DAT scores and questions

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Predental4657

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Hello SDN,

I retook my DAT today and wanted to give a breakdown of my scores, also, I applied to dental school in the beginning of June. So I wanted to get feedback on how my new scores will help. I felt the need to do this since I've been on SDN for about a year now and there have been a lot of posts that have helped me get through.

Breakdown:

PAT: 21
QR: 18
RC: 22
Biology: 19
GC: 21
OC: 22
TS: 21
AA: 20

Can anyone tell me what percentiles a 21 or 22 are? Just curious. BTW my first score was an AA 18, TS 19

Thank you!


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They don't really give percentiles anymore (and they vary per test, and per section) so it's really hard to answer that question accurately. Probably over 80%, but that's a very rough estimate.
 
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NICE scores! and GREAT improvement. you have a good shot this cycle. Could you do a more thorough breakdown of what you did to improve your scores! many people will find this helpful and will get the inspiration they need to do well on the DAT. again congrats!

21,22 is somewhere in the high 80/90th percentile so those are very good scores
 
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NICE scores! and GREAT improvement. you have a good shot this cycle. Could you do a more thorough breakdown of what you did to improve your scores! many people will find this helpful and will get the inspiration they need to do well on the DAT. again congrats!

21,22 is somewhere in the high 80/90th percentile so those are very good scores

Yes I can do a full breakdown, I'll post it tonight.


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FULL BREAKDOWN:

Took the DAT twice this year, once in march and once today (7/19). I just also finished my first year of a post-Bacc program which I think helped me A TON in solidifying my background knowledge of science. Anyways, I'll put what I did last time compared to this time.

LAST TIME (March):

-Did all of GC/OC destroyers 2 or 3 times through. (Did NONE of the bio destroyer)
-Watched a lot of khan academy Bio videos (this was very helpful, I would still recommend it). And took vigorous notes and made diagrams.
-Outlined SOME of the AP Cliffs 4 ed. (Should have done a lot more).
-DAT Qvault (bio, Chem, Orgo, I did all 10 sets of each).
-Did PAT practice on bootcamp.
-Did all the tests for bootcamp, practiced a lot of individual sections as well.

Breakdown from March:

PAT-18
QR-14 (yeah...I know)
RC-19
BIO-19
GC-21
OC-18
TS-19
AA-18

THIS TIME (July):

-My advice and everyone's going to hate this...DO NOT DO DESTROYER BOOKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
-I did not touch any destroyer books (EXCEPT for MATH DESTROYER)

Here are my reasons, destroyer is great if you want to learn the most absurd orgo reactions ever devised that you will never see ever on your test. Or if you want to earn a phd in electron microscope images (sarcasm, but semi serious). I know they're designed to be harder than the actual test, but at the end of the day, are you taking the DAT or Dr. Romano's destroyer hell exams? (Come at me Dr. Romano, you professor of Italian cheeses). Here's the bottom line folks, the DAT destroyer is not going to teach you any of these subjects. Here's what will, LEARNING CHEM, ORGO and BIO.

To do that, here's what I did.

Bio: I outlined the Cliffs AP book front to back, I took notes, drew diagrams and made sure I understood something before I moved on. (Along with adding to my preexisting notes and diagrams I made from studying before for my March exam). This helped me a lot and even though I scored the same in bio, I learned A TON and feel good about how much I learned.

GC: I took a college general chemistry textbook and read through every chapter, took notes and answered most of the questions both within the chapter and in the back of the book. (I can send anyone a PDF of this book, I have it on my computer). I also had an answer key not included in the book that gave very good explanations for every problem. I got a 21 in GC last time and a 21 this time, honestly, 21 is a great score in any section and I invite any SDN psycho to tell me I'm wrong. Again, I did NO destroyer this time around.

OC: I used old college exams and keys to help build my knowledge. I also looked up videos online and took notes and tried to learn as much as possible. Honestly, destroyer orgo is insane and teaches you so many things you think you need to know BUT YOU DONT. You need to learn resonance, you need to learn how carbocations move around, you need to learn orgo all the way through in order to do well (at least for me, I'm not a good guesser ). Once you understand background mechanisms to reactions, you don't need to just memorize reaction after reaction. I feel as though orgo destroyer just tells you a reactant and product, but not at all how they really form. Yes, I understand you can answer a lot of questions by just memorizing reactant and product, but it is so much better once you understand mechanistically how organic chemistry works.

PAT: Again, bootcamp. However, I switched up the order in which I do things. I'm personally bad at keyholes and TFE. So, I start on angles, go all the way through, then come back to keyholes and TFE at the very end. (On my test today, I had a full 30 minutes to work solely on keyholes/TFE). I also felt the PAT on my actual test was way easier then bootcamp. As a result, I jumped from a 18->21.

QR: Did all 17 math destroyer exams and worked with a high school math teacher on what I didn't understand. It helped a lot but I personally thought my QR was very challenging so I got what I got.

Reading: I literally did not study this once. In fact, I DIDNT EVEN TAKE A FULL PRACTICE EXAM BEFORE MY TEST TODAY AT ALL

Want to know why? Because when you train for a marathon, you build up your endurance. You start by running a mile a day, to 2 miles a day a week later, 4 miles a day a week after that, then eventually you run maybe 2/3 the distance a week or two before the marathon. (My numbers are probably wrong, but you get the point). In case you didn't get the point, you do not need to do 10 full length practice exams in order to do well on this test. If you don't know something in GC, OC or bio, you ARE NOT going to magically learn it by taking a bunch of full length tests. While looking at the answers for the questions you got right and wrong may help, they do not teach you anything. They only teach you something when you have a solid background of the topic of the question. How do you get a solid background? You crack your nose in a book and learn it.

I know everything I've said may sound intimidating, but it truly is not as bad as it sounds. These are all things at one point or another you'll need to learn. Be interested in it, be committed, learn everything you can. You're not just studying for the DAT, you're learning so much about science that you'll certainly use in dental school and the rest of your career. This test IS NOT easy, neither is life.

New breakdown

PAT: 21
QR: 18
RC: 22
Bio: 19
GC: 21
OC: 22
TS: 21
AA: 20

Also, don't let anyone on this site tell you you need a 25 and have started your own dental clinic in Ghana to get into dental school. Volunteer, shadow and maybe even get a job in a dental setting. Work hard in school and you'll be fine. Thanks for reading folks. Feel free to ask me any questions or even tell me I'm wrong for not using DAT destroyer.


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