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- Jun 5, 2013
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I'm finally done and took my DAT on July 15! So before I begin with my breakdown, I first wanted to thank all of you on SDN. The information that I got from here on how to study was amazing, and no advisor or pre-dental club could have done the same. Also, the success stories posted made me really motivated every time I would read them. Thank you all!
My results were:
- PAT:20
- QR: 22
- RC: 22
- Bio: 20
- Gen Chem: 24
- Organic Chem: 29
- TS: 23
- AA: 23
Chem: Chads videos, Chads quizes, Destroyer
Orgo: Chads videos, Chads quizes, Destroyer, free qvault practice test
QR: Math Destroyer
RC: just one free practice exam on datvault
Bio: Kaplan Blue Book, Cliffs AP bio, free qvault practice test
PAT: CDP 10 test edition
So I first started studying during the third week of may, and would just read through the biology section of the Kaplan Blue book. I stayed at school to have a quite atmosphere to be able to study, but instead ended up hanging out everyday and basically just wasted May. I originally had my DAT scheduled for June 21, but it was obvious I wasn't gonna be ready so I pushed it back to july 15. I can't stress how important it is to not take this exam until you feel like you're fully prepared. I officially started studying first week of June. I found Chad through SDN forums and started watching his videos. CHAD IS AMAZING!!! I have a pretty good gen chem and math background, but SUCKED at orgo!! I basically just got through orgo I at school by just relying on the curve and didn't learn anything and even dropped orgo II last semester because it was too much work and needed too much time commitment. But I loved watching Chads videos because he's so good at teaching and is actually really funny!! After watching his videos and finishing his quizzes I started Destroyer. As I said, I'm decent at gen chem so Destroyer gen chem wasn't really that bad for me and I got most of them right the first time around so I didn't spend too much time on gen chem. Orgo was the main issue, I finished destroyer 2X for orgo and memorized the maps at the end. Honestly the real DAT was WAYYYYY easier than destroyer but it makes you more confident doing harder problems.
For bio, I just read the kaplan blue book and cliffs AP bio book. I'm a bio major so I thought I was gonna do better on this section, but i'm happy with what I got.
For math, I initially didn't wanna do anything and thought I would just show up to DAT with no practice, but a lot of ppl who took the DAT before me told me to buy math destroyer and I absolutely need it and stuff like that. I actually don't think it really helped that much. I did 5 of the exams and was getting 35/40 right in 45 mins. If you're good at math you don't really need this but it does give you confidence and confidence is key!
PAT: Man i thought this section was an IQ test so i thought whats the point of studying for it. Talked to a few ppl and they told me I'm crazy and I should buy CDP. Man were they right!! holy cow this section is just weird. I started studying for PAT exactly 10 days before my exam and did 1 CPD exam per day. The first one i got a 16, and I was terrified and thought I have to push back my exam again.
But then with practice and studying the correct answers I started getting 20,21, and 22. 22 was the highest one I ever got so im happy with my 20. During the actual DAT I thought I'm doing terrible and ran out of time without even answering 4 questions so I thought im gonna get a 16 but i honestly don't know how i got a 20 😀. For keyholes the real DAT is harder than CPD, for TFE its also harder ( i had been told and read on here than line counting won't work but honestly it did for me👍 ), for angle ranking its easier but I still dont get what the hell is the point of this section, for hole punching i felt it was harder than cpd because the shapes were so badly drawn ( for this section just watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ud0ZX0eEFA an youre set), for cube counting it was same as CPD, and for pattern folding I just guessed on most of them so can't really tell you how it compared because I had no time to even read the questions 😱
For RC, english isn't my first language but ive been in the states for 5 years now so no excuses. My job at school is to read research papers so I felt like i didn't need to study for this section and its not gonna improve. I took the free datqvault practice exam, and got a 22 which i was happy with and ended up getting the same score on the real thing.All i did for this section was read the question and try to find the answer. After the different questions you basically have read the whole passage and should still have 5 mins left at the end of the section.
Sorry that I wrote out such a long summary, but I really want people taking the exam to understand that confidence is key! It doesn't matter how long you study, what matters is how effective you study. You shud be really efficient when you study and try to understand concepts rather than memorize destroyer answers. Also, another thing is that you shouldn't look at how much other people study because it'll just make you lose confidence. One of my friends studied for 5 months and got a 22, so I was really scared that if i could even get a 20 or 21 with 6 weeks of studying. These past six weeks were hell. I'm doing research from 9-5, but I would try to squeeze 3 hours of studying in there. After I got out at 5 i would take the train to the suburbs and then walk to the library till 9. They would kick me out at 9 and I would go to starbucks until 10 and then they kicked me out so i was forced to go home. On the weekends, I would sleep in until 10 or 11 and then study till 11 pm because thats when starbucks closed
Looking back i don't know how I did it but man does it feel good to be done. Good luck to all of you taking it! Remember that the exam isn't really that hard, it just needs to you understand the material, have good time management, and to believe in yourself.
