This is my first time posting here, but I have been on here quite a lot for the past couple of month due to my impending DAT. I just want to thank you guys for always putting amazing advice on here because it really helps especially when you're going though bouts of wanting to give up from all the stress! So thank you a bunch guys 🙂 Now I want to give some advice based on my experience and I would love if you guys could give me some honest input.
I've taken the DAT before, but it was just to take it and see how I do. I didn't get to study a whole lot because it was my first semester of my senior year and I had tons of things going on with classes and extracurricular activities. So here were my (terrible) scores from before:
September 2011
PAT 14
QR 14
RC 16
BIO 16
GC 18
OC 19
TS 17
AA 16
Yeah, so really bad scores. I barely practiced perceptual and didn't even do anything for QR, I did review the sciences a bit, but not as much as I should've. Here are my scores from yesterday, again still not good, but not quite as terrible.
August 2012
PAT 17
QR 15
RC 21
Bio 20
GC 17
OC 19
TS 19
AA 18
QR: Biggest fail in the history of this world. I don't know why I didn't learn my lesson from the first time. I think it's because I attributed doing horrible last time due to my excessive anxiety during the last section so I thought now that I feel more confident I know my timing on this test won't be so bad. Huge mistake on my part. I did a few Math destroyer tests but did not time myself nor did I take a practice QR. I really regret that now. And I would advise you guys not to do what I did. QR isn't about how good you are at math, it's about how good you are at doing simple math fast. I haven't taken math since junior year of high school and I just graduated college, so needless to say, that didn't work to my advantage either. But the key here was for me to practice a lot and practice under timed conditions; neither of which I did. I hope any of you who are about to take DAT do not repeat my mistake. It's an easy section if you can get the timing and practice down. Unfortunately it brought my entire average down.
PAT: Again, I failed here as well. When I took the DAT the first time, I didn't practice much at all. So I thought to myself 14 isn't so bad for somebody who hasn't practiced much of anything. I was wrong on so many levels. I started practicing in the end of July, mostly because I saw a lot of fellow SDNers improve at least a few points by the time they got to their 2nd CDP test. So I bought the CDP tests and had the delusion that it would work that way for me. Here's the truth guys: most people I'm sure do improve within the first few tests, but then there are people like me who suck at perceptual-related stuff and therefore need as much practice as possible. I was averaging 15s and 16s, I only got an 18 on one of the CDP tests, which I got very excited over that I saw a three point change. But then I took another one two days later and went back to a 16. Needless to say, my confidence on this section was shot. I didn't know what I was going to do. I was hoping for some sort of miracle. I did happen to come across XJtrandx's (I kinda forgot his username, sorry if that's wrong) hole punching YouTube video which actually helped me so much. I was getting less than half right on most hole punching sections of CDP, but after watching his video I got almost 80% right. I probably would've seen a bigger difference had I not just discovered his video the day before my exam haha. So thank you, Xjtrandx, I think if you have time you should keep up with these brilliant explanations for PAT because it really helps people like me who struggle with it. When someone explains things to me, I notice I understand it much more than when I attempt to do it myself.
RC: This was something I knew I had to improve because reading comprehension-related tests and such have always reflected how proficient I am in this so I realized that my bad score from the first time was the fact that I panicked, had not practiced this section at all, and thus, had no technique to go off of. I practiced with topscore and used two techniques: Search and Destroy as well as mapping the questions in a set of 10, reading the passage, then answering the questions as I went along (I saw this some technique somewhere on this board, so credit to whoever came up with it). The main thing is just pick one technique, which on the actual DAT I did not do and I should've. I did the 10 question-mapping one, but switched to Search and Destroy in the middle. I did have 10 mins left at the end, so I went back to a few questions I was not sure on, but was honestly too lazy to check all the ones I was unsure on so I ended it prematurely. But believe me, this section is not reflective of how good of a reader you are because if it was then I know I would be scoring a lot higher. It's just about gathering details from long passages in a short amount of time. Once you perfect the technique, you will do amazing. I wish I got higher than a 21 but I'm still glad that I made a drastic improvement from the first time. I used topscore as practice and got 20, 21, 22 on the three tests, so I would say it's pretty representative.
