Advice would be greatly appreciated

[Nucleophile-DDS]

Hey guys,

I'm sorry for writing a long post but I would really appreciate your advice in regards to my study situation. I was planning to take the DAT last year, so I only studied about 2 months last summer. I went over DAT Destroyer (OC/GC), Chad videos and quizez, Cliff, Feralis notes but I didn't take any timed practice exams.

I restarted to study for the DAT again beginning this May 10 of this year. For the first month, I went over the same study materials for bio, chad videos again (no quizez this time), went over destroyer, and I started Math destroyer for the first time up to the 8th exam.

On June I started to take Qvault practice exams. My averages for the 10 tests were:
Bio 16
GC 18.6
OC 19.2
RC 16.8
QR (untimed) just studying the solutions then a month later I retook few exams

This month I switched to Bootcamp and my scores are really horrible
I took the first few exams and my scores were like
Bio: 16/16/16/17/18
GC: 17/17/17/-/17
OC: 18/20/18/22/20
PAT: 19/19
RC :14/15
QR: 14/16/15/14/15/14/14/14/14

I took the 2007 ADA practice exam today and my scores were
Bio 16 (26/40)
GC 16 (19/30)
OC 21 (26/30)
RC 17 (9/17)
QR 15 (18/40)

I been studying about 9+ hours daily, non-stop and my exam is in about 3 weeks from now. I been reviewing all of my notes every 2 weeks the whole time. Unfortunately I already applied to dental schools so I'm completely lost about what should I do, and how can I improve.

Thank you very much for taking the time to help me

 

[DDSDCMUU]

Keep your head up and use those practice exams to see where your weaknesses are. It sounds like you have a good foundation of the material now you need to focus on your weaknesses! You got this! Keep going strong!

 

[sobertiger]

2007 is supposed to be easier than 2009, which is the best representation of the actual test.

Fortunately, you have plenty of time.

For Bio, I went over the solutions for every question on the 10 BC tests 2-3 times and used Feralis' notes for the final review. Got a 20. In hindsight, I should have done more destroyer bio. This will take up the biggest chunk of your time.

For GC, BC was more than sufficient. It was almost my only resource and I ended up with a very high score. Work on the concepts and setting up the equations quickly.

For OC, BC was enough (got a 21) but for higher scores, I would do more destroyer orgo. Just figure out which sections you are weak on and focus on those.

For RC, I almost did not study at all. Never even finished a full test on BC. I read a lot so I just kind of depended on that. Search and destroy worked fine for the most part, but I panicked during the last passage because I was running out of time. Got a 22.

For QR, I almost exclusively used BC. Literally started studying for this with two weeks left. Went over all of the tests, figured out which sections I was weak on, and just focused on those. Got a 22. Practicing in a timed setting, marking and skipping tricky questions will be the key to your success.

Overall, I used BC not so much as a testing tool but a learning tool. Going over the detailed solutions for the problems I got wrong and repeating the process over and over again was what worked for me.

Since you have had plenty of time to review the material, just keep doing problems on BC, making sure to review the solutions carefully, and your scores should improve.

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[sobertiger]

By the way, if your scores do not improve and you do not do well on the 2009 right before the exam, you need to reschedule it because you are not ready.

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[JLT223]

If you've been scoring so low with 9+ hours of studying/day and you've been studying since May, there has to be some disconnect somewhere along the way. What is your sGPA like/how are your pre-req grades?

 

[FeralisExtremum]

I been studying about 9+ hours daily, non-stop and my exam is in about 3 weeks from now. I been reviewing all of my notes every 2 weeks the whole time. Unfortunately I already applied to dental schools so I'm completely lost about what should I do, and how can I improve.

As someone mentioned above, with the resources you're using and studying 9+ hours a day since May, there is a massive disconnect between your preparation and your scores. I would start with reviewing your notes more frequently than every 2 weeks, but I think some more information on what's going wrong in your practice tests would be good. Are you getting questions wrong mostly due to lack of knowledge? Not knowing how to approach the problems? Running out of time?

 

[*Insert Name Here*]

I wouldn't say your scores are horrible. On the real exam they will likely be higher. There is still time to improve. When you take a Bootcamp exam, be sure you review all of the answers and explanations, take notes on the problems you got wrong, and repeat practice exams that you already took to cement the information in your head. Look up strategies for PAT and RC on google and YouTube. It's not too late at this point as long as you keep studying!

