DAT over and done with 6/9/11

[Logs]

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First off, I want to thank everybody who has posted their DAT experiences and strategies here. They have helped me greatly, and I hope I can do the same for others who haven't taken the DAT yet.

My Breakdown:

AA - 21 (91.3)
PAT - 22 (90.9)
QR - 16 (49.9)
RC - 21 (77.1)
BIO - 20 (86.5)
GChem - 23 (93.7)
OChem - 24 (94.9)
Total SNS - 22 (94.8)

I totally got owned in the Math section but I have never been good in math, especially when I have a very limited amount of time. The actual math in the real DAT, I found was to be pretty simple. That is what is so sad about my score in this section. This section is not really about can you solve the problem, but can you do quickly. You are really just fighting the time here.

I spent about 4 weeks studying for the DAT. I averaged about 5-6 hours a day, sometimes more. I took about 9 practice DATS and I took the Kaplan course, and I thought it was pretty helpful. They had about 6 practice DATs and tons of online resources and quizes that helped as well. What I made sure to do was always, and I mean always, go back after taking a practice DAT and studying from it. What did I miss? Why is that right? I especially did this for the BIO section because there is always something I didn't know. I know there have been people who took the Kaplan course and bombed the real DAT, but I feel that Kaplan gave me a good foundation to work with.

I used the KBB as a place to start my studies and then I used DAT Destroyer, along with Crack the DAT PAT. The DAT Destroyer, I felt, was so much harder than the real DAT. This last week before taking the DAT I spent almost all of my studying time focused on DAT Destroyer. I highly recommend their ochem section. If you can do DD's ochem without a problem you are all set for the real DAT ochem. With regards to GChem, unlike all the practice DAT's and exercises I have taken, the real DAT was way more CONCEPTUAL. There was a few calculations which mainly involved actually setting up the equation and not actually having to figure out values. This helped me so much because math and calculations does not come naturally for me.

The Bio section I used wikipedia quite a bit. After taking a practice DAT I went back and really studied all the BIO questions and every time I found a word or concept I did not know I looked it up. I also used DD's Bio and found it useful. I never went through all of it but they had some good things that I felt helped. In the RC section I used Search and Destroy. Find key words in the questions and scan the passage for it. I was pretty lucky though because the second passage was on a subject I already familiar with, Prions. I obviously have no real advice with the MATH except to work out as much problems as you can. DD's math I found to be very similar to the real thing but I hated studying math so I didn't do enough of it.

Well, I am so glad that I can finally say goodbye and good riddance to the DAT. It really is an amazing feeling once its all over. Like a huge weight has been lifted, but also my daily focus is gone. I have spent everyday with only the studying for the DAT as my focus, now its gone. What to do? Maybe learn to have a life? 😀

 

[AmpJBieberblast]

HerRRoo good job on you dat! did u feel like the destroyer helped u with the Gchem section? Could you expand more on what you mean by COMPREHENSIVE on gchem?
Thanks! my test is tomorrow 😛

 

[AmpJBieberblast]

btw ur avatar is real cute

 

[casper22]

Awesome..Congrats..

Apart from 6 kaplan tests, which other tests did you do?

 

[Logs]

What I mean by comprehensive is that I felt that the DAT was actually testing you on gchem concepts instead of figuring out the pKa and stuff like that. I felt that the DAT destroyer helped a lot but also just being able to review some basic conspects would be helpful. Like chemical properties, bond angles and molecular shapes, electron config. and stuff like that. But of course you need to know Gas laws. If you feel good about setting up equations than I would do some gchem word problems.

I also took the 2 barron's practice test. It was a lot easier than kaplan's tests. Not very helpful except to get more exposer to other types of questions. No matter how easy a test is, I feel that you can always learn something from it. Any chance to practice some RC is always good. I also took the sample DAT from the ADEA website. People say that the DAT was waaaayyy harder but my score ended up being about the same. The questions had the same feel to them. I took the sample DAT 2 days before the real thing. Good, or bad I don't know but I ended up doing well.

