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I am SOOO relieved to have this done, and the long hours and weeks of studying paid off!! Here are my scores! =D
20 PAT = 81% :😀
20 QR = 95.1%
22 RC = 93.2%
19 Bio = 83.5%
22 GC = 95.2% 🙂
28 OC = 99.5%
21 TS = 96.2% 😕
22 AA = 98.9% 😀
Here's how I studied, and my background...
I've wanted to be a dentist since 4th grade...crazy, but it has stuck with me through the years! I've accumulated 115 hours shadowing/working at my dentist's office. I have a cumulative GPA of 3.27 and a science GPA of about 3.49. I am a Biochemistry major, with a minor in Philosophy. I have TONS of extracurriculars, service work, etc.
I studied for about 6 weeks, from May 15th-today. I definitely put in over 150 hours of studying. I would come home from work, and study for 4 hours, and go to bed. Repeat. On my days off, I would study for 8-10 hours a day. At least. My friends, family, and girlfriend definitely are glad that they'll get to see me around again...haha.
I used primarily Barron's and Destroyer. I started off with Barron's, which gave a very good, general background to everything, as well as some techniques for the PAT. There were several errors in it, but I had a good enough general knowledge to be able to catch them. I took notes of the entire book, especially the subjects/terms I was unfamiliar with.
Next I went through Destroyer. I did the same thing as with Barron's, and took notes of each wrong answer and each term I was unfamiliar with. I would say the notes out loud as I would write them to maximize my senses, memory, and focus more intently.
Each night I would go over all the notes I took that day at least once, most of the time I would go twice through.
By the time I had finished going through destroyer once, I only had 9 days till the test. Crunch time. I went through Barron's again, and realized it took me 25% of the time since I knew most of it. I went through destroyer again, and the same thing, I recalled most of it. I bought Achiever 1-3, and they completely destroyed my confidence. I was scoring 15-16s and was never finishing on time. BUT THEY WERE GREAT STUDY RESOURCES! I felt that I had so many questions on the DAT that were taken directly out of Achiever/Destroyer.
Two days before, I found 2 study guides for Bio posted on the *********** website. These study guides covered all the topics and terms I was getting wrong, or had no clue about for the Bio section!! They definitely made my 19 possible.
Overall, I am ecstatic about my scores, except for Bio. I know I could have done better, but there is just so much to know, understand, but primarily MEMORIZE! Ochem and GC I've always been stronger in, but questions I was unsure of I was able to reason my way through. This is not always the case with the Bio.
The PAT on the actual DAT was MUCH easier than on Achiever except for the angle rankings! Luckily for me, the angle rankings was my best subtest in that section regardless, so the greater difficulty didn't hurt me.
The QR and the RC I ran out of time. I had to guess quickly on the last 5 questions of the QR and the last 2 of the RC. I feel that is what kept me from scoring the 25's I was expecting.
I don't quite understand how my TS is a 21...seeing as how I had a 22 in GC and 28 in OC...I was expecting a 22 TS. But 21 is still great, so I'll take it.
With my somewhat lower GPA, does anyone think I should retake to raise my Bio score? I'm leaning towards not re-taking, because I did so well on the OC and everything else that I think I'm set. Thank you everyone for your advice and support!
20 PAT = 81% :😀
20 QR = 95.1%
22 RC = 93.2%
19 Bio = 83.5%
22 GC = 95.2% 🙂
28 OC = 99.5%
21 TS = 96.2% 😕
22 AA = 98.9% 😀
Here's how I studied, and my background...
I've wanted to be a dentist since 4th grade...crazy, but it has stuck with me through the years! I've accumulated 115 hours shadowing/working at my dentist's office. I have a cumulative GPA of 3.27 and a science GPA of about 3.49. I am a Biochemistry major, with a minor in Philosophy. I have TONS of extracurriculars, service work, etc.
I studied for about 6 weeks, from May 15th-today. I definitely put in over 150 hours of studying. I would come home from work, and study for 4 hours, and go to bed. Repeat. On my days off, I would study for 8-10 hours a day. At least. My friends, family, and girlfriend definitely are glad that they'll get to see me around again...haha.
I used primarily Barron's and Destroyer. I started off with Barron's, which gave a very good, general background to everything, as well as some techniques for the PAT. There were several errors in it, but I had a good enough general knowledge to be able to catch them. I took notes of the entire book, especially the subjects/terms I was unfamiliar with.
Next I went through Destroyer. I did the same thing as with Barron's, and took notes of each wrong answer and each term I was unfamiliar with. I would say the notes out loud as I would write them to maximize my senses, memory, and focus more intently.
Each night I would go over all the notes I took that day at least once, most of the time I would go twice through.
By the time I had finished going through destroyer once, I only had 9 days till the test. Crunch time. I went through Barron's again, and realized it took me 25% of the time since I knew most of it. I went through destroyer again, and the same thing, I recalled most of it. I bought Achiever 1-3, and they completely destroyed my confidence. I was scoring 15-16s and was never finishing on time. BUT THEY WERE GREAT STUDY RESOURCES! I felt that I had so many questions on the DAT that were taken directly out of Achiever/Destroyer.
Two days before, I found 2 study guides for Bio posted on the *********** website. These study guides covered all the topics and terms I was getting wrong, or had no clue about for the Bio section!! They definitely made my 19 possible.
Overall, I am ecstatic about my scores, except for Bio. I know I could have done better, but there is just so much to know, understand, but primarily MEMORIZE! Ochem and GC I've always been stronger in, but questions I was unsure of I was able to reason my way through. This is not always the case with the Bio.
The PAT on the actual DAT was MUCH easier than on Achiever except for the angle rankings! Luckily for me, the angle rankings was my best subtest in that section regardless, so the greater difficulty didn't hurt me.
The QR and the RC I ran out of time. I had to guess quickly on the last 5 questions of the QR and the last 2 of the RC. I feel that is what kept me from scoring the 25's I was expecting.
I don't quite understand how my TS is a 21...seeing as how I had a 22 in GC and 28 in OC...I was expecting a 22 TS. But 21 is still great, so I'll take it.
With my somewhat lower GPA, does anyone think I should retake to raise my Bio score? I'm leaning towards not re-taking, because I did so well on the OC and everything else that I think I'm set. Thank you everyone for your advice and support!
