DAT Done worst scores ever!!! :bang:

[littleduce]

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Took the DAT 3 days ago and just wanted to tell you guys that nothing that I studied from Kaplan or destroyer was on there!

I was shocked after the bio that I got a panic attack which messed up all of the other scores. I am very disappointed b/c my scores dropped 4 points from my original scores.

I cried for 2 hours after my test just out of frustration. I studied for 3 months with no life 14 hrs a day and got really bad scores. (aa 17).

I'm at cross roads as to continue or not.....

the only thing that will keep me going is the fact that I never give up but deep down inside I want to give up.

its really hard to give up on your dreams (you guys may never know how it feels b/c 99.99% of you guys are really smart).

I hope Kaplan burns in hell for charging me $1,500 for worthless info.

my test experience was even worst, I could not tell the difference between the multiplication and addition on the cal. that really messed me up.

I hope you guys do much better than I did!

 

[AmpedUp]

I can relate to you!! Don't give up!! Keep retaking the exam until you get the score you want. I got an 18 on my first attempt. I'm hoping my second attempt is a few points higher.

 

[ajhalls3]

I hope Kaplan burns in hell for charging me $1,500 for worthless info.

It is a common enough thing to happen when you employ a bunch of students waiting to move on to something better. You have virtually no quality control past the persons ability to test which is why Kaplan is mainly known for the online material NOT the in person tutoring.

It the people working for Kaplan had any interest in teaching, they wouldn't be applying to med / dental school, it is just a way to fill some extra time and make a few extra bucks till school starts.

Destroyer has also always been known to be harder than the actual DAT but testing concepts that you will find. If you did well on destroyer but didn't on the test, I would be surprised.

Just my two cents.

 

[wizi]

I know how you feel. Hopefully, these 2 videos help you in some way...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOlTdkYXuzE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSM1mvMypWU

Good luck with everything, dont give up. DONT EVER GIVE UP. study harder and retake the sucker...

 

[littleduce]

I did the online Kaplan....If you are currently doing that then just stop and focus on something else. its a total waste of time.

I did do the destroyer but I did not see anything that I was like " O i did smthing similar on the destroyer I know this question" or even felt as if the destroyer was supper hard and thought the DAT was easier.

All of the questions on this DAT were sooooooo random its not funny. I really thought I was prepared. I got a 20 AA/ 20 PA/ 21 TS last time and thought it was a good test, but this time I dont know what in the world the ADA was thinking.

They really didnt test my knowledge that would relate to anything that I may use later in dental school or that I was taught in college. Just random questions that when you look at them you think the prometric center messed up and gave u some other test.

It may have only been my test but I can assure you that the test that I took was nothing like anything that I had studied for or took practice tests on. I even took some ADA tests and man they ripped me off! again nothing was similar (like the concepts were sooo bizarre!!!).

I'm really thinking of calling them too see what going on.

If any of you felt the same way during your test in the past 3 months then post something about your test to see if yours was similar. I really dont know....

 

[AmpedUp]

I'm against standardized testing (excluding license examinations), but there's little you can do to change it. My passion for dentistry is the reason why I want to do well on the DAT. In my opinion, if you were scoring that high during practice, YOUR actual DAT was definitely a fluke. Stay fresh for 3 months and take it again - you have plenty of time between now and June...

 

[Smiley25]

So you didn't have a great test day. Don't stress and definitely don't give up. I know you think a 17 is the absolute WORST score ever, but it's really not. In fact, I had 2 interviews this year with a 17AA and even though I haven't been accepted anywhere I am still on a waiting list...

I have had several friends with scores ranging from 15AA-17AA get into dental school. SDN/Predents represents less than 5% of the pre-dental applicant pool and those that have low DAT scores never post on here because everyone will tell them they don't have a shot. Let's leave that up to the adcoms.

Just study again and retake in 3 months. Kaplan and destroyer can actually be great tools if you utilize everything they have to offer. Maybe you didn't study in the right way. What were your practice test scores? I know how you feel-I felt the same way. Just don't give up!

 

[rmm30]

When I read your post it freaked me out. I thought, how could the DAT really test on information that was not covered in any of the prep materials that you mentioned, doesn't seem right. Then I recalled a similar post of someone a couple months ago talking about how the entire DAT was completely random and the questions were out of this world. At first I thought "maybe there is a bad version of the DAT going around" you know just to thin the herd a bit and anyone who draws the ******* card from the wonka lottery is just plain out of luck."

Your post probably freaked everyone who read it.

But you are not being honest with us or yourself are you? I checked some of your current postings and there are some glaring inconsistencies from what you are saying now and what you said then. You have to be open to the possibility that you were not prepared. If you didn't think destroyer was that hard why did you start a thread adressing how difficult is was and how you couldn't solve any of the problems. You posted a very simple genetics question, complained ad naueseum about ecology and bio diversity stuff. You say that you really thought you were prepared before the test but you opened up a thread (DAT in 4 days) describing how unprepared you were. You say that you have been studying for three months 14hr/day. In another post you say that you wanted to take it dec 17 but couldn't because of finals. In another post you mention that you are earning a 4.0 in a masters program while supporting a family.

