Finished with DAT -5/28/08

[swellguy]

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Just finished the DAT and my scores are as follows.. QR-16 RC - 23 GC -22 OC-21 Bio-26 TS -22 AA-22 PAT -20
I am not happy with these scores... Im ecstatic

I studied my butt off for months and I ended up with some solid scores (except for math which can stuff itself) Im posting this to offer encouragement to everyone who has not taken the DAT yet, or is taking it again, and it feels like its out there waiting to ruin your life. In all reality the DAT is really difficult. The scope of material is huge, etc. However I felt like it was fair, and all those nights of not having fun paid off.

I took my last practice test yesterday and totally bombed. When I went in I felt totally unprepared and my stomach felt like it was trying to dance the salsa. But it all worked out so everyone who is studying out there stay focused and optimistic

 

[osimsDDS]

wow amazing scores, i feel u on QR just too worthless to study for i feel like i can spend most of my time on sciences rather than qr.

How long did you study for and what materials did you use? thanks

 

[dentaldream88]

Good Job! Can you tell me what you used to study for PAT. That seems to be the hardest section for me.....I keep getting 16 using Crack DAT PAT 😡

 

[Predentknight]

Great scores and congrats. Can you enlighten us on your practice test scores. How was the general chemistry section, conceptual or a lot of calculations? If conceptual how detailed or outrageous were the questions? How did you prepare for Bio, what materials and techniques? What technique did you use for the reading section?

Thank you and must feel nice to be done!!👍

 

[dentalplan]

nice job!!!! ya what did u use for bio studying?

 

[doc3232]

As others said, it would be helpful if you told us what you studied and what you receieved on your practice tests.

Thanks in advance.

 

[swellguy]

I used kaplan (the book not the class) for gchem and ochem. I thought it did a pretty good job, especially when reinforced by destroyer. For me destroyer was a huge bonus, I went through it several times and I feel it helped a ton for gchem and ochem. For bio I used Schaums Biology. I did really well on bio but I don't know if it was schuams or undergrad (I'm a cell bio major). It did seem to cover all the bases and I just read it three or four times. Ive read that some people consider it too in depth, but if you have the time I think its hard to be over prepared. Plus I bought it new on amazon for about 15 bucks, its hard to go wrong. I heard kaplan wasn't in depth enough so I didn't even open the bio section. The only PAT studying I really did was the topscore and achiever tests. To study for the reading I had the foresight to be fat as an elementary school kid so I read a ton, unless you are nine that wont be too much help.

The gchem section on my test was definitely mostly conceptual but there was only one question I felt was ridiculous. It was all fairly straightforward.

Here are my test scores, I didn't do some of the sections

Topscore

test 1 - Bio-21 gchem-17 ochem -18 QR-16 RC-22 PAT-18

test 2- Bio-17 chem-17 ochem 21 QR-14

test 3- didn't take


Acheiver

test 1 - Bio-19 gchem-19 ochem -18 QR-16 PAT-17

test 2 - Bio-16 gchem-17 ochem -15 QR-16 PAT-17

test 3 - Bio-18 gchem-16 ochem -19

Hope this helps, if anybody has some more questions or I was unclear about something just ask!

 

[osimsDDS]

Were there a lot of phylum stuff for bio about like echinoderms and all that crap i hate that stuff? If there was how do u study for it?

 

[Mamona]

Just finished the DAT and my scores are as follows.. QR-16 RC - 23 GC -22 OC-21 Bio-26 TS -22 AA-22 PAT -20
I am not happy with these scores... Im ecstatic

I studied my butt off for months and I ended up with some solid scores (except for math which can stuff itself) Im posting this to offer encouragement to everyone who has not taken the DAT yet, or is taking it again, and it feels like its out there waiting to ruin your life. In all reality the DAT is really difficult. The scope of material is huge, etc. However I felt like it was fair, and all those nights of not having fun paid off.

I took my last practice test yesterday and totally bombed. When I went in I felt totally unprepared and my stomach felt like it was trying to dance the salsa. But it all worked out so everyone who is studying out there stay focused and optimistic

Congratulations very solid scores. How lond did it take you to study???

