DAT done!! 1/13/2011

[mightyrat]

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Thank God its over!! And i must thank SDN, you guys are awesome 🙂

Scores

PAT: 18 (61.1) 😡
QR: 18 (75.08)
RC: 15 (9.7) 😱
Bio: 19 (77.1)
Chem: 26 (98.4)
Orgo: 22 (91.5)
TS: 21 (92.4)
AA: 20 (87.1)

This is my second time retaking this exam, and for the most part i improved, and thank God i didnt go down anywhere. I spent all summer studying for the exam and didnt do well (i got rocked royally, and robbed at the same time lol) and spent all of the fall semester studying for this bad boy, hopefully dont have to touch it again!

Breakdown:

PAT (18)

Materials used: CDP (10 tests), Achiever, Topscore, a little bit of kaplan

The first time i saw the PAT was on a diagnostic kaplan exam, and thought that cubes are the hardest thing in the world, then found out they are actually the easiest lol I did a bit of kaplan online material first through a friends account to see what its all but didnt do much further because i heard that kaplan's PAT is very easy, which i found to be true. Then i stumbled upon achiever and topscore PAT. Achiever's PAT is insane, i was getting 14s on them! Then did topscore PAT and was getting 18-19. I only used these materials for the first time on DAT and also got an 18! This time i bought CDP and did all 10 exams and redid some that i scored bad on. Up until the 8th exam i was getting 18s then the 9th and 10th and the ones that i redid, i didnt get any lower than an 21, so i thought i was set to go! On the real deal, the graphics suck. I would say the cubes and Hole punching are much easier than CDP, but beware, now there are half folds on Hole punching! The keyholes i found to be very challenging, some had multiple right answers. I was getting all 15 right on CDP but it didnt work that way on the actual exam. TFE i was getting 13/14 right on CDP but on the actual exam most were very tricky. The angles werent too bad, easier than CDP. And for the pattern development, i started getting much better at this with practice, but for some reason on the DAT, i would come up with an answer and it just wouldnt be there lol none of them made sense so i just went with the best one that i thought was right. I finished with about 10 minutes remaining so i went back and recounted all the cubes, i dont think i missed any. Overall, CDP is amazing practice. In my opinion, the other prep materials are not that good, im probably not the one with the most awesome score on the PAT but i believe that CDP is the source to get for the PAT!

QR (18)

Materials used: Math Destroyer!

This is my fault, i was always good with math and i just couldnt motivate myself to do math for a long period of time. I ended up doing 10 exams of the 11 in the math destroyer and from what i saw, its VERY similar to the actual exam, like i was a bit shocked lol I probably could have done better but i was just way too tired at the end. I also found the calculator to very helpful, i dont know why people dont like it so much, it worked fine for me, it was just a bit slow. If you know the math destroyer, your set!!

Reading (15)

Materials used: Topscore, CDR

Im not going to even use the excuse of me getting piano-ed for my poor performance. The reason why i took the whole exam over again is for the reading, i got a 15 on the last time as well. I really practiced with all the material that i had and was getting 19/20 on topscore but lower on the CDR like 16/17, ugh!! The thing with this section, is that you cant study for it, just practice a whole and you might get better. Another thing with this section is luck! you can get a section with all familiar passages to you or you can get a crazy one. To be honest, i didnt find the read of the piano to be very hard, just a bit technical at times but nothing overwhelming, i think the topscore passages are harder than the piano, but the questions are easier. I was using a modified version of the vic viper method, where i would write down the key words of the questions before reading the passage, and i thought i was doing pretty well...guess not! English is also my second language, but i dont think im that bad of a reader, i got B+ in my comp courses and overall my comprehension isnt bad, so i dont know 😕

Bio (19)

Materials used: Cliffs AP, Barron's AP, Barron's flash cards, Destroyer, and one of my good friends from college.

Like every ones says, its random!! Its not general bio at all, but more of a cultivation of undergrad bio. I studied the most for this section and ended up being my lowest science 🙁 I first thoroughly read Cliffs, which is awesome then i bought the flash cards which are great because you can just carry a couple around with you and do those. Its also good because it has some stuff which cliffs didnt have. If you have the flash cards, you dont need the book because its the same thing, i actually didnt like barrons at all, it was very simple not to the point at times. After having read through cliffs once, i tackled the destroyer. I actually have two versions of the destroyer, the 2010 and 2011. Dont waste your time with any old ones. I took my first exam in september and had questions that appeared out of the blue, then bought the new destroyer and found similar if not the same questions on there! It definitely goes in to way too much detail, but the reason for that is in every answer choice, there is a hidden message to be conveyed, so dont just go and answer the question and be happy that you got 10 right in a row getting all E's, learn why the answers are wrong, and you might be surprised to find some of them show up on your exam 😉 the reason why some people dont like the destroyer bio because they dont know how to use it! The solutions are where the wealth is...know every answer!!

