DAT done. 7/30. Pleasant surprise.

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dentalwannabe

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I started reviewing after school ended (end of May) and really kicked into gear about 2 weeks ago. My diagnostic test had me at about 16 for Bio, 14 for GC, 18 for OC, 18 PAT.

I'm a humanities major who had an epiphany and took just enough "pre-dental" courses before her undergrad time ran out. My science GPA is under 3.1.

I've been scoring ~18-20 on Kaplan practice tests in the days leading up to the real thing.

Materials used: DAT Destroyer, Kaplan (yes...I bought the $1,400 "Anytime" online course..), Math Destroyer, Crack the PAT, GOOGLE AND WIKIPEDIA(!!!)

Today this happened:

PAT 21
QR 22
RC 24
Bio 30
GC 24
OR 29

TS 26
AA 26

Overview:

Bio: Really basic material, and in the proportions of study guides. Differences prok/eukaryotes. Menstrual cycle. Etc.

Gen Chem: 3-4 problems with some calculations. So much less number-crunching than Kaplan had me doing on theirs.

Orgo: Basic concepts, no crazy reactions. Which way will an elimination happen? Carbo-cation stability.

PAT: This was always my best section during practice, but the real test threw me off in some ways. The options on keyholes were all very similar. The hole-punch...was STRANGE. They seemed to be folding the paper on 1/8th's vertically and horizontally. Is that even allowed? Was I imagining it? This is the one disappointing aspect of my performance for me today. Missed some easy questions at the end because wasted time.

Reading: Ugh. Subatomic particles, weather, and infections. I read 1/2 of every passage, then started on questions, and somehow got through it. I tried to "Map" the passage as I read/skimmed it. Understanding the general flow and structure of information so that I would know where to return to when I was looking for specific info.

QR: Arithmetic. One seemingly complex trig problem I just guessed on. Usually with Math Destroyer I have trouble finishing on time. On the real thing I finished with 6 minutes to spare. My score was about 1-2 point more than my average Kaplan QR score. I had always tried to minimize my calculator use when practicing but...it worked fine on the test and was a very good tool for some problems where they give you a laundry-list of items bought and their prices and make you add it up.

Review of materials used to prepare:

Kaplan: I'm glad I had it. The pure BULK of materials they give you is nice. The practice tests fluctuate in difficulty, so do not get discouraged by doing badly on any one of them. The video tutorials move too slow..or to fast, well, generally not at whatever your pace is, so I eventually stopped using them. I used my Kaplan package for material review early on, but it was especially valuable for practice tests. Taking them allowed me to plan on how I would use my time and to develop time-points for myself.

Destroyer: Fun! Full of good info. Useful for LEARNING: make sure to read the explanations of the answers thoroughly. Especially great for bio. The majority of its Orgo and Chem is harder than what I saw on the real test.

Math destroyer. A little harder than the real thing. A great tool to learn commonly-asked questions and formats. Taking the tests timed helps you understand pacing and letting go of the ones that would be huge time drains.

Crack PAT: I scored 1-2 pts lower on the real thing than on their practice tests. Beware the hole-punch on the real test. Crack PAT spoils you with good design and formatting, the real test was...a lil blurry on some of them with the folds ill-defined (see PAT discussion above). Good resource.

GOOGLE AND WIKIPEDIA: I would use these 30X per study section understanding questions and things I had just thought of and realized I didn't know. Thank goodness they exist. [Donate to Wiki if you can ; ) ]

G'luck all of you!

I'll answer questions if there are any.
 
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That's some mighty fine work. You absolutely torqued the sciences!
 
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Good to see someone did so well while I am freaking out for my DAT tomorrow. Congratz!! I hope I will share your luck 🙂
 
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stillincollege said:
Good to see someone did so well while I am freaking out for my DAT tomorrow. Congratz!! I hope I will share your luck 🙂
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Sending good wishes your way. I told myself the test was "just like practice". Helped me calm down and approach the test in better spirits. Practice happy thinking : )!
 
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I'm so screwed for PAT...everyone is saying the DAT pulls all the crazy left field concepts out. Ugh.
 
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OKAY...not looking at this thread anymore until my DAT is over.

Dat DAT score is cray cray.

By the way uh...your Ochem score is 29 not 26. If you want to make us feel bad, AT LEAST DO IT RIGHT! Jk jk.
 
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Could you tell us a little bit about how you laid out studying? Like how you progressed through all the material and about how long did you study each day? That would be great!
 
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aqz said:
OKAY...not looking at this thread anymore until my DAT is over.

