DAT Done 1/24

[Jeremy713]

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Hey everyone,

I'm new to this forum but I have been looking at it for the past few weeks in preparation for the DAT. There are a lot of great resources and tips on here!

I took the DAT yesterday and started studying at the beginning of my winter break. Dec 17-Jan 24 so I had over a full month of studying. I used Kaplan blue book 3rd edition, took the 2 practices tests it came with and the one online as well as the 3 Topscore tests and Crack DAT PAT and Math. I did like 5 of each of those. I also have my roommates old Kaplan course prep MCAT books which I feel go into a little more depth than the DAT book.

Overall I am not happy. I was getting AA's of about 21/22 on my practice tests but yesterday really came down to me only getting 5 hours of sleep and waking up early and not being able to fall back asleep.

PA 20
QR 15
RC 18
Bio 21
GC 18
OC 19
TS 19
AA 18 😕

I have a 3.59 overall and 3.58 Science GPA and the average DAT is 18 for the dental school I want to apply to in state. I know my QR score is bad, but I honestly think that if I had another week of just practing QR and a couple of other things I would have been fine. I just got caught up in spending to much time on some problems and I had to guess on like the last 10 questions.

I had a whole breakdown of how my test written up but it got deleted as I was trying to copy and paste and I don't feel like writing the whole thing again unfortunately. Anyway, any feedback would be much appreciated. I look forward to getting actively involved in these forums!

 

[Danny289]

congr. for finishing your DAT. apply smart and early good luck 👍

 

[Jeremy713]

Would you all recommend a retake? I mean I know my scores arent amazing, but I'm really just worried about my QR.

 

[MaskItOrCasket]

great job. i would recommend retaking if u want to GUARANTEE a spot. your scores are competitive except for the QR. this may disqualify you from some schools that require a 16 on each section. however, your numbers are good enough if u have an in-state public institution.

ur 18AA is mostly due to the low QR. however u sacrifice that nice 21 Bio with a retake. this decision really lies in ur hands, but be comforted that both decisions arent wrong ones

 

[eilrahcmi]

Would you all recommend a retake? I mean I know my scores arent amazing, but I'm really just worried about my QR.

great scores except for that QR, i hear a lot of schools consider that the least important section and a lot of people score poorly on it

if you know you can do better and have the time, go for the retake

if not, i'd still say you have a great shot if you apply early

congrats on being done though!

 

[blueaznsbo]

I guess it really depends on which school you are trying to get into. But I think you have pretty good shot at getting couple interviews. Additionally, you have above average gpa which is a plus for you. Like many of the members have said if you believe that you can score better, then I say go ahead and retake it. Otherwise, good luck!

 

[Jeremy713]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the feedback. Makes me feel a little better.

 

[gentile1225]

like everyone else says, your scores are pretty solid, especially being tat you only have one low one and thats in qr. i think you might be ok, but if you have the time to retake some schools may ask you why did not retake if you had the opportunity. think about, it might be worth it. best of luck the rest of the way.

 

[Svart Aske]

Was the test simply harder than the practice tests (topscore) or was it because you didn't get enough sleep?

 

[Jeremy713]

Honestly, it may have been a little tougher than Topscore. By the time I was doing QR, I was just so unfocused it was rediculous. I was already upset about not getting through my RC in time and I had to guess on the last 10 questions in that section as well. I spent the first 25 minutes on the first passage which forced me to rush through the last two sections.

I wish I would have kept it in the back of my mind to just skip the tougher questions and proceed to the easier ones like I did during my practice tests. I did not do this on test day.

I'll give the breif overview that I had typed up earlier until it got deleted.

Bio - I am suprised I got a 21 on this section. While bio is my major and I am in a lot of upper level bio classes (including histology which helped a lot last semester), I did not think that the questions were very representative of the material that I knew. Some of the questions came out of left field. One or two questions asked about a definition I had never even heard of, and I consider myself very good at biology. Also there were two pictures in the bio test which I did not expect. One was easy. I am happy with my 21, but I think I could have done better had the questions been more represntative of all areas of biology. I did not expect even a 21 on this test though. At least 7 or 8 of the questions I just used the knowledge I had to make the most educated guess.

G chem - This was more conceptual than I thought. Some tougher questions were asked as well. I thought I had at least a 19, but ended up with an 18, so whatever. I brushed up really well for G chem during the last month because I knew it was one my weak areas.

O chem - I expected to do much better here. I was receving 24-28 on my practice tests, and on the ADA sample test I got a 30 in O chem. Some of the questions here also dealt with more conceptual type stuff such as how reactions will proceed in solvents or seperating aqueous vs. organic layers in a sepratory funnel. Part of the reason I could have got a 19 is because I tried to rush through O chem so that I would at least have a little time to go back and look over the bio and G chem section, however I ended up with only about a minute left.

PAT - This score I expected. I was averaging about a 20 on Crack DAT PAT anyway. Angles, and hole punching were easy. Apetures wernt too bad. Much less cubes to count here than on Crack DAT - simple. Patterns are always my worst and I always struggle for time here. Some easy ones, but I think there may have been a mistake on one of those obvious shape type pattern folding questions because there were honestly no shapes that fit that pattern at all: 90% positive. TFE was also not so bad.

RC - 3 fairly easy passages, just spent way to much time on the first because I was so tired and unfocused. Wish I could have feel back asleep for a couple more hours. My DAT wasnt until 3:00 PM. Just to anxious I guess. The last passage required a lot of inter-relating all of the paragraphs. I obviously didn't have time to do that since I only had about 15 minutes left so I went with the Search and destory which probably cost me all my points.

QR - Obviously my worst section. Had been getting like 18-19 on other practice QR tests. Just spent too much time on some problems when I shouldn't have. Cost me probably a much better average.

Feels kind of weird not studying for the DAT now. I kind of miss it haha. May take it again, may not. I will make sure I am much more prepared for G chem and QR next time however. It is a 3 month wait period right? May try to study for the MCAT as well and take it around the same time as my retake. Guess now I need to go study for biochem.

-Jeremy

 

[jay47]

on this section. While bio is my major and I am in a lot of upper level bio classes (including histology which helped a lot last semester), I did not think that the questions were very representative of the material that I knew. Some of the questions came out of left field. One or two questions asked about a definition I had never even heard of, and I consider myself very good at biology.

-Jeremy

Sounds like you got the FRAP version of the test to me.

 

[Jeremy713]

Sounds like you got the FRAP version of the test to me.

No, I didn't. I had read about that before the test. No question like that and no ethics passage. I believe that there are probably more than just 3 versions of the tests being administered right now.