Chem and Orgo: (26 and 22)

Materials used: Destroyer and college exams

I was good in the chems in college and tutored people and friends so i didnt think i needed chad's videos for the chems, but i did watch a couple of the free videos posted on their website and really liked his teaching styles. As for the chems, honestly if you know how to work every problem in the destroyer and know the roadmaps your set to go. There were some odd ball questions in there regarding some lab techniques but other than that it was on target. Im not the one to push or advertise the destoryer, but it did work for me and if i had to take the exam over again, i would stick to destroyer chems!

My overall GPA is 3.813 and science GPA is 3.743, i have 5+ years as a dental assistant as well as other extracurricular activities. I would love to go to UMDNJ since i am a jersey resident, but im terrified that the 15 in reading would kill my chances of getting in. What do you guys think? Do you think that the 26 in chem might overlook the 15? I really REALLY dont want to take this exam over again, i wasted a good 6 month portion of my life on this exam. There has not been a day where i didnt think of the word DAT or went on SDN to look up breadowns and all of that good stuff.

Please give me some advice or any questions that you guys have!

Best of luck to you guys in the future 🙂

 

[toothhornet88]

Maybe its just me but since you are not solid in every category (especially RC and PAT) dental schools will be very very tough on you! Unless you apply to UNLV which takes the best of the scores of individual sections if you took the test twice. However your RC and Pat scores being low the your chances are not that high...I am not trying to bum you out but my friend had a 3.8 GPA and did pretty well (19+) on all her other section except PAT (she got 17) all the dental schools told her to wait for the next cycle and retake her DAT! Thats all I have to say...but of course I wish you the best of luck when you apply 🙂

 

[321931]

Great scores on the TS and AA; however, RC and PAT is known to be super important in many dental schools admission. An 18 in PAT may throw a yellow flag, but a 15 in RC is a red flag. Not only that...but there are automatic cutoffs that many schools put into place.

I would hate to say it...but I would highly advise you to retake it. If you call up schools, most likely they will say the 15 in RC is bad news. I think the majority of people will also agree the 15 is bad news.

 

[rmm30]

thanks for the breakdown...time to celebrate. what's a half fold btw (see hole punch breakdown)?

 

[mightyrat]

thanks for the breakdown...time to celebrate. what's a half fold btw (see hole punch breakdown)?

Thanks guys for your comments!

Just to answer your question about the half fold, in the hole punching section, they could have a hold that they punched half of it, so in reality you get one hole instead of two. I was under the impression that the DAT doesnt do that, CDP does, but it was on there.

Im not planning to retake the exam because i dont have the motivation to study for this anymore. And im not going to get better in reading over a 3 month period. This is a skill that you acquire in a lifetime. I personally think i did good enough. As for the PAT, 18 isnt bad. Sometimes we get caught in the hype of SDN and see all the geniuses who get 20+ on everything and then sometimes feel that anything less than that is garbage. I know my reading score isnt hot, but sciences are definitely more important than that! and i think i did pretty well on the sciences.

Ill call up the schools that i want to apply to, and if they say its better retake the exam, then so be it, but if not then ill just ride it out!

 

[Slaughter421]

Hey Congrats, I think you did really well on your test.

Are you saying destroyer 2011 is much better then 2010? i.e. a lot of questions showed up that were covered in 2011, but not in 2010?

 

[DoCt0rPeTe]

good job bro. i knew you would kill it. i think you'll be fine, but just call schools to make sure your reading won't hold you back. I think you have a very good shot at UMDNJ for sure. 26 on Chem- that's beast my man. congrats again

 

[AmpedUp]

Several schools I've called up say RC is even more important than the science sections. This is coming from someone who also got a 16 in RC. My GPA is 3.8 and I was fortunate to get 3 interviews, but I was told that a few of my section scores on the DAT prohibited me from receiving an acceptance. It sucks! But hey, nice AA!! RC is definitely some bull...

 

[321931]

Several schools I've called up say RC is even more important than the science sections. This is coming from someone who also got a 16 in RC. My GPA is 3.8 and I was fortunate to get 3 interviews, but I was told that a few of my section scores on the DAT prohibited me from receiving an acceptance. It sucks! But hey, nice AA!! RC is definitely some bull...

Yeah, RC is pretty much a luck factor IMO. You can get some easy passages, and sometimes you get the omg wtf passages. Plus, you can't really study for it. There is strategy, but I really think most of it is based on luck.

