Am I Ready for the DAT?

[Saint Richie]

Hey, I've been studying for the past 6 months for the DAT for roughly 5-6 hours a day. I am retaking my DAT on April 6th to see if I can bring up my 19/19 score I got in 2015. I'm hoping to score the coveted 21/21 and keep all the scores above 20 at least.

Reading the breakdowns on here as well as people's practice test scores is kinda nerve racking haha

I have taken all 5 of BC's full length tests:

Bio/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR/SNS/AA

(Real DAT Score: 17/19/21/23/18/20/19/19)

Test 1: 24/22/21/22/20/22/22/22
Test 2: 23/21/19/21/20/19/21/20
Test 3: 22/23/20/23/20/19/22/21
Test 4: 25/21/22/21/23//20/23/22
Test 5: 20/19/21/21/20/20/21/20

With the SNS, though, I had already took them before a few weeks prior, scoring a 21 avg. bio, 18 avg. chem, and 19 avg. Ochem.

I have also been taking DAT Genius's full length tests:

Test 1: 20/20/21/22/20/20/20/20
Test 2: 20/21/19/22/20/20/20/20
Test 3: 20/18/19/25/23/21/19/20

I was going to save the '07 and '09 tests for Sunday and Monday before taking the test on Thursday. However, I'm kinda psyching myself out. I was feeling really confident about my odds with the DAT after finishing the BC tests, but the DAT genius is really breaking my spirit with the natural sciences. In the QR section, I find myself filling in blanks on the last 3 or 4 problems due to a lack of time (had no problems with BC QR, finished with 4-6 minutes left on the clock.

I've been trying to be proactive about my progress, looking at # of questions answered correctly rather than the estimated score. BC I had ~29 right with bio, ~19 chem and o chem the first time around and ~34, ~24, and ~23 respectively with gen chem and Ochem on my second time around. On Genius, I am getting ~29 bio questions right, ~19 Gchem, and ~19 OChem.

Since SDN seems to be the home of the top 2% of DAT test takers, I was looking for some input on whether I should push back my test another week or so.

Thanks so much!

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[LuckBloodandSweat]

Are you feeling comfortable with all the topics? If so go get that sucker over with ; o

 

[schmoob]

QR is about strategy. When i was taking the DAT I noticed the first few questions were kind of easy, they sort of suck you in. The questions in the middle were a little lengthier and time consuming, then towards the end they got easier again.
My advice is to get through all of them as fast as possible (obviously). By that I mean do the first few, pay attention to the time killer questions - if you find it's taking too long Guess, Mark, Move On. Get through all of them so you don't lose out easy points. Go back to the tougher ones and do your best with them.
Also, not sure if anyone told you but the 09 DAT QR is ridiculous. It is most likely not indicative of what you will encounter, so dont freak out over it. I HIGHLY encourage you to do the 09 exam BEFORE the 07.
Good luck!

 

[FeralisExtremum]

Scores aside, do you feel like your understanding of the material has improved over time, especially relative to the first time you took the DAT?

 

[Saint Richie]

I understand the material for all the sections (as in, no concept stumps me), its just that I have a few weaknesses to pan out. I.e. Chemistry calculations involving solubility and some acid-base problems can trip me up, or I know the equation I should use, but second guess whether I have the variables in the right places. When I go over answers, I find myself wondering how I messed the problem up rather than wondering how to do the problem in the first place. I'm looking over TY Jacobs chemistry and ochem notes again before taking another genius exam tomorrow. I always finish SNS with ~9-12 minutes to spare, so next time, I'm going to go slower with calculations to see if that helps me focus more.

@schmoob I will use that strategy for my next full length test when I hit QR. I remember my first go with the DAT, having to rush the last 2 or 3 questions. The busier questions is probably my problem - I know how to solve it, but it takes a bit to get to the answer. I also find that when I get nervous, I rely on the calculator more.

Scores aside, I do feel like I have improved compared to last time, where I gave myself 1.5 months to study to get it done before the semester started. Last time, I did maybe half of DAT Destroyer, never did an actual full length test aside from the '07/'09 tests (which scared me, as I did not do so hot on them), and used Kaplan as my source for bio info (Not recommended, after seeing what Ferralis and Cliff's 3rd edition offers). Before my first genius full length test, I felt like I was ready to knock it out of the park. Looking back at how many questions I got right/wrong instead of the score, Genius and Bootcamp seem similar, but I guess Genius is more stingy on giving you a high estimated score (Ie. 41/50 RC questions right is a 20 on genius, which seems odd to me, especially after seeing someone here who got 34/50 right and earned the same score)

I talked with some friends today, and they told me I was ready and not to worry. I have 1 week before my exam, so I plan on channeling my fears into motivation to crack down on my weaknesses: Chem and math.

I'll definitely pay the fee to reschedule if you think its a good idea. Knowing me, I'll probably wind up being just as nervous when the new test date approaches

 

[tyjacobs]

Hey, I've been studying for the past 6 months for the DAT for roughly 5-6 hours a day. I am retaking my DAT on April 6th to see if I can bring up my 19/19 score I got in 2015. I'm hoping to score the coveted 21/21 and keep all the scores above 20 at least.

