- Joined
- Dec 8, 2014
- Messages
- 254
- Reaction score
- 267
First off, I just want to thank everyone on this forum for their advice and guidance! Specifically, I would like to give a shoutout to @orgoman22, @Ari Rezaei, @AintNobodyGotTimeForDAT, @FeralisExtremum, and @russelldw! My scores from today would not have been possible without the resources you all provided.
PAT: 20
QR: 22
RC: 21
Bio: 22
GC: 23
OC: 30
TS: 24
AA: 24
My real scores were better than my 2007 score (23 AA) and 2009 score (22 AA), so don't let practice tests discourage you!
DAT Prep: I began studying on June 1st and had to juggle a physics 2 course while prepping for the DAT.
Chad's videos (8/10): Chad's videos are great with helping re-learn material that you may have forgotten from gen chem and ochem. The videos are very organized, and the quizzes are great for testing yourself!
DAT Destroyer & Math Destroyer (10/10): While Chad is great for learning the basics, Destroyer almost fried my brain lol. I went through Math Destroyer 2 times, and DAT Destroyer 3 times. While some of the material may seem like overkill, believe me, IT IS NOT!!! The questions are very representative of what will be on the exam, and if I had to re-do this entire process again, I would purchase these books in a heartbeat.
DAT Bootcamp (10/10): PAT Generators on here are a MUST! 2 months ago, I was barely getting 15% of the angle ranking correct, and today, I can answer these fairly easy. The generators are endless, and the practice exams are fairly identical to the real thing.
Biology: I knew biology would be tough because the types of questions they could ask are endless. So, along with Destroyer, I read through Feralis Notes (10/10), Russelldw's notes (9/10), and AintNobodyGotTimeForDAT's Anki flashcard deck (10/10).
I didn't really start prepping for RC until about 2 weeks ago, and I got nervous when I was averaging a 17 on Bootcamp, however, I started using the "Roadmap" strategy, thanks to @LuckBloodandSweat, and it seemed to do wonders for me!
Day before the exam:
The only opening for August 22nd was a place far from my house, so I had to spend the night in a hotel and drive to the testing center in the morning. The day before, I did some light review with PAT Generators on DAT Bootcamp and looked over a ton of Anki flashcards. I went to bed before midnight (which is something I haven't done since high school lol).
Day of the exam:
I got very little sleep because I was so nervous. Around 8am, I started questioning whether or not I was ready for this test. In fact, I found myself questioning how much I really knew about the reproductive system, ecology, evolution, etc. while taking my shower lol. I showed up to the testing center about an hour early and they let me start 30 minutes before my exam was scheduled.
The Exam:
The first 10 questions of biology were filled with random material that I either couldn't remember or never studied, so my confidence hit a low early. General Chemistry was fairly straighforward aside from a question or two, and it helped me gain some confidence back. Ochem has always been one of my favorite subjects, so I was able to handle this section rather quickly.
For PAT, I once again found my confidence hitting a low during keyhole (which has never really been my strength). TFE seemed to be much harder than BC, the angles were similar to DAT Bootcamp, hole punching was very easy, and patter folding was similar to BC. Due to my struggles in keyhole, I ended up running out of time during this section.
RC was fairly straight forward. While the questions weren't in order of the passage, I was lucky enough to receive a passage that was similar to one I had seen on BC. However, I still ran out of time during this section as well.
For QR, it seemed to be on par with Math Destroyer, although the format of the questions seemed a bit odd on a few problems. About halfway through this section, I found myself thinking about dates to schedule my re-take because I wasn't feeling too good about my performance....and I once again ran out of time, although I think that had more to do with me being tired rather than not knowing the material.
After the exam:
I literally almost cried when I saw my scores pop up on the screen. I was expecting to see scores in the 18-19 range, and I was blown away.
Moral of the story: DON'T THINK ABOUT YOUR SCORE DURING THE EXAM AND JUST ANSWER THE QUESTIONS TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY.
Once again, thank you to everyone for their help during this process. It feels great to be done with this thing!
Chance me?
overal GPA: 3.69; sGPA: ~3.61; BCP: ~3.8 (calculus killed my science GPA freshman year).