There is absolutely NO WAY that you are raising a family, getting your masters AND putting in 14 hr/day on DAT.

That sucks that you didnt get the score you wanted or deserve but thats no reason to to cause a panic for everyone else.

Shake it off, clear some time off your schedule and kill it next time around.

 

[beatsdre]

So you didn't have a great test day. Don't stress and definitely don't give up. I know you think a 17 is the absolute WORST score ever, but it's really not. In fact, I had 2 interviews this year with a 17AA and even though I haven't been accepted anywhere I am still on a waiting list...

I have had several friends with scores ranging from 15AA-17AA get into dental school. SDN/Predents represents less than 5% of the pre-dental applicant pool and those that have low DAT scores never post on here because everyone will tell them they don't have a shot. Let's leave that up to the adcoms.

I can definately understand 18's getting in coupled with a good gpa. 17's, yes, although they are far and in between. 15-16? I find that hard to believe.

 

[ccm5166]

Hey don't give up and take it again!!!....Always be positive and think about those that are in worse situation than you : like me!! I applied last year with low dat scores haha did not get accepted!! took dat again in november but only increased 1point which was still low 🙁 and I think my rejection letter is soon to be in my mailbox...but guess what? I am taking the DAT again in June right before application starts again for 2012.. It's my third time!! And yeah, the test has nothing from kaplan..destroyer. nothing really helped except the book for organic chem 1001 ques from examkracker which had a lot of similar questions from book on the first time i took test.. second time i took the test: i requested the sample test from ADA which cost $28 and thought that nothing about plants will be in the test guess what? a lot of plant related question and metric system on quantitative section...absolutely nothing from the books 🙁... I have over 20 books that i study over and over but those quests on dat are absolutely ridiculus.. good luck to all of you taking it!!

 

[Erhatstil]

I did the online Kaplan....If you are currently doing that then just stop and focus on something else. its a total waste of time.

I did do the destroyer but I did not see anything that I was like " O i did smthing similar on the destroyer I know this question" or even felt as if the destroyer was supper hard and thought the DAT was easier.

All of the questions on this DAT were sooooooo random its not funny. I really thought I was prepared. I got a 20 AA/ 20 PA/ 21 TS last time and thought it was a good test, but this time I dont know what in the world the ADA was thinking.

They really didnt test my knowledge that would relate to anything that I may use later in dental school or that I was taught in college. Just random questions that when you look at them you think the prometric center messed up and gave u some other test.

It may have only been my test but I can assure you that the test that I took was nothing like anything that I had studied for or took practice tests on. I even took some ADA tests and man they ripped me off! again nothing was similar (like the concepts were sooo bizarre!!!).

I'm really thinking of calling them too see what going on.

If any of you felt the same way during your test in the past 3 months then post something about your test to see if yours was similar. I really dont know....

you scored a 20AA/21TS on your first attempt? if so why did you retake?

 

[Smiley25]

I can definately understand 18's getting in coupled with a good gpa. 17's, yes, although they are far and in between. 15-16? I find that hard to believe.

True story. The DAT average has gone up though and these friends of mine matriculated during the 2007 and 2008 cycles. I doubt my own friends would lie to me about scores that low... I know they both had really high GPAs and were very involved. It was our state school(I've moved since then). My point was that the NATIONAL AVERAGE of students who matriculate is 18. There are so many people that get in with DAT scores in the 20s. They must take a lot of other students with DAT scores lower than 20 to balance that out. Your DAT score is just one factor in the equation of getting into dental school. That's all I was saying.

 

[rmm30]

Hey don't give up and take it again!!!....Always be positive and think about those that are in worse situation than you : like me!! I applied last year with low dat scores haha did not get accepted!! took dat again in november but only increased 1point which was still low 🙁 and I think my rejection letter is soon to be in my mailbox...but guess what? I am taking the DAT again in June right before application starts again for 2012.. It's my third time!! And yeah, the test has nothing from kaplan..destroyer. nothing really helped except the book for organic chem 1001 ques from examkracker which had a lot of similar questions from book on the first time i took test.. second time i took the test: i requested the sample test from ADA which cost $28 and thought that nothing about plants will be in the test guess what? a lot of plant related question and metric system on quantitative section...absolutely nothing from the books 🙁... I have over 20 books that i study over and over but those quests on dat are absolutely ridiculus.. good luck to all of you taking it!!

If the test has nothing from kaplan destroyer, or any of the other 20 books that you are studying from then why are you bothering to read them at all? Why? Tell me what is the point of investing your time and money in those resources if you know that the the ADA will not test you on it? If thats the case Im done studying. Im going to watch TV now.

