Hey guys, this is a DAT breakdown for everyone who constantly rolls their eyes and chuckles at all of the 24AA breakdowns with a chance me attached to it.
My background, I am from Arkansas, have recently graduated with a Biology degree and a 3.5 GPA. I have wanted to be a dentist since I was 6 believe it or not. Lots of shadowing/volunteer experience.
This was my second go at the DAT. The first time was a bloody crime scene. I went in last August (2016) completely unpropared and full of ignorant arogance. I came out with a 16AA. I could have easily walked away and said I was'nt smart enough, but thats just not me, hence the arogance.
So, I decided I would give it my all next go around and get my redemption.
Thats what I did. I have busted my A@# for the past 2 months. I have studied a minimum of 6 hours a day, usually 8 or more hours. I would have to say the most important thing when studying is getting in a good routine. That and being organized were crucial for me. Every single problem I answered or note I took was organized by subject into a binder. I ended up with 2 2inc binders full of notes. Hard work pays off, don't ever doubt yourself. There will be times where you feel defeated and discouraged. Get away, take a day or two off and refuel your desire, go shadow, whatever you need to do to make peace with yourself.
I just got back from taking the exam, and scored:
PAT:20 QR:19 RC:22 Bio:19 GC:20 OC:18 TS: 19 AA:20
So my target score was AA: 20, thus I am extremely relieved to get this score.
I prepared like most you will see on this board. I used Destroyer, Kaplan, Chads Videos, Ferralis notes, and Bootcamp. Mikes videos are much better in my personal opinion for the DAT, they helped me so much!
PAT
Ok so this was going fine until BAM, apparently there are 4x5 hole punching now as well as the normal 4x4 ..this threw me off big time and I think affected my score. Pattern folding, TFE were pretty similar, must use is Bootcamp generators. AR was pretty dificult as well as HP obviously. CC and PF were quite easy I thought.
QR
I did not study very much for QR to be honest, and I probably should have but I was too focused on other areas. I had 1 trig problem, and other than that it was QC, applied math, algebra and what not. Bootcamp was best for this. Specifically Test 10, it seemed almost identical to my test honestly. I scored a 19 on test 10 as well.
RC
Other than Full length tests I didnt do any RC. I used the strategy of outlining each passage, and then search and destroy. The first passage was cake, everything was in order as far as questions and location in the passage. Then they began to kick it up a notch. The second and third passages were much tougher, but still manageable. Very compareable to the Bootcamp RCs I took in the full lengths.
Bio
Very random, and honestly I felt it was a little tricky. There were about 3 or 4 that I got hung up on because I wasnt sure what it was asking, if it was a loaded question. I was expecting about a 19-20 though honestly so I was happy with this.
GC
For starters.... the first time I took the DAT I scored a 13 in GC... yes you read that correctly. Needless to say, I came back this time determined to make my weakness a strength and I did that, Destroyer is your bible, plain and simple. Read it, love it, sleep with it beside you, go to the gym with it, whatever you have to do. Pretty straight forward, bootcamp exams are a very good representation.
OC
Was expecting more than a 18 in OC, but I got my target score so who cares lol. I thought it was the easiest of the TS section, so maybe it was and it was scaled harder or maybe I made some bonehead mistakes, which I am very prone to do. I only had 2 reactions, most of the questions were conceptual. Once again DESTROYER, and Bootcamp.
Lastly, you can do this. If you are scrolling through seeing all of these 24's and 23's and getting discouraged, dont! You can do it too, or atleast score your target score. Dont worry about what everyone else does, focus on what you can do and what you want to do. Hard work pays off, there is no shortcutting the process to a good score. Work hard, have a good routine, and stay true to the process, you will get your score.
The day before the test, get away. Dont stress yourself out studying. I personally went and hiked a local mountain, by myself to collect my thoughts. I am so glad i did this. On test day, treat it like every other day, not a special day. If you workout before you study like I do, go to the gym. If you've eaten a muffin for breakfast every day for the past two months studying, eat a muffin, not bacon and eggs. That may be a bit extreme but you get the point.
