Breakdown 26AA 8/21/2015

[lorazepam]

Finally done with the DAT!!!!
For me, reading other people's breakdown's really gave me an idea of what to expect from the real test and how to interpret practice test scores.. which i think can be frustrating at times!
Also knowing how other people cracked the DAT was really helpful. If you're reading this, and just want to know my scores
Breakdown:
Bio 26
OChem 29
GChem 23
RC 28
QR 24
PAT 25
AA 26
That being said, I'm really not trying to show off or anything, just letting people out there know that they have something to relate to in terms of numbers ( It really helped me).

Materials used:
Biology-
This was the one section I was freaked out about.. I used DATgenius, Bootcamp, Destroyer!!!!! (DESTROYER IS AWESOME! ) and I went through the Princeton Review "Crack DAT' and Kaplan Blue Book (old 2008 edition). I also went through Crack DAT science Bio questions.. as a test bank.
The real DAT is more application based but there are a few easy questions which are there for a majority of people to get right! The more exposure you get, the better. I used achiever and topscore as well.
On DG, i was averaging 23-27 on Biology
On Bootcamp: 24-26
On Achiever: 20-22
On topscore: 25

Chem sections:
For both Ochem and Gen chem: DESTROYER!
Bootcamp was slightly easier than the real one, DAT genius was awesome as well. It tests you on all the tricks that the test makers put on their test.
No one really pays attention to things like safety rules because we kinda just take it for granted, but there can be quite a few trick questions regarding this topic so make sure you read up about it just in case. Better to be safe than sorry lol.
OChem- DG/ BC/ Achiever/ Topscore
23/ 24-26/ 18-21/ 21-25
GChem- DG/ BC/ Achiever? Topscore
21-23/ 24/ 15-21/ 21-29(lol)

PAT!
This section varies from person to person. My version I feel may have been slightly easier as I was scoring around 20 on bc, 23 on dg and never crossed 20 on achiever.
I used CDP in the initial stages of my studying and then moved on to achiever and dg and bc. I think my score jumped the most after using bc and achiever, bc thats when TFE actually started making sense to my mind...

RC!
This section was reallly fun on the real DAT. The passages were interesting and I had a good mix of tone and s&d questions..
BC: 19/20/21/25/X
DG 22/21/23/22/X
Achiever 18/17/20/18/18
Topscore: 23/29/23

QR
This section was really similar to Math Destroyer and the free princeton review practice test thats offered online!
Calculator worked great so dont freak out about that section..
I also used CDM but only completed first 15 tests.

PS. During the test I legit felt like I would have to retake, I read this statement before and was like.. what how could people think like that during the test. But trust me, My mind literally thought about the most random things while I was taking that test.. Like "omg I forgot what level of the parking garage I parked on"
yeah, I know. WHO DOES THAT.
So dont doubt your performance on the test. Your hardwork will pay off Good Luck!

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[Alice Tang]

Fantastic!

 

[alexis2010]

Awesome scores. Congrats.

 

[DAT Destroyer]

Finally done with the DAT!!!!
For me, reading other people's breakdown's really gave me an idea of what to expect from the real test and how to interpret practice test scores.. which i think can be frustrating at times!
Also knowing how other people cracked the DAT was really helpful. If you're reading this, and just want to know my scores
Breakdown:
Bio 26
OChem 29
GChem 23
RC 28
QR 24
PAT 25
AA 26
That being said, I'm really not trying to show off or anything, just letting people out there know that they have something to relate to in terms of numbers ( It really helped me).


Materials used:
Biology-
This was the one section I was freaked out about.. I used DATgenius, Bootcamp, Destroyer!!!!! (DESTROYER IS AWESOME! ) and I went through the Princeton Review "Crack DAT' and Kaplan Blue Book (old 2008 edition). I also went through Crack DAT science Bio questions.. as a test bank.
The real DAT is more application based but there are a few easy questions which are there for a majority of people to get right! The more exposure you get, the better. I used achiever and topscore as well.
On DG, i was averaging 23-27 on Biology
On Bootcamp: 24-26
On Achiever: 20-22
On topscore: 25

Chem sections:
For both Ochem and Gen chem: DESTROYER!
Bootcamp was slightly easier than the real one, DAT genius was awesome as well. It tests you on all the tricks that the test makers put on their test.
No one really pays attention to things like safety rules because we kinda just take it for granted, but there can be quite a few trick questions regarding this topic so make sure you read up about it just in case. Better to be safe than sorry lol.
OChem- DG/ BC/ Achiever/ Topscore
23/ 24-26/ 18-21/ 21-25
GChem- DG/ BC/ Achiever? Topscore
21-23/ 24/ 15-21/ 21-29(lol)

PAT!
This section varies from person to person. My version I feel may have been slightly easier as I was scoring around 20 on bc, 23 on dg and never crossed 20 on achiever.
I used CDP in the initial stages of my studying and then moved on to achiever and dg and bc. I think my score jumped the most after using bc and achiever, bc thats when TFE actually started making sense to my mind...

RC!
This section was reallly fun on the real DAT. The passages were interesting and I had a good mix of tone and s&d questions..
BC: 19/20/21/25/X
DG 22/21/23/22/X
Achiever 18/17/20/18/18
Topscore: 23/29/23

QR
This section was really similar to Math Destroyer and the free princeton review practice test thats offered online!
Calculator worked great so dont freak out about that section..
I also used CDM but only completed first 15 tests.

