This is my first post on here, you are going to see a lot of the same things that many others have posted in their breakdowns but I know there are people that live and die by SDN. I hope with the scores, shadowing, great LOR's, and a good gap year job that I will be able to get in to my in-state school and or some dental schools.
DAT Scores
PAT: 23
QR:21
RC:19
Bio:22
GC:23
OC:22
TS:22
AA:21
Background:
I graduated May of 2014 w/ a BS in Biomechanical Engineering. My overall GPA was a 3.2, science GPA was the same(3.18). At the time, I didn't think of giving priority to my science classes over my engineering classes, as I did not know that I wanted to do dentistry quite yet. I have been a research engineer for the whole last year after I graduated and plan on doing it til the day I hopefully get into dental school. My father is a dentist so I have hundreds of shadowing between himself and his friends. I recently started volunteering at a dental clinic as I have more and more time. I was originally going to take the DAT last summer, I studied for a month about 2-3 hours a day. This was a joke, I would forget almost everything as I was still trying to have fun and be in college although I was not. I ended up not taking it last summer which was the best decision for me. I started studying for this past DAT test in February, I would spend 4 hours after work studying and when it got to a month and a half out, I went it to overdrive and put is 8 hours a day/12 on weekends.
Materials Used that I should not have:
Boy, I wish I knew about SDN a long time ago. I bought CRACK DAT and a KAPLAN course before reading SDN, and they were both huge wastes besides Crack PAT. Don't even think about buying anything from Kaplan, it's all garbage and not descriptive enough for this test.
Best Materials:
The best materials I used was Feralis' bio notes for Bio. Old chemistry textbook and Chad for chemistry. Chad's and organic odyssey for organic chem. This was just for learning the basics and getting a really good grasp on everything. This was done with mixing in DAT destroyer problems to supplement my learning. I did not make note cards at first. This was the BIGGEST mistake that I made besides buying the courses above this section. After two months of learning and getting all the basic concepts and UNDERSTANDING every concept that could be tested, I started going in depth with DAT destroyer, understanding every problem and as good as the answer explanation was, google is still a useful tool, so I googled everything I wasn't 90% sure on. I finished destroyer in depth in about a month. So by this time we are in later April, I took the 2007 DAT and got a feel for the difficulty and to see how I was doing overall. Even if I got 25's on these sections there was no way that would have slowed me down as I know the DAT is progressing and becoming more difficult every year.
I then bought DATQvault Bio, Bootcamp, and Topscore. I did these problems for the last month and on the weekends I would go in depth in Bio or Organic and relearn items. BUY or find 2009 DAT, it is the best measure to see where you are. As I got literally the exact same scores except RC was a 20.
BIO
Qvault, I felt was the best tool for Bio overall. A really good base and a nice bank selection. It gave a really great overview of everything and there were no crazy specific problems that you see in bootcamp and topscore. QVAULT Scores:20/22/17/18/19/19/18/22/18/18. Bootcamp I did not record the scores but they were around 19.
GC
Bootcamp all the way, you will not see a crazy problem on the PAT that you haven't seen before in general chem. Practice them. Know the periodic trends and bonding trends by heart. Topscore was actually pretty decent for this section too. Bootcamp GC average was a 21.
Ochem
Bootcamp was too difficult, I actually thought the closest to the section I had on the real thing was DAT destroyer. Topscore once again was decent but not great. Know your basic reactions, you do not need to understand mechanisms, look at a road map every night before you go to bed and it will come easy.
Bootcamp OChem average was a 20.
PAT
Bootcamp was fantastic, they have the hardest PAT section that I had tried, although the real PAT was exactly the same difficulty as Crack PAT. Having harder problems, gives you a great eye for small detail, makes hard problems easier and medium problems just easy. Do a few tests in crack PAT, go to bootcamp and power through, then go back to crack PAT and see the improvement.
Bootcamp PAT average 22.
QR
Get your trig down and then practice these problems like crazy with QR destroyer, it is worth it. I did really poor on this section because some problems were so easy that I didn't think and put down a silly mistake.
Bootcamp QR average was a 22.
RC
Bootcamp is great for this section, it is really all you need, take any free RC test that you can as they are all great practice. I used Search & Destroy and it bit me in the ass because there were so many paragraphs. Figure out what works best for you. I should have mapped it out but I freaked out and by that time it was too late.
Bootcamp ranged from 18-23
Topscore:
Test 1 is gone but I remember I got a 14 bio...
Test 2:B19/C17/OC21/TS19/PAT21/RC22/QR19/AA19
Test3:B17/C18/OC20/TS18 ...didn't take the other sections because I thought topscore was horrible.
I am really not the brightest person and these scores are nothing crazy and I know that I should have done better but I will take it.
Important Notes
-The last two weeks are the most important, jam it in and get everything into your head. If you don't understand something, go and understand it because murphy's law is a thing for a reason.
-Take as many practice tests as you can and make note cards for EVERYTHING you don't get right. There will be problems that you get wrong and you tell yourself you knew that, well you didn't and if you don't write it down and get it in your head, you will chose the wrong answer on the test on an easy problem.
-DAT genius will be out soon, Joel is the man and knows his stuff inside and out. If you are lucky enough to have a later test date, buy this resource. It was the best tool for me personally because it was above and beyond anything you will ever see but it is not random at all, they are just tough problems. It will get you moving quicker and when you get to the real test you will have plenty of time to look over every single question over again.
-Spend your money on QVault, Chads, Bootcamp, Destroyer, and Genius when it is released.
