August 2014 DAT GROUP

[tooth knockn]

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Yep that's right, if July ppl get one, August ppl get one too....


August 13 is my test date.

I'm studying Orgo and gen chem for the next 2 weeks

 

[Thetoothhurts91]

I did pretty bad in the 2009 DAT. I learned from my mistakes and ended up doing a lot better. I got 17 in Bio, 21 in GC, and 18 in OC for the 2009 practice test.

Don't focus too much on your score. Figure out why you got the answers wrong.

 

[virajpatel]

Bootcamp Qr is pretty intense. Just took my first practice test.

 

[CabbageKid]

Bootcamp Qr is pretty intense. Just took my first practice test.

The first passage on that killed me, I thought the other 2 passages were fair though.

 

[simplydds]

I did pretty bad in the 2009 DAT. I learned from my mistakes and ended up doing a lot better. I got 17 in Bio, 21 in GC, and 18 in OC for the 2009 practice test.

Don't focus too much on your score. Figure out why you got the answers wrong.

okay perfect thank you ahha
My test is Sunday, so I was a bit taken aback by the scores on the 2009 ADA test.

ps. I checked your breakdown. wonderful scores! congrats!

 

[Thetoothhurts91]

Has anyone who is applying this cycle gotten their scores posted on AADSAS? I took my DAT on 8/4 but I'm thinking of contacting some of my schools and see if I can send them a copy of my unofficial score. I'm worried that I forgot to do something to make sure it gets posted. I submitted my AADSAS back in July so will it automatically update to my profile?

 

[GGNUPE12]

I am also a part of the Awesome August crew (August 20th) and I can't say that with less the 2 weeks to go I'm not nervous out of my mind. But Anyways GOOD LUCK EVERYONE AND MAY THE ODDS BE IN OUR FAVORS!!!

 

[larinha14]

Hey guys! So, my DAT is next week and of course i m freaking out. Anyone who took earlier this month - can you provide us with an insight of the exam? I have reviewed kaplan, Princeton, chads, boot camp, destroyer math and bio and crack the dat (mostly PAT) and i still dont feel ready. hahaha Math is killing me and i can never finish the 40 problems in 45 minutes. Desperation kicking in...:O

 

[TD21]

Wow, you've done a lot, keep at it! I'll let you know in 2 days.

 

[virajpatel]

I read post that said DAT QR is about the same, maybe a tad easier than Bootcamp Qr. I'm effed if thats true.

 

[TD21]

Nah, I don't know where you heard that from, but I think math destroyer and QV are more representative 😉 But I'll definitely let you know if I'm wrong!

 

[simplydds]

Math Destroyer was definitely representative!
Some of the hard questions on Math Destroyer were very similar to those on the real thing!

 

[larinha14]

Thanks guys! Please do. 🙂

 

[goldenboy3.4]

Aug 22nd!

Anything specific I should be doing for these last two full weeks?

 

[larinha14]

anyone has a solution for the 2009 DAT QR #24? :x

 

[yankpak786]

My weakest section is QR! Any tips on what to do, how to study, what to study?! lol my exam is August 24th

 

[simplydds]

My weakest section is QR! Any tips on what to do, how to study, what to study?! lol my exam is August 24th

Go over the questions on Math Destroyer!
Watch some of the Chad QR videos! some of them have good tips that are especially helpful!

 

[KendreasyDDS]

Hi is anyone having problems getting onto the DAT Bootcamp site?

 

[virajpatel]

@KendreasyDDS yes

 

[KendreasyDDS]

Thanks virajpatel - I was getting worried that it was just me. Hopefully it's up soon

 

[TD21]

Hey guys, took DAT, won't be getting home till later today. Here's 2 tips for you immediate august testers, things that aren't mentioned by others:

1) Be wary of % time spent on SDN. I'm sure we all spend much more time than we would like to admit. Eventually I noticed I wasted too much time being envious scores of crazy people on here, and I certainly wasted more time than necessary arguing with some random guy on here I don't even know, valuable time that can be better spent studying. I ended up blocking SDN from my laptop browser, and looking back, one of the best decision I made during crunch time week. Gave me just enough time to thoroughly review everything (just finished reviewing bio destroyer yesterday), and there was 1 bio question I would definitely have gotten wrong if I didn't study destroyer thoroughly, one question which could have made my bio score a few points lower. Find the useful stuff on SDN, then get off of it.

