- Joined
- Oct 2, 2010
- Messages
- 23
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Good Evening dental community;
I just completed my DAT this morning. Thankfully I did well, and I am very pleased. Im writing this to inform you of what materials I used to study. While many will post the same information, I feel obligated to give back. Prior to reading, I must say that the factor that best help me attain my scores was TIME. Having graduated in May 2011, I had ample time to study along with working in a lab. I studied for around 3 months, which is a while but it paid off.
BIOLOGY:
First off I read through KAPLAN BLUE BOOK and took notes. A lot of people bash it, but it really isn't that bad. While reading I incorporated my Histology and Bio-chem notes to add to the information. Next I used 2010 DAT Destroyer. Always read the explanations. DATqvault was also very useful, and for the price you get a lot of material!
GEN CHEM & ORGO:
I did not use Kaplan. I opted to use Chad's Videos, and he really is impressive. He focuses solely on the material you need, and his outlines+quiz's are pretty legit. 2010 DAT destroyer was used for additional questions. They were a great resource, and the questions i saw on the DAT were at times similar to the material found in DAT Destroyer.
PAT:
Crack PAT helped a lot. It was never a weakness, but the system used is marvelous.
QR:
Meh, I didnt put much effort into this. Mostly DAT Destroyer.
Practice Tests:
Top Score was amazing. I really enjoyed using it, and the exams were pretty spot on. Yes PAT and RC are not a good indicator, but the Sciences and Maths were good.
DAT Achiever was another good tool to use if you have the money and time to use it. Yes, its difficult but as many people say the more questions you see the better. Organic Chemistry was difficult for me here, but i was scoring well on the Gen Chem/Biology.
THE REAL THING: It went by pretty quickly. Not going to lie, but the material was very basic. Nothing really threw me off. Actually some basic biology questions had be scratching because I couldn't exactly recall the information. Overall the sciences went well. DAT Destroyer helped a lot in terms of Orgo/Gen Chem.
PAT was meh. Some of the shapes and images used weren't that nicely presented. Angle ranking was tough as balls. I was sitting staring like a platypus at several of the questions.
RC started off with the "WTF" because the opening passage was awful. The next two passages were a delight and easy to read, plus simple questions.
QR, maybe I got lucky but around half were easy calculations. It was near the end and I didn't really pay much attention but it was deadly.
I hope I can help some of you with questions and my experience. You need to take this exam seriously. After graduating and not getting a single interview you question your future and what you're capable of. I thankfully had time to study, and it paid off. My GPA is 3.57 with my science GPA I believe around 3.4. Just make the effort and time. You're all capable, and you all rock!
I just completed my DAT this morning. Thankfully I did well, and I am very pleased. Im writing this to inform you of what materials I used to study. While many will post the same information, I feel obligated to give back. Prior to reading, I must say that the factor that best help me attain my scores was TIME. Having graduated in May 2011, I had ample time to study along with working in a lab. I studied for around 3 months, which is a while but it paid off.
BIOLOGY:
First off I read through KAPLAN BLUE BOOK and took notes. A lot of people bash it, but it really isn't that bad. While reading I incorporated my Histology and Bio-chem notes to add to the information. Next I used 2010 DAT Destroyer. Always read the explanations. DATqvault was also very useful, and for the price you get a lot of material!
GEN CHEM & ORGO:
I did not use Kaplan. I opted to use Chad's Videos, and he really is impressive. He focuses solely on the material you need, and his outlines+quiz's are pretty legit. 2010 DAT destroyer was used for additional questions. They were a great resource, and the questions i saw on the DAT were at times similar to the material found in DAT Destroyer.
PAT:
Crack PAT helped a lot. It was never a weakness, but the system used is marvelous.
QR:
Meh, I didnt put much effort into this. Mostly DAT Destroyer.
Practice Tests:
Top Score was amazing. I really enjoyed using it, and the exams were pretty spot on. Yes PAT and RC are not a good indicator, but the Sciences and Maths were good.
DAT Achiever was another good tool to use if you have the money and time to use it. Yes, its difficult but as many people say the more questions you see the better. Organic Chemistry was difficult for me here, but i was scoring well on the Gen Chem/Biology.
THE REAL THING: It went by pretty quickly. Not going to lie, but the material was very basic. Nothing really threw me off. Actually some basic biology questions had be scratching because I couldn't exactly recall the information. Overall the sciences went well. DAT Destroyer helped a lot in terms of Orgo/Gen Chem.
PAT was meh. Some of the shapes and images used weren't that nicely presented. Angle ranking was tough as balls. I was sitting staring like a platypus at several of the questions.
RC started off with the "WTF" because the opening passage was awful. The next two passages were a delight and easy to read, plus simple questions.
QR, maybe I got lucky but around half were easy calculations. It was near the end and I didn't really pay much attention but it was deadly.
I hope I can help some of you with questions and my experience. You need to take this exam seriously. After graduating and not getting a single interview you question your future and what you're capable of. I thankfully had time to study, and it paid off. My GPA is 3.57 with my science GPA I believe around 3.4. Just make the effort and time. You're all capable, and you all rock!