 

[orgoman22]

Hey guys,

I'm sorry for writing a long post but I would really appreciate your advice in regards to my study situation. I was planning to take the DAT last year, so I only studied about 2 months last summer. I went over DAT Destroyer (OC/GC), Chad videos and quizez, Cliff, Feralis notes but I didn't take any timed practice exams.

I restarted to study for the DAT again beginning this May 10 of this year. For the first month, I went over the same study materials for bio, chad videos again (no quizez this time), went over destroyer, and I started Math destroyer for the first time up to the 8th exam.

On June I started to take Qvault practice exams. My averages for the 10 tests were:
Bio 16
GC 18.6
OC 19.2
RC 16.8
QR (untimed) just studying the solutions then a month later I retook few exams

This month I switched to Bootcamp and my scores are really horrible
I took the first few exams and my scores were like
Bio: 16/16/16/17/18
GC: 17/17/17/-/17
OC: 18/20/18/22/20
PAT: 19/19
RC :14/15
QR: 14/16/15/14/15/14/14/14/14

I took the 2007 ADA practice exam today and my scores were
Bio 16 (26/40)
GC 16 (19/30)
OC 21 (26/30)
RC 17 (9/17)
QR 15 (18/40)

I been studying about 9+ hours daily, non-stop and my exam is in about 3 weeks from now. I been reviewing all of my notes every 2 weeks the whole time. Unfortunately I already applied to dental schools so I'm completely lost about what should I do, and how can I improve.

Thank you very much for taking the time to help me

View attachment 221962

Message me and I can give you some suggestions, IMO, you are traveling down the wrong path and you don't want to take this test without being fully prepared, it could mean a retake..

Nancy

 

[Nucleophile-DDS]

Thank you very much guys for your feedbacks! I will definitely try to push harder. English is actually my second language, but I been actually doing well in school. My science GPA is 3.6, I think my issue is with selecting wrong answers/ rushing out, and making very unnecessary basic mistakes

 

[Nucleophile-DDS]

I am actually shocked about my outcomes after studying that long. In fact, I just went over my ADA 2007 exam and my mistakes are REALLY unnecessary. For example, I missed 4 OC questions because of misreading them or getting stuck under exam conditions. For example, "what is the conjugate acid of this molecule". I selected the answer for the conjugate base, and other silly mistakes. when I did the questions later after the exam, I got all 4 right, if I thought carefully I would have got 30/30 for OC. For GC, I missed 4 unnecessary questions, I have trouble with calculation and running out of time. For RC I been reading about 30 to 1 hour of scientific articles. For QR I'm surprised about my ability to calculate wrong numbers and also approaching the problems. I tried to use the studying resources as a learning tool, maybe I should stick to bootcamp exams and repeating them?

 

[Pearl E. White]

At least your mistakes are easily fixable. Take the time to thoroughly read the question and you get the right answer. You know what you're doing. Be confident. You got this!

 

[Ant951]

How is your situation when you are taking a practice test? Are you fatigued, zoned out, or blanking out ,etc. As you are studying 9+ hours, you may be losing focus when you practice those exams and thus are making minor mistakes.

Another question is, how are you studying during those 9+ hours? If you are jumping from section to section constantly throughout the day maybe that could hinder you? I think it'll help everyone if you could give us a little more detail in terms of how you have been studying and not just what you are studying. As others have stated there are slight discrepancies between your scores and the time you spent studying.

 

[Faefly]

My advice is to do ACS gen chem and ochem.
They are very cheap on amazon or you can search if you can find them online.
Since people say they are hard, then they would make you better. I am actually studying them right now and they are not that hard.

so acs books should take 3-5 days for both if not 3 days only.
after you are done with ACS, you go back to destroyer + Bio notes

For biology, read notes like feralis' or Alan's notes or quizlets flashcards as you have already reviewed bio
do destroyer bio again 40 questions each day.
+30 chem and orgo each day

You can do that in a span of two weeks
as for math
DO the tests again on bootcamp and math destroyers at least do 5 tests from destroyers or 7 if you can.

Get Gre work book for math for manhattan to do new questions

practice practice practice

But I am not an expert or anything.

I would say you need one day off, just to get back in the game.
You know!
You don't have to take the test if you are not ready
maybe if you take it 4 weeks from now, you will score higher
or maybe not.

Whatever happens, I believe you will score higher 3 weeks from now.

Don't lose hope, and keep on working hard.

 

[Faefly]

Just to be clear, the ACS part is better for Orgo more than genchem, and I would avoid any weird questions, just use it as extra practice.
Also, you can use DEFEAT the DAT
this website made by chad, it's free, has a lot questions, they are not very challenging, but extra practice is worth it!