DAT breakdown 7-15-15

[ellelov449]

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Feel free to skip down to the actual breakdown below.

Day of:

• Took 2007 Practice test, and it was much easier than the actual DAT. Other SDN members said the same. So it wasn't very representative, but it was very helpful in boosting my self esteem.
• Finalized my reading method.
  1. Read one question.
  2. Find a key word in that question
  3. Skim the first sentence of each paragraph
  4. Find a paragraph relevant to the key word.
  5. Find answer within that paragraph.

Night of:

• Went over OChem reagents and Orgoman's Road Maps in DAT Destroyer.
• Weak points in Ferali's Notes
• Reviewed equations for GChem and Math
• Tried to get a good night's rest. ( ended up sleeping at 1am. Please get good rest...)

Morning of:

• Good breakfast at 7:30am (couldn't go back to sleep )
• Played piano to get rid of any anxiety
• Went over a checklist:
  1. 2 forms of ID (Licence and a Debit card with a signature in the back. Make sure your names match!
  2. Jacket
  3. Bananas for the 15-minute break
• Arrived @ testing center 30 minutes early.
• Signed papers
• Metal detector
• Fingerprinting (apparently the computer can't detect my fingerprint very well. I did this like 10x for both my left and right hand)

Exam Breakdown:
The seat that I was assigned was right next to the door, so every time the test administrator walked in, the opening and closing of that door was SO distracting..... I don't know if you can request a seat, but find a seat that is least distracting.
I was provided with noise-cancelling headphones, which were GREAT because there was a girl furiously typing away a storm behind me.🤢
I asked for a blank sheet, but the test proctor said, "I'm sorry, you're going to have to make do with what you're given." 2 graph-paper formatted sheets with 2 fine-point markers.
Part One:

• Survey of Natural Sciences (23)
  • Bio (20)
    • Some questions were VERY easy and straight-foward, while others were a bit difficult.
    • The difficult ones were the application questions.
    • I marked a lot of bio questions, and ended up changing a few.
    • Don't second guess yourself... your original answer is probably correct, unless you KNOW 100% that it is wrong!
  • GChem (25)
    • Significantly easier than the practice exams I took.
    • Easy peasy calculations, that didn't require a lot of estimating.
    • Some answers were given with calculations. (i.e. it gives you 10.0 g and 2 moles, the molar mass would be (10.0/2))
  • OChem (25)
    • again, much easier than I had expected.
    • Could easily eliminate answers
  • Finished science with 30 minutes remaining.
  • clicked on the "Review Marked" button and went through all the marked questions.
  • second guessed on a few bio questions 🙁
• PAT (23)
  • Keyholes
    • Those DAT creators had a lot of fun creating these keyholes. Some were SO bizarre...😵
    • I marked so many questions
    • DAT Achiever and Bootcamp had trained me to pay attention to proportions, so I marked an immense amount for this section.
  • TFE
    • My self-esteem was so low from keyholes..
    • Marked 3 questions in this section
    • It helps to just visualize the figure.
  • Angles
    • Not bad, due to the practice I got from CDP and bootcamp generators.
    • looked @ the first number of each of the answers, compared angles, and chose the answer by elimination.
  • Hole Punching
    • Unfortunately, I had a few 1/3 foldings that caught me off guard.
    • One backwards folding.
    • But this can be anyone's best section!
    • No methods here. Just eyeballing where the holes were.
  • Cube Counting
    • Look at the overall structure FIRST. (are there any hidden cubes, columns, rows, or holes?)
    • Tally mark method
    • I had at most 9-10 cubes, may be different for you.
  • Pattern Folding
    • Fairly simple.
    • No crazy figures created.
• 4 minutes remaining. Reviewed marked questions
• PAT= Practice All the Time. I enjoyed PAT section the most, so it was like a break for me. I'm such a dork! haha
• Practice your own method in each section until you feel comfortable with it!

