DAT DONE!!! Full Breakdown

[Orgodox]

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FINALLY DONE!!!

First of all thanks to all you guys on this forum it was really a great help and a lot of fun.

I have a lot of advice and tips for what TO DO that might help you guys studying but first of all I have one piece of advice of what NOT TO DO! When I was taking the test I was very relaxed (surprisingly so) and to stay comfortable had my feet stretched out straight under my desk. Well apparently I kicked the power cord because in the middle of my test my comp turned off! I freaked out! I ran out of the room and there like “You need to sign out” Im like sign out? My computer is off! I kept telling my self I better not have one of these crazy stories like pen drying out or be in a noisy room. Well sure enough here I am part of that club. Its actually kind of funny now and it’s a good story Ill have forever. Any how they told me to relax and the comp saves your work every second and they had it running again within a few minutes but the screen was doing this blinking thing and I lost a few mins and took a while for my heart to stop racing but overall it was fine. So be careful with your feet when you take your test!

I took it at 1 Penn plaza. The testing conditions were great. They had a lot of AC on, but be prepared it takes time to sign in and sign out of the room during your break they are in no rush to bring out that log book and find your name. People complain that the clacking of the keyboard from other peoples test which require essays annoys them. I didn’t find this distracting, but they offer headphones that cancel the noise if you want. However, if you don’t practice with them I think they are more of a distraction. I schedules my test for 1:30 PM because I dint want to wake up earlier than Im used to to get into the city to start it for the AM test. I came over an hour early and they let me start when I got there. Also get a lot of sleep the week of your test in case you cant sleep the night before and don’t stay up every night that week cramming. It won help, you should be in review mode not cram/ learn mode by then.
I used about 5 minutes of the tutorial in the beginning to get used to my seat and the desk and find a place for the eraser… So use that time to get comfortable. Make sure both your markers are working well before you start and be sure to keep capping them after you use them. They gave me 3 laminated pink sheets (all had the little boxes on both sides) and an eraser and I thought it worked great. You have to press a little hard to erase but its really nothing and come right off. I would strongly recommend taking one of your practice tests with a marker and a white board. Some of you might write small and this wont work at all with the fat markers they give you especially on the QR section. You don’t have to use it all the time but be comfortable enough that it wont throw you off.

I studied for a long time for this test and used a lot of different resources because I didn’t want to come out of the test disappointed and knowing I could have done more to prepare. So I therefore read and used as many resources as I could to prepare for this test and I feel that I can therefore give an objective opinion of what I thought was helpful and what was a total waste of time. BUT before I do that here are some of my science scores:

Bio : 21
GChem: 22
Orgo: 23

TS: 22 (96%)🙂

 

[monkeytoo]

Hey congrats!! You did great!! Thank you for taking the time to write up such a good review of what the test day felt like. I am planning on taking my DAT at the end of August in 1 Penn Plaza and I was so nervous about the test conditions and you really calmed me down. I am now using basically everything that you are using Destroyer, Crack the PAT, Bio AP cliffs, so I am glad to hear it worked out for you!🙂
Thanks and congrats again!!!

 

[mistero]

What do you suggest to use for t/f/e and pattern folding?

 

[Citric2]

I pulled a 16 in reading comp. I was shocked. I thought I had nailed all the tone questions and bam I get a 16. Not sure how you can study for things that maybe subjective. Good luck to you-
D

 

[jay47]

Great job man, I know you studied hard. I got the same feeling after taking mine (and posted a similiar long post immediately after). It seems as if there may not be much you can do for math and RC, I think I got lucky in RC personally, but my sections didn't seem too hard honestly. And to be honest, I thought the tone questions were actually some of the easiest to do. However, I am much better at reading than math ( as you could tell from my scores), so that's that.

Great job, you should have no trouble getting into somewhere, but dont slack on your app. or your interview, they are all crucial parts of the dental admissions process. Good luck (if you need it).

 

[Xtian]

Thanks for the breakdown!

I'm curious, how did you use Destroyer. I find myself just reading the answers and highlighting because I really don't know most of the answers. Any ideas?

 

[Orgodox]

Great job man, I know you studied hard. I got the same feeling after taking mine (and posted a similiar long post immediately after). It seems as if there may not be much you can do for math and RC, I think I got lucky in RC personally, but my sections didn't seem too hard honestly. And to be honest, I thought the tone questions were actually some of the easiest to do. However, I am much better at reading than math ( as you could tell from my scores), so that's that.

Great job, you should have no trouble getting into somewhere, but dont slack on your app. or your interview, they are all crucial parts of the dental admissions process. Good luck (if you need it).