 

[UCB05]

Perhaps you went about studying for the exam incorrectly? There's no source floating around that will just spoon-feed you the questions and answers. You should be knowing HOW to solve the problems given to you in Destroyer, not simply what the questions and answer are. It's a practice workbook, not a secret omnibus with all of life's solutions. You really shouldn't have expected to have all the answers just by going through Kaplan and Destroyer. If the exam was "so random" then you didn't study enough of the right information. It's hard to argue an exam is unfair or random or inconsistent if what it is testing you on is the subject in its entirety, in which case, sufficient preparation would be reading a textbook, not one online course and one workbook.

You said you got a 20/21 on the first go, so I can't say what happened. Maybe you got lucky the first time =/ Try to put in more time to covering everything you need to cover. I found Schaum's and Barrons books helpful. Theyre practically textbooks.

 

[littleduce]

First of all I want to clarify something! I did not post this thread to make everyone panic. I was simply being honest. There might be a really bad version of the DAT that I got or it may be that since the DAT scores are rising the ADA wanted to keep them constant at the national level.

Please dont read this and panic! I'm just letting you all know that the questions did not test my knowledge the way Kaplan or the Destroyer did. I was expecting to see terms that I was familiar with not some crazy words that just made me say "what are you talking about? is this the DAT?'

Now you can read this and say I'm being negative or I'm not right bc the destroyer covers everything or kaplan is good if you know how to study. I hope you do feel ready and you do score above a 20 but I didn't and I did dedicate a lot of time to it.

As for rmm30's inconsiderate words I want you to know that I dont have kids but I support my family bc my grandmother passed away and my father has not been able to work. I work at walmart during the night shift with minimum pay bc no company wants to hire me with my situation. As far as my masters, its online so once again your were wrong.

rmm30 I highly recommend you to consider everything before you talk. I'm assuming you want to be a dentist and that's why your on SDN. Let me tell you that one of the key qualities of being a health care provider is that they know and understand that every patient that walks through those doors has a history and there are things that you don't know about that person. I hope you don't have this type of mind set when you do become a dentist and you want to be one b/c you want to make a difference in someone's life and your not in it just for the money.

I wish everyone here best of luck and hope you get the grade you want and get into dental school so you can make a difference in this world by making people smile.

 

[AmpedUp]

First of all I want to clarify something! I did not post this thread to make everyone panic. I was simply being honest. There might be a really bad version of the DAT that I got or it may be that since the DAT scores are rising the ADA wanted to keep them constant at the national level.

Please dont read this and panic! I'm just letting you all know that the questions did not test my knowledge the way Kaplan or the Destroyer did. I was expecting to see terms that I was familiar with not some crazy words that just made me say "what are you talking about? is this the DAT?'

Now you can read this and say I'm being negative or I'm not right bc the destroyer covers everything or kaplan is good if you know how to study. I hope you do feel ready and you do score above a 20 but I didn't and I did dedicate a lot of time to it.

As for rmm30's inconsiderate words I want you to know that I dont have kids but I support my family bc my grandmother passed away and my father has not been able to work. I work at walmart during the night shift with minimum pay bc no company wants to hire me with my situation. As far as my masters, its online so once again your were wrong.

rmm30 I highly recommend you to consider everything before you talk. I'm assuming you want to be a dentist and that's why your on SDN. Let me tell you that one of the key qualities of being a health care provider is that they know and understand that every patient that walks through those doors has a history and there are things that you don't know about that person. I hope you don't have this type of mind set when you do become a dentist and you want to be one b/c you want to make a difference in someone's life and your not in it just for the money.

I wish everyone here best of luck and hope you get the grade you want and get into dental school so you can make a difference in this world by making people smile.

Don't worry man, he's being an ass with everyone (including with you) - check his other posts to figure that out. BTW, I'm interested to know which school/major are you doing your masters? (PM me or something). And my condolences about your grandma. I wish you and your fam the best!

Forget this silly DAT though. Take it again and show it who's boss! For Biology, use a more thorough book, such as Campbell & Reece textbook - there's some great questions in the back (they also sell a supplemental study guide which has even more questions and great summaries). As for the chemistries, I hear DAT Destroyer covers almost everything - Kaplan subject tests are sufficient too (except that they might be a tad bit harder if I remember correctly). I'm using Pearson's AP Chem guide and Schaum's Organic Chemistry guide for the chemistries - for content review.

Can't give you advice on PAT or RC...They're the reason why I'm retaking the exam (and they're the reason why I haven't received more than 3 interviews - and no acceptances).

 

[rmm30]

i resent the previous two posts and this whole thread in general. EVERYTHING i posted is true. You cant be earning a 4.0 in a masters, working / supporting family and putting in a 14hr/day DAT gring. Tell me how that is possible without a deluge of bs. You are trying to make people think that this test is impossible or that you somehow got railroaded by the ADA. Maybe there is fraction of truth in that, I dont know. I do know that in one post you managed to blame the testmakers, kaplan, DAT destroyer, Prometric (for possibly giving you the wrong test), and the calculator. Did I leave anything out? The only person you didnt even bother to mention was yourself. All I know about you is what you've shared on the forum. Same goes the other way.

As for amped, you need to grow up asap. Maybe the reason you haven't got admitted into dental school is because you are hard of head and hearing.

