DAT done 3/7

[Hockeytown19]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

First off, I would like thank everyone on SDN for the incredible amount of advice and study tips. I am very appreciative to have this site to come to when I need pre-dental questions answered. It's great to have a place where we can all discuss the different study materials and what worked best for each one of us. I will now try my best to help everyone who is still preparing, by giving my DAT experience and personal recommendations.

In September 2010 I started getting together all my DAT study materials. After researching and figuring out which would be the most beneficial, I decided to take the financial hit(study materials are freakin expensive) and spend the money on the materials that were most recommended by my fellow sdn'ers. I ended up obtaining the following study materials:

1. CliffsAP Biology
2. TPR MCAT Hyperlearning Biological sciences
3. DAT Destroyer and Math Destroyer
4. Organic Chemistry Odyssey
5. Kaplan BB
6. CDP 10 test version (Ace edition)
7. Topscore 3 exams
8. Achiever 3 exams


Spending over $600 on DAT materials was hard to stomach, but in the grand scheme of things, it's the most important investment you can make as you advance your career in dentistry.

I started looking everything over in October/November but didn't really start studying hardcore until the first week of January. To my advantage, I only worked 3 12 hour shifts a week, so I was able to have several whole days a week to devote to my studies. It was very hard to pass on fun activities, my family and friends had planned, but I kept telling myself it would be worth it in the end. The middle of January approached and I decided to set a date to take my exam. I set it for the first week of March, and used that date as motivation to spend every minute away from work to study. I used ANKI extensively and practically put the whole cliffs bio book on a deck. Every time I got a break at work or took my lunch break I would review. By the time the exam came I had pretty much every card down and thought I was set for the Biology section, but as we all know the bio section is a crapshoot and you never know what to expect.

Getting a good night sleep and having a positive attitude is crucial for an exam of this stature. I did everything in my power to prepare for this exam, although you never seem to know everything you want lol. I kept telling myself that I would get the score I had been working for.

Before the exam, I told myself that if I got to a problem that I was still confused with after a minute I would mark it and go on and believe that maybe later when I went back to the marked problems the answer would come to me.

In the end I walked out of the long exhausting exam with the following scores:

PAT: 21 (92.2)
QR: 17 (65.7)😡
RC: 22(90.3)
BIO: 19 (77.1)
GC: 24 (94.2)
OC: 22 (91.5)
TS: 22 (96.0)👍
AA: 21 (93)

Overall, I was very pleased with my results considering I am a business major and don't have the extensive science background that many other have.

PAT: 21---CDP is the only way to go. Had the 10 exam edition and did every exam multiple times and would do the random sections here and there when I had a few minutes. My averages for the 10 exams were 20, 22, 21,19,23,23,23,23,22,23.

QR: 17-----Timing is huge. Had 6 questions left with 2 minutes left so I had to quess on them…didn't guess right from the look at my score 🙁 I used math destroyer and it was a huge help with the QR section. Personally think it is the only way to go when it comes to this section. If I only had a few more minutes I think I could have been around a 20.

RC: 22----did 2 topscore RC practice tests(19,23) and thought that they were a better representation of the real dat than achiever was(17). That's primarily the reason I only did one achiever RC exam. I skimmed the passages and wrote down anything I thought was relevant and could possibly come up in a question. I then used search and destroy and tried my best to answer the tone questions based on re-reading the paragraph it was asking about. Guess it worked okay and I was extremely happy with the score I received.

BIO:19----- EXTREMELY RANDOM. (Topscore-18,20,19 and achiever-17)There were 30 that were pretty straightforward but the rest I had the WTF look on my face. For the random questions I just tried to use my knowledge to get rid of a few options and then made an educated guess. Not happy about my BIO score but I guess its okay considering the several questions I had no clue about.

GC:24-----(Topscore-25,22,23 and achiever-16) Chads videos were crucial for me to grasp the important topics in GC that I forgot from early undergrad. He did an amazing job at explaining all the topics that were covered on the DAT. After I watched all his videos I went over all his quizzes until I had them done then moved on to destroyer. Destroyer and Chad helped me extensively and I think the destroyer questions were on par with the real dat. I did the GC destroyer problems 3 times through and def recommend it to everyone who is struggling to grasp the concepts in GC.