 

[AmpJBieberblast]

What I mean by comprehensive is that I felt that the DAT was actually testing you on gchem concepts instead of figuring out the pKa and stuff like that. I felt that the DAT destroyer helped a lot but also just being able to review some basic conspects would be helpful. Like chemical properties, bond angles and molecular shapes, electron config. and stuff like that. But of course you need to know Gas laws. If you feel good about setting up equations than I would do some gchem word problems.

I also took the 2 barron's practice test. It was a lot easier than kaplan's tests. Not very helpful except to get more exposer to other types of questions. No matter how easy a test is, I feel that you can always learn something from it. Any chance to practice some RC is always good. I also took the sample DAT from the ADEA website. People say that the DAT was waaaayyy harder but my score ended up being about the same. The questions had the same feel to them. I took the sample DAT 2 days before the real thing. Good, or bad I don't know but I ended up doing well.

Thanks for the advice 🙂 best one yet. And if what you are saying about the sample DAT is true.... i should get a 24 bio 28OC 30 GC....which i highly doubt 😛 i mean... the real DAT bio and sample test bio cant be compared imo

 

[Logs]

Thanks for the advice 🙂 best one yet. And if what you are saying about the sample DAT is true.... i should get a 24 bio 28OC 30 GC....which i highly doubt 😛 i mean... the real DAT bio and sample test bio cant be compared imo

Thats very much true. What you lack in one, you end making up for it somewhere else. Ochem I felt wasn't any harder though. Bio wasn't that bad either. I felt that most of it was about the same level as kaplan or cliff notes, but its just very broad and random. Studying from past exams, for me, was the most effective. But also remembering the stuff from all the pre-dental Biology classes helps a lot.

 

[AmpJBieberblast]

Thats very much true. What you lack in one, you end making up for it somewhere else. Ochem I felt wasn't any harder though. Bio wasn't that bad either. I felt that most of it was about the same level as kaplan or cliff notes, but its just very broad and random. Studying from past exams, for me, was the most effective. But also remembering the stuff from all the pre-dental Biology classes helps a lot.

wat yer saying is really giving me confidence! thanks! but just wait... im going to come back tormorrow crying after bombing my test 😛 (knock on wood)

 

[Logs]

you will do fine. The best thing you can do is stay calm. The second you start to freak out is the second you start to make mistakes and make wrong choices. Always take a deep breathe whenever feeling overwhelmed. Also, I find it helpful to give timetables to follow. Like, I always make sure to finish all the bio questions before the timer hits 1:10. And then make sure to reach ochem with 20-30 mins left. Those helped me.

 

[MicroDent]

Great job! I bet it feels amazing to be done. On your Ochem section was it more "conceptual" and comprehensive also or were there a lot of "road map" type problems? What do you wish you had studied more to prepare for the QR section? Thanks!

 

[Bchance]

Good job on it!... now you can relax and not have to worry about studying anymore!!... Maybe you should learn another language or something 😀

 

[Logs]

Yeah, I guess what I actually meant was CONCEPTUAL, instead of COMPREHENSIVE.

 

[Logs]

I have been asked to provide a few more details so here there are.

I felt like the CDP prepares you well. It is very similar to the real thing, especially the angle ranking which is the hardest part sometimes. Hole punches where challenging. They folded the paper in ways i didnt think they could fold it so be prepared.

For the reading, what I did to prepare was to pick a method and get good at it. I did search and destroy. Then I would practice as much as I can skimming passages. The trick, I felt, was to not let yourself read outloud in your mind. Just move your eyes through each sentence looking for a particular word. Like when doing a wordsearch. Try this and see if that helps at all. Also, I was lucky to have one passage I knew something about, like Prion. If you do not know what that is it would be good to look it up because it is a new topic which i hear always floats around. It is also related to BIO and can even pop up in the BIO section, kind of doubt it but it never hurts.

With BIO, I felt the questions were pretty straight forward. You ether know it or you don't. There was a couple physiology/anatomy questions, genetics, molecular biology stuff relating to nucleotides and DNA and mRNA. Also bacteria stuff.

Ochem was more reaction based. What is the major product, kind of thing. There was a couple conceptual questions. 2 NMR questions and 1 extraction question, which H is the most acidic, and a bond angle. There were a few more but there were pretty much similar to these kind of questions for me.
Hope this helps.