Dat DAT score is cray cray.

By the way uh...your Ochem score is 29 not 26. If you want to make us feel bad, AT LEAST DO IT RIGHT! Jk jk.
Click to expand...

Oh, hahaha, you are totally right, I'll fix it.

I don't want to make people feel bad...I was browsing on here just a few weeks ago scared/unsure of myself.
 
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NDPitch said:
I'm so screwed for PAT...everyone is saying the DAT pulls all the crazy left field concepts out. Ugh.
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Well, but now you can be a lil more prepared! Be aware that they can make folds on 1/8ths, not just quarters. So if you imagine the hole-punch grid as consisting of rows and columns, they can fold the paper to put row 4 on top of row 2 by folding along row 3. I was too deep in before I realized what was going on = points goodbye.
 
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omg you did amazing!!! this is inspiring! I just read the your post on the person who took the third Kaplan practice (I read it while on my break from taking the same test lol). I was so scared I failed but I got a 21. This is so inspiring to see you did soooo well. I want to be you right now

I have a week left before my exam, but my gc and oc scores are whatever (~18-20 on Kaplan and Qvault). What did you find was the best way to improve on those?
 
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Member 6236 said:
Could you tell us a little bit about how you laid out studying? Like how you progressed through all the material and about how long did you study each day? That would be great!
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You got it!

I got scared winter break and bought materials but didn't use them til spring. I dragged my feet the last few months months of the school year, some weekends opening Kaplan programs or reading a lil out of my bio book.

I actually started studying in early June - it was an escalating affair from a few hours every other day to basically 8 hours a day in the days right before the exam.

June (broader overview): About 4-5 hours a day, with days off. I assigned each week a subject and focused on that, relieving the monotony, of, say, GC during GC week by doing a PAT test from Crack PAT.

I took a few full-length tests early on, but they just freaked me out because I felt like there was Too Much to learn, by assigning each subject a week I could focus.

Identifying my weakest areas and taking care of those early was mood-improving. For me it was QR and GC, those were lowest in early practice tests, so I scheduled their weeks early.

For each subject, in its designated week, I would do that section of Destroyer, google around for a more holistic explanation of concepts I was missing, write down things in a notebook that I felt were important: equations, rules, step-by-step processes, even notes to self like "READ the question", and I would do Kaplan's "workshops" which consist of written explanations interspersed with questions to make sure you are getting it. I would also do Kaplan subject quizzes.

Early July (getting serious): 6 hours a day. I started using this site and rather frequently, taking full or almost full-length practice tests. After taking a test I would go through it and focus on what I missed. I would practice/review that stuff in other sources: if I got a problem wrong in Kaplan, I would see what the Wiki summary of that enzyme or reaction was. Crack PAT for fun.

Mid July. 8-9 hours a day. I made subject flashcards on here http://memorize.com/ of things I noticed myself getting wrong multiple times. (When you save your work their lil elephant logo walks...I worked hard to keep my spirits up and enjoy what lil bits I could about studying for so long...like walking elephant icons). I've taken probably 6 full-length tests total, never more than 2 a week. I would also sometimes skip subjects I didn't think I needed to improve on in them. I redid GC, OC, and QR problems I had starred in Destroyer.

1 Week before the test. 1.5 more full-length tests (skipped reading and PAT on 1). Went over my flashcards in http://memorize.com/. Bought Math Destroyer and did 2 timed math tests a day learning to prioritize my time...only got to test 8 out of 11 but I still think it helped. QR is all about doing simple math quickly and about recognizing which of the several repetitive set-ups the problem has. I also read through highlights and underlines in my Bio section of Destroyer.

One strategy that worked for me, is that I imagined teaching what I was learning to someone. That allowed me to break things down into steps that were memorable.

Repeated (and early if possible) exposure is key.

Also, prioritization is an art, I learned. Taking practice exams allowed me to get a sense of what was important and prevented me from stressing when something out of the blue showed up in Destroyer or Kaplan questions. I would just back-burner that thing, sometimes forever. But I didn't let myself off easy on knowing the basics, I would ask myself, can you really explain..an action potential along an axon, for example.

I don't really have any novel advice, I'm afraid. I put in long hours, eliminated distractions from my life (blocked facebook and reddit), while making sure I still had something at the end of everyday that I could be proud of besides studying - like a lil exercise or watering flowers or an hr or 2 watching a show). I tried not to get too discouraged, I was shooting for 18-20on the real DAT, and I repeated told myself that while my performance on this one test does not determine my life, it's a chance to learn, and that every lil bit of focused work helps.