 

[Impulse155]

First of all I want to clarify something! I did not post this thread to make everyone panic. I was simply being honest. There might be a really bad version of the DAT that I got or it may be that since the DAT scores are rising the ADA wanted to keep them constant at the national level.

Please dont read this and panic! I'm just letting you all know that the questions did not test my knowledge the way Kaplan or the Destroyer did. I was expecting to see terms that I was familiar with not some crazy words that just made me say "what are you talking about? is this the DAT?'

Now you can read this and say I'm being negative or I'm not right bc the destroyer covers everything or kaplan is good if you know how to study. I hope you do feel ready and you do score above a 20 but I didn't and I did dedicate a lot of time to it.

As for rmm30's inconsiderate words I want you to know that I dont have kids but I support my family bc my grandmother passed away and my father has not been able to work. I work at walmart during the night shift with minimum pay bc no company wants to hire me with my situation. As far as my masters, its online so once again your were wrong.

rmm30 I highly recommend you to consider everything before you talk. I'm assuming you want to be a dentist and that's why your on SDN. Let me tell you that one of the key qualities of being a health care provider is that they know and understand that every patient that walks through those doors has a history and there are things that you don't know about that person. I hope you don't have this type of mind set when you do become a dentist and you want to be one b/c you want to make a difference in someone's life and your not in it just for the money.

I wish everyone here best of luck and hope you get the grade you want and get into dental school so you can make a difference in this world by making people smile.

First off I dont understand why you retook the DAT.
Second, on this forum you have the people who:
1) Will be honest with you
2) Will baby you and make you believe things that arent right because they are afraid to hurt you.

Right now rmm is just being #1, which IMO is better than the people who are babying you saying to shake it off, its not a big deal, dont worry etc.

UCB's advice was by far the best. Revise the way you studied for it, read the entire thing before doing the specific exam. Do the entire exam before looking at the answers.
Most importnatly, you get something wrong, find out why you got it wrong.
When you found out why you got it wrong, make sure you wont make that same mistake again and your comfortable with the information. If it is seriously confusing you, post it on SDN.

i resent the previous two posts and this whole thread in general. EVERYTHING i posted is true. You cant be earning a 4.0 in a masters, working / supporting family and putting in a 14hr/day DAT gring. Tell me how that is possible without a deluge of bs. You are trying to make people think that this test is impossible or that you somehow got railroaded by the ADA. Maybe there is fraction of truth in that, I dont know. I do know that in one post you managed to blame the testmakers, kaplan, DAT destroyer, Prometric (for possibly giving you the wrong test), and the calculator. Did I leave anything out? The only person you didnt even bother to mention was yourself. All I know about you is what you've shared on the forum. Same goes the other way.

As for amped, you need to grow up asap. Maybe the reason you haven't got admitted into dental school is because you are hard of head and hearing.

Yes you did leave something out. He/She blamed every book for being useless. Not just kaplan/destroyer 😛

 

[AmpedUp]

i resent the previous two posts and this whole thread in general. EVERYTHING i posted is true. You cant be earning a 4.0 in a masters, working / supporting family and putting in a 14hr/day DAT gring. Tell me how that is possible without a deluge of bs. You are trying to make people think that this test is impossible or that you somehow got railroaded by the ADA. Maybe there is fraction of truth in that, I dont know. I do know that in one post you managed to blame the testmakers, kaplan, DAT destroyer, Prometric (for possibly giving you the wrong test), and the calculator. Did I leave anything out? The only person you didnt even bother to mention was yourself. All I know about you is what you've shared on the forum. Same goes the other way.

As for amped, you need to grow up asap. Maybe the reason you haven't got admitted into dental school is because you are hard of head and hearing.

Very insulting, especially from a person without any authority to predict why I didn't get into dental school (Trust me, it's not a mystery to me). You need to attack the DAT instead of attacking people on SDN - I think your attempt to tell the OP the harsh realities of life was misplaced and misworded, meaning you need to find a more appropriate place to tell someone the truth (you lack empathy). Simply don't post if you think it'll hurt someone; I think everyone on here is intelligent enough to figure it out on their own - it's our deepest fear to hear something negative about us. People come to this subforum to be inspired, motivated, and educated about the DAT - not to hear the harsh realities of life. I'll let the OP's loved ones tell them about the harsh realities of life; people tend to respond better to negativity from those who truly understand them..soooo, that's why I feel your post is misplaced (and on the jerky/asanine side of things). Be positive on here!

Anyway, if you're referring to that thread where I tried to understand your question; I was simply trying to offer an opinion on why it might have been true, because I haven't found that many errors in the DAT Destroyer...then I discovered that it was an error because Mr know-it-all forgot take into account that his answer was based on the charged species of the molecule. Your problem is that you prejudge and preassume things without knowing the person (I could be wrong - I'm judging you based on your 100'ish posts you've made 😉 ). We all make errors bro. If you think I haven't grown up, then you're just projecting yourself on to me. At least I can admit when I'm wrong.