-Good luck everyone!
-If you want to message me about anything, feel free to. Still trying to figure this site out.
DAT Scores
PAT: 23
QR:21
RC:19
Bio:22
GC:23
OC:22
TS:22
AA:21
Background:
I graduated May of 2014 w/ a BS in Biomechanical Engineering. My overall GPA was a 3.2, science GPA was the same(3.18). At the time, I didn't think of giving priority to my science classes over my engineering classes, as I did not know that I wanted to do dentistry quite yet. I have been a research engineer for the whole last year after I graduated and plan on doing it til the day I hopefully get into dental school. My father is a dentist so I have hundreds of shadowing between himself and his friends. I recently started volunteering at a dental clinic as I have more and more time. I was originally going to take the DAT last summer, I studied for a month about 2-3 hours a day. This was a joke, I would forget almost everything as I was still trying to have fun and be in college although I was not. I ended up not taking it last summer which was the best decision for me. I started studying for this past DAT test in February, I would spend 4 hours after work studying and when it got to a month and a half out, I went it to overdrive and put is 8 hours a day/12 on weekends.
Materials Used that I should not have:
Boy, I wish I knew about SDN a long time ago. I bought CRACK DAT and a KAPLAN course before reading SDN, and they were both huge wastes besides Crack PAT. Don't even think about buying anything from Kaplan, it's all garbage and not descriptive enough for this test.
Best Materials:
The best materials I used was Feralis' bio notes for Bio. Old chemistry textbook and Chad for chemistry. Chad's and organic odyssey for organic chem. This was just for learning the basics and getting a really good grasp on everything. This was done with mixing in DAT destroyer problems to supplement my learning. I did not make note cards at first. This was the BIGGEST mistake that I made besides buying the courses above this section. After two months of learning and getting all the basic concepts and UNDERSTANDING every concept that could be tested, I started going in depth with DAT destroyer, understanding every problem and as good as the answer explanation was, google is still a useful tool, so I googled everything I wasn't 90% sure on. I finished destroyer in depth in about a month. So by this time we are in later April, I took the 2007 DAT and got a feel for the difficulty and to see how I was doing overall. Even if I got 25's on these sections there was no way that would have slowed me down as I know the DAT is progressing and becoming more difficult every year.
I then bought DATQvault Bio, Bootcamp, and Topscore. I did these problems for the last month and on the weekends I would go in depth in Bio or Organic and relearn items. BUY or find 2009 DAT, it is the best measure to see where you are. As I got literally the exact same scores except RC was a 20.
BIO
Qvault, I felt was the best tool for Bio overall. A really good base and a nice bank selection. It gave a really great overview of everything and there were no crazy specific problems that you see in bootcamp and topscore. QVAULT Scores:20/22/17/18/19/19/18/22/18/18. Bootcamp I did not record the scores but they were around 19.
GC
Bootcamp all the way, you will not see a crazy problem on the PAT that you haven't seen before in general chem. Practice them. Know the periodic trends and bonding trends by heart. Topscore was actually pretty decent for this section too. Bootcamp GC average was a 21.
Ochem
Bootcamp was too difficult, I actually thought the closest to the section I had on the real thing was DAT destroyer. Topscore once again was decent but not great. Know your basic reactions, you do not need to understand mechanisms, look at a road map every night before you go to bed and it will come easy.
Bootcamp OChem average was a 20.
PAT
Bootcamp was fantastic, they have the hardest PAT section that I had tried, although the real PAT was exactly the same difficulty as Crack PAT. Having harder problems, gives you a great eye for small detail, makes hard problems easier and medium problems just easy. Do a few tests in crack PAT, go to bootcamp and power through, then go back to crack PAT and see the improvement.
Bootcamp PAT average 22.
QR
Get your trig down and then practice these problems like crazy with QR destroyer, it is worth it. I did really poor on this section because some problems were so easy that I didn't think and put down a silly mistake.
Bootcamp QR average was a 22.
RC
Bootcamp is great for this section, it is really all you need, take any free RC test that you can as they are all great practice. I used Search & Destroy and it bit me in the ass because there were so many paragraphs. Figure out what works best for you. I should have mapped it out but I freaked out and by that time it was too late.
Bootcamp ranged from 18-23
Topscore:
Test 1 is gone but I remember I got a 14 bio...
Test 2:B19/C17/OC21/TS19/PAT21/RC22/QR19/AA19
Test3:B17/C18/OC20/TS18 ...didn't take the other sections because I thought topscore was horrible.
I am really not the brightest person and these scores are nothing crazy and I know that I should have done better but I will take it.
Important Notes
-The last two weeks are the most important, jam it in and get everything into your head. If you don't understand something, go and understand it because murphy's law is a thing for a reason.
-Take as many practice tests as you can and make note cards for EVERYTHING you don't get right. There will be problems that you get wrong and you tell yourself you knew that, well you didn't and if you don't write it down and get it in your head, you will chose the wrong answer on the test on an easy problem.
-DAT genius will be out soon, Joel is the man and knows his stuff inside and out. If you are lucky enough to have a later test date, buy this resource. It was the best tool for me personally because it was above and beyond anything you will ever see but it is not random at all, they are just tough problems. It will get you moving quicker and when you get to the real test you will have plenty of time to look over every single question over again.
-Spend your money on QVault, Chads, Bootcamp, Destroyer, and Genius when it is released.
-Good luck everyone!
-If you want to message me about anything, feel free to. Still trying to figure this site out.
