DAT Breakdown

[zoey1234]

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Hello guys,
I thank you all for your help and advice during all this time. Without you I wouldnt know anything about the best resources to use and strategies. Reading breakdowns was very helpful to me and also motivate me to study more. Anyways, all I can say that the test was really hard. I am a bit disappointed with my scores, I studied hard and was hoping for 20+ so I want your opinion as well on whether I should retake it or not..

BIO 19
G CHEM 18
O CHEM 19
PAT 19
RC 19
QR 19
TS 19
AA 19

Material used: KBB, CDP, DAT Destroyer, math Destroyer, Chad videos for both chems; Bootcamp (got it 6 days before test)

Biology:KBB as a foundation then destroyer. I had AP cliff but I stopped reading it cause I did not like it and I didn't have enough time to cram all little details and review it over and over again. I mainly used DAT destroyer. After going through it for the first time (of course more than half of the answers I got them wrong----dont worry its still too early). I made flash cards and tried to memorize the information there. Note that not memorizing the answer but rather the facts, the solutions pages, you will see that he doesn't just put the answer A or B or whatever, he actually gives short explanations and I found those really easy to memorize rather than reading the whole chapter in KBB for example, just my opinion.

Real Dat: two or three questions were exact from destroyer. I had three questions genetics, few hormones, many question taxonomy and ecology!!! like many say, its so random, all over the place. I got 19, I really thought I did much better and I am kind of disappointed.
Bootcamp 22/20/18/21/22

G Chem: I watched Chad videos and did the quizzes once; then mainly destroyer. I felt really confident after the 300 problems in destroyer.
Real Dat: I don't know what happened here; but I got questions that I haven't seen on bootcamp or destroyer. It was so confusing and I freaked out cause I was losing time and not getting questions right.
Bootcamp scores 20/19/19/24/23

O Chem: Chad and destroyer. My strategy for this I tried to memorize the reactions somehow cause I just couldn't make sense of it. I mainly used chad notes for the reactions.
on the real test: here because of my mess from G chem, I ended up with having 20 min only to finish all orgo, I would say if I had time on this section I would definitely score higher.I didn't even have time to read last three questions I just picked an answer randomly. The questions were not hard at all, 2 IUPAC naming with R, or S stuff. Reactions were straightforward. I think two NMR questions. However, lab questions were like 5 or 6. Chad notes for this and destroyer and you'll easy points for the lab questions.
Bootcamp 20/19/22/18/19

PAT: Crack DAT PAT. Really helpful to get used to the patterns and questions in general. When I started using it, I was scoring 16 and 17 in first three tests then after the 5th I got my timing right and I was getting better and I was averaging 22-23. Dat Bootcamp was really helpful on PAT section to practice more. Bootcamp I took just 4 tests 19/21/23/22

Real Dat: angles and key hole were really really hard. I swear angles looked the same. I would say if you get the angles section correctly on bootcamp then you should be fine. Over all I was disappointed here to see 19 especially after good scores in CDP and Bootcamp and I honestly did not expect the angles to be hard to real dat too.

RC: English is my second language and I was expecting that I would have a difficulty here cause I am a slow reader. I didn't do anything to prepare. I simply didn't have the time to do so. However after I got Bootcamp I decided to do a test at least to know what strategy to use. I got 14 so I did another and I got 14 as well. I couldn't study that day and I was so depressed so I decided not to do anymore tests for RC and concentrate on sciences.
On the real test: I would say I am so satisfied with that 19 after my bootcamp scores!!! I used SnD strategy and it worked. One passage was ethics which was alright. The killer one was physics and it was soooo long and I noticed that I wasted too long on it and ended up with 15 min to finish the last one. I barely finished on time. It was nothing like Bootcamp at all. There were 4 tune questions and only one question similar to bootcamp the one with two sentences..

QR: I had math destroyer but I just did test 1-5. I wish I had time to do more. Bootcamp is really helpful here to get faster, although I did 3 tests and I was never able to finish them, usually do like 32 out of 40 and I am out of time. On real Dat, I couldn't finish either, I had three left. Many percentage questions and probability, SD. Two stupid conversions which I completely forgot!!! mile=yard and something else.
Overall, I would say do destroyer if you have enough time and practice to get faster.