2) It's PERFECTLY OK to feel down the week leading up to the test. I'm surprised people don't talk about this more. The week before my test was a cycle of wake up, library, study home, sleep, rinse and repeat. 30 minutes mimum cardio every other day, and pretty much completely dissappeared from the face of the earth. The stress was getting to me, and although I'm not usually the one to put too much thought into practice scores, getting a much lower than normal score on GC BC #5 the day b4 the test definitely put me into slightly depressed mode. The night before, I was pretty down and certain I was going to bomb the test. This ended up being a blessing in disguise, because I just told myself, I did my best, and I'm going to fail anyways, and I ended up sleeping really well. (7 hrs compared to those <6 hr sleepless nights when I just could not fall asleep). I'm sure more of the high scores on SDN have bad weeks leading up than they would like to admit, so don't feel too bad if you are having a rough time! Just keep going!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now some stuff for later august takers:

How to do well? Everybody has diff. background so nobody is the same. I personally found glimmer, dodgeDDS's, jimpanzee, and wazn8 (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/ultimate-breakdown-collection.992975/)breakdowns to all be super helpful in various ways, and they made more sense to me. Honestly, there are WAY more breakdowns on this website than there needs to be, and at one point you realize the only way to do well: learn. Set aside some time, and put in effort to learn, and you will do well. My study plan ended up being a hybrid of wazn8 and dodgeDDS with lots of anki flashcards for bio. QV love the interface, BC very good but overhyped imo, destroyer good if you want an above average score, CHAD > all else.

 

[TD21]

Hey guys! So, my DAT is next week and of course i m freaking out. Anyone who took earlier this month - can you provide us with an insight of the exam? I have reviewed kaplan, Princeton, chads, boot camp, destroyer math and bio and crack the dat (mostly PAT) and i still dont feel ready. hahaha Math is killing me and i can never finish the 40 problems in 45 minutes. Desperation kicking in...:O

Math destroyer was more than enough. Use it to learn, and if you are pressed for time, skip the hard ones on the test.

 

[mardr2b]

@TD21 amazing scores!!! congrats. Anything on the test that you didn't expect ? bio? lab q's ?

 

[TD21]

Everything on the test was covered in destroyer and Cliffs, except 2 questions, though you might not get them. You will know those Qs if you see them, honestly I don't think there's any way to study for them, I skipped them and came back later. They're random, but not random enough that you can't use POE and common sense to make a good educated guess, I think I might have gotten one right.

 

[larinha14]

Can you tell me something about gen chem? Lots of calculations, concept qs? any thing i should focus more on? And what were your RC articles on?
Congrats on your scores. I cant wait to get this behind me! 🙂

 

[NLP26]

Hey guys, took DAT, won't be getting home till later today. Here's 2 tips for you immediate august testers, things that aren't mentioned by others:

1) Be wary of % time spent on SDN. I'm sure we all spend much more time than we would like to admit. Eventually I noticed I wasted too much time being envious scores of crazy people on here, and I certainly wasted more time than necessary arguing with some random guy on here I don't even know, valuable time that can be better spent studying. I ended up blocking SDN from my laptop browser, and looking back, one of the best decision I made during crunch time week. Gave me just enough time to thoroughly review everything (just finished reviewing bio destroyer yesterday), and there was 1 bio question I would definitely have gotten wrong if I didn't study destroyer thoroughly, one question which could have made my bio score a few points lower. Find the useful stuff on SDN, then get off of it.

