dat 11/6 need advice!!!!!!!!!

[an1423]

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I just took the dat today and was going through the dat like it was pretty easy but i then got my score and was stunned, please need advice

perceptual: 19
Quantitative reasoning: 15
Reading Comprehension: 17
Bio: 15
Chem:16
Orgo :14
AA: 15

I have been studying for about one and a half months and got these scores. I really felt that i rocksed the test especially math but did not reflect in my scores. I need help what should I do can I get into any dental school with this score if I have a 3.4 cum gpa and 3.2 science and I have over 350 hours of hospital volunteer and am a certified EMT and have plenty of shadowing experience. please write back and try to help me through this rough time in my life and if there are any suggestions about what other material I can use to study for the DAT the next time arond. I used the destryer and dat achiever and bought the Kaplan book and AP CLIFFS bIO.

 

[crrees]

Have you already applied? AADSAS confirm transcripts? looking to get in this cycle? If not you have plenty of time to re-take the DAT for next cycle. Those scores I think are normal for someone who just used kaplan. Although you should have done better in Bio if you understood cliffs AP bio. There are only a handful of people who do well with only studying one or two sources

 

[an1423]

yes i put my hopes on the line and done my aadsas and applied what other sources are you referring to besides kaplan because i really need more study methods please explain

 

[it21]

Those scores I think are normal for someone who just used kaplan.

I am sorry, but I strongly disagree with that statement.

 

[joeliu0112]

Those scores I think are normal for someone who just used kaplan.

I also strongly disagree with this statement.

 

[it21]

I just took the dat today and was going through the dat like it was pretty easy but i then got my score and was stunned, please need advice

perceptual: 19
Quantitative reasoning: 15
Reading Comprehension: 17
Bio: 15
Chem:16
Orgo :14
AA: 15

I have been studying for about one and a half months and got these scores. I really felt that i rocksed the test especially math but did not reflect in my scores. I need help what should I do can I get into any dental school with this score if I have a 3.4 cum gpa and 3.2 science and I have over 350 hours of hospital volunteer and am a certified EMT and have plenty of shadowing experience. please write back and try to help me through this rough time in my life and if there are any suggestions about what other material I can use to study for the DAT the next time arond. I used the destryer and dat achiever and bought the Kaplan book and AP CLIFFS bIO.

First of all, good job on the PAT section. How did you study for the sciences? I would suggest you retake the test. Take the Kaplan course again and do ALL of the online materials. Also, when you go through the problems, try to understand the questions, the correct answer and the wrong answers. It's not about rote memorization. Kaplan is very good for organic chemistry and general chemistry, but you need to supplement for bio.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

 

[poc91nc]

I'm sorry to say this, but you're science scores show that your science fundamentals are really really poor. Therefore, most guides suggested by members WON'T do you any good. These guides are best utilized by people who have strong fundamentals. Achiever, destroyer, etc...won't benefit you.

The kaplan blue book is not the answer either...if you have poor fundamentals...the book will be too sketchy for you to gain any benefit. You need to use textbooks...and the kaplan blue book should serve as a topic guide only.

You really need to put yourself throught a 3 month boot camp and teach yourself the sciences with textbooks. That, in my opinion, is the only way to maximize your potential. There are no magic guides or shortcuts at this point...just lot's of hard work

 

[JMJRDH1]

poc91 said, now go and do it!

 

[jigabodo]

I'm sorry to say this, but you're science scores show that your science fundamentals are really really poor. Therefore, most guides suggested by members WON'T do you any good. These guides are best utilized by people who have strong fundamentals. Achiever, destroyer, etc...won't benefit you.

The kaplan blue book is not the answer either...if you have poor fundamentals...the book will be too sketchy for you to gain any benefit. You need to use textbooks...and the kaplan blue book should serve as a topic guide only.

You really need to put yourself throught a 3 month boot camp and teach yourself the sciences with textbooks. That, in my opinion, is the only way to maximize your potential. There are no magic guides or shortcuts at this point...just lot's of hard work

I whole-heartedly agree. If you have the time, I would also recommend taking basic science classes covered in DAT to improve your background.

