dat 6/11

[DanNuch]

just got back from the test and am feeling terrible...

my scores were not what i expected for any of the sections... here they are:

Bio: 18
GChem: 22
OChem: 27
QR: 18
RC: 16
PAT: 21

TS: 21
AA: 20

as you can see, i cant read for ****... i had a method going in to search through the text for answers and it completely bombed... i got flustered and nervous and just totally knew it was over...

i could really use some feedback on what to do from here. I know schools have minimums for scores, so i was wondering what you think about this terrible RC score.

heres my break down:

Bio: definetly difficult, though not as bad as i originally thought. the questions were all fair and i feel that if i would have spent more time with cliffs AP bio i would have done much, much better. destroyer was good, but i feel the tone of most questions were answered in cliffs.

GChem:was pretty basic, just simple ideas and calculations. i felt i knew every answer, but must have made some mistakes. i only used destroyer and kaplan book for this, i took chem two years ago and still had a good handle on it

OChem: i just finished up a year of ochem and everything was still fresh in my head, destroyer was good for reactions and concepts, but i feel it was a bit overkill, use it if you either need help in ochem or if you have a lot of time (it is a GREAT tool for the OC section, if you know it well, there is no reason you cant get em all). i found myself trying too hard to memorize every small rxn, thinking they all would be tested on in detail like my classes, but the DAT is just way more general in my opinion than anything ive seen here at school.

PAT: i was getting 23's on my crack the pat and 25's on kaplan, i dont know what the hell happened here, i was planning on doing much better but i guess i choked. i was really dissapointed.

RC: obviously have no advice here, i simply cant read in standardized tests! i remember back when i took the ACT in HS i got like 17 reading writing and 36 math and science.... it looks like i havnt changed...

QR: probably even a bigger let down than RC, i was planning on dominating this section, i had been getting 23's on kaplan/crack dat math/ and achiever... seems i couldnt regain after my performance in RC.


i know this is a length breakdown but i always appreciated other who did the same. i will be back on periodically if anyone has any questions, ill be more than happy to answer...

id also appreciate some advice for what to do from here... i am already gonna reschedule my DAT in 3 months (9/11), but is that too late this cycle to make up for these scores??? any input would be much appreciated, thanks a lot

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[War Eagle]

What practice tests did you take?

 

[osimsDDS]

nice scores, are you kidding me I would not reschedule and take it again...your scores are real good be happy

 

[doc3232]

Good job, RC of 16 is bad, but not too bad.
Everything else is good.
GOOD LUCK

 

[topdent1]

Awesome scores man/women! It all depends on your GPA and e.c whether you retake or not. Just to let you know, adcomms look at RC as the #1 predictor of how well you do in dental school. I was told that by the dean of MN dental school.

Good Luck!

 

[DanNuch]

Awesome scores man/women! It all depends on your GPA and e.c whether you retake or not. Just to let you know, adcomms look at RC as the #1 predictor of how well you do in dental school. I was told that by the dean of MN dental school.

Good Luck!

good thing im from MN, its my first choice, and trying to get into their EDP... damn

i know im not eligible anymore because they require a min of 17.....

you applyin to MN too i take it?

i have a 3.6/3.6 gpa/sgpa, 100+ hours of volunteering at dental clinic/ retirement center, sealant clinics, etc. and other various EC's so i think the only thing hurting me is this score now...

 

[uesider]

I would call some of the schools you are applying to and ask if it is necessary you retake... the rest of your scores are great.. no need to be bummed out!!

 

[wkawk2416]

with those score, i would not worry about getting into dental school.

have fun in dental school.

i know person who got 14 on RC and solid scores on TS got in to

columbia, upenn, and other schools.

btw great scores again on o - chem and g-chem section.

and i am struggling on those. Can you give me some advice?

like how to approach conceptual problems and how

basic organic chemistry. Thanks..

