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I always enjoyed reading these threads so I felt obligated to post my own story.
Going into the test, I wasn't really under any stress. I read about how so many people are nervous wrecks going into the exam they could barely eat breakfast, and told myself it's not necessary to get so worked up. It is just a test after all.
The scores,
Bio 21
GC 22
OC 21
PAT 21
RC 17
QR 18
AA 20
My studying began in late May and wasn't intense at all over the two month period. I would spend on average around 5 hours a day studying, taking a day off or so each week to get out. The resources I used were Cliff's AP Biology, Kaplan BB, DAT Destroyer, Achiever, and Topscore.
Alright, the infamous recap section:
Biology. The rumors are true ladies and gentlemen. The questions in this section are not of the simple regurgitation of material. If I were to say the questions were conceptual in style I don't think it would really sum up the type of question you should encounter. I can't really say that any one resource stood out as a reflection of this section. I think the biggest tool that I found useful for this was just the foundation knowledge I had learned during all my pre-requisite courses. A number of answer choices on most every problem would have worked, and it was required that you chose the most applicable response. Difficult section for sure. My Achiever scores were in the low 20's and Topscore 21-23
General Chemistry. This is the section that I had my weakest foundations in. Like most, I took it my freshman year and had forgot most everything. Again, I encountered a ton of oddball questions that I hadn't seen in Destroyer, Achiever, or Topscore. I can only think of one question on the periodic trends which is likely the single most important foundation in the subject. I would say that Kaplan helped quite a lot in this section for me. Yes, you heard me right. I was scoring 19's and 20's in Achiever and low 20's in Topscore.
Organic Chemistry. Straight forward for the most part. I can't really remember anything I didn't understand other than maybe 2 or 3 questions that Destroyer hadn't covered. Know your substituent effects, and all reactions from Destroyer like the back of your hand. I would also suggest spending a little more time concentrating on the finer points of Sn1/E1/Sn2/E2. Really work on the details of these type of reactions, as I believe they are one of the most important foundations in the subject that a lot is based off of.
PAT. Honestly everything seemed really simplified from Achiever's PAT, and nearly on par with Topscore. Watch out for the angle rankings section, though. I think the angle ranking section even surpassed the difficulty of this section in Achiever. I honestly don't know what went wrong in this section. I remember not being very focussed for this section while doing it due to what seemed to be its simplicity. Possibly I took it too lightly. Achiever scores were around low 20's and Topscore around 23-25.
Reading Comperhension. This is the only section I had any concerns with going into the test. As has been outlined before, there is not a whole lot you can do to improve your performance on this section. All you can really do is practice your time management and focus with Topscore and Achiever. My strategy was to allow 20 minutes per section. 10 for reading and 10 for questions. I would usually finish a passage in around 8 minutes (with the average 14 paragraph passage in Topscore and Achiever) leaving plenty of time to search through the passage for the few questions I couldn't answer right away. This wasn't the case on the actual exam. Things rolled along smoothly for the first two passages which were both science based and around 14 paragraphs each. I then come to the third and final passage on Morals and Ethics and I check the length only to find that it is 25 paragraphs.
The passage consisted on a bunch of Hocus Pocus and several philosophical refrences. I made slightly educated guesses on over half the questions corresponding to this section. I will give you all fair warning. Achiever and Topscore are not representative of this section at all. In all the practice exams that I took, I was able to find direct prases from the passage in the questions I was asked. Today, on the real test, however, nearly every question was rephrased in a manner such as to test your real understanding of a paragraph or idea presented in the passage. Questions were not directly linked to statements found in the passage, rather they were asking what you could infer. I'm confindent that had I not done so poorly on the final passage my score for this section would have been 20+ easily. I honestly don't have any advice for this section and i'm not so confident that I could do any better were I to take it again. It's unfortunate that so many schools place emphasis on this section as a reflection of one's performance in dental school. Achiever score's were around 19's and Topscore 21's and 22's.
Quantitative ReasoningI had expected more word problems, which I had about 9 of. Around three of the problems I had never seen before. Most were simple algebraic manipulation. Around two conversions. Not that difficult of a section. I don't really know where I went wrong. The only complaint I have is regarding those stupid laminated graphing sheets they give you. I can't believe they still use these things. After using the dry erase board on the paper the stupid marked would no longer work on the lamination anymore! I couldn't believe it. I must have spent nearly 5 extra minutes doing equation manipulations in my head instead of on the paper. Really frustrating. White boards would have worked a lot better. Achiever and Topscore were fairly representative of this section. Scores were around 19 and around 21 respectively.
I hope Adcomms can see past my 17RC and understand that I do infact understand what I read as a result of my science scores and GPA.
I'm applying a year earlier than most with a 3.80 science GPA.
So that's it. What a relief to be done. Any questions feel free to ask.
I'm off to do a set on the heavy bag, then i'm off to get drunk. Stupidly drunk.