 

[ajhalls3]

So a few follow up thoughts as I read the rest of the posts here. It is true that some people will try to make you feel better about yourself without giving you the real story. I want to share with you a little about a friend of mine in dental school.

My friend took the DAT I think 4-5 times several times in Canada, then the US. He did finally get into dental school after finishing a masters program and is now a 2nd year student. During the summer last year, he was one of 8 students at our school that needed to retake boards and took it again during Thanksgiving break found out the day before Christmas break that he failed again by 1 question. You have to know the guy personally to appreciate how painful this is because he is also one of the most dedicated students at our school. He gets started on the material right away, doesn't procrastinate at all, is always in the library late, not just the night before the test, but many other nights as well.

I have studied with him several times and found that his learning curve is slower than mine, he is not stupid, it just takes him longer to process the same information than it takes me. There is nothing wrong with that at all, but he also knows that it is his problem, AND he knows how to deal with it. He has a family, a daughter and a pregnant wife that rarely sees him, but he doesn't give up. His wife is very supportive which is important if you see yourself as being this guy.

Bottom line, when you are in undergrad and everyone has their own schedules and classes, you never really can match yourself up against someone to see how fast they learn compared to you. In dental school you can. I am not the fastest, there are plenty of people that will do in two nights what I do in 10 and my friend will do in 15. Find out what material keeps your attention the longest, find new study methods, because your old ones won't work anymore from here on out, and try again.

 

[AmpedUp]

So a few follow up thoughts as I read the rest of the posts here. It is true that some people will try to make you feel better about yourself without giving you the real story. I want to share with you a little about a friend of mine in dental school.

My friend took the DAT I think 4-5 times several times in Canada, then the US. He did finally get into dental school after finishing a masters program and is now a 2nd year student. During the summer last year, he was one of 8 students at our school that needed to retake boards and took it again during Thanksgiving break found out the day before Christmas break that he failed again by 1 question. You have to know the guy personally to appreciate how painful this is because he is also one of the most dedicated students at our school. He gets started on the material right away, doesn't procrastinate at all, is always in the library late, not just the night before the test, but many other nights as well.

I have studied with him several times and found that his learning curve is slower than mine, he is not stupid, it just takes him longer to process the same information than it takes me. There is nothing wrong with that at all, but he also knows that it is his problem, AND he knows how to deal with it. He has a family, a daughter and a pregnant wife that rarely sees him, but he doesn't give up. His wife is very supportive which is important if you see yourself as being this guy.

Bottom line, when you are in undergrad and everyone has their own schedules and classes, you never really can match yourself up against someone to see how fast they learn compared to you. In dental school you can. I am not the fastest, there are plenty of people that will do in two nights what I do in 10 and my friend will do in 15. Find out what material keeps your attention the longest, find new study methods, because your old ones won't work anymore from here on out, and try again.

Beautiful post! 👍

 

[peanutb123]

True story. The DAT average has gone up though and these friends of mine matriculated during the 2007 and 2008 cycles. I doubt my own friends would lie to me about scores that low... I know they both had really high GPAs and were very involved. It was our state school(I've moved since then). My point was that the NATIONAL AVERAGE of students who matriculate is 18. There are so many people that get in with DAT scores in the 20s. They must take a lot of other students with DAT scores lower than 20 to balance that out. Your DAT score is just one factor in the equation of getting into dental school. That's all I was saying.

Correction for class of 2013; they applied in summer of 2008-2009 cycle.

The average Dat of enrolled student AA:19; PAT 19.40; TS 19.19
so as you can see it is getting very competitive.

i resent the previous two posts and this whole thread in general. EVERYTHING i posted is true. You cant be earning a 4.0 in a masters, working / supporting family and putting in a 14hr/day DAT gring. Tell me how that is possible without a deluge of bs. You are trying to make people think that this test is impossible or that you somehow got railroaded by the ADA. Maybe there is fraction of truth in that, I dont know. I do know that in one post you managed to blame the testmakers, kaplan, DAT destroyer, Prometric (for possibly giving you the wrong test), and the calculator. Did I leave anything out? The only person you didnt even bother to mention was yourself. All I know about you is what you've shared on the forum. Same goes the other way.

As for amped, you need to grow up asap. Maybe the reason you haven't got admitted into dental school is because you are hard of head and hearing.

Dude:
Who the hell gave you the right to judge people... Do you work for some sort of ADCOM (admission committee member for any of the dental schools). You didnt even take your DAT yet + you really dont know wtf you are taking about. if you got nothing to help the op w/ dont bother saying it. First of all study for your dat and get that score then get accepted to dental school may be that will give you some insight into giving advice for people on how to do it like you did. But you have no experience. Not only that Dude how do you know op's life to judge their lifestyle and calling BS on some stupid stuff. I have personally know many people who worked more than full time attended college and graduate w/ high mcat scores, dat score, and honor degrees in business. So, let me tell you this, just b/c you could not work and study at the same time that does not mean other people in this world cant multitask. You are full of your self. people like you who have this nasty attitude to belittling people will not only make you look like an ahole but it might not get your far.


