- Joined
- Dec 2, 2006
- Messages
- 1,523
- Reaction score
- 4
Ive been on SDN for over two years; I learned a lot about the sources and how to study for DAT.
First of all, I want to thank all of you that have shared your experience.
My special thanks to my best buddy harrygt he helped and encouraged me during my tough time for retaking DAT and helped me a lot for posting this thread. Thanks SDN again because making this kind of friendship possible.
Remember, we are here to help each other. Here is my two cents about this big exam. This is my opinion and it doesnt mean that it will work for everybody. Just one persons opinion!
First, I want to talk about anatomy of DAT and how we start, if you are familiar with this part, skip it then!
This is the question which many predental students ask:
What do we have to know for the DAT?
Regardless of what people say in this forum about the subjects, this is the complete list of the subjects that will appear on your DAT:
Open the link below and go browse pages 46, 47, 48, for natural sciences and 49 for Math. (In hard copy it will be pages: 42, 43, 44, and 45).
*Look for the page numbers at the bottom of each page. Do NOT use the page finder of the Adobe Reader!
http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/dat_users_manual.pdf
The natural science section is very clear as you can see. Math needs lots of practice and can be very broad (as many people have said, math is not really difficult but time consuming)
The PAT section has something unique:
http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/dat_users_manual.pdf
page 2:
The Perceptual Ability Test in the DAT currently contains 90 items, 75 scored and 15 unscored pretest items, which include problems in block counting, angle size, form development, orthographic projections, paper folding, and comparison of shapes of objects with apertures (American Dental Association).
It means for example you can answer 77 questions correctly and get 13 questions incorrect, but still get a 30! (75 scored question right and 13 pretest questions wrong and 2 pretest questions right). For instance, somebody answers 86 question right and 4 questions wrong and gets 21-22!(just made up 21-22). (Answering 71 scored question right and 4 scored questions wrong and answering 15 none scored questions right).
The million dollar question is: which questions are those fifteen unscored ones?
The answer is: Only God (If you believe in one) and the ADA people know that!
Reading comprehension: there are no references for preparation, three articles will appear on the exam; mostly two of them will be scientific, and one none-scientific with lots of contrasts and details.
I will talk about preparation in general later.
What are the good references for preparation?
IMO, we can use any text book we used for our undergraduate studies with considering the outline for each subject. But the best idea is to use the books that the test designers use! Why? I will explain later.
These are the references which are suggested by ADA:
http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/dat_reference_texts.pdf
Biology
Campbell and Reece, Biology; 8th Ed., Benjamin Cummings.
Raven, Johnson et al., Biology, 8th Ed., McGraw Hill.
Chemistry (General and Organic)
Brown, LeMay et al., Chemistry: The Central Science, 10th Ed., Prentice Hall.
Masterton and Hurley, Chemistry: Principles and Reactions, 5th Ed., Brooks Cole.
McMurry and Fay, Chemistry, 5th Ed., Prentice Hall.
Silberberg, Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change; 5th Ed., McGraw Hill.
Ege, Organic Chemistry: Structure and Reactivity, 5th Ed., Houghton Mifflin.
McMurry, Organic Chemistry, 7th Ed., Brooks Cole.
Coghill and Garson, Eds., The ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific
Information, 3rd Ed.,
QRT:
Bluman, Elementary Statistics: A Step By Step Approach, 6th Ed., McGraw Hill.
Stewart, Calculus: Early Transcendentals, 6th Ed., Brooks Cole.
Swokowski and Cole, Precalculus: Functions and Graphs, 10th Ed., Brooks Cole.
How to prepare for the DAT?
IMO, there is no magic or secret recipe for doing well on the DAT. The answer is so easy; just know your stuff well. If you really want to do well on your DAT, put yourself in the test constructors shoes. When they are designing the test, they are following the ADAs guideline and references (fortunately, we all know these reference books!), not based on any preparation books or programs! Actually this is one of the reasons for having standard test that gives equal opportunity to everyone. How many times have you heard or have you seen these types of feedbacks on SDN: I studied certain preparations book(s)(programs) hard ., but such questions appeared on my exam that I had never seen before? The reason for this is very clear. The DAT is not based on any preparation or practice book, period!" In contrast, you have heard some people say On my DAT, there were questions very similar to the practice book X. It is not unusual that one subject might become important for both the DAT designer and the prep-book writer as well! (It is very logic, isnt it?). If you think somebody can not do well without preparation books (programs) rethink again! Read my buddys harrygt break down, and read my respond to that post! (I knew he would ace his DAT just surprised not seeing few 30 in his scores!)
