Getting 24 on the practice exams, am I ready?

[WorkOholic45]

Hi, I made the jump from 21 to 24 recently and this is after taking 10 full length exams and reviewing all the quizzes and exams. am I ready? I am mainly worried that because I have starting seeing a strong improvement that this is hyper inflated and not realistic of the DAT. I am specially worried about the BIO section with the revisions for 2022 and worry if the score will be realistic and if some question will repeat/ be similar or I'll biff it. IDK. I have noticed now that I am no longer mentally tired and I can stay away through the whole exam. My mind also does not wonder off and now I can finish the section with 5-10 mins left in the clock for each section (minus PAT). what do you guys think? and what can I do to keep challenging myself so I am not complaisant? Thanks!

AA- 24

Bio- 30
GC-25
OC-22
PAT-22
RC-20
QR-23

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[Ryxndek]

I would say that if you are being consistent with your practice exams then you are ready. I wouldn't take the next two weeks off though. Keep going over material that you don't quite understand, or think you can touch up on, to keep your brain fresh. But you probably don't have to keep doing practice exams. You could maybe do one or 2 more in the two weeks left to keep your brain sharp and mentally prepared.

I used Kaplan to study and felt that their practice exams were wayyyyy harder than the actual exam (P.S I was averaging like a 17-18AA on their exams and scored a 22AA on the actual exam, so suffice it to say I was shocked but glad I prepped myself!). I'm not sure what resource you are using, but my guess is that the material given to you will either be harder or reflect a similar difficulty to the actual exam. If anything I would keep working on PAT, it's good to always have that in your mind. Based on my experience with the actual exam, I found the PAT section more difficult compared to what Kaplan gave, but because I kept doing problems every day I used the tricks from there to help me solve the problems on the exam. Good luck, hope your hard work pays off!

Make sure you use every minute given to you and go back and recheck answers if you can or need to if you have extra time!

 

[Lemillion]

Based on those stats and consistency, looks like you are ready! I was scoring around 21 on practice DATs leading up to my exam and ended up with a 20 for the actual one.

I wouldn't anticipate a big discrepancy between what you're averaging and your score in 2 weeks.

 

[WorkOholic45]

Thank you, I started with an 18 and slowly build myself up and the last two exams from that booster were 24 and 24, and before that I could not break the 21 barrier

 

[WorkOholic45]

I have also taken some practice exams in different platforms, such as that Boot Camp and another company from Florida called idental or Idental prep and I like booster more because it seems to be directed to the point and you don’t really have any lag or any issues but I wonder if the easiness of it is not comparative to the actual exam I worry a lot that I am getting cocky and that I will end up scoring lower than the actual practice exams. Or I worry that these other companies are giving me harder questions or trickier questions and that is the reason why sometimes I score a little lower on the other exams. Or perhaps I score a little lower in the other exams because they always glitch and their timer gets eaten up, so I seem to always be a little behind, but with booster it works flawlessly.

 

[WorkOholic45]

Hi, I made the jump from 21 to 24 recently and this is after taking 10 full length exams and reviewing all the quizzes and exams. am I ready? I am mainly worried that because I have starting seeing a strong improvement that this is hyper inflated and not realistic of the DAT. I am specially worried about the BIO section with the revisions for 2022 and worry if the score will be realistic and if some question will repeat/ be similar or I'll biff it. IDK. I have noticed now that I am no longer mentally tired and I can stay away through the whole exam. My mind also does not wonder off and now I can finish the section with 5-10 mins left in the clock for each section (minus PAT). what do you guys think? and what can I do to keep challenging myself so I am not complaisant? Thanks!

AA- 24

Bio- 30
GC-25
OC-22
PAT-22
RC-20
QR-23

Take my DAT in 2 weeks.

Are use currently to achieve these scores DAT booster. However, I have also used another company from Florida called Iprep dental and their exams are a little glitchy and sometimes a little bit odd. So I wonder if their exams are comparative to the DAT or they are also just trying to make up the harder questions to compete with other people sometimes I get tripped out with their questions, but I don’t get tripped up with the questions in the a T booster. DAT booster also seems to be much better at giving the answer right away and I find it much easier study resource. So I’m worried that because it’s easier and I like J.T. booster more and the interface but it’s not comparative to the actual exam. Has anybody used the programs that can tell me which program they like the best when it came to exam day and how the exam works? Also, does the exam have lagging or is it glitchy? I don’t believe it should be because it should be pretty straightforward but I’m wondering if that is also something to be aware of so that your timer doesn’t get eaten up

 

[WorkOholic45]

Based on those stats and consistency, looks like you are ready! I was scoring around 21 on practice DATs leading up to my exam and ended up with a 20 for the actual one.