To the OP.

1. There is no point in blaming test prep companies. Kaplan online course for me was very useful b/c i did not have much science background. I think what has impacted you the most is that you are carrying too much on your plate. You need to find the right balance and do right amount of practice. I know for me bio was the only random part on the exam but chem and ochem were pretty much predictable. Basic reactions and calculations and theory. Well here is the good news. You can retake in 3 months and still be early for apps. Now you know what to study and how to study. Just make a note of all the random topics that you have seen on your dat and study them even to more depth. Since you have taken kaplan online course i recommend that you TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE BEFORE the RETAKE expires. call kaplan and ask them for higher score guarantee and take the course again for free.

Then read breakdowns and invest in things like topscore, achiever, crack dat pat and crack dat RC if you are weak in RC.

DO it again but this time do it right. Try to find a balance with work and dat. I know its hard but all you have to do is it study hard and not give up then your dream will come true(easier said then done). Do some research on how to study effectively, form study groups if you can. I again highly recommend reading some of the breakdowns. I strongly believe you freaked yourself out and did not do good on your dat. You got 20 before now you can do it again. Just study hard and do it again in 3months and do the kaplan course again(its going to be free b/c of higher score guarantee and utilize all of their practice material and understand and make notes on why you got questions on your practice exam wrong. ) Take it again you will do good. There is a high chance study hard. F all the non believers and people who tell you to consider something else, no one knows you better than yourself. Giving up will only let you deprive yourself of your dream.



Good luck.

 

[dentalWorks]

When I read your post it freaked me out. I thought, how could the DAT really test on information that was not covered in any of the prep materials that you mentioned, doesn't seem right. Then I recalled a similar post of someone a couple months ago talking about how the entire DAT was completely random and the questions were out of this world. At first I thought "maybe there is a bad version of the DAT going around" you know just to thin the herd a bit and anyone who draws the ******* card from the wonka lottery is just plain out of luck."

Your post probably freaked everyone who read it.

But you are not being honest with us or yourself are you? I checked some of your current postings and there are some glaring inconsistencies from what you are saying now and what you said then. You have to be open to the possibility that you were not prepared. If you didn't think destroyer was that hard why did you start a thread adressing how difficult is was and how you couldn't solve any of the problems. You posted a very simple genetics question, complained ad naueseum about ecology and bio diversity stuff. You say that you really thought you were prepared before the test but you opened up a thread (DAT in 4 days) describing how unprepared you were. You say that you have been studying for three months 14hr/day. In another post you say that you wanted to take it dec 17 but couldn't because of finals. In another post you mention that you are earning a 4.0 in a masters program while supporting a family.

There is absolutely NO WAY that you are raising a family, getting your masters AND putting in 14 hr/day on DAT.

That sucks that you didnt get the score you wanted or deserve but thats no reason to to cause a panic for everyone else.

Shake it off, clear some time off your schedule and kill it next time around.

lolz, we should call you "RMM30 ~ SDN's one and only Private Investigator". I like how you did your homework before posting 👍

Anyways, to OP.
definitely you will need a retake. Take some months off, enjoy your current time. And in about 2 months, start preparing again. This time around, don't use any classrooms, just self study.

 

[Impulse155]

lolz, we should call you "RMM30 ~ SDN's one and only Private Investigator". I like how you did your homework before posting 👍

Anyways, to OP.
definitely you will need a retake. Take some months off, enjoy your current time. And in about 2 months, start preparing again. This time around, don't use any classrooms, just self study.

Also if need be explain to your girlfriend/fiance/wife that you NEED to focus on this as it judges what will happen to both of you for the next 40 years of your life. Like dental said, explain to her that your taking a 2 month break in which you can relax, and after that you have to crack down, even if this means spending less time with her for the couple months after that.
Also, tell your job you caught mono. They cant fire you. And you can take the break in order to study. (you get what im saying, lose the job, focus on DAT)

 

[UltimateHombre]

I totally agree with rmm30... sure his words were hard to hear, but he was right. The OP will not do better if we all throw them a rah rah party!! Because the reality is they only have one more shot on the DAT to make it happen.

OP i want to believe your story, but its difficult to believe you were actually studying 14hrs a day, along with working 40 hrs, and in a Master's program. So starting with a 24 hour day... we subtract 14 hrs for DAT study. So now we're at 10 hrs... then subtract another 6 hours for work a day (40hrs/7days +15min break at work). That brings us to 4 hrs a day... assuming you shower and eat 3 meals a day we will subtract another hour. Now you have 3 hours every day to sleep, do your homework, and take care of other personal things. Now either you are superman.... or you haven't been honest with yourself or us. I am going with not honest....