Hope I answered your question!
 
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faye1891 said:
...I want to be you right now...I have a week left before my exam, but my gc and oc scores are whatever (~18-20 on Kaplan and Qvault). What did you find was the best way to improve on those?
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SOON you will be me, or better, or thereabouts. It sounds like you are doing well.

To improve on Orgo I chugged problems (destroyer and subject test/quizzes in kaplan), I took out some of my notes from college from a year ago. I had a really grueling college course in O Chem..but I had to re-remember things. Whenever Kaplan or Destroyer presented me with a rule or reagent that seemed important (reoccurring) I would either write it down in a notebook with highlighter or put it in a list I was keeping in memorize.com.

I think the DAT is testing Rules more than esoteric reagents, so make sure you can, identify the most acid H in various situations, know how to tell R and S in fisher projections, know how basic H-NMR splitting occurs, like what ClCH2CH3 would look like, know that hydroboration-oxidation adds OH anti-Mark, know what Ozonolysis O3 does to dbl and triple bonds. O3 would be the type of reagent that is important enough to know. Also Tollens. Also Grignard. If these are sounding familiar, all you need is more practice.
 
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I got my DAT tomorrow morning. Were the bio question similar to kaplans online advantage ones? If you did well on kaplans bio do you think you would do well on the real deal?
 
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Awesome scores. Bio is one of the hardest sections on the DAT and you git a 30 on it. Great job.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk
 
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WOWOWOWOWOW! Amazing scores. You inspire me to keep pushing. Thank you for the excellent breakdown and tips. A true DAT killer. Way to go.
 
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I don't really have any novel advice, I'm afraid. I put in long hours, eliminated distractions from my life (blocked facebook and reddit), while making sure I still had something at the end of everyday that I could be proud of besides studying - like a lil exercise or watering flowers or an hr or 2 watching a show).

This is my favorite part of your breakdown
 
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Kobebucsfan said:
there was only 4 calculation problems on Gen chem ?
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Only 3-4 "real" calculations where I actually had to set anything up. There were a few more minor math-involing problems like radioactive decay, or selecting which equation is balanced. These involved some mental or scribble math. I mean to say there were precious-few problems of the sort where:...there is solution and some new substance is thrown in..and how does that change pH or concentration of some other thing? My common ion problem(s) was(were) conceptual, my pH-buffering problem(s) was(were) conceptual.
 
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wow, you are the third person with a 26 that is applying this cycle. What is going on with all these high scores?
 
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"Were the bio question similar to kaplans online advantage ones? If you did well on kaplans bio do you think you would do well on the real deal?"

I assume different Kaplan packages come with the same questions (I have the Anytime package). I think the questions are, as a whole, decently representative of test material. Kaplan and destroyer were my primary source for bio (together with looking things up that I didn't understand online), after working through Kaplan and Destroyer I was prepared. There were very few "tricky" questions on Bio on test day. I marked 4-5 the first time through and upon revisiting them could usually figure out why one of the options was a distractor.

I had only one diversity of life/classification question about chordates, while Destroyer gives you many....but heck, it's better to be over-prepared...and Cnidaria are pretty cool right??

I think if you find the Kaplan questions on the whole to be reasonable/easy, you know your Bio-stuff.
 
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wo5678 said:
wow, you are the third person with a 26 that is applying this cycle. What is going on with all these high scores?
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I have two hypothetical scenario explanations.

The first is that there are more people on this site. This leads to more people being informed of the study materials out there - more people being motivated to study - and not to mention, just via a larger sample size, leads to a larger pool of people out of which there are potential 20-something scorers.

Or the ADA could be getting old and letting some things slip.

jkjkjk, ADA I love you...please don't find me and bar me from schools! ; )
 
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THANK YOU ALL OF YOU, your kind comments really top-off what ended up being a better experience than I expected. This site has been a fantastic place of camaraderie and helpfulness.

Don't give up. Realize everyone feels stupid sometimes, some people feel stupid often ::raises hand::, everyone misses a question 5-7 times before they finally get it. Everybody stumbles...but pick yourselves back up and re-try.

Putting in the time: butt-in-chair, face-in-book/computer, will get you where you want to be.

Set realistic plans.

Take planned breaks.

Remember why you like dentistry...and that though some of these things maybe are a lil off from what you will be using daily as a dentist...they still relate. Chem is...the rules and relations for the matter around us. QR..well....it never hurts to be better at math. Make yourself excited/interested in the subjects.

You all are fantastic, Keep It Up!
 
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dentalwannabe said:
IAYfM.png

...

