as you got that score.

But double-check! Good luck with your decision.

 

[UCSD1984]

I totally understand where you're coming from UCSD. But try to remember the DAT is totally conquerable, you can always, always retake it and do better. I know that feeling of giving up, and depression all too well. But try to dwell on the positive, I know, way easier said than done. In the end, you will look back at this time and think, wow! What a time thaaat was.

If you do reschedule it or take it after your finals, make sure you study more for your GPA. You do not want to do poorly in classes, the DAT is a relatively "quick fix." You will be fine, have you looked at the mistakes you've made? I've found that in my practice tests I make very stupid mistakes, and are the calculations in GC bringing your score down? The real dat calcs are not that complex. I just want you to know that you really do have this in the bag. One way or another, you will come out winning. And that my friend is a state function. Sorry, bad time for jokes, but truly, I believe in you and many others who are struggling.

I appreciate the words of encouragement. I definitely agree with you in regards to spending more time focusing on my courses than on the DAT. The DAT is indeed the easiest part of your application to fix in terms of time spent/reward factor. As far as the mistakes I made (Topscore Exam #1) - I missed around 20 of the Biology questions, 4-5 of which I knew the answer to but just misinterpreted. Still, that's 15 wrong, and far too many. Several of the ones I got wrong were very simple. As I stated earlier, I realize that even though I've studied all the material...it isn't concrete in my mind.

As far as the GC section: I missed 9 total. 5 of which I had no idea how to do, and 4 of which I made pathetic mistakes. This was a good sign at least.

OC: I missed somewhere around 15, but 6 were very stupid mistakes. Still, I can't be missing almost 10 questions on the OC section. I should have that section down flat.

Really, from what I've read and researched, adcoms don't care if you took the dat once, twice, or 3+ times. As long as you do well in the end, it shows persistence.

That's good news. But it isn't so much about me feeling that I'll do sub-par on Monday and perhaps fantastic my second attempt...but rather I feel as though I'm going to do absolutely terrible on Monday. This is why I'm entertaining the idea of not only postponing, but postponing for 3 months.

First, I understand, but there's no reason to be depressed about postponing the exam. I had to postpone my test date twice and it made me feel like a failure, but you do what you have to to put yourself in the best possible position.

Are you applying this cycle or next cycle? Do you get a winter break after this semester? The reason I'm asking is if it's for next cycle, you can postpone the DAT until the week before the spring semester starts. Spend this semester reviewing for however many hours you can while still giving your post-bac the appropriate effort, then reserve the first part of your winter break for intense studying. If you can, schedule in some time to decompress between the DAT and your next semester.

I have to throw in though, sometimes practice tests are not very good indicators. But if you're uncomfortable taking the exam and feel you could benefit from additional review/absorption time, then delay it.

I'm applying next cycle. And yes, I do get a long Winter break. My last final is on December 9th, and the Winter quarter doesn't start until January 9th. I was thinking, if I did postpone, I'd take it around December 22nd or December 30. That way, as you said, I could review as much as I can and practice until my finals are over, and then go hardcore with practice exams the couple weeks after finals leading up to my exam date. And yea, I think I'd need at least 4-5 days to regain sanity after the DAT. I wouldn't want to schedule it in the first week of January when school would be starting.

I know most of the time practice tests aren't fully representative, but to me there's a big difference between scoring an 18/19 on a practice exam instead of a 16. Seeing that 16 on my Bio sections just....killed me. I should have been seeing 16s with my diagnostic exams prior to ever touching DAT study material. 🙁

 

[dmdluffy]

I would go for it if you feel like you've prepared as best as you could. Don't let the mock test scores get you down. I was getting 15's and stuff on Achiever tests a week before my test. Again, this may vary with when you plan to apply. Bottom line, reschedule if you feel like your unprepared. If you feel low in confidence cause of a practice test, I think a lot of people go through that and you'll be okay.

 

[loganheinrich]

At first, reading this I would've suggested that you take the DAT on Monday. Personally, my 2009 DAT and first Topscore were not good, they were in the same ballpark as your scores. Know that the real DAT isn't as tricky as Topscore and it seemed like it was easier than the 2009 version.

I am totally on the fence about whether or not you should take the DAT on Monday. Since you're applying next cycle... it wouldn't hurt to wait until January to take it, plus it would only cost $25 to reschedule, versus the $320 to take it now and then take it again. Based on my experience, the only true measure of how you will do on the DAT is by actually taking it. However, if you NEED to KILL the DAT to help overcome a mediocre GPA (I would be in this boat) then it would definitely be prudent to wait.

Also, know that the AADSAS will calculate both of your grades into your GPA. I recently learned this as I had to re-take several classes that I originally took in 2002, in 2010, to graduate. Unfortunately, my GPA is above 3.0 according to my university, which only calculates based on the latest attempt, but it will be much lower according to AADSAS.

From that perspective, it makes sense to only take classes that you haven't taken to raise your GPA, post-bacc.