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=546612
Important note: SDN is a great resource for DAT preparation. Involve yourself with DAT discussion and read the questions and the answers and do your research for finding correct answers, specially in DAT rush period (between January and August)
After reading the lines above, if you think I am against study-guides or preparation programs, you are absolutely wrong. I love study-guides, and I have used many of them. My whole point is how to use these materials.
Start with text books and know your stuff cold based on ADAs guidelines. I have seen many people complaining about how time consuming reading textbooks can be, but I disagree with this statement. With a good time management, and schedule, you can accomplish this very first step in an approximately short time. Remember, we all have had these courses as our pre-requisites, and only need to refresh the material.
On the DAT, there are a limited number of questions for each subject, and this makes the test different from other standard tests such as the GRE. It is easy to comprehend that the test constructors try to test the whole picture and reasoning behind the subject than very little details. We all remember in our science courses how easily a professor could give us 50 questions on only 2-3 chapters. On the DAT, there are 40 questions for Bio (general Biology 1&2), (30 G chemistry 1 and 2) and 30 for organic 1&2. This limitation means whole picture comes first. For example the possibility of seeing this question; which Enzyme converts Glucose to Glucose -6-phosphate in glycolysis? is much less than seeing this question: what is the first step in glycolisis? (I just made it up)
Attention: there will be proximately 2-3 questions in each section that are trickier and need very good understanding of the subjects. Getting 2-3 questions wrong is equal to a drop in standard score from 29-30 to 21-22!! ADA loves the bell shape curve and hates seeing lots of 28-30 standard scores. Remember, 21 means you are over 88 percentile, meaning that you scored better than 88% of the examinees). (My TS=21 was 92.4 percentile)
IMO, the best way for starting is: mastering yourself with Text books and practicing. This is a golden secret for doing well on the DAT. How much practice do we need? The answer is very simple: as much as possible.
There is an eastern saying which I love. Learn once, practice one hundred times! Believe me, if you know your material, you will review the entire Kaplan BB in 2 days max, destroyer in 3 days and go on.
The whole point is: knowing your material.
Ok, breakdown for each section. There are good online recourses that I will give you, which you might find useful.
Biology:
1)text books:
A: Campbell: everybody talks about Campbell, I like it, but sometimes it is a little boring.
Pull up yourself and read it based on the outline of ADA. You dont need to read the entire book. There are multiple-choice questions at the end of each chapter. Try to do those (Very good questions). There is a study guide with lots of practices, if you really think about very high score in Bio, maybe it is not bad idea to check it out.
This website gives you the whole-picture of subjects, but does not cover all the material.
http://www1.mahopac.k12.ny.us/mhs/teachers/mahoneym/AP Biology/AP PowerPoints/AP power.htm
B: Raven, Johnson: I really love this Bio book. Its a very easy-reading book and covers many subjects more clear than the Campbell, especially for ecology. You can see the famous FRAP question in this book (doesnt mention the name of the experiment but explain it!). At the beginning of each part, there is an article that I think is very good for an RC practice. I bought the old edition just for $15 from a half-price bookstore.
This is a companion site with lots of practice questions based on Raven, which I loved:
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073031208/student_view0
C: other text books rather than these two books, just for review. Sometimes you can see some subjects explained better in some books than others.
This site with good practice tests:
http://www.brookscole.com/cgi-wadsw...t_isbn_issn=9780495107057&disciplinenumber=22
Additional resource for more practice: GRE biology test book:
http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/gre_0809_biology_practice_book..pdf
Study guides and other material: Cliff A&P biology, Hyperlearning MCAT Biological science review for bio and organic chemistry (amazing with very clear explanation, I really recommend this book), destroyer, and Kaplan BB (I prefer the white one because of its practice sections at the end of each chapter), GRE biology Kaplan book .. And tons of others for practicing and reviewing after the initial learning from text book, as I said before, practice as much as possible.
General chemistry:
In my opinion,, this is the section you can read from any Text book. I didnt really prepare for general chemistry. All I can say is grab the concept (reading your text book first) very well, then practice and practice, and you will be fine. I think for this part Kaplan has done a nice job, but destroyer overkilled it. For having another practice book, order ACS General Chemistry (very cheap!) and understand the concepts in that book. That is almost what you have to know. Some people have not had many calculation problems on their DAT, but dont let that fool you! On my last two DATs, half of the questions had calculations, but dont panic. Most of them are easy ones, if you know the subject well.
Study guides, Kaplan, ACS general chemistry, Berkley review book (very cheap and really a good practice book). Practice will be very critical for this section. Honestly they can not grill you with G chem, If you know (understand) the outline on ADA.