2) It's PERFECTLY OK to feel down the week leading up to the test. I'm surprised people don't talk about this more. The week before my test was a cycle of wake up, library, study home, sleep, rinse and repeat. 30 minutes mimum cardio every other day, and pretty much completely dissappeared from the face of the earth. The stress was getting to me, and although I'm not usually the one to put too much thought into practice scores, getting a much lower than normal score on GC BC #5 the day b4 the test definitely put me into slightly depressed mode. The night before, I was pretty down and certain I was going to bomb the test. This ended up being a blessing in disguise, because I just told myself, I did my best, and I'm going to fail anyways, and I ended up sleeping really well. (7 hrs compared to those <6 hr sleepless nights when I just could not fall asleep). I'm sure more of the high scores on SDN have bad weeks leading up than they would like to admit, so don't feel too bad if you are having a rough time! Just keep fighting on!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now some stuff for later august takers:

How to do well? Everybody has diff. background so nobody is the same. I personally found glimmer, dodgeDDS's, jimpanzee, and wazn8 (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/ultimate-breakdown-collection.992975/)breakdowns to all be super helpful in various ways, and they made more sense to me. Honestly, there are WAY more breakdowns on this website than there needs to be, and at one point you realize the only way to do well: learn. Set aside some time, and put in effort to learn, and you will do well. My study plan ended up being a hybrid of wazn8 and dodgeDDS with lots of anki flashcards for bio. QV love the interface, BC very good but overhyped imo, destroyer good if you want an above average score, CHAD > all else.

NICE! Congrats seriously. How'd you prepare for Orgo.? Do you think watching Chad's videos and going through Destroyer once-twice carefully is enough to break 20?

 

[TD21]

@larinha14- I focused on concepts, I fastplayed chad for 3rd time on gen chem topics I was unsure of, few days before test, the way i saw it, i would rather miss 1 hard calculation problem, than miss 3 easy problems covered by chad, this way I could still get a pretty good score. RC was pretty easy, I S+D the whole thing skimming over the irrelevent inf, I also jotted down 1~2 words summarizing what the paragraph was about that I just S+D'd, that way I could find the paragraph faster if I needed to come to it. sometimes on BC reading I would run out of time, but for the real test I had 5 minutes leftover.

@NLP26- I focused on concepts too, I also fastplayed chad 3rd time on topics i wasn't completely sure of. I think BC + destroyer is more than enough to break 20, as long as you truly understand how you got your answers, and really learn from your mistakes. I studied destroyer and qvault a lot more closely for OC than GC, b/c i sucked at GC in college but liked OC, but I guess sometimes it all comes down to luck w/ what questions you get

 

[SunshineStatePreDental]

exam is in 2 weeks (28th) - starting chads today - bad idea?

 

[valkyrie08]

Can someone please clarify the ploidy number in each stage of mitosis/meiosis? I keep missing questions asking how many chromosomes/ chromatids in Bootcamp.

Thank you! Good luck on your exams everyone.

 

[simplydds]

exam is in 2 weeks (28th) - starting chads today - bad idea?

not a bad idea!
I guess I would suggest watching the videos intently if you really do need to review a topic!
For me, I came into the test knowing a lot of gen chem so I just took all the quizzes first and then looked at which sections I was weak at. I tried to self study a bit first and if I improved with that, then I didn't watch the videos. If I still had no clue, I watched Chad.
I pretty much took the test with ~3 weeks of studying so... I don't think it's too late

 

[emminent]

Hey August test takers. I just finished mine and wanted to give you all some tips that you would hopefully find useful. KEEP STUDYING AND PUSH FORWARD! Don't give up and hang tight. You'll see everything will be so worth it once you're done. GOOD LUCK!

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/my-dat-test-day-tips.1093082/

 

[Thetoothhurts91]

Updating this thread. I took the DAT on 8/4. My scores are finally posted today 8/25 (time: 3 weeks). Its been the longest three weeks of my life but I'm glad I'm finally finished in my applications.