My 1st (and last) time taking the DAT
AA: 22 (97.0%)
PAT: 19 (67.8%)
TS: 21 (91.6%)
Bio: 22 (95.9%)
G Chem: 20 (79.8%)
Orgo: 21 (85.7%)
RC: 23 (89.8%)
QR: 22 (97.9%)
cGPA: 3.73
sGPA: 3.52
(currently Columbia ugrad hoping to stay on at their dental school)
Breakdown:
Study Materials/Pattern:
I did not read anything--no textbooks, review books, nada. Instead, I did as many practice questions as I could get my hands on. The questions came from CDP, Topscore, and kaplan online material. I did not use Destroyer or Achiever. I think by test time I had gone through the 10 CDP tests 1x each, all the kaplan stuff 2-3x each, and the Topscore stuff 2x each. All in all, I'd say I studied for maybe 1 month, probably a bit less, working ~6-8 hours a day.
Bio: Seemed to be kind of random, and a lot of the so-called "big" topics didn't seem to be covered.
G Chem: Again I felt that many "big" topics weren't there--also very conceptually based--minimal calculations
Orgo: Straightforward, especially after a year of the class
PAT: To answer taptapgrind's question, I scored consistently between 18-20 on all my PAT practice sections, occasionally scoring a 21. I pretty much resigned myself to aim for a 19 and hope for a 20. So I fell right where expected.
RC: Really easy--I was kind of shocked I did so badly, as I was scoring between 28-30 on all my practices--I guess maybe test day nerves played a role.
QR: Almost question for question as Kaplan online stuff.
As far as my educational background, I'm a history major--so I've only taken the intro. science courses. I have worked for the past 3 years at a dentist's office (assisting chairside) and have shadowed an oral surgeon for the same length of time.
AA: 22 (97.0%)
PAT: 19 (67.8%)
TS: 21 (91.6%)
Bio: 22 (95.9%)
G Chem: 20 (79.8%)
Orgo: 21 (85.7%)
RC: 23 (89.8%)
QR: 22 (97.9%)
cGPA: 3.73
sGPA: 3.52
(currently Columbia ugrad hoping to stay on at their dental school)
Breakdown:
Study Materials/Pattern:
I did not read anything--no textbooks, review books, nada. Instead, I did as many practice questions as I could get my hands on. The questions came from CDP, Topscore, and kaplan online material. I did not use Destroyer or Achiever. I think by test time I had gone through the 10 CDP tests 1x each, all the kaplan stuff 2-3x each, and the Topscore stuff 2x each. All in all, I'd say I studied for maybe 1 month, probably a bit less, working ~6-8 hours a day.
Bio: Seemed to be kind of random, and a lot of the so-called "big" topics didn't seem to be covered.
G Chem: Again I felt that many "big" topics weren't there--also very conceptually based--minimal calculations
Orgo: Straightforward, especially after a year of the class
PAT: To answer taptapgrind's question, I scored consistently between 18-20 on all my PAT practice sections, occasionally scoring a 21. I pretty much resigned myself to aim for a 19 and hope for a 20. So I fell right where expected.
RC: Really easy--I was kind of shocked I did so badly, as I was scoring between 28-30 on all my practices--I guess maybe test day nerves played a role.
QR: Almost question for question as Kaplan online stuff.
As far as my educational background, I'm a history major--so I've only taken the intro. science courses. I have worked for the past 3 years at a dentist's office (assisting chairside) and have shadowed an oral surgeon for the same length of time.
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