DAT today, no improvement...

[thecoolpharmboi]

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So I did my second DAT today....and got the same AA as before.

I am very sad and I am hurt because I thought I have prepared better this second time around. I screwed up big time apparently on the science portion of the test.

Right now...I do know I will have to take the test again, but how should I go about this this time? I obviously have been doing something wrong...any suggestions?

I'm very VERY discouraged. What should I do now? Suggestions would be appreciated. 🙁

 

[peanutb123]

Hey azn...
that's the beauty of life w/o failure you wont be able to enjoy and appreciate your success.

so you dont have to post your scores or anything. could you post how you studied...
did you study by yourself? if so may i suggest that you take kaplan.
did you take it while attending school full time? could this may have any effect on your score.
did you have too much stuff of your platter?... if so prioritize.
are you consistent w/ your work? i dont mean do bio chapter one this week and do chapter 2 3 weeks later.

please post your study techniques, the amount of practice that you did, etc... dont tell me how many hours your did but include all the things that were going on while studying for dats(ex. job, research...). also are you consistent w/ your practice... tell me how many weeks apart have your done practice...

i think what you have to do is step back and re-prioritize your options... i know bro you can do it... all you need to do is keep that CHIN UP.

Guess what... you are getting a treat taking it the third time... you will have calculator for your QR...
and now you know how much you need to practice for pat, QR, and also RC. and how much you need to memorize for sciences.

If you have the luxury to take a semester off to study for it i say DO IT...

 

[299678]

what's your number?

 

[thecoolpharmboi]

Hey azn...
that's the beauty of life w/o failure you wont be able to enjoy and appreciate your success.

so you dont have to post your scores or anything. could you post how you studied...
did you study by yourself? if so may i suggest that you take kaplan.
did you take it while attending school full time? could this may have any effect on your score.
did you have too much stuff of your platter?... if so prioritize.
are you consistent w/ your work? i dont mean do bio chapter one this week and do chapter 2 3 weeks later.

please post your study techniques, the amount of practice that you did, etc... dont tell me how many hours your did but include all the things that were going on while studying for dats(ex. job, research...). also are you consistent w/ your practice... tell me how many weeks apart have your done practice...

i think what you have to do is step back and re-prioritize your options... i know bro you can do it... all you need to do is keep that CHIN UP.

Guess what... you are getting a treat taking it the third time... you will have calculator for your QR...
and now you know how much you need to practice for pat, QR, and also RC. and how much you need to memorize for sciences.

If you have the luxury to take a semester off to study for it i say DO IT...

Ok...so I had school full-time (15 hrs) with involvement in school activities (officer this year) and I took the first DAT September 26th... And took second time DEC 26TH..

I began studying in mid-October with Biology and then November, I did Ochem and Gchem...then December QR and RC...however 10 days before the test I studied from 8am to 10pm with lunch and dinner breaks (ea about an hour long) and 5 days before test, I took 5 practice tests consecutively (3 from achiever and 2 topscore) , I took one topscore in beginning of december...after each practice test I thoroughly went over the tests , writing notes etc. (I also went through entire kaplan book AGAIN and writing notes...I studied from notes as well as used online sources ...

I did take kaplan course and I am thinking of going back for my third test, but idk...

Materials I used: kaplan, achiever, topscore, campbell biology book, ochem text, and online stuff.

What should I do?

 

[UCB05]

Ok...so I had school full-time (15 hrs) with involvement in school activities (officer this year) and I took the first DAT September 26th... And took second time DEC 26TH..

I began studying in mid-October with Biology and then November, I did Ochem and Gchem...then December QR and RC...however 10 days before the test I studied from 8am to 10pm with lunch and dinner breaks (ea about an hour long) and 5 days before test, I took 5 practice tests consecutively (3 from achiever and 2 topscore) , I took one topscore in beginning of december...after each practice test I thoroughly went over the tests , writing notes etc. (I also went through entire kaplan book AGAIN and writing notes...I studied from notes as well as used online sources ...