OC: 22----(Topscore-24,24,26 and achiever-17) Chads videos again were huge when it came to OC. The destroyer roadmaps were my goodnight reading material for the last month. I made a notecard for every reaction and knew them like the back of my hand before I went into the DAT. The reactions on the DAT are very straightforward and were all one-step reactions. Hit chads videos and then hit the destroyer hard….went through it 3-4 times. I thought that some of the material in odyssey was a bit advanced for the DAT but it helped me out on several things (aromatics, E1,E2,SN1,SN2) because it provided a few more problems that gave me a better understanding on the topics I was struggling with. TPR was also huge when it came to solidifying several key topics I was having a hard time with….def. recommend it.

I am happy that I achieved scores close to what I was working for (was hoping for 22AA, 22PAT) and its nice to see good scores after locking myself in my room for 2 months with my nose permanently fixed in a science book.

I would appreciate your honest feedback on what you think of my scores along with my below average gpa. I have a 3.29 overall and 3.2 science gpa. I had a very bad sophomore year due to several health/personal issues and it totally ruined my gpa. To bring it up I have taken 18 post-bachelor credits in upper-level sciences including biochemistry(A), cell biology(A), physiology(A), genetics(B-) and a physics course(A). I am a Michigan resident and would love to go anywhere that accepts me but if I had a choice I would definitely love to stay in-state and attend either UDM or UMICH. Let me know what you guys think as far as chances go.

If you have any other questions about what I did to prepare let me know. I will try to keep checking back to see if anyone has any questions. Thanks again to everyone on SDN who has posted reviews and study tips.

 

[mightyrat]

Awesome job on the DAT!! btw did you get pianoed? i think we had the same exam lol

as far as the GPA is concerned, yes it is on low the side, but you have a legit reason for it and you have proven, taking harder courses, that you can definitely handle the requirements, but if you have the chance, take more courses to raise that GPA up to maybe a 3.4 or something.

Good luck!

 

[Hockeytown19]

Mightyrat,
Thanks for your input. Yeah I believe I got piano'd with the first passage I got. Had to re-read a few of the passages to make some sense out of what they were trying to say.

As far as other classes go, I was planning on taking 3-4 more upper level classes...2 this summer and 2 in the fall. With my new work schedule it's hard for me to take any more. That should bring my gpa closer to 3.4 and hopefully will result in a few interviews somewhere.

Best of luck to you too.

 

[recyrb]

great job on your scores!!! i practically have the same study materials as you and your breakdown was semi relieving

I was just using my anki droid application, and btw if anyone has a droid phone i suggest getting it.. you can carry around your 2000 bio note cards everywhere you go... with that said, I was wondering if you posted your cliffs biology note cards on anki as a shared deck??

good luck great job

 

[mightyrat]

Mightyrat,
Thanks for your input. Yeah I believe I got piano'd with the first passage I got. Had to re-read a few of the passages to make some sense out of what they were trying to say.

As far as other classes go, I was planning on taking 3-4 more upper level classes...2 this summer and 2 in the fall. With my new work schedule it's hard for me to take any more. That should bring my gpa closer to 3.4 and hopefully will result in a few interviews somewhere.

Best of luck to you too.

hmmm then is it possible that there might be a mistake on my score report sheet? Because i had 22 in orgo (exact same percentile as you), a 19 in bio (again the same exact percentile) and a 26 in gen chem (with a 98.4 percentile) and they gave me a TS of 21! Im not complaining with the 21, but if there is a chance that ill get a 22 TS ill do it lol

and that sounds like a good plan...make sure you rock them!! 👍

 

[LaFleur]

Great job on the DAT! I really appreciate you taking the time to post this breakdown! 🙂

 

[Hockeytown19]

great job on your scores!!! i practically have the same study materials as you and your breakdown was semi relieving

I was just using my anki droid application, and btw if anyone has a droid phone i suggest getting it.. you can carry around your 2000 bio note cards everywhere you go... with that said, I was wondering if you posted your cliffs biology note cards on anki as a shared deck??