Sorry I talked too much but I wanted to tell you guys about my experience. Please give me your opinion whether I should retake or not.? GPA 3.4 and will work harder to get that higher.
Thank you

 

[SyracuseOrange92]

Congratulations on your scores! Happy to see you did well on the RC you worked so hard for

 

[shonster460]

Congrats! If I have to be honest, your stats make you a fairly average applicant. However, if you have lots of EC's, plenty of shadowing, and great references I think you will get a couple interviews after applying broadly. I am not sure about retaking it since you seemed to have improved on RC.,.If I were you I would work on really polishing your app, bumping that GPA a bit and shadowing as much as you can. Again, you should apply to as many schools as you can with your stats.

 

[DocVaquero]

Congratulations on being done, those are solid scores. They are above average for test takers and average for accepted students. I would say if you have good extracurricular activities, volunteer hours, and job shadowing hours you don't need to retake. Finish this next semester out strong.

Good luck!

 

[One Piece]

Hello guys,
I thank you all for your help and advice during all this time. Without you I wouldnt know anything about the best resources to use and strategies. Reading breakdowns was very helpful to me and also motivate me to study more. Anyways, all I can say that the test was really hard. I am a bit disappointed with my scores, I studied hard and was hoping for 20+ so I want your opinion as well on whether I should retake it or not..

BIO 19
G CHEM 18
O CHEM 19
PAT 19
RC 19
QR 19
TS 19
AA 19

Material used: KBB, CDP, DAT Destroyer, math Destroyer, Chad videos for both chems; Bootcamp (got it 6 days before test)

Biology:KBB as a foundation then destroyer. I had AP cliff but I stopped reading it cause I did not like it and I didn't have enough time to cram all little details and review it over and over again. I mainly used DAT destroyer. After going through it for the first time (of course more than half of the answers I got them wrong----dont worry its still too early). I made flash cards and tried to memorize the information there. Note that not memorizing the answer but rather the facts, the solutions pages, you will see that he doesn't just put the answer A or B or whatever, he actually gives short explanations and I found those really easy to memorize rather than reading the whole chapter in KBB for example, just my opinion.

Real Dat: two or three questions were exact from destroyer. I had three questions genetics, few hormones, many question taxonomy and ecology!!! like many say, its so random, all over the place. I got 19, I really thought I did much better and I am kind of disappointed.
Bootcamp 22/20/18/21/22

G Chem: I watched Chad videos and did the quizzes once; then mainly destroyer. I felt really confident after the 300 problems in destroyer.
Real Dat: I don't know what happened here; but I got questions that I haven't seen on bootcamp or destroyer. It was so confusing and I freaked out cause I was losing time and not getting questions right.
Bootcamp scores 20/19/19/24/23

O Chem: Chad and destroyer. My strategy for this I tried to memorize the reactions somehow cause I just couldn't make sense of it. I mainly used chad notes for the reactions.
on the real test: here because of my mess from G chem, I ended up with having 20 min only to finish all orgo, I would say if I had time on this section I would definitely score higher.I didn't even have time to read last three questions I just picked an answer randomly. The questions were not hard at all, 2 IUPAC naming with R, or S stuff. Reactions were straightforward. I think two NMR questions. However, lab questions were like 5 or 6. Chad notes for this and destroyer and you'll easy points for the lab questions.
Bootcamp 20/19/22/18/19

PAT: Crack DAT PAT. Really helpful to get used to the patterns and questions in general. When I started using it, I was scoring 16 and 17 in first three tests then after the 5th I got my timing right and I was getting better and I was averaging 22-23. Dat Bootcamp was really helpful on PAT section to practice more. Bootcamp I took just 4 tests 19/21/23/22

Real Dat: angles and key hole were really really hard. I swear angles looked the same. I would say if you get the angles section correctly on bootcamp then you should be fine. Over all I was disappointed here to see 19 especially after good scores in CDP and Bootcamp and I honestly did not expect the angles to be hard to real dat too.

RC: English is my second language and I was expecting that I would have a difficulty here cause I am a slow reader. I didn't do anything to prepare. I simply didn't have the time to do so. However after I got Bootcamp I decided to do a test at least to know what strategy to use. I got 14 so I did another and I got 14 as well. I couldn't study that day and I was so depressed so I decided not to do anymore tests for RC and concentrate on sciences.
On the real test: I would say I am so satisfied with that 19 after my bootcamp scores!!! I used SnD strategy and it worked. One passage was ethics which was alright. The killer one was physics and it was soooo long and I noticed that I wasted too long on it and ended up with 15 min to finish the last one. I barely finished on time. It was nothing like Bootcamp at all. There were 4 tune questions and only one question similar to bootcamp the one with two sentences..