PS. During the test I legit felt like I would have to retake, I read this statement before and was like.. what how could people think like that during the test. But trust me, My mind literally thought about the most random things while I was taking that test.. Like "omg I forgot what level of the parking garage I parked on"
yeah, I know. WHO DOES THAT.
So dont doubt your performance on the test. Your hardwork will pay off Good Luck!

Congratulations! lorazepam

Thank you for taking taking to give back to the SDN community, you are not showing off at all, you are giving a detailed explanation of your experience and it will definitely help students, including my classroom students

For a student who was worried about the Bio you kicked ass..and the DAT Beast was no match for you. Your science scores shine through and dental schools will take notice. All your scores are above average and many interviews will be coming your direction.

Happy to hear you located your car in the parking garage, who does that?? Me!!! When we get distracted and you had a HUGE distraction the DAT things like where you park you car seem less important.

You should be VERY proud of your accomplishment and take some time to celebrate with family and friends.

Wishing you the very best!

Dr. Romano and Nancy

 

[okiedokeartichoke]

Great job, those are awesome scores! How long did you study for?

 

[lorazepam]

Thank you so much Nancy and Dr. Romano @orgoman22
And Thank you to everyone else too!
@okiedokeartichoke I studied for 2.5 months

 

[BYU4you]

Congrats!

 

[SyracuseOrange92]

Holy high 20s.....nice job! Very helpful breakdown

 

[lorazepam]

Thank you
@SyracuseOrange92

 

[SyracuseOrange92]

You're welcome

 

[matardug]

Those are some blazing scores wow! Congrats to you!!

 

[lorazepam]

Haha. Thanks! You too! @matardug

 

[MolarDentist]

Another test destroyed. Those are awesome scores. Felicitation !!

 

[matardug]

Welcome

 

[phillyeagles1]

What a great job, and an awesome breakdown! Thank you

 

[QuantumMan]

NICE!

You studied for 2.5 months. How many hours a day? How did you spend your days studying for 2.5 months.

 

[lorazepam]

@QuantumMan
I studied for like 10-12 hours everyday..
Initially I would review material and attempt to go through the destroyer/bootcamp questions.
And then I only took practice tests for like the last 2 weeks leading up to my test.

 

[Evistor]

I wonder how many people get a 26 or above each year.

Congrats from a fellow 26

 

[PlasmaMembrane]

I wonder how many people get a 26 or above each year.

Congrats from a fellow 26

At least 50+ people these days based on the current ADEA guide's ranges. Probably closer to 100 now.

 

[Evistor]

At least 50+ people these days based on the current ADEA guide's ranges. Probably closer to 100 now.

Wow, that is a lot.

My theory was 25 (99.9%), so 14 of 14000 would be 25 or higher. Guess I was wrong :-(

 

[DentalLonghorn2014]

What do people mean when they say the bio section is more "application"? Like more experiments?

 

[Evistor]

What do people mean when they say the bio section is more "application"? Like more experiments?

Instead of answering direct questions you would have to "apply" your knowledge of bio to solve a given problem set

 

[lorazepam]

@DentalLonghorn2014 Its like they indirectly ask you to go through several different concepts to reach the answer.. not hard, basically they want you to use the things you learnt in a new situation

 

[Graffix]

What do people mean when they say the bio section is more "application"? Like more experiments?

On some of the questions I had they stated some facts and then asked "based on what you know, what would you expect to happen?"

 

[DentalLonghorn2014]

Thanks everyone!

 

[tyjacobs]

At least 50+ people these days based on the current ADEA guide's ranges. Probably closer to 100 now.

i doubt it considering like 10 people got that or higher in 2009. so it would have to be a 500% increase in 5 years for that to occur which i doubt

 

[tyjacobs]

In 2009, 9 people scored a 26 AA and 3 people scored a 27 AA.

So from 12 --> 100+ in 5 years would be extreme and doubtful

source: http://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Education and Careers/Files/dat_users_manual.ashx

 

[Evistor]

In 2009, 9 people scored a 26 AA and 3 people scored a 27 AA.

So from 12 --> 100+ in 5 years would be extreme and doubtful

source: http://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Education and Careers/Files/dat_users_manual.ashx

Thanks for clearing that.

 

[PlasmaMembrane]

i doubt it considering like 10 people got that or higher in 2009. so it would have to be a 500% increase in 5 years for that to occur which i doubt

It's been 6 years and scores have gone up substantially. There's an easy way to tell I'm right: look at the DAT ranges reported in the ADEA guide. There are far more than 12 schools with at least a 26 AA as their maximum, and that doesn't even count duplicates of that score within the same school. On SDN alone there have been at least 20+ breakdowns this year of people that scored a 26 and that's only the people who bothered to make a thread about it on here. Multiple people have scored a 27 AA this cycle (pikachurro and naomiskyla? both come to mind) and even a 28 AA was seen (feralis) - again that is just on SDN. There are plenty others without a doubt who just don't use the forums.

Using phrases like "500% increase" when you're referring to numbers as low as 12 is just silly.

 

[tyjacobs]

its a standardized test so i imagine their goal is to keep the percentages the same (to keep the bell curve) so the most logical explanation for the spike in scores is the increase in the number of test takers.

have there really been 20+ threads of 26 AA+? From may to september there have been only 3 that i saw: me feralis and lorazepam. so were there 17 from january to may?

 

[Evistor]

its a standardized test so i imagine their goal is to keep the percentages the same (to keep the bell curve) so the most logical explanation for the spike in scores is the increase in the number of test takers.

have there really been 20+ threads of 26 AA+? From may to september there have been only 3 that i saw: me feralis and lorazepam. so were there 17 from january to may?

Ehem..

 

[odpropofol]

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