BREAK TIME 15 minutes (I had 4 minutes remaining)
1. Take my locker key and my IDs
2. finger printing
3. signing out
4. banana
5. bathroom
6. water
7. metal detector
8. fingerprinting
9. signing in
10. own part two.

Part Two:

• Reading (20)
  • Always my lowest score in practice exams. I expected 16-17, but instead came out with a miracle of 20!
  • Questions are very straight foward
  • I only had one "both true, both false" type question. Bootcamp pummels you with around 8 of those questions, so this was a relief! (this may be different for your test...? I really hope not! 🤔)
  • I'm definitely not a fast reader, especially under pressure.
  • Refer back to the reading method above, under "Day Of"
  • Not nearly as hard as DAT Achiever
  • DAT bootcamp was very similar to this.
  • The answers are in the passage. Just calm down and train your eyes to focus on the answer.
• Math (20)
  • If there's a question you don't know, mark it, skip it, come back to it.
  • You can't afford to waste time on questions like these.
  • I spent too much time on hard questions, couldn't get to easier questions.
  • I felt rushed.
  • Math destroyer was very helpful for this section.

I felt very undeserving of these scores, but grateful, nonetheless!

Good luck to those studying!! Holler at me for questions.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

 

[510586]

Nice scores! Did you use bootcamp or destroyer? If so, how did the test compare?

 

[ellelov449]

Nice scores! Did you use bootcamp or destroyer? If so, how did the test compare?

Thank you! I used both. Destroyer are just practice questions, while bootcamp has practice exams. I think bootcamp was more like the actual DAT than Destroyer!

 

[510586]

Thank you! I used both. Destroyer are just practice questions, while bootcamp has practice exams. I think bootcamp was more like the actual DAT than Destroyer!

Do you mind posting any practice scores or giving a comparison between the test and bc?

 

[Dr.Decven]

@ellelov449 congrats!!! those are some great looking scores, and nothing below a 20, that looks beautiful!!!!!
PS great usage of the nail clipper

 

[RuffDay]

For angle rankings, were the the answer choices like

A. 2 < 3 < 4 < 1
B. 1 < 3 < 2 < 4
C. 1 < 4 < 2 < 3
D. 1 < 2 < 3 < 4

And the answer is usually D because I just look at the number at the end, where it is 4 and the number at the beginning which is 1. So, I am left with B and D, and I just compare the angles from there.

I am not really good at angle ranking, I miss like maybe 85% of them.

 

[510586]

For angle rankings, were the the answer choices like

A. 2 < 3 < 4 < 1
B. 1 < 3 < 2 < 4
C. 1 < 4 < 2 < 3
D. 1 < 2 < 3 < 4

And the answer is usually D because I just look at the number at the end, where it is 4 and the number at the beginning which is 1. So, I am left with B and D, and I just compare the angles from there.

I am not really good at angle ranking, I miss like maybe 85% of them.

This is the one gripe I have with bootcamp's generator. Their tests are a lot more randomized in terms of multiple choice structure. Datgenius's free generator is also better for more random mc answers, but they often have the same number being the smallest or largest angle which makes it easier as well.

 

[ellelov449]

Do you mind posting any practice scores or giving a comparison between the test and bc?

Sure thing

Bio/Gchem/Ochem/PAT/Math/Reading
#1) 19 17 20 20 22 17
#2) 25 19 19 22 19 19
#3) 20 21 20 22 20 19
I only took 3! I didnt record the last two tests for the Bio section.

 

[510586]

Sure thing

Bio/Gchem/Ochem/PAT/Math/Reading
#1) 19 17 20 20 22 17
#2) 25 19 19 22 19 19
#3) 20 21 20 22 20 19
I only took 3! I didnt record the last two tests for the Bio section.

Thanks

 

[DAT Destroyer]

Feel free to skip down to the actual breakdown below.

Day of:

• Took 2007 Practice test, and it was much easier than the actual DAT. Other SDN members said the same. So it wasn't very representative, but it was very helpful in boosting my self esteem.
• Finalized my reading method.
  1. Read one question.
  2. Find a key word in that question
  3. Skim the first sentence of each paragraph
  4. Find a paragraph relevant to the key word.
  5. Find answer within that paragraph.

