Dat Done
Started by makushin
I really didn't study it that much, I didn't have the time. I did go through destroyer, achiever and topscore-- I learn better by doing problem sets then reading. I'm telling you, organic was much easier then I expected. There are definatly some high yield questions: achiever and topscore were pretty accurate in my opinion. Destroyer is helpful, but was written for someone that wants to get a 30 on the test, it is overkill, I was never close to mastering it. You certainly have to be strong on SN1/SN2/E1/E2, aromatics, stereochemistry and physical properties of compounds, as well as HNMR, UV, and infrared testing.
nice job, I got the same as you on the pat, last year only 60 out of 9000 people did 24 or better on that section, we should make T-shirts.
as far as being competitive, your dat scores should get you interviews most places, mostly because you're scores are pretty good across the board. As to actually getting in it'll be your GPA and interview skills, plus the little things (shadowing hours, community service). However my experience is that if you're gpa and Dat are both high, there are some schools that will automatically take you, but that varies greatly from school to school, so I'd just make sure you nail your interviews. Also, make sure all the schools have all materials ASAP, as time is a critical factor for just about all dental schools.
and don't get hung up on where you're going either, this isn't law school where it matters where you get your degree. all that really matters with dental school is money and whether or not you want to spend the next four years living at that school. Columbia is great and all, but a dental degree is a dental degree is a dental degree, and most people chose their dentist based on their experience and couldn't tell you where they went to school anyway. just pick places you'd want to live (and can afford) and go with that.
good luck with everything,
will
as far as being competitive, your dat scores should get you interviews most places, mostly because you're scores are pretty good across the board. As to actually getting in it'll be your GPA and interview skills, plus the little things (shadowing hours, community service). However my experience is that if you're gpa and Dat are both high, there are some schools that will automatically take you, but that varies greatly from school to school, so I'd just make sure you nail your interviews. Also, make sure all the schools have all materials ASAP, as time is a critical factor for just about all dental schools.
and don't get hung up on where you're going either, this isn't law school where it matters where you get your degree. all that really matters with dental school is money and whether or not you want to spend the next four years living at that school. Columbia is great and all, but a dental degree is a dental degree is a dental degree, and most people chose their dentist based on their experience and couldn't tell you where they went to school anyway. just pick places you'd want to live (and can afford) and go with that.
good luck with everything,
will
"QR 20: QR was easy, I don't see what all the hype was about. I finished with 9 minutes left for review. I guessed 2 questions. I didn't study for this section, and honestly, I don't know that I could've really studied much-- it's very SAT like. Of interest-- I'm same percentile here as for RC, so it is scaled low."
I hate to rain on your parade- but you didn't get the QR test that was administered June-September. It felt easy also but almost no-one got 19+. The key was definitely messed up. It was common for applicants to score 4 points lower on QR than on every other section- and not because it was hard- they had a problem with the answer key. Math is my strongest subject- I had 5 extra minutes at the end because I timed it perfectly- it felt easier than G-Chem even (which was cake-easy on my test: GCHEM-25) but was assigned a 16 on QR. That means missing 1/2 of the questions- and they have an error because I didn't miss more than maybe 1 or 2 from silly mistakes- not 15 incorrect! Many people have already driven this point into the ground on this forum- so I just wanted to catch you up on that in case you were really wondering what the "hype" was. Then the 100+ Sdner's who took their QR during the summer don't feel like you are gloating when most of them have 20+ AA but 12-18 QR.🙄 -21/21/24
I hate to rain on your parade- but you didn't get the QR test that was administered June-September. It felt easy also but almost no-one got 19+. The key was definitely messed up. It was common for applicants to score 4 points lower on QR than on every other section- and not because it was hard- they had a problem with the answer key. Math is my strongest subject- I had 5 extra minutes at the end because I timed it perfectly- it felt easier than G-Chem even (which was cake-easy on my test: GCHEM-25) but was assigned a 16 on QR. That means missing 1/2 of the questions- and they have an error because I didn't miss more than maybe 1 or 2 from silly mistakes- not 15 incorrect! Many people have already driven this point into the ground on this forum- so I just wanted to catch you up on that in case you were really wondering what the "hype" was. Then the 100+ Sdner's who took their QR during the summer don't feel like you are gloating when most of them have 20+ AA but 12-18 QR.🙄 -21/21/24
wow, this explains so much!! thanks dentalalltheway, you've given me alot of peace of mind here. my QR score was 5 points below my AA, and I thought I'd nailed it. I took it in mid august, so this might explain the low score.
Like Dentalalltheway said- all DAT's from the summer had this problem. The dental schools have even recognized this and many have omitted their DAT cut-offs for QR this year.
Where did you hear about the messed up answer key? Is ADA admitting this?
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Is this speculation or has the ADA made this information public? Thanks! DB
I have no information on the ADA, but at my NYU interview, my interviewer told me directly that all of the QR scores are low this year, so the school is not looking at them as they normally would. He even commented that he personally knew an applicant who has a degree in electrical engineering and is a math whiz, but still bombed QR, thus solidifying in his mind the irrelevance of the QR score for this cycle.
Does this mean they have eliminated the cutoffs? I have no idea but I had a 16 in QR and was surprised to get an interview at NYU because of the low score.
UOP just stated officially going into this cycle that they have cutoffs of 18RC, 18AA and 16 on any other section- yet they have interviewed several 15QRs THIS YEAR! UCSF also has a 17 cutoff in all sections just to get a secondary- yet they sent out many secondaries to applicants with much lower QRs. They aren't making exceptions for RC, only QR so- you do the math!
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