For those of you with outstanding DAT scores (25+)

[Gurl21]

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What's your secret? What resources did you use, and how much time did it take you to prepare?

I know this really should be posted in the DAT forum but I posted it here too because it seems people rarely check/respond to the other forum.

 

[cool fillings]

I didn't get an overall score of 25+, but I did get a 25 on the reading comprehension section. I actually hardly did anything for the section except for practice tests. It helps to take notes on the reading passages as you read them...I briefly jotted down the main point/subject of each paragraph and then listed the proper nouns in the paragraph underneath that. I think it helped me save a lot of time searching through the reading for the answers to questions about specific people, etc. I read articles on the internet frequently for bio research papers and lab reports, and the internet is my news source, so I'm very comfortable with reading critically from a computer screen...I think this helped a bunch too. Good luck!

 

[organichemistry]

I didn't get an overall score of 25+, but I did get a 25 on the reading comprehension section. I actually hardly did anything for the section except for practice tests. It helps to take notes on the reading passages as you read them...I briefly jotted down the main point/subject of each paragraph and then listed the proper nouns in the paragraph underneath that. I think it helped me save a lot of time searching through the reading for the answers to questions about specific people, etc. I read articles on the internet frequently for bio research papers and lab reports, and the internet is my news source, so I'm very comfortable with reading critically from a computer screen...I think this helped a bunch too. Good luck!

yeah i haven't taken the real thing but i routinely score 25 or better on the practice tests for general chemistry and quantitative reasoning. the questions just don't strike me as difficult.

 

[mvs04]

1) become male escort

2) sleep with a prometric test center employee

3) have prometric test center employee provide you answers to the test on your test date.

 

[Thaxil]

I think many people may disagree with me, but I think you need to know the subject inside and out to score > 25. I score 25 – chemistry and 27 – Ochemistry. I feel this was a result of my doing initially well in the courses, but more importantly, I tutored course afterwards. In addition, I refreshed myself on the subjects by taking practice exams and reviewing the subject I missed questions on.

I think you should be leery of people who state they prepared 2 days before or for two weeks. I find that ridiculous to believe. You just have to put the hard work in and do what works best for you.

Kaplan Blue book will get you a 19 at most; this is my opinion. There just is not enough information explaining the material.

 

[GENERAL TSO]

WELL evenmore I think that you should not rely on anything you read on SDN


most of the kids lie here. I know some of them who post. These people dont get such high DAT scores.


just crap in a public forum.


They wish, catch my drift?

most never score above a 22

 

[Sprgrover]

I scored a 27 in organic chemistry and that is due in a large part to my efforts in class - I had a great teacher, spent endless hours studying the material throughout the year, and organic just 'clicked' with me. I studied for the DAT using a combination of Kaplan, my in-class notes, and flashcards.

 

[45540]

I think it'd be next to impossible to score that high on the science sections.

But the Reading Comprehension, Math and PAT sections can easily yield a 23 on up. Those 3 sections yielded the highest score whereas the Sciences were slightly lower.

 

[JavadiCavity]

I'd say any score over a 20 is OUTSTANDING.

 

[Okazaki]

What's your secret? What resources did you use, and how much time did it take you to prepare?

I know this really should be posted in the DAT forum but I posted it here too because it seems people rarely check/respond to the other forum.

Hey man,

Asking someone who may have scored a 25 or higher really is no different from someone who scored a 22 or 23. The number of questions you need to get correct to move up one number from 18-19-20 is a big number of questions, but once you get into the 22 and above, the difference between them is only 1 friggin question. So someone who scored higher than 22 is really no different than someone who scored a 25. There is no advice to give that will make you stand apart from these scores. If you can get to this point at all, then it's just a matter of luck that you get some questions you happen to know the anser to, or you make a lucky choice on a hard question you had no idea on.

Simple as that.

 

[organichemistry]

Hey man,

Asking someone who may have scored a 25 or higher really is no different from someone who scored a 22 or 23. The number of questions you need to get correct to move up one number from 18-19-20 is a big number of questions, but once you get into the 22 and above, the difference between them is only 1 friggin question. So someone who scored higher than 22 is really no different than someone who scored a 25. There is no advice to give that will make you stand apart from these scores. If you can get to this point at all, then it's just a matter of luck that you get some questions you happen to know the anser to, or you make a lucky choice on a hard question you had no idea on.

Simple as that.

okazaki nailed it.

 

[MrBenny]

What's your secret? What resources did you use, and how much time did it take you to prepare?

I know this really should be posted in the DAT forum but I posted it here too because it seems people rarely check/respond to the other forum.

you want to get 25+ on the DAT?

Simple: Study so hard you'll accept nothing short of a 30.

 

[DrTacoElf]

Put in the time and it will pay off. However the difference between a 23 and a 30 is very minimal sometimes 2-3 questions. I did manage to get a 29 on ochem however simply by studying tons and learning how to "generalize".

 

[dentist_to_be?]

I think you should be leery of people who state they prepared 2 days before or for two weeks. I find that ridiculous to believe. You just have to put the hard work in and do what works best for you.

Kaplan Blue book will get you a 19 at most; this is my opinion. There just is not enough information explaining the material.

That is not true

It depends on your study habbits, for instance, I am a procasternator, I am good at it, studying last minute is my thing. In fact when I study too far in advance, I dont do as well. I studied for the DAT's fairly last minute, 1-2 of solid studying from the blue kaplan and I got a 21AA and 21TS, no joke, I am not lying, I did. Infact I got a 29 on the gen-chem section, but Im a chem-whiz, I usually do really really well in all my chem classses.

