- Joined
- Jan 17, 2022
- Messages
- 61
- Reaction score
- 38
Hey guys! I am a recent graduate who is applying to dental school for the second time. I wanted to post on here regardless of what I made on my retake. First, I want to say that standardized testing has ALWAYS been my downfall, but I never let it stop me from pursuing my goals. Hopefully, this can inspire those who struggle in the same area.
Stats:
GPA: 3.72
Science GPA: 3.6
Shadowing Hours and Dental Experience: 1500+ hours
Major: Biomedical Science
1st DAT: 17AA/17TS/20PAT
2nd DAT: 17AA/17TS/21PAT
1st DAT:
AA 17
TS 17
Bio 18
Chem 18
OChem 16
Reading 17
QR 16
PAT 21
2nd DAT:
AA 17
TS 17
Bio 17
Chem 17
OChem 17
Reading 19
QR 16
PAT 20
Booster vs Real DAT Scores:
AA: 16, 15, 15, 15, 16, 16, 16, 17, 18
Real DAT: 17
Bio: 17, 18, 16, 15, 17, 13, 17, 18, 16
Real Bio: 17
Chem: 13, 17, 15, 15, 17, 19, 16, 20, 18
Real Chem: 17
OChem: 16, 15, 15, 15, 16, 15, 13, 17, 18
Real OChem: 17
Reading: 15, 17, 19, 17, 18, 17, 17
Real Reading: 19
QR: 17, 13, 15, 13, 13, 13, 15, 13, 19
Real QR: 16
PAT: 19, 20, 20, 19, 20, 19, 20, 20, 19
Real PAT: 20
Study Habits & Sources:
My first time taking it, I gave myself three months which was too much time for me personally. The second time, I started meeting with a small group to go over content almost every day for two hours during the spring semester. However, that fell off after spring break due to classes getting hefty and graduation coming up. After graduation, I started studying for the test again and gave myself three solid weeks, studying from 8-5 almost everyday. Halfway through, I started taking full-length practice tests where I would take one on one day then go over what I missed the next day. I used DAT Booster this time. When I took my first DAT I used DATBootcamp. Both are great sources! If you're going to take the DAT, I would purchase Bootcamp entirely for content then use DAT Booster for full-length practice tests. Yes, it's costly, but it is worth every penny! However, DAT Booster works great by itself too. I found the real DAT to be extremely similar to DAT Booster. Even some of my biology questions were almost the exact same as biology questions in Booster. If I were to change anything about my study habits, I would have definitely written EVERYTHING down, regardless of getting a question right all of the time or not.
Bio:
Biology on the real DAT came either come as a fast-ball or curve-ball, meaning it can either really benefit you or be the death of your score. However, it can all be prepared for. Ari's notes on Bootcamp are really useful as well as Booster's practice tests and additional bio question bank. I feel like I could have scored better on this. I was very displeased with my second score in this section.
General Chemistry:
Instead of trying to solve difficult problems that Bootcamp or Booster gives you, I would focus on the general concepts of chemistry. There are probably 90% general concepts and 10% of simple problems that I experienced twice on the real DAT. Again, I was not pleased with my second score in this section.
Organic Chemistry:
This is a subject that I know that I am not good at. For the real DAT, I saw many general concepts with very few reactions or nomenclature. Unfortunately, I studied mainly reactions and nomenclature. Honestly, I was just happy that I made higher on this section than my first test.
Reading:
I was satisfied with this score with my second attempt. Could I have done better? Absolutely! What threw me off was the format of the reading passage. I remember sitting there hating the format of the passage compared to my clean practice tests. That was a stupid way of letting my OCD get to me... I didn't really study for this. The only thing one can really do for this section is practice it. They say you can read scientific articles and all, but I would suggest testing yourself. Another way to improve in this section is to mentally tell yourself that you are interested in the passages whether you actually like it or not. For me, my second test gave me two unbearable passages where I had to mentally tell myself that they were interesting.
QR:
I honestly thought I did much better on this section the second time, but that was not the case. I almost always run out of time with this section. The only way to get better at this is to practice while being timed. I neglected that study habit and found myself going over 2 minutes for some problems when I studied. Another piece of advice I would give is to "Mark" and guess a question if you do not know how to do it and come back to it later if you have time.
PAT:
My score reflects how much I neglected this section the second time. I am not sure what happened to my angle ranking, but it continuously got worse. From getting all angle ranking questions right on a practice test to getting 10/15 right on practice tests and generators, I think I tried using different methods when I needed to go back to my old methods. Even though my second attempted score was not bad, I really wish I scored higher than my first attempt. Despite my lower score, I would highly recommend doing Bootcamp generators over Booster just because the formatting is better. However, I would say Booster would be best for practice tests.
Summary:
I wanted to post this because you will see so many people post all of the good things they did on their DAT and not the ones that did - well you know. This post is for those who do not give up and to show that there are people who actually make average or less than average scores. For me, I am not sure if I want to take this test again for the third time, but I am definitely applying to dental school again. Yes, I know my score is not the best thing in the world. Truly, the only negative aspect of my application is my DAT. However, there are people who still get in with 17s-18s. In short, don't let one negative aspect stop you from what you dream to become!