Hey man yea I actually remember your post when I first got to this site I used to search for helpful info and I one came across yours and after I read it I was like Im def. posting a long thing like this to try and help people out! Great job! Yea our scores are similar but you killed RC and my TS is one point higher (id trade-lol)
I didn't think the tone questions were going so badly but they just kept coming one after the next and sometimes you can get a few and miss a few but the easy points are the ones straight from the text but for every tone questions (like 15) that was not just another one wrong probably but also another one that wasn't in the text for gimme points which do add up. Even if they give dif reading passaged they should standardize the type of questions per paragraph so everyone get say 4 tone questions! Like Klutzy said in his post- how do they call this standardized when its completely different for other people?? (((Sorry I hate to complain but I had to vent eventually)))

 

[sks2286]

Hey

I had the same RC version maybe even the same test. The tone questions were very difficult. It was just up too luck on some of them. I ended up doing 21 but I considered myself very lucky. You should be happy you escaped with a 20. You did very well and should have no problem getting accepted somewhere.

Good luck.

 

[Ninster]

Thanks again guys. Im glad you found this of help. In case you dont have patience to read that whole long thins I can sum it up in short: DESTROYER IS ON THE MONEY lol but seriously thanks for the encouragement guys. This forum is an awesome tool. One of my reactions was kinda tough on the test but I think I answered something from destroyer just like it 5 or 6 times over the last few months so it was a breeze.

As for Topscore and achiever that nogn and Jide asked about- Ill be glad to add an in-depth opinion of what I thought and their strengths and weaknesses. I wont have time to do this til Sunday prob. but its coming soon.

Enjoy the weekend guys and study hard the end is near!

I know this is a REALLY dumb question - but just wondering what DAT destroyer is - is it online, or is it a book? Do I just click on the ad at the top of the page if I wanna get my hands on one?

Thanks for the post and great stats 🙂 You should def relax the rest of the summer, you deserve it!

 

[Orgodox]

Yea its a study guide for the DAT. The whole thing is questions so its not like reading a book. Somthing liek 350 for bio questions and 180 for GChem and OChem and also has QR questions. Yea you can take the link on SDN to the page and purchase it from there. You already know what i think of it if you read my post. It was awesome for my test and many others have said the same recently!
Good Luck

 

[klutzy1987]

Yea its a study guide for the DAT. The whole thing is questions so its not like reading a book. Somthing liek 350 for bio questions and 180 for GChem and OChem and also has QR questions. Yea you can take the link on SDN to the page and purchase it from there. You already know what i think of it if you read my post. It was awesome for my test and many others have said the same recently!
Good Luck

I agree, its awesome.

 

[Jammanisback]

Great job man solid scores good luck in dental school.

 

[gentile1225]

it might be a little late by now, but congratulations! solid scores, hope you do well in the future.

 

[Blade8]

Good Job Orgodox! Thanks for the breakdown and all of the useful advice. I am currently studying myself so you helped a lot.

 

[Orgodox]

Good Job Orgodox! Thanks for the breakdown and all of the useful advice. I am currently studying myself so you helped a lot.

Thanks guys for the nice words. Im glad you found it helpful!
Good luck

 

[Dmitry Malayev]

Wow, great scores. Thanks for the breakdown really does help. Congrats and good luck with admissions.

 

[Orgodox]

Thanks for the breakdown!

I'm curious, how did you use Destroyer. I find myself just reading the answers and highlighting because I really don't know most of the answers. Any ideas?

I do like to highlight but generally when I read books that Im not taking notes on caze it keeps me focused and then I can go back and read mostly the highlights. However this is not what I did for destroyer.
For the bio I made sheets of paper and for every point that was mentioned in the answer key or answer choices that I didn't know I wrote it down and studied that. It took a while to do this caze sometimes I would check wiki for info but by reading more about something it was easier to remember. It was a total of 6 pages so I could go through the whole thing in about half an hour. Then after not seeing the questions directly for about 3 weeks I went over it again and it was easy to read the answers caze I knew most of the stuff. I occasionally made a flash card which added up to frequently test myself on bite size pieces of knowledge.
For the GChem I went through it and made a list of the ones I got wrong so I could analyze what types of problems I was missing then referenced my book or the answers in the back to learn this stuff. Then I did it again this way like 3 weeks later and there weren't that many left and focused on these.
Organic- I did this section the most, mostly caze I got tons wrong the first few times through becasue I hadnt learned much of the stuff since I started the book in Feb. and was still in Ochem 2 so hadnt covered much of the stuff. It was hard to do this but it paid off big time caze I was way ahead of my class and always answered the professors questions which was kinda cool.
I personally studies over a long period of time so I could not look at a section in destroyer for a few weeks then really do it again and not be afraid of being tricked into thinking I knew something from memorizing the problem caze I didn't usually memorize the specifics of the problem but just the point it was trying to teach.

Maybe you will find it helpful to do smaller number of problems from one section then switch over so you dont start getting bored
I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Commitment]

when you were doing destroyer were you just answering questions the first time around without timing yourself? Did you do all the questions first THEN go to the solutions?

also, when you didn't touch the book for about 3 weeks how did you study the material you took down? How did you study the material you got wrong and how did you find a way of retaining the material for the next 3 weeks when you returned to the questions...

 

[jdent]

Dude you destroyed the DAT!!!!!
You'll be an awesome Orthodox dentist someday-
The post is awesome and as far as my research shows- has the most views- more than any other post out there, that alone is a big achiever, oh i mean destroyer.

 

[Molar Man]

Hey!
great scores! your post was really helpful, Good Luck getting in!