I did take kaplan course and I am thinking of going back for my third test, but idk...

Materials I used: kaplan, achiever, topscore, campbell biology book, ochem text, and online stuff.

What should I do?

It sounds like you just didn't put enough time into preparing, studying the science portion over a month and a half during full-time school and extracurriculars, and only at the end really hammering it out. If you plan on taking the exam one more time, spread out the studying a bit more. 5 days of full study and 5 days of partial study w/ practice exams to cover almost two semesters of ochem, gchem and bio, review quant, and practice reading comp is essentially cramming and it doesn't get you very far.. You need to give yourself time to digest and absorb the information. IMO your September test would have been a prime time to buckle down and prepare for with the summer preceding it.

Anywho, whatever you decide to do, gl

 

[299678]

Sorry to tell you this but almost always your number tell you all.
That's why dental school wants to see your number, not you.

Also one more common secret!

Let's say if you got 50% scores by spending 50 hours

how much additional hours should you spend?

50 additional hours to get 100%? wrong ! you should spend about 100 more hours (so total of 150 hours) since you are targeting hardest questions that you have missed

 

[Munchy]

I agree with kpark102.
your result does not and should not have a direct linear relationship with your effort.

I scored 23 in TS and 22 in AA so let me tell you what I did.

1) The way I see it, the amount of time you put into studying doesn't really matter. It is all about how efficient and productive you are. My friend could be studying 12 hours in library with MSN, talking with friends, etc but I can get the same amount of work done in 4 hours by putting in full concentration.

2) I didn't have a lot of money so I only used second hand Kaplan blue book to prepare for the DAT. And I found this book to be very 'shallow' in terms of knowledge. Thus right from the get go, I knew that If I only knew the basic information in this book, I wouldn't score a very high result. Therefore, whenever I encountered a topic that I couldn't explain to a friend from the top of my head, I did additional research using Wikipedia and my old textbooks.

3) For RC, I just got an idea of how the test was like from the Kaplan book, and just went with what I had. I scored 20, thus the drop from 23TS to 22AA.

I studied 2 hours each day 5 times a week for 2 months during summer break (I couldn't study during weekend. The weather was just too nice lol).
Don't get discouraged just because you didn't improve.
What I would suggest is to find someone to study with. Perhaps you are missing out important information.

I know it's hard, but forget about what you scored, study hard for the next one and ace it!

 

[thecoolpharmboi]

It sounds like you just didn't put enough time into preparing, studying the science portion over a month and a half during full-time school and extracurriculars, and only at the end really hammering it out. If you plan on taking the exam one more time, spread out the studying a bit more. 5 days of full study and 5 days of partial study w/ practice exams to cover almost two semesters of ochem, gchem and bio, review quant, and practice reading comp is essentially cramming and it doesn't get you very far.. You need to give yourself time to digest and absorb the information. IMO your September test would have been a prime time to buckle down and prepare for with the summer preceding it.

Anywho, whatever you decide to do, gl

Yeah, looking back at it, it was because of time...I had to take 11 hrs of classes during summer and work at the same time...didn't give me full time to concentrate for the September test...thanks guys, I will have next summer OFF so I will make sure to study hard and have efficient timing and preparation.

Thanks

 

[peanutb123]

Yeah, looking back at it, it was because of time...I had to take 11 hrs of classes during summer and work at the same time...didn't give me full time to concentrate for the September test...thanks guys, I will have next summer OFF so I will make sure to study hard and have efficient timing and preparation.

Thanks

you are missing important part of UBC advice...which is to use your practice tests wisely and not to save them till the end...

and do it when you are stress free... dont do it when you have ton of things to do.... you can do it 👍

 

[thecoolpharmboi]

you are missing important part of UBC advice...which is to use your practice tests wisely and not to save them till the end...

and do it when you are stress free... dont do it when you have ton of things to do.... you can do it 👍

Yes, I realized that...thanks 🙂