Biology: THE MOST RANDOM SECTION! Like I really felt like I prepared a lot, so I went into this section with confidence. I used Bio destroyer (went through it 1x), Cliff's notes, Barron's AP Bio, KBB bio, and qVault for bio. I took tests from bio qVault and usually scored 20's and above. So this is why I was so confident about this section. However, the real DAT was a bit different. I mean the first few questions were smooth-sailing because they were straight-forward, but quickly afterwards, the questions got more and more random. There was even a biotechnology technique that was asked about that I literally had never seen in all my years of biology. I felt horrible because of the 5-10 questions that were over nothing I had studied. So I was actually satisfied that I got a 20 on this section because I was feeling like I would barely break an 18. Word of advice: do prepare very well for this section, just keep in my mind that there will be some random as hell questions in there so don't be thrown off because of that. I think that's why my score was only a 20 because in the middle of those random questions, I began to panic and think I had not prepared as well as I had actually thought I had.
GC: This score is just plain sad. I got an 18 without thoroughly studying the first time, so I don't know why I got a 17 this time. I feel like the questions were a lot harder than I had anticipated. I used Chad's videos but I went through them back in the beginning of June and did not do all the quizzes. I think had I used his videos in July and taken advantage of his quizzes I would've done better because it would've been fresh in my mind. I used Destroyer for this as well, but I went through it once and overestimated the difficulty of this compared to the real DAT. No doubt it's harder than the real DAT, but not as much as I had imagined it to be. I went through destroyer once for this and missed A LOT of questions and I only went back over a few of the ones I missed because of lack of time. So if you guys want to fully benefit from destroyer, do it at least 2x through. There is no harm in practicing as much as you can because it can only help you especially if you're as rusty in gen chem like I am (it's been almost four years since I last took it). Also (imo) topscore gen chem was a lot easier compared to the real DAT from my experience. I got 19, 20, 20 on the three tests I took. Talk about being overconfident when I went in, but feeling screwed over once I took the actual DAT.
OC: I don't know how I feel about this score since it is exactly the same as I got the first time I took it. I think maybe the fact that I had orgo more than two years ago factors into me doing adequately in this section. I would advise using Chad's videos if you're in the same boat as me. I didn't have enough money to buy his videos at this point in my studying process, because I had used so much money on purchasing destroyer and practice exams. Also I did horrendous on DAT destroyer's OC practice problems. I was getting majority of them wrong. Once I went over the roadmaps they have in the back though, I started getting a lot more right. So definitely make use of the roadmaps and learn from your mistakes. I, again, did not get the chance to go over the many problems I missed in DAT destroyer. Oh yeah, another thing, I wasted so much time on GC because I felt like it was so difficult during my DAT, so I literally only had 20 minutes left to finish orgo so that could be a contributing reason to my score not being good. Definitely spread out your time evenly over these two sections.
That's my DAT experience. Still not sure how I feel about my scores. I do feel a bit bummed out, but I am thankful that I saw an improvement. I hope you guys can learn from my mistakes, that's why I wanted to post here. I think we always see on this forum so many people doing amazing, and I just want to let you know not everybody actually ends up doing that amazingly. Although, it is not impossible at all. I'm sure I could've done great had I not made the mistakes that I laid out for you guys in my breakdown. It is possible and you guys who haven't taken it I wish you good luck and hope you take something away from my post 🙂
I need a bit of advice: I will still apply this cycle, but I'm only aware of two dental schools who would be okay with scores like mine. My in-state school (IUPUI) just requires 15 and above to get an interview for residents in this area. And my friend goes to OHSU and said the same thing goes for that school as well. So if you guys know of any other ones that I could apply to then let me know if you can! Some background on me: I have over 100 hours of shadowing (oral surgeon, cosmetic dentist, general dentist), 2-3 years of research experience, tutor/learning assistance leader for an intro level Psych class at my college, and I have a cGPA of 3.56 and sGPA of 3.3.