Night of:

• Went over OChem reagents and Orgoman's Road Maps in DAT Destroyer.
• Weak points in Ferali's Notes
• Reviewed equations for GChem and Math
• Tried to get a good night's rest. ( ended up sleeping at 1am. Please get good rest...)

Morning of:

• Good breakfast at 7:30am (couldn't go back to sleep )
• Played piano to get rid of any anxiety
• Went over a checklist:
  1. 2 forms of ID (Licence and a Debit card with a signature in the back. Make sure your names match!
  2. Jacket
  3. Bananas for the 15-minute break
• Arrived @ testing center 30 minutes early.
• Signed papers
• Metal detector
• Fingerprinting (apparently the computer can't detect my fingerprint very well. I did this like 10x for both my left and right hand)

Exam Breakdown:
The seat that I was assigned was right next to the door, so every time the test administrator walked in, the opening and closing of that door was SO distracting..... I don't know if you can request a seat, but find a seat that is least distracting.
I was provided with noise-cancelling headphones, which were GREAT because there was a girl furiously typing away a storm behind me.🤢
I asked for a blank sheet, but the test proctor said, "I'm sorry, you're going to have to make do with what you're given." 2 graph-paper formatted sheets with 2 fine-point markers.
Part One:

• Survey of Natural Sciences (23)
  • Bio (20)
    • Some questions were VERY easy and straight-foward, while others were a bit difficult.
    • The difficult ones were the application questions.
    • I marked a lot of bio questions, and ended up changing a few.
    • Don't second guess yourself... your original answer is probably correct, unless you KNOW 100% that it is wrong!
  • GChem (25)
    • Significantly easier than the practice exams I took.
    • Easy peasy calculations, that didn't require a lot of estimating.
    • Some answers were given with calculations. (i.e. it gives you 10.0 g and 2 moles, the molar mass would be (10.0/2))
  • OChem (25)
    • again, much easier than I had expected.
    • Could easily eliminate answers
  • Finished science with 30 minutes remaining.
  • clicked on the "Review Marked" button and went through all the marked questions.
  • second guessed on a few bio questions 🙁
• PAT (23)
  • Keyholes
    • Those DAT creators had a lot of fun creating these keyholes. Some were SO bizarre...😵
    • I marked so many questions
    • DAT Achiever and Bootcamp had trained me to pay attention to proportions, so I marked an immense amount for this section.
  • TFE
    • My self-esteem was so low from keyholes..
    • Marked 3 questions in this section
    • It helps to just visualize the figure.
  • Angles
    • Not bad, due to the practice I got from CDP and bootcamp generators.
    • looked @ the first number of each of the answers, compared angles, and chose the answer by elimination.
  • Hole Punching
    • Unfortunately, I had a few 1/3 foldings that caught me off guard.
    • One backwards folding.
    • But this can be anyone's best section!
    • No methods here. Just eyeballing where the holes were.
  • Cube Counting
    • Look at the overall structure FIRST. (are there any hidden cubes, columns, rows, or holes?)
    • Tally mark method
    • I had at most 9-10 cubes, may be different for you.
  • Pattern Folding
    • Fairly simple.
    • No crazy figures created.
• 4 minutes remaining. Reviewed marked questions
• PAT= Practice All the Time. I enjoyed PAT section the most, so it was like a break for me. I'm such a dork! haha
• Practice your own method in each section until you feel comfortable with it!

BREAK TIME 15 minutes (I had 4 minutes remaining)
1. Take my locker key and my IDs
2. finger printing
3. signing out
4. banana
5. bathroom
6. water
7. metal detector
8. fingerprinting
9. signing in
10. own part two.

