finished dats (3rd time)...advice please!

[yuhjah]

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[babowc]

You seem to have pretty solid stats minus the GPA, but you're doing your masters...
Applying this cycle? You should!

 

[ddsJD]

took my dats for the 3rd time (mainly b/c the dat scores expire within 2-3 years depending on the school and my last dat score is 2 years old already so i wanted a fresher score):
PAT 20 (79%)
QR 22 (97.9%)
RC 22 (84.4%)
BIO 20 (88%)
GC 20 (79.8%)
OC 21 (85.7%)
TS 21 (91.6%)
AA 21 (93.4%)
not so satisfied with my scores...was aiming for 22+ especially in the sciences...didnt quite make it~ oh wells~

first dat scores 15/17/19/17/18/20/18/18 (took it in 2009)
2nd dat scores 20/19/20/19/21/21/20/20 (took it in 2010)

applied twice before...did not get any interviews...mainly because my gpa is super-low and my dat scores was just average (2nd one).

my undergrad gpa: 3.12 (overall) 2.9 (science gpa)

so in 2011...i decided to enroll in a masters program in Biology...in attempt to improve my chances in getting into dental school~
masters gpa now: 3.91
will finish my masters this fall
last 2 years...been working as a part-time dental assistant (25-30 weeks) and taking master courses at the same time
tons of experience in the dental field (im a dental assistant....xrays...crown preps..impressions...i can do them all)
will be going on dental missions this summer at haiti 🙂
advice on my stats?

one thing that is concerning me is that i took CC credits for physics and biology II during my undergrad courses...should i retake those three classes (physics I & II, biology II)? would it really be a problem?

Good Scores, those are commendable, I think you improved your chances a lot this round.

As far as the CC classes, you should buy the ADEA guide to dental schools book. Many schools have certain limits to CC hours, some do not, and some won't allow any CC (especially if they are for science courses). I would think about the schools you are interested in and then look up what they want.

But personally if it was me, and I had time, I would retake those classes at a University so that I wouldn't have to pick and choose my schools based off that criteria. Good Luck!

 

[smilebig01]

You have amazing scores!! Congrats!! Would you mind giving a mini break down of how long you studied and materials you used (what was most helpful for the actual exam) ? this would be very helpful! Thanks 🙂

 

[yuhjah]

materials used:
kaplan bb (2008-2009 version)
destroyer (2009 version)
topscore
achiever (3 test version)
crack pat (10 test version)
chad videos (chem only)
chad quizzes
cliff's ap bio book
qvault (just the free 1st section for bio/chem/orgo/math/pat)
dat bootcamp (just the free 1st section for bio/math/orgo/chem section)

studied for 3 weeks~

most helpful for:
bio = cliff's, kaplan bb (all the material not covered in cliffs), chad quizzes
chem = chad videos, destroyer, kaplan bb, chad quizzes
orgo = destroyer, kaplan bb, chad quizzes
pat = achiever, crack pat
math = destroyer (not math destroyer), kaplan bb, chad quizzes
reading = achiever, topscore

top score = comparable for the sciences...too easy for pat...comparable for RC...a little easy for QR
achiever = comparable or little harder for the sciences....harder for PAT...much harder for RC...comparable for QR

if you want more details pm me~

 

[blankman321]

materials used:
kaplan bb (2008-2009 version)
destroyer (2009 version)
topscore
achiever (3 test version)
crack pat (10 test version)
chad videos (chem only)
chad quizzes
cliff's ap bio book
qvault (just the free 1st section for bio/chem/orgo/math/pat)
dat bootcamp (just the free 1st section for bio/math/orgo/chem section)

studied for 3 weeks~

most helpful for:
bio = cliff's, kaplan bb (all the material not covered in cliffs), chad quizzes
chem = chad videos, destroyer, kaplan bb, chad quizzes
orgo = destroyer, kaplan bb, chad quizzes
pat = achiever, crack pat
math = destroyer (not math destroyer), kaplan bb, chad quizzes
reading = achiever, topscore

top score = comparable for the sciences...too easy for pat...comparable for RC...a little easy for QR
achiever = comparable or little harder for the sciences....harder for PAT...much harder for RC...comparable for QR

if you want more details pm me~

you should be proud considering you are doing a masters with a high GPA and you did in 3 weeks. your shadowing hours/work hours look good but try to add in some EC's/volunteer just to make this a more complete application. hopefully the dental mission in haiti can be the beacon to the adcoms

do you mind rating on a scale of 1 to 10 the usefulness of the study materials you used?

 

[yoRo]

ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

 

[yuhjah]

more details...

Biology
1. Cliffs AP Bio = if you memorize this book front to back...it covers 95% of the biology you need to know in my opinion
2. Kaplan BB = used this to study the sections not covered in Cliffs...such as the structure of ear, eye, bone, brain...also kaplan BB has a better in-depth material on the endocrine system and the hormones which i liked better

Chemistry
1. Chad's videos = watched them once...made good notes...studied the notes...useful for getting the concepts, formulas, and theories down
2. Kaplan BB = good resource as well to get down the basics
3. Destroyer = problems are more mathematical and take longer to solve...but is good practice~

Organic Chemistry
1. Kaplan BB = used this to get the basics down
2. Destroyer = very good practice...road maps are golden!

PAT
1. Achiever = better practice for keyholes, TFE, patternfolding, hole punches
2. Crack PAT = better practice for holepunches, cubecounting, angles
i was always not so good with PAT...and feared this section a lot~ i get perfect scores on holepunches and cubecounting (thanks to Crack) but the other sections...i always struggled with~ but all i can say is that for me i thought Crack was too easy and especially deceiving on TFE, keyholes, and patternfolding compared to the real DAT...can't use line-counting method at all...keyholes and patternfolding are a bit more complicated than those on crack...so i practice with Achiever even though it is really hard...if u can solve those problems on achiever...i think u will do well~

Reading
didnt really use any resource except the ones on the practice exams in topscore/achiever
during my studying...i always wrote down keywords for each paragraph
but during the actual test...the passages were so much easier...and i can tell how its organized just by skimming through it...so i threw out my method of taking notes...and ended up doing search and destroy method...it worked out fine for me~

QR
1. Kaplan BB = used to refresh my memory....memorize formulas
2. DAT destroyer = solved all the problems once and re-did the ones i got wrong
didn't really study much for this section because i was focusing on the sciences...but somehow ended up scoring the highest in this section -_-" the word problems are the hardest in my opinion b/c it takes time to understand it and solve it...the algebra, fractions, trig were straightforward~

TopScore + Achiever + Qvault + Bootcamp = used these for practice exam
Achiever > Topscore + Qvault + Bootcamp (cant decide which one is better than the other...their all in general good practice)
i shouldve gotten more practice with Achiever~ its more difficult but it prepares you for expecting the worst in my opinion~

umm ionno what else to write...except maybe if i studied longer i would've done better~
gl!

 

[biomolecmed]

Good job. Your masters gpa shows improvement. Well done.