DAT Done 7/14/2011! (Plus Breakdown)

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marii0o

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I've been stalking this forum since for ideas and tips since I started studying for the DAT a month and a half ago, I can't believe I'm finally posting my scores! Honestly, I didn't think the test was that bad. I imagined it would be a lot harder. My advice, prepare. If you've done that, then relax!

I started really studying near the beginning of June, I had initially planned to take the test back in December with more than enough time for a retake, but I decided I wanted to take this test once, knock it out of the park, and never look back, haha. I'm really glad that I did, I postponed my test once at the beginning of July because I didn't quite have the timing down. BEST DECISION EVER! I finished each section except for QR with at least 15 minutes on the clock. If you're stressing, don't feel like you don't have this option! It really was a life saver to have that extra week and a half to just work on getting everything together. The night before my test I was relaxed and ready, much better than I would've been had I taken it in June.

I was really worried initially when I started studying because I had no intention on blowing $500 for materials. So... I didn't have a lot of the big stuff people talk about using (Destroyer, TOPSCORE, etc.). I also didn't study crazy amounts of hours, I managed 5-6 most days out of the week, with enough time in between to keep me sane.

I used:
- Kaplan Blue Book
- Cliffs AP Bio
- CRACK DAT PAT/READING/MATH
- Chad's Videos
- My O.Chem and Bio Text book
- Random sample DAT questions/tests I found on the internet.

My Scores:
QR: 21 (96.4%)
RC: 28 (99.7%)
Bio: 19 (76.6%) <--kick me in the face.
GC: 23 (95.4%)
OC: 24 (95.7%)
TS: 21 (91.6%)
AA: 23 (98.7%)
PAT: 22 (93.4%)

overall GPA: 3.62, science GPA: 3.51, non science GPA: 3.82

Breakdown:

QR:
My QR section was HARD. I was not expecting that. I went through quite a few tests using Crack DAT Math, and watched the explanation videos whenever I got them wrong, and I thought several of the questions were pretty on par with the actual exam. I felt pretty prepared and was scoring in the low to mid 20's on all the practice, but the one on my test blew me out of the water. I remember spending 3 minutes on the first question, looking at the clock and freaking out. I marked so many questions on this section I was sure I was going to bomb it. I actually expected to do the best in this section because I'm pretty good at math. Blah. However, Chad has recently released some videos on the QR section, I wish I had them before I took the exam! I guess I'm pleased with a 21 considering how scary it was for me. My advice: practice. practice. practice. Work on your timing, some of those questions take longer.

RC:
...I didn't really study for this, haha. If there's one thing I know I can do, it's read and comprehend. I went through 3 tests on CRACK DAT Reading and scored 25+ on all of them, so I wasn't too worried. I thought the passages were very understandable, and I finished with 20 minutes left on the clock. I read through all the passages, I don't know about that "search & destroy" method, because I didn't use it, but it seems like you'd do pretty well with that method. Some of the questions just asked for straight facts from the passage.

Bio
Well, this was embarrassing. :laugh: I'm a biology major, so I thought this would be one of my strong points as well. I thought the KBB and Cliffs covered the material very well, I read through each once, and went back and reviewed and clarified some of my old biology textbooks. The exam was pretty general, with a few strangely specific questions... I thought I did better than my score shows, but eh. I got a whole bunch of ecology and phylogeny questions and was expecting more anatomy and genetics. Just read through your biology materials, take notes, and make sure you understand!

GC
Chad is chemistry god. He is all I used to prepare for this section, and he is all I needed. I went through all his videos once, and took the quizzes for each. I went back and watched some of the videos a second time at fastplay just to solidify the material. I went through his quizzes a second time, and felt pretty confident after that. The DAT wasn't difficult, a few questions took me longer than I expected, but it was pretty basic concepts and calculations. Know your formulas!

OC
Once again, Chad. I also had a pretty amazing OC 2 professor, so that helped as well. I came in with a pretty decent grasp on the subject so I probably studied for this the least of all the sciences. Watched all Chad's video's once, took the quizzes, went back and watched a few, took the quizzes again. I thought the actual exam was pretty easy. Everyone is right when they say you really just need to know fundamentals and key reactions. I had quite a few conceptual questions and reaction product questions. Overall, don't stress this part. It's not bad at all.

PAT
Crack DAT PAT was very, very useful. I felt like the questions were pretty on par with the actual exam. It was harder than I expected it to be though. There were a few weird hole punch questions with folds I hadn't seen before, but I was able to reason them out. I think the key to the section is just practice. Get your hands on as many practice exams as you can, and just work at them and understand why each answer is right, it will come to you! Also, angle ranking can suck it.


Alright! That's all from me :)
I'm a Texas resident, so I'm only applying to the three here, UTHSCSA, Baylor and Houston. I have about 300+ dental shadowing hours and 600+ research/volunteer hours and I'm pretty involved at my school. I e-submitted my application at the end of June, it's still listed as processing, hopefully I'm not too late in the game. I realize my GPA is kind of average for acceptance, so I'm hoping my DAT score makes up for it!

Now that this is over with, I don't know what to do with myself. I forgot what it felt like not to be stressed over something!

Any ideas about my chances? :)

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE ELSE!!!

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Dude, you are golden! Very nice job considering you didn't use Destroyer and Math Destroyer. I wouldn't worry too much about Bio since most people have lower Bio scores too. That will be the trend this year and schools will figure that out too.
 
Thanks! I hope they notice, I'd hate for that to keep me out.
I've heard good things about destroyer though, so I'm sure that's a great resource also.
 
Great job on the DAT man! I just took my second DAT today and am feeling a little better, although you still got me beat. I noticed your link right after I finished my breakdown, haha. Here it is if you're interested: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=839597

I am a Texas resident too, but your application got in sooner than mine, I'll be sending mine in first thing next week, wasn't a big fan of the personal statement and I was waiting for this DAT score to go in.

Good luck to you, you'll have to let me know when the interviews and offers start rolling in; who knows, maybe I'll be in your interviewing group:).
 
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