Part Two:

• Reading (20)
  • Always my lowest score in practice exams. I expected 16-17, but instead came out with a miracle of 20!
  • Questions are very straight foward
  • I only had one "both true, both false" type question. Bootcamp pummels you with around 8 of those questions, so this was a relief! (this may be different for your test...? I really hope not! 🤔)
  • I'm definitely not a fast reader, especially under pressure.
  • Refer back to the reading method above, under "Day Of"
  • Not nearly as hard as DAT Achiever
  • DAT bootcamp was very similar to this.
  • The answers are in the passage. Just calm down and train your eyes to focus on the answer.
• Math (20)
  • If there's a question you don't know, mark it, skip it, come back to it.
  • You can't afford to waste time on questions like these.
  • I spent too much time on hard questions, couldn't get to easier questions.
  • I felt rushed.
  • Math destroyer was very helpful for this section.

I felt very undeserving of these scores, but grateful, nonetheless!

View attachment 194007
Good luck to those studying!! Holler at me for questions.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Congratulations! ellelov449


Excellent scores and double 25 in Orgo and Genchem , dental schools will take notice. Lot of worry lately on the board about the reading...20 for this section is great! You should receive a lot of interviews with scores like this.


Good luck in the process and wishing you the very best!

Dr. Jim Romano and Nancy

 

[ellelov449]

For angle rankings, were the the answer choices like

A. 2 < 3 < 4 < 1
B. 1 < 3 < 2 < 4
C. 1 < 4 < 2 < 3
D. 1 < 2 < 3 < 4

And the answer is usually D because I just look at the number at the end, where it is 4 and the number at the beginning which is 1. So, I am left with B and D, and I just compare the angles from there.

I am not really good at angle ranking, I miss like maybe 85% of them.

Keep practicing!
I had maybe a few questions like that, and a few like
a) 1 <2 <3 <4
b) 2 <1 <4 <3
c) 1 <3 <4 <2
d) 2 <3 <1 <4

yeah, bootcamp tended to do that. but dont fall for it!! CDP had a really great angle generator. I wish I could just give you my computer to let you try it.
But I mean, 85% is great! Keep it up 🙂

 

[ellelov449]

Congratulations! ellelov449


Excellent scores and double 25 in Orgo and Genchem , dental schools will take notice. Lot of worry lately on the board about the reading...20 for this section is great! You should receive a lot of interviews with scores like this.


Good luck in the process and wishing you the very best!

Dr. Jim Romano and Nancy

Your books were über helpful. THANK YOU

 

[Tooth.be.told]

Congrats!! How did you study for Orgo? Only roadmaps and the destroyer?

 

[ellelov449]

Congrats!! How did you study for Orgo? Only roadmaps and the destroyer?

For orgo last school year, I had a GREAT professor, so that was still fresh on my mind this summer.

For extra review, chads videos are great for orgo and gchem. He has a great reagent table for orgo, too!

 

[ns718]

You did amazing. Congrats to you.

 

[Salma03]

Congratulations!! you did great 🙂 I actually wanted to ask you about RC. I am a very slow reader. I just started with RC section and trying to practice the same method you used but I am worried as I cannot get through all the questions 🙁 How much time did it take you to master that section i.e. finding keywords in questions? And also in order to find keywords, did you just skim through the first 2 lines of each paragraph?

A quick question about PAT as well. Should I practice more on Crack dat pat or bootcamp? I am getting low scores on some of the sections consistently and its bringing my morale down all together 🙁 And how long did it take you from start to end to start scoring decent scores on PAT section?

 

[ellelov449]

For RC,
I discovered this method the night of my exam, and whrn I used it on a bootcamp practice test, I got a 22. So I stuck with it.

Im also a very slow reader, but when trying to skim through the first two sentences of each paragraph, I could find relevance to the key word in the question.

For PAT, I would advise you to USE AND ABUSE THE GENERATORS. My weakest point was angles, and the generators provided sooooo many random questions. If you have crack dat pat, use the generators, but those practice exams are too simple for the real deal. Bootcamp will be more difficult, but more like the test!