However, I got a 15 on the PATs, sooooo... yes studying last minute screwed me over for that part of the exams, infact I think I looked at the PAT section 1-2 days beforehand, and that is not something I advice.

Most of the material on the test I was familar with, comfortable with, as my undergrad is bio. When you are studying, check to make sure you have covered every subject throughly. I would advise you to study as you do usually. For instance, I like to take notes, because I find I absorb things a lot easily that way... stick to your own study habbits, I wouldnt advise studying a week or two in advance, I would say give yourself a month atleast, but if ever you are in the situation, then dont panick, it is a doable.

 

[juggamynugga]

The very best thing you can do is to take the kaplan class and do every single practice problem they have to offer and then immediately review every single explanation. when you do a subject test take it and then review right away, this way you know what you are thinking, your thought processes, etc when you review. look at both the ones you got right and the ones you got wrong. kaplan's explanations are extremely good. also what the guy said about getting a score in the high 20's versus something like 22 or 23 is absolutely right, missing only 3 questions drops you quick. the ony exception being the QR where everyone misses more. over all i would honestly suggest doing the kaplan stuff, the actual in class time and review notes aren't very good but the practice problems are better than anything you can do. as for myself i had the worst kaplan teacher in the history of the world but i did not go outside of kaplan for material and did all these tests like i said and ended up with bio:25 ochem:29 gchem:29. don't waste your time with other parts. just do practice problems over and over and over and always review. that's my advice.

 

[juggamynugga]

i studied about 6 hours a day for 2 months. so a lot

 

[Profchaos]

You should find what your strong points and weak points are, I mean, nobody is perfect, and everyone has something they are good at.
For me, I'm good at science, especially math. I knew that in my mind, so I studied QR with only minimum effort. On the other hand, I'm terrible at reading, so I tried to keep myself reading, mostly biology stuffs, and this way I get biological information as the mean time.
Results is I studied for a month and got 27 GC, 28 QR, 21OC, 22Bio and my weak point RC is 20.

 

[excite4]

I think many people may disagree with me, but I think you need to know the subject inside and out to score > 25. I score 25 – chemistry and 27 – Ochemistry. I feel this was a result of my doing initially well in the courses, but more importantly, I tutored course afterwards. In addition, I refreshed myself on the subjects by taking practice exams and reviewing the subject I missed questions on.

I think you should be leery of people who state they prepared 2 days before or for two weeks. I find that ridiculous to believe. You just have to put the hard work in and do what works best for you.

Kaplan Blue book will get you a 19 at most; this is my opinion. There just is not enough information explaining the material.

I agree with Thaxil...While I was taking the exam....especially the bio section...I felt like I was drawing on info I learned in some of my science classes and not the Kaplan review notes. One of the most helpful things was to study from the Bio AP review notes book (I don't know the exact name but I think it is from Cliff notes). I ended up with a 25. I also got a 25 on the chem section even though I though it was going to be my worst section. I was kind of disappointed to see that I got a 21 on the OChem which had been my best section throughout all of my reviewing and Kaplan practice tests. There were questions on my test about solubility of solvents, extractions, and naming of compounds with multiple functional groups. I hated that part while I was taking the class and so I wasn't able to review it properly when studying for the DAT and then probably missed them on the real test. So the point I am trying to make is that there is a wide range of information that the questions can come from so in my opinion people who get such high scores have a solid foundation from the courses taken in undergrad. The questions are not so hard but they can be pulled from anywhere!!!

 

[GENERAL TSO]

I'd say any score over a 20 is OUTSTANDING.

luck only is what I would say.

if you got over a 19 you guessed good.....

 

[brycethefatty]

I got a 30 biology, 29 General chem, 29 org chem. I just read the Kaplan review book over about 3 times and made sure I understood anything. Also, anatomy undergraduate class really helped me out. Cell biology was pretty helpful. I was a little lucky on the biology seciton with the questions I got, but I still knew about 95% of them for sure. The Kaplan book was great.
The great thing about the biology, gen chem, and o chem section of the DAT is that they test a finite number of CONCEPTS. If you go into the DAT knowing all of these concepts in the KAPLAN book, there's no reason you shouldn't get over a 22-23 total science score, if not higher. I would set aside 4 month where you can study for the DAT 3-5 hours a day, hard core.

 

[Tzips]

Just in terms of RC, I would second that about getting comfortable reading from a computer screen - I'm very used to it (I've in fact given up reading the newspaper entirely in favor the nytimes.com emails) and that was a big help; read enough and won't even have to bother with the whole kaplan roadmap thing, which I personally found more a hindrance than a help. You might even try reading some online JAMA articles, though, as most passages on the DAT won't be nearly as technical, that might be overkill. It'd definately help for d-school, though!

 

[EyeAmCommi]

I got a 30 biology, 29 General chem, 29 org chem. I just read the Kaplan review book over about 3 times and made sure I understood anything. Also, anatomy undergraduate class really helped me out. Cell biology was pretty helpful. I was a little lucky on the biology seciton with the questions I got, but I still knew about 95% of them for sure. The Kaplan book was great.
The great thing about the biology, gen chem, and o chem section of the DAT is that they test a finite number of CONCEPTS. If you go into the DAT knowing all of these concepts in the KAPLAN book, there's no reason you shouldn't get over a 22-23 total science score, if not higher. I would set aside 4 month where you can study for the DAT 3-5 hours a day, hard core.

This score might seem outrageous and perhaps even ridiculous to some people but I know a few students who did as well as brycethefatty here. Although, none I know got 29s and 30s. I know some (3) alumni who scored in the 26s across the science categories.