You are blaming everything possible, but yourself... you need to take responsibility, make changes, and do better. But none of that can happen if you don't man/woman up and take responsibility!! The study materials you were using do work... they have been proven time and time again... now either you are one of the only exceptions to a very effective method of study or you didn't use them right. I am guessing they weren't used right. Because you do have the right tools... just take responsibility and accept you didn't use them right... and then change! Your situation is like a construction worker saying.... "my hammer and nailgun suck... they don't frame houses... nobody use a hammer and nailgun to frame! They don't work!" Or perhaps a dentist saying "my handpiece and bits suck... they don't drill teeth... nobody use them for dentistry!" We all know the above statements are not true... just like your blame of terrible materials is not true.

Change your study habits, whatever they are. Use the tools correctly and you will do better on the DAT. You need to wait till your life is more in order so you can focus your attention on the DAT. Wait till your Masters is over, maybe take 6+ months and work a couple of jobs and save a lot, so you can support yourself while all you do is study! Eliminate all other distractions in your life before you study again, because this time it needs to count.

But again, unless you stop being a child and blaming all your DAT problems on everything, but you, then this can't happen!

I wish you best of luck in your next studying endeavor. And i hope you get into dschool and have a successful career as a dentist. But if you never take responsibility for your actions... you can expect a life full of mediocrity and indolence.... which sadly is not the life of a dentist.

 

[rmm30]

Correction for class of 2013; they applied in summer of 2008-2009 cycle.

The average Dat of enrolled student AA:19; PAT 19.40; TS 19.19
so as you can see it is getting very competitive.




Dude:
Who the hell gave you the right to judge people... Do you work for some sort of ADCOM (admission committee member for any of the dental schools). You didnt even take your DAT yet + you really dont know wtf you are taking about. if you got nothing to help the op w/ dont bother saying it. First of all study for your dat and get that score then get accepted to dental school may be that will give you some insight into giving advice for people on how to do it like you did. But you have no experience. Not only that Dude how do you know op's life to judge their lifestyle and calling BS on some stupid stuff. I have personally know many people who worked more than full time attended college and graduate w/ high mcat scores, dat score, and honor degrees in business. So, let me tell you this, just b/c you could not work and study at the same time that does not mean other people in this world cant multitask. You are full of your self. people like you who have this nasty attitude to belittling people will not only make you look like an ahole but it might not get your far.


To the OP.

1. There is no point in blaming test prep companies. Kaplan online course for me was very useful b/c i did not have much science background. I think what has impacted you the most is that you are carrying too much on your plate. You need to find the right balance and do right amount of practice. I know for me bio was the only random part on the exam but chem and ochem were pretty much predictable. Basic reactions and calculations and theory. Well here is the good news. You can retake in 3 months and still be early for apps. Now you know what to study and how to study. Just make a note of all the random topics that you have seen on your dat and study them even to more depth. Since you have taken kaplan online course i recommend that you TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE BEFORE the RETAKE expires. call kaplan and ask them for higher score guarantee and take the course again for free.

Then read breakdowns and invest in things like topscore, achiever, crack dat pat and crack dat RC if you are weak in RC.

DO it again but this time do it right. Try to find a balance with work and dat. I know its hard but all you have to do is it study hard and not give up then your dream will come true(easier said then done). Do some research on how to study effectively, form study groups if you can. I again highly recommend reading some of the breakdowns. I strongly believe you freaked yourself out and did not do good on your dat. You got 20 before now you can do it again. Just study hard and do it again in 3months and do the kaplan course again(its going to be free b/c of higher score guarantee and utilize all of their practice material and understand and make notes on why you got questions on your practice exam wrong. ) Take it again you will do good. There is a high chance study hard. F all the non believers and people who tell you to consider something else, no one knows you better than yourself. Giving up will only let you deprive yourself of your dream.



Good luck.

To the grown man who calls himself "peanut":

First off, before you try and lecture me make sure you get your facts straight..or to put it terms you might understand...all up in my kool aid and dont even know the flavor. Everything i posted above was TRUE. Im not here to discourage anybody or call people names (I'll leave that up to persons like you and Ampedup). I use this forum to get help from generous members when I need it, and help others when I can. I even took time to answer a few questions for the OP. I'd like to think I helped someone who had their confidence rattled by the original thread by allowing them to consider the source that wrote it by viewing his previous threads. Whether littleduce meant to or not he probably caused a few panic attacks with his posts bc he made it out to seem that even if you work your butt off, you will get railroaded by some off the wall exam. To me that is tantamount to posters like Crimson11 who post amazing fake scores and claim they studied for 2 weeks (yes I know there are people who have done this but he was not one of them). Both posts undermine the efforts of people who actually are putting in 14 hour days to keep thier head above water. And yes I know, I haven't taken the DAT yet and you have. But that doesn't give you carte blanche to dismiss people's thoughts especially when they are based on facts.
By the way I very much appreciate that you take time out to participate in discussions and provide stats, advice etc.

to the OP: If I offended you in any way please accept my apology. I don't want to dishearten anybody especially since you seem to be a good person and passionate about the path you have chosen. I sincerely hope that you are able to bounce back and get the scores you want and deserve. moving on...

 

[Impulse155]

i totally agree with rmm30... Sure his words were hard to hear, but he was right. The op will not do better if we all throw them a rah rah party!! Because the reality is they only have one more shot on the dat to make it happen.