I'll answer questions if there are any.
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Stupid question time:

is the 'percentile' category in your printout above the percentile of questions you scored correctly or is it the percentile as compared to everyone else who has taken the exam?

And: thanks for the good tidings shared by dentalwannabe in this thread, inspiring to be sure!
 
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DAT12 said:
Wow killer scores!! Congrats!!
Where are u thinking of applying to?
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I am from the Boston area so any of the 3 here would be great. I am also applying to the New school in Maine, but shhhh, don't tell anyone about it, cause I want a seat in the first class ; ).

I actually applied to MANY schools because prior to this test my stats weren't opening too many doors for me (see first post with under 3.1 Sci GPA mentioned), and I just wasn't sure my sparkling personality and commitment to public health would be enough.

I haven't yet paid part II of application costs, so I might let some of my 22 (yes, I'm nuts and wasting money) schools go and not complete my applications to them. I'm not really sure.
 
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I've seen my fair share of impressive scores but yours stands out. Getting a 30 in QR, GC or OC is one thing but 30 in Bio? That is some great luck you've got, or some immense effort you put in. Regardless congrats on the excellent scores!

On a side note if any adcom gives you crap about your GPA or some other similarly asinine nonsense, just flash your unofficial score report and say "Talk to the DAT".
 
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What materials did you use to study the bio material? Cliff's AP? Or just Kaplan? You are so so inspiring. I have never posted anything here and I just feel like I have to now! I have a similar GPA and this makes me so completely motivated. Congratulations!
 
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dentalwannabe said:
Crack PAT: I scored 1-2 pts lower on the real thing than on their practice tests. Beware the hole-punch on the real test. Crack PAT spoils you with good design and formatting, the real test was...a lil blurry on some of them with the folds ill-defined
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BEWARE OF PAT IS RIGHT. I used Crack PAT and was consistently scoring 90+ percentile my highest score being a 28 (88/90) and never below 21. The software is excellent practice but they do spoil you with great clarity and formatting. On the actual DAT the blurriness of the computer screen made the angles and keyholes 10x more difficult. The hole punches were more difficult as well because I was seeing punches unlike anything I was used to. Normally, any hole can only be in 1 of 4 spots in a given row/column but on the test it was as if they punched the hole 1/3 from the corner leaving me confused as to which position it would unfold to, and the worst thing you can do on the PAT is stall !!! I still got a 19 which isn't horrible, but was extremely disappointed/frustrated because I was banking on that being my best subject. I'd suggest lowering the brightness of your computer and practice that way if you really want to simulate test conditions.
 
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ushaseos said:
I've seen my fair share of impressive scores but yours stands out. Getting a 30 in QR, GC or OC is one thing but 30 in Bio? That is some great luck you've got, or some immense effort you put in. Regardless congrats on the excellent scores!

On a side note if any adcom gives you crap about your GPA or some other similarly asinine nonsense, just flash your unofficial score report and say "Talk to the DAT".
Click to expand...

Some of both I think.

And yes, it's so nice to finally have some official credentials testifying to the fact that...I can study : ).
 
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macari11 said:
BEWARE OF PAT IS RIGHT. The hole punches were more difficult as well because I was seeing punches unlike anything I was used to. Normally, any hole can only be in 1 of 4 spots in a given row/column but on the test it was as if they punched the hole 1/3 from the corner leaving me confused as to which position it would unfold to, and the worst thing you can do on the PAT is stall !!!
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YESYESYES, that is exactly what happened to me, I ran out of time and ran through the pattern-folding where there were easy points available. Darned confusing hole-punch.
 
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17271990 said:
What materials did you use to study the bio material? Cliff's AP? Or just Kaplan? You are so so inspiring. I have never posted anything here and I just feel like I have to now! I have a similar GPA and this makes me so completely motivated. Congratulations!
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I used the Kaplan big fat book. Not all sections, but the ones I felt I really didn't know: like hormones, muscle.

I also, in two 1/2's over 2 days, read through bangity's Cliffs notes that I'd picked up on this site. Find those in an earlier thread. That guy is such a generous champ for providing those.

But the absolute best thing I did was read Wiki intro paragraphs on anything that went through my head: what is the difference between endocrine and exocrine?, do the lungs or just the respiratory lining come from the endoderm?

So overall:
1) Kaplan on sections I was very uninformed of
2) DAT Destroyer
3) bangity's Cliff notes
4) google -> Wiki

5) made notes on Memorize.com of things I was repeatedly forgetting or getting wrong

That was my approach to Bio.
 
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