My results were:
- PAT:20
- QR: 22
- RC: 22
- Bio: 20
- Gen Chem: 24
- Organic Chem: 29
- TS: 23
- AA: 23
Chem: Chads videos, Chads quizes, Destroyer
Orgo: Chads videos, Chads quizes, Destroyer, free qvault practice test
QR: Math Destroyer
RC: just one free practice exam on datvault
Bio: Kaplan Blue Book, Cliffs AP bio, free qvault practice test
PAT: CDP 10 test edition
So I first started studying during the third week of may, and would just read through the biology section of the Kaplan Blue book. I stayed at school to have a quite atmosphere to be able to study, but instead ended up hanging out everyday and basically just wasted May. I originally had my DAT scheduled for June 21, but it was obvious I wasn't gonna be ready so I pushed it back to july 15. I can't stress how important it is to not take this exam until you feel like you're fully prepared. I officially started studying first week of June. I found Chad through SDN forums and started watching his videos. CHAD IS AMAZING!!! I have a pretty good gen chem and math background, but SUCKED at orgo!! I basically just got through orgo I at school by just relying on the curve and didn't learn anything and even dropped orgo II last semester because it was too much work and needed too much time commitment. But I loved watching Chads videos because he's so good at teaching and is actually really funny!! After watching his videos and finishing his quizzes I started Destroyer. As I said, I'm decent at gen chem so Destroyer gen chem wasn't really that bad for me and I got most of them right the first time around so I didn't spend too much time on gen chem. Orgo was the main issue, I finished destroyer 2X for orgo and memorized the maps at the end. Honestly the real DAT was WAYYYYY easier than destroyer but it makes you more confident doing harder problems.
For bio, I just read the kaplan blue book and cliffs AP bio book. I'm a bio major so I thought I was gonna do better on this section, but i'm happy with what I got.
For math, I initially didn't wanna do anything and thought I would just show up to DAT with no practice, but a lot of ppl who took the DAT before me told me to buy math destroyer and I absolutely need it and stuff like that. I actually don't think it really helped that much. I did 5 of the exams and was getting 35/40 right in 45 mins. If you're good at math you don't really need this but it does give you confidence and confidence is key!
PAT: Man i thought this section was an IQ test so i thought whats the point of studying for it. Talked to a few ppl and they told me I'm crazy and I should buy CDP. Man were they right!! holy cow this section is just weird. I started studying for PAT exactly 10 days before my exam and did 1 CPD exam per day. The first one i got a 16, and I was terrified and thought I have to push back my exam again.
But then with practice and studying the correct answers I started getting 20,21, and 22. 22 was the highest one I ever got so im happy with my 20. During the actual DAT I thought I'm doing terrible and ran out of time without even answering 4 questions so I thought im gonna get a 16 but i honestly don't know how i got a 20 😀. For keyholes the real DAT is harder than CPD, for TFE its also harder ( i had been told and read on here than line counting won't work but honestly it did for me👍 ), for angle ranking its easier but I still dont get what the hell is the point of this section, for hole punching i felt it was harder than cpd because the shapes were so badly drawn ( for this section just watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ud0ZX0eEFA an youre set), for cube counting it was same as CPD, and for pattern folding I just guessed on most of them so can't really tell you how it compared because I had no time to even read the questions 😱For RC, english isn't my first language but ive been in the states for 5 years now so no excuses. My job at school is to read research papers so I felt like i didn't need to study for this section and its not gonna improve. I took the free datqvault practice exam, and got a 22 which i was happy with and ended up getting the same score on the real thing.All i did for this section was read the question and try to find the answer. After the different questions you basically have read the whole passage and should still have 5 mins left at the end of the section.
Sorry that I wrote out such a long summary, but I really want people taking the exam to understand that confidence is key! It doesn't matter how long you study, what matters is how effective you study. You shud be really efficient when you study and try to understand concepts rather than memorize destroyer answers. Also, another thing is that you shouldn't look at how much other people study because it'll just make you lose confidence. One of my friends studied for 5 months and got a 22, so I was really scared that if i could even get a 20 or 21 with 6 weeks of studying. These past six weeks were hell. I'm doing research from 9-5, but I would try to squeeze 3 hours of studying in there. After I got out at 5 i would take the train to the suburbs and then walk to the library till 9. They would kick me out at 9 and I would go to starbucks until 10 and then they kicked me out so i was forced to go home. On the weekends, I would sleep in until 10 or 11 and then study till 11 pm because thats when starbucks closed
Looking back i don't know how I did it but man does it feel good to be done. Good luck to all of you taking it! Remember that the exam isn't really that hard, it just needs to you understand the material, have good time management, and to believe in yourself.
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