These online practice tests are good for more practicing:
Go to problem solving center and click on quizzes: (based on ADAs reference book)
http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_mcmurry_chemistry_5/73/18712/4790506.cw/index.html
This is another site with good slides for chem II:
http://www.nvcc.edu/home/rsavkar/CHM 112
Another nice online practice:
http://gemini.tntech.edu/~shn6921/chem112/testbank.html
GRE chemistry:
http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/Chemistry.pdf
Organic chemistry:
I think McMurry is the bible of organic chemistry; I had other resources like Solomon (my text book in college) but none of them are easy reading like McMurry. That is more than enough. This site will help you mastering your knowledge of organic chemistry based on McMurry book with 20 questions in the end of each chapter. I loved this site: (lol I bought McMurry 6th edition for 10 bucks, old but worked for well)
http://www.brookscole.com/cgi-wadsw...t_isbn_issn=9780534389994&disciplinenumber=12
Study guides: Kaplan, destroyer (has done a nice job), I didnt like ACS organic chemistry, it is over-killed in most of the parts but had done a good job in IR and NMR. Exam cracker is not bad with 1000 questions; they are easy but will help you in mastering very obvious facts. Dont forget Hyperlearning MCAT Biological science review, 200 pages for organic with amazing explanations.
Online sources:
For reagents:
http://undergrad-ed.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/Carey5th/useful/reagents/functional.html
Organic Reaction Quizzes and Summaries:
http://pages.towson.edu/ladon/orgrxs/reactsum.htm
PAT:
I am not in the position to talk about this section because I am not good at all. If you are good in PAT, you are good. If you are not, practice and practice, and you will be fine. Start with CDP and achiever.
Forget line counting on the TFE section because it wont work on the real DAT (exactly like achiever, where you cannot use line-counting to get to the correct answer). Kaplan is good for beginning and warming up only.
The CDP (Crack DAT PAT) is a must-have for this section. Many SDNers have found it very helpful, and many say that your score on the real PAT will be very close to your average CDP score (In a +/- 2 range).
Reading comprehension:
lol 😀 , I am the last one on SDN you want to hear his opinion about this section! If you want practice, try to be an active reader. For someone like me, search and destroy worked ok, but find your own method, and read on a daily basis; this is on line directory of open access journals for reading. It may help.
http://www.doaj.org
Math:
The last section, which I dont know what to say about. Practice only based on the ADA outline. Find any recourse and practice. Time will be you first enemy.
These sites might be useful, but I am sure there are not enough.
http://www.math10.com/en/algebra/word-problems.html
http://www.themathpage.com/alg/word-problems2.html
http://www.learnatest.com/LearningE...87d395e46-CC9385A2-E7FF-20D7-B46CB05FAE7CB52F
http://www.purplemath.com/modules/translat.htm
Read the posts by Streetwolf on SDN for math. They are pretty much helpful.
Psychology of the DAT:
Have you ever thought about the order of the sections on DAT, and did you ever ask why are they put in such order?
Natural science ------ > PAT ------------> reading------------- > Math
It is a kind of psychological ability test.
You start with natural sciences, which mean your left side of the brain is working for reasoning and logic. Immediately, the PAT section starts, meaning you have to activate another section of your brain that deals with spatial cognition and 3Ds. Then the RC section needs a different part of your brain, and you finally get to math. Whenever you finish one section, try to block whatever related to that part, and start the next section.
DAT is like a marathon. Pulling yourself to the end of the test needs practice. Try to practice on the last 10 days before the exam on increasing your endurance and ability to focus for four and a half hour with a 15 minute break.(I didnt do that and I regret why I didnt practice with time on the last days.)
Dont forget topscore and achiever, they are good programs.
Dont forget good sleep, and slow down your studying before the exam. Enough rest and light exercise one week before your DAT will do magic on your D day.
Learn from other peoples mistakes.
Be aware of advises in sdn from people who are not expert.
Again, all of this is my opinion and it doesnt mean it will work for everybody.
Good luck.
Ok the last part is about my personal experience: 😱
First of all, I had to drive 200 miles to another city for taking my DAT, (if it is possible avoid this kind of trip) and I couldnt sleep well because of lots of noise! I couldnt perform well because it was one week after my finals with my killing courses (biochemistry 2, molecular& cell biology and cellular neuroscience). It is funny I missed my biochemistry final because of studying for my DAT (simply I forgot the date and I had to take a make-up exam the week after (I ended up with a B+ and I am happy for that), in addition I was really tired because studying for DAT and my school and working hours conjugated together. (Dont do my mistake!!!) Try to be fresh on your D-day.