Op i want to believe your story, but its difficult to believe you were actually studying 14hrs a day, along with working 40 hrs, and in a master's program. So starting with a 24 hour day... We subtract 14 hrs for dat study. So now we're at 10 hrs... Then subtract another 6 hours for work a day (40hrs/7days +15min break at work). That brings us to 4 hrs a day... Assuming you shower and eat 3 meals a day we will subtract another hour. Now you have 3 hours every day to sleep, do your homework, and take care of other personal things. Now either you are superman.... Or you haven't been honest with yourself or us. I am going with not honest....

You are blaming everything possible, but yourself... You need to take responsibility, make changes, and do better. But none of that can happen if you don't man/woman up and take responsibility!! The study materials you were using do work... They have been proven time and time again... Now either you are one of the only exceptions to a very effective method of study or you didn't use them right. I am guessing they weren't used right. Because you do have the right tools... Just take responsibility and accept you didn't use them right... And then change! Your situation is like a construction worker saying.... "my hammer and nailgun suck... They don't frame houses... Nobody use a hammer and nailgun to frame! They don't work!" or perhaps a dentist saying "my handpiece and bits suck... They don't drill teeth... Nobody use them for dentistry!" we all know the above statements are not true... Just like your blame of terrible materials is not true.

Change your study habits, whatever they are. Use the tools correctly and you will do better on the dat. You need to wait till your life is more in order so you can focus your attention on the dat. Wait till your masters is over, maybe take 6+ months and work a couple of jobs and save a lot, so you can support yourself while all you do is study! Eliminate all other distractions in your life before you study again, because this time it needs to count.

But again, unless you stop being a child and blaming all your dat problems on everything, but you, then this can't happen!

I wish you best of luck in your next studying endeavor. And i hope you get into dschool and have a successful career as a dentist. But if you never take responsibility for your actions... You can expect a life full of mediocrity and indolence.... Which sadly is not the life of a dentist.

+1

 

[peanutb123]

i resent the previous two posts and this whole thread in general. EVERYTHING i posted is true. You cant be earning a 4.0 in a masters, working / supporting family and putting in a 14hr/day DAT gring. Tell me how that is possible without a deluge of bs. You are trying to make people think that this test is impossible or that you somehow got railroaded by the ADA. Maybe there is fraction of truth in that, I dont know. I do know that in one post you managed to blame the testmakers, kaplan, DAT destroyer, Prometric (for possibly giving you the wrong test), and the calculator. Did I leave anything out? The only person you didnt even bother to mention was yourself. All I know about you is what you've shared on the forum. Same goes the other way.
good job helping.
As for amped, you need to grow up asap. Maybe the reason you haven't got admitted into dental school is because you are hard of head and hearing.

To the grown man who calls himself "peanut":

First off, before you try and lecture me make sure you get your facts straight..or to put it terms you might understand...all up in my kool aid and dont even know the flavor. Everything i posted above was TRUE. Im not here to discourage anybody or call people names (I'll leave that up to persons like you and Ampedup).gee you sure about that may be you dont read your own posts in the same thread. I use this forum to get help from generous members when I need it, and help others when I can. how are you helping people when you are belittling them & letting them know how they are complaining and already dismissing why they didnt get into d-school, etc... I even took time to answer a few questions for the OP. I'd like to think I helped someone who had their confidence rattled by the original thread by allowing them to consider the source that wrote it by viewing his previous threads. Whether littleduce meant to or not he probably caused a few panic attacks with his posts bc he made it out to seem that even if you work your butt off, you will get railroaded by some off the wall exam. To me that is tantamount to posters like Crimson11 who post amazing fake scores and claim they studied for 2 weeks (yes I know there are people who have done this but he was not one of them). Both posts undermine the efforts of people who actually are putting in 14 hour days to keep thier head above water. And yes I know, I haven't taken the DAT yet and you have. But that doesn't give you carte blanche to dismiss people's thoughts especially when they are based on facts. So you have the right to dismiss why ampedup didnt get into d-school so you are that qualified. Well actually i have been through the whole process. Yet I never dismiss the fact on why someone didnt make it.
By the way I very much appreciate that you take time out to participate in discussions and provide stats, advice etc.

to the OP: If I offended you in any way please accept my apology. I don't want to dishearten anybody especially since you seem to be a good person and passionate about the path you have chosen. I sincerely hope that you are able to bounce back and get the scores you want and deserve. moving on...

To a know it all man who calls himself: 'rmm'

Lol thank for putting in terms that i understand. But may be i am not putting it in the terms you understand. I am not going to repeat my self again. But here i will highlight something and i end this useless conversation with you. Absolutely useless.

 

[dentalWorks]

to put it terms you might understand...all up in my kool aid and dont even know the flavor.

Lol thank for putting in terms that i understand.

LMAO you two crack me up!! 🤣

 

[sbdento]

This thread has more drama than general hospital. Thanks for lightening my study mood 😀