 

[gentile1225]

congrats on the scores!

 

[ddsjc2014]

Congrat..on those great score!! What was your study strategy??
I'm also planning to use Kaplan Blue book for G chem and O chem. How did you study them? just read over and over? or make flash card?? I read through them once now, but still didn't get many of the concepts. Should I read over and over until I get it??
Please share your experience... Thanks...

 

[dentalplan]

thats pretty good, i think you can get into to harvard with those scores.

 

[jigabodo]

Excellent stuff. 👍

Man, kids this year are scary.

 

[PSU SHC 414]

Excellent stuff. 👍

Man, kids this year are scary.

Congrats!

 

[swellguy]

There definitely were some phylum questions but they were reasonable, and I agree they are lame to the max. Schaum's does a really good job of being thorough, I didn't memorize everything in it about phylum's but if you did I can't imagine there would be any questions they could throw at you you wouldn't know. Those two or three chapters are really dense and for me personally the most difficult to read, but that might just be because I really don't care about plasmodial slime molds.

As I said before I thought kaplan did a pretty good job for gchem/ochem. I never use flashcards, they just don't work for me personally, but I heard they do help some people. To study I read through both sections twice, but its hard to get good retention with that alone. Afterwards I went through destroyer. (Side note here I totally recommend destroyer. Ochem has about 180 practice questions, which would be like taking about 6 practice tests, and the explanations are great.) The first time I went through destroyer I think I missed about 95% of the questions, so don't get discouraged. Every time I missed a question I would look the subject up in kaplan again and re-read it which seemed to help with my retention. Then I would do something else (gchem/bio) for a few days so I would forget all the answers and then I did the entire destroyer again. After a few times of reinforcement I had ochem/gchem down pretty well.

I spent about two months studying semi-casually (a few hours most days) and a little over a month studying like a crazy person. I tried to get in at least eight hours a day, sometimes 12 or 14, every day. I was lucky that I finished school in december so I just made DAT studying my job for the last month. I have a less then spectacular GPA (3.25) so I knew I had to be really solid on the DAT if I wanted an honest shot of getting in

 

[swellguy]

And I thought that the QR cutoff for a lot of schools was 16, so I think I'm good there, but does anybody know any different?

 

[k3ladyswan]

I used kaplan (the book not the class) for gchem and ochem. I thought it did a pretty good job, especially when reinforced by destroyer. For me destroyer was a huge bonus, I went through it several times and I feel it helped a ton for gchem and ochem. For bio I used Schaums Biology. I did really well on bio but I don't know if it was schuams or undergrad (I'm a cell bio major). It did seem to cover all the bases and I just read it three or four times. Ive read that some people consider it too in depth, but if you have the time I think its hard to be over prepared. Plus I bought it new on amazon for about 15 bucks, its hard to go wrong. I heard kaplan wasn't in depth enough so I didn't even open the bio section. The only PAT studying I really did was the topscore and achiever tests. To study for the reading I had the foresight to be fat as an elementary school kid so I read a ton, unless you are nine that wont be too much help.

The gchem section on my test was definitely mostly conceptual but there was only one question I felt was ridiculous. It was all fairly straightforward.

Here are my test scores, I didn't do some of the sections

Topscore

test 1 - Bio-21 gchem-17 ochem -18 QR-16 RC-22 PAT-18

test 2- Bio-17 chem-17 ochem 21 QR-14

test 3- didn't take


Acheiver

test 1 - Bio-19 gchem-19 ochem -18 QR-16 PAT-17

test 2 - Bio-16 gchem-17 ochem -15 QR-16 PAT-17

test 3 - Bio-18 gchem-16 ochem -19

Hope this helps, if anybody has some more questions or I was unclear about something just ask!

The Schaums Biology book you got from Amazon... is it called "Schaum's Outline of Biology" by George H. Fried and George J. Hademenos?

 

[swellguy]

yep, thats the one

 

[drtoothy]

thank you so much...i've been getting similar scores on topscore and it's pretty discouraging, especially when you know your DAT scores need to make up for your GPA (i'm in the same boat as you) and your test is in 4 days. 😱

once again, awesome job! good luck applying!