- Joined
- Mar 19, 2018
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- 6
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Hello folks,
I recently retook my DAT and thought I would give a little insight as to how I was able to increase my scores.
First attempt (2017) - PAT: 18, QR: 17, RC: 22, BIO: 16, GC: 15, OC: 18, TS: 16, AA: 18
Most recent attempt (2019, today!) - PAT: 26, QR: 19, RC: 25, BIO: 22, GC: 20, OC: 21, TS: 21, AA: 21
Now where do I even begin? To start, I first took the DAT after my junior year of college. My academic advisor told me that I needed to take it for dental school and that it is not something that I should worry about studying for (LOL), but rather a test that will test how much I know from my undergraduate courses. As you could imagine, this set me up for failure, and my scores reflected that. Needless to say, he is no longer the pre-dental advisor at my undergraduate institution.
Fast forward to more recently. I have just finished a masters program and knew that I had to retake the DAT if I wanted to be seriously competitive for the upcoming application cycle. This time around, however, I utilized DATBootcamp for my study materials (in addition to Cliff's AP bio). I cannot say enough good things about Bootcamp, as I feel that it especially helped me relearn concepts that I haven't touched in 5 years or so (looking at you, gen chem). I started studying on February 18th, and took my test (today) on May 16. Here's my breakdown:
PAT (26): In my honest opinion, Bootcamp is all you need (and more) for this section. The actual PAT portion of the test was MUCH easier than bootcamp. I was actually trying my best not to audibly laugh at how easy the pattern folding section was, and the angles seemed to be easier to identify as well. I only had 1 rock keyhole, but the answer was very obvious. My biggest recommendation for TFE, keyholes, and pattern folding would be to go through all the answer choices and convince yourself why the answer choice is incorrect. Once you get good at doing this, the correct answer is much more obvious.
QR (19): This is the section that I barely spent any time studying and the score shows. I did all the Bootcamp practice tests and took note of some of the more trickier question types. On the actual exam, I felt like I was doing really well on this section, but realized that I was running out of time with ~10 minutes to go so I had to rush through some of my answers towards the end. The Bootcamp equation sheet definitely came in handy for the questions that I was able to answer.
RC (25): My strategy for this section was to quickly read the passage while highlighting important points, and then go back and search and destroy as I went through the questions. The 3 passages that I had for RC were actually very interesting, so that made this portion of the test somewhat enjoyable. During the Bootcamp practice tests I was struggling to finish on time, but in the actual DAT I had about 7 minutes left to go back and check my answers. The questions were much easier and more straightforward than Bootcamp.
Bio (22): This was the subject that I was most worried about, because it seems like it really is luck of the draw. Luckily for me, I had a lot of questions that were physiology-based, which is a strength of mine. I used the 120 page and 500 page Bootcamp notes, as well as Cliff's AP bio to study for this section. I wish I had stumbled upon the Bootcamp 500 page notes sooner.
GC (20): Very similar to the practice tests on Bootcamp. I really liked Mike's videos to help relearn this material as well.
OC (21): I thought I was really bombing this section as I was going through it, but I'm glad my score turned out the way it did. For whatever reason, some of the questions seemed a bit too simple -- simple enough to raise suspicion. Nonetheless, I am relatively happy with this score.
At any rate, I am pretty stoked with this score, especially after the nightmare that unfolded the first time I took it. If anybody is in the same boat that I was in, just keep pushing and remind yourself how badly you want to be a dentist!
I recently retook my DAT and thought I would give a little insight as to how I was able to increase my scores.
First attempt (2017) - PAT: 18, QR: 17, RC: 22, BIO: 16, GC: 15, OC: 18, TS: 16, AA: 18
Most recent attempt (2019, today!) - PAT: 26, QR: 19, RC: 25, BIO: 22, GC: 20, OC: 21, TS: 21, AA: 21
Now where do I even begin? To start, I first took the DAT after my junior year of college. My academic advisor told me that I needed to take it for dental school and that it is not something that I should worry about studying for (LOL), but rather a test that will test how much I know from my undergraduate courses. As you could imagine, this set me up for failure, and my scores reflected that. Needless to say, he is no longer the pre-dental advisor at my undergraduate institution.
Fast forward to more recently. I have just finished a masters program and knew that I had to retake the DAT if I wanted to be seriously competitive for the upcoming application cycle. This time around, however, I utilized DATBootcamp for my study materials (in addition to Cliff's AP bio). I cannot say enough good things about Bootcamp, as I feel that it especially helped me relearn concepts that I haven't touched in 5 years or so (looking at you, gen chem). I started studying on February 18th, and took my test (today) on May 16. Here's my breakdown:
PAT (26): In my honest opinion, Bootcamp is all you need (and more) for this section. The actual PAT portion of the test was MUCH easier than bootcamp. I was actually trying my best not to audibly laugh at how easy the pattern folding section was, and the angles seemed to be easier to identify as well. I only had 1 rock keyhole, but the answer was very obvious. My biggest recommendation for TFE, keyholes, and pattern folding would be to go through all the answer choices and convince yourself why the answer choice is incorrect. Once you get good at doing this, the correct answer is much more obvious.
QR (19): This is the section that I barely spent any time studying and the score shows. I did all the Bootcamp practice tests and took note of some of the more trickier question types. On the actual exam, I felt like I was doing really well on this section, but realized that I was running out of time with ~10 minutes to go so I had to rush through some of my answers towards the end. The Bootcamp equation sheet definitely came in handy for the questions that I was able to answer.
RC (25): My strategy for this section was to quickly read the passage while highlighting important points, and then go back and search and destroy as I went through the questions. The 3 passages that I had for RC were actually very interesting, so that made this portion of the test somewhat enjoyable. During the Bootcamp practice tests I was struggling to finish on time, but in the actual DAT I had about 7 minutes left to go back and check my answers. The questions were much easier and more straightforward than Bootcamp.
Bio (22): This was the subject that I was most worried about, because it seems like it really is luck of the draw. Luckily for me, I had a lot of questions that were physiology-based, which is a strength of mine. I used the 120 page and 500 page Bootcamp notes, as well as Cliff's AP bio to study for this section. I wish I had stumbled upon the Bootcamp 500 page notes sooner.
GC (20): Very similar to the practice tests on Bootcamp. I really liked Mike's videos to help relearn this material as well.
OC (21): I thought I was really bombing this section as I was going through it, but I'm glad my score turned out the way it did. For whatever reason, some of the questions seemed a bit too simple -- simple enough to raise suspicion. Nonetheless, I am relatively happy with this score.
At any rate, I am pretty stoked with this score, especially after the nightmare that unfolded the first time I took it. If anybody is in the same boat that I was in, just keep pushing and remind yourself how badly you want to be a dentist!
