- Joined
- Jun 13, 2017
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Sorry I'm late to post this but I've been out of town and after reading everybody's breakdowns I feel as though I should give mine : ) (sorry if it's kind of long but I just want to give all of the advice that I can).
Let me just start out by saying I studied for 4 1/2 weeks for about 10-12 hours (with breaks throughout the day) which I do not recommend at all - more specifically because I only took 5 days off after the hardest semester of my entire college career. I used Ari's study guide (s/o @Ari Rezaei, you are incredible) and cut the study guide in half where I would work two days in one. I really was not in any state of mind to be studying for this test the first week so I believe that kind of threw me off. However, once I started buckling down and getting stuff done studying the material truly was not that bad. Also s/o to @orgoman22, you guys are awesome!
Preparation/Scores/Exam
AA - 20
TS - 19
PAT - 19
Bio - 18. So this was my lowest score on the exam for several reasons which I'll explain in a minute. I used feralis, BC, kliff's AP, and just any supplementary notes that I had from my upper division classes from school such as physio or biochem.
1. The section was hard and biology has not always been my strong suit. Plain and simple. Some of the questions were so basic that 3rd grade me could have answered them and some were so difficult that even after the exam when I could look up the answer on my phone I still didn't know what the correct answer was.
2. I started the exam 45 minutes early (WHICH I DO NOT RECOMMEND AT ALL). For some unknown reason the testing center asked me to start early and I'm almost positive that I was half asleep during this section. As you will see my scores get progressively better with math being my highest (which literally never happened, math was always my lowest).
Gen Chem - 20. Typically I scored higher on this section when taking practice tests, but I also usually skipped the gen chem section and then came back after I did ochem (I couldn't figure out how to skip the section without clicking through each one which took way too much time). There were a few surprises but nothing that you couldn't use logic to figure out. I used BC, DAT destroyer, and Chad's Videos. All I really have to say about this section is CHAD'S VIDEOS. The guy is incredibly smart and makes everything super easy to remember. DAT destroyer is nice to review and make sure you have concepts down but definitely wouldn't waste time doing it twice. Also, this section I found to be VERY basic chemistry and I feel as though I maybe studied way too much in depth and didn't remember the general concepts that you learn in gen chem.
Ochem - 20. Again, lower than what I was normally scoring. I didn't spend a lot of time preparing for this section I actually think I neglected it the most but I had a solid background from my school. I also used BC, DAT Destroyer, and Mike's Videos. Not too much to say on this one EXCEPT for it was extremely basic also, with a twist of let me ask 1/3 of the questions on this section about lab techniques, NMR, IR, etc. At this point I was extremely frustrated because this was a section that I had been scoring close to perfect every time on all practice tests. I just got super specific questions that I had no idea how to approach. I honestly think Mike's videos were a little much but if you need a refresher then definitely watch them cause he will hit all of the important info. Destroyer is great practice for the NMR questions as well - I think if I had not gone through and worked all of them that my score for this section would have been much lower.
PAT - 19. I used BC and watched YouTube videos and I think that was sufficient enough. There were some tricky rock problems for keyholes that I just guessed on and for some reason (which again, had never happened before) I kept messing up on cube counting for one set. Overall BC is pretty much spot on, I thought BC was hard whenever I was practicing and the actual exam was right on par with the level of difficulty. Honestly I was very worried to see this score because I had so much trouble with it on the exam.
Break - So at this point I'm finally awake and it's like 10:15 AM. Typically this is when I would start the PAT section whenever I was taking practice tests... so of course I'm ready to go and get the reading and math section done. I ate a PB&J and a cliff bar, spilled an entire water on me, and made my way back into the test. I'm pretty sure I only took 20 of the 30 minutes because I was not exactly brain dead.
Reading - 21. Used BC a little and that was about it. I just kind of trusted that I would be able to go through this section and hopefully make it through. I'm a pretty good reader so that was another reason why I had this mentality. BC did help, however, with the types of questions that were asked (ie the wording) so I'm glad that I used this resource. Know how well you read, and if you need to increase your reading speed then just keep finding articles and working at it! Also my 3 passages were super interesting and one of them (happened to be 20 questions on my exam) dealt with something that my research lab works with so I kind of got lucky. Overall, this section was much easier than BC in my opinion. Never scored above a 19 on practice tests either.
Math - 22. Big surprise. I used Math Destroyer and BC, and these were almost identical to the exam. Math destroyer is a lot, but if you use it consistently then there is nothing on the exam that could throw you off - except for the new questions which are Quantitative comparisons. Again, s/o @Ari Rezaei because BC saved me for these questions. You definitely need to use BC, in my opinion, to do well on this section. I had never scored this well when taking tests either, and this was one of the harder sections to me.
If you have time to read all of this, then I truly hope that it helps you. It was great to get to read several people's experiences and see people conquer the grueling test. I have recently applied to the three Texas schools, am a Texas resident, and go to a pretty well-known school in Texas. My overall gpa was a 3.43 and science was a 3.41 - I pretty much got destroyed my first semester of school after I transferred from a local college back home, so my gpa took a hit. I'm hopeful nonetheless and will continue to chase my dreams of becoming a Dentist no matter what happens. If anybody has any words of advice or wants to give me feedback that would be greatly appreciated as well. I submitted my app 6/9 and secondary 6/10. If anybody needs some advice as well or encouragement I'd be more than happy to talk with you, I know this process is extremely challenging but the end will be abundantly rewarding. Hope everyone can make use of this and enjoy the rest of your summer : )
Let me just start out by saying I studied for 4 1/2 weeks for about 10-12 hours (with breaks throughout the day) which I do not recommend at all - more specifically because I only took 5 days off after the hardest semester of my entire college career. I used Ari's study guide (s/o @Ari Rezaei, you are incredible) and cut the study guide in half where I would work two days in one. I really was not in any state of mind to be studying for this test the first week so I believe that kind of threw me off. However, once I started buckling down and getting stuff done studying the material truly was not that bad. Also s/o to @orgoman22, you guys are awesome!