Reading the breakdowns on here as well as people's practice test scores is kinda nerve racking haha

I have taken all 5 of BC's full length tests:

Bio/GC/OC/PAT/RC/QR/SNS/AA

(Real DAT Score: 17/19/21/23/18/20/19/19)

Test 1: 24/22/21/22/20/22/22/22
Test 2: 23/21/19/21/20/19/21/20
Test 3: 22/23/20/23/20/19/22/21
Test 4: 25/21/22/21/23//20/23/22
Test 5: 20/19/21/21/20/20/21/20

With the SNS, though, I had already took them before a few weeks prior, scoring a 21 avg. bio, 18 avg. chem, and 19 avg. Ochem.

I have also been taking DAT Genius's full length tests:

Test 1: 20/20/21/22/20/20/20/20
Test 2: 20/21/19/22/20/20/20/20
Test 3: 20/18/19/25/23/21/19/20

I was going to save the '07 and '09 tests for Sunday and Monday before taking the test on Thursday. However, I'm kinda psyching myself out. I was feeling really confident about my odds with the DAT after finishing the BC tests, but the DAT genius is really breaking my spirit with the natural sciences. In the QR section, I find myself filling in blanks on the last 3 or 4 problems due to a lack of time (had no problems with BC QR, finished with 4-6 minutes left on the clock.

I've been trying to be proactive about my progress, looking at # of questions answered correctly rather than the estimated score. BC I had ~29 right with bio, ~19 chem and o chem the first time around and ~34, ~24, and ~23 respectively with gen chem and Ochem on my second time around. On Genius, I am getting ~29 bio questions right, ~19 Gchem, and ~19 OChem.

Since SDN seems to be the home of the top 2% of DAT test takers, I was looking for some input on whether I should push back my test another week or so.

Thanks so much!

I think you are pretty much ready for the DAT if you are trying to score a 20+.

Wouldn't push it back a week unless you seriously think it will make a big difference in your studies.

Good luck!

 

[Saint Richie]

Thanks! Your notes are pretty great, by the way! For all I said about DAT Genius, I do appreciate the harder scoring and questions - really pushes me to do better, as I think it does for many others!

 

[Stanelz]

You sound ready and your scores are better than mine when I did BC and I did alright (stats in sig)

 

[Saint Richie]

You have a pretty great DAT score and GPA, how did you wind up not getting any letters last year? If you don't mind me asking.

 

[Faefly]

Please don't tire yourself too much before the actual text. I mean take the full test (today or tomorrow) and Monday, don't do anything tiresome after that. Or just take one full test on Monday. and that's it.

I am sure you will do great! You are ready!
You will score higher, don't worry too much!

 

[Stanelz]

You have a pretty great DAT score and GPA, how did you wind up not getting any letters last year? If you don't mind me asking.

rookie mistakes like applying to schools that I should not have and I also have a premed past having applied to medical school once. Also had two years with no courses whatsoever

 

[Saint Richie]

I just finished the 2009 DAT (sort of, I skipped the QR section as it was mentioned to be ridiculous, which I took to also mean probably not worth the time). I got a 24 in bio (37/40), a 19 in chem (23/30), and a 20 in Ochem (24/30). SNS was a 20 overall (84/100). PAT I had 85/90 right for a 25, and RC I got a 21 with 39/50 (I had the paper copy, which made it difficult for me to do this as I am used to the online format, being able to scroll, etc.)

Going to be going over the chem and ochem I messed up on to see if it was concepts/calculations I screwed up on. I felt confident going through it, and I managed to finish each section with time to spare. Much better than in 2015, when I got really low scores and was hyperventilating on what I was going to do with the last few days before the exam

I keep reading mixed reviews on how the '09 compares to the real deal. How do they compare?

 

[Saint Richie]

rookie mistakes like applying to schools that I should not have and I also have a premed past having applied to medical school once. Also had two years with no courses whatsoever

I hear you. When I applied in 2015, I just discovered dentistry as an interest in the winter/spring, and I was set on it in summer after doing the gateway dental program at Rutgers. My application wound up on schools' desks by late October/early November. Only had one interview, and obviously it didn't go anywhere. I wish you luck this coming cycle, who knows - maybe we'll be a part of the same program

 

[Saint Richie]

2007 score of 20 SNS (bio 17 29/40, chem 19 25/30, orgo 28 29/30). RC and Qr were 21s for a AA of 21. PAT was 26. Have no idea what happened with bio: I think I rushed it to get to the section I was interested in testing myself in, cause about 4 of the incorrect ones were from me reading the problem wrong and subsequently facepalming myself. I finished the SNS with 14 minutes to spare - so I am just going to mark anything I doubt myself on to see if I misread something. QR went well enough - guessed on 2 problems due to a lack of time, but I skipped the ones I didn't get immediately to nail the ones I knew and it helped! Had 32/40 right.

I wrote down the topics I got wrong in each section, and I plan on using the last two days before the exam going over them almost exclusively. Feeling a lot more confident than I did my first post here!