Again, thank you so much to all of you for the motivational posts you have on this board, it helped me tremendously. You guys are great and know how to inspire people to aim high 🙂
I've taken the DAT before, but it was just to take it and see how I do. I didn't get to study a whole lot because it was my first semester of my senior year and I had tons of things going on with classes and extracurricular activities. So here were my (terrible) scores from before:
September 2011
PAT 14
QR 14
RC 16
BIO 16
GC 18
OC 19
TS 17
AA 16
Yeah, so really bad scores. I barely practiced perceptual and didn't even do anything for QR, I did review the sciences a bit, but not as much as I should've. Here are my scores from yesterday, again still not good, but not quite as terrible.
August 2012
PAT 17
QR 15
RC 21
Bio 20
GC 17
OC 19
TS 19
AA 18
QR: Biggest fail in the history of this world. I don't know why I didn't learn my lesson from the first time. I think it's because I attributed doing horrible last time due to my excessive anxiety during the last section so I thought now that I feel more confident I know my timing on this test won't be so bad. Huge mistake on my part. I did a few Math destroyer tests but did not time myself nor did I take a practice QR. I really regret that now. And I would advise you guys not to do what I did. QR isn't about how good you are at math, it's about how good you are at doing simple math fast. I haven't taken math since junior year of high school and I just graduated college, so needless to say, that didn't work to my advantage either. But the key here was for me to practice a lot and practice under timed conditions; neither of which I did. I hope any of you who are about to take DAT do not repeat my mistake. It's an easy section if you can get the timing and practice down. Unfortunately it brought my entire average down.
PAT: Again, I failed here as well. When I took the DAT the first time, I didn't practice much at all. So I thought to myself 14 isn't so bad for somebody who hasn't practiced much of anything. I was wrong on so many levels. I started practicing in the end of July, mostly because I saw a lot of fellow SDNers improve at least a few points by the time they got to their 2nd CDP test. So I bought the CDP tests and had the delusion that it would work that way for me. Here's the truth guys: most people I'm sure do improve within the first few tests, but then there are people like me who suck at perceptual-related stuff and therefore need as much practice as possible. I was averaging 15s and 16s, I only got an 18 on one of the CDP tests, which I got very excited over that I saw a three point change. But then I took another one two days later and went back to a 16. Needless to say, my confidence on this section was shot. I didn't know what I was going to do. I was hoping for some sort of miracle. I did happen to come across XJtrandx's (I kinda forgot his username, sorry if that's wrong) hole punching YouTube video which actually helped me so much. I was getting less than half right on most hole punching sections of CDP, but after watching his video I got almost 80% right. I probably would've seen a bigger difference had I not just discovered his video the day before my exam haha. So thank you, Xjtrandx, I think if you have time you should keep up with these brilliant explanations for PAT because it really helps people like me who struggle with it. When someone explains things to me, I notice I understand it much more than when I attempt to do it myself.
RC: This was something I knew I had to improve because reading comprehension-related tests and such have always reflected how proficient I am in this so I realized that my bad score from the first time was the fact that I panicked, had not practiced this section at all, and thus, had no technique to go off of. I practiced with topscore and used two techniques: Search and Destroy as well as mapping the questions in a set of 10, reading the passage, then answering the questions as I went along (I saw this some technique somewhere on this board, so credit to whoever came up with it). The main thing is just pick one technique, which on the actual DAT I did not do and I should've. I did the 10 question-mapping one, but switched to Search and Destroy in the middle. I did have 10 mins left at the end, so I went back to a few questions I was not sure on, but was honestly too lazy to check all the ones I was unsure on so I ended it prematurely. But believe me, this section is not reflective of how good of a reader you are because if it was then I know I would be scoring a lot higher. It's just about gathering details from long passages in a short amount of time. Once you perfect the technique, you will do amazing. I wish I got higher than a 21 but I'm still glad that I made a drastic improvement from the first time. I used topscore as practice and got 20, 21, 22 on the three tests, so I would say it's pretty representative.