Preparation/Scores/Exam
AA - 20
TS - 19
PAT - 19
Bio - 18. So this was my lowest score on the exam for several reasons which I'll explain in a minute. I used feralis, BC, kliff's AP, and just any supplementary notes that I had from my upper division classes from school such as physio or biochem.
1. The section was hard and biology has not always been my strong suit. Plain and simple. Some of the questions were so basic that 3rd grade me could have answered them and some were so difficult that even after the exam when I could look up the answer on my phone I still didn't know what the correct answer was.
2. I started the exam 45 minutes early (WHICH I DO NOT RECOMMEND AT ALL). For some unknown reason the testing center asked me to start early and I'm almost positive that I was half asleep during this section. As you will see my scores get progressively better with math being my highest (which literally never happened, math was always my lowest).
Gen Chem - 20. Typically I scored higher on this section when taking practice tests, but I also usually skipped the gen chem section and then came back after I did ochem (I couldn't figure out how to skip the section without clicking through each one which took way too much time). There were a few surprises but nothing that you couldn't use logic to figure out. I used BC, DAT destroyer, and Chad's Videos. All I really have to say about this section is CHAD'S VIDEOS. The guy is incredibly smart and makes everything super easy to remember. DAT destroyer is nice to review and make sure you have concepts down but definitely wouldn't waste time doing it twice. Also, this section I found to be VERY basic chemistry and I feel as though I maybe studied way too much in depth and didn't remember the general concepts that you learn in gen chem.
Ochem - 20. Again, lower than what I was normally scoring. I didn't spend a lot of time preparing for this section I actually think I neglected it the most but I had a solid background from my school. I also used BC, DAT Destroyer, and Mike's Videos. Not too much to say on this one EXCEPT for it was extremely basic also, with a twist of let me ask 1/3 of the questions on this section about lab techniques, NMR, IR, etc. At this point I was extremely frustrated because this was a section that I had been scoring close to perfect every time on all practice tests. I just got super specific questions that I had no idea how to approach. I honestly think Mike's videos were a little much but if you need a refresher then definitely watch them cause he will hit all of the important info. Destroyer is great practice for the NMR questions as well - I think if I had not gone through and worked all of them that my score for this section would have been much lower.
PAT - 19. I used BC and watched YouTube videos and I think that was sufficient enough. There were some tricky rock problems for keyholes that I just guessed on and for some reason (which again, had never happened before) I kept messing up on cube counting for one set. Overall BC is pretty much spot on, I thought BC was hard whenever I was practicing and the actual exam was right on par with the level of difficulty. Honestly I was very worried to see this score because I had so much trouble with it on the exam.
Break - So at this point I'm finally awake and it's like 10:15 AM. Typically this is when I would start the PAT section whenever I was taking practice tests... so of course I'm ready to go and get the reading and math section done. I ate a PB&J and a cliff bar, spilled an entire water on me, and made my way back into the test. I'm pretty sure I only took 20 of the 30 minutes because I was not exactly brain dead.
Reading - 21. Used BC a little and that was about it. I just kind of trusted that I would be able to go through this section and hopefully make it through. I'm a pretty good reader so that was another reason why I had this mentality. BC did help, however, with the types of questions that were asked (ie the wording) so I'm glad that I used this resource. Know how well you read, and if you need to increase your reading speed then just keep finding articles and working at it! Also my 3 passages were super interesting and one of them (happened to be 20 questions on my exam) dealt with something that my research lab works with so I kind of got lucky. Overall, this section was much easier than BC in my opinion. Never scored above a 19 on practice tests either.
Math - 22. Big surprise. I used Math Destroyer and BC, and these were almost identical to the exam. Math destroyer is a lot, but if you use it consistently then there is nothing on the exam that could throw you off - except for the new questions which are Quantitative comparisons. Again, s/o @Ari Rezaei because BC saved me for these questions. You definitely need to use BC, in my opinion, to do well on this section. I had never scored this well when taking tests either, and this was one of the harder sections to me.
If you have time to read all of this, then I truly hope that it helps you. It was great to get to read several people's experiences and see people conquer the grueling test. I have recently applied to the three Texas schools, am a Texas resident, and go to a pretty well-known school in Texas. My overall gpa was a 3.43 and science was a 3.41 - I pretty much got destroyed my first semester of school after I transferred from a local college back home, so my gpa took a hit. I'm hopeful nonetheless and will continue to chase my dreams of becoming a Dentist no matter what happens. If anybody has any words of advice or wants to give me feedback that would be greatly appreciated as well. I submitted my app 6/9 and secondary 6/10. If anybody needs some advice as well or encouragement I'd be more than happy to talk with you, I know this process is extremely challenging but the end will be abundantly rewarding. Hope everyone can make use of this and enjoy the rest of your summer : )
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