 

[jdent]

Just keeping it at the top 😉

 

[wifi08]

Bump!

 

[Dotoday]

Hi, how did you study for the reading section? Did you use Barrons or Kaplan or other sources? What do you think really helps? Thanks.

 

[Orgodox]

Hi, how did you study for the reading section? Did you use Barrons or Kaplan or other sources? What do you think really helps? Thanks.

Hey sorry didn't respond earlier. Reading was my worst section but I do believe that practice does help. My first practice teat I got a 16 then after a few practices got my score up to 21s consistently on the kaplan practices (Which are much harder than the find the correct sentence in topscore/achiever) However my real test had many tone questions which I was not prepared for. I have heard people recommend using some MCAT stuff to prepare for these questions.
They would say in paragraph 4 the author says.... what do you think would be a good conclusion sentence of what was the purpose of this sentence so time is not a huge issue caze you dont need to search all over but its good to get practice with these types for the real thing.
Good luck

 

[wifi08]

you the man orgodox

 

[eldirty]

very solid ... congrats and good luck

 

[wifi08]

thanks again

 

[hoyas19]

congrats on the scores! im taking my test this saturday and i hope i do as well as you do. would you mind posting about topscore and achiever? ive taken all the top scores and 1 achiever and i'm just wondering how you think they match up to the real thing in the specific sections..thanks!

 

[Orgodox]

Hey, my practice scores are in the thread (its long but there there) and I think the RC matches up the worst and the Chems are closest.
About achiever I thought Number 1 wasnt bad but 2 was hard and didnt take third.

 

[Orgodox]

Aight guys Im finally going on VACATION!!! OFF TO FLORIDA AND TO DISNEY WORLD IN THE MORNING!!

Can actually enjoy a little now: My AADSAS printout was FINALLY mailed to schools Monday! Now its a waiting game

Good luck to all you guys still studying and if you have more questions, please keep em coming and Ill answer you when I get back!

 

[Mamona]

👍

 

[keliao]

lol.. Ordgodox..you are awesome.... please do.!..

 

[Orgodox]

Thanks Keliao, whens your test date?

 

[achilles2]

Orgo where do you plan on going to school???

 

[Orgodox]

I really hope to go to Maryland!! Unfortunately, they are not one of the fastest schools to start interviewing but I am trying to remain patient. I live in NY now for school so I applied to some schools in and around NY, how bout you?

 

[achilles2]

I really hope to go to Maryland!! Unfortunately, they are not one of the fastest schools to start interviewing but I am trying to remain patient. I live in NY now for school so I applied to some schools in and around NY, how bout you?

Stonybrook is my number 1 choice right now I hope I get in =x

I applied to a few around the area of NY and Boston like harvard BU Tufts UConn etc the only far schools I applied to are LV and UCLA

 

[Dotoday]

Hey man,
Did you get any responce from NYU or Columbia yet? They should grant you an interview.

 

[keliao]

Thanks Keliao, whens your test date?

sometimes this month, i'm not sure yet, still doing CrackMath. hope you are not applying to Temple...lol..!!

 

[Orgodox]

Hey man,
Did you get any responce from NYU or Columbia yet? They should grant you an interview.

Not yet but keeping my fingers crossed. My school still has NOT sent out my committee packet, I think that might be slowing me down at some schools. So much for a top 50 private school education and all the tuition!😡😱

 

[joedat41]

Wow great scores and great breakdown!

 

[Dotoday]

Have you heard from any schools yet?

 

[Orgodox]

Nothing yet, got an e-mail from Maryland today which got me very excited but it was about a pre-req not for a secondary. A few schools said my app is received and under review but still a waiting game.

 

[Dotoday]

Hey listen, what did you use to study for the reading comprehension? I think NY times Science section is the best.

 

[klutzy1987]

Can we get this thread stickied, it is a superb breakdown and everyone can and deserves to benefit from this thread.

 

[zuma35]

Can we get this thread stickied, it is a superb breakdown and everyone can and deserves to benefit from this thread.

I agree! Great breakdown and very helpful.

 

[Northside]

Yeah, nice thread

 

[Orgodox]

Can we get this thread stickied, it is a superb breakdown and everyone can and deserves to benefit from this thread.

Lol thanks guys.

Hope you guys who are studying now can benefit from the update on topscore/achiever! Good luck!!!

 

[bimapdich]

omg im so jealous of you now, im trying to get in dental school, im so worried about my GPA, im not taking the DAT yet but im worried about it too, can you give me some experience about what you did, what do you need to do to make it better, extra curriculum activities? thanks a lot

 

[klutzy1987]

Can someone sticky this thread.

 

[joedat41]

thanks for this whole thread it was very helpful!!

 

[Enso]

Thanks guys Osims good luck tomorrow! Yea I know its really long but I learned a lot from the experience of what was helpful study tool and what was a waste and I could have cut out 3 solid weeks of my studying if I knew this earlier so I thought I would share

Awesome, being a guy that still has to take the DAT your info is golden. I could've read 10 more pages of that haha. Thanks and great score!