How would you answer this in an interview?

[iLOVEsports]

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I have read of some schools asking why you did poorly in organic chemistry in school but scored very well on the DAT? I fall into this category, where I did poorly in O-chem and had to re-take the class, but got my highest school in that section of the DAT. Besides saying that I didn't really have the best studying methods while taking the class, I really don't know how to answer this. Any suggestions?

 

[vlct0ria]

I didn't do so well in organic either- I got a B-/C in orgo I/II (with pretty hefty class curves) and managed a 20 on the DAT...I think its a tough subject for a lot of people, and I doubt it will come up in an interview. Just tell them exactly what happened...you struggled with the material while taking the class, so you studied extra hard for that section of the DAT to prove you had some kind of grasp on it. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[CanadianDental]

I wouldn't worry about this too much either. Sometimes you study really hard but things go wrong and you manage to screw up an important test anyway, its happened to me in the past. Dental schools know that. I personally believe that this is a question meant to throw you off, to make you nervous. They know that you did well on the O-Chem in the DAT so they know you know your stuff. Just be honest, maybe your prof wasn't the best, maybe you lacked a little time management during that semester, maybe the tests were too hard for the material covered. IMO as long as you stay cool, calm and honest, you will be fine for this question.

 

[UCSF2012]

You tell them the Dat orgo and orgo class focused on different things. Tell them you understood the material taught in class as a whole, but the class exams focused on various aspects of the material that were tricky and obscure. Hence the discrepancy between your grade and orgo score.

 

[Moose A Moose]

Maybe you didn't adapt as well to your professor's teaching method? Did you have a lot of EC, family or work related things going on during that semester?

 

[cmills66]

i feel alot of people may be in the exact same situation where they didnt do so hot in class, but did well on the DAT. in my experience, everything that you need to know for the DAT was covered at some point in the class, but the scope of the exams were much more advanced. for example my exams had about 8-10 questions, dealing with mutiple step synthesis, "explain this phenomenon", and other observation/deduction questions, where as the DAT is multiple choice, you know it or you dont. i agree with victoria in that you should say you realized that you were weak (relatively) in ochem and that you studied extra hard to prepare, versus how difficult your class may have been compared to the DAT. if you go the later route, i feel that the adcom might then say something like "well you know, dental school classes are not a walk in the park either, how do you know you will be successful with our curriculum..." type of question. i dont know if i've made any sense lol, but i really wouldnt worry about being asked this question because the adcom knows the different scope and depth between ochem class and ochem on the DAT. 👍

 

[mityaz]

the bottom line is that DAT is not very accurate. to give you an example, i got a 23 on the OChem first time and a 19 the second time. I studied a whole lot more for the second time. Same goes for PAT, 25 first time and 19 second time.

I think that the amount of questions that they have for each section on DAT is not sufficient to test all your knowledge. Its kinda like luck.

heck, i knew the citric acid cycle, calvin cycle so well that i had dreams about them. but i did not have one question on any of them!!! Call that f**ked up

 

[CanadianDental]

the bottom line is that DAT is not very accurate. to give you an example, i got a 23 on the OChem first time and a 19 the second time. I studied a whole lot more for the second time. Same goes for PAT, 25 first time and 19 second time.

I think that the amount of questions that they have for each section on DAT is not sufficient to test all your knowledge. Its kinda like luck.

heck, i knew the citric acid cycle, calvin cycle so well that i had dreams about them. but i did not have one question on any of them!!! Call that f**ked up

Man if you got 23 on O-chem and 25 on the PAT on your first DAT how bad did you do in the other sections in order for you to have to retake the test? Those are excellent scores! 😱

 

[mityaz]

^ well, my bio was a 17 (lowest) with 18TS and AA of 20. I retook it and now my Ts is 21 and AA is 21.

On my first post, my second PA is 21 and NOT 19. Sorry for misinfo, i just looked it up

 

[dentalWorks]

This is a very easy question to answer lol. Just tell them the real reason "I scrwed up the first time around learning the material and made sure I didn't repeat my mistake"

I get more worried about questions like "what do you see unfit in our health care today in regards to how its effecting the profession of dentistry?"

 

[CanadianDental]

^ well, my bio was a 17 (lowest) with 18TS and AA of 20. I retook it and now my Ts is 21 and AA is 21.

On my first post, my second PA is 21 and NOT 19. Sorry for misinfo, i just looked it up

OK, well at least your TS and AA went up, so it was worth it.