Biology: straight forward but harder than before, just one question really tricky about developmental Biology (I am sure my answer was wrong) and a few weird questions(bad wording not difficult questions). I was not surprised by any question. I dropped one score from 21 to 20.
General Chemistry: Very embarrassing.
I couldnt believe my score in this section. I am very good in General chemistry; I used to teach that for years, and maybe it was a big mistake not to practice for it at all (Do you remember my words? Practice as much as possible, even the subjects you know). I dropped from 23 to 20!
Organic chemistry: Last time, I got burnt on Organic chem very badly, and as a former teacher in chemistry, I knew improving organic chemistry may be the easiest in NS (my opinion). I practiced a lot, and I worked on the concepts which I had problems before. The McMurry website, Destroyer, and Hyperlearning were excellent. On my D- Day, I started from the last question (No 100), lol. Because I didnt want to mess up my organic section like the last time, plus I didnt worry about G chem and biology at all.
Starting from the last question, I missed less than a minute because I had to pass through all questions fast. The last question was the only question I wasnt sure about the answer, not because I didnt know that, but my brain was so tired and I couldnt remember the exact reaction.
The worst scenario happened in the middle of my science section; 😱 I needed to go to restroom so bad. It was that bad that I decided to sacrifice 5 minutes from my PAT time( be careful about coffee, juice consuming in your D-day). I knew it is not possible to continue in that situation (you can imagine how bad it was!). Anyway, I pulled myself to the end of NS. With 5 minutes left. That means when I finished, it was on question No 1. I used my mouse very quickly to review few marked questions by pushing the next bottom very fast. Suddenly, bang! A miracle happened!
My computer froze while showing 5 minutes. I tried but it was frozen, period! I had to leave the testing room and talk to the lady in the other room. She came and tried but the computer didnt want to roll over. She said I have to restart the computer but everything will be saved dont worry. I asked her, Can I use restroom? The answer was yes! And signed up the time sheet
When I came back, my computer had just started, and the time was at 4:59 (just missed 1 second)! I finished organic with a 23. My old score was 18.
PAT: was always my worst section. My first post on SDN was about how I feel stupid in this section. I was ready to take 200 science questions plus physics, but not have this section on my test! I never could break 15! But after my old PAT, I really put time for that. First, I practiced with achiever and tried to visualize (I used achiever without timing). Then, I started CDP. Golden! I pulled my score to a 20 on the 10th test. However, my biggest mistake was that I quitted practicing 3 weeks before my DAT, because of my job and classes (I forgot to say that I am a full time employee with over 45 hours average weekly work). I am sure that had I continued practicing till my exam, I could have done much better, but still, I finished with a 17.
15 minutes break.
RC: this was the only reason for retaking DAT. my old RC score was a 14 (I got piano), under the cutoff for many schools. I was advised by one of the schools to take the test again because their cutoff was at 15. I practiced by reading newspapers and any preparation books I could get my hands on. Honestly, I became confident, and I knew I would be able to pull it up to an 18 at least. I used search and destroy. On the D-day, a terrible thing happened. As I said this was the only reason for redoing DAT, my heart was beating very fast and I was unbelievably anxious. Honestly, the passages werent hard at all. They were Very similar to my recent courses (Molecular cell biology and cellular neuroscience). I could concentrate just for the first 7 minutes and answered 5 questions very quickly. I couldnt concentrate for the rest (so anxious which I never had before), and had to read 10 times for every simple question. I guessed on the last 10 questions. I told to myself, I am finished; it is not possible to get higher than a 13 on this one. When I finished with 16, I was so happy. I know it is not a great score, but with that situation, I am more than happy ending up with a 16.
If you are doing upper level Biology and Neurosciences, study and learn them very well. You wont be surprised to see very similar subjects in the RC articles.
Math: Oh boy, unbelievably hard! I am good in math but this last test was few times harder than the old one, and very time consuming, plus I was very tired and wanted to be done. I dont know what to say, based on the outline of ADA, just practice as much as possible.
I ended up with a 16 on QR. My old score was 17. My TS increase to 21 from 20 but my AA stayed the same: 19 and PAT increased from 15 to 17. I think (19/ 21/ 17) looks better than (19 / 20 / 15) hope the admission committees will agree with me.
There is no excuse for doing badly in DAT. My tiredness affected me a lot, period! and I couldnt perform as well as I expected. If I had to take another DAT (that I wont), I would work on that. I knew that I know my materials cold. DONT DO MY MISTAKE, DONT DO MY MISTAKE ..: Stay fresh and sharp to the end of your exam and never give up practicing even when you know the material. Learn then practice and practice and practice
To remind you again, SDN is a great resource, and we are here to help each other and share our experiences. Hope my post will help somebody on this forum.
