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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!😱
Sorry, I've just been wanting to scream for a couple months now.
Ok, First of all I want to thanks everyone on this forum for all of their help and I hope I was able to contribute as well.
I am sorry that my post is a few days late, but the day I took my DAT, I went on vacation and I couldn't get to the internet for any extended period of time so I couldn't write what I wanted so I waited until now.
Here are my scores. After that I will post my achiever and CDP scores and my two cents from the whole process.
Subject Score Percentile
PAT 20 87.0
QR 19 81.9
RC 20 66.2 (20 is so low😕)
Bio 23 97.6 😀
Gchem 23 94.5
Ochem 23 92.9
TS 23 97.7
AA 22 95.4
Achiever
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3
Subject Score
PAT 14 16 17
QR 21 19 20
RC N/A (Didn't realize it was there) 20 22
Bio 19 17 16
Gchem 18 16 17
Ochem 28 19 23
TS 19 18 18
AA N/A 19 20
CDP
15, 18, 17, 18, 20, 18, 19, 18, 18
Materials
Bio - Start this the earliest that you can. There is a ton of information that you need to know, a lot of it very specific, so don't think you are just going to leave off three weeks off at the end. Do Bio first and then constantly review as you are doing the other sections.
I used five things for Bio. Kaplan BB, Destroyer, spark notes index cards, and my two buddies' brains (Shout out to my boys Mr. Oppenheimer and Mr. Moskowitz.)
Kaplan BB - I think the Kaplan BB is a good starting point for a couple of reasons. It is organized well and it has pictures and I find I remember things better when there are pictures. I do not think Kaplan is a must and any book that organizes the information well should do, especially since Kaplan is not detailed enough for the actual test.
Destroyer - I think the following statement is true for all the sciences. The Destroyer is necessary, but must be supplemented.
Advantages -
Questions. You remember things better when there are in question form instead of having to memorize material without a question afterwards. It is also more fun, which is very important when you are studying the same material for a few months. If you got something wrong and it bothers you, you will most likely remember the concept next time. There aren't so many questions out there and this makes it a great resource.
Lots of people have it and that means that you can always ask anything you didn't understand on SDN and there is usually someone online that can help you.
Disanvatages
Questions - There is one major problem with questions, there is only so much information that can be learnt from any one problem and two questions next to each other defeats the purpose of the question b/c then you know it bc you just did a question on the same topic and not bc you really do know it. This means that a question book will be inherently disorganized. You have to go through about many different questions to find all the relevant information related to any one topic.
To compensate for this, there is a lot of information in the answers. This means that when you go through Destroyer, you have to go through the answers thoroughly, even if you understand the qeustion and why the answer is right bc there is usually information about the wrong answers as well. The problem is that you then lose the advantage of having questions and you still have to put the answer keys from a few different answers together.
Spark notes bio index cards - They give you 600 cards and it isn't very expensive, Most of them are very basic, but they have some pictures, which is good. I would say that I didn't already know about 75-100 of the words. They are cheap and quick to go through. Not a savior, but maybe worth getting.
Buddies - get yourself a person that you can test each other. This was very helpful for me bc you end up choosing very hard questions to stump him and you both know more than you did before. I would suggest this more towards the end when you are sick and tired of studying.
Conclusion - I would get Destroyer and something else that is organized well. Go through whatever it is and then go through Destroyer and it will be even easier to remember destroyer bc you are remembering everything in context of a concept. There is a lot of information in Destroyer. go over it in chunks, (I did about 20 questions a day) adn then go over it again, and then go over it again and then go over it again and if you have time, go over it again (each time reading the answers).
Gchem - I have a decent background in GChem. Destroyer is once again necessary, but you need to supplement. I went to a class and I went through all the concepts and only then I started Destroyer and I think that this is the best way to really get the most out of GChem. I would keep go over the basics a lot bc you really cant move on without them.
Ochem - Same thing as Gchem.
Achiever - As you can tell by my scores on the real DAT, I did much better on everything in the real DAT than on Achiever, except for Math and Reading. I think that is pretty typical of the reality. Achiever is very difficult for the sciences and too easy for reading and math.
I did so poorly on my practice tests that I was very close to postponing my test for a week or so and canceling the vacation I am currently on until I spoke to people who reassured me that whether you do really well or poorly on Achiever doesn't show much about the actual DAT and thank god they were right.😀
I think the best part about Acheiver is that you can take a full length test and it prepares you for that perfectly. You have to take it seriously and don't take any breaks when you aren't allowed to. Also, you get a few extra questions and that is good. However, Top Score gives that same advantage. I suggest you take a look at the following for a better breakdown on the difference between the two.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=546119
The most annoying part about achiever is that after you take the test, you can't take it again. The test now has your answers already clicked, which was pretty annoying.
Math - Destroyer is a nice start, but you really need to go deeper and I don't have any particular suggestions, as you can tell by my math score.
Somebody suggested purplemath.com to me, I have no idea if it is any good bc I didn't have enough time before my DAT to look at it.