good luck great job

Yeah ANKI was a great purchase and I definitely recommend getting the phone app. I created a Cliffs bio deck and the final card count was 1035. So as you can tell I had pretty much the whole book on there lol. With a few weeks to go my anki phone app would say that there was a problem with the deck so I tried to contact ANKI regarding the problem but we were unable to fix to problem. I decided to go through the Cliffs bio book again and I created another deck but instead of making another 1000 new cards I just made a couple hundred with all the facts I had trouble getting down and also the ones I felt were more relevant. Some of the things in cliffs I thought were a little to detailed so I did not include them in the new deck. While making the new deck I decided to throw in TPR biology also to complement the cliffs material. I haven't made the deck a shared deck but I will if you feel it will help you and give you some ideas for new cards.

As you already know and have heard from many people on here, making your own personal deck would be the most beneficial. I am sure you already made quite a few cards already so you can go through mine and see if any are worth pulling to your current deck. Ill try to upload it later this week so ill PM u with the deck info. Good luck in your preparations and if you need any other help let me know.

 

[Hockeytown19]

hmmm then is it possible that there might be a mistake on my score report sheet? Because i had 22 in orgo (exact same percentile as you), a 19 in bio (again the same exact percentile) and a 26 in gen chem (with a 98.4 percentile) and they gave me a TS of 21! Im not complaining with the 21, but if there is a chance that ill get a 22 TS ill do it lol

and that sounds like a good plan...make sure you rock them!! 👍

I have no clue how the percentages relate to the actual score for each section. I have seen percentages 5% apart and they both equaled the same scaled score. I would love for someone to explain how that works exactly. It would be awesome if you were able to bump that TS up to a 22. Every point counts right!! lol

 

[mightyrat]

I have no clue how the percentages relate to the actual score for each section. I have seen percentages 5% apart and they both equaled the same scaled score. I would love for someone to explain how that works exactly. It would be awesome if you were able to bump that TS up to a 22. Every point counts right!! lol

ughh this is why the DAT is so gay lol they cant even get a "standardized" test right lol i actually called up the ADA and asked them and they were like oh its a very complicated system -______- 😴

 

[elaine]

HOCKEYTOWN 19--Great Job - Are you selling any of your dat materials . I am interested.
Thanks

 

[americanpierg]

hmmm then is it possible that there might be a mistake on my score report sheet? Because i had 22 in orgo (exact same percentile as you), a 19 in bio (again the same exact percentile) and a 26 in gen chem (with a 98.4 percentile) and they gave me a TS of 21! Im not complaining with the 21, but if there is a chance that ill get a 22 TS ill do it lol

and that sounds like a good plan...make sure you rock them!! 👍

No its not possible that there is a mistake on your score sheet. Lol I like how people always think theres a mistake and people are out to get them.

You two took the exact same exam (since percentages of two sections lined up). You only got one more question correct than the OP in the science section. There are 100 question that make up your TS score... don't you think theres a possibility that with 100 questions, and a grade scale that only goes up to 30... there miiiight be a chance that a difference of 1 question will still give two people the exam same score?

I think the person who gets 69 questions correct and end up with a TS of 17 while someone who got 62 correct and got a TS of 17 as well has a more valid complaint than you.

 

[mightyrat]

No its not possible that there is a mistake on your score sheet. Lol I like how people always think theres a mistake and people are out to get them.

You two took the exact same exam (since percentages of two sections lined up). You only got one more question correct than the OP in the science section. There are 100 question that make up your TS score... don't you think theres a possibility that with 100 questions, and a grade scale that only goes up to 30... there miiiight be a chance that a difference of 1 question will still give two people the exam same score?