Best of luck
First of all, I want to thank all of you that have shared your experience.
My special thanks to my best buddy harrygt he helped and encouraged me during my tough time for retaking DAT and helped me a lot for posting this thread. Thanks SDN again because making this kind of friendship possible.
Remember, we are here to help each other. Here is my two cents about this big exam. This is my opinion and it doesnt mean that it will work for everybody. Just one persons opinion!
First, I want to talk about anatomy of DAT and how we start, if you are familiar with this part, skip it then!
This is the question which many predental students ask:
What do we have to know for the DAT?
Regardless of what people say in this forum about the subjects, this is the complete list of the subjects that will appear on your DAT:
Open the link below and go browse pages 46, 47, 48, for natural sciences and 49 for Math. (In hard copy it will be pages: 42, 43, 44, and 45).
*Look for the page numbers at the bottom of each page. Do NOT use the page finder of the Adobe Reader!
http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/dat_users_manual.pdf
The natural science section is very clear as you can see. Math needs lots of practice and can be very broad (as many people have said, math is not really difficult but time consuming)
The PAT section has something unique:
http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/dat_users_manual.pdf
page 2:
The Perceptual Ability Test in the DAT currently contains 90 items, 75 scored and 15 unscored pretest items, which include problems in block counting, angle size, form development, orthographic projections, paper folding, and comparison of shapes of objects with apertures (American Dental Association).
It means for example you can answer 77 questions correctly and get 13 questions incorrect, but still get a 30! (75 scored question right and 13 pretest questions wrong and 2 pretest questions right). For instance, somebody answers 86 question right and 4 questions wrong and gets 21-22!(just made up 21-22). (Answering 71 scored question right and 4 scored questions wrong and answering 15 none scored questions right).
The million dollar question is: which questions are those fifteen unscored ones?
The answer is: Only God (If you believe in one) and the ADA people know that!
Reading comprehension: there are no references for preparation, three articles will appear on the exam; mostly two of them will be scientific, and one none-scientific with lots of contrasts and details.
I will talk about preparation in general later.
What are the good references for preparation?
IMO, we can use any text book we used for our undergraduate studies with considering the outline for each subject. But the best idea is to use the books that the test designers use! Why? I will explain later.
These are the references which are suggested by ADA:
http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/dat_reference_texts.pdf
Biology
Campbell and Reece, Biology; 8th Ed., Benjamin Cummings.
Raven, Johnson et al., Biology, 8th Ed., McGraw Hill.
Chemistry (General and Organic)
Brown, LeMay et al., Chemistry: The Central Science, 10th Ed., Prentice Hall.
Masterton and Hurley, Chemistry: Principles and Reactions, 5th Ed., Brooks Cole.
McMurry and Fay, Chemistry, 5th Ed., Prentice Hall.
Silberberg, Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change; 5th Ed., McGraw Hill.
Ege, Organic Chemistry: Structure and Reactivity, 5th Ed., Houghton Mifflin.
McMurry, Organic Chemistry, 7th Ed., Brooks Cole.
Coghill and Garson, Eds., The ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific
Information, 3rd Ed.,
QRT:
Bluman, Elementary Statistics: A Step By Step Approach, 6th Ed., McGraw Hill.
Stewart, Calculus: Early Transcendentals, 6th Ed., Brooks Cole.
Swokowski and Cole, Precalculus: Functions and Graphs, 10th Ed., Brooks Cole.
How to prepare for the DAT?
IMO, there is no magic or secret recipe for doing well on the DAT. The answer is so easy; just know your stuff well. If you really want to do well on your DAT, put yourself in the test constructors shoes. When they are designing the test, they are following the ADAs guideline and references (fortunately, we all know these reference books!), not based on any preparation books or programs! Actually this is one of the reasons for having standard test that gives equal opportunity to everyone. How many times have you heard or have you seen these types of feedbacks on SDN: I studied certain preparations book(s)(programs) hard ., but such questions appeared on my exam that I had never seen before? The reason for this is very clear. The DAT is not based on any preparation or practice book, period!" In contrast, you have heard some people say On my DAT, there were questions very similar to the practice book X. It is not unusual that one subject might become important for both the DAT designer and the prep-book writer as well! (It is very logic, isnt it?). If you think somebody can not do well without preparation books (programs) rethink again! Read my buddys harrygt break down, and read my respond to that post! (I knew he would ace his DAT just surprised not seeing few 30 in his scores!)