On average, I scored a 21 on bootcamp. In the beginning, I really enjoyed this section, so I would do angles, cube counting, and hole punching just for fun. But it doesn't mean I did well. You have the great ability to improve! Practice practice practice~

don't be discouraged by low scores. Motivate yourself to a certain goal.

 

[ellelov449]

Congratulations!! you did great 🙂 I actually wanted to ask you about RC. I am a very slow reader. I just started with RC section and trying to practice the same method you used but I am worried as I cannot get through all the questions 🙁 How much time did it take you to master that section i.e. finding keywords in questions? And also in order to find keywords, did you just skim through the first 2 lines of each paragraph?

A quick question about PAT as well. Should I practice more on Crack dat pat or bootcamp? I am getting low scores on some of the sections consistently and its bringing my morale down all together 🙁 And how long did it take you from start to end to start scoring decent scores on PAT section?

For RC,
I discovered this method the night of my exam, and whrn I used it on a bootcamp practice test, I got a 22. So I stuck with it.

Im also a very slow reader, but when trying to skim through the first two sentences of each paragraph, I could find relevance to the key word in the question.

For PAT, I would advise you to USE AND ABUSE THE GENERATORS. My weakest point was angles, and the generators provided sooooo many random questions. If you have crack dat pat, use the generators, but those practice exams are too simple for the real deal. Bootcamp will be more difficult, but more like the test!

On average, I scored a 21 on bootcamp. In the beginning, I really enjoyed this section, so I would do angles, cube counting, and hole punching just for fun. But it doesn't mean I did well. You have the great ability to improve! Practice practice practice~

don't be discouraged by low scores.Motivate yourself to a certain goal.

 

[Salma03]

Thank you so much for your valuable advise 🙂 Wishing you a very good luck for interviews! But I don't have CDP subscription yet. I am working and studying at the same time to save some money for it. I am in a very bad financial situation 🙁 So I wanted to ask if someone has CDP subscription which I can share for a few days by the time I get mine? I will really appreciate the help!!!

 

[ellelov449]

Thank you so much for your valuable advise 🙂 Wishing you a very good luck for interviews! But I don't have CDP subscription yet. I am working and studying at the same time to save some money for it. I am in a very bad financial situation 🙁 So I wanted to ask if someone has CDP subscription which I can share for a few days by the time I get mine? I will really appreciate the help!!!

CDP isn't a subscription. It works on only one computer.... but I highly suggest getting DAT bootcamp instead. The PAT section has 10 practice exams.

The CDP is not very representative of the actual DAT. I spent $200 and did not use it as often as bootcamp.

 

[Salma03]

Okay Thanks,,,I will work with DAT bootcamp then 🙂 But what is the best resource to develop strategies for PAT? Does bootcamp teach you the strategy or any specific ways how to get through most of the questions?

 

[ellelov449]

Okay Thanks,,,I will work with DAT bootcamp then 🙂 But what is the best resource to develop strategies for PAT? Does bootcamp teach you the strategy or any specific ways how to get through most of the questions?

Try looking it up on youtube. Bootcamp has a few videos for the PAT section!

 

[enamel88]

Thanks for the breakdown!! and the verse 😀

 

[Infini_tee]

Congrats on your scores & thank you for your break down!!!! I was wondering, how many hours/days/months did you take to prepare for your exam? Also, how did you layout your days/weeks when it came to studying for each subject? Taking my first DAT really soon. Thank you in advance!!

 

[ellelov449]

Congrats on your scores & thank you for your break down!!!! I was wondering, how many hours/days/months did you take to prepare for your exam? Also, how did you layout your days/weeks when it came to studying for each subject? Taking my first DAT really soon. Thank you in advance!!

Thank you! So sorry I just read this...... but I used a schedule that was on sdn and modified it so it lasted me 2 months. I studied about 8-12 hours a day (some days I ran out of stuff to study).

I wish I had my computer with me so I could send it to you, but the user I got it from was Alectrify and in his profile, you can download the schedule. His lasts for one month, which works well if you're a crammer! Good luck if you haven't taken it yet!