PAT - I love CDP!!!! I bought the ten pack and I did a test every couple of days. During my test, I made sure to note every question I had and look at the solution even if I got it right in the end. One thing I wish I had done was work on my weaknesses. It was more fun to do stuff that I was good at, like cube counting and hole punching (I used the tick-tack-toe method) than going over the T.F.E. and pattern folding as much as I should have done. If you can do CDP, you can definitely do well on the PAT section of the DAT. Everyone should have crack (no pun intended).
I think everyone should look at this post for PAT bc it is really helpful and SAMA951 is amazing
.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=528643&highlight=wicked+sick
General Tips:
I am a big studier and I don't like cramming, so personally, I would start as early as possible. The day after I graduated College (May 22nd), I started studying. This gave me about two and a half months and if I could have, I would have started even earlier.
While I was studying I also shadowed dentists most days, avoid this (I did about 80 hours total this summer). After I came home, even if it was only 3 in the afternoon, I was really tired and my feet hurt and my bed was calling. The last thing I wanted to do was study. I took many naps and it really cut into my studying time. I was supposed to keep shadowing until I took the test, but I decided I needed to take the last two weeks off b/c otherwise I wouldn't be close to ready.
Make sure you take a class! It will keep you on a good schedule, but make sure you don't use the class as a crutch, you have to do what needs to be done outside of the class too.
Try to talk to people who just took the test or are about to take the test b/c it will get you really scared. They will know so much more information than you that you will realize that you really need to start buckling down. This happened to me a few times, especially with PAT and it really helped my score.
Schedule a test towards the beginning of when you start studying. If you have a date when you will definitely take the DAT, it makes it easier to focus.
VERY IMPORTANT!! THE LAST DAY BEFORE THE DAT:
Every kept telling me that the last day before the exam, I should just relax. I somewhat disagree. I think you shouldn't try to review everything bc you end up going to fast and not gaining out of it, however, I don't think the day before should be a wasted day necessarily.
I think you should pick the subject that you do very poorly and focus on that and don't do anything else. I chose pattern folding. I was worse in angles, but I don't see a point, I just don't think I have the eye for it. I redid every single crack pattern folding, which took about half a day and I started off by only getting about 8-10 out of 15 in the beginning of the day and I ended off by getting an average of about 13-14 on the last three or so and it wasn't bc I remembered what the answers were, in fact I rememebered the first ones better than the last ones. This was really helpful and I think it might have improved my PAT score by one or 2 points on the actual DAT.
I hope I have been helpful and any questions or comments would be appreciated. I am still on vacation so I won't be online as frequently as I would like, but I will make an effort to try and answer any questions people have.
Thanks to everyone on this forum.
Sorry, I've just been wanting to scream for a couple months now.
Ok, First of all I want to thanks everyone on this forum for all of their help and I hope I was able to contribute as well.
I am sorry that my post is a few days late, but the day I took my DAT, I went on vacation and I couldn't get to the internet for any extended period of time so I couldn't write what I wanted so I waited until now.
Here are my scores. After that I will post my achiever and CDP scores and my two cents from the whole process.
Subject Score Percentile
PAT 20 87.0
QR 19 81.9
RC 20 66.2 (20 is so low😕)
Bio 23 97.6 😀
Gchem 23 94.5
Ochem 23 92.9
TS 23 97.7
AA 22 95.4
Achiever
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3
Subject Score
PAT 14 16 17
QR 21 19 20
RC N/A (Didn't realize it was there) 20 22
Bio 19 17 16
Gchem 18 16 17
Ochem 28 19 23
TS 19 18 18
AA N/A 19 20
CDP
15, 18, 17, 18, 20, 18, 19, 18, 18
Materials
Bio - Start this the earliest that you can. There is a ton of information that you need to know, a lot of it very specific, so don't think you are just going to leave off three weeks off at the end. Do Bio first and then constantly review as you are doing the other sections.
I used five things for Bio. Kaplan BB, Destroyer, spark notes index cards, and my two buddies' brains (Shout out to my boys Mr. Oppenheimer and Mr. Moskowitz.)
Kaplan BB - I think the Kaplan BB is a good starting point for a couple of reasons. It is organized well and it has pictures and I find I remember things better when there are pictures. I do not think Kaplan is a must and any book that organizes the information well should do, especially since Kaplan is not detailed enough for the actual test.
Destroyer - I think the following statement is true for all the sciences. The Destroyer is necessary, but must be supplemented.
Advantages -
Questions. You remember things better when there are in question form instead of having to memorize material without a question afterwards. It is also more fun, which is very important when you are studying the same material for a few months. If you got something wrong and it bothers you, you will most likely remember the concept next time. There aren't so many questions out there and this makes it a great resource.
Lots of people have it and that means that you can always ask anything you didn't understand on SDN and there is usually someone online that can help you.
Disanvatages
Questions - There is one major problem with questions, there is only so much information that can be learnt from any one problem and two questions next to each other defeats the purpose of the question b/c then you know it bc you just did a question on the same topic and not bc you really do know it. This means that a question book will be inherently disorganized. You have to go through about many different questions to find all the relevant information related to any one topic.