QR: I had math destroyer but I just did test 1-5. I wish I had time to do more. Bootcamp is really helpful here to get faster, although I did 3 tests and I was never able to finish them, usually do like 32 out of 40 and I am out of time. On real Dat, I couldn't finish either, I had three left. Many percentage questions and probability, SD. Two stupid conversions which I completely forgot!!! mile=yard and something else.
Overall, I would say do destroyer if you have enough time and practice to get faster.

Sorry I talked too much but I wanted to tell you guys about my experience. Please give me your opinion whether I should retake or not.? GPA 3.4 and will work harder to get that higher.
Thank you

congratulations, your Score are solid. I don't recommend a retake If I were you.
how long did you study for the exam? can you break down your study habit?
I am planning to start the studying on January 1st for 6 weeks?
Is that enough?

 

[syedj94]

Oh shoot, DAT destroyer didn't prepare for Chem?
I'm taking it in March and I am getting most Destroyer questions right. Many people say that destroyer is an overkill and if you do good with destryoer, you are set for a 20+
I'm in the same range as you in regards to GPA so I need a 22+ 😢

 

[syedj94]

Also, how long did you study? And how many hours a day? I'm putting in an average of 12 hours a day during the break, then I'll try to do 2 hours a day from Jan to March. Do you think that is enough prep?

 

[zoey1234]

Congratulations on being done, those are solid scores. They are above average for test takers and average for accepted students. I would say if you have good extracurricular activities, volunteer hours, and job shadowing hours you don't need to retake. Finish this next semester out strong.

Good luck!

Thank you for your advice!! I will start volunteering soon during spring. I also work as a dental assistant for an oral surgeon so I hope that will look good on the application too. Question though, do you think I would need to have shadowing hours with like a general dentist or another specialty?

 

[zoey1234]

Oh shoot, DAT destroyer didn't prepare for Chem?
I'm taking it in March and I am getting most Destroyer questions right. Many people say that destroyer is an overkill and if you do good with destryoer, you are set for a 20+
I'm in the same range as you in regards to GPA so I need a 22+ 😢

Don't get me wrong, destroyer was so helpful and if I decide to re take it, I would still practice using the destroyer books. As I said the first 4 or 5 problems in chem were confusing and I finished the bio section in 20 min so I thought I have time so I kept trying to get the right answer but ended up wasting time and that freaked me out and I started going through the questions quickly. I should've just moved on and tried solving them at the end. but yeah that what happened.
I didn't study for it for too long honestly because I work and I also go to school full time, so during school time i was doing an hour or two every night. but the last two weeks, i was studying like 16 hour a day. You still have time so you will be fine.

 

[nickh]

Don't get me wrong, destroyer was so helpful and if I decide to re take it, I would still practice using the destroyer books. As I said the first 4 or 5 problems in chem were confusing and I finished the bio section in 20 min so I thought I have time so I kept trying to get the right answer but ended up wasting time and that freaked me out and I started going through the questions quickly. I should've just moved on and tried solving them at the end. but yeah that what happened.
I didn't study for it for too long honestly because I work and I also go to school full time, so during school time i was doing an hour or two every night. but the last two weeks, i was studying like 16 hour a day. You still have time so you will be fine.

Yeah, juggling between work and school is tough. How many times did you go over the Destroyers? I've gone over bio twice and chem 3 times, I'm finally feeling confident about those 2. I already went over orgo 3 times too, but I will need to go over it again :s it's weird, coz back in the days, I did way better in Orgo than my other chemistries

 

[nickh]

And since you already have hours with a surgeon, I would say with a general dentist might make you standout more, then on your statement, you can say you will well rounded and have been exposed to both general AND surgery 🙂

 

[zoey1234]

Yeah, juggling between work and school is tough. How many times did you go over the Destroyers? I've gone over bio twice and chem 3 times, I'm finally feeling confident about those 2. I already went over orgo 3 times too, but I will need to go over it again :s it's weird, coz back in the days, I did way better in Orgo than my other chemistries

orgo twice, chem three times and bio three times, but for bio, i was focusing on memorizing the facts, cause most of the questions were "all of the above" kind.

 

[syedj94]

I wonder if there is a time of the year when the exam is tough, and another time of the time when it is easy lol.
That's what I think they used to say about the ACT.

 

[matardug]

Nice job! Seemed like you liked the number 19 a lot haha.

 

[Proxybrush15]

With a solid GPA, I think you have a good shot!

 

[phillyeagles1]

Agreed with proxybrush....nice job!