Finally Took the DAT (yeah, another thread)

[wahlbj]

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Well, I finally finished it today.

Here's the breakdown:

Academic Average: 20
Perceptual Ability: 21
Quantitative Reasoning: 18
Reading Comprehension: 27 (always been my best subject, along with PAT)
Biology: 19
General Chemistry: 19
Organic Chemistry: 18
Total Science: 19

I'm pretty dang happy, so I'm not going to be clueless and ask, "Are these scores ok? Should I retake it?" Haha, I know better. I'm just hoping it's enough to get schools (namely the unveristy of oklahoma) to overlook my overall GPA of 3.06 and a science GPA of 2.5. Maybe I showed them that I actually know a bit of science, and if not, I can sure comprehend any science they'll throw at me to read, haha.

I was pretty nervous, seeing how on the last topscore test i pulled a 12, 13, and 14 in organic, gen chem, and bio respectively. Guess a few weeks really can make a difference. By the way, I thought the QR on the real thing was way easier than topscore.

-Brian

 

[bpenly]

Nice PAT and reading comprehension. Somebody recently posted an article that performed some regression analysis on board exams and DAT scores. It appeared that RC was among the top factors in many of the categories. I am sure that your RC score will raise some eyebrows. The science wasn't too shabby either, right up there with scores of entering students.

Good work.

 

[boogaking]

do you have a link to that article or study?

 

[bpenly]

do you have a link to that article or study?

I don't remember who posted it. I have a copy that I can email you if you send me a private message with your email. Otherwise, it was posted in the last week in either this forum or the Pre-dental forum.

 

[wahlbj]

Hey thanks.

I have a lot of friends in medical school (curiously not many in dental school), and I've heard from all of them that the med schools look hard at the reading comp score mainly because it shows your ability to read foreign material and comprehend it and spit it back out. Everything you learn in med (and dental) school is pretty much going to be new material, and you will have to learn it fast and be able to regurgitate it, so I can see why adcoms look at this score. I'm sure the same applies for dental school adcoms.

If anybody is still studying, here is how I tackled the RC section (I'm sure lots of people do this). Basically I skipped reading the passage at first and just went to the first question. I read down the passage till I found the answer and then went to the next question and picked up the reading where I left off. If I came across a question that was addressed earlier in the passage, I knew quickly and exactly where to go to answer it.

I've taken the GRE and MCAT before and I wasn't really able to use this approach, because so many questions addressed the passage as a whole, while the DAT asks mostly detail questions. My MCAT sucked (that was years ago), but my reading comp score was pretty high. It's always just come naturally to me. Anyway, maybe that method will be new to a few and can help a few people out. I would suggest practicing it first (TopScore is a great way to do it).

-Brian

 

[wahlbj]

I've had a few PM's about how I studied (not that my scores are all that great. . .I've seen much better on this board), but I'll post a bit of what I did anyway.

I think the main thing people noticed is that I went from getting 12's, 13's, 14's, and 15's on the TopScore sciences to 19's and an 18 on the real thing. Here's a bit of what I did.

I started a few months ago, actually, more like 3 months ago or so, but my studying was really inconsistent at first. I teach the ACT and SAT for Kaplan, so I had a copy of the review notes and the teacher's edition of the kaplan DAT course notes. I basically read through the review notes (I'm sure it's very similar to the Kaplan blue book) and then started going through the TEL (teacher's edition lesson book). Basically the TEL is a condensed version of the review book which covers all the main and heavy points. . .bascially like taking detailed notes from the blue book, which I think would be a great way to go. I took a practice test from Kaplan, the practice test from the ADEA, and the 3 topscore pro tests. On all the practice tests, my PAT steadily rose (it peaked at a 22 on the last topscore test) and my RC went from 19's to low 20's. My QR pretty much stayed around 18, and my sciences were always anywhere from 12 to 16 on all the practice tests I took.

On the last topscore test I did get a 12 in OChem and 14 and 15 in gen chem and bio, but that was 2 weeks before the test and I had taken a week or so off from studying (which was dumb). I hit the sciences really hard for 2 weeks, just going over those detailed notes I had from kaplan (which you could make from the blue book). I probably went over those things 10 times in the last week, and it finally all started sticking - I was remembering things i never thought I could (I didn't do as well as I should have or could have in science classes in college). My science scores aren't super, but they are good, and considering where they were, I'm pretty proud of them. For me, repitition was the key.

I studied the barron's DAT book for PAT and a little QR stuff, but I mostly studied science, since it was by far my weakest subject.

 

[podil]

JDE article

Maybe there is a way to slip this kind of information into a discussion with an interviewer??

-P

 

[BigJ77]

I've had a few PM's about how I studied (not that my scores are all that great. . .I've seen much better on this board), but I'll post a bit of what I did anyway.

I think the main thing people noticed is that I went from getting 12's, 13's, 14's, and 15's on the TopScore sciences to 19's and an 18 on the real thing. Here's a bit of what I did.

I started a few months ago, actually, more like 3 months ago or so, but my studying was really inconsistent at first. I teach the ACT and SAT for Kaplan, so I had a copy of the review notes and the teacher's edition of the kaplan DAT course notes. I basically read through the review notes (I'm sure it's very similar to the Kaplan blue book) and then started going through the TEL (teacher's edition lesson book). Basically the TEL is a condensed version of the review book which covers all the main and heavy points. . .bascially like taking detailed notes from the blue book, which I think would be a great way to go. I took a practice test from Kaplan, the practice test from the ADEA, and the 3 topscore pro tests. On all the practice tests, my PAT steadily rose (it peaked at a 22 on the last topscore test) and my RC went from 19's to low 20's. My QR pretty much stayed around 18, and my sciences were always anywhere from 12 to 16 on all the practice tests I took.

On the last topscore test I did get a 12 in OChem and 14 and 15 in gen chem and bio, but that was 2 weeks before the test and I had taken a week or so off from studying (which was dumb). I hit the sciences really hard for 2 weeks, just going over those detailed notes I had from kaplan (which you could make from the blue book). I probably went over those things 10 times in the last week, and it finally all started sticking - I was remembering things i never thought I could (I didn't do as well as I should have or could have in science classes in college). My science scores aren't super, but they are good, and considering where they were, I'm pretty proud of them. For me, repitition was the key.

I studied the barron's DAT book for PAT and a little QR stuff, but I mostly studied science, since it was by far my weakest subject.

Hey,

Is there a way that I could get those condensed Kaplan notes from you? I am in Iraq and trying to study for this DAT usually early in the morning when there are not mortar attacks! I would really appreciate it! Thanks!

BigJ

 

[wahlbj]

Hey,

Is there a way that I could get those condensed Kaplan notes from you? I am in Iraq and trying to study for this DAT usually early in the morning when there are not mortar attacks! I would really appreciate it! Thanks!

BigJ

No, I had to give them back to Kaplan. They really were kind of reluctant to give them to me in the first place, since I don't teach the DAT, but the director is nice. Sorry.

-Brian

 

[Sprgrover]

Awesome job!!! 👍