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=546612
Important note: SDN is a great resource for DAT preparation. Involve yourself with DAT discussion and read the questions and the answers and do your research for finding correct answers, specially in DAT rush period (between January and August)
After reading the lines above, if you think I am against study-guides or preparation programs, you are absolutely wrong. I love study-guides, and I have used many of them. My whole point is how to use these materials.
Start with text books and know your stuff cold based on ADAs guidelines. I have seen many people complaining about how time consuming reading textbooks can be, but I disagree with this statement. With a good time management, and schedule, you can accomplish this very first step in an approximately short time. Remember, we all have had these courses as our pre-requisites, and only need to refresh the material.
On the DAT, there are a limited number of questions for each subject, and this makes the test different from other standard tests such as the GRE. It is easy to comprehend that the test constructors try to test the whole picture and reasoning behind the subject than very little details. We all remember in our science courses how easily a professor could give us 50 questions on only 2-3 chapters. On the DAT, there are 40 questions for Bio (general Biology 1&2), (30 G chemistry 1 and 2) and 30 for organic 1&2. This limitation means whole picture comes first. For example the possibility of seeing this question; which Enzyme converts Glucose to Glucose -6-phosphate in glycolysis? is much less than seeing this question: what is the first step in glycolisis? (I just made it up)
Attention: there will be proximately 2-3 questions in each section that are trickier and need very good understanding of the subjects. Getting 2-3 questions wrong is equal to a drop in standard score from 29-30 to 21-22!! ADA loves the bell shape curve and hates seeing lots of 28-30 standard scores. Remember, 21 means you are over 88 percentile, meaning that you scored better than 88% of the examinees). (My TS=21 was 92.4 percentile)
IMO, the best way for starting is: mastering yourself with Text books and practicing. This is a golden secret for doing well on the DAT. How much practice do we need? The answer is very simple: as much as possible.
There is an eastern saying which I love. Learn once, practice one hundred times! Believe me, if you know your material, you will review the entire Kaplan BB in 2 days max, destroyer in 3 days and go on.
The whole point is: knowing your material.
Ok, breakdown for each section. There are good online recourses that I will give you, which you might find useful.
Biology:
1)text books:
A: Campbell: everybody talks about Campbell, I like it, but sometimes it is a little boring.
Pull up yourself and read it based on the outline of ADA. You dont need to read the entire book. There are multiple-choice questions at the end of each chapter. Try to do those (Very good questions). There is a study guide with lots of practices, if you really think about very high score in Bio, maybe it is not bad idea to check it out.
This website gives you the whole-picture of subjects, but does not cover all the material.
http://www1.mahopac.k12.ny.us/mhs/teachers/mahoneym/AP Biology/AP PowerPoints/AP power.htm
B: Raven, Johnson: I really love this Bio book. Its a very easy-reading book and covers many subjects more clear than the Campbell, especially for ecology. You can see the famous FRAP question in this book (doesnt mention the name of the experiment but explain it!). At the beginning of each part, there is an article that I think is very good for an RC practice. I bought the old edition just for $15 from a half-price bookstore.
This is a companion site with lots of practice questions based on Raven, which I loved:
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073031208/student_view0
C: other text books rather than these two books, just for review. Sometimes you can see some subjects explained better in some books than others.
This site with good practice tests:
http://www.brookscole.com/cgi-wadsw...t_isbn_issn=9780495107057&disciplinenumber=22
Additional resource for more practice: GRE biology test book:
http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/gre_0809_biology_practice_book..pdf
Study guides and other material: Cliff A&P biology, Hyperlearning MCAT Biological science review for bio and organic chemistry (amazing with very clear explanation, I really recommend this book), destroyer, and Kaplan BB (I prefer the white one because of its practice sections at the end of each chapter), GRE biology Kaplan book .. And tons of others for practicing and reviewing after the initial learning from text book, as I said before, practice as much as possible.
General chemistry:
In my opinion,, this is the section you can read from any Text book. I didnt really prepare for general chemistry. All I can say is grab the concept (reading your text book first) very well, then practice and practice, and you will be fine. I think for this part Kaplan has done a nice job, but destroyer overkilled it. For having another practice book, order ACS General Chemistry (very cheap!) and understand the concepts in that book. That is almost what you have to know. Some people have not had many calculation problems on their DAT, but dont let that fool you! On my last two DATs, half of the questions had calculations, but dont panic. Most of them are easy ones, if you know the subject well.
Study guides, Kaplan, ACS general chemistry, Berkley review book (very cheap and really a good practice book). Practice will be very critical for this section. Honestly they can not grill you with G chem, If you know (understand) the outline on ADA.
