DAT done 8/4

[lalsad]

Hey everyone! First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has posted their breakdowns and advice here. It has been very helpful. I took the DAT today. I started studying in May on and off and have spent the past month and a half in a summer program so it's been hard to focus but i'm glad its over..

my scores:

PAT: 19
QR: 13
RC: 26
Bio: 20
Gen Chem: 17
Org: 20

AA: 19
TS: 19

PAT: I used Kaplan, Crack DAT PAT, and DAT achiever. Kaplan is too easy for angle ranking, but everything else is pretty much the same. I was getting 18s on all my crack DAT PAT tests but I thought the cube counting, hole punching, and TFE was easier on the DAT.

Biology: THIS IS NOT EASIER THAN PRACTICE EXAMS like everyone says. It's detailed! I took the kaplan course (which just reviewed basics, but was not enough), Kaplan online material, went over DAT Destroyer twice, and Achiever. Don't get me wrong, there were easy questions...but it had a good amount of detailed ones.

Org: The destroyer was good for this, but I don't think its overkill like people say. Kaplan helped with the basics too. It wasn't as easy as i expected though.

Gen Chem: Ironically enough, I didn't think this section was that bad. It didn't have anything i've never seen before but I drew a BLANK on some basic concepts like formal charge and molar concentrations.

RC: THIS SCORED SAVED MY LIFE !! lol. The highest I had gotten on the practice exams was a 22 (Achiever Test 2). My strategy: I went straight to the question, read it, and started reading the passage until i found the answer. Then moved on to the next question. If i had already read the answer in the passage, i would answer it and move on to the next question until i got to a question that i hadn't read. Then i'd continue reading and repeat...I skipped inference questions until the end of the whole thing. My passages had to do with speech, microarray analysis, and calcium. The last passage was annoyingly detailed. But the first two were interesting.

QR: I'm so ashamed of this score! I honestly underestimated this section. I figured i'd get by on my good algebra and great educated guessed..WRONG! I think to do well on this section you have to dedicate as much time to it as any of the sciences. I did the math in the DAT destroyer and took some Crack DAT MATH exams and was scoring an average of 15. The time constraint is CRAZY and the word problems are detailed PLUS they give you answers in units that were not in the problem...ugh.

ALSO, If you can, ask the proctor for 2 dry erase markers, mine ran out in the middle of chem because i left it open!

my gpa is 3.85 if anyone would like to know.

I'm actually a dual admission student at NSU which means all I needed was to score at least a 19 on TS and AA. Luckily, my QR won't be detrimental.

If anyone wants to know more information on the dental school at NSU or any questions on the area in general, let me know..I really love it there and will be happy to help.

Again, thanks to everyone for all your help! and when your motivation is low...listen to "The Climb"

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[ZzZzSleepyhead]

Beastly RC score!!!! Enjoy your summer

 

[ResidentPersian]

wow! GREAT RC! and solid scores all around.

for bio, did you get a lot of genetics (i.e. transcription, dna tech, etc) and endo quetions?

Also, how representative was Destroyer chem/ochem to the real thing and to Topscore (if you took it).

again, great scores!

 

[ResidentPersian]

Also, don't worry so much about QR. I takled to a few admin officers already and they told em that for QR if you did well in math in college, tehy'll know the score was a fluke and won't take into AS MUCH consideration (they''ll count it, but not as highly...)

 

[lalsad]

The genetic questions were very simple (blood groups) and there was a question on PCR but it was easy too. I don't remember any transcription/translation questions..

Destroyer Ochem, I think, was more into details (i.e 3 or 4 step reactions) but you will definitely see a lot of destroyer concepts on there. For Gen Chem, destroyer was harder but great at explaining concepts. It's true that the test gives you things worked out...like (.5)(4)/2. The Gen Chem in the destroyer, however, doesn't emphasize the basics...i.e- formal charge, so look into that as well.

Also, i think achiever was pretty good at preparing me even though my AA scores were 18, 15, and 17.

 

[Murl]

The fish question in Destroyer? I have been through destroyer three times and I can't really think of what you are talking about.

 

[lalsad]

lol...its in the first page! like question 2 or 3 (i don't have my book)...it's not really asking about fish, but about osmolarity between salt water fishes and fresh water fishes, i had a question JUST LIKE IT!

 

[Kneecoal]

i had the fish question too and recognized it right away from destroyer! i think there's mention of it in cliff's too. needless to say, i was pleasantly surprised. congrats!

 

[baedero1]

can anyone post the fish question from destroyer? i cannot find the question in the first page.

 

[Doc Windfaller]

extremely good RC score. are you good reader in general and did you use the same strategy for all 3 passages on the DATs and even in practice?

Thanks so much

 

[lalsad]

the question is #2 in the 2009 Destroyer. I don't think i can post it here, being that it's copyrighted.

I was in a 6 week program till last week and they made us read a nonscience book everyday for an hour or two. They would stop us midway through the reading and tell us to read faster, then back normal, then faster...i think it helped make me a faster reader.

And i used my strategy for every passage...i started doing kaplans method but it was time consuming, so i guess i mixed in kaplan with search and destroy. So i still wrote down keywords but just like big names and numbers. I went through a few practice passages before realizing what worked best for me...i suggest you do the same.

 

[HeadingToDS]

In response to RC. Its touch and go. I was scoring on Achiever and Destroyer 22-25, never below 22 and on the real DAT I got an 18. Dont know what happened. I got Pianoed!!!! Such random questions. Who the hell cares if my little brother took the strings out of my piano, or how old of a piano I want to buy. I AM TONE DEAF!!!!

 

[jakesteal]

WTF?!?!?!?
This is cheating...you are not allowed to share questions...I studied hard and now other people can just read what you had to say. This is unfair. Someone should arrest this person.

 

[ashlander]

agreed