That being said, OP's scores are really solid especially the sciences, but I would really look into the RC. It would suck to apply for a year and not get in anywhere when you have a chance to retake before that cycle. It's not like its July-August, and you have to wait Sept-Oct to retake. You can retake early now, get it over with, and be early and spot on, instead of waiting/hoping that they overlook the 15. (And no I'm not comparing scores to the 25+'s to get in, the OP's AA/TS is great) I'm just saying it would suck waiting out a year, and then having to retake plus wait on top of ANOTHER year hoping to get in with new scores.

I guess to each his own. GL, and definitely apply to UNLV as they take the scores from each DAT. Their formula is based on something like: (sci+cum) x (RC) X (QR+BIO+OCHEM). So even then they place a huge emphasis on RC.

 

[Kahr]

Hey Congrats, I think you did really well on your test.

Are you saying destroyer 2011 is much better then 2010? i.e. a lot of questions showed up that were covered in 2011, but not in 2010?

Sounds like he's saying anything before 2010 and 2011. At least I hope so, I'd be a little irritated if 2010 was obsolete since I bought it direct from them at the end of November.

 

[mightyrat]

Sounds like he's saying anything before 2010 and 2011. At least I hope so, I'd be a little irritated if 2010 was obsolete since I bought it direct from them at the end of November.

One thing to keep in mind with the DAT, is that its an evolving exam! Meaning the exam that you take now may not be the same as ones taken in the past or future. The concepts are the same, but the level of difficulty and in depth gets more intense. And thats evident in the destroyers. I was given a 2007 destroyer by a friend, then i got the 2010 edition and noticed the great difference between questions and the difficulty of questions. Then i got the 2011 edition and noticed the addition of more questions. So he pretty much added questions to it and left the ones already there. So if you have the 2010 edition, you should be fine, but if you have the 2011 edition, your set to do great on the DAT now as it is. I got a discount on it since i already paid for the DAT destroyer and math destroyer. I paid like 75, not the 150 for the whole book. So you can call them or just email then and see if they will do that to you as well.

 

[mightyrat]

good job bro. i knew you would kill it. i think you'll be fine, but just call schools to make sure your reading won't hold you back. I think you have a very good shot at UMDNJ for sure. 26 on Chem- that's beast my man. congrats again

Thanks man! Im loving the humility 😉 i will call UMDNJ very soon to get their response and ask them if they accepted people like me in the past with my grades and scores. I hope the 26 in chem and 22 in orgo can have an effect on their decision rather than just focusing on the reading!

 

[mightyrat]

Several schools I've called up say RC is even more important than the science sections. This is coming from someone who also got a 16 in RC. My GPA is 3.8 and I was fortunate to get 3 interviews, but I was told that a few of my section scores on the DAT prohibited me from receiving an acceptance. It sucks! But hey, nice AA!! RC is definitely some bull...

One thing going for me is that im a jersey resident, so UMDNJ gives priority to us more than out of state students so maybe that will help out. The thing about reading is that its wack, there is no prep for it! I was doing okay on topscore but then this 😡 did you get any acceptances from your interviews with your scores so far?

 

[mightyrat]

Yeah, RC is pretty much a luck factor IMO. You can get some easy passages, and sometimes you get the omg wtf passages. Plus, you can't really study for it. There is strategy, but I really think most of it is based on luck.

That being said, OP's scores are really solid especially the sciences, but I would really look into the RC. It would suck to apply for a year and not get in anywhere when you have a chance to retake before that cycle. It's not like its July-August, and you have to wait Sept-Oct to retake. You can retake early now, get it over with, and be early and spot on, instead of waiting/hoping that they overlook the 15. (And no I'm not comparing scores to the 25+'s to get in, the OP's AA/TS is great) I'm just saying it would suck waiting out a year, and then having to retake plus wait on top of ANOTHER year hoping to get in with new scores.

I guess to each his own. GL, and definitely apply to UNLV as they take the scores from each DAT. Their formula is based on something like: (sci+cum) x (RC) X (QR+BIO+OCHEM). So even then they place a huge emphasis on RC.

I totally agree with you on reading. You can get an easy reading, ones that your familiar with, or you can get the piano like i did and get rocked. I got a 15 the first time and another 15 this time, so maybe if i didnt have the piano i would have done a bit better?

Im not aiming for harvard, or UCLA, or anything crazy like that, i would be more than happy to get into UMDNJ, which is a great school but it doesnt get the credit it deserves. So hopefully they dont mind that 15 and look more at the sciences.

And also if i retake the exam and dont improve on reading, then it will REALLY look bad! And i dont know if i can get another 26 on chem or not lol

 

[Jackson-Ave-Dental]

Now this is making me want to take the piano passage 🙁

Wonder if I could pay to take it and sign a confidentiality agreement contract or something...