I think the person who gets 69 questions correct and end up with a TS of 17 while someone who got 62 correct and got a TS of 17 as well has a more valid complaint than you.

but here is the thing...we didnt get the same score lol

according to you i got 1 more question right yet i ended up getting a point lower in the TS

again im not complaining about a 21, im very happy with it, but im just saying that it is a possibility that there might be a mistake since everything lines up and i actually got a 2 points higher in chem but ended up with a lower TS...does this make any sense? lol

 

[chax]

Yeah ANKI was a great purchase and I definitely recommend getting the phone app. I created a Cliffs bio deck and the final card count was 1035. So as you can tell I had pretty much the whole book on there lol. With a few weeks to go my anki phone app would say that there was a problem with the deck so I tried to contact ANKI regarding the problem but we were unable to fix to problem. I decided to go through the Cliffs bio book again and I created another deck but instead of making another 1000 new cards I just made a couple hundred with all the facts I had trouble getting down and also the ones I felt were more relevant. Some of the things in cliffs I thought were a little to detailed so I did not include them in the new deck. While making the new deck I decided to throw in TPR biology also to complement the cliffs material. I haven't made the deck a shared deck but I will if you feel it will help you and give you some ideas for new cards.

As you already know and have heard from many people on here, making your own personal deck would be the most beneficial. I am sure you already made quite a few cards already so you can go through mine and see if any are worth pulling to your current deck. Ill try to upload it later this week so ill PM u with the deck info. Good luck in your preparations and if you need any other help let me know.

It'd be cool if you made your deck a shared deck. I'd be interested to look through it.

I'll definitely be making my own deck when I start to study though (best way to study in my opinion).

And CONGRATULATIONS on your DATs!!! You beasted this exam. Dont get too down on your bio cause 19 is average i believe, and the PAT is really important and you did great on it! And this is how the DAT has been explained to me in relation to GPA: the DAT is the equalizer because a bio or an orgo class won't be the same difficulty from school to school or even from section to section in the same school, so the DAT will help make a lower GPA candidate more competitive whereas a higher GPA won't necessarily make a lower DAT candidate more competitive. The DAT, in theory, is a testament to how well you learned the material and a grade is how well you were able to handle a particular course/professor. I hope I explained that right lol! But again congratulations and I think you did great!

 

[Hockeytown19]

Mightyrat,
I completely agree with you on how you should have a 22TS. I doubt the ADA even understands the percentages lol. I remember seeing something about how each exam has a set of core questions and then the rest of the questions are selected from a question bank. So I think we could have the same exam but different questions outside the core questions. Maybe the difficulty was different for the filler questions and for some reason that had something to do with the different scores. None of it makes sense to anyone lol. Besides that you have great scores and your in alot better shape then me and I am sure you have nothing to worry about when it comes to getting accepted somewhere. I hope you get into your number one choice. Keep me posted how the application process is coming.

Chax,
Thanks for the input. I am going to take a few more classes this summer to help boost the gpa so I don't get overlooked by all the schools I apply to lol. I am hoping that I can at least land a couple interviews so hopefully your right. When I get some time tomorrow I will upload my anki deck for you to download. I'll PM you when it is up. Best of luck.

 

[mightyrat]

Mightyrat,
I completely agree with you on how you should have a 22TS. I doubt the ADA even understands the percentages lol. I remember seeing something about how each exam has a set of core questions and then the rest of the questions are selected from a question bank. So I think we could have the same exam but different questions outside the core questions. Maybe the difficulty was different for the filler questions and for some reason that had something to do with the different scores. None of it makes sense to anyone lol. Besides that you have great scores and your in alot better shape then me and I am sure you have nothing to worry about when it comes to getting accepted somewhere. I hope you get into your number one choice. Keep me posted how the application process is coming.

thanks for your vote of confidence Hockeytown, i called them but it was no use 🙁 and im being scrappy for any points because i did terribly on my RC (15 😱) thank God my top choice doesnt have cuttoffs but it certainly is a red flag lol

best of wishes and luck to all of us

 

[minkewhalelover]

I know that this post is super old. But I take my DAT in a 3 weeks and wanted some extra practice tests. Do you guys still recommend TopScore? Anything Else?

 

[gyngyn]

I know that this post is super old. But I take my DAT in a 3 weeks and wanted some extra practice tests. Do you guys still recommend TopScore? Anything Else?

OP hasn't been seen since 2014...

 

[Veni vidi vicii]

I know that this post is super old. But I take my DAT in a 3 weeks and wanted some extra practice tests. Do you guys still recommend TopScore? Anything Else?

Bootcamp, qvault, maybe crack the dat.