These online practice tests are good for more practicing:
Go to problem solving center and click on quizzes: (based on ADAs reference book)
http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_mcmurry_chemistry_5/73/18712/4790506.cw/index.html
This is another site with good slides for chem II:
http://www.nvcc.edu/home/rsavkar/CHM 112
Another nice online practice:
http://gemini.tntech.edu/~shn6921/chem112/testbank.html
GRE chemistry:
http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/Chemistry.pdf
Organic chemistry:
I think McMurry is the bible of organic chemistry; I had other resources like Solomon (my text book in college) but none of them are easy reading like McMurry. That is more than enough. This site will help you mastering your knowledge of organic chemistry based on McMurry book with 20 questions in the end of each chapter. I loved this site: (lol I bought McMurry 6th edition for 10 bucks, old but worked for well)
http://www.brookscole.com/cgi-wadsw...t_isbn_issn=9780534389994&disciplinenumber=12
Study guides: Kaplan, destroyer (has done a nice job), I didnt like ACS organic chemistry, it is over-killed in most of the parts but had done a good job in IR and NMR. Exam cracker is not bad with 1000 questions; they are easy but will help you in mastering very obvious facts. Dont forget Hyperlearning MCAT Biological science review, 200 pages for organic with amazing explanations.
Online sources:
For reagents:
http://undergrad-ed.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/Carey5th/useful/reagents/functional.html
Organic Reaction Quizzes and Summaries:
http://pages.towson.edu/ladon/orgrxs/reactsum.htm
PAT:
I am not in the position to talk about this section because I am not good at all. If you are good in PAT, you are good. If you are not, practice and practice, and you will be fine. Start with CDP and achiever.
Forget line counting on the TFE section because it wont work on the real DAT (exactly like achiever, where you cannot use line-counting to get to the correct answer). Kaplan is good for beginning and warming up only.
The CDP (Crack DAT PAT) is a must-have for this section. Many SDNers have found it very helpful, and many say that your score on the real PAT will be very close to your average CDP score (In a +/- 2 range).
Reading comprehension:
lol 😀 , I am the last one on SDN you want to hear his opinion about this section! If you want practice, try to be an active reader. For someone like me, search and destroy worked ok, but find your own method, and read on a daily basis; this is on line directory of open access journals for reading. It may help.
http://www.doaj.org
Math:
The last section, which I dont know what to say about. Practice only based on the ADA outline. Find any recourse and practice. Time will be you first enemy.
These sites might be useful, but I am sure there are not enough.
http://www.math10.com/en/algebra/word-problems.html
http://www.themathpage.com/alg/word-problems2.html
http://www.learnatest.com/LearningE...87d395e46-CC9385A2-E7FF-20D7-B46CB05FAE7CB52F
http://www.purplemath.com/modules/translat.htm
Read the posts by Streetwolf on SDN for math. They are pretty much helpful.
Psychology of the DAT:
Have you ever thought about the order of the sections on DAT, and did you ever ask why are they put in such order?
Natural science ------ > PAT ------------> reading------------- > Math
It is a kind of psychological ability test.
You start with natural sciences, which mean your left side of the brain is working for reasoning and logic. Immediately, the PAT section starts, meaning you have to activate another section of your brain that deals with spatial cognition and 3Ds. Then the RC section needs a different part of your brain, and you finally get to math. Whenever you finish one section, try to block whatever related to that part, and start the next section.
DAT is like a marathon. Pulling yourself to the end of the test needs practice. Try to practice on the last 10 days before the exam on increasing your endurance and ability to focus for four and a half hour with a 15 minute break.(I didnt do that and I regret why I didnt practice with time on the last days.)
Dont forget topscore and achiever, they are good programs.
Dont forget good sleep, and slow down your studying before the exam. Enough rest and light exercise one week before your DAT will do magic on your D day.
Learn from other peoples mistakes.
Be aware of advises in sdn from people who are not expert.
Again, all of this is my opinion and it doesnt mean it will work for everybody.
Good luck.
Ok the last part is about my personal experience: 😱
First of all, I had to drive 200 miles to another city for taking my DAT, (if it is possible avoid this kind of trip) and I couldnt sleep well because of lots of noise! I couldnt perform well because it was one week after my finals with my killing courses (biochemistry 2, molecular& cell biology and cellular neuroscience). It is funny I missed my biochemistry final because of studying for my DAT (simply I forgot the date and I had to take a make-up exam the week after (I ended up with a B+ and I am happy for that), in addition I was really tired because studying for DAT and my school and working hours conjugated together. (Dont do my mistake!!!) Try to be fresh on your D-day.
Biology: straight forward but harder than before, just one question really tricky about developmental Biology (I am sure my answer was wrong) and a few weird questions(bad wording not difficult questions). I was not surprised by any question. I dropped one score from 21 to 20.