 

[topdent1]

good thing im from MN, its my first choice, and trying to get into their EDP... damn

i know im not eligible anymore because they require a min of 17.....

you applyin to MN too i take it?

i have a 3.6/3.6 gpa/sgpa, 100+ hours of volunteering at dental clinic/ retirement center, sealant clinics, etc. and other various EC's so i think the only thing hurting me is this score now...

Yep, I go to the U. I also applied for edp but withdrew my app. a couple weeks ago because I'm retaking the dat and the scores won't process quick enough for them. I also wrote some crappy supplemental apps so I will get a chance to rewrite those bad boys. Do you attend the University of MN?

 

[DanNuch]

What practice tests did you take?

i took the kaplan online tests and scored the following average:

B:17 GC: 21 OC:23 PAT: 23 QR: 23 RC: 18

achiever... well achiever shattered my confidence the day before the DAT, i took the science section and got BIO: 15, GC:17, OC:17, all in all, i thought i was gonna do terrible in the sciences comming into the dat after that. i actually knew chem pretty well, but my confidence was shot from these scores. the achiever PAT was harder, but not too far from the real thing, i would recommend to be comfortable with it, don't expect the real DAT to be easier...

i would say, just really analyze your answers and why you get certain things wrong on the PAT, there are only so many common structures and folds possible, so become an expert and you will be fine...

looking into the future, to prepare for my next dat i am really gonna set aside some time to go through the PAT slow and work on it, not just focus on the "test atmosphere rush" like i did for this DAT

also for QR, the biggest time waster for me (besides reading the long word problems) was simplifying equations and answers to simple form, i would say some good advice would be to become comfortable with estimating an answer based off a complext equation... (like 58.7x92x12 / 32x3.5x5 , just an example, like somthing you would get after dimensional analysis...)

 

[Hugh Mannity]

I'm applying also to the EDP at the U of MN. I take the DAT on friday though.

 

[DCRedskinsRule]

I would call some of the schools you are applying to and ask if it is necessary you retake... the rest of your scores are great.. no need to be bummed out!!

I actually think this is really good advice. Your science scores (esp ochem) are AMAZING, and hopefully make up for your RC goof. I don't think that the RC score will prevent you from getting in...and if it does, at the very least you'll get an interview at most places and have a chance to explain what happened on test day. Make sure you don't come across as victimizing yourself, I would confidently say that I messed up for a specific reason and how you know that it does not reflect the quality of work you're used to producing (your GPA and other DAT sections should be able to serve as evidence).

Overall, congrats again on great science scores and good luck in the app process!

 

[DanNuch]

I actually think this is really good advice. Your science scores (esp ochem) are AMAZING, and hopefully make up for your RC goof. I don't think that the RC score will prevent you from getting in...and if it does, at the very least you'll get an interview at most places and have a chance to explain what happened on test day. Make sure you don't come across as victimizing yourself, I would confidently say that I messed up for a specific reason and how you know that it does not reflect the quality of work you're used to producing (your GPA and other DAT sections should be able to serve as evidence).

Overall, congrats again on great science scores and good luck in the app process!

thanks a lot man, thats really good to hear at this point, i am just hoping this meet the "minimum" most schools considder, i guess ill have to look at all that im applying to.

i was hopping to apply to just 8 if i didnt get into my EDP, but we will see,

once again, thanks to everyone for their feedback

 

[doc3232]

Is a 27 0 wrong or can that be one wrong? questions.
Number of questions missed on the test.

 

[ddstobe]

just got back from the test and am feeling terrible...

my scores were not what i expected for any of the sections... here they are:

Bio: 18
GChem: 22
OChem: 27
QR: 18
RC: 16
PAT: 21

TS: 21
AA: 20

as you can see, i cant read for ****... i had a method going in to search through the text for answers and it completely bombed... i got flustered and nervous and just totally knew it was over...

i could really use some feedback on what to do from here. I know schools have minimums for scores, so i was wondering what you think about this terrible RC score.

heres my break down:

Bio: definetly difficult, though not as bad as i originally thought. the questions were all fair and i feel that if i would have spent more time with cliffs AP bio i would have done much, much better. destroyer was good, but i feel the tone of most questions were answered in cliffs.