Stats:
GPA: 3.72
Science GPA: 3.6
Shadowing Hours and Dental Experience: 1500+ hours
Major: Biomedical Science
1st DAT: 17AA/17TS/20PAT
2nd DAT: 17AA/17TS/21PAT
1st DAT:
AA 17
TS 17
Bio 18
Chem 18
OChem 16
Reading 17
QR 16
PAT 21
2nd DAT:
AA 17
TS 17
Bio 17
Chem 17
OChem 17
Reading 19
QR 16
PAT 20
Booster vs Real DAT Scores:
AA: 16, 15, 15, 15, 16, 16, 16, 17, 18
Real DAT: 17
Bio: 17, 18, 16, 15, 17, 13, 17, 18, 16
Real Bio: 17
Chem: 13, 17, 15, 15, 17, 19, 16, 20, 18
Real Chem: 17
OChem: 16, 15, 15, 15, 16, 15, 13, 17, 18
Real OChem: 17
Reading: 15, 17, 19, 17, 18, 17, 17
Real Reading: 19
QR: 17, 13, 15, 13, 13, 13, 15, 13, 19
Real QR: 16
PAT: 19, 20, 20, 19, 20, 19, 20, 20, 19
Real PAT: 20
Study Habits & Sources:
My first time taking it, I gave myself three months which was too much time for me personally. The second time, I started meeting with a small group to go over content almost every day for two hours during the spring semester. However, that fell off after spring break due to classes getting hefty and graduation coming up. After graduation, I started studying for the test again and gave myself three solid weeks, studying from 8-5 almost everyday. Halfway through, I started taking full-length practice tests where I would take one on one day then go over what I missed the next day. I used DAT Booster this time. When I took my first DAT I used DATBootcamp. Both are great sources! If you're going to take the DAT, I would purchase Bootcamp entirely for content then use DAT Booster for full-length practice tests. Yes, it's costly, but it is worth every penny! However, DAT Booster works great by itself too. I found the real DAT to be extremely similar to DAT Booster. Even some of my biology questions were almost the exact same as biology questions in Booster. If I were to change anything about my study habits, I would have definitely written EVERYTHING down, regardless of getting a question right all of the time or not.
Bio:
Biology on the real DAT came either come as a fast-ball or curve-ball, meaning it can either really benefit you or be the death of your score. However, it can all be prepared for. Ari's notes on Bootcamp are really useful as well as Booster's practice tests and additional bio question bank. I feel like I could have scored better on this. I was very displeased with my second score in this section.
General Chemistry:
Instead of trying to solve difficult problems that Bootcamp or Booster gives you, I would focus on the general concepts of chemistry. There are probably 90% general concepts and 10% of simple problems that I experienced twice on the real DAT. Again, I was not pleased with my second score in this section.
Organic Chemistry:
This is a subject that I know that I am not good at. For the real DAT, I saw many general concepts with very few reactions or nomenclature. Unfortunately, I studied mainly reactions and nomenclature. Honestly, I was just happy that I made higher on this section than my first test.
Reading:
I was satisfied with this score with my second attempt. Could I have done better? Absolutely! What threw me off was the format of the reading passage. I remember sitting there hating the format of the passage compared to my clean practice tests. That was a stupid way of letting my OCD get to me... I didn't really study for this. The only thing one can really do for this section is practice it. They say you can read scientific articles and all, but I would suggest testing yourself. Another way to improve in this section is to mentally tell yourself that you are interested in the passages whether you actually like it or not. For me, my second test gave me two unbearable passages where I had to mentally tell myself that they were interesting.
QR:
I honestly thought I did much better on this section the second time, but that was not the case. I almost always run out of time with this section. The only way to get better at this is to practice while being timed. I neglected that study habit and found myself going over 2 minutes for some problems when I studied. Another piece of advice I would give is to "Mark" and guess a question if you do not know how to do it and come back to it later if you have time.
PAT:
My score reflects how much I neglected this section the second time. I am not sure what happened to my angle ranking, but it continuously got worse. From getting all angle ranking questions right on a practice test to getting 10/15 right on practice tests and generators, I think I tried using different methods when I needed to go back to my old methods. Even though my second attempted score was not bad, I really wish I scored higher than my first attempt. Despite my lower score, I would highly recommend doing Bootcamp generators over Booster just because the formatting is better. However, I would say Booster would be best for practice tests.
Summary:
I wanted to post this because you will see so many people post all of the good things they did on their DAT and not the ones that did - well you know. This post is for those who do not give up and to show that there are people who actually make average or less than average scores. For me, I am not sure if I want to take this test again for the third time, but I am definitely applying to dental school again. Yes, I know my score is not the best thing in the world. Truly, the only negative aspect of my application is my DAT. However, there are people who still get in with 17s-18s. In short, don't let one negative aspect stop you from what you dream to become!