General Chemistry: Very embarrassing.
I couldnt believe my score in this section. I am very good in General chemistry; I used to teach that for years, and maybe it was a big mistake not to practice for it at all (Do you remember my words? Practice as much as possible, even the subjects you know). I dropped from 23 to 20! Organic chemistry: Last time, I got burnt on Organic chem very badly, and as a former teacher in chemistry, I knew improving organic chemistry may be the easiest in NS (my opinion). I practiced a lot, and I worked on the concepts which I had problems before. The McMurry website, Destroyer, and Hyperlearning were excellent. On my D- Day, I started from the last question (No 100), lol. Because I didnt want to mess up my organic section like the last time, plus I didnt worry about G chem and biology at all.
Starting from the last question, I missed less than a minute because I had to pass through all questions fast. The last question was the only question I wasnt sure about the answer, not because I didnt know that, but my brain was so tired and I couldnt remember the exact reaction.
The worst scenario happened in the middle of my science section; 😱 I needed to go to restroom so bad. It was that bad that I decided to sacrifice 5 minutes from my PAT time( be careful about coffee, juice consuming in your D-day). I knew it is not possible to continue in that situation (you can imagine how bad it was!). Anyway, I pulled myself to the end of NS. With 5 minutes left. That means when I finished, it was on question No 1. I used my mouse very quickly to review few marked questions by pushing the next bottom very fast. Suddenly, bang! A miracle happened!
My computer froze while showing 5 minutes. I tried but it was frozen, period! I had to leave the testing room and talk to the lady in the other room. She came and tried but the computer didnt want to roll over. She said I have to restart the computer but everything will be saved dont worry. I asked her, Can I use restroom? The answer was yes! And signed up the time sheet
When I came back, my computer had just started, and the time was at 4:59 (just missed 1 second)! I finished organic with a 23. My old score was 18.PAT: was always my worst section. My first post on SDN was about how I feel stupid in this section. I was ready to take 200 science questions plus physics, but not have this section on my test! I never could break 15! But after my old PAT, I really put time for that. First, I practiced with achiever and tried to visualize (I used achiever without timing). Then, I started CDP. Golden! I pulled my score to a 20 on the 10th test. However, my biggest mistake was that I quitted practicing 3 weeks before my DAT, because of my job and classes (I forgot to say that I am a full time employee with over 45 hours average weekly work). I am sure that had I continued practicing till my exam, I could have done much better, but still, I finished with a 17.
15 minutes break.
RC: this was the only reason for retaking DAT. my old RC score was a 14 (I got piano), under the cutoff for many schools. I was advised by one of the schools to take the test again because their cutoff was at 15. I practiced by reading newspapers and any preparation books I could get my hands on. Honestly, I became confident, and I knew I would be able to pull it up to an 18 at least. I used search and destroy. On the D-day, a terrible thing happened. As I said this was the only reason for redoing DAT, my heart was beating very fast and I was unbelievably anxious. Honestly, the passages werent hard at all. They were Very similar to my recent courses (Molecular cell biology and cellular neuroscience). I could concentrate just for the first 7 minutes and answered 5 questions very quickly. I couldnt concentrate for the rest (so anxious which I never had before), and had to read 10 times for every simple question. I guessed on the last 10 questions. I told to myself, I am finished; it is not possible to get higher than a 13 on this one. When I finished with 16, I was so happy. I know it is not a great score, but with that situation, I am more than happy ending up with a 16.
If you are doing upper level Biology and Neurosciences, study and learn them very well. You wont be surprised to see very similar subjects in the RC articles.
Math: Oh boy, unbelievably hard! I am good in math but this last test was few times harder than the old one, and very time consuming, plus I was very tired and wanted to be done. I dont know what to say, based on the outline of ADA, just practice as much as possible.
I ended up with a 16 on QR. My old score was 17. My TS increase to 21 from 20 but my AA stayed the same: 19 and PAT increased from 15 to 17. I think (19/ 21/ 17) looks better than (19 / 20 / 15) hope the admission committees will agree with me.
There is no excuse for doing badly in DAT. My tiredness affected me a lot, period! and I couldnt perform as well as I expected. If I had to take another DAT (that I wont), I would work on that. I knew that I know my materials cold. DONT DO MY MISTAKE, DONT DO MY MISTAKE ..: Stay fresh and sharp to the end of your exam and never give up practicing even when you know the material. Learn then practice and practice and practice
To remind you again, SDN is a great resource, and we are here to help each other and share our experiences. Hope my post will help somebody on this forum.
Best of luck
Last edited:
