Hey Guys,
I always thought people's breakdowns after finishing the DAT were really helpful, so I thought I'd return the favor. Here are my scores:
Bio: 20
GChem: 21
OChem: 26
PAT: 20
Reading Comp: 26
QR: 17
Total Science: 22 (96.0th percentile)
Academic Average: 22 (96.4th percentile)
Materials Used: Kaplan Online Course, Crack DAT PAT, Topscore, Barron's DAT, Barron's AP Bio, Cliff's AP Bio, 2009 ADA Sample Test (the mail order one), Khan Academy, freelance-teacher . com
The advice I found most helpful was to stay confident, relax the day before, and not to put myself in lockout mode. I'm in a full semester of classes right now, and I work, and it was still very do-able.
Bio: Everyone has said it before, and i guess i'll say it again, this section is super random. I read through the bio section in the Barron's DAT book, read through chapters from Barron's AP Bio and Cliff's AP Bio that I wanted to understand a little better, and just practiced a lot. Kaplan's online resources are great because there are just so many questions, and every time I got a question wrong I would type it up on a Word document. I honestly thought I was going to do better in the bio section, but there were really tricky and specific questions I'd never seen before. My words of advice for this section are to study as much as you can, but i wouldn't really stress too much about it because doing well on this section is more about having a great bio background that anything else. I would take the time to improve in gchem, ochem, and QR because I think those sections are easier to improve in.
GChem: This section was a lot more conceptual than anything Topscore or Kaplan ever showed. Overall, this section is easier than anything from Kaplan or Topscore because the real DAT has a lot less calculations. The real DAT gives all the molecular weights, and a lot of the answers are unsimplified (like it'd say 20/5 instead of 4). I didn't use destroyer or Chad's or anything, but I think i have a pretty good chem background from classes in college.
OChem: I would have never guessed in a 10000000 years that I'd get a 26 in this section. I never got higher than a 19 on a single practice test I took. My dad used to be an orgo professor, and he remembers everything (even though he hasn't taught it in like 15 years). Any question I would get wrong I would go over with him. Kaplan and Topscore tested all the important concepts, but they were harder. If you understand everything on the Kaplan exams you'll do great because the DAT is a lot simpler than Kaplan or Topscore. I also never used Chad's or Destroyer for this section (or any section).
PAT: I'm not really sure why everyone hates on Kaplan so much for the PAT section, sure the hole punching is a little easier and the angles are a lot easier on Kaplan, but there isn't really much you can do with angles anyways. Kaplan was pretty comparable to in every other section. Crack DAT was a very good representation of the real thing (except for the hole punching section on tests 3 and 4). The holepunching on those 2 tests were really really really hard and really really really discouraging. Overall, Crack DAT should be sufficient to do well. I never practiced Pattern Folding, and i never got good at it, so that's probably what brought my grade down.
RC: I never really studied for this. The only practice i got was through practice tests. I didn't follow any of the Kaplan strategies (and i didn't write a single thing down on my boards). For this section i read all the passages before ever looking at the single question, then i answers the questions (and would look back to the passage to look stuff up). Most of my questions were very straight forward.
QR: I completely blew this section off, and it showed. I was expected a 17 or 18, and that is exactly what i got. I didn't really study for this section much because most dental schools don't look at this score too much. If i were to go back in time i would probably study this a little more, but most of it came down to timing.
I think everyone should order the mail-order ADA test and take it seriously. There were definitely repeats from gchem and the PAT section on the real test. It was kind of frustrating because there were question on the PAT section where i was like "ohhhhhhhh i've seen this before, and i got it wrong, but i don't remember that the right answer is."
Overall, I would say not to let Topscore or Kaplan's Online resources discourage you, because i did better on the real thing than i did on anything. I got a 17 on the orgo section on the Kaplan test i took 2 days before my exam.
I also wouldn't bank on doing better; just do your best and study hard. Another great thing about Kaplan was that the real thing was IDENTICAL in format to Kaplan, so it helped keep me calm. Although Topscore is great, it just looks different than the real thing.
A
Also, try to keep your normal life going. For me, locking myself out would just make me resent studying for the exam.
Good luck, and hopefully this was helpful.
