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- Aug 16, 2010
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I've never posted here before however I have definitely benefited from all of the advice and information on SDN. I finished my DAT today and decided that I would post my breakdown to return the help. My DAT scores aren't amazing, but I think they're good and I'm happy about them and more importantly I feel pretty comfortable with my chances of getting into dental school.
I am a non-traditional student and completed my first degree in 2004 in computer science. Two years ago I decided to switch professions to dentistry and took general chemistry and physics. This least year I completed organic chemistry and biology, and next year I'll be taking A & P and bio. chemistry.
PAT 20 (81.0)
QR 18 (86.6)
RC 19 (67.6)
Bio 17 (55.7)
GC 21 (91.6)
OC 21 (89.7)
TS 19 (82.8)
AA 19 (85.4)
PAT: I bought the 5 test CDP and went through them all. Some are harder than others for sure, but I feel that your average with those will be about your average with the real PAT. I was scoring between 18 and 21 with them. Practice helps a lot, especially with TFE and hole punching. Angles are just angles, I feel like you either see them or you don't. There are some pretty good strategies in the forums about folding which really helped me so go searching for those.
QR: I bought the Math Destoryer and looked over some combination/permutation problems from my old discrete math. I started doing these tests every week or so and timed myself and was pretty discouraged about how badly I was doing. Then I read someones post who suggested just taking them without time and trying to answer all of the problems correctly. The guy was right, there's no point in rushing through if you don't know what you're doing. Just stop and figure out the math first, then practice with time. There are 11 tests in Destroyer which should be plenty to practice with, and then some left over to take with time. Two things that Math Destroyer didn't cover was arctan/arcsin and temperature conversions, but it was pretty comprehensive other than that.
RC: I didn't really study for this at all, mostly because...how do you study for reading? I did get a lot of tone/inference questions, but I just suffered through it. I've heard bad things about an ethics passage, and a piano passage so I read wikipedia's piano section a few times the day before my test. I didn't get either so I can't really help there.
Bio: I only went over Cliff's AP Bio. I bought the third edition used, and read through it once without taking notes, and then a second time taking notes. Although I just got out of a year of biology, I didn't pay attention very well, which I regret. I obviously could have done a lot better here, but like people say, the questions are all over the board. Biology is just a ton of memorization. I also got DAT Destroyer, and went through about 100 of the questions, not in any great detail. The questions are pretty detailed. It's not like that on the real DAT. At least, that wasn't my experience.
GC: Chad. I'm not the first to say it and I won't be the last. Give Chad your $30 and learn from the master. He wears great shirts that say things like "If I'm talking, you should be taking notes" which is both funny and true. He is really an excellent teacher. Anything you need to know on the DAT, Chad will teach you. I went through DAT Destroyer GC section twice and did all of chads quizzes, and his new quizzes too. It had been a year since I had gen chemistry and I really needed the refresher.
OC: Chad again. I'm pretty sure I'm going to send Chad a check for more money now that the DAT is over. He really deserves a lot of credit for the work he's done. DAT Destroyer 1 time through. With both gen chem and organic chemistry I tried to really understand all of the questions and answers.
I also bought KBB and gave it a go, and honestly it's a joke. When discussing colligative properties or osmotic pressure equations....how about mentioning the van 't hoff number? See pages 269-270 in the 2009-2010 edition. That is pretty freaking important. And how can they feel good about 179 pages of biology to cover everything that you'll see on the DAT when my biology book was more like 600 pages. Cliffs is a much better review.
I also bought top score. I feel like that was a pretty good equivalent of what the real DAT is like. I wish there were more than 3 practice tests, because the more you take them, the more you remember and the better you do, which is not very accurate over time. I ended up taking them so many times that I don't even have my scores anymore. I was scoring usually right around 20 or just below on most things.
I hope this helps any of you future DAT takers.
I am a non-traditional student and completed my first degree in 2004 in computer science. Two years ago I decided to switch professions to dentistry and took general chemistry and physics. This least year I completed organic chemistry and biology, and next year I'll be taking A & P and bio. chemistry.
PAT 20 (81.0)
QR 18 (86.6)
RC 19 (67.6)
Bio 17 (55.7)
GC 21 (91.6)
OC 21 (89.7)
TS 19 (82.8)
AA 19 (85.4)
PAT: I bought the 5 test CDP and went through them all. Some are harder than others for sure, but I feel that your average with those will be about your average with the real PAT. I was scoring between 18 and 21 with them. Practice helps a lot, especially with TFE and hole punching. Angles are just angles, I feel like you either see them or you don't. There are some pretty good strategies in the forums about folding which really helped me so go searching for those.
QR: I bought the Math Destoryer and looked over some combination/permutation problems from my old discrete math. I started doing these tests every week or so and timed myself and was pretty discouraged about how badly I was doing. Then I read someones post who suggested just taking them without time and trying to answer all of the problems correctly. The guy was right, there's no point in rushing through if you don't know what you're doing. Just stop and figure out the math first, then practice with time. There are 11 tests in Destroyer which should be plenty to practice with, and then some left over to take with time. Two things that Math Destroyer didn't cover was arctan/arcsin and temperature conversions, but it was pretty comprehensive other than that.
RC: I didn't really study for this at all, mostly because...how do you study for reading? I did get a lot of tone/inference questions, but I just suffered through it. I've heard bad things about an ethics passage, and a piano passage so I read wikipedia's piano section a few times the day before my test. I didn't get either so I can't really help there.
Bio: I only went over Cliff's AP Bio. I bought the third edition used, and read through it once without taking notes, and then a second time taking notes. Although I just got out of a year of biology, I didn't pay attention very well, which I regret. I obviously could have done a lot better here, but like people say, the questions are all over the board. Biology is just a ton of memorization. I also got DAT Destroyer, and went through about 100 of the questions, not in any great detail. The questions are pretty detailed. It's not like that on the real DAT. At least, that wasn't my experience.
GC: Chad. I'm not the first to say it and I won't be the last. Give Chad your $30 and learn from the master. He wears great shirts that say things like "If I'm talking, you should be taking notes" which is both funny and true. He is really an excellent teacher. Anything you need to know on the DAT, Chad will teach you. I went through DAT Destroyer GC section twice and did all of chads quizzes, and his new quizzes too. It had been a year since I had gen chemistry and I really needed the refresher.
OC: Chad again. I'm pretty sure I'm going to send Chad a check for more money now that the DAT is over. He really deserves a lot of credit for the work he's done. DAT Destroyer 1 time through. With both gen chem and organic chemistry I tried to really understand all of the questions and answers.
I also bought KBB and gave it a go, and honestly it's a joke. When discussing colligative properties or osmotic pressure equations....how about mentioning the van 't hoff number? See pages 269-270 in the 2009-2010 edition. That is pretty freaking important. And how can they feel good about 179 pages of biology to cover everything that you'll see on the DAT when my biology book was more like 600 pages. Cliffs is a much better review.
I also bought top score. I feel like that was a pretty good equivalent of what the real DAT is like. I wish there were more than 3 practice tests, because the more you take them, the more you remember and the better you do, which is not very accurate over time. I ended up taking them so many times that I don't even have my scores anymore. I was scoring usually right around 20 or just below on most things.
I hope this helps any of you future DAT takers.