 

[UCSD1984]

At first, reading this I would've suggested that you take the DAT on Monday. Personally, my 2009 DAT and first Topscore were not good, they were in the same ballpark as your scores. Know that the real DAT isn't as tricky as Topscore and it seemed like it was easier than the 2009 version.

I am totally on the fence about whether or not you should take the DAT on Monday. Since you're applying next cycle... it wouldn't hurt to wait until January to take it, plus it would only cost $25 to reschedule, versus the $320 to take it now and then take it again. Based on my experience, the only true measure of how you will do on the DAT is by actually taking it. However, if you NEED to KILL the DAT to help overcome a mediocre GPA (I would be in this boat) then it would definitely be prudent to wait.

Also, know that the AADSAS will calculate both of your grades into your GPA. I recently learned this as I had to re-take several classes that I originally took in 2002, in 2010, to graduate. Unfortunately, my GPA is above 3.0 according to my university, which only calculates based on the latest attempt, but it will be much lower according to AADSAS.

From that perspective, it makes sense to only take classes that you haven't taken to raise your GPA, post-bacc.

Thank you so much for the input. Thing is, I got a C- in all the classes that I'm taking this quarter. These are the only 3 classes I got below Cs in, and they are important biology courses. Molecular Bio, Genetics, and Organismic/Evolutionary Bio. I know both the C- and the next grade I get will be calculated into AADSAS, but I want to show them that I'm capable of doing well in those classes. Furthermore, this quarter is just to get my feet wet. I'm pretty paranoid going back to school, and I think retaking 12 units of classes I did poorly in will show me if I'm capable of taking 16 units next quarter of unfamiliar classes I've never taken. Hope that makes sense.

 

[2PacClone23]

Also, don't forget that you CAN take the DAT more than once. Even if you mess up horrible in the next 5 days, you can retake it in December. 🙂

 

[UCSD1984]

Also, don't forget that you CAN take the DAT more than once. Even if you mess up horrible in the next 5 days, you can retake it in December. 🙂

What would you do in my situation, 2PacClone?

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

 

[2PacClone23]

What would you do in my situation, 2PacClone?

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

What is your confidence level for biology, g-chem, and o-chem? What do you think you're doing wrong? Are you making simple mistakes?

This is why summer's the best time to take your DAT; no classes, no nothing. All 3 times, I took my DAT over summers. X-Mas isn't enough time and classes take too much time during the regular school year so I suggest taking it next summer 🙁

I don't know man...how long did you study for this summer?

 

[UCSD1984]

What is your confidence level for biology, g-chem, and o-chem? What do you think you're doing wrong? Are you making simple mistakes?

This is why summer's the best time to take your DAT; no classes, no nothing. All 3 times, I took my DAT over summers. X-Mas isn't enough time and classes take too much time during the regular school year so I suggest taking it next summer 🙁

I don't know man...how long did you study for this summer?

7 weeks...

Confidence level after the practice exams is pretty low...

 

[youknowthedrill]

Really, from what I've read and researched, adcoms don't care if you took the dat once, twice, or 3+ times. As long as you do well in the end, it shows persistence.

Depends on the school. I also have a low GPA. I was advised by my state school that I need to do well on the DAT the first time. Every school is different, so call a couple of schools as ask them. Good luck!

 

[Demps]

UCSD,

I feel your pain bro... I am sure this is damn stressful for you.. But

I think you should:

Plan out some nice last minute studying schedule and go take it on Monday.


I will share a story of my own.

I was originally going to take my DAT in March. At the end of the 2010 Fall semester, I only had 1 class left to graduate. I had two options: one was to take both non-science and science classes to boost up my overall GPA and the other was to screw all that junk and just take that one class and spend the rest of the free time for DAT prep. I took the second choice. I planned to study 3 months starting from January winter break and take it some time in March - also to leave myself some time to retake to apply for this cycle if the score came out bad.

Though not too intensive, I think I had a decent run in the 4 weeks of January. I carried it right on to February... bought subscription to Chad's for 2 months, did destroyer problems, crack DAT PAT...etc. So I studied pretty well for I would say good 5-6weeks... Then here comes a problem with my social life. It took over gradually and I found myself studying only for that one class I was taking... So then I decided to take it in April. Especially with that one week Spring Break, I aimed it to take it on the weekend right before classes begin again. Yeah yeah yeah I had plans, but I got even more lazier with myself and I eventually just gave up preparing for DAT. I was just lucky to finish all of the Chad's Videos and took good notes on it before the subscription expired. So this is the 1st/2nd time I had at least good 5-6weeks worth of consistent work but went to waste because I couldn't finish it off. What a fail.

With the graduation hype, I just completely let go of studying in April and May...

After I gave up taking it during March/April time. I planned to take it at the end of the July. This was about 7weeks worth of preparation starting from the beginning of June. I found myself on a good rhythm for the first 2.5 weeks... and I had some unexpected personal/family issue that I completely let go studying for about a week. And then I had a friend leaving the United States forever so I spent a great deal of time with him in the beginning of July. So I studied 3 weeks, and I let go of it for 2 weeks. and I gave up again -_-; There was no way I was going to take this exam at the end of the July as I planned.