To compensate for this, there is a lot of information in the answers. This means that when you go through Destroyer, you have to go through the answers thoroughly, even if you understand the qeustion and why the answer is right bc there is usually information about the wrong answers as well. The problem is that you then lose the advantage of having questions and you still have to put the answer keys from a few different answers together.
Spark notes bio index cards - They give you 600 cards and it isn't very expensive, Most of them are very basic, but they have some pictures, which is good. I would say that I didn't already know about 75-100 of the words. They are cheap and quick to go through. Not a savior, but maybe worth getting.
Buddies - get yourself a person that you can test each other. This was very helpful for me bc you end up choosing very hard questions to stump him and you both know more than you did before. I would suggest this more towards the end when you are sick and tired of studying.
Conclusion - I would get Destroyer and something else that is organized well. Go through whatever it is and then go through Destroyer and it will be even easier to remember destroyer bc you are remembering everything in context of a concept. There is a lot of information in Destroyer. go over it in chunks, (I did about 20 questions a day) adn then go over it again, and then go over it again and then go over it again and if you have time, go over it again (each time reading the answers).
Gchem - I have a decent background in GChem. Destroyer is once again necessary, but you need to supplement. I went to a class and I went through all the concepts and only then I started Destroyer and I think that this is the best way to really get the most out of GChem. I would keep go over the basics a lot bc you really cant move on without them.
Ochem - Same thing as Gchem.
Achiever - As you can tell by my scores on the real DAT, I did much better on everything in the real DAT than on Achiever, except for Math and Reading. I think that is pretty typical of the reality. Achiever is very difficult for the sciences and too easy for reading and math.
I did so poorly on my practice tests that I was very close to postponing my test for a week or so and canceling the vacation I am currently on until I spoke to people who reassured me that whether you do really well or poorly on Achiever doesn't show much about the actual DAT and thank god they were right.😀
I think the best part about Acheiver is that you can take a full length test and it prepares you for that perfectly. You have to take it seriously and don't take any breaks when you aren't allowed to. Also, you get a few extra questions and that is good. However, Top Score gives that same advantage. I suggest you take a look at the following for a better breakdown on the difference between the two.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=546119
The most annoying part about achiever is that after you take the test, you can't take it again. The test now has your answers already clicked, which was pretty annoying.
Math - Destroyer is a nice start, but you really need to go deeper and I don't have any particular suggestions, as you can tell by my math score.
Somebody suggested purplemath.com to me, I have no idea if it is any good bc I didn't have enough time before my DAT to look at it.
PAT - I love CDP!!!! I bought the ten pack and I did a test every couple of days. During my test, I made sure to note every question I had and look at the solution even if I got it right in the end. One thing I wish I had done was work on my weaknesses. It was more fun to do stuff that I was good at, like cube counting and hole punching (I used the tick-tack-toe method) than going over the T.F.E. and pattern folding as much as I should have done. If you can do CDP, you can definitely do well on the PAT section of the DAT. Everyone should have crack (no pun intended).
I think everyone should look at this post for PAT bc it is really helpful and SAMA951 is amazing
.http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=528643&highlight=wicked+sick
General Tips:
I am a big studier and I don't like cramming, so personally, I would start as early as possible. The day after I graduated College (May 22nd), I started studying. This gave me about two and a half months and if I could have, I would have started even earlier.
While I was studying I also shadowed dentists most days, avoid this (I did about 80 hours total this summer). After I came home, even if it was only 3 in the afternoon, I was really tired and my feet hurt and my bed was calling. The last thing I wanted to do was study. I took many naps and it really cut into my studying time. I was supposed to keep shadowing until I took the test, but I decided I needed to take the last two weeks off b/c otherwise I wouldn't be close to ready.
Make sure you take a class! It will keep you on a good schedule, but make sure you don't use the class as a crutch, you have to do what needs to be done outside of the class too.
Try to talk to people who just took the test or are about to take the test b/c it will get you really scared. They will know so much more information than you that you will realize that you really need to start buckling down. This happened to me a few times, especially with PAT and it really helped my score.
Schedule a test towards the beginning of when you start studying. If you have a date when you will definitely take the DAT, it makes it easier to focus.
VERY IMPORTANT!! THE LAST DAY BEFORE THE DAT:
Every kept telling me that the last day before the exam, I should just relax. I somewhat disagree. I think you shouldn't try to review everything bc you end up going to fast and not gaining out of it, however, I don't think the day before should be a wasted day necessarily.
I think you should pick the subject that you do very poorly and focus on that and don't do anything else. I chose pattern folding. I was worse in angles, but I don't see a point, I just don't think I have the eye for it. I redid every single crack pattern folding, which took about half a day and I started off by only getting about 8-10 out of 15 in the beginning of the day and I ended off by getting an average of about 13-14 on the last three or so and it wasn't bc I remembered what the answers were, in fact I rememebered the first ones better than the last ones. This was really helpful and I think it might have improved my PAT score by one or 2 points on the actual DAT.
I hope I have been helpful and any questions or comments would be appreciated. I am still on vacation so I won't be online as frequently as I would like, but I will make an effort to try and answer any questions people have.
Thanks to everyone on this forum.