GChem:was pretty basic, just simple ideas and calculations. i felt i knew every answer, but must have made some mistakes. i only used destroyer and kaplan book for this, i took chem two years ago and still had a good handle on it

OChem: i just finished up a year of ochem and everything was still fresh in my head, destroyer was good for reactions and concepts, but i feel it was a bit overkill, use it if you either need help in ochem or if you have a lot of time (it is a GREAT tool for the OC section, if you know it well, there is no reason you cant get em all). i found myself trying too hard to memorize every small rxn, thinking they all would be tested on in detail like my classes, but the DAT is just way more general in my opinion than anything ive seen here at school.

PAT: i was getting 23's on my crack the pat and 25's on kaplan, i dont know what the hell happened here, i was planning on doing much better but i guess i choked. i was really dissapointed.

RC: obviously have no advice here, i simply cant read in standardized tests! i remember back when i took the ACT in HS i got like 17 reading writing and 36 math and science.... it looks like i havnt changed...

QR: probably even a bigger let down than RC, i was planning on dominating this section, i had been getting 23's on kaplan/crack dat math/ and achiever... seems i couldnt regain after my performance in RC.


i know this is a length breakdown but i always appreciated other who did the same. i will be back on periodically if anyone has any questions, ill be more than happy to answer...

id also appreciate some advice for what to do from here... i am already gonna reschedule my DAT in 3 months (9/11), but is that too late this cycle to make up for these scores??? any input would be much appreciated, thanks a lot

so when you say Cliff, which one are you talking about?

CliffsAP Biology (Cliffs Ap Biology) by Phillip E., Ph.D. Pack

Biology (CliffsStudySolver) by Max Rechtman

Biology (Cliffs Quick Review) by I. Edward Alcamo and Kelly

 

[CUDental]

Nice scores, other than that RC. I have heard that RC is an important section, and unfortunately since you're applying EDP you are probably going to be up against even better competition. There's always a chance, and the rest of your application looks pretty solid, so go for it if you want to, but I would think that an early decision applicant would have to be pretty flawless overall to be accepted. If a retake would be after the MN EDP deadline and they have a minimum of 17, you might be out of luck there, but you could have a shot at other schools. If you could retake it before their deadlines and bring that RC up a bit, you'd definitely have a chance. Who knows, though... I'm applying to MN too (not EDP) so hopefully I'll see you there for an interview. Good luck!

 

[DanNuch]

so when you say Cliff, which one are you talking about?

CliffsAP Biology (Cliffs Ap Biology) by Phillip E., Ph.D. Pack

Biology (CliffsStudySolver) by Max Rechtman

Biology (Cliffs Quick Review) by I. Edward Alcamo and Kelly

i was referring to cliffs AP bio, i take it the first one, i dont know off the top of my head. its yellow, green and black if that helps....

but im no expert on bio, from my exam i would say the questions were similar to that the type of tone presented in the text. i did not rely on this as much as i did destroyer, i wish i had used it more...

i often referred to wikipedia as well, but for the most part, i felt i spent too much time memorizing the fine details, when i should have rather spent my time becoming expert on the big pictures then the details later,

 

[hoss19]

nice scores. what rc passages did you have, just curious? everyone who gets the ethics/morals passage (me!) seems to end up with a lower score than predicted. its a purely anecdotal observation, but i hope that this is considerd by adcoms. i was nailing 23-25's on achiever and topscore and ended up with a friggin 18 on the real thing after than ethics passage threw me for a loop. my friend who i studied with couldnt break 20 on the same prep-tests (18,19) and ended up with a 20RC on the real test. he didnt have the ethics passage. bastard!

 

[DanNuch]

Is a 27 0 wrong or can that be one wrong? questions.
Number of questions missed on the test.

im not sure, i know there were two questions i wasn't fully sure of my answer so i probably missed one after i narrowed her down to a 50/50.