Starting the 3rd week of July (My friend left by now so I could finally concentrate on studying and studying only), I finally made up my mind not to mess around. I studied for 6 weeks from this point and took my DAT on 8/24.

Why I am mentioning my story is for two reasons.

1. You will never feel ready. I definitely did not feel like I was ready. This is true. No matter how much you study, I just don't think you feel like you are ready enough. I believe you've done enough preparation though honestly.

2. It is important to study consistently for ~8weeks and take the exam. As you see, I gave up twice before finally committing to it. If you reschedule to after the fall semester... I'm not saying you are going to forget what you retained last 7 weeks, but you would have to go through this whole preparation again later...It will take you just much as time to find the groove for the right prep. plan again. Trust yourself that you have done enough last 7 weeks.


I didn't look into this myself but like Dusk said.. if they don't care how many times you took it, why don't you give yourself a shot now?

 

[UCSD1984]

UCSD,

I feel your pain bro... I am sure this is damn stressful for you.. But

I think you should:

Plan out some nice last minute studying schedule and go take it on Monday.


I will share a story of my own.

I was originally going to take my DAT in March. At the end of the 2010 Fall semester, I only had 1 class left to graduate. I had two options: one was to take both non-science and science classes to boost up my overall GPA and the other was to screw all that junk and just take that one class and spend the rest of the free time for DAT prep. I took the second choice. I planned to study 3 months starting from January winter break and take it some time in March - also to leave myself some time to retake to apply for this cycle if the score came out bad.

Though not too intensive, I think I had a decent run in the 4 weeks of January. I carried it right on to February... bought subscription to Chad's for 2 months, did destroyer problems, crack DAT PAT...etc. So I studied pretty well for I would say good 5-6weeks... Then here comes a problem with my social life. It took over gradually and I found myself studying only for that one class I was taking... So then I decided to take it in April. Especially with that one week Spring Break, I aimed it to take it on the weekend right before classes begin again. Yeah yeah yeah I had plans, but I got even more lazier with myself and I eventually just gave up preparing for DAT. I was just lucky to finish all of the Chad's Videos and took good notes on it before the subscription expired. So this is the 1st/2nd time I had at least good 5-6weeks worth of consistent work but went to waste because I couldn't finish it off. What a fail.

With the graduation hype, I just completely let go of studying in April and May...

After I gave up taking it during March/April time. I planned to take it at the end of the July. This was about 7weeks worth of preparation starting from the beginning of June. I found myself on a good rhythm for the first 2.5 weeks... and I had some unexpected personal/family issue that I completely let go studying for about a week. And then I had a friend leaving the United States forever so I spent a great deal of time with him in the beginning of July. So I studied 3 weeks, and I let go of it for 2 weeks. and I gave up again -_-; There was no way I was going to take this exam at the end of the July as I planned.

Starting the 3rd week of July (My friend left by now so I could finally concentrate on studying and studying only), I finally made up my mind not to mess around. I studied for 6 weeks from this point and took my DAT on 8/24.

Why I am mentioning my story is for two reasons.

1. You will never feel ready. I definitely did not feel like I was ready. This is true. No matter how much you study, I just don't think you feel like you are ready enough. I believe you've done enough preparation though honestly.

2. It is important to study consistently for ~8weeks and take the exam. As you see, I gave up twice before finally committing to it. If you reschedule to after the fall semester... I'm not saying you are going to forget what you retained last 7 weeks, but you would have to go through this whole preparation again later...It will take you just much as time to find the groove for the right prep. plan again. Trust yourself that you have done enough last 7 weeks.


I didn't look into this myself but like Dusk said.. if they don't care how many times you took it, why don't you give yourself a shot now?

Thanks for sharing your story, Demps. I can imagine you went through quite a bit of frustration as well. Alright, I'm going to take it on Monday. I'll do some final review today and on the weekend, and I'll do my best. If nothing goes as planned, I'll retake in 3 months...hopefully.

Thanks again.👍

 

[Gomsemari]

heyy u finally made up ur mind 🙂
good luck on ur test next week !
ur gonna do great ! believe in urself !😀

 

[flyingforever]

Thanks for sharing your story, Demps. I can imagine you went through quite a bit of frustration as well. Alright, I'm going to take it on Monday. I'll do some final review today and on the weekend, and I'll do my best. If nothing goes as planned, I'll retake in 3 months...hopefully.

Thanks again.👍

Keep your emotions aside and I hope to hear some good results.

Pray and I will pray for you 😀

 

[Dusk]

good luck brotha.
study hard, and if you have to retake it later, no big deal. the dat does NOT define you nor your intelligence. keep it up!👍

 

[DrRoyal Pains]

Kill that test bro, show it no mercy.

 

[UCSD1984]

God bless you all. Thank you Dusk and DrRoyal for the words of encouragement. If a miracle occurs, you'll see my breakdown. If not, I'll be busting my ass these next 3 months. Thanks again guys, I wish I could buy you all a round of beers.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk