- Joined
- Jun 22, 2015
- Messages
- 38
- Reaction score
- 13
Hello to all you future dentists,
I took the DAT back in May and got an 18AA/17TS/15BIO/16OC/20GC/23PAT/19RC/19QR
It was very obvious I had not prepared, my wife was pregnant, I was in school and working. So I set up to retake right away. At the time I used Dat bootcamp, and was scoring in the 18's-20's and I had done a light Destroyer review. I was studying about 3-5 hours a day for about 8 weeks. I got screwed on Bio as I did not know any embroyology, physiology, botany, zoology (my gen bio classes did not teach these). So of course I got his with these kind of questions and just guessed about 50% of the DAT questions. For Ochem, I had not even started Ochem II at school, so I got hit with plenty of aldol condensations, and electophilic aromatic sub's and such???!! Then I felt great on the rest, and it showed I had an understanding that was pretty solid. So my retake was set for Aug 19th, 2015. I was still in school but knew I needed to put time adn effort in and bring up every score! I did not even meet most schools cutoffs, and I need to get in this cycle.
I decided to spend 1.5 months learning the material. So I read Cliffs, and took copious notes. I then made flashcards on quizlet to practice the answers to Bio destoryer questions. Everyday I did 20-30 practice questions in each science, and thoroughly learned the solutions in Destroyer (2009). I was enrolled in Ochem, and really worked hard to get it all down, and by the end of the semester I really understood the material, and rocked the ACS final, so I felt set there. For Gchem just practice, practice, practice. With lots of flashcards on concepts, especially those I got stuck on.
After 1.5 months, I got DAT genius, which btw rules!! the explanations are key. I got down to 3 weeks out from the DAT and took the tests, and was scoring in the 20's across the board, and these tests are harder than bootcamp. My confidence was way boosted at this point. I then spent a week really learning the solutions. I started doing heavier Destoryer like 50-60 a day in each section. I retook all the genius tests my last week, and then did the 2007 practice DAT and was in the mid 20's like 23-28 each section (this test is easier than the actual by quite a bit!!)
I reviewed my notes and flashcards for a few hours the day before, and made sure I knew all my equations and such for gchem and math. On test day I was confident, made myself a nice sandwhich and brought some fruit. I went in and the bio questions were surprisingly easy, I litterally say some destroyer questions lol. Gchem and ochem were just like genius, a few more conceptual, but I was cruising at this point. The PAT is my favorite, I used it like a game when got bored when studying so on the actual DAT it was so simple. Then RC was just the same as i thought, I used BYU4U's method mixed with my own personal type of notetaking while reading. Finally QR was fairly straightforward and BOOM I had done it all again. I then saw my scores and I almost jumped out of my seat.
21AA/22TS/22BIO/21GC/22OC/24PAT/20RC/19QR
So to all of you out there, just sacrifice your time and buckle down! The materials you use are key. I love genius, and destroyer, cliffs is okay, and bootcamp is okay. Its a must to do teh 2007/2009 practice dats. then just confidence and a tad bit of luck.
Hope this helps. Cheers.
I took the DAT back in May and got an 18AA/17TS/15BIO/16OC/20GC/23PAT/19RC/19QR
It was very obvious I had not prepared, my wife was pregnant, I was in school and working. So I set up to retake right away. At the time I used Dat bootcamp, and was scoring in the 18's-20's and I had done a light Destroyer review. I was studying about 3-5 hours a day for about 8 weeks. I got screwed on Bio as I did not know any embroyology, physiology, botany, zoology (my gen bio classes did not teach these). So of course I got his with these kind of questions and just guessed about 50% of the DAT questions. For Ochem, I had not even started Ochem II at school, so I got hit with plenty of aldol condensations, and electophilic aromatic sub's and such???!! Then I felt great on the rest, and it showed I had an understanding that was pretty solid. So my retake was set for Aug 19th, 2015. I was still in school but knew I needed to put time adn effort in and bring up every score! I did not even meet most schools cutoffs, and I need to get in this cycle.
I decided to spend 1.5 months learning the material. So I read Cliffs, and took copious notes. I then made flashcards on quizlet to practice the answers to Bio destoryer questions. Everyday I did 20-30 practice questions in each science, and thoroughly learned the solutions in Destroyer (2009). I was enrolled in Ochem, and really worked hard to get it all down, and by the end of the semester I really understood the material, and rocked the ACS final, so I felt set there. For Gchem just practice, practice, practice. With lots of flashcards on concepts, especially those I got stuck on.
After 1.5 months, I got DAT genius, which btw rules!! the explanations are key. I got down to 3 weeks out from the DAT and took the tests, and was scoring in the 20's across the board, and these tests are harder than bootcamp. My confidence was way boosted at this point. I then spent a week really learning the solutions. I started doing heavier Destoryer like 50-60 a day in each section. I retook all the genius tests my last week, and then did the 2007 practice DAT and was in the mid 20's like 23-28 each section (this test is easier than the actual by quite a bit!!)
I reviewed my notes and flashcards for a few hours the day before, and made sure I knew all my equations and such for gchem and math. On test day I was confident, made myself a nice sandwhich and brought some fruit. I went in and the bio questions were surprisingly easy, I litterally say some destroyer questions lol. Gchem and ochem were just like genius, a few more conceptual, but I was cruising at this point. The PAT is my favorite, I used it like a game when got bored when studying so on the actual DAT it was so simple. Then RC was just the same as i thought, I used BYU4U's method mixed with my own personal type of notetaking while reading. Finally QR was fairly straightforward and BOOM I had done it all again. I then saw my scores and I almost jumped out of my seat.
21AA/22TS/22BIO/21GC/22OC/24PAT/20RC/19QR
So to all of you out there, just sacrifice your time and buckle down! The materials you use are key. I love genius, and destroyer, cliffs is okay, and bootcamp is okay. Its a must to do teh 2007/2009 practice dats. then just confidence and a tad bit of luck.
Hope this helps. Cheers.