You can either work hard toward your dreams, or work hard toward someone elses, you pick! Good luck.
My background, I am from Arkansas, have recently graduated with a Biology degree and a 3.5 GPA. I have wanted to be a dentist since I was 6 believe it or not. Lots of shadowing/volunteer experience.
This was my second go at the DAT. The first time was a bloody crime scene. I went in last August (2016) completely unpropared and full of ignorant arogance. I came out with a 16AA. I could have easily walked away and said I was'nt smart enough, but thats just not me, hence the arogance.
So, I decided I would give it my all next go around and get my redemption.
Thats what I did. I have busted my A@# for the past 2 months. I have studied a minimum of 6 hours a day, usually 8 or more hours. I would have to say the most important thing when studying is getting in a good routine. That and being organized were crucial for me. Every single problem I answered or note I took was organized by subject into a binder. I ended up with 2 2inc binders full of notes. Hard work pays off, don't ever doubt yourself. There will be times where you feel defeated and discouraged. Get away, take a day or two off and refuel your desire, go shadow, whatever you need to do to make peace with yourself.
I just got back from taking the exam, and scored:
PAT:20 QR:19 RC:22 Bio:19 GC:20 OC:18 TS: 19 AA:20
So my target score was AA: 20, thus I am extremely relieved to get this score.
I prepared like most you will see on this board. I used Destroyer, Kaplan, Chads Videos, Ferralis notes, and Bootcamp. Mikes videos are much better in my personal opinion for the DAT, they helped me so much!
PAT
Ok so this was going fine until BAM, apparently there are 4x5 hole punching now as well as the normal 4x4 ..this threw me off big time and I think affected my score. Pattern folding, TFE were pretty similar, must use is Bootcamp generators. AR was pretty dificult as well as HP obviously. CC and PF were quite easy I thought.
QR
I did not study very much for QR to be honest, and I probably should have but I was too focused on other areas. I had 1 trig problem, and other than that it was QC, applied math, algebra and what not. Bootcamp was best for this. Specifically Test 10, it seemed almost identical to my test honestly. I scored a 19 on test 10 as well.
RC
Other than Full length tests I didnt do any RC. I used the strategy of outlining each passage, and then search and destroy. The first passage was cake, everything was in order as far as questions and location in the passage. Then they began to kick it up a notch. The second and third passages were much tougher, but still manageable. Very compareable to the Bootcamp RCs I took in the full lengths.
Bio
Very random, and honestly I felt it was a little tricky. There were about 3 or 4 that I got hung up on because I wasnt sure what it was asking, if it was a loaded question. I was expecting about a 19-20 though honestly so I was happy with this.
GC
For starters.... the first time I took the DAT I scored a 13 in GC... yes you read that correctly. Needless to say, I came back this time determined to make my weakness a strength and I did that, Destroyer is your bible, plain and simple. Read it, love it, sleep with it beside you, go to the gym with it, whatever you have to do. Pretty straight forward, bootcamp exams are a very good representation.
OC
Was expecting more than a 18 in OC, but I got my target score so who cares lol. I thought it was the easiest of the TS section, so maybe it was and it was scaled harder or maybe I made some bonehead mistakes, which I am very prone to do. I only had 2 reactions, most of the questions were conceptual. Once again DESTROYER, and Bootcamp.
Lastly, you can do this. If you are scrolling through seeing all of these 24's and 23's and getting discouraged, dont! You can do it too, or atleast score your target score. Dont worry about what everyone else does, focus on what you can do and what you want to do. Hard work pays off, there is no shortcutting the process to a good score. Work hard, have a good routine, and stay true to the process, you will get your score.
The day before the test, get away. Dont stress yourself out studying. I personally went and hiked a local mountain, by myself to collect my thoughts. I am so glad i did this. On test day, treat it like every other day, not a special day. If you workout before you study like I do, go to the gym. If you've eaten a muffin for breakfast every day for the past two months studying, eat a muffin, not bacon and eggs. That may be a bit extreme but you get the point.
You can either work hard toward your dreams, or work hard toward someone elses, you pick! Good luck.
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