 

[mightyrat]

Now this is making me want to take the piano passage 🙁

Wonder if I could pay to take it and sign a confidentiality agreement contract or something...

The actual passage wasnt that bad lol at least i didnt think so. But what was hard about it is that for like 3 questions they would ask for true and false statements, which kind of threw me off 👎

 

[peanutb123]

Your GPA + Your DAT + your 5 year experience

IMO, You will no doubt have a good chance of getting in. HEY SINCE YOU WANT UMDNJ dont forget to do there summer program or winter program i forgot the name of the program.

Good luck.

 

[mightyrat]

Your GPA + Your DAT + your 5 year experience

IMO, You will no doubt have a good chance of getting in. HEY SINCE YOU WANT UMDNJ dont forget to do there summer program or winter program i forgot the name of the program.

Good luck.

Thanks a lot man! And are you referring to the gateway to dentistry btw? if so i cant join it because i have dental experience. I just really hope that the 15 wont do me in!

 

[AmpedUp]

One thing going for me is that im a jersey resident, so UMDNJ gives priority to us more than out of state students so maybe that will help out. The thing about reading is that its wack, there is no prep for it! I was doing okay on topscore but then this 😡 did you get any acceptances from your interviews with your scores so far?

Zero!

Gonna retake the exam...and reapply next cycle.

FYI, I applied to 20 schools as well. My state doesn't have a dental school, so I'm at a disadvantage.

Anyway, I wish you luck! I think you can do it.

@peanut (or whoever can answer) Oh and...what is this UMDNJ gateway program I keep hearing about? How many get accepted from it?

 

[peanutb123]

Zero!

Gonna retake the exam...and reapply next cycle.

FYI, I applied to 20 schools as well. My state doesn't have a dental school, so I'm at a disadvantage.

Anyway, I wish you luck! I think you can do it.

@peanut (or whoever can answer) Oh and...what is this UMDNJ gateway program I keep hearing about? How many get accepted from it?

a guy from my interview at that school kept boasting how he did this that etc... http://dentalschool.umdnj.edu/gateway.htm

here is the link its a 2 week program. offered during winter and summer breaks. Good luck. I don't know any specifics about the program but refer to the link.

 

[peanutb123]

Thanks a lot man! And are you referring to the gateway to dentistry btw? if so i cant join it because i have dental experience. I just really hope that the 15 wont do me in!

yeah thats it. my bad i didnt know all the details. I was just suggesting b/c you have time. 🙂

 

[mightyrat]

Zero!

Gonna retake the exam...and reapply next cycle.

FYI, I applied to 20 schools as well. My state doesn't have a dental school, so I'm at a disadvantage.

Anyway, I wish you luck! I think you can do it.

@peanut (or whoever can answer) Oh and...what is this UMDNJ gateway program I keep hearing about? How many get accepted from it?

thats unfortunate to hear my friend, but hopefully you can smash the exam next time and do really well. I personally thought before seriously studying for the DAT and before joining SDN that a 19+ AA is a good score for entry into dental school. Then one joins SDN and expects to get a 25 on everything lol

One thing that i can bring up is that i am philosophy major, which requires A LOT of reading. And its a tough program at my school and i have gotten A's on everything with the exception of Greek Philosophy (B+) so maybe i can say that as well that its not my native language. And maybe explain the luck factor in the passages given lol

 

[mightyrat]

a guy from my interview at that school kept boasting how he did this that etc... http://dentalschool.umdnj.edu/gateway.htm

here is the link its a 2 week program. offered during winter and summer breaks. Good luck. I don't know any specifics about the program but refer to the link.

I was going to apply to that program, but i was discourged to continue the application process because my advisor told me that they rarely accept people with previous dental experience, so i didnt want to waste like 150$.

Do you know if people got in with dental experience?

 

[peanutb123]

Lol you know more than me...

thats all i know... i was just trowing you a suggestion so you can get to know UMDNJ and may be get a recommendation letter from there.

 

[NewBee12]

Nice scores overall.
since you applied to 20 schools you definitely have a chance to get an interview somewhere.
wish you the best of luck.

 

[KobeshouldbeaMD]

damn man, def. not getting in anywhere, better start filling out applications for 7-11 i doubt they'll even accept you though with your minscule dental experience and your horrible reading skills, its okay though, maybe you can be an engineer

nvm.. an 18 PAT will probably get you, at best, a job as a painter or something

its okay man, at least you have your personailty, but even that sucks. ohhh welll =/

ps. hey bro, call when youre on your way home, moms worried 😀