Going into the test, I wasn't really under any stress. I read about how so many people are nervous wrecks going into the exam they could barely eat breakfast, and told myself it's not necessary to get so worked up. It is just a test after all.
The scores,
Bio 21
GC 22
OC 21
PAT 21
RC 17
QR 18
AA 20
My studying began in late May and wasn't intense at all over the two month period. I would spend on average around 5 hours a day studying, taking a day off or so each week to get out. The resources I used were Cliff's AP Biology, Kaplan BB, DAT Destroyer, Achiever, and Topscore.
Alright, the infamous recap section:
Biology. The rumors are true ladies and gentlemen. The questions in this section are not of the simple regurgitation of material. If I were to say the questions were conceptual in style I don't think it would really sum up the type of question you should encounter. I can't really say that any one resource stood out as a reflection of this section. I think the biggest tool that I found useful for this was just the foundation knowledge I had learned during all my pre-requisite courses. A number of answer choices on most every problem would have worked, and it was required that you chose the most applicable response. Difficult section for sure. My Achiever scores were in the low 20's and Topscore 21-23
General Chemistry. This is the section that I had my weakest foundations in. Like most, I took it my freshman year and had forgot most everything. Again, I encountered a ton of oddball questions that I hadn't seen in Destroyer, Achiever, or Topscore. I can only think of one question on the periodic trends which is likely the single most important foundation in the subject. I would say that Kaplan helped quite a lot in this section for me. Yes, you heard me right. I was scoring 19's and 20's in Achiever and low 20's in Topscore.
Organic Chemistry. Straight forward for the most part. I can't really remember anything I didn't understand other than maybe 2 or 3 questions that Destroyer hadn't covered. Know your substituent effects, and all reactions from Destroyer like the back of your hand. I would also suggest spending a little more time concentrating on the finer points of Sn1/E1/Sn2/E2. Really work on the details of these type of reactions, as I believe they are one of the most important foundations in the subject that a lot is based off of.
PAT. Honestly everything seemed really simplified from Achiever's PAT, and nearly on par with Topscore. Watch out for the angle rankings section, though. I think the angle ranking section even surpassed the difficulty of this section in Achiever. I honestly don't know what went wrong in this section. I remember not being very focussed for this section while doing it due to what seemed to be its simplicity. Possibly I took it too lightly. Achiever scores were around low 20's and Topscore around 23-25.
Reading Comperhension. This is the only section I had any concerns with going into the test. As has been outlined before, there is not a whole lot you can do to improve your performance on this section. All you can really do is practice your time management and focus with Topscore and Achiever. My strategy was to allow 20 minutes per section. 10 for reading and 10 for questions. I would usually finish a passage in around 8 minutes (with the average 14 paragraph passage in Topscore and Achiever) leaving plenty of time to search through the passage for the few questions I couldn't answer right away. This wasn't the case on the actual exam. Things rolled along smoothly for the first two passages which were both science based and around 14 paragraphs each. I then come to the third and final passage on Morals and Ethics and I check the length only to find that it is 25 paragraphs.
The passage consisted on a bunch of Hocus Pocus and several philosophical refrences. I made slightly educated guesses on over half the questions corresponding to this section. I will give you all fair warning. Achiever and Topscore are not representative of this section at all. In all the practice exams that I took, I was able to find direct prases from the passage in the questions I was asked. Today, on the real test, however, nearly every question was rephrased in a manner such as to test your real understanding of a paragraph or idea presented in the passage. Questions were not directly linked to statements found in the passage, rather they were asking what you could infer. I'm confindent that had I not done so poorly on the final passage my score for this section would have been 20+ easily. I honestly don't have any advice for this section and i'm not so confident that I could do any better were I to take it again. It's unfortunate that so many schools place emphasis on this section as a reflection of one's performance in dental school. Achiever score's were around 19's and Topscore 21's and 22's.
Quantitative ReasoningI had expected more word problems, which I had about 9 of. Around three of the problems I had never seen before. Most were simple algebraic manipulation. Around two conversions. Not that difficult of a section. I don't really know where I went wrong. The only complaint I have is regarding those stupid laminated graphing sheets they give you. I can't believe they still use these things. After using the dry erase board on the paper the stupid marked would no longer work on the lamination anymore! I couldn't believe it. I must have spent nearly 5 extra minutes doing equation manipulations in my head instead of on the paper. Really frustrating. White boards would have worked a lot better. Achiever and Topscore were fairly representative of this section. Scores were around 19 and around 21 respectively.
I hope Adcomms can see past my 17RC and understand that I do infact understand what I read as a result of my science scores and GPA.
I'm applying a year earlier than most with a 3.80 science GPA.
So that's it. What a relief to be done. Any questions feel free to ask.
I'm off to do a set on the heavy bag, then i'm off to get drunk. Stupidly drunk.