 

[crrees]

I am sorry, but I strongly disagree with that statement.

from what i see from kaplan, the questions are not challenging enough to ensure the test taker knows advanced and fundamental topics. The questions imo are full of holes and explanations are unsatisfactory

im glad you disagree, people need to or everyone would be sheep

but if you are going to disagree please supplement with an argument or you are not helping op

 

[an1423]

what other material would you guys recommend because i really felt very well about the test until my score poped up . Do u know how many right on each section you have to get correct to obtain a 18 or does it vary?

 

[joeliu0112]

but if you are going to disagree please supplement with an argument or you are not helping op

That is fair.
My DAT studying experience only consisted of studying all of the Kaplan material.
In my opinion, if you know all of the kaplan material like of the back of your hand, you will be well prepared for the DAT.
Knowing all of the material cold also consists of you doing the problem sets they offer many many times. Also, after doing their practice tests, whatever material that you did not know about in that test, you need to learn that material cold too. I have seen many things in the Kaplan practice tests that were not in the Kaplan blue book or online outlines.
Usually when you study a topic (for example, a question in one of the practice tests) that you weren't very familiar about, that topic can stem into multiple other topics, and those topics can all stem into more topics, and so on. So in short, you learning 1 topic that you didn't know about can potentially turn into 20 topics that you originally didn't know. It is somewhat like a snowball effect.

However, many times the argument has come up that Kaplan is not enough for the Bio portion of the DAT. Although I did decently well on the Bio just studying Kaplan, I have seen enough people just study Kaplan and get screwed with the Bio. So, whatever advice people offer for the Bio section (Schuams, Cliffs, whatever) is all good stuff I assume.

Everything else, I think Kaplan does a fine job covering.

Of course, this is all my opinion, and different people have different study habits, amts of knowledge, etc. . .You just have to find what helps you the most and what is the most efficient way of studying.

Good Luck.

 

[poc91nc]

from what i see from kaplan, the questions are not challenging enough to ensure the test taker knows advanced and fundamental topics. The questions imo are full of holes and explanations are unsatisfactory

im glad you disagree, people need to or everyone would be sheep

but if you are going to disagree please supplement with an argument or you are not helping op

I agree with you. For example, I didn't really like the Biology subject tests...I thought they were too easy. The organic chemistry and general chemistry were decent, and I thought they were good practice.

As far as problems are concerned, I thought Destroyer was way more comprehensive and the explanations were more detailed (something I felt was important).

The kaplan practice tests (I had access to a whole bunch of them) were decent, but nothing you couldn't find in topscore or achiever. In fact, achiever makes the kaplan tests look like a joke. I'd say kaplan and topscore tests are on equal ground.

Overall, kaplan is good, but you should always use it with other stuff. On a side note, kaplan would've been good enough to hit 20's on the chems, but for my bio version...maybe a 19 if you were lucky. Destroyer is what saved my ass on my bio section.

 

[poc91nc]

That is fair.
My DAT studying experience only consisted of studying all of the Kaplan material.
In my opinion, if you know all of the kaplan material like of the back of your hand, you will be well prepared for the DAT.
Knowing all of the material cold also consists of you doing the problem sets they offer many many times. Also, after doing their practice tests, whatever material that you did not know about in that test, you need to learn that material cold too. I have seen many things in the Kaplan practice tests that were not in the Kaplan blue book or online outlines.
Usually when you study a topic (for example, a question in one of the practice tests) that you weren't very familiar about, that topic can stem into multiple other topics, and those topics can all stem into more topics, and so on. So in short, you learning 1 topic that you didn't know about can potentially turn into 20 topics that you originally didn't know. It is somewhat like a snowball effect.

However, many times the argument has come up that Kaplan is not enough for the Bio portion of the DAT. Although I did decently well on the Bio just studying Kaplan, I have seen enough people just study Kaplan and get screwed with the Bio. So, whatever advice people offer for the Bio section (Schuams, Cliffs, whatever) is all good stuff I assume.

Everything else, I think Kaplan does a fine job covering.

Of course, this is all my opinion, and different people have different study habits, amts of knowledge, etc. . .You just have to find what helps you the most and what is the most efficient way of studying.

Good Luck.

I'm glad kaplan worked for you, don't get me wrong. However, I think we can all agree that using just one source is a bit of a gamble. I think the DAT has evolved a bit to where there is more varience among tests...