I wouldn't anticipate a big discrepancy between what you're averaging and your score in 2 weeks.

What company did you use? The scores were achieved with DAT booster however, when I have taken other exams from other companies, such as Kaplan, or dental prep from Florida, a score lower. And I don’t know if it’s because the software glitches and has weird questions and weird answers or because I am starting to become overly confident with the questions in the booster.

 

[Lemillion]

What company did you use? The scores were achieved with DAT booster however, when I have taken other exams from other companies, such as Kaplan, or dental prep from Florida, a score lower. And I don’t know if it’s because the software glitches and has weird questions and weird answers or because I am starting to become overly confident with the questions in the booster.

I did Kaplan and all their practice tests! Tried DAT Destroyer and thought that was too hard.

 

[DAT Destroyer]

Hi, I made the jump from 21 to 24 recently and this is after taking 10 full length exams and reviewing all the quizzes and exams. am I ready? I am mainly worried that because I have starting seeing a strong improvement that this is hyper inflated and not realistic of the DAT. I am specially worried about the BIO section with the revisions for 2022 and worry if the score will be realistic and if some question will repeat/ be similar or I'll biff it. IDK. I have noticed now that I am no longer mentally tired and I can stay away through the whole exam. My mind also does not wonder off and now I can finish the section with 5-10 mins left in the clock for each section (minus PAT). what do you guys think? and what can I do to keep challenging myself so I am not complaisant? Thanks!

AA- 24

Bio- 30
GC-25
OC-22
PAT-22
RC-20
QR-23

Take my DAT in 2 weeks.

Good luck in your upcoming exam. From my experience through the years timed test results vary greatly, some students score higher and some lower. No one has the exact algorithim that the ADA uses to give the DAT score. If you have a solid foundation in the concepts you should not have any problems on the exam.

Wishing you the best...Nancy, co/owner, Destroyers

 

[ChemistryDentist]

I did Kaplan and all their practice tests! Tried DAT Destroyer and thought that was too hard.

Not to butt in, and nothing against Kaplan or any other services, but I’ve heard from predents and from my own experience that Kaplan just isn’t up to par anymore. Maybe for RC, but their questions are outdated. I know few of any people who still use them for DAT prep.

As for the Destroyers, I think the fact that they are ‘too hard’ is actually a good thing. They prepare you with the toughest, most comprehension based questions that you can possibly see. Going into an exam that’s pivotal for getting into dental school, don’t you want to see some of the hardest questions you should expect? I certainly did, which helped me a lot to score well. I’m sure everyone has a different study style, but it’s far from ridiculously hard (for those who come upon this thread in the future)!

 

[Ryxndek]

I’ll actually say that while Kaplan may seem outdated, I used it and scored a 22 using it. The only thing is that Kaplan is quite expensive so there’s probably better resources out there that are much cheaper.

 

[Lemillion]

Not to butt in, and nothing against Kaplan or any other services, but I’ve heard from predents and from my own experience that Kaplan just isn’t up to par anymore. Maybe for RC, but their questions are outdated. I know few of any people who still use them for DAT prep.

As for the Destroyers, I think the fact that they are ‘too hard’ is actually a good thing. They prepare you with the toughest, most comprehension based questions that you can possibly see. Going into an exam that’s pivotal for getting into dental school, don’t you want to see some of the hardest questions you should expect? I certainly did, which helped me a lot to score well. I’m sure everyone has a different study style, but it’s far from ridiculously hard (for those who come upon this thread in the future)!

Fair points, Kaplan was the popular one back in my day. Good to know that they are no longer considered the go to.

As for the hardest questions for practice, I have mixed feelings on those. Too hard and it can damper your confidence. Different study styles and approaches will influence what works for someone. I never approached it that way but wanted an exam similar to what was the real thing. At that time Kaplan had the most similar exam. If you scored a 21 on those you were likely to get a 20/21 on the real thing.

But that was also 10 years ago 😭

 

[ChemistryDentist]

I agree, everyone has different study styles and approaches! I always appreciated the challenge, and I think a lot of people do, but to each their own of course.

It’s now been nearly 4 years since I took the DAT, and it’s changed a ton since then! It’s definitely changed multiple times over in the last decade, while Kaplan hasn’t really as far as I know. That’s the benefit of the yearly update from the Destroyers, for sure! Even scores are different higher than what people used to get a few years ago. 20s (more like 22+) are the norm and expected for schools now, which started happening when I was applying.