Biology: THE MOST RANDOM SECTION! Like I really felt like I prepared a lot, so I went into this section with confidence. I used Bio destroyer (went through it 1x), Cliff's notes, Barron's AP Bio, KBB bio, and qVault for bio. I took tests from bio qVault and usually scored 20's and above. So this is why I was so confident about this section. However, the real DAT was a bit different. I mean the first few questions were smooth-sailing because they were straight-forward, but quickly afterwards, the questions got more and more random. There was even a biotechnology technique that was asked about that I literally had never seen in all my years of biology. I felt horrible because of the 5-10 questions that were over nothing I had studied. So I was actually satisfied that I got a 20 on this section because I was feeling like I would barely break an 18. Word of advice: do prepare very well for this section, just keep in my mind that there will be some random as hell questions in there so don't be thrown off because of that. I think that's why my score was only a 20 because in the middle of those random questions, I began to panic and think I had not prepared as well as I had actually thought I had.
GC: This score is just plain sad. I got an 18 without thoroughly studying the first time, so I don't know why I got a 17 this time. I feel like the questions were a lot harder than I had anticipated. I used Chad's videos but I went through them back in the beginning of June and did not do all the quizzes. I think had I used his videos in July and taken advantage of his quizzes I would've done better because it would've been fresh in my mind. I used Destroyer for this as well, but I went through it once and overestimated the difficulty of this compared to the real DAT. No doubt it's harder than the real DAT, but not as much as I had imagined it to be. I went through destroyer once for this and missed A LOT of questions and I only went back over a few of the ones I missed because of lack of time. So if you guys want to fully benefit from destroyer, do it at least 2x through. There is no harm in practicing as much as you can because it can only help you especially if you're as rusty in gen chem like I am (it's been almost four years since I last took it). Also (imo) topscore gen chem was a lot easier compared to the real DAT from my experience. I got 19, 20, 20 on the three tests I took. Talk about being overconfident when I went in, but feeling screwed over once I took the actual DAT.
OC: I don't know how I feel about this score since it is exactly the same as I got the first time I took it. I think maybe the fact that I had orgo more than two years ago factors into me doing adequately in this section. I would advise using Chad's videos if you're in the same boat as me. I didn't have enough money to buy his videos at this point in my studying process, because I had used so much money on purchasing destroyer and practice exams. Also I did horrendous on DAT destroyer's OC practice problems. I was getting majority of them wrong. Once I went over the roadmaps they have in the back though, I started getting a lot more right. So definitely make use of the roadmaps and learn from your mistakes. I, again, did not get the chance to go over the many problems I missed in DAT destroyer. Oh yeah, another thing, I wasted so much time on GC because I felt like it was so difficult during my DAT, so I literally only had 20 minutes left to finish orgo so that could be a contributing reason to my score not being good. Definitely spread out your time evenly over these two sections.
That's my DAT experience. Still not sure how I feel about my scores. I do feel a bit bummed out, but I am thankful that I saw an improvement. I hope you guys can learn from my mistakes, that's why I wanted to post here. I think we always see on this forum so many people doing amazing, and I just want to let you know not everybody actually ends up doing that amazingly. Although, it is not impossible at all. I'm sure I could've done great had I not made the mistakes that I laid out for you guys in my breakdown. It is possible and you guys who haven't taken it I wish you good luck and hope you take something away from my post 🙂
I need a bit of advice: I will still apply this cycle, but I'm only aware of two dental schools who would be okay with scores like mine. My in-state school (IUPUI) just requires 15 and above to get an interview for residents in this area. And my friend goes to OHSU and said the same thing goes for that school as well. So if you guys know of any other ones that I could apply to then let me know if you can! Some background on me: I have over 100 hours of shadowing (oral surgeon, cosmetic dentist, general dentist), 2-3 years of research experience, tutor/learning assistance leader for an intro level Psych class at my college, and I have a cGPA of 3.56 and sGPA of 3.3.
Again, thank you so much to all of you for the motivational posts you have on this board, it helped me tremendously. You guys are great and know how to inspire people to aim high 🙂
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