For example...kaplan bio (blue book, subject test, etc) were good enough for the gimmie questions...enough to get you an 18 or 17, but at least 10 questions could not be referenced in kaplan. However, again, you're right, it varies upon the individual. For myself, I had a very weak background in biology (I was a biochemistry major in college) and I have a horrible foundation in physiology, evolution, ecology, classification, etc. I guess that is what drove me to use as many sources as I could...leading to a higher than expected bio score.

 

[Montserrat]

what other material would you guys recommend because i really felt very well about the test until my score poped up . Do u know how many right on each section you have to get correct to obtain a 18 or does it vary?

It varies I think, though it seems to fluctuate more at the higher end than at the lower end. It depends highly on the exam that you have - on predents.com, one previous test taker earned a 29 TS, but had two 27's.

As for the # of correct responses you would need to earn an 18 ... I haven't the foggiest. I remember the Kaplan blue book had a scoring sheet that could probably give you an idea of how things were scored. It might not be unilaterally applied to every single version of the exam, but it could give you a rough idea.

My opinion on the Kaplan blue book, is that there's no way one large print text can adequately condense several textbooks worth of knowledge. I do believe there are holes in knowledge, but you may or may not be aware of it depending on the version of the exam. I learned from my first exam that I needed to be better prepared. Some luck out, and it seems some ppl more recently have not. I didn't take the kaplan online course, but it sounds like a wonderful resource to have. However, I would try to get a solid grasp of the material before putting the concepts into practice. For me anyhow, the mantra of concepts before practice has worked well the past few years.

And like I said in my PM ... get some downtime before you start studying up again. Meditating/Hitting a punching bag/teasing yankees fans/chasing squirrels/etc are all viable methods...

 

[jigabodo]

get some downtime before you start studying up again. Meditating/Hitting a punching bag/teasing yankees fans/chasing squirrels/etc are all viable methods...

That was uncalled for. You crossed the line monster, you crossed the line. 😡

 

[Montserrat]

That was uncalled for. You crossed the line monster, you crossed the line. 😡

I apologize to you, and the ASPCA - squirrels are our friends, and should not be pursued in fits of anger while unwinding.

 

[crrees]

I apologize to you, and the ASPCA - squirrels are our friends, and should not be pursued in fits of anger while unwinding.

hahaha thanks for the laugh

 

[berg1373]

I used only Kaplan my first time and got scores in Bio and OChem similar to yours.

The second time I took it I bought the Kaplan Organic Edge online course since that specific subject was giving my trouble and I thought that course/workbook was amazing.

For the Biology I purchased Schaum's Biology book on Amazon for like $15.00, definitely worth it.

I also got the Destroyer which I think helped the most on the QR, I had problems that were almost identical on the actual test, it helped for Bio, Chem and OChem as well.

For overall practice tests, I thought TopScore helped the most. DAT Achiever was more difficult and kind of discouraged me.

That is my opinion. My scores the second time around were 20+ besides QR and OChem which were 19's. I did have to use a lot of resources, but was glad I used them all for their differing strengths.

 

[jigabodo]

I apologize to you, and the ASPCA - squirrels are our friends, and should not be pursued in fits of anger while unwinding.

Is it just me or is this forum not very yankee fan friendly?

Oh well, everybody hates yankee fans. 🙄

 

[Montserrat]

Oh well, everybody hates yankee fans. 🙄

Untrue ! Most people hate the cancerous spending that the Yankees initiated for "past their prime" players, but Yankee's fans are victims of exorbitant price gouging. We tease them for the betterment of mankind, and themselves. (NOTE: the bid for Daisuke Matsuzaka though large, was substantiated...)

 

[AdidasPete]

It all depends on what a month and a half is. A couple times a week? Every day? Just going to class (if you went at all). I only took the Kaplan class and did very well on the DAT on my first try. That said, I studied about 4 hours a night 5 days a week, a ton on weekends plus taking the class, for about 2 or 3 months. Then went literally non-stop 9-5 with studying and (Kaplan) practice tests the week prior. And when I wasnt studying I brought my Kaplan index cards pretty much everywhere with me. I pretty much wasted a summer, but it paid off and now I get to watch my Yankees up close and personal, b/c now at school I can see over into Yankee stadium FROM A CLASSROOM... needless to say I get distracted once in a while... Just work hard. You get what you put in.
-Pete