Dat done! 9/17/08

[LAWL]

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I found it helpful reading other people's experiences on the DAT, so I thought I'd share mine.

I only studied for a week, and even then it wasn't very consistent. (Had a lot of personal things going on)

Here's my scores

Bio 18
Gchem 18
Ochem 16
RC 17
QR 13
PAT 17
AA 17

I know theyre not great, I'm planning on retaking (hopefully still have time for this cycle). I do have 3.8 GPA, good LORS, lots of "meaning" EC (VP and President for two clubs, REU internships, 200+shadowing, etc)


BIO: nothing in this section is hard. everything on there was something I've seen either during lecture or in lab. I def. think the more biology courses you take, the more this section will appear elementary to you. There were 3 questions that I had no idea what they were talking about.. Everything else was very straight-forward. I did get one question showing me a picture of a tissue. I've taken a histology class, so it was fairly straightforward. Destroyer BIO wasn't totally useless, but again, during the actual test, I found myself going back to stuff I learned in class rather than the Destroyer or any other review material.

GCHEM: very straightforward. I only had 1 that I had to actually calculate. There were 3-4 others that had the equation set up already. Most of it was conceptual. Know acid and bases. Ka, pka, and the relationship between these two ! Destroyer was def. overkill for these. pick up an AP chemistry book, and you'll do great. Know solubility, ionization energy, orbitals.

OC: also very straightforward. I had 4 nMR questions, which I def. was not prepared for. rest were straightfoward reactions. I had 2 IR questions, very straightfoward though. I also thought Destroyer was overkill for this section, except for the roadmaps.

RC: I did not get frapped. This section wasn't hard. It didn't really have a lot of tone questions like everyone was saying.. There was ONE tone question for each passage... so that's only 3 tone questions. A lot of it was search and destroy. I think this section was testing me more of how fast I can read... which apparently isn't fast enough!

PAT: very disappointed in this score. I was scoring 18-19 on Crack DAT PAT. angles were def. harder than CDP. Rest were very similiar to CDP... some even looked like they were the same.

QR: math has always been my weakness; but considering I only had a week to study, I focused more of my studying on Bio and Chem; questions were SAT-like. Nothing really required long multiplication of division problems. Most of the problems I KNEW how to do worked out evenly, or i just estimated.


Achiever was def. overkill for this. Like I said, I'm retaking because I know I can do better. I plan on calling or emailing schools and telling them I will retake, so they don't reject me =/

anyone that still has to take this test, take it! don't be scared! This test is def. do-able for anyone who puts in the effort. I really wish I had taken this test earlier and put in more effort, so that I can actually have time to retake.

any hope for me?

 

[Chesnok]

Why you took it without at 4 weeks of preparation or just put it off on the next year. Now you have this score on record and schools would def see that. I don't understand. So, main advice , just get more practice tests and invest more time studying. Good Luck .

 

[heatwheat]

Well now you know what to expect for your retake. You should do great next time.

 

[polarmolar]

Your scores show that with a little extra work you can def do well, retake and smash it

 

[needa20]

good for only studying for 1 week, but why you would only study for 1 week is beyond me....

personally, I do not think you are going to be able to retake and have a resonable shot at getting in for 2009. you have to wait 3 months before you can take it again. so that puts you taking it in december....little late

 

[dabramo]

Maybe everything is not overkill.. you should have studied a bit longer and hammered the overkill problems so the easier problems on the test you can get correct.

 

[klutzy1987]

Study for longer and know the basics as well as the overkill and the next time around which will likely be next cycle should be better. If you did somewhat OK without really studying then you should do very well if you study properly.

 

[LAWL]

Why you took it without at 4 weeks of preparation or just put it off on the next year. Now you have this score on record and schools would def see that. I don't understand. So, main advice , just get more practice tests and invest more time studying. Good Luck .

like I said, its because of personal problems, but if you really wanted to know. I have been in and out of the hospital for the last few months. The emotional stress behind it all is what really made it so hard for me to study ahead of time.

I'm going to retake anyway in Dec. I know it is late, but I think its better than not trying at all. Anyone know people getting in with these scores?

 

[dnah18]

Hey.
Considering how much time you studied, I think you did a great job. I'm sure you know the stuff, just needed a bit more time to review. I hope your feeling better now. It really is hard to focus when you have so much to deal with. I've actually called up schools b/c I wanted to retake as well. Most of the schools said if I really wanted to I could, but that retaking them in mid-December really would be too late, considering the time it takes to get the scores to them. I would definitely email them and give them a heads up if you do plan on retaking. And a suggestion I have for you is that perhaps you can do other stuff as well, just in case. Such as finding a dental lab to volunteer in or getting some research experience. Sorry for the long comment. I really do wish you the best and I pray that you get through this difficult time...