DAT: see above
Volunteering: ~75 hours
Shadowing: ~80 hours
ECs: pre-dental society; will be an organic chemistry tutor during the Fall 2016 semester
Residency: TX
PAT: 20
QR: 22
RC: 21
Bio: 22
GC: 23
OC: 30
TS: 24
AA: 24
My real scores were better than my 2007 score (23 AA) and 2009 score (22 AA), so don't let practice tests discourage you!
DAT Prep: I began studying on June 1st and had to juggle a physics 2 course while prepping for the DAT.
Chad's videos (8/10): Chad's videos are great with helping re-learn material that you may have forgotten from gen chem and ochem. The videos are very organized, and the quizzes are great for testing yourself!
DAT Destroyer & Math Destroyer (10/10): While Chad is great for learning the basics, Destroyer almost fried my brain lol. I went through Math Destroyer 2 times, and DAT Destroyer 3 times. While some of the material may seem like overkill, believe me, IT IS NOT!!! The questions are very representative of what will be on the exam, and if I had to re-do this entire process again, I would purchase these books in a heartbeat.
DAT Bootcamp (10/10): PAT Generators on here are a MUST! 2 months ago, I was barely getting 15% of the angle ranking correct, and today, I can answer these fairly easy. The generators are endless, and the practice exams are fairly identical to the real thing.
Biology: I knew biology would be tough because the types of questions they could ask are endless. So, along with Destroyer, I read through Feralis Notes (10/10), Russelldw's notes (9/10), and AintNobodyGotTimeForDAT's Anki flashcard deck (10/10).
I didn't really start prepping for RC until about 2 weeks ago, and I got nervous when I was averaging a 17 on Bootcamp, however, I started using the "Roadmap" strategy, thanks to @LuckBloodandSweat, and it seemed to do wonders for me!
Day before the exam:
The only opening for August 22nd was a place far from my house, so I had to spend the night in a hotel and drive to the testing center in the morning. The day before, I did some light review with PAT Generators on DAT Bootcamp and looked over a ton of Anki flashcards. I went to bed before midnight (which is something I haven't done since high school lol).
Day of the exam:
I got very little sleep because I was so nervous. Around 8am, I started questioning whether or not I was ready for this test. In fact, I found myself questioning how much I really knew about the reproductive system, ecology, evolution, etc. while taking my shower lol. I showed up to the testing center about an hour early and they let me start 30 minutes before my exam was scheduled.
The Exam:
The first 10 questions of biology were filled with random material that I either couldn't remember or never studied, so my confidence hit a low early. General Chemistry was fairly straighforward aside from a question or two, and it helped me gain some confidence back. Ochem has always been one of my favorite subjects, so I was able to handle this section rather quickly.
For PAT, I once again found my confidence hitting a low during keyhole (which has never really been my strength). TFE seemed to be much harder than BC, the angles were similar to DAT Bootcamp, hole punching was very easy, and patter folding was similar to BC. Due to my struggles in keyhole, I ended up running out of time during this section.
RC was fairly straight forward. While the questions weren't in order of the passage, I was lucky enough to receive a passage that was similar to one I had seen on BC. However, I still ran out of time during this section as well.
For QR, it seemed to be on par with Math Destroyer, although the format of the questions seemed a bit odd on a few problems. About halfway through this section, I found myself thinking about dates to schedule my re-take because I wasn't feeling too good about my performance....and I once again ran out of time, although I think that had more to do with me being tired rather than not knowing the material.
After the exam:
I literally almost cried when I saw my scores pop up on the screen. I was expecting to see scores in the 18-19 range, and I was blown away.
Moral of the story: DON'T THINK ABOUT YOUR SCORE DURING THE EXAM AND JUST ANSWER THE QUESTIONS TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY.
Once again, thank you to everyone for their help during this process. It feels great to be done with this thing!
Chance me?
overal GPA: 3.69; sGPA: ~3.61; BCP: ~3.8 (calculus killed my science GPA freshman year).
DAT: see above
Volunteering: ~75 hours
Shadowing: ~80 hours
ECs: pre-dental society; will be an organic chemistry tutor during the Fall 2016 semester
Residency: TX