I always thought people's breakdowns after finishing the DAT were really helpful, so I thought I'd return the favor. Here are my scores:
Bio: 20
GChem: 21
OChem: 26
PAT: 20
Reading Comp: 26
QR: 17
Total Science: 22 (96.0th percentile)
Academic Average: 22 (96.4th percentile)
Materials Used: Kaplan Online Course, Crack DAT PAT, Topscore, Barron's DAT, Barron's AP Bio, Cliff's AP Bio, 2009 ADA Sample Test (the mail order one), Khan Academy, freelance-teacher . com
The advice I found most helpful was to stay confident, relax the day before, and not to put myself in lockout mode. I'm in a full semester of classes right now, and I work, and it was still very do-able.
Bio: Everyone has said it before, and i guess i'll say it again, this section is super random. I read through the bio section in the Barron's DAT book, read through chapters from Barron's AP Bio and Cliff's AP Bio that I wanted to understand a little better, and just practiced a lot. Kaplan's online resources are great because there are just so many questions, and every time I got a question wrong I would type it up on a Word document. I honestly thought I was going to do better in the bio section, but there were really tricky and specific questions I'd never seen before. My words of advice for this section are to study as much as you can, but i wouldn't really stress too much about it because doing well on this section is more about having a great bio background that anything else. I would take the time to improve in gchem, ochem, and QR because I think those sections are easier to improve in.
GChem: This section was a lot more conceptual than anything Topscore or Kaplan ever showed. Overall, this section is easier than anything from Kaplan or Topscore because the real DAT has a lot less calculations. The real DAT gives all the molecular weights, and a lot of the answers are unsimplified (like it'd say 20/5 instead of 4). I didn't use destroyer or Chad's or anything, but I think i have a pretty good chem background from classes in college.
OChem: I would have never guessed in a 10000000 years that I'd get a 26 in this section. I never got higher than a 19 on a single practice test I took. My dad used to be an orgo professor, and he remembers everything (even though he hasn't taught it in like 15 years). Any question I would get wrong I would go over with him. Kaplan and Topscore tested all the important concepts, but they were harder. If you understand everything on the Kaplan exams you'll do great because the DAT is a lot simpler than Kaplan or Topscore. I also never used Chad's or Destroyer for this section (or any section).
PAT: I'm not really sure why everyone hates on Kaplan so much for the PAT section, sure the hole punching is a little easier and the angles are a lot easier on Kaplan, but there isn't really much you can do with angles anyways. Kaplan was pretty comparable to in every other section. Crack DAT was a very good representation of the real thing (except for the hole punching section on tests 3 and 4). The holepunching on those 2 tests were really really really hard and really really really discouraging. Overall, Crack DAT should be sufficient to do well. I never practiced Pattern Folding, and i never got good at it, so that's probably what brought my grade down.
RC: I never really studied for this. The only practice i got was through practice tests. I didn't follow any of the Kaplan strategies (and i didn't write a single thing down on my boards). For this section i read all the passages before ever looking at the single question, then i answers the questions (and would look back to the passage to look stuff up). Most of my questions were very straight forward.
QR: I completely blew this section off, and it showed. I was expected a 17 or 18, and that is exactly what i got. I didn't really study for this section much because most dental schools don't look at this score too much. If i were to go back in time i would probably study this a little more, but most of it came down to timing.
I think everyone should order the mail-order ADA test and take it seriously. There were definitely repeats from gchem and the PAT section on the real test. It was kind of frustrating because there were question on the PAT section where i was like "ohhhhhhhh i've seen this before, and i got it wrong, but i don't remember that the right answer is."
Overall, I would say not to let Topscore or Kaplan's Online resources discourage you, because i did better on the real thing than i did on anything. I got a 17 on the orgo section on the Kaplan test i took 2 days before my exam.
I also wouldn't bank on doing better; just do your best and study hard. Another great thing about Kaplan was that the real thing was IDENTICAL in format to Kaplan, so it helped keep me calm. Although Topscore is great, it just looks different than the real thing.
A
Also, try to keep your normal life going. For me, locking myself out would just make me resent studying for